Anime USA 2023 AMV Contest [WINNER'S ANNOUNCED! Third Post]

[yokochan2010]

After a 3 year hiatus, Anime USA's AMV Contest is BACK! I am the new coordinator and while we have a really short turnaround this year, I hope to put on a great show! So without further ado, here are our rules for this year!

** Live Action videos are allowed! See the rules for specific instructions! **
** Because of our hiatus, our "Freshness Rule" is updated for 2023! **

This year’s events are as follows:

The Main AMV Contest: This is your standard AMV contest, and any AMVs submitted to this should be for a general convention audience. I would say be aware of the potential for people under the age of 15 to be in attendance. Any AMV disqualified due to content will be shifted to the Halloween Horror Contest or an After Hours showcase dependent upon the Editor’s request.

AMV Showcase: AUSA AMV Staff will choose videos that did not make the final cut. If an AMV is disqualified but it falls within the rules of the main contest, it will be shown here time permitting. You may also request to have a video go directly into this showcase. The AMV staff will determine what content will be placed in this panel. Videos going directly into the showcases will not count against the amount of videos allowed for the submission in the contests.

AMV Panels: Do you like AMVs and want to share thoughts you have about them? Do you make AMVs? Are you an AMV Judge at another con? If you wish to discuss AMVs then apply for a panel spot! The AMV Coordinator will inform anyone of accepted panels, and the panel times. These panels are for anything to do with AMV's, your top 10, your best editing tips, your best tips to have AMV's judged well in contests. Also if you wish to have 18+ content please inform us on your panel submission. You do not need to be an editor or staff to present a panel.

**Due to time constraints, we will not have any 18+ programming this year. We hope to bring these events back in 2024!**

Anime USA 2018 AMV Contest Rules:

Submissions will be accepted starting July 30, 2023.
Submission deadline: September 3rd, 2023 by 11:59pm Pacific time.

1) This rule should go without saying, but plagiarism will NOT be tolerated! Any attempt to submit work that is not your own will result in disqualification, your video will not appear in a showcase, and you will be BLACKLISTED from competing in future AUSA contests!

2) Each person/studio may submit up to 3 AMV’s in total in 3 separate categories.
*NOTE*: If you are part of a studio, you may submit AMV’s either as yourself or as the studio. You are still limited to the submission limits of each contest no matter which association you apply to each video.

3) No nudity, offensive language or excessive violence or gore. The audience for this will be a general, all age audience! This will be evaluated during judging, if it is noticed before the submission window ends, you will be contacted to see if you can edit the video for submission here.

4) "Freshness Rule": Normally AMV Contests only allow you to submit videos made in the last year. Because of our long absence, we will be accepting AMVs within the last 3 years for this year only, any video made AFTER September 2020 can be submitted! If you've submitted the video to other contests, it cannot have won 3 or more major awards at previous contests. Major awards include Best in Show and Best in Category awards (Judges and Coordinator's Choice awards do not count).

5) Ensure your Video is between one minute and six minutes in length, exception is the trailer/parody category where the minimum length is 30 seconds. If the trailer/parody category is combined with comedy, the exception will still be given.

6) You may use footage from video games, anime, Japanese live action or any other content as well as you may even use stop motion footage you created yourself*. Your AMV must contain at least 75% content from works inspired by Japanese video games or Japanese anime. You must conform to the general audience rating with all footage no matter where you get it from. Some examples of such animation that is inspired by Japanese anime or video games would be the new Netflix Voltron, Avatar the Last Air Bender and Korra, Legend of Vox Machina, this list is not complete and videos will be judged on a case by case basis. This rule does not apply to non-competing videos.
*Exception is the Live Action Category where you may use any sources of live action content and not just Japanese live action content. To qualify for this category you must have more than 60% live action content. Special Note: Live Action AMV’s will be looked at hard for content due to the realistic portrayal of blood and violence.*

7) Dubbed audio from licensed content is not allowed. You may record your own dialog but you cannot take the script and read it!

8) Do not include any subtitles from your original sources. You may however add in your own as long as you do not just copy the subtitles. Game footage and live action content are included in this; you must have a clean capture. This includes credits and logos!

9) Do not include any bumpers or credits for your video, Title cards will be made by the AUSA AMV Staff to introduce your video in the finals. This includes editor names and video titles being placed before, after, or anywhere during the video.

10) Do not use any commercial studio logos or other forms of watermarks that you did not create yourself as a parody of said logo or your own logo. NO FORM OF REFERENCE TO THE MPAA ITSELF WHAT SO EVER. Do not try to cover up watermarks with your own, we do see these, and repeated violations of this rule may be enforced in any way the AMV staff and Coordinator deem appropriate, up to and including permanent banning for contest and/or showcase submissions.

11) With the exception of the Trailer/Parody category, excessive narration or dialog could be grounds for disqualification.

12) Submissions should not contain unaltered video from your audio selection’s official music video. If this is seen even in sections of your AMV it may be grounds for disqualification.

13) Attendance to the Convention is not needed to enter, our request to know if you will be at the convention is for our informational use only. We love calling people up and handing you your prize in recognition of your hard work! Please come to the convention if you can!

14) Anime USA AMV Staff and any Judges are precluded from entering this AMV contest. (This means other Anime USA staff can submit to this contest if they wish).

15) We reserve the right to reject or disqualify any entry for any reason; all rules here are subject to change and will be applied equally to all submissions once posted. An FAQ will be posted if it seems that a rule is ambiguous. Some AMV’s may be disqualified from the contests but may show up in a showcase and this is at AMV staff discretion.

16) All submissions must be attributed to an entry into the Google Docs form for submissions. The File name MUST match exactly to the question asking for the file name! This is to make sure we can match your video up with your entry to properly judge it.

17) All submissions become the property of Anime USA and will not be returned and may be used in panels or showcasing subsequent to the actual contest airing, proper credit will always be given to the editor if it is used in any form what so ever.

18) Anime USA AMV staff may alter the rules at any time. Any change that is enacted is retroactive to the beginning of the submission window and any video affected will be communicated to the Editor(s) at that time.

19) All decisions by Anime USA’s AMV staff are final.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, as I strive to answer any question put to me no matter how trivial it may seem, by emailing sage.childress@animeusa.org.

The Main AMV Contest categories:
Action
Comedy
Drama
Trailer/Parody
Upbeat
Romance
Live Action

**Please note: Categories of similar vibes may be combined if submissions are low, for example, Comedy and Trailer/Parody will be combined. Combination is at the discretion of AMV Staff**

Anime USA AMV Staff will judge the entries to determine the finalists, and then the finalists will be presented to the attendee audience to vote. Awards will be given to AMV’s that are Best in Category, Best in show, Director’s choice and Judge’s choice. Second place will be announced and recorded. There may be other awards given at the discretion of the AMV staff.

This year, we are moving to an all digital format! What does this mean? You will have a place in the Google Form below to upload your video directly into the folder for the AMV staff to access for judging! At con voting will also be digitally done via Google Forms!

The deadline for receipt of all forms of submissions is September 3rd, 2023 by 11:59pm. Extensions will not be given unless the AUSA AMV Staff decides it is warranted, please let us know if there are problems and we will inform you if there is an extension warranted. Because of the limited time, extensions will be HIGHLY limited!

During judging of the submissions if there is an issue with your submission we will contact you to allow you to address or dispute the issue, and if you are able to correct or submit a different video, in place of the video with the issue, by the submission deadline that will be accepted. If you accidentally submit the wrong file, you may email the file to me and I can get it replaced within the Drive folder.

All submissions must meet the following standards:

Files must be in either mp4, mkv, or avi format (mp4 and mkv preferred). These files must also be smaller than 1GB.
Video resolution is to be either 1080p or 720p. If you're using sources that were never released on blu-ray, a case can be made for a 460p resolution (if this is you, email me before submitting).
Audio should be at least 128 kbps. I'm unsure of the equipment in the room as this is my first time running this contest, but this way your video is the best quality it can be regardless of our equipment.

Submission information:

Submissions will be required to have the Google Doc form filled out with the corresponding CORRECT file name. We need you to copy and paste the file name so that we can easily identify your video in the corresponding video folder. You will be able to submit your video file alongside your form submission to be dropped into the Drive folder automatically. Please do not use VARIOUS when you have multiple anime/song sources, please list all sources up to a minimum of six sources. We will list various in many cases, but we need to confirm sources for judging. Use the following links for your submissions:
 
AMV Submission Link for Contest and Showcasing:

https://forms.gle/veQzfAYkkCpah3Sf8

**Note: If you get an error on this form saying the limit’s been reached, please email me and let me know so I can relocate some files to my hard drive and make more room**

UPDATE 8/14/23: If you would like to submit a panel for the AMV room, we are accepting submissions through September 3rd. You DO NOT have to go through AUSA's panel form to submit! Just send me an email (sage.childress@animeusa.org) with your panel name, description, length, and time of day you prefer to run it. The AMV room hours this year are as follows:

Friday 10 am-10 pm (The Contest will run from 6-9 pm)
Saturday 9 am-10 pm (The Contest will run from 1-4 PM AND 7-10 PM)
Sunday 9 am-3 pm (The Contest Awards will run from 12-2 and will potentially close the room for the con)

We will try to schedule your panel to your preferences as best as we can!

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to shoot me an email at sage.childress@animeusa.org.

Thank you so much for your interest and I'm excited to see what you guys have done in our absence!

Mako-chan
Sage Childress
Anime USA AMV Track Director

[yokochan2010]

Here are your 2023 Finalists!

(Categories are in alphabetical order and I'll be listing editors names instead of video names so as to keep the content a secret!)

Action:
ThatOneGuy
SpuddStaaa
Kokoro Hane
Rider4Z
Speedy180

Comedy:
Kireblue
Toon Addict Productions
Cirera
hilovids
[Under The Box Productions] Davis 51

Drama:
SilkAMV
Cirera
Silent Hero Studios
SonsofKorhal9
hilovids

Live Action:
Rider4Z
Melee!
Silvercoat
l33tmeatwad
PWcagal

Romance:
xEliichanx
Tyken
HDruid
cdlang84
Seasaltmemories

Trailer/Parody:
SpuddStaaa
thefanvideoer2
Melee!
Silvercoat
l33tmeatwad

Upbeat:
ThatOneGuy
Sonicfreak1111
SonsofKorhal9
Speedy180
Silvercoat

[yokochan2010]

WINNER'S LIST

My staff and I are still in the midst of recovering from the convention, but we are proud to present this year's winners!

Remember I said the judging was competitive for a finalist spot? The members of Anime USA were ALSO competitive, most categories came down to a one point difference separating the winner and runner up!

I will list all the videos in the category and will italicize the runner up, and will bold and underline the winner. We also had some honorable mention certificates given to us so I'll be listing those too. Since we had 5 and I had 4 staff plus a helper, I allowed the 5 of them to pick their favorites. When we pick those, judge's and director's choice, we look at all videos, not just the ones who make the finals, which is why they are listed separate from the category winners.

Without further ado...

The Anime USA 2023 AMV Contest Winners

This list is in order of presentation as opposed to alphabetical by category.

Trailer/Parody:
Ultimate High School Jury Duty by SpuddStaaa - Runner Up
Don't Look Up Your Name by thefanvideoer2 - Winner
DJ Rebel by Melee!
Typhoon by Silvercoat
Gene Lightyear by l33meatwad

Drama:
Proeliis Liberorum by SilkAMV
Sharpies by Cirera - Runner Up
Follow Me by Silent Hero Studios - Winner
A Guiding Light by SonsofKorhal9
eX memoirs by hilovids

Action:
Lose Control by ThatOneGuy
The Beach Episode of Sports by SpuddStaaa
Rising Impact by Kokoro Hane
Night Crawlers by Rider4Z - Runner Up
Dancing with Blades by Speedy180 - Winner

Upbeat:
This is Anime by ThatOneGuy
Help! These officers are too cute... by Sonicfreak1111 - Runner Up
Take Me With You by SonsofKorhal9
Food Porn by Speedy180 - Winner
Final Final Final Fantasy Adventure by Silvercoat

Live Action:
UnstoppabEL by Rider4Z
Sing for the Revolution by Melee!
An Eggcellent Adventure by Silvercoat - Winner
I Got an Elephant by l33tmeatwad
Meet Me at Midnight by Pwcagal - Runner Up

Romance:
Light Me Up by xEliichanx
Aggressive Years by Tyken - Runner Up
Still With You by HDruid - Winner
Reach For Each Other by cdlang84
Flying Freely by Seasaltmemories

Comedy:
True Facts by Kireblue
Pop Epic Rhapsody by Toon Addict Productions - Runner Up
A Million Gruesome Ways to Die by Cirera
I'm Just Tamaken by hilovids - Winner
Attack on (some) Titans 2 - The Final Season - The Thrilling Conclusion by [Under The Box Productions] Davis 51

Honorable Mentions:
Tracey's Pick: Night Crawlers by Rider4Z
Colorful_Ami's Pick: The Beach Episode of Sports by SpuddStaaa
Princess Mareep's Pick: Proeliis Liberorum by SilkAMV
Saku's Pick: Hickhouse Stories by SilkAMV
Jonathan's Pick: Tribute to the Shield Hero by Speedy180

Judge's Choice:
Long Live the Kings by ResyAMV

Director's Choice:
Reach for Each Other by cdlang84

Best in Show:
Runner Up: True Facts by Kireblue
Winner: I'm Just Tamaken by hilovids

Here is the finalist playlist on Youtube! Not every finalist video appears here but if you're a finalist and have since published the video please DM me the link and I'll add it!

Again, thank you everyone for a wonderful first year and congrats to all the winners! I'll be contacting the winners and honorable mentions soon as we had physical awards! Note: Please allow 6-8 weeks for all award deliveries.

[SynaesthesiaVideos]

I tried uploading a video but your google drive is saying it exceeds the 10 MB limit. You might want to see if you can fix that since most AMVs are more than 100MB

[yokochan2010]

I tried uploading a video but your google drive is saying it exceeds the 10 MB limit. You might want to see if you can fix that since most AMVs are more than 100MB

Will do! Thank you for letting me know!

EDIT: Okay, I've changed the setting, so it should be all good to go! Go ahead and refresh the form and you should be good!

[SynaesthesiaVideos]

I tried uploading a video but your google drive is saying it exceeds the 10 MB limit. You might want to see if you can fix that since most AMVs are more than 100MB

Will do! Thank you for letting me know!

EDIT: Okay, I've changed the setting, so it should be all good to go! Go ahead and refresh the form and you should be good!

awesome! I just sent 3 videos

[SilkAMV]

Because of our long absence, we will be accepting AMVs within the last 3 years for this year only, any video made AFTER September 2020 can be submitted! If you've submitted the video to other contests, it cannot have won 3 or more major awards at previous contests.

This seems counter-intuitive. The longer a video has been around, the more likely it is to have won multiple awards. I have no problem with an awards limit, but in this case it handicaps your three-year extension. I'm just curious if that's intentional.

[TritioAFB]

I agree with Silk. Personally I would prefer to see something fresh from many authors I know instead of just seeing that a very well known video is in the contest and probably will win it. You should add a rule for videos that have won awards already

[yokochan2010]

Thank you both for the feedback! The original intention behind the freshness rule being extended to include 3 years of AMVs was to encompass the 3 years AUSA did not have a contest whether it was because there was no con due to the pandemic, or our department's absence last year. I agree with the fresher the video, the better, but another concern we had was the short amount of time I had to put together the contest. I've been on this department a number of years and I only found out this week that we were at risk of not having another contest this year, so I stepped up to make sure that didn't happen. It was either do this rule or do a Best of the Best of AUSA contest, but then you're still seeing older videos that date back at least to 2016. I can assure you that the freshness rule will return to normal next year. (If it helps all the entries we have received since opening the contest (because I think they missed when I said I'd be accepting entries on 7/30, I appreciate the enthusiasm!) have been made within the last year.)

[Kireblue]

Because of our long absence, we will be accepting AMVs within the last 3 years for this year only, any video made AFTER September 2020 can be submitted! If you've submitted the video to other contests, it cannot have won 3 or more major awards at previous contests.

This seems counter-intuitive. The longer a video has been around, the more likely it is to have won multiple awards. I have no problem with an awards limit, but in this case it handicaps your three-year extension. I'm just curious if that's intentional.

Doesn't seem counter intuitive to me. There are plenty of videos that my have been released over the last 3 years but not necessarily won a lot. The 2 rules actually balance each other out in my opinion