Events: Anime Music Videos - Submit via CD/DVD
Otakon 2012 AMV Contest
AMV Quick Links:
AMV Front Page |
Submit via VHS | Submit via FTP
General Rules
Each entrant is allowed one (1) submission. Users found creating multiple studios with the intent to circumvent the submission limit will have all of their entries disqualified.
- If you are submitting a solo project but also want collaboration credit on someone else's video, please contact vboruta@otakon.org for details on how to do this.
We will only accept entries that are sent to us through our FTP server or through the mail. We will not download your entry for you from your rapidshare/sendspace/whatever, nor will we accept entries sent by e-mail/AIM/MSN etc.
Do not include studio bumpers or video credits. Any lead-in/lead-out that we can not remove could be grounds for disqualification.
- Otakon creates custom, uniform title cards for each entry, finalist or not. Adding bumpers/credits on top of that just uses more screen time than is necessary.
Your entry must be primarily anime and/or video game footage. The exception to this rule is a live-action adaptation of an anime or video-game, intended for television broadcast or release to movie theaters. Such live-action adaptations will be accepted without penalty.
Your entry should not contain unaltered video, taken from your audio source’s official music video or trailer.
- If we play your AMV side-by-side against your song/trailer’s official music video/trailer, and there are sequences where both videos are identical (or even nearly identical), then your video may be disqualified at the director’s discretion.
Your entry's audio must be primarily music. Excessive narration/dialog may be grounds for disqualification. This rule does not apply to entries that are sent to the "Trailer/Parody" category. Dialog that you recorded yourself is perfectly fine.
Your entry may not contain any audio taken from a commercial English dub.
- Audio from a Japanese dub is perfectly fine. There will be an abundance of North American voice actors and actresses at Otakon and they would not be very happy if they found out that you used their voice without their permission, so don't do it.
Your entry may not contain any commercial studio logos, only parodies of said logos. This includes DivX and website watermarks.
- Copyrighted logos that have been modified are also NOT OK. If you wish to parody a logo, you can not use the original logo as a base.
- Submissions to the "Trailer/Parody" category which contain the popular green approval screen beforehand may NOT contain any mention of the MPAA.
• That means if you are going to parody the screen that traditionally appears before trailers, you can't mention the MPAA unless they actually DID approve your trailer, which we doubt.
The minimum length of each entry is 30 seconds. There is no maximum length.
- During the pre-screening period where we determine which entries make the finals, we will watch every entry that runs under 6 minutes, in its entirety. For entries that run over the 6-minute mark, we reserve the right to skip the remainder of the video after 6 minutes have passed. Also, entries over 6 minutes in length that do not make the final cut will most likely be bumped to the bottom of the overflow playlist, meaning there is a chance that they will not be shown at the convention.
Submissions with nudity, offensive language, and/or excessive violence may be disqualified at the coordinator's discretion.
- The contest screening will be open to the general public, and thus the content must be appropriate for the general public. Depending on what time the overflow screening is, entries disqualified for inappropriate content may or may not be shown at all.
Convention attendance is not required to enter. Attending the convention will not boost your chances of winning and/or making the final cut.
- The checkbox on the submission form asking whether or not you will be attending is purely for informational purposes.
Anti-Trolling Policy: If your entry has won First Place or Best in Show at any convention that has screened their contest before the Otakon AMV contest submission deadline, then your entry will be automatically disqualified.
- Second Place, Runner-Up, Judge's Choice, etc. all DO NOT count and you may submit any entry that has won any of these awards without penalty.
- Submissions that win their first award at AnimeNext 2012 are exempt from this rule.
- Otakon AMV Staff reserves the right to interpret the anti-trolling rule as they see fit.
- Entries that were featured in the final AMV contest at any previous Otakon will be disqualified.
The better quality video that you send us, the better it will look. Visual anomalies from poor compression will be enlarged as our screen is bigger than your computer monitor.
The Otakon 2012 AMV Contest will accept submissions from anyone except for Otakon AMV Contest staffers.
Otakon reserves the right to reject any video on any legitimate grounds.
Submit via CD/DVD
Deadline: Your submission must be received (not postmarked) by Sunday June 10, 2012. Entries received late will not be accepted into the Otakon 2012 AMV contest, nor will they be considered candidates for the AMV overflow screenings.
Otakon accepts entries recorded on CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-DL and DVD+DL.
Otakon will accept entries in virtually any file format using almost any form of compression. The more "popular" the codec, the better the chances are of us handling your video properly. If we can't convert your video, we will let you know.
Entrants are STRONGLY encouraged to submit in MPEG1 or MPEG2 format. All submissions not received in either of these formats will be converted to MPEG2 by Otakon.
- NTSC interlaced video is perfectly acceptable. PAL interlaced is OK as well. If your submission is interlaced, please test it on a broadcast-quality decoder card such as a Hollywood+ or a Netstream2000 to ensure proper field order throughout your video. Your VGA card's tv-out function is not a suitable means of testing your submission.
- If your video is 23.976 or 24 frames per second, when encoding your mpeg2, please flag it for "3:2 pulldown on playback". Otherwise your video will appear "jumpy" when we play it back.
- When encoding an MPEG2, please use either MPEG1 Layer 2 audio, or AC3 audio. WAV, AIFF, MP3, etc. are not acceptable when submitting in MPEG1 or MPEG2 format, as our screening computer does not natively handle these formats.
Acceptable framerates are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, and 30. Any other framerate will be converted to the nearest valid framerate. 60/59.94 fps video will be interlaced when we convert it, so some detail may be lost, but not fluidity.
The contest is screened at 720x480. All entries that we receive will be scaled to this size.
Please encode your video for 4:3 playback. This includes letterboxing widescreen footage ahead of time. Videos flagged as 16:9 will be screened improperly. We will letterbox what we can, but Otakon makes no guarantees that we will catch everything.
If submitting on DVD, refrain from authoring your disc if at all possible. Simply burn your video(s) to the disc as a data file.
If a video is too large to fit on one disc, we recommend splitting the file using WinRAR or 7-zip.
You must fill out a submission form for your entry. Access the submission form here. You may include a printed copy of the form or the confirmation email that you received after filling it out, but it is not necessary.
Name your file in the format "Studio Name - Video Title.ext". Example: "VicBond007 Productions - Accidentally in Love.mpg". Use the same studio name and video title that you provided on your submission form.
Please use a marker to label the surface of your disc with the following information:
- Your video title.
- Your studio title. This must match the studio name that you provided on your submission form.
- If your video spans more than one disc, label the disc in the format of "Disc X of Y". (Example: Disc 1 of 3).
Do not affix an adhesive label to the disc, and do not simply label the disc case.
Please ensure that the only content on your disc is the video that you intend to submit to the contest.
After you have filled out the submission form, please mail your disc to the following address:
Otakon AMV Contest
PO Box 336
Edison, NJ 08818-0636
USA
Submitted discs can not be returned.
Otakon is not responsible for lost or damaged media. We will do our best to notify you when your entry is received. However, we cannot guarantee confirmation before the submission deadline. If you wish to ensure confirmation, ship your tape with delivery confirmation.
