Thanks for the help!
Looking forward to a good show from your end as well!!!
Some help in clarifying the rules would be great, since I am not that familiar with AMV's myself.
Although my way certainly isn't the only way to go, feel free to visit the Kumoricon AMV Contest rule site and rip off whatever specifications about quality, content, video length, DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS* and whatever you think will work for you. Then tweak things to fit THE SLANTS.
*this could be weeks ahead of the event, or hours before the show...
First OBVIOUS change: For mail-in entries you probably want to send the videos to some OTHER address which is -NOT- ME at 33470 Chinook Plaza... Also you might want to PM me your contest coordinator's e-mail address (whoever that person is) so in case I get e-mail questions or submissions for the SLANTS contest I can forward those people on to the right place.
Other suggestions:
1. Since you will already be running one constraint in your contest (entries must use SLANTS music, right?) I don't think you need to run categories, because that constraint *IS* the category. Just my suggestion.
2. You may want to create a SLANTS AMV Contest opener video.
3. Time Estimates: Take your maximum time length, multiply it by the number of submissions you will allow in the contest, then add about 20%. Or, do this backwards: Pick a total duration for the event, take 80% of that, divide by the max. duration allowed for one AMV, and THAT limits the number of entries to be shown in the event.
4. If you're running several prizes, tell people what the prize categories ARE: Each prize definition should provide some sort of goals about how an AMV should be made so it satisfies the prize criterion. That way the contestants will know how to tweak their AMVs to distinguish themselves from the field in order to shoot for one particular prize if they want.
5. Decide how you will choose the winners. Audience Vote? (if so, by ballot or by cheery volume?) Band's Favorite? Some other Judging panel? A mix? (i.e, Audience vote counts as one point per ballot, a band member's vote counts as 20 point? 10pts? 50pts? Does the drummer get more or fewer points per vote than lead guitar?) Whatever YOU want!!!!
6. If the audience is to be polled (by ballot, show-of-hands vote, or cheery volume, or whatever) then you should think about some way for them to quickly review ALL the entries. Short 'best of' clips seem to work OK. Projecting an array of still frame captures might also work, if you have an entertainer or em-cee on the stage pointing to the stills with a laser pointer, maybe?
7. If you get more entries than you have time for, so that you have to thin the herd, do you notify the people who placed into the contest? What about the people who were cut? Do you announce a playlist in advance?
8 Here's another possibility: You could do the whole thing on-line, with a download site for qualified entries, and some sort of voting scheme. (What do you do if somebody with nothing but TIME and BANDWIDTH d/ls his favorite choice 372 times so he gets to vote 372 times on the site?) Then show the winners of the on-line poll at the band's show! If you had 8 entries and three prizes, you could show them in reverse order of votes, which would mean the runner-ups get shown first, and then your announcer can say "NOW - Here is the THIRD PLACE"
<yaaaayyyyy>
"Here is the SECOND PLACE"
<YYYAAAAAYYYYYYY>
"And Now, for FIRST PLACE!!!"
(Thunderous cheers)
Anyways these are just some ideas off the top of my head - take them if you need them...
And working together at Kumoricon if we are there this year would be a great idea, make a nice transition!
I really like the idea of the band finishing up the music set, then leading into projecting the SLANT-AMV contest (or online winners) on the screen, and then moving into meet-and-greet as a cool-down event, especially if band-owned A/V equipment has to be changed over to Kumoricon equipment, sound guys re-calibrated, etc.
INSERT STUPID JOKE HERE:
Q: How many roadies does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: "Two. - Two, two. - Check. - One. Two. Check..."
You guys need to alert Programming that you will need extra time length added to your slot so you can include your AMVs. If I'm following on after you, then *I* need to alert Programming so they don't accidentally make YOUR time extension shave into MY 3-hour time slot. o_o,
Again, [1] BEST of LUCK, [2] HAVE FUN!!! and [3] People who submit to the SLANTS are certainly welcome to submit to the Regular Kumoricon Contest as long as they meet the regular Kumoricon rules and deadline.
