Bakuretsucon AMV Contest
My initial reaction, written mostly during the second showing, before the winners were announced:
Ai yai yai. The amount of FF is surprising, and there seem to be a ton of people who simply can't find the switch to turn the DivX logo off.
After the first showing (I'm writing this sitting in the back of the second showing), and judging by the audience reaction, "Advent..." seems to be the frontrunner for Best in Show, which is unfortunate given that it's yet another Hell-style video, with hideous video quality riddled with the DivX logo, containing the occasional amusing clip using Monty Python audio, interspersed with many more unfunny clips, interesting only for the juxtaposition of Advent Children with the audio.
Drama has a few good videos, notably dokool's "Bring It On," which is a commission from last year's Bakuretsucon. ReMo's "FF - Yuna Truly Madly Deeply Love" is interesting, though I'm not sure it really belongs in Drama, possibly it should have been submitted as Upbeat, but it's close enough to the line to go either way.
Romance, in my opinion, belongs to "You're So Far Away" by dokool, which I saw a while before the con, and still hits the emotional heartstrings just as hard as when I first saw it. It destroys my "Under the Stars" and everything else in the category.
Action is a tossup, and could conceivably go to almost anyone in the category.
Comedy/Upbeat/Other is probably going to be won by "Advent...," though I think ReMo's "FF: A Neverending Dream" is likely the best Final Fantasy video in the contest; it's technically gorgeous compared to the other entries and makes FFX-2 actually look like a decent game. "Deja Rah" by Shazzy is another impressive video.
On the technical side, the Friday night showing was held in Main Events, and looked decent, though the computer it was running off had some minor issues with interlacing and field order, which were completely absent in the Saturday showing in Video 2. Kudos to Adam and his technical staff for an excellently run contest!
My full post-con reaction, including video-by-video impressions:
Audiences are morons. They like the song, or they like the series, and it gets their vote. Cheap laughs are more important than any kind of skill. Winners were the Naruto video, a Bleach one, two from FFX/X2, and the Advent Children one. I'm now very firmly of the opinion that Baku is in severe need of some judge's awards, from judges that actually recognize a good video from a load of crap that someone slapped together with a popular song and series.
Video-by-video:
DRAMA
1) Enjoy the Silence
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode/Mike Shinoda
Rurouni Kenshin OVAs
Created by Helix
Not great, not bad. Really it felt more generic than anything else. All the standard money shots of the fight in the forest and so on.
2) The Human Equation
Day Eight: School by Ayreon
Naruto
Created by Chris Studer (Phantasmagoriat Productions)
Naruto. I hate it now that it's gotten stupid, but I did enjoy it through the manga-based episodes, and this video does a good job, especially as a Naruto character profile. My problem with it is that it's long, and my brain started drifting about halfway through it.
3) Bring It On
Bring It On by Steven Curtis Chapman
Fruits Basket
Created by dokool (Third Lens Open Productions), Concept by Kimberly Caron
I love this video. I definitely voted for it to win its category, and voted either for this one or #12 to take Best in Show, I don't remember at this moment (need more sleep). The fact it's a commission (I was there for the auction that resulted in this video, too) makes it more impressive.
4) Song of Strife and Suffering
For You by The String Quartet
Utawarerumono
Created by Bakodo
This video didn't really stand out to me, though that's probably at least partially because I haven't seen the series it's from. Lots of interesting scenes, though, so I may start watching it. I know it gave somebody else an idea for a video.
5) Legacy of Bardok
It's Been a While by Staind
DBZ Movie Special
Created by Helix
I hate DBZ. I really do. Still, this video does an okay job of being a drama video, and it holds together though the whole video (which is more than some other videos in the contest). Unfortunately, it looks very washed out and grainy, like it was taken from a digital capture of a second-gen VHS tape.
6) Saving Me
Saving Me by Nickelback
Tsubasa Chronicle, Bleach
Created by Johnny (bigJohnny Studios)
I love Tsubasa. I haven't seen Bleach. I can't understand why this guy used them together, though. He barely touched Tsubasa, focusing on the Bleach footage for almost the whole video. Why not just make a Bleach video? It was also riddled with the DivX logo and ran long clips with little real editing. His other videos in the contest show some potential as an editor, but this one just didn't work.
7) FF - Yuna Truly Madly Deeply Loves
Truly Madly Deeply by Cascada
Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Created by ReMo
I think this video should have been in Upbeat, but it's a taste decision, so I can see why it ended up here. It got a lot of laughs for the scenes of Yuna doing her singing edited to the chorus, but on the whole, it didn't stand out as anything special.
8) Outlaws Don't Stop (Remake)
Don't Stop Dancin' by Creed
Outlaw Star
Created by Starwind/Haking Productions
This marks the second or third time I've seen this video in its various forms. I don't like Outlaw Star and actively dislike Creed. This video felt more like scenes put together at random, with randomly masked-in characters lipsynching than anything coherent. Mostly pretty and decently edited, but there's nothing really to it.
9) Tonight A Tribute to Rinoa (Remastered)
Tonight and the Rest of My Life by Nina Gordon
Final Fantasy VIII
Created by Shiva
This was a decent video, hurt badly by how blocky the footage was. I know that it's from a PSX game, but it's cleanable. It looks like low-bitrate DivX clips or a poor final encode that hurt this one.
ROMANCE
10) Under the Stars
Oh Starry Night by Sandy Howell
CLAMP School
Created by LantisEscudo (Honou Productions)
My video, no further comments.
11) Breath of Release
My Immortal by Evanescence
Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Created by Shiva/Diamond Dust Productions
I didn't like this one. I'm not sure why, but it just felt so generic that I couldn't bring myself to want to see more of it.
12) You're So Far Away
We're So Far Away by Mae
Voices of a Distant Star
Created by dokool (Third Lens Open Productions)
Love it, love it, love it. This was the video that should have won Romance, if not Best of Show. I'd seen it before, but it still grabs me by the eyeballs and drags me in every time I see it.
13) Be My Friend
Breathe Me by Sia
Final Fantasy VIII
Created by Nic Neidenbach
This one I barely remember. It's gotten lost in my brain between the few really good videos here and the multitude of bad ones, meaning that nothing memorable stood out about it.
14) When I See Belldandy Smile
When I See You Smile by Bad English
Ah! My Goddess TV
Created by Darkside Productions
This was an okay one. It had more field order issues than any other video in the Friday showing and I missed it in the Saturday showing (had to leave early to set up cameras for the cosplay), but I think some of the issues may have been with the original video. It felt like a fairly standard Belldandy/Keiichi romance video. Not bad, but nothing spectacular.
ACTION
15) Awakenings
Stupify by Disturbed
My Hime
Created by Johnny (BigJohnny Studios)
I didn't really like this one. Like his other two videos in the contest, he seems to like taking long stretches of scenes without much editing for his videos. I've not seen the series this is from, but it looks like he just reedited a single fight scene to the music.
16) Before I'm Dead
Before I'm Dead by Kidneythieves
Ghost in the Shell
Created by Nic Neidenbach
This one of Nic's didn't especially stand out, either. I really can't say much more than that.
17) Sending Freedom
Heroes by Masterplan
Various Anime
Created by Gene Starwind 21122
Fairly well edited, but it felt more like a "Shonen Bushido" knockoff than a good video in its own right.
18) Ichigo & Rukia's Relationship
Requiem For a Dream Remix by Clint Mansell
Bleach
Created by Perkolator
I did not like this one. DivX logo, long stretches of unedited clips, overdone song. It was banking on using a popular series/music combination, and rode it to victory.
19) Magical Barrage
We Survive by KOTOKO
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Created by LantisEscudo (Honou Productions)
My video, so no further comments.
20) Children of War
Land of Confusion by Disturbed
Gundam Seed Destiny
Created by Johnny (BigJohnny Studios)
BigJohnny's third video plays much like his other two. The footage for this one is markedly cleaner, but it's like he reedits a single episode or major battle down to fit the song for all of his videos.
COMEDY/UPBEAT/OTHER
21) Deja Rah
Deja Vu Trailer
Rahxephon
Created by Shazzy
This is the first video I've seen from Shazzy, of the Mac guide fame on the Org, and it's pulled off quite well. Parody trailers are difficult to do well, and Shazzy succeeds admirably.
22) Defying Gravity
Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth
Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2
Created by Akurei Rosse
This one's quite interesting. The song sounds like it's a finale piece from a musical ("Wicked," perhaps?), and it's edited together pretty well. It drags a bit as a video towards the end, but overall, not a bad effort. I'll have to see what else the creator has done.
23) Advent of Miscellaneous Video Feed
Various Audio
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Final Fantasy VII
Created by Steven "Vinny" Begnoche
I hate this video. I hate it with the passion of a thousand burning suns. DivX logo, the footage looks as bad an old RM fansub from the late '90's, it's an unevenly paced Hell-style video, and the creator irritates me to no end. I could hear him swagger about the audience reaction from forty feet away on Saturday morning. Him winning a category in the Art Contest, too, only increased the swagger. He also claimed that he's never seen any of the Hell series and came up with the "lots of shorts" idea on his own. The video itself was 10-second Python joke, 5-second Brokeback Mountain joke, minute-long Onegai Teacher opening parody, 15-second Python joke, and so on. Hate it, hate it, hate it. The fact that it won Best of Show just pisses me off.
24) FF: A Neverending Dream
A Never Ending Dream by Cascada
Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Created by ReMo
This was the best-looking Final Fantasy video in the contest, and it hung together fairly well as a whole video. Overall, not very memorable, but it helped get the bad taste of the previous video out of my mouth.
The coordinator and technical staff did a wonderful job with the contest, regardless of the content (or lack thereof) of the entries. Many, many kudoes to Adam. If I have something finished in time for Anime Boston next year (which he also runs), I'll have to send it in.
Ai yai yai. The amount of FF is surprising, and there seem to be a ton of people who simply can't find the switch to turn the DivX logo off.
After the first showing (I'm writing this sitting in the back of the second showing), and judging by the audience reaction, "Advent..." seems to be the frontrunner for Best in Show, which is unfortunate given that it's yet another Hell-style video, with hideous video quality riddled with the DivX logo, containing the occasional amusing clip using Monty Python audio, interspersed with many more unfunny clips, interesting only for the juxtaposition of Advent Children with the audio.
Drama has a few good videos, notably dokool's "Bring It On," which is a commission from last year's Bakuretsucon. ReMo's "FF - Yuna Truly Madly Deeply Love" is interesting, though I'm not sure it really belongs in Drama, possibly it should have been submitted as Upbeat, but it's close enough to the line to go either way.
Romance, in my opinion, belongs to "You're So Far Away" by dokool, which I saw a while before the con, and still hits the emotional heartstrings just as hard as when I first saw it. It destroys my "Under the Stars" and everything else in the category.
Action is a tossup, and could conceivably go to almost anyone in the category.
Comedy/Upbeat/Other is probably going to be won by "Advent...," though I think ReMo's "FF: A Neverending Dream" is likely the best Final Fantasy video in the contest; it's technically gorgeous compared to the other entries and makes FFX-2 actually look like a decent game. "Deja Rah" by Shazzy is another impressive video.
On the technical side, the Friday night showing was held in Main Events, and looked decent, though the computer it was running off had some minor issues with interlacing and field order, which were completely absent in the Saturday showing in Video 2. Kudos to Adam and his technical staff for an excellently run contest!
My full post-con reaction, including video-by-video impressions:
Audiences are morons. They like the song, or they like the series, and it gets their vote. Cheap laughs are more important than any kind of skill. Winners were the Naruto video, a Bleach one, two from FFX/X2, and the Advent Children one. I'm now very firmly of the opinion that Baku is in severe need of some judge's awards, from judges that actually recognize a good video from a load of crap that someone slapped together with a popular song and series.
Video-by-video:
DRAMA
1) Enjoy the Silence
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode/Mike Shinoda
Rurouni Kenshin OVAs
Created by Helix
Not great, not bad. Really it felt more generic than anything else. All the standard money shots of the fight in the forest and so on.
2) The Human Equation
Day Eight: School by Ayreon
Naruto
Created by Chris Studer (Phantasmagoriat Productions)
Naruto. I hate it now that it's gotten stupid, but I did enjoy it through the manga-based episodes, and this video does a good job, especially as a Naruto character profile. My problem with it is that it's long, and my brain started drifting about halfway through it.
3) Bring It On
Bring It On by Steven Curtis Chapman
Fruits Basket
Created by dokool (Third Lens Open Productions), Concept by Kimberly Caron
I love this video. I definitely voted for it to win its category, and voted either for this one or #12 to take Best in Show, I don't remember at this moment (need more sleep). The fact it's a commission (I was there for the auction that resulted in this video, too) makes it more impressive.
4) Song of Strife and Suffering
For You by The String Quartet
Utawarerumono
Created by Bakodo
This video didn't really stand out to me, though that's probably at least partially because I haven't seen the series it's from. Lots of interesting scenes, though, so I may start watching it. I know it gave somebody else an idea for a video.
5) Legacy of Bardok
It's Been a While by Staind
DBZ Movie Special
Created by Helix
I hate DBZ. I really do. Still, this video does an okay job of being a drama video, and it holds together though the whole video (which is more than some other videos in the contest). Unfortunately, it looks very washed out and grainy, like it was taken from a digital capture of a second-gen VHS tape.
6) Saving Me
Saving Me by Nickelback
Tsubasa Chronicle, Bleach
Created by Johnny (bigJohnny Studios)
I love Tsubasa. I haven't seen Bleach. I can't understand why this guy used them together, though. He barely touched Tsubasa, focusing on the Bleach footage for almost the whole video. Why not just make a Bleach video? It was also riddled with the DivX logo and ran long clips with little real editing. His other videos in the contest show some potential as an editor, but this one just didn't work.
7) FF - Yuna Truly Madly Deeply Loves
Truly Madly Deeply by Cascada
Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Created by ReMo
I think this video should have been in Upbeat, but it's a taste decision, so I can see why it ended up here. It got a lot of laughs for the scenes of Yuna doing her singing edited to the chorus, but on the whole, it didn't stand out as anything special.
8) Outlaws Don't Stop (Remake)
Don't Stop Dancin' by Creed
Outlaw Star
Created by Starwind/Haking Productions
This marks the second or third time I've seen this video in its various forms. I don't like Outlaw Star and actively dislike Creed. This video felt more like scenes put together at random, with randomly masked-in characters lipsynching than anything coherent. Mostly pretty and decently edited, but there's nothing really to it.
9) Tonight A Tribute to Rinoa (Remastered)
Tonight and the Rest of My Life by Nina Gordon
Final Fantasy VIII
Created by Shiva
This was a decent video, hurt badly by how blocky the footage was. I know that it's from a PSX game, but it's cleanable. It looks like low-bitrate DivX clips or a poor final encode that hurt this one.
ROMANCE
10) Under the Stars
Oh Starry Night by Sandy Howell
CLAMP School
Created by LantisEscudo (Honou Productions)
My video, no further comments.
11) Breath of Release
My Immortal by Evanescence
Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Created by Shiva/Diamond Dust Productions
I didn't like this one. I'm not sure why, but it just felt so generic that I couldn't bring myself to want to see more of it.
12) You're So Far Away
We're So Far Away by Mae
Voices of a Distant Star
Created by dokool (Third Lens Open Productions)
Love it, love it, love it. This was the video that should have won Romance, if not Best of Show. I'd seen it before, but it still grabs me by the eyeballs and drags me in every time I see it.
13) Be My Friend
Breathe Me by Sia
Final Fantasy VIII
Created by Nic Neidenbach
This one I barely remember. It's gotten lost in my brain between the few really good videos here and the multitude of bad ones, meaning that nothing memorable stood out about it.
14) When I See Belldandy Smile
When I See You Smile by Bad English
Ah! My Goddess TV
Created by Darkside Productions
This was an okay one. It had more field order issues than any other video in the Friday showing and I missed it in the Saturday showing (had to leave early to set up cameras for the cosplay), but I think some of the issues may have been with the original video. It felt like a fairly standard Belldandy/Keiichi romance video. Not bad, but nothing spectacular.
ACTION
15) Awakenings
Stupify by Disturbed
My Hime
Created by Johnny (BigJohnny Studios)
I didn't really like this one. Like his other two videos in the contest, he seems to like taking long stretches of scenes without much editing for his videos. I've not seen the series this is from, but it looks like he just reedited a single fight scene to the music.
16) Before I'm Dead
Before I'm Dead by Kidneythieves
Ghost in the Shell
Created by Nic Neidenbach
This one of Nic's didn't especially stand out, either. I really can't say much more than that.
17) Sending Freedom
Heroes by Masterplan
Various Anime
Created by Gene Starwind 21122
Fairly well edited, but it felt more like a "Shonen Bushido" knockoff than a good video in its own right.
18) Ichigo & Rukia's Relationship
Requiem For a Dream Remix by Clint Mansell
Bleach
Created by Perkolator
I did not like this one. DivX logo, long stretches of unedited clips, overdone song. It was banking on using a popular series/music combination, and rode it to victory.
19) Magical Barrage
We Survive by KOTOKO
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Created by LantisEscudo (Honou Productions)
My video, so no further comments.
20) Children of War
Land of Confusion by Disturbed
Gundam Seed Destiny
Created by Johnny (BigJohnny Studios)
BigJohnny's third video plays much like his other two. The footage for this one is markedly cleaner, but it's like he reedits a single episode or major battle down to fit the song for all of his videos.
COMEDY/UPBEAT/OTHER
21) Deja Rah
Deja Vu Trailer
Rahxephon
Created by Shazzy
This is the first video I've seen from Shazzy, of the Mac guide fame on the Org, and it's pulled off quite well. Parody trailers are difficult to do well, and Shazzy succeeds admirably.
22) Defying Gravity
Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth
Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2
Created by Akurei Rosse
This one's quite interesting. The song sounds like it's a finale piece from a musical ("Wicked," perhaps?), and it's edited together pretty well. It drags a bit as a video towards the end, but overall, not a bad effort. I'll have to see what else the creator has done.
23) Advent of Miscellaneous Video Feed
Various Audio
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Final Fantasy VII
Created by Steven "Vinny" Begnoche
I hate this video. I hate it with the passion of a thousand burning suns. DivX logo, the footage looks as bad an old RM fansub from the late '90's, it's an unevenly paced Hell-style video, and the creator irritates me to no end. I could hear him swagger about the audience reaction from forty feet away on Saturday morning. Him winning a category in the Art Contest, too, only increased the swagger. He also claimed that he's never seen any of the Hell series and came up with the "lots of shorts" idea on his own. The video itself was 10-second Python joke, 5-second Brokeback Mountain joke, minute-long Onegai Teacher opening parody, 15-second Python joke, and so on. Hate it, hate it, hate it. The fact that it won Best of Show just pisses me off.
24) FF: A Neverending Dream
A Never Ending Dream by Cascada
Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Created by ReMo
This was the best-looking Final Fantasy video in the contest, and it hung together fairly well as a whole video. Overall, not very memorable, but it helped get the bad taste of the previous video out of my mouth.
The coordinator and technical staff did a wonderful job with the contest, regardless of the content (or lack thereof) of the entries. Many, many kudoes to Adam. If I have something finished in time for Anime Boston next year (which he also runs), I'll have to send it in.