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AMV Contest​

Otafest’s AMV Contest is open to everyone who wants to submit an AMV video into competition provided it conforms to all the rules as listed below. You do not need to be present at the event to enter, but attendance is always encouraged when possible.
Rules
Quality Metrics
Submission

Awards

  • Special Awards (up to 8)
  • Judges' Top Awards (Best in Show, Runner Up)
  • Audience Favorite (x2)

Awards and prizes will be distributed at the event, however If you are unable to attend the festival, you will be notified after the event by email. Your mailing address will then be requested so that any awards and prizes may be sent to you.

Rules Summary

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, March 31, 2023.

  • The duration limits for each submission are as follows:
    • AMV Entries: 60 seconds minimum, 6 minutes maximum.
    • Trailers, Commercials or Intros: 30 seconds minimum, 3 minutes & 30 seconds maximum.
  • No more than 2 entries per individual regardless if submitted as part of a group or not.
  • No subtitles, watermarks, logos, credits, references to other contests or text that is unnecessary to the concept.
  • Must not have premiered before July 1, 2022.
  • The majority of your entry’s video content must consist of anime-styled or manga-styled content.
  • Audio for all AMV entries (except Trailer/Commercial/Intro) must be majority music. No excessive dialogue.
  • Must be age 14+ appropriate.
  • AMV-Hell style entries will not be accepted.
  • Must satisfy our technical requirements.
 
To register to participate, fill the form at the bottom of this page.
 
As the contest will be two hours in length, all accepted entries will be judged by a panel of judges to determine the finalists. If you have any questions on any of the rules or submission guidelines, please e-mail us at amv@otafest.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
 
Good Luck and we look forward to more amazing videos!

General Rules

  1. The duration limits for each submission are as follows:
    1. AMV Entries: 75 seconds minimum, 6 minutes maximum.
    2. Trailers, Commercials or Intros: 30 seconds minimum, 3 minutes & 30 seconds maximum.
  2. Only two (2) entries will be accepted per individual or group.
  3. Previously released videos (i.e., AMVs shown publicly at other contests or downloadable on the internet) must not have premiered prior to July 1, 2022 to qualify.
  4. Dishonesty, plagiarism of other AMVs (in whole or in part), or any actions that cause grief or dishonor to the event or to others may result in the offender being excluded from future Otafest AMV activities. Severe cases may result in banishment from all Otafest events.
  5. The content and context of each entry must be suitable for an age 14+ audience. This includes (but is not limited to) gore, vulgar language, nudity, heavy sexual innuendo, and material that is demeaning or demoralizing.
  6. Entries that use footage containing subtitles, watermarks, text, studio logos or graphic overlays may be disqualified. Exceptions may be granted if such usage is intentional and plainly necessary to the video’s concept.
  7. Entries that include any inextricable credits, bumpers or slates will be disqualified. Otafest will create custom-designed titles.
  8. The majority of your entry’s video content must consist of anime-styled or manga-styled content. Consideration will be given to other sources that also fit the spirit of this event.
  9. The audio content of all AMV entries must primarily be music. Entries with an excess of non-musical content (i.e. narration or dialogue) may be disqualified. Trailers, Commercials, and Intros are exempt from this rule.
  10. Entries that are primarily a reel of multiple unrelated and random micro-AMVs (AKA: AMV-Hell styled entries) are not eligible.
  11. All entries must meet the requirements listed in the Technical Requirements section below.
  12. Otafest AMV staff and contest judges are ineligible to compete.
  13. You unconditionally grant us eternal, irrevocable, and limitless permission to use, copy, share, and exhibit your submission(s) in any way including for purposes and usages outside of or unrelated to this event, and you grant this permission with no expectation of compensation, remuneration, or any form of obligation from us of any kind.
  14. The AMV Contest Coordinator and Judges’ interpretation and implementation of the rules and contest winners are final. All judging methods and decisions are final. Otafest reserves the right not to show entries for any reason.

Technical Recommendations

  1. We recommend MP4 or MKV file formats. We also accept AVI, MOV, M2TS, or MPG, but they are not recommended. Any other file format will be rejected.
  2. We recommend H.264/AVC 8-bit codecs.
  3. We recommend file sizes of 450 MB or smaller. We reserve the right to reject or re-encode files that we deem to be excessively large.
  4. We recommend inserting one second of empty black silence to the start and end of each entry.

BE ADVISED: For the convenience of our judges, we reserve the right to transcode any entries to fit the above recommendations.

Quality Metrics

  1. The following video issues shall be considered technical flaws:
    • Interlacing
    • Squashed or stretched aspect ratios, or improper letterboxing/matting
    • Chunky/blocky video
    • Color banding  (i.e. Color gradients caused by video re-compression)
    • Heavily aliased/jagged lines
    • Low-resolution entries
    • 720p is the minimum if using sources that were officially released in HD.
    • 480p is the minimum if using sources that were never officially released in HD.
  2. The following audio issues shall be considered technical flaws:
    • Audible distortion
    • Levels that are overdriven or clipped
    • Levels that are too low. We recommend normalizing to -0.5db peak
    • Low sample-rate/bitrate
    • Audible discontinuities or jumps caused by flawed audio edits
    • Pitch-shifted or speed-adjusted audio (unless by obvious artistic necessity)
Entries that require a strange or unusual degree of difficulty to work with shall be considered technically flawed. If you have questions regarding these technical requirements, please contact us at amv@otafest.com.

Submission Method

In order to enter and submit your entry/entries, you will need to enter all the required information into the following online form and provide a link for use to download your video. Videos may be accepted via third party upload sites (i.e., web links, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) so long as they do not need to be “signed up” to access. Links to streaming only sites such as YouTube will not be accepted. Please provide the URL link in the space provided.

If you have questions, please contact us at amv@otafest.com.

Submission Form

Otafest 

May 19 – 21, 2023

Calgary Telus Convention Centre
120 9 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G 0P3

info@otafest.com

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Otafest acknowledges that the land we gather on is the traditional territory of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising the Siksika, Piikani and Kainai First Nations), as well as the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations). The City of Calgary is also the home of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III.

Photos on this website are courtesy of
Elyse Bouvier, Brenrich Carandang, Plutopia Productions, Ryan Logan, Dani Sato, Chi Tang