Tekkoshocon IX AMV Contest Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Tekkoshocon IX AMV Contest:

Audience Awards

BEST ACTION VIDEO - Nicho Void - "The Sharpest Scythes"
BEST DRAMA VIDEO - Noelle - "Valor"
BEST ROMANCE / SENTIMENTAL VIDEO - RiderG - "Out of the Sea"
BEST COMEDY VIDEO - Doomimus - "AMV Potpourri"
BEST UPBEAT VIDEO - SarahTheBoring - "Offline"
BEST TRAILER OR COMMERCIAL VIDEO - BasharOfTheAges - "Legacy"
AUDIENCE'S FAVORITE VIDEO OF THE SHOW - Doomimus - "AMV Potpourri"

Judges' Awards

BEST TECHNICAL VIDEO - Shin - "Extraball"
BEST ARTISTIC VIDEO - Absolute Apocalypse, "I Dream of Lilith"
BEST CONCEPT IN A VIDEO - Kui Xiao - "FLAG-Lights"
JUDGES' BEST OF SHOW - CorpseGoddess - "Motoko Flow"

AMV EXTREME CONTEST WINNER (as voted this year by the audience of the AMV Extreme Contest) - CorpseGoddess - "DPH"

Tekkoshocon X AMV Rules

The following are the contractual rules for Tekkoshocon's Anime Music Video Contest. All videos submitted for the purpose of entry into the contest are subject to the following terms and conditions.

There will be two categories of awards presented: those by the audience of the AMV Contest at the time of the convention, and those selected by the judges of Tekkoshocon AMV contest.

Here are the possible categories for the contest, which after screening the top 5 of these will be selected for the final showing:
-Action
-Adventure (Something epic, a journey, a tale)
-Classic (Only anime from before 1997)
-Comedy
-Dance
-Drama
-Horror
-Instrumental (Music must not contain lyrics or voice over)
-Offbeat (weird, off-the-wall, unexpected)
-Original Animation (in Japanese anime style)
-Parody
-Romance
-Trailer/Commercial
-Tribute (something that is an homage to some other event, show, etc.)
-Upbeat (more of a "feel good" type of video)

In addition we will have the Audience's Favorite Video, the Judges' awards for Technical, Artistic and Storytelling, along with the Judges' selection of their Best in Show.

If the overall submissions' play time is larger than can fit in the appropriate contest time slot, cuts will unfortunately be made. Keep in mind that video selection for the finals will be determined on qualities such as technical aspects, effectiveness of the video and general execution. All accepted entries will be played at least once in the AMV room during the duration of the convention.

You do not need to attend the convention to enter the contest, although it is highly encouraged.

Main Contest Rules

The main AMV Contest is an all-ages audience showing. Thus, no video submitted for the main contest should rate higher than something appropriate to the MPAA's PG-13 rating. A good general rule is that if the song cannot be played on the radio without edits (bleeps or omission of certain words), sexual genitalia (no hentai) or very extreme violence, then it's not acceptable for the main contest. Any video that would not qualify for the main contest may qualify for the AMV Extreme contest -- see the "AMV Extreme Contest Rules" below for more information.
All videos must be received postmarked if sending by mail no later than [u]March 1, 2012[/u]. FTP submissions get a few extra days to upload and must FTP access must be requested by the mail in deadline. The absolute deadline for FTP submissions is [u]March 4, 2012[/u].
As this is an anime music video contest, the majority (approximately 51% or more) of your video must contain Japanese anime or Japanese videogame-related media (that originated in Japan). With the exception of trailer and TV commercial parody AMVs, at least 80% of the submission's audio must be a continuous song or music track. Spoken openings or endings are allowed, but overlaying of Japanese or English audio that is not part of the original song/music is not.
There is a time limit of 30 seconds minimum and 6 minutes maximum. Anything beyond 6 minutes may be acceptable at the AMV Contest Coordinators' discretion only.
You may submit a maximum of three videos in DIFFERENT categories.
Qualifying AMV Contest video entries must have been created after June 1, 2011 and must not have been submitted to any other Tekkoshocon, Inc. contest in the past, primarily Sangawa Project or KuroKiiro Festival.
No watermarks in the video will be allowed. This includes the DivX logo, any television station bugs & logos, AMV studio logos, etc.
No video will be accepted with "hard subtitles" (subtitles permanently overlaid on video), nor will we accept videos from bootleg or fansub releases with these subtitles. The only EXCEPTION to this rule is if you create your own subtitles as an actual part of the anime music video.
Because of the nature of the video judging, Tekkoshocon Staff are allowed to enter music videos, unless they are members of the AMV Department Staff or are participating in judging of the AMV contest.

AMV EXTREME CONTEST RULES

Tekkoshocon also hosts an Extreme Contest for videos with "extreme content". "Extreme content" includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Language
- Excessive violence (well known example can be seen in Berserk)
- Innuendo or other situational humor that could be considered offensive
- Strong and/or graphic sexual situations

Videos that have any of the above may be directly submitted for the Extreme Contest for consideration.

Any videos submitted for the main contest entry that contains content not suitable for showing at the main contest will also be considered for entry into the Extreme Contest.

The Extreme Contest has only one award, with judging performed by the Tekkoshocon AMV Department staff.

All Extreme Contest submissions require the same information as the regular AMV contest. On the contest entry form with the video, instead of one of the audience-judged categories, you may write in "Extreme" to have your video placed into the Extreme Contest. If you submit by disc in the mail and have entries for both contests, please have separate sheets for the Extreme Contest submissions versus the main contest submissions and label all videos clearly.

In addition to the General Contest Rules, the following additional rules will apply:

THE CREATOR (AND/OR SUBMITTER) OF THE VIDEO MUST BE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST. There will be a form provided that will act as a waiver to enter these categories for viewing and awards.
There is no limit to the number of submissions you can give as long as it has not premiered in any Tekkoshocon AMV contest or another AMV contest 2 or more years ago.
Please note that there is NO PEDOPHILIA ALLOWED IN EITHER OF THE CONTESTS. Just because the box and the disclaimers say that s/he is legal does not mean s/he is. Please, do not submit anything that has visually identifiable underaged girls or boys performing sexual or perverted acts.
Anything else that is deemed to be illegal in the United States is also not allowed into the Extreme Contest. Just because it’s animated does not excuse it from certain laws that may govern what can be shown in the United States.

Please note, to attend the AMV Extreme Contest showing at Tekkoshocon, you must verify that you are 18 years of age or older. At the convention, check the Tekkoshocon program guide for details on requirements for 18+ events.

Additional Notes and Disclaimers

Any video that does not follow the guidelines above and rules below WILL BE CONSIDERED DISQUALIFIED AND NOT BE ENTERED INTO THE CONTEST.
All submissions are subject to the Tekkoshocon AMV Department's review and approval.
Tekkoshocon's AMV Department and Administration Staff reserve the right to prohibit from convention viewing any video submission entered into the contest for any reason.
By submitting your video for review, you agree that all decisions made by the Tekkoshocon AMV Department, Tekkoshocon Administration, and the contest judges about your video are FINAL.
All submissions become the property of Tekkoshocon, Inc. and/or its assigns, and will not be returned to the submitter -- Please do not send in your only copy of your video submission.
All submissions may be used for display and promotional purposes. All videos entered will be considered to be cleared for this purpose.

Technical Requirements

The following video formats are the only formats that will be accepted for submission to the contest, in order from most preferred to least:
- MPEG-2 Video with MPEG-II Layer Audio (.mpeg, .mpg)
- Lagarith Lossless Codec encoded AVI (.avi)
- H.264 MP4 format (.mp4)
- DivX / XviD in AVI format (.avi) encoded at the highest quality possible (Quantizer 1 is most preferred)
- Quicktime format (acceptable, but not recommended)
- Windows Media format (acceptable, but not recommended)
(Please note that since all video will be encoded to MPEG-2 format for playback purposes, it is highly recommended that you encode your media files to MPEG-2.)

Any file format not mentioned above will not be considered and immediately disqualified. This includes MPEG-1, Real Media, or the use of any codec other than DivX, Lagarith, or XviD. If all fails, contact the Contest Coordinator and we can try to work out an acceptable solution.

It is preferable to use a frame rate of 29.976 or 23.976 as all videos will be played on a NTSC projector. All other frame rates will be converted to the preferred ones.

To request FTP or to obtain a mailing address, an e-mail must be sent to john.wendel@tekkoshocon.com with the following information:
- Video Title
- Source Used (if more than 3 list as "Various")
- Song Title (if more than 2 list as "Various")
- Music Artist (if more than 2 list as "Various")
- Aspect Ratio of the video (usually "4:3" or "16:9", however you may request on the form that you will leave it up to the AMV Department Staff to put the video into the proper Aspect Ratio.)
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your physical mailing address
- Provide the top 3 categories from the list above that you feel your video fits into.
- (Optional) A phone number you can be reached. It is only used if other means of contact are exhausted.

Submission by FTP

An FTP system is being provided this year for uploading contest videos. Each user will be given their own username ID and unique password. If you wish to be provided with a user account and password for your video upload, e-mail a text file of the video information with a subject line of "Tekkoshocon AMV Contest - FTP Upload Request". Please be aware that the FTP account will only fit 1 GB maximum. If you need to upload more files than what would fit under the account size limit, use the options below to contact the coordinator so the files can be moved. If your single video file is larger than 1 GB, you should burn the file to disc and mail it instead.

Submission by Mail

If you wish to send your entry by postal mail, please indicate as such in your e-mail and an address will be provided. Please include a copy of the submission form in the mailer. If sending by mail, videos must be on a data disk (DVD or CD-R). Any other media will not be accepted. Also, do not author your videos as VOB-format DVD playback files. Please burn the actual files onto a CD-R or DVD+R/DVD-R Data Disc. Again, please do not send your only copy of the video to us, as it will not be returned to you.