Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
OTAKON is accepting fan-made films to screen at OTAKON 2009. Anything from parody commercials, trailers, and shorts to original animation, live-action short films or full-blown fan dubs. Last year’s screenings were a great success and we’d like to make this year’s even better.
Don’t wait! Finish that project you've been working on or pound out a new one. Watching Fan-Produced Films in a room with hundreds of other otaku is an experience that just can’t be duplicated online, and is an essential part of the con-going experience
OTAKON 2009 FAN-PRODUCED VIDEO SCREENINGS
OTAKON 2009 (July 17th - 19th in Baltimore, Maryland) will present screenings of fan-produced video productions at the convention.
Depending on the volume of submissions and time constraints, some submissions may not be screened at OTAKON 2009. Since these will just be screenings — not a competition — there will be no prizes given or awards presented.
(Version 2009.05.18. Submission Guidelines are subject to change at any time.)
I - SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
01. MAIL IN YOUR SUBMISSION
All submissions must be made by mail, and sent to the address listed below. We accept submissions on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM computer discs only. Tape media such as VHS, S-VHS, MINI-DV, etc. are no longer supported.
OTAKON 2009 FAN PARODIES
c/o Matt Pyson
915 Haws Avenue
Norristown, PA 19401-3737
If mailing from outside the U.S. add “United States” or “United States of America” at the bottom of the mailing address.
All submissions must be received by Sunday, June 14th, 2009. OTAKON (or its parent company Otakorp, Inc.) is not responsible for submissions that have been lost in the mail, or otherwise delayed for any reason.
If you want us to let you know when we have received your submission, include your complete e-mail address on your submission form.
Please don’t hand-deliver your submission in person. Especially without asking permission first. That creeps us out big-time.
Should you feel compelled to overnight your submission, please send it “No Signature Necessary” so it can be left on the porch. I’m never at home at the times necessary to sign for packages, and it might take me a week to get to the local package depot. Your package will likely be returned to you before I can manage to personally sign for the package.
Get the Fan-Produced Videos Submission Form (rich text file, 7.36 KB)
02. LABELING YOUR DISC
Label your submission disc(s) with (at the very least) your REAL name, mailing address, and telephone number.
Use a Sharpie® marker (or similar) to write on the top side of the disc instead of putting an adhesive label on it. If you need to use multiple discs, don’t forget to mark each one with your identifying information.
03. NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS
There is no limit to the number of fan-produced videos that may be submitted. Each video submitted must be accompanied by a completed and signed printout of the submission form.
04. SUBMITTING FILES
Main Points:
| Media: | CD-ROM or DVD-ROM |
| File: | Data files only (No playable DVDs) |
| CoDec: | MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 |
| Resolution: | 720x480 |
| Framerate: | 29.97 fps, Interlaced |
| Audio: | Layer II @ 224k |
Details:
We accept submissions on CD-R/CD+R/RW (Compact Disc Recordable) or DVD-R/DVD+R/RW (Digital Versatile Disc Recordable) discs. Because of continuing compatibility issues with “playable” DVDs and image quality limitations of VCDs, we request that submissions be in the form of high-resolution data files on computer-formatted discs (i.e. discs not intended to only be played in a standalone DVD Player).
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 are the preferable formats to submit in, as other formats will have to be converted to MPEG-2 format for tape mastering.
If you are using a Windows PC there is a program called Tsunami MPEG Encoder that we use (version 2.x). For other operating systems there are MPEG encoders available. Tsunami is cheap for a high quality MPEG-2 encoder, has a 30-day trial, and is available at www.tmpgenc.net.
The TMPGEnc 2.X profiles that we use are the same as the ones that Otaku Video uses for conversions, and are available here http://www.otakon.com/media/Tsunami_MPEG2_Profile.zip
We prefer videos to be 720x480 pixels in size and a frame rate of 29.97 fps (NTSC “drop frame”). If the video’s vertical resolution is 480, encode your video as interlaced instead of progressive. We’ll scale smaller frame sizes up to 720x480, so anything encoded smaller than that will look pixelated afterward.
We suggest using Variable Bit Rate for MPEG-2 files with 12 megabits per second as the maximum. If you want to use Two-Pass VBR, set 2 megabits as the minimum, 8 megabits as the average, and 12 megabits as the maximum; otherwise simply use constant quality VBR and leave the quality setting at maximum with the maximum bit rate at 12 megabits per second.
If you use MPEG-1 either create a VCD spec file (at the very least) or set the bit rate to 1.5 megabits per second. Using the highest bit rate allowed (within reason) will increase quality. MPEG-2 will, however, encode a 352x240 file better than MPEG-1 can at the same bit rate. Your choice.
For audio use layer-II audio at 224 kilobits per second or better, and choose stereo (not “joint stereo”). We recommend using the highest bit rate for maximum quality sound. Don’t use MP3 (technically it's MPEG 1, Layer III) audio, because our NetStream card cannot decode it.
If a file is too large to fit on a single media disc — such as a 1.2 GB AVI file on a 700 MB CD-R — you may span it across multiple discs. Use ZIP (WinZip), or other file compression utility application to break the file into manageable parts and burn those to the discs, clearly labeling each of them as part of a set: “Disc 1 of 3”, “Disc 2 of 3” etc.
If we are unable to read your disc or video file for any reason we will attempt to contact you (first via email, and later via phone as a last resort) in order to obtain another copy of your submission.
If you would like to include an uncompressed AVI along with the encoded MPEG version, that is sometimes helpful in resolving technical issues.
In addition to the paper version of your submission form, include a plain text file named README.TXT on each CD-R or DVD-R with the same information as your paper submission form, along with any technical information we’ll need to know to successfully convert and play your video file.
Submission media (the discs) become the property of Otakorp, Inc. and cannot be returned.
05. SUBMITTING ONLINE
We are not currently accepting online submissions for fan-produced video productions. Computer disc is the preferred format.
06. FILLING OUT THE SUBMISSION FORM
All video submissions must be accompanied by a filled-out copy of the submission form. You don’t have to send in a printed copy of the submission guidelines (ie: the rules)... we already have plenty.
Anonymous submissions, or submissions without a real name, cannot be accepted.
Your video submission must be your own work and no one else’s. You must identify the artist & title of any music used in your video as well as the title or titles of any anime footage used. If you know the original Japanese title of the anime used, you may include it on the form along with the English name.
You must fill out the part where you give OTAKORP INC. permission to use your video at OTAKON. If you don't give us permission, then we’ll have to skip over your submission. Really.
If you forget to include the submission form when you send in your submission, send it in as soon as you remember that you forgot.
When you submit your video on disc remember to include a README.TXT file of the filled out submission form in addition to the printed copy. Paste the filled-out form into NOTEPAD and save it as an ANSI text file named README.TXT, and burn that file onto your CD with your submission.
II - FORM OF PRODUCTIONS
01. ACCEPTABLE TYPES OF FAN-PRODUCTIONS
Pretty much anything is submit-able via this method: fan-parodies, original animations, re-edited movie trailers, live action film projects. It just has to have some obvious connection with anime/manga, fandom of anime/manga, or East Asian culture.
02. LENGTH OF SUBMISSIONS
There is no lower time limit, and no upper time limit. That having been said, be aware that the time we have at the convention to screen fan-produced material is very limited. We can only show a handful of longer submissions and we’ve learned from painful experience that short and to-the-point goes over much better with the audience than something longer and more drawn out.
I guess what we’re saying here is not to make your project any longer than it absolutely has to be. Don’t make it 20 minutes long if you can get your point across in 10 minutes. Don’t make it 10 minutes long if it can be done in 5 minutes. If it’s a big hit, you can make it longer for the next con you send it to.
03. AGE OF SUBMISSIONS
No upper or lower age limit. We love classics and new stuff equally.
04. REPEAT SUBMISSIONS
If we get good feedback on your fan-parody, we’ll be more than happy to show it again next year, and even accept an improved version of it for repeat showings at future cons.
05. OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT
Material that is considered objectionable for reasons of language, violence, sex, or transgressively bad taste will be screened late at night in a futile effort to protect the notional innocence of any con-goers who still have bedtimes they are up past.
06. RESPEC’ MAH AUTHORITAH!
We reserve the right to reject any video for any reason (or no reason) at any time or place, throughout the universe, forever.
For further information you may e-mail the coordinators, Matt Pyson and Scott Melzer, at “mpyson aht gmail dawt com” and &ldquio;scott.a.melzer aht gmail dawt com” respectively (replace aht with “@”, and replace dawt with “.”).
Please be patient awaiting a reply to your important e-mails: we have… um… like… jobs and stuff to do during the daytime… to earn money to purchase goods and services… and stave off homelessness.
