Fan Creations Feedback 2019

If you have questions about Anime Boston's AMV contest or want to seek advice, this is the place to ask.
Post Reply
User avatar
basharoftheages
Under a bridge
Posts: 2367
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:01 pm
Location: here
Contact:

Fan Creations Feedback 2019

Post by basharoftheages »

Hi all. I wanted to put this up for any feedback there might be for the Fan Creations track (A.K.A the AMV and fan parody room in Hynes 312). Anything new we tried that you enjoyed? Anything that wasn't what you expected? Thoughts or suggestions? We're a small team, but we put together a lot of content year after year and we always like keeping it fresh.

What did you think?
Justin Corriveau - Fan Creations Co-Coordinator (2023-2024)
Fan Creations Coordinator (2019-2022)
Fan Creations Staff (2016-2018)
Another Anime Convention AMV Contest Coordinator (2008-2016)
infjeff
Experienced Poster
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:09 pm

Re: Fan Creations Feedback 2019

Post by infjeff »

Like I mentioned here, the Fan Creations room is always one of my favorite places to visit, this year was no exception. Great variety of programming. Pleased to hear that the playlists will be uploaded at some point, it will help people remember and find their favorite videos from the weekend.
cpuwhiz11
Getting the hang of this...
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:17 pm

Re: Fan Creations Feedback 2019

Post by cpuwhiz11 »

I very much enjoyed the Fan Creations room. It is convenient to have a place like this that is easy to drop in and out of.

A couple suggestions:
1. I think Fan Creations should branch out and solicit panels. I remember in conventions past (2012 from what I can find) there used to be an AMV 101 and AMV 201 panel covering AMV creation. There was a lot of good content in those panels and it would be nice if we could get something like that back.

2. The finalist editors should have a Q&A session. I get not all the finalists attend the convention, but I suspect that there would be enough who would volunteer and it would be interesting to hear their development process, things they struggled with, ideas that did not work out, etc.

3. I think there should be Overflow awards. Something like: "Best Overflow <CATEGORY>" I saw a lot of good content which did not make the finals and it seems kind of a shame most people ended up missing them. I think additional awards would keep interest in the contest high (not that this is a problem) and improve attendance at the Overflow screenings. Logistically I can see how this would be difficult given overflow is a monolithic six hour block. In years past Overflow used to be split up by category, by bringing that back you could have six or seven more manageable one hour blocks dedicated to one category type. It would also be nice to get the overflow list at convention instead of looking for it later.
User avatar
basharoftheages
Under a bridge
Posts: 2367
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:01 pm
Location: here
Contact:

Re: Fan Creations Feedback 2019

Post by basharoftheages »

cpuwhiz11 wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:27 pm I very much enjoyed the Fan Creations room. It is convenient to have a place like this that is easy to drop in and out of.

A couple suggestions:
1. I think Fan Creations should branch out and solicit panels. I remember in conventions past (2012 from what I can find) there used to be an AMV 101 and AMV 201 panel covering AMV creation. There was a lot of good content in those panels and it would be nice if we could get something like that back.

2. The finalist editors should have a Q&A session. I get not all the finalists attend the convention, but I suspect that there would be enough who would volunteer and it would be interesting to hear their development process, things they struggled with, ideas that did not work out, etc.

3. I think there should be Overflow awards. Something like: "Best Overflow <CATEGORY>" I saw a lot of good content which did not make the finals and it seems kind of a shame most people ended up missing them. I think additional awards would keep interest in the contest high (not that this is a problem) and improve attendance at the Overflow screenings. Logistically I can see how this would be difficult given overflow is a monolithic six hour block. In years past Overflow used to be split up by category, by bringing that back you could have six or seven more manageable one hour blocks dedicated to one category type. It would also be nice to get the overflow list at convention instead of looking for it later.
1) I've been involved in or run the AMV 101/201 panels at AB for a decade. Every year we got fewer and fewer people attending. I handed it off to other people, and it did just as bad, so we let it die. There isn't a significantly sized audience for the panel. Basically anything else I put in that time slot will draw a larger crowd. Ultimately, what's going to entertain more people is what we're going to schedule. We really enjoyed doing those panels, but the effort involved in prepping stuff every year and then never really having any questions and barely any audience got disheartening.

2) Lantis will have to address the AMV Editor's feedback panel. I know the last time it was held was in 2016, and for years it was even more poorly attended than the AMV101 panel. The only people that ever really showed up were the editors themselves and their friends.

3) Again, the contest coordinator is the real person who should give his opinion on this, but I can say it's difficult to schedule the relative size of the various categories of overflow as early as we get our schedule done. We also like to give anyone who made a video the chance to request it all day Sunday. That way, those creators don't have to plan their schedule around when we happen to have their categories scheduled.
Justin Corriveau - Fan Creations Co-Coordinator (2023-2024)
Fan Creations Coordinator (2019-2022)
Fan Creations Staff (2016-2018)
Another Anime Convention AMV Contest Coordinator (2008-2016)
User avatar
LantisEscudo
AB Staff
Posts: 401
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:29 pm
Location: Eastern Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: Fan Creations Feedback 2019

Post by LantisEscudo »

Bashar hit the nail pretty much on the head in his responses.

We dropped the Editor Q&A panel because nobody attended. The last time we held it, there were about 15 people in the room, including the staff and the editors on stage. It's not a good use of space or time, so we stopped doing it.

We consolidated the overflow into a single showing for several reasons.

First and foremost, we need to have our room schedule set about two months before con to get all of our blocks into the program guide. The contest deadline isn't until two weeks after that, so predicting the length we need for any given category is impossible, especially given that almost 70% of our submissions come in during the last 10 days before the deadline.

Second, it made scheduling for us and the editors in attendance much easier. We never started showing overflow blocks before the second contest screening ended, even when they were separated by category, so finding times that editors could attend and not conflict with other events they were participating in (like the Masquerade) was difficult. With the current setup, they can come in any time they're free during the block and request their video to see it on the large screen. It's much more flexible and predictable.
Mike Montanye
AB Staff 2016-2024 - AMV Contest Coordinator
AB Staff 2014-2015 - Assistant AMV Contest Coordinator
AB Staff 2013 - Tech Ops Special Projects
cpuwhiz11
Getting the hang of this...
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:17 pm

Re: Fan Creations Feedback 2019

Post by cpuwhiz11 »

Thanks for the reasoned responses. It is a shame about AMV 101 and 201. I remember it used to be well attended. I suppose interests have waned.
Post Reply