P-R-M, Thank you for addressing the bunch of questions that arose recently in this thread. Let me add a few clarifications here and there.
The deadline for the contest is 5:30 PM on July 25th and must be received by mail. Meaning it must be in their hands on that date, not on the way. 
We also accept e-mail messages to:
guy1656
[at]
opusnet
[dot]
com
^ (...attempting to fool spambots...)
..and if they have a download URL or a link to a d/l page at a site like
www.animemusicvideos.org then we can d/l them instead of actually burning and mailing a disk. HOWEVER, the deadline is still the same day 25-Jul-06, and I will d/l until 8:30pm. The 5:30pm deadline on the same day is about the time I will be dropping by the rented mailbox for the con. If it's not in the box then it's TOO LATE.
The 8:30pm deadline is just IN CASE I get crushed with e-mails in the last few days. Last year wasn't too bad; the last of the e-mail d/l requests came in about Tuesday, or 72 hrs before the drop-dead hour. Most of the CDs came in in the last week of before the deadline day.
... if there are any encounter problems with it, such as it not playing correctly or not playing at all, you'll be notified and will have two weeks to re-encode it into a different format. This applies to any video that doesn't play correctly.
Close, again. Bottom line is that there has to be at least SOMETHING that the judges can watch on the day they convene. It's nearly impossible to round them ALL up again between the panel day and the con itself. Although it never happened yet [...!] I would tend to try to play the AMV on some other system - anything I could scrounge up - so the judges get a CHANCE at including it in the contest. THEN, I'd contact the creator and we'd try to get SOME format that will play on the Shuttle box I've used to date.
It should definitely be noted that any WMV, ASF, SWF, MOV formats or SVCD disks will be rejected outright.
YES.
The two weeks given to re-encode a video into a preferred format applies to any entries encoded with these formats as well.
NOT NECESSARILY:
(1) Certain formats, especially streaming or privacy non-compliant formats such as SWF or YouTube links, may not be evaluated at all. However, the entrant will be contacted that some other format is required. There must not be any way that commercial 3rd parties can monitor when a file is being viewed, from where, or by whom. That's a minimum baseline for privacy. This is why d/l sites which require registration, logins, passwords, or cookies are *NOT* suitable for contest entries.
(2) Depending on my shooting schedule, SVCD disks or Windows Movie Maker-made WMVs may be converted into targets at any time. 8-D
Overused series can be rather tempting...
DRAMA-1 amv's set to overused series can be especially irresistable...
JUST KIDDING - I actually try my darnedest to make sure EVERY entry gets its best possible chance to play for the judges.
Lastly, About file names:
*SOME* conventions require onerous exactitude with AMV file names.
Guess What:
I *don't.*
As long as you tell me the AMV title, your name, your city and town (used for push-pins on the planet type of statistic, and it's kept private) and you provide me some way to contact you in the event of a question or for shipping details for PRIZES (yay!): postal address, an e-mail address, or a forum nick on
www.animemusicvideos.org, then you are GOOD to GO.
If you have any other questions please be sure to e-mail me for fastest response.
Posting here is okay, but my work blocks my access (I can view only, but not post,) and since I don't spend *every* evening on forum boards,** that means that, compared to e-mails, it can take me a couple of days or more to respond to forum activity.
By the way, there are also no limits or restrictions on:
- how long ago you made your AMV
- other conventions or contests where your AMV may have played
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE ! ! ! !
**Must WATCH anime SOMETIME, right?!?
