LIVE BLOGGING FROM THE AMV JUDGES' PANEL!

[Prinz Eugen]

OK - I'll do approximately 2-hourly updates (or sooner!)

They decided to start with the Japanese Music category.
They eliminated one entry that was 5min 51 sec long. (Reason: TOO LONG!)

Japanese Music lost one entry.

Drama-2 (Upbeat Romance) passed intact, but they need to prune out 3 entries for the category max of SIX.

Old School: 3 entries received. One DQ'd due to exposure. With two left, the judges may close the category and move the other two entries into the remaining categories.

They are saving Drama-1 (Dark/Serious/Dull/Boring) for last, and are pulling works from other categories, which may displace the least exciting entries in this category.

They are now working on Action. One or two of these have been re-routed to Drama-1.

[Prinz Eugen]

One of the judges has brought 3 bottles of 2005 Cotes du Rhone, and another has brought a vin de table of the region.
We are answering with a magnum of 2005 white burgundy (Graves) and a blush Rioja (2007)

OK *real* news. They enjoyed at least EIGHT of the 'Action/Effects' AMVs and they are considering splitting the category into TWO separates, 'Action-1' and 'Effects-2' so that TWO prizes can be awarded.

Congratulations to ALL YOU 'Action & Effects' AMV editors!

[Prinz Eugen]

The judges have SPLIT 'Action' and 'Effects' in TWO, and they have selected FIVE 'Action' entries, and FOUR 'Effects' entries.
They have decided to save 'Random Amusement' for last, and have begin the grim and dirty work of ploughing through 'Drama-1.'

One judge jokingly suggested using a d20 (which he actually BROUGHT - see, we *do* have hardcore gamers on the panel!) to eliminate AMVs sight unseen, but several others shouted him down and suggested that they ought to give each entry at least five seconds...

Three entries from other categories have been re-routed to Drama-1, so they are now evaluating TWENTY-TWO entries for SIX slots.
Several judges are pleased that the creators who insist on using Final Fantasy seem to have improved greatly. Mouth movements are much more in sync with lyrics/dialogue than ever before. (Congratulations editors!!!)

[Prinz Eugen]

They have whittled down 22 Drama entries to SEVEN, and will take a second look later.
I don't think the Korean animation made the cut; I will probably take that one personally and run it in the AMV Show.

Meanwhile the judges have moved on to Drama-2.

I am grilling mixed vegetables (a head-start on the marinated steaks) over hardwood charcoal and mesquite chunks with water, red wine vinegar and a splash of rum and of port wine, and minced garlic and rosemary. I have also cast some of the garlic and dried rosemary leaves directly onto the coals; this produces a thick, aromatic smoke so that the vegetables will taste like something tasty, rather than vegetables.

More Drama-2 in progress, and 'Random Amusement' still to come!

[Prinz Eugen]

Drama-2 is down to seven entries as well, and
now ON TO RANDOM!!!

[Prinz Eugen]

Random did VERY well.

There is some contention about how 'spicy' a certain fan service video ought to be...
We've got fingers on pantsu going on so (ahem...)

Utena girl-on-girl kisses and Gravitation male/male kisses were kicked out (I will pick them up in 'Mature,') mostly because we are at TWO hours TEN minutes and the goal is a NINETY MINUTE show. One of the Utenas was over FIVE minutes long, so it was bounced because of TIME rather than CONTENT. (I may show it in the off-hours Mature show, though, but I may *can* it partway through if the audience gets BORED.)

At this time the vids getting cut are GOOD videos. The judges LIKE them. (Congrats to the editors!!)
They are now cutting for TIME.

This is the part that hurts. (at least ME.)
The entries getting cut are all GOOD-JOB amv's
... it's the 'total show duration' clock that's killing them...

ALMOST DONE NOW...

[Prinz Eugen]

OKAY! The mighty judges are DONE with CUTTING.
They are now determining the playlist sequences: the order of the categories and the order of the AMVs within each category.

Total contest time is ONE HOUR, FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES long - longer than ever; another NEW RECORD for Kumoricon!
It is *so* exciting to see us GROW like this!!!

I will get final category totals, series, and country stats sometime tomorrow...

While they are all here I will have the team evaluate the AMV SHOW (Including contest entry runner-ups they have just cut) to see if some of the entries can snuggle in amongst the BEST OF 2007/2008 which I have been compiling since September 2007...

We have about one hour, twenty minutes total for the SHOW.
This will be the first time I have asked a panel to assist me with the SHOW; but
compared to last year which went overnight and through Sunday afternoon
(in part because several judges FLAKED OUT on showing up ... grrrr)
the current team is VERY efficient.

My thanks to the judges (they will read this here later)
and uber-ur-thanks to EVERY AMV EDITOR who contributed!!!!

[TohmaSeguchi]

OKAY! The mighty judges are DONE with CUTTING.
They are now determining the playlist sequences: the order of the categories and the order of the AMVs within each category.

Total contest time is ONE HOUR, FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES long - longer than ever; another NEW RECORD for Kumoricon!
It is *so* exciting to see us GROW like this!!!

I will get final category totals, series, and country stats sometime tomorrow...

While they are all here I will have the team evaluate the AMV SHOW (Including contest entry runner-ups they have just cut) to see if some of the entries can snuggle in amongst the BEST OF 2007/2008 which I have been compiling since September 2007...

We have about one hour, twenty minutes total for the SHOW.

This will be the first time I have asked a panel to assist me with the SHOW; but
compared to last year which went overnight and through Sunday afternoon
(in part because several judges FLAKED OUT on showing up ... grrrr)
the current team is VERY efficient.

My thanks to the judges (they will read this here later)
and uber-ur-thanks to EVERY AMV EDITOR who contributed!!!!

Wow.....it's almost two hours? That's pretty damn impressive for Kumoricon! Makes me glad that there's so much competition going on.

Not sure if you answered this or not......but we won't know who got into the show till Kumoricon itself, right?

*keeps an eye on the thread*
-Altair/Heero

[Prinz Eugen]

The judges narrrowed their final fav's to FIVE entries.
They were kinda stuck, and TALKING rather than DECIDING.

So I took out a stack of poker chips, gave each judge 3 chips and said vote for 1-1-1, 1-2 or all 3 on your fav.
This process determined a winner handily!

Now onwards with evaluating the AMV SHOW, which will be 1 hr 20 min.

Goodnight everybody; the Kumoricon 2008 AMV Contest is READY for you all!

(Now I have to crank out the Contest Opener!!!
Auuuuggghh!!!)

[Prinz Eugen]

We have SIXTY-FIVE minutes to play with.
We have committed THIRTY-EIGHT min so far...

Only two or three AMV contest submissions have made it into the show so far - ther is some REALLY stiff competition...

More runner-ups have been placed into the AMV Pre-show than the Show itself.

[Prinz Eugen]

Well they're ALL Done now and we have a Sixty-Five minute AMV Show to follow the contest.

I will post some other stats over the next day or so about how many runner-ups made it into the show, etc,

Mean while, GOOD NIGHT everyone!!!

[BlackjackGabbiani]

It seems that you've rated some vids mature because they have same-sex kisses in them, and that's unfair.

I mean, if it's the Utena kiss I'm thinking of, mature could go because they're both naked at the time, but that's a seperate issue.

[Prinz Eugen]

The coordinator (me) has no votes on the judges' panel.
I was only reporting what they were doing and saying.

My instructions to the judges were to:
a) consider the contest guidelines (including what is PG or not,)
b) consider which entries would be most entertaining to the audience, and
c) ask for a total time for the show.

From there on, I let go of the rudder and observe the results.

This was the first time I have ever posted the process as it goes, by the way. Also, they were at a point where everything had indeed passed as far as category definitions, but one of the Utenas was way over the time limit (almost six minutes long) and the cuts at that time were being made

mostly because we are at TWO hours TEN minutes.

Remember, the only issue I discuss or negotiate with the panel is the total time of the contest. Also note that since we got over nine-thousand over seventy vids this year, I reconsidered what the total time of the show might best be - expanding from a 75-90 min range to end up at over an hour and three quarters (which is in favour of the AMV editors.)

Longer AMVs become bigger, juicier targets at this stage in the process.
This is also one of the reasons that makes the Drama categories somewhat difficult to break into.
For some reason, when people make dramas they often extend right up to the original time limit (in this case 4min 40sec) and more than a few go over-time as well.

In any case, I believe that eight heads working together came up with a VERY entertaining show for the audience - the best show ever.

Of course the people to thank for that are the AMV editors themselves.

[Prinz Eugen]

It seems that you've rated some vids mature because they have same-sex kisses in them, and that's unfair.

I thank you for this comment, and I take it seriously.

Although the judges have dispersed to the four winds, I was able to re-contact two of them for clarification. They said that while content was a topic of discussion, the PRIMARY, over-riding reasons those got culled was for video quality. They looked like they had been made from fansubs.

On further reflection, you are indeed correct: thinking strictly about the LOGIC of the situation, once any category has 6 slots max and, say, 8 entries that fully satisfy the category criteria, then any criterion used to eliminate any of the 8 videos must be technically unfair, because it is going beyond the written, defined criteria (which were indeed fully satisfied.)

And that's the stage of the game where I kinda feel a bit sad, especially for the international entries. Often I've exchanged a couple of personal, non-contest related chit-chat emails by then ('What is the weather like in your area?') and so it's like watching your garden of fresh blossoms get crushed underfoot one by one. I alluded to that near the end of the post you are quoting.

Lastly, the reason they are going to the late-night slot is MOSTLY because when I looked at the 'Best of' AMV Show, I had collected FOURTY-THREE AMVs (these are not contest submissions.) With the duration of the Contest growing to nearly two hours in my three-and-a-half hour block, I only had about sixty-five minutes for the Show. This culled the show down to the snazziest, sparkliest effects and action videos, plus some good Comedy. (At the mini-con that's all they wanted: Action and Comedy.) So the Show is down to ELEVEN entries (a 75% reduction!) and therefore the only free-for-all, open block left for runner-ups will be the 10pm - 2am event.

ALL RIGHT! Off with the contest OP!!!
(Now it's MY job to do MY best for all of YOU!)

[BlackjackGabbiani]

then any criterion used to eliminate any of the 8 videos must be technically unfair, because it is going beyond the written, defined criteria (which were indeed fully satisfied.)

But using a blanket undefined criteria is one thing. Using a double standard--ie, these two characters kissing is OK, but these two aren't by nature of their sexes--is entirely another.

Quality of image sounds like a fair thing to eliminate something for, but that's not the way it was worded.

[superjaz]

wow....BEST BLOG EVER!!1
(and yes i DO know of the doc horrible blog and i stand by my statement)

and the bbq sounded really good i might have to try the tossing garlic in the coals next time i grill

Chris (who has 2 enteries in the random amusement) gulped a bit when he read the part "lot of GOOD JOBS" were cut, and said crap,
sounds like we are in for a really good show this year
i <3 amv's

[TohmaSeguchi]

Can't wait to see the contest.....should be really good! *is excited*
-Altair/Heero