DATES AND DEADLINES

The contest consists of five major stages:

1. Registration period (September, 15 - October, 15) - time for the participants to register at the contest.
2. Creation period (September, 15 - December, 1) - time to create the video for the contest.
3. Screening period (December, 1 - December, 10) - qualifications for the finals.
4. Display period (from the moment of receiving the first vid and until December, 18) - time for demonstration of the vids.
5. Voting period (December, 12 - December, 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 2009 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 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 25% of the total video time (production titles excluded).

RULES OF ENCODING

Each participating video must be presented in two mandatory versions: full version (optimal) and highly compressed preview version (low quality).

Maximum size for full version is calculated by the ratio: 1 minute = 10 megabytes. For example, if the duration of your video is 4 min 30 sec, then the maximum allowed size in that case will be 4.5x10 = 45 Mb.

Maximum size for preview version is calculated by the ratio: 1 minute = 1.5 megabytes.

For encoding of both version only the following video codecs are allowed: H.264 (x264) (recommended) or DivX (allowed containers - avi, mkv, mp4), at your choice. Audio must be encoded as either mp3 (MPEG Layer-3) or aac (Nero AAC), at any bitrate.

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: in case your video contains high portion of special effects or fast motion, it is possible to raise the limit for the mandatory versions. To discuss this option please appeal to the person responsible for the technical checks (see e-mail address at the end of the document). Keep in mind that the decision conserning possible raise of the size limits will be based exclusively on our perception of your video. Your personal desire alone is not going to affect the decision.

Vids exceeding the limit without permission will not pass the technical checks!

Note: if you are experiencing difficulties with encoding or staying under the limit, we recommend you to use our official tool ASG (automatically creates the full and preview versions of your video within contest limits).

Vids containing bad encoding errors (combing, wrong aspect ratio, etc.) will 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 2 seconds it must be visible in its original form. You can download logo from your "Participant's panel".

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.

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 45 seconds 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 / Fun
10. Most Original Conception
11. Best Story
12. Best Technical Work
13. Best Design of Visual Effects

Additional nominations:

Will be appointed by the hosts after watching all videos. Possible options: Best Presentation, Best Titles Design, Best Psychedelic, 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 all official AKROSS Members and the winners of primary and secondary nominations of the last two 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 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, 50).

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).

In case of refusing to vote (regardless of motives), participant's video will be penalized for 40 points in Primary nomination and for 8 points in each Secondary and Additional nominations. This is being done because avoiding the voting deprives the competitors of their points and can be viewed as impermisible tactical move.

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.

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 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.

Note: video cannot win more than one primary nomination. In case such thing happens the video is awarded only the most "prestigeous" nomination, and the "lesser" one goes to the second best video in that category.

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 be sent to participants through e-mail immediately before the voting.

Note: video cannot win more than one genge nomination (Action, Drama, Romance, Comedy). In case such thing happens the video is awarded only the nomination that was indicated by the author himself as the main one. And the other one goes to the second best video in that category.

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 of organizational nature go to: evilspider@yandex.ru
Questions of technical nature go to: ac2009@akross.ru

* don't forget to include your contest name!