DATES AND DEADLINES
The contest consists of five major stages:
1. Registration period (October,
20 - December, 15) - time for the participants to register at the contest.
2. Creation period (October,
20 - December, 20) - time to create the video for the contest.
3. Screening period (December, 25 - December, 30) - qualifications
for the finals.
4. Display period (November,
15 - January, 15) - time for demonstration of the vids.
5. Voting period (January, 20 - January, 25) - at this time all
the votings are held, the winners in all nominations are selected and the best
video is determined.
Note: all dates are subject to change.
SOURCES' REQUIREMENTS
AKROSS Con 2014 accepts fan-made videos based on anime
(or anime-style features, not neccessarily made in Japan) or Japanese video games.
Official art and manga are also acceptable.
There are no restrictions on music style or language. But it is prohibited to use the music (as the main audio source) from the same anime/game that the video is taken from. It is also prohibited to use songs containing obscene lyrics in Russian (can be "beeped" out).
You must know the correct name of the anime/game as well as music performer and track that you are going to use in your video. Unidentified music and anime(games) are not allowed at the contest!
Inserting scenes and objects not belonging to an anime/game (e.g. 3D scenes, self
draw/animation, live video) is permitted, but foreign scenes should not exceed
1/3 of the total video time (production titles excluded).
RULES OF ENCODING
Each participating video
must be presented in two mandatory versions: full version (optimal quality) and
highly compressed preview version (low quality, intended for fast streaming in online player).
Maximum
size for full version is calculated by the ratio: 1 minute = 20 megabytes.
For example, if the duration of your video is 4 min 30 sec, then the maximum allowed
size in that case will be 4.5x20 = 90.0 Mb.
Maximum size for preview version is calculated by the ratio:
1 minute = 5 megabytes.
For encoding of both versions only the H.264 (x264)
(AVC) video codecs are allowed. Allowed audio codecs for the full version: mp3
(MPEG Layer-3) or aac (Nero AAC). Allowed containers for the full version:
avi, mkv, mp4. For encoding of preview version only aac
audio codec and mp4 container are allowed.
Other
codecs or containers are FORBIDDEN. Uncompressed video or audio is FORBIDDEN.
Framerate
of each version cannot exceed 30 fps.
At your will, you may also present an optional (third) alternative
version of your video. File format, codecs, framerate and file size can be
anything of your choice.
Note:
we highly recommend you to use our official tool AMVsimple,
that automatically creates both full and preview versions of your video within
all technical requirements!.
Videos exceeding the limit without
permission will not pass the technical checks!
Vids containing
bad encoding errors (interlace, wrong aspect ratio, etc.) may be returned to the
creator for correction!
VIDEO PRESENTATION
In the beginning
or the end of the video there must be displayed the name (or studio name)
under which you have registered at the contest. Also there must be displayed correct
names of all animes(games) and music tracks used in the production of your video.
You can use whatever way for displaying this information but it must be easily
readable at least in the full version.
In the beginning or the end of the video there must be displayed the contest
logo. The way of displaying it or its elements can be altered but at least for
3 seconds it must be visible in its original form. You can download contest logo here.
Watermarks or logos in the corner of the frame are not allowed (unless their presense
is required conceptionally). This includes the watermarks built in the source
originally (most common example - logo of Japanese TV channel in the top right corner), all of which should be deleted or blurred before you submit your video.
Fansubs are not allowed in the contest video. Adding your own subtitles or karaoke
is also not allowed (unless their presense is required conceptionally). If you
wish to add subtitles or song lyrics to your video, include it in a separate .srt
or .ass file.
Contest video cannot be shorter than 1 minute or longer than 15 minutes (production
titles excluded).
Production titles (your studio logo, sources listing, etc.) cannot exceed 1 minute
in total.
If you have doubts that your vid might be breaking any of the presentation rules,
clarify the issue in timely fashion with coordinator.
NOMINATIONS
Primary nominations:
1. BEST VIDEO
2. SECOND PLACE
3. THIRD PLACE
4. AKROSS PRIZE
5. VIEWERS' CHOICE
Secondary nominations:
6. Best Action
7. Best Drama
8. Best Romance
9. Best Comedy
10. Best Fun / Dance
11. Best Psychedelic
12. Most Original Conception
13. Best Story
14. Best Technical Work
15. Best Design of Visual Effects
Additional nominations:
Will be appointed
by the hosts after watching all videos. Possible options: Best Presentation, Best
MEP, Best Horror, etc.
Note:
Any nomination can be cancelled if there are not enough contenders.
SCREENING FOR FINALS
After the hosts have seen
all presented vids, the group of finalists will be selected. The finalists will
continue to compete for the prizes and receive the voting right. The screeining
is conducted in 3 stages:
Stage 1 - automatic admission
Automatically
(without qualification) to the finals will be admitted the winners of 1st, 2nd or 3rd places of the last three AKROSS Con contests
(given that they have presented their works).
Stage 2 - jury selection
(~ 2/3 of all finalists)
Most of the finalists will be appointed by the hosting committee
(consists of the contest organizers and the 1st place winners of the previous
AKROSS Con contests) after having viewed all presented videos. The screening will
be going exclusively by the qualitative characteristics of the works. Please have
in mind that primarily the creative component of the video will be appraised.
And only with those parts being equal we are going to look at the sources (videos
using unique anime/game have more chances to make it into finals than those made
from overused material), genre (same situation) or encoding quality.
Stage 3 - viewers'
choice (at least 12% of all finalists)
Finally,
closer to the contest's completion, some more vids will be picked from the screened
works based on the special voting of the viewers on the site. The exact procedure
will be defined at a later time.
Note: amount of finalists depends on the resulting amount of videos (presumably,
30~35%).
VOTING RULES
To participate in the votings, each contestant
admitted to the finals must have viewed all contenders' vids that also
made it into finals (at least the preview versions).
RULES ON VOTING IN PRIMARY NOMINATIONS
For Best video will vote all creators who have provided their
video at the contest and made their way into the finals. The voting will be done
by filling in a special form in your "Participant's panel". In the form
you will be requested to rank the best, in your opinion, videos. Based on its
position, each vid will receive points (25 for the 1st place, 24 for 2nd place...
1 for 25th place). All points will be summed up and the vids ranked based on their
total points. Creator whose vid gets the most points will be pronounced the winner
of the contest. Second and third places are also considered winning.
In the case if the gap in scores between videos, won 1st and 2nd place in the
overall standings, would be less than one full vote (at least 25 points), there
will be held additional voting between those two videos.
AKROSS
Prize is awarded through a closed voting of AKROSS Members. One winner is
appointed. Videos made by AKROSS Members are excluded from this voting. Traditionally,
this prize is awarded to the most promising debutant of the contest (given that
he/she didn't get any other prizes).
Viewers'
Choice is awarded to the creator that collects the most votes in a special
voting held among all registered members of our site. The specifics voting scheme
will be defined at a later time.
RULES ON VOTING IN SECONDARY NOMINATIONS
In Secondary and Additional categories
will vote all creators who have provided their video at the contest and made their
way into the finals. Detailed instructions on each nomination and votng rules
will show up in "Participant's Panel" immediately before the voting.
Pay close attention to the abovementioned rules! Contest schedule does not provide any time for correction of your mistakes. In case of any rules' violation we reserve a right to disqualify your entry!
All issues not covered by these rules will be resolved by the hosts on as-needed basis.
Questions: official thread / [email protected]
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