AMV Contest

Otakuthon AMV Contest 2024 Winners Available!

Otakuthon AMV Contest Screening

The Otakuthon AMV (anime music video) Contest Screening will be presenting the top entries of each category of the Otakuthon AMV Contest. Come see original AMVs in a variety of genres: action, drama, comedy, dance, and romance. Not only will you get to see the best of the best, but you will also get to vote for the best of the best and help choose the winners of the Otakuthon AMV Contest!

Otakuthon AMV Contest

• General Information
• Content Guidelines
• Submission Rules
• Format
• Awards

General Information

AMV entries will be screened at the Otakuthon AMV Contest Screening during the weekend of Otakuthon. The AMV Contest screening will consist of two hours+ worth of the best videos submitted for the contest. During the screening, the audience will vote for their favourite AMV through a secret ballot in the following categories: Action, Comedy/Parody, Dance/Rhythm, Drama/Romance and Originality. The audience will also vote for the "People's Choice" award for the best AMV. If you are participating in the contest voting, please stay for the duration of the screening to give all AMVs a fair chance in the voting.

All AMVs submitted will also be automatically entered into the "Best of Show" category for the best overall AMV, as well as the "Best Visual Effects/Video Editing" category. The winners of these two categories will be selected by a panel of AMV Contest judges before the convention.

Due to time constraints, not all AMVs will be shown during the contest screening.

Participants may enter a maximum of two video entries total but only one entry per category.

Deadline: July 5th, 2024 at 11:59 PM.

Content Guidelines

Video Content

• Videos may not be shorter than 1 minute and should not be longer than 5 minutes.
• The majority of the video footage must be from an anime (Japanese animation) or Japanese video games (e.g. Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid, etc.).
• Live action or other sorts of animation footage are acceptable provided that they are not a dominant part of the video.
• Do not include any video opening or closing AMV creator or studio credits, title cards or bumpers. Otakuthon will be adding an opening title card to all entered AMVs containing the title of the music video, the creator's / studio's name, the source of video footage, the voting category, and the music title.
• There should be no subtitles in the AMV unless it is an important element of the music video or if they are karaoke song lyrics. AMVs that breach this rule will be automatically rejected.
• There should be no watermarks, software logos, or text credits (such as the credits for Anime TV openings or endings) of any kind within the AMV. AMVs that breach this rule will be automatically rejected.
• Any AMV that contains hentai, full frontal nudity, explicit sexuality or other pornographic material, as well as extreme or excessive violence and gore will not be accepted for the AMV Contest. Scenes with graphic violence and/or sexuality, eroticism, ecchi, and horror are permitted.

Textual/Audio Content

• Music must be used as the main soundtrack and may be from any genre and in any language.
• Coarse language, including music lyrics, within the AMVs must be acceptable of what can be heard on public radio, prime time television, or any film that is rated 13+.

Submission Rules

Anime Music Videos (AMVs) submitted for competition must be your OWN work and must be an ORIGINAL work. You may NOT submit an AMV on another person's behalf.

We will be accepting submissions via e-mail only. Please send all contest submissions to amvcontest@otakuthon.com.

All AMVs for the contest must be submitted by July 5th, 2024 before 11:59 PM. If your AMV is submitted after this date, it will not be considered for the contest.

AMVs which are submitted can be entered into one of the following five categories:

• Action: High-energy or over-the-top scenes that involve fast action fighting, epic battles, or even climatic sports scenes with an appropriate soundtrack to match the action.
• Comedy/Parody: Anything that will make an audience laugh or to see something silly. As well as poking fun at a particular anime, character or situation in a comedic way.
• Dance/Rhythm: AMVs with anime characters dancing to a beat, playing a musical instrument or even singing a song. Anything that will make the audience want to stand up and dance along!
• Drama/Romance: Scenes that are dramatic or theatrical. As well as scenes depicting love or romance between different characters. Anything that will elicit an emotional response.
• Originality: Something that is new and unique or has never been done before. Scenes and music are put together in an original creative way, whether it be the editing, visual effects or a completely wild artistic concept.

Note: Otakuthon reserves the right to change an entry's category where appropriate.

To submit your AMV, send an email to amvcontest@otakuthon.com with the subject line "AMV Contest 2024 Submission" and provide the following information:

• Your full name
• E-mail address
• Title of your music video
• Creator's name - if you don't want to use your own name and instead wish to use another name or alias. For MEPs (Multi-Editor Projects) either a group or studio name or a maximum of two creator names will be accepted.
• The category in which you would like the AMV entered (select one category for each AMV entry, see the list above)
• Source of video footage used (i.e. series, movies, etc.)
• Source of music or audio soundtrack used
• A link to download your AMV

When submitting for the Otakuthon AMV Contest, participants may enter up to a maximum of two AMVs BUT each video may only be entered into ONE category for voting.

All AMV entries will be automatically entered into the "People's Choice", "Best of Show", and "Best Visual Effects/Video Editing" categories.

To facilitate the judging process, please name your video file the same as your AMV title. Creators may submit their videos with their submission by:

• Providing a link from Google Drive/Onedrive/DropBox or on any Cloud services.
• Providing a link to the AMV on AnimeMusicVideos.org.

The following is a list of "DON'Ts" which will disqualify your submission:

• Do not send YouTube or similar video streaming site links.
• Do not send AMVs which you did not create.
• Do not send links from Megaupload, Depositfile or any similar website.

Format

Please note the following guidelines with respect to video format:

• All videos must be playable on a PC with the latest K-Lite Codec Pack installed.
• Files for competition should be .AVI, .MPG, .WMV, .MKV or .MP4 format. DO NOT send videos in RealPlayer or QuickTime format.
• The minimal video resolution should be 1280x720 for widescreen, 960x720 for fullscreen.
• Videos with poor video quality (ex: pixelated, artifacting, etc.) will be rejected.

Awards

Each category winner will receive an award in the form of a certificate via mail. All winners will be announced on AnimeMusicVideos.org forums and the Otakuthon official Facebook page. Winners will be contacted via email to provide us with a mailing address so that the award can be shipped to you.

Note

• Otakuthon reserves the right to use any submitted AMVs, in whole or in part, for promotional purposes during and after the convention.
• Otakuthon does not guarantee that any AMV submitted will be screened. The convention reserves the right whether or not to screen an AMV for any reason.

For any questions about the AMV Contest, please e-mail the AMV Contest Manager at amvcontest@otakuthon.com.