Messages

Yep! I will post that tonight!

Sorry. Didn't get a chance to post these tonight. I will post the new numbers on Monday night. Cheers!

Yep! I will post that tonight!

[Wednesday April 24th]

All confirmation emails for entries received have been sent out as of Wednesday April 24th. If you sent us something and have not gotten an email back, please contact us asap!

We will continue to post updates as we get more entries. Cheers!

Please remember the hard deadline is May 1st! Also, everyone that has received a confirmation email as of tonight has been awarded the bonus points for submitting by April 24th. Congrats!

So, I sent an entry a few weeks ago on the 4th, and I never got an email saying it was received. Should I send it again?

Hi khyaoiness!
We just doubled checked and we had sent an email out to you for your entry. There should have also been an email regarding needing to confirm your street address. Please just shoot us an email with that info. Also, Tiffany has resent out your confirmation email tonight. Please let me know if any problems come up. Thanks!

We actually check the videos as we go along. Once you've gotten a confirmation email, it means that we checked it and everything is playing just fine. The soft deadline is an "early" deadline where editors can submit early for bonus points added to their scores in the Judge's Panel. These bonus points can make a huge difference in overall score as they are multiplied per judge on the panel. THat is to say the bonus is 2 points per judge!

Yes. Just in case. We're going through another round of entry processing tomorrow night. When as we finish each round we post in the "Email Updates" topic.

http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,18242.0.html

You can send the info as a text attachment, or in the body of the email, or even in two emails.. As far as the entry you can send the zip if it fits, but I would recommend sending us a download link so that you don't have to compress it so much. Let us know what works for you or if you have any questions.

[Wednesday April 18th]

All confirmation emails for entries received have been sent out as of Wednesday April 18th. If you sent us something and have not gotten an email back, please contact us asap!

We will continue to post updates as we get more entries. Cheers!

Please remember the soft deadline with bonus points for early submission is April 24th and the hard deadline is May 1st!

[Action:]

So here's what we have so far for 2013
(please note that it is still early as we usually get a flood of submissions during the last few days before the hard deadline):

Action: 5
Drama: 12
Comedy: 2
Experimental:5

Keep in mind that we usually have enough time per category for 5, maybe 6, entries on average. This is why we have such crazy competition and it hurts us to make cuts. Over the past couple of years we have increased the length of the show from 2 hours up to close to 3 hours as we try to squeeze as many entries as possible into the final show.

For perspective, here are the numbers of each category for the 2012 FMV Contest:

Action: 21
Drama: 18
Comedy: 8
Experimental:6

Please note that the number of entries fluctuates from year to year. We've had years where the total number of entries were close to topping 100 entries from around the world! That being said the ratio of each category seems to stay pretty close to these averages. Last year, every Comedy entry made the cut, but we could always use more as it is a fan favorite!

Let me know what you think!

Hi everyone,
We will be posting the aforementioned updates tomorrow night as well as catching up on all the most current notification emails. If you have sent in your submission(s) but have not gotten an email yet, you will by tomorrow night. Cheers!

My apologies for the extreme delay in response to this. It wasn't brought to my attention until recently.

While I would like take any and all submissions, we would like to maintain the submissions "closer" to anime and/or anime inspired media. However if you feel particularly passionate about your entry, please feel free to send it in. We try to be flexible and thus have been treated to a couple great entries that weren't entirely based on anime.

P.S. Everyone loves a good Danny Phantom. ;)

There should be a option to convert that into a 16:9 aspect ratio by having the converter add black bars so as not to stretch your image. You can do that on your end or send your submission and we shouldn't have an issue doing it. The benefit of doing it on your end is you get to make absolutely sure that the result is to your liking before it goes before the Judge's panel. Cheers!

Thanks for the questions!
There will still be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for each category in Judge's and Audience Awards for each category.
If no one makes the finals showing that meets the theme of the bonus award then the award will not be given out i.e. no one submits a video under a minute, etc...
Also, we are still confirming the prizes, but we are anticipating a $50 Visa Gift Card for each 1st place in each category (both Judge's and Audience) and for each Best In Show (again, both Judge's and Audience Awards). The Bonus Awards will come with an award certificate, however not gift card.

Hope that answers your questions! Cheers!

[FMV Contest Rules and Guidelines]

FMV Contest Rules and Guidelines

        The rules are put in place to make an even playing field for all contestants. Please keep in mind that we at Fanime aren't perfect, so mistakes can happen.  If the mistake is found on your end, we will do our best to contact you and give you the chance to fix it.  With the large number of entries expected, we can't devote a lot of time to any one FMV, so some corrections may not be allowed. If the mistake is found on our end we will work as fast as possible to correct it.  Remember we on the FMV staff work hard and will do our best to do right by all contestants.

        A note to all contestants: please do not send your only or master copy, as all materials submitted will not be returned.

        All questions and comments can be sent to: [email protected] or [email protected]

          UPDATES OF NOTE
            • New mailing address.
            • New Judge's Point Scale/Extra Points.
            • New Category descriptions.
            • Movie Trailers added to Experimental category.
            • New Bonus Awards.
            • New Deadlines.
            • filesend.com is now filesend.net

          GENERAL SUBMISSION RULES

            • Up to, but not exceeding, 2 videos may be submitted per entrant, organization, or group.

            • There is no maximum length for videos, but 5 minutes is preferred as the longest length. Keep in mind that videos of excessive length may be cut due to time constraints.

            • All videos may not have been submitted to any prior Fanime Con AMV event.

            • Any video with extreme sexual and/or excessive violent content will be automatically disqualified from the contest. Keep in mind that some nudity is artistic in nature, but any video that the judges deem in poor taste will be removed.

            • Specific dates and times for all FanimeCon events are to be determined at a later date.

            • Special seating will be made available for all contestants during the showing. Please be sure we have your E-mail and mailing address when submitting so your seating location, times, and materials may be sent to you.

        Video Bumpers
        Please don't put opening or closing bumpers in your video if at all possible. We will be putting uniform title bumpers to all the videos ourselves. Having a bumper will not disqualify your video but will be edited out. If you do not want your video to possibly receive a bad edit, please do it yourself.

        Submission Due Dates

        All videos must be in the hands of the video coordinator no later than the Hard Deadline of midnight on Wednesday May 1st, 2013. Additional points will be awarded for all entries submitted on the Soft Deadline on or before Wednesday April 24th, 2013. All videos submitted will be tested to make sure that there are no problems with playback. If there are any problems, there is a short amount of time to fix and/or resubmit your work. Remember this isn't school, so don't delay - submit A.S.A.P.


       Digital Submissions
        All entries must be submitted in a digital format, this means no VHS, HI8, or BETA Max. To allow complete control over the final appearance and quality of the video submitted, and to prevent quality loss, it is in the submitter's best interest to handle digital conversion.

        We ask that you include a text file with your submission information. The inclusion of extra files sent in during your submission will not be tolerated. This infraction depending on the materiel sent may cause you to be disqualified.

        Online Submissions
        If you're a very busy person, and a lot of us are, please send your videos online. You can send your file over the Internet via filesend.net. filesend.net will handle files up to 500mb in size for free with out registration, and 1GB if you register for the FREE account. There are many other file sharing websites online and you may use any that you want, just don't send links to any illegal or illicit file hosting websites. Remember all file formatting and type rules still apply. Make sure to send your video to [email protected]. After the video has made its way to us please send another email with all the info as if it were a mailed entry.

Note: Due to problems with downloads from the site and certain restrictions placed upon downloading, we ask that you DO NOT upload via Mega Upload. Filesend.com is preferred.

Info to accompany your entry as a text file with your submission(s):


         * For every production group (or individual if a video was made by themselves)
            • Production Group Name (if applicable)
            • Full legal names of everybody in the production group
            • Mailing address (single address for the group)
            • Email address (single address for the group)
            • Phone number (single phone number for the group)
         

         * For every video submitted:
            • Name of the video
            • Production group responsible (if multiple groups are submitting on one disk)
            • Song Artist
            • Song Title
            • Footage used (If your video uses more than 3 sources, you need only list "various")
            • Category to be judged in.


        Mailing Media
        Multiple entries may be on a single disk, and multiple disks may be in a single mailer. A letter and text file detailing all media included on the disks must be included with the disk and on the disk(s). All media must be turned in on time to meet all requirements for application into the contest.
        Disks must be labeled properly with all info in clean legible handwriting.

            Info to be included on the label of the disks:
            • Fanime FMV 2K13
            • Your full name and either your email address or phone number on each disk.
            * Note! If multiple individuals are responsible for the content of the disks, a single contact person must be chosen and that persons name included on top.
            • If the file is larger then 650 megabytes or 4.7 gigabytes please span it across multiple disks. Please use either (Winzip - .zip) or (Rarsoft - .rar) to break the file into manageable file sizes.

All disks must be clearly labeled in consecutive order as part of a set (example: 3 of 7 or XXX of YYY)
         
If you wish to submit your file in another format to span media please email [email protected] to confirm we can handle it.
         

Info to accompany your disks, as both a written document and a text file on your disks:


         * For every production group (or individual if a video was made by themselves)
            • Production Group Name (if applicable)
            • Full legal names of everybody in the production group
            • Mailing address (single address for the group)
            • Email address (single address for the group)
            • Phone number (single phone number for the group)
         

         * For every video on the disks:
            • Name of the video
            • Production group responsible (if multiple groups are submitting on one disk)
            • Song Artist
            • Song Title
            • Footage used (If your video uses more than 3 sources, you need only list "various")
            • Category to be judged in.
         
*** Note! Judging staff reserves the right to place your video in any category if they feel the video was misplaced. To avoid any conflicts we will contact you before this move.

No media formatted as VCD, SVCD, or DVD-Video will be accepted. All media should be data formatted and readable as a simple file, usable on a PC or MAC.

        Your entry's package must be properly labeled on both the package itself and the disks included. And must include the full name of the contest you are entering as follows:

        ATTN: Fanime FMV 2K13
        Your name and address

        Mail all entries to:

        ATTN: Fanime FMV 2K13
        C/o Jose Marin
        5176 Elm Ridge Dr
        Baton Rouge, LA 70817

Note: This address is new. Please update your notes, friends, etc!!!

       File Formats
        We are only accepting files that are formatted in MPEG2, AVI, MP4, or MOV. If you choose to select a format that is different from the one's listed we will contact you and ask that you change it's format. Please, when exporting your files stay within official resolutions 720X480 or an HD size of 1280x720 and with stereo audio. Videos may be rejected if the resolution is too small.

Suggested Programs for file conversion
   If you need to convert your video to an accepted file format we suggest using one of these two programs.   MPEG Streamclip and TMPGEnc. Both are free and easy to use.

        ASF, WMV, MKV, Windows Media, Flash/Shockwave Animation, Real Media, and HUFYUV Files are unacceptable.

        General File Settings
Video:
•   29.97 Frames Per second
•   Encode with an aspect ratio of 16:9, 4:3 is allowed but might be stretched during our conversion process.
•   If your original source was film or 24fps add a 3:2 Pulldown this will convert it to 29.97 fps
•   Please encode your video as deinterlaced. Interlaced is OK but we will deinterlace the video for the contest. 
•   Video size must be either 720X480 4:3 Format or 1280X720 16:9 Format
•   Single pass set to a variable bit rate and select 16 megabits per second
•   If you use two pass VBR set to 2 megabits as the minimum, 8 megabits as the average, and 16 megabits as the maximum.
•   We have had issues converting certain codecs in the past such as YCrCb or LAM (LAME). Please avoid these if possible. We will contact you if any entries have converting issues and work with you to fix it as soon as we can. 

Audio:
•   Use Layer-II or Layer-III audio at 224 Kilobits per second or better
•   Choose stereo over joint stereo for best quality
•   Sample at 44.1Khz

        We have a lot of hard drive space available and would rather sacrifice size over quality. If you're unsure of how or what resolution/frame rate/bit rate/audio settings to choose, please send the source file and let us do the conversion for you.

           *Note! When resizing your video the choice of maintaining the aspect ratio will be determined on a video-to-video basis.

Events and Judging
        Judging staff will consist of Fanime FMV coordination staff, Fanime Con staff, outside technical and artistic judges, and AMV editors not participating in Fanime AMV events for the current year.
        Judging staff will separate all videos submitted into 4 genres as follows:
        • ACTION - Think Action, Adventure, Horror things that tell an exiting story.
        • DRAMA -  Think Drama, Romance things that tell a story that makes you feel.
        • COMEDY- Think Comedy, Parody, just things that really make you laugh.
        • EXPERIMENTAL - Think outside the box! Movie Trailer AMV will be included in this category. (any FMV that pushes the limits and crosses genre barriers, A.K.A the ones we can't categorize)


Notifications
   Different notifications will be sent out to each contestant depending on how far they made it through judging. I will post copies of the Email's on the forums and a description of what they mean to avoid any confusion.


1st Email – This will be sent to you notifying you that your video has been received and logged into our system.


2nd Email – There will be two different types sent out. Type A will be informing you that you have made it into the contest. Type B will be informing you yours was not chosen this year.


3rd Email – This Email will be sent to everyone giving you the time, date, and seating arrangements.
     

100 Point Judging Scale:
        35 Points – Skill/Technical Prowess
        35 Points – Creativity/Concept – "does the Video go with the music?" "Does your Music Video flow gracefully or does it roll like Square wheels"
        15 Points – Quality of Audio selection – "Does the music fit the tone or selection of anime used in your Music Video" and "Does the quality in general sound ok?"
        15 Points – Quality of source material – "Does you video have the DivX Logo? Does your video look grainy when expanded to full screen? Subtitles will hurt this score."
         

EXTRA POINTS:
2 Extra points will be given to those who submit on or before April 24rd, 2013
5 Extra points will be given to those that submitted properly – This one must be self evident, you need to submit the right information in the right format. Videos adhere to the submission guidelines regarding formatting, codecs. 


*Note! Please keep in mind that the 100 point scale and any extra points are assigned per judge on the judges panel. This means that every point has the potential to make or break a winner.


        The judging staff will view each entry and choose which entries will make it into the finals. Don't despair - those that don't make it into the finals will still be shown along with those that did make it into the contest during the con in-between programming during the convention.


        Award Classifications

            • Judges Choice:
                    Judges Choice will be decided prior to Fanime Con and will not be announced until the Award Ceremony.
            • Viewers Choice:
                    The attending audience of the finals judging will decide Viewers Choice. All audience members will vote on their favorite video by ballot.
            • Bonus Awards:
                    Special awards in their own special theme that you're able to get no matter what genre you enter into. (Think bonus stars in Mario Party  ;) )
                    This year's bonus awards are:
                    • The "Best Minute Ever!" Award - Can you make an amazing AMV that clocks in at a minute long or less?
                    • The "Life After Death" Award - Is your AMV focused on the undead? Are the stars of your AMV zombies, vampires, or ghosts? Then this might be for you!
                    • The "Sickeningly Sweet" Award - Chibis? Cute Animals? CUTE CHIBI ANIMALS? Is your AMV's cute factor over 9000? If it has tons of babies, cute furry animals, or is just overly   
                                                                            saturated with super cuteness, then this might be right up your alley.
                    •The "Satin Panties" Award - Can you make a provocative AMV with super sexy characters? Even more important, can you keep it PG so that we can actually
                                                                   show it? They can be laughing or blowing things up. It doesn't matter as long as you think they look good doing it.

Each genre will have a winner. There will also be two Best of Show awards chosen out of all submissions (one from Judges and one from Audience). One of each Bonus Awards will be given to the video that best represents the spirit of that award's theme out of ALL entries. Awards will be submitted to all winners during the Award Ceremony, which is held during con. You do not have to be present at the con to receive your award but it would be nice if you were. Any awards unclaimed at con will be mailed out.


      Exhibition Videos
        Exhibition videos will be accepted and may be shown at other events during the con. If you wish to submit an exhibition FMV please make sure your documentation says that it specifically is for the exhibition. Otherwise it will be judged as a regular FMV and may or may not be disqualified.

        Notice!!! Fanime Con 2013 reserves the right to make amendments to the rules at any time.

Hi all,
Thanks for your patience. A few things were getting finalized. We will be posting all the rules by the end of today. Cheers!

This might help.  ;)

http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,17514.0.html

[So if you submitted an entry this year and would like to have people check out your entry, please send a link to your posted video to [email protected] or [email protected] with the subject "Show Off My 2012 FMV!"]

Hi everyone!
This year was a pretty great show. While this year had its challenges behind the scenes, the show came out great (Big thanks to my FMV Dept. 2nd Tiffany Dailey). So to everyone that submitted: Thank you! We would not have a show with out you.

The winners are now posted here and on animemusicvideos.org along with the line up info for the videos. Also, once again, I have received many, many request to see this year's entries online. We will be contacting the editors and hoping that they can provide a link to their videos.
So if you submitted an entry this year and would like to have people check out your entry, please send a link to your posted video to [email protected] or [email protected] with the subject "Show Off My 2012 FMV!"
We tried this last year and only got a couple of replies. Please send us your info!


Also, we would love to hear any and all feedback from you, the fans, about anything and everything FMV related. With that being said, I have some basic questions that I'll repeat from earlier in the year for both editors and audience alike that covers FMV judging, submitting, showing, categories, prizes or anything else that you can think of:

1. What did you like? What worked for you?


2. What did you not like? Is there anything you feel needs to be improved?


3. What would you like to see from the show? Do you like animated shorts/trailers? Any ideas for prizes? What day would be preferred for the show? Stuff like that. Basically ANYTHING that comes to mind about ANYTHING related to FMV.

Also,
Next year we want to revamp the show with new prizes and new categories. We have a few ideas in mind, but we would really like to hear yours too! We will also be working on getting a Fanime FMV Facebook page and Twitter for greater communication, feedback and exposure.


Please be as honest as possible, but keep it respectful. The more feedback the better! If you have one sentence or a long response, that's great! The more we hear from you, the better we can make next year's show!

We can't wait to hear back from everyone!

We will be contacting this years editors in hopes that they send us links to their posted amv's.

By popular demand, here is a copy of the FMV Contest Line Up Info!
Let us know if you have any questions!

[Fanime 2012 FMV Contest Judge's Winners]

Hi everyone,
Congratulations again to all of our finalists and those who have won! The following is the list of this years winners:

Fanime 2012 FMV Contest Judge's Winners      

Action      
1st:   
Editor: Peter Vad, Henrietta Dusnoki, Adam Bako, Peter Punak, Gergely Toth, Krisztina Franyo   
Video: Skrillex MEP

2nd:
Editor: Josh Lord
Video: Little Cream Soda

3rd:
Editor: Douglas Cruces
Video: Hands Up!


Comedy      
1st:   
Editor: Victoria Galietta
Video: FULLMETAL'S BACK

2nd:
Editor: Drew Brisco
Video: A Brainless Video

3rd:
Editor: Mark Scully, Sommer Tarabek
Video: Safety Dance


Drama      
1st:   
Editor: Josh Lord
Video: Simple Little Melody

2nd:
Editor: Mark Scully, Sommer Tarabek
Video: Fate Matrix

3rd:
Editor: Gabrielle Guthaus
Video: Truncating Littlewood's Law


Experimental      
1st:
Editor: Melissa Paradis
Video: Evil Island

2nd:
Editor: Quentin Harris   
Video: Its Di Gi Dubstep Nyo!

3rd:
Editor: Daniel Tompos   
Video: Tenshi Has Been Modified


Best In Show      
BIS:
Editor: Mark Scully, Sommer Tarabek
Video: Fate Matrix

      

Fanime 2012 FMV Contest Audience Winners      

Action      
1st:   
Editor: Douglas Cruces
Video: Hands Up!

2nd:
Editor: Peter Vad, Henrietta Dusnoki, Adam Bako, Peter Punak, Gergely Toth, Krisztina Franyo   
Video: Skrillex MEP

3rd:
Editor: Brian Evans
Video: ENKA.M.V

3rd:
Editor: Leo Grafft
Video: Avenencia


Comedy      
1st:   
Editor: Stephanie Huang
Video: Ballad of the Nice Guy

2nd:
Editor: Mark Scully, Sommer Tarabek
Video: Safety Dance

3rd:
Editor: Drew Brisco
Video: A Brainless Video


Drama      
1st:   
Editor: Mark Scully, Sommer Tarabek
Video: Fate Matrix

2nd:
Editor: Victoria Galietta
Video: The Red Letter

3rd:
Editor: Peter Vad
Video: V izluchine Dona: In the bend of the Don


Experimental      
1st:   
Editor: Melissa Paradis
Video: Evil Island

2nd:
Editor: Daniel Tompos   
Video: Tenshi Has Been Modified

3rd:
Editor: Sarah Fields
Video: Chosen

NOTE: The winners for Audience Experimental had only a ONE point difference between each place!!!

Best In Show      
BIS:
Editor: Stephanie Huang
Video: Ballad of the Nice Guy



Congrats again!
We will be mailing out all of the awards to those that could not be at the award ceremony.