AMV competition

The AniMatsuri AMV competition is back! We are happy to announce that after a long break we are once again anticipating entries for the AniMatsuri anime music video (AMV) competition. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and recall how exactly to cut and paste videos!


RULES
  1. Only persons with a valid AniMatsuri festival pass can participate – at least one team member has to have a valid pass.
  2. The length of the video must be between 2 to 5 minutes.
  3. Every participant can submit up to 2 videos.
  4. The AMV must be created by the submitter – using AMVs created by someone else, even partially, is not allowed.
  5. The organizers reserve the right to disqualify any videos that contain pornography or other material not suitable for showing at a youth event. If you aren’t sure whether your material is okay, ask the organizers beforehand.
  6. At least 70% of the video footage has to originate from anime, anime style video games or other animation that imitates anime style. Everything else is up to the creator.
  7. You can choose the music freely. You are allowed to use multiple songs as well as dialogue and sound effects. It is still important to remember that this is a music video so the main emphasis should be on the music.
  8. Teamwork is allowed – make sure to mention every team member when submitting the video.
  9. To ensure everyone’s equal odds for winning, it is not allowed to promote your video before the competition. It is also not allowed to submit videos that have already been in other competitions.
  10. The competition entry must not have opening or ending credits (logos, author or video name, acknowledgments etc). Additionally, you are not allowed to use video clips with watermarks or logos unless they serve an artistic purpose. The organizers will add an introductory clip with the entry title and authors’ names to each video.
  11. The entry must be submitted digitally. All common video formats that the VLC and MPC-HC media players can handle are allowed. The organizers reserve the right to disqualify videos with such poor audio or video quality that renders them not suitable for showing in a large room.
  12. Submitting videos created by AI or using components created by AI is not allowed.
Some additional tips from the organizers
  1. For a high quality result, we recommend using HD quality source material (1080p or 4k) and save the final result in 1920×1080 or 4k resolution. All videos with different resolutions will be converted by the organizers and we cannot guarantee that the video quality will stay the same. For this reason, we strongly advise using the standard 16:9 aspect ratio high definition resolutions.
  2. We recommend using the H.264 encoding and VBR (variable bit rate) when saving the video.
  3. Please pay attention to the audio quality as well. We recommend using the AAC encoding (192kbps or higher) and make sure that the audio levels for different clips are the same.
  4. Using the opening and ending credits of anime, especially if they contain subtitles, karaoke, or other text, leaves an unprofessional impression of the AMV. 
  5. To not clash with the 9th rule (promoting the video), we do not recommend uploading the video to YouTube or any other public site. The organizer may have to disqualify these entries (we will look into each case separately and take into account the number of views and other criteria).
THE COMPETITION

A panel of judges assembled by the organizers will select ten best entries from the submissions that will make it to the final competition. The winner will be decided at the AniMatsuri festival with an audience vote.

SUBMITTING THE ENTRIES

Deadline for submissions: July 1st, 2024 at 19:00 (GMT+3).

For uploading your entry, you can use your personal file storage server or a trusted public storage solution like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. The video must be available for download without special software (YouTube links are not allowed). The organizers will not be providing a storage solution for you.

If you’d like to participate in the competition, please let us know at amv@animatsuri.eu.

The email must include:

  • the title of the entry,
  • full names, ages, and emails of all team members,
  • a link to the video,
  • full titles of all songs and anime used in the video,
  • a copy or photo of an AniMatsuri one or two-day pass (belonging to one of the team members).

NB! If you would like to compete under an alias or nickname instead of your real name, please let us know. You are still required to use your real name in the entry application but we will not publish it upon request.

By submitting your competition entries, you give the organizers the right to publish and advertise them on the festival media channels, including the AniMatsuri website, YouTube, and social media.

Happy splicing!