AMV News

[Minstrel]

Contest Schedule

AMV News contest "Big Contest 2013" will be held from January 15th till April 15th, 2013.

The contest consists of four phases:

1) Regjstration for contest till April 15th, 2013
2) Submission of videos from March 25th till April 15th, 2013
3) Showing of videos starts when enough entries are submitted to showcase continuously 1-2 videos per day.
4) The winners are decided by the joint judges' vote within 10 days after showing of the last contest video.

Video Requirements

Contest video can be made either of anime movies, anime series and Japanese videogames or of manga, arts can also be used, including author’s arts. No restrictions on music styles and genres of video. We accept exclusive videos only, the ones which were not shown online before the contest. The contest video is eligible for participation in other contests after its premiere at Big Contest 2013. Each participant is allowed to submit one video only. Multi-editor projects (MEP) are also accepted. You must know exactly the title of anime/videogame used for your video, as well as the title of the music composition and the name of its performer. Unknown music and animes/videogames are not allowed. The length of contest video may not be less than 60 seconds (without credits). AMVNews or the contest title must be mentioned in the video, how exactly to mention is to participant's choice. A line in credits should be enough.

A video won't be accepted, if:

1) It was shown online before contest publication
2)There are significant compression artefacts
3) Footage is of poor quality
4) TV resolution of full version is far too low (480x270 or 480x360)
4) There are hard subtitles and/or logos not justified by artistic intent.
5) Broken aspect ratio or interlace is visible in most parts of the video.
6) There are black bars on the top and bottom of the video (if those are not used in any way during the screening).
7) There are violations of Russian Federation legislation, in particular concerning the incitement of ethnic hatred.

The voting shall be split in three stages. First the contest administration shall exclude from further voting all obvious outsiders (i.e those AMVs which are rated lowest on the website) as well as the AMVs which certainly do not fit into any of genre categories. This is done to simplify first round voting. Then, the participants for the final round will be chosen from all the videos left; next, the the winners in each nomination will be chosen from the runner-ups. A video wins if it gets the majority of points during judges' voting. In total there will be 5 prize places in main nomination. This time there will be additional nominations as well. A nomination is considered valid if ten or more videos fit into this nomination.

Nota Bene

Contest organizers reserve the right to change the contest date, as well as to change/add some details owing to unforeseen circumstances.

Video format/encoding:

Each contest entry must be submitted in two variants: full version and efficiently compressed preview version.

Video codecs allowed: main: x264 (additional: DivX, XviD)
Audio codecs allowed: main: AAC (additional: MP3, OGG)
Containers allowed: MP4, MKV (for full version) (additional: AVI)

It is recommended to encode with AMVSimpleGUI, Baka Encoder or MeGUI, see the following articles:

http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Pages&lang=en&in=view&id=34
http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Pages&lang=en&in=view&id=63
http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Pages&lang=en&in=view&id=7

- Full version is to be compressed at the rate of no more than 25 Mb per minute of the video for SD version and no more than 50 Mb per minute for HD version. If you wish to extend the limit, write a request to the contest organizers and explain, why the extension is needed
- If you submit an HD-version of the video, it is suggested to add a standard definition version as well.
- Preview version: file size at the rate of 3-5 Mb per minute; resolution width 480 pixels. Encoding combination x264+AAC+MP4 via AMVSimpleGUI is highly recommended! (Only is this case we guarantee the highest possible quality of the video and functionality on online player)

Prize fund:

1 place – 5000 roubles + diploma
2 place – 4000 roubles + diploma
3 place – 3000 roubles + diploma
4 place – 2000 roubles + diploma
5 place – 1000 roubles + diploma

If you wish to increase the prize fund (or maybe provide additional prizes for some nominations), contact site administrator via personal message.

Winners of the additional categories shall receive extra diplomas. Prize money can be send via PayPal or WebMoney only (or we can recharge your mobile/internet account)

Registration of participants

You can register via on-line form. To register, you must have a website account on AMVNews.ru.

Registration for Big Contest 2013
List of registered participants of Big Contest 2013

How to enter your video:

1) Videos can be submitted from March 15th through April 15th, 2013, by registered contestants only.
2) Fill in the application form located here: http://amvnews.ru/index.php?go=Files&lang=en&file=add
Choose "Big Contest 2013" as one of the categories. Make sure there was the website message "Thank you, your video was added successfully" after the upload. Here you can see whether your video was added to the list for moderatorial check. Then you’ll either wait yours turn to see the video on site or you’ll get a private message from administrator requesting to correct the deficiencies found during the check. If any questions arise, contact the administrator via the private message.

Some remarks concerning the submission of contest videos:
1) If your video did not pass the tech check, there is no point trying to solve technical issues with the moderator responsible for checking.
2) The contestant is to be banned from participation if two attempts were not enough to pass the tech check.

Judges

1) The jury consists of the contest participants (accounts the video was posted from), as well as of other registered members and invitees: famous music videos creators and active commentators

2) In the first round of voting the nominations' finalists are chosen. First round judges must watch ALL contest videos (except for those excluded by the contest administration before the first round) and fill in the online form on the site. Voting for contest participants is not obligatory.

3) Second round judges must watch all finalist videos in each nomination and choose the best of them via the online form. Second round judges include those contestants who qualified for the final at least in one nomination, and also specially registered judges. Voting for contest participants is not obligatory.

Registration of judges

1) You can sign up as a judge via the special form.
2) Entering applications for a judge shall be closed one day before the voting
3) A user can only be accepted as a judge either if he/she comments actively and in detail on contest videos or if he/she has authority within AMV community (on condition that he/she will watch the required amount of videos). Final list of judges shall be defined by site administration before the very voting. This year contest participants can not disqualify any of the judges.
4)Any judge can be disqualified by the site administration before the vote begins, without giving reasons

Voting procedure: first round

First round voting takes part via special on-line form. A judge must choose from 1 to N best videos in each represented nomination. N differs for every nomination depending on the total number of videos. Videos with the majority of points qualify for the final round.

Voting procedure: second round

The judges ought to define priorities for N videos in each of the nominations (i.e. place first the best video of the nomination and then others highest to lowest judging from the impression produced). Videos score points in accordance with a new exponential scheme (implies the increased significance of being ranked first)
N - number of participants in nomination
x - place the participant was ranked
Points the contestant gets equal N*(e)^((1 - x)/sqr(N))
Points given by all judges are summarized. A video with the majority of points wins in the nomination.

List of additional nominations

Nominations for all contestants:

1) Audience choice award - the winner is decided by rating in “Big Contest 2013” site category. Only the votes by users registered before January 1st, 2013 count.
2) Best visual effects
3) Most original video
4) Best editing
5) Best credits design and working with text
6) Best poster / presentation

Nominations for videos chosen by the judges in the first round. A nomination is considered valid if ten or more videos fit into this nomination.

7) Best action video
8) Best character profile
9) Best comedy / fun
10) Best dance video
11) Best drama video
12) Best horror video
13) Best romance / sentimental video
14) Best trailer / advertising
15) Best psychedelic video
16) Best story
17) Best GMV (game music video)
18) Best instrumental video
19) Best use of Russian music
20) Best use of multiple sources
21) Best multieditor project (MEP)
22) Best Manga music video

Some explanations concerning nominations can be found here.

Contest partners

Contest banners















Needed

Contest posters

Needed

Contest trailer
Needed

[Shinzui]

This will be fun indeed

[lolligerjoj]

Is it possible to get an exception for the filesize if the video has a framerate of 60 fps? (the frames actually change every frame)

[Turbo]

lolligerjoj
Yes, you can use larger bitrate for 60fps videos.

[xDreww]

Question. A collab video. between two people. Does that count as a MEP also? Or just normal?

[Turbo]

xDreww
Let it be MEP

[MadnessImpulse]

wuaha *W*

[lolligerjoj]

So when is it acceptible to publish my submission on other sites? Do I have to wait until the contest's over or am I allowed to publish it shortly after it's published on this site?

[Minstrel]

[franz]

why are you show 1 video per day ?

[Uk@R]

Good question)