Print

[WorldDominationStudios]

From the official standards:

Video:

MPEG2, AVI and MP4s accepted.
Frame rate should be either 23.97 or 29.97.
Please use resolutions of 720x480 or 1280x720. Higher resolutions will be scaled down.
Please compress your video- don’t send us your original uncompressed copy. While we don’t have a limit on filesize, we would prefer to not have to download 500MB+ videos!

Audio:

• 192 Kilobits per second or better
• Choose stereo over joint stereo for best quality
• Sample at 44.1Khz

Now, here's what I don't get. The only reason I can imagine for having such uniform standards is that all the videos get spliced together into one large file. BUT if this is the case, then the 720x480 videos wouldn't mix with the 1280x720 videos. On the other hand, if every video gets its own file, we could have 48khz audio, weird resolutions like 752x320, PAL/SECAM framerates, whatever.

So what's the deal?

EDIT: also, is there an unofficial requirement that these be ANIME music videos, or can I send in my Star Wars music video and Aliens music video?

[WorldDominationStudios]

Can I get an answer soon? I'm about to begin rebuilding one of my videos in Fanimecon-compliant form and I need to know how much wiggle room I have.

[le_momo]

I definitely cannot answer for them myself, but it might be a good idea to email them if you're expecting a prompt response. Unless they changed it (which is highly doubtful in my opinion), their email is fmvATfanimeDOTcom.

Hope you find out what you want to know!

[Gaki]

Hi WDS,

Sorry for the late reply. For future reference, if you have a question off-season you'll probably have better luck emailing us at fmv (at) fanime.com. We don't check these forums daily in the off-season.

The easy answer is, yes, all the finalist videos are spliced together into one file. It's easier for the coordinators and the staff & volunteers who run the program. The show is rendered out at 1280x720. Smaller, 4:3 videos aren't stretched but just fill up the space they naturally would and remain 4:3. This is pretty practice common for AMV competitions.

As of 2014 there were no official rules that videos be anime or VG-sourced only, but that may be subject to change in 2015. The rules aren't decided yet and some things may be changing. You can expect the new rules to go up sometime early next year. Submitting your video won't be possible until then, so there's no rush to get your video formatted for our show just yet.

[WorldDominationStudios]

The easy answer is, yes, all the finalist videos are spliced together into one file. It's easier for the coordinators and the staff & volunteers who run the program. The show is rendered out at 1280x720. Smaller, 4:3 videos aren't stretched but just fill up the space they naturally would and remain 4:3. This is pretty practice common for AMV competitions.

okay so how do you get rectangular pixels to play nice with the square pixels? Do the 720x480 videos get squooshed to a 3:2 aspect ratio? Do you resize them to 640x480? Or what?

[SquishyK]

The easy answer is, yes, all the finalist videos are spliced together into one file. It's easier for the coordinators and the staff & volunteers who run the program. The show is rendered out at 1280x720. Smaller, 4:3 videos aren't stretched but just fill up the space they naturally would and remain 4:3. This is pretty practice common for AMV competitions.

okay so how do you get rectangular pixels to play nice with the square pixels? Do the 720x480 videos get squooshed to a 3:2 aspect ratio? Do you resize them to 640x480? Or what?

I think what they are saying is that if you would like a higher resolution 1280x720 then go ahead and make the videos at the higher resolution. They might be resized but they will maintain the original aspect ratio (will not be distorted or clipped).

[WorldDominationStudios]

No, I'm not at all interested in making videos larger than 1280x720. I'm interested in making a fullscreen, standard-definition video and I need to know:

1) How it will play back if I make it at 720x480 with rectangular pixels, and
2) How it will play back if I make it at 640x480 with square pixels?

The answers to these questions depend entirely on how you merge the square-pixel footage with the rectangular-pixel footage. As I asked in my last post, do the 720x480 videos with rectangular pixels get squooshed to a 3:2 aspect ratio with square pixels? Do you resize them to 640x480 with square pixels? Will a video done in 640x480 with square pixels be played back at a 6:5 aspect ratio with rectangular pixels because you're expecting it to be 720x480? Do the final spliced-together videos use one of those weird container formats that allow different parts of the video to have different framerates, different pixel aspect ratios, etc.? Or what?

[Gaki]

From the coordinator: The aspect ratio requirements, like the majority of the rules for the contest, were carried over from the prior years' rules. I took over mere months before the con so my team and I didn't have much time to come up with a rule sheet or make changes. This will be amended in 2015. Videos were still allowed through the judging this year so long as they were at least 640x480.

There's still plenty of time before the contest and we're still in the midst of planning new rules and prizes. Please hold on for a little bit while we try to get everything in place on our end.

[WorldDominationStudios]

Okay. The reason why I'm jumping on this so early is that I'd like to circulate a sort of rough draft and tweak the video according to the feedback that I get, so that the version that I submit to Fanimecon will be as polished and complete as possible... and I'd rather not have to scrap the Premiere Project file and start all over again from nothing if the resolution or PAR will cause issues.

[WorldDominationStudios]

So, any word yet on what the standards this year will be?