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GeekNights 070815 - How We Would Run Fan Panels
Tonight on GeekNights, we describe in some detail exactly how we would handle fan panels were we in charge of them for a given convention. In the news, Unicorn Table will perform at the New York Anime Festival, and Mike Wieringo has passed away.
Scott's Thing - TV Champion Lego Block Creations
Rym's Thing - Bitches Love Pikachu
Scott's Thing - TV Champion Lego Block Creations
Rym's Thing - Bitches Love Pikachu
Comments
Edit- Oh, I saw Unicorn Table at Anime Mid-Atlantic. I give them my seal of approval.
I'll start off with AMVs. I'm obviously a little biased on the subject, since I'm coming to it from three distinct perspectives: (1) a viewer, (2) an editor, and (3) a coordinator.
You had brought up the idea of, so to speak, an "All-Star-Only" AMV contest before, and I've completely forgotten to comment on it until now. There may be a couple contests similar to what you're looking for, although not exactly. Anime Weekend Atlanta has a "Masters" contest where only those that have previously won awards (not necessarily at AWA) may submit. The example winning video is submitted along, but the new entry is the one up for judging. In essence, you're not actually getting guaranteed-winning-esque videos, but you at least have a little bit of guarantee that it's not someone who just saw something on YouTube and wanted to play along, too. The sole winner is selected by Matt Wagner, the VAT Coordinator for AWA.
There's also the yearly Viewers Choice Awards on AnimeMusicVideos.org. Every registered member is able to nominate and vote for any video from the previous year. While you are, again, not necessarily guaranteed that only winning videos will be selected, since you're able to choose from the entire catalogue of videos from the entire last year (more or less; there are some restrictions and rule enforcement that are not worthy of discussion in this context) you can be pretty damn well guaranteed that some good shit is going to make the final voting list. This isn't a physical convention showcase, though, so it's also not what you would be necessarily looking for.
Has anyone ever actually run a contest where only winning videos are allowed? I have no idea. Is there any particular reason why no-one has? I have no idea. I had to relax and place myself in a NON-coordinator position to try and figure out why or why not I wouldn't want to run something like that. One thing that a lot of editors have to overcome is that the contests aren't actually FOR them; AMV contests exist exclusively to entertain an audience for two hours (or however long the contest lasts for that particular convention). With that in mind, wouldn't it make absolute sense to have the highest-quality videos in your contest? Of course it would. So why don't we do it? The questions just keep repeating themselves when you really get down to it. What I have seen is that some cons will show something like a "Best Of" block, either for particular editors, or even winning videos from that convention's past contests (something I've been thinking AnimeNEXT is ready for now, with a few years under its belt). I think one thing holding cons back from doing an "All-Star" contest is that a lot of attendees are also fans of AMVs in general, and will have seen a lot of them as they go from convention to convention. A lot of entries we get at AnimeNEXT are also sent to Otakon. And Anime Weekend Atlanta. And lots of other cons. Do people get sick of seeing them? I don't know... I guess that would differ from person to person.
In the end, I don't have any reason why or why not to do something like that. Maybe that would be a great idea for any future start-up conventions?
Ahh, convention panels. The first thing I said to myself while listening was, "Well, duh. OF COURSE conventions should run panels like how Rym & Scott describe it. Isn't this common sense? I mean, honestly... No, really. Honestly. Isn't this really fucking common sense? Do background checks on people? Require they fill things out on time? Have someone check them out during the panel to make sure they're not insane? See what kind of attendance they receive?"
But this isn't how it's done at most conventions, and it astounds me. I can only speculate having only DONE panels, and not having COORDINATED them. Is it because panels are done by general attendees, they can't be given the attention that must be given to the guests and other "important" events? Perhaps. Maybe a lot of conventions see panels as something they're just "supposed to do" since all other conventions do them, and just don't see the need to put that much effort and preparation into them.
All of the things you mentioned should be done, I have indeed seen done... only they are done in select bits and pieces, and never all together at the same convention. Some will do some background checks, and then not follow-up with you or see what your panel is actually like. Some will do no background checks what-so-ever, but will be all over you at the convention. Some give out panelist badges with no questions, while some want to see identification.
On a personal note, every time I have ever submitted a panel application, they've gotten a well-written overview of the panel, full contact information, and a list of references... whether they wanted it or not. Darn tootin'.
The last item I wanted to bring up was the process of clamping down and keeping things in order by requiring certain items (what others may consider "being mean"). As one might say, these are ways to "keep out the riff-raff." It actually carries back over from panels to AMVs, and it will be my last random thought. I'm all for these requirements, and make sure to put them in place with everything I do. To be brutally honest and possibly make some people feel bad, the reason why we require AMV submissions in certain formats is to keep out said riff-raff. Follow along here, kids. First off, keep in mind the point that AMV contests are meant to entertain the audience... not just the editors (if they enjoy it as well, that's fantastic). Going along with that, let's assume that Joe Smith twelve-year-old just saw an awesome video on YouTube, and wants to submit one of his own to his location convention. He loads up Windows Movie Maker and tosses in a bunch of clips from that awesome show he's downloaded and watched. While there's a good chance Joe Smith will go on in a couple years to be a drop-dead amazing AMV editor that everyone looks up to, there's an equally good chance that what he's about to make will be snickered at by a convention audience that's used to seeing contests. It's not going to project well onto a big screen, it probably doesn't have the most amazing concept, etc. By specifically not allowing WMV files, we've kept that "riff-raff" from decreasing the audience's enjoyment. Does that prevent someone from submitting a video they made in WMM? Nope. If you know what you're doing and have some experience, you realize that you can go through a specific process to get your export from WMM into the format the convention requires. If you're at this level, though, you're probably not the "riff-raff" that's going to hold back the contest. For AnimeNEXT specifically, we only just this last year moved to accepting ONLY MPEG-2 files. Since we're at the point where we get so many entries, we can move on with being so selective about what we receive and still keep up the overall enjoyment-quality of the contest as a whole.
Long story short, panels could be run better, and I agree. I guess I could have just written that and have been done with it. Ah, well.
As to the AMV, erm, it is certainly entertaining but is that really an example of how things were better "back in the day?" Its a perfectly good AMV but its hardly unusually good - it tells its joke well but its really only got the one joke and lots of AMVs, like LollipopsSunshineAndrrrRRRrrr tell almost the same joke a lot better. May I suggest that the only reason you're so nostalgic for the good old days is some combination of you having seen more and that you aren't watching them in large groups any more?
The Pikachu video is so amazing because it sticks to the concept hard core. Pikachu + bitches. Nothing else is needed, no further effort required. It's entertaining for the full duration of the video. Pure simple awesome. The concept of the Lollipops video is death metal + cute anime. Sounds like a genius concept, but it really just doesn't work too well. That's why the guy starts throwing in all this random shit to help it out. It reeks of effort, and it just plain reeks.