SAKURA-CON 2016 AMV CONTEST RULES

October 12, 2015

Sakura-Cons AMV contest is an event for fans to showcase their creative talents in the form of music videos. The
Contest is open to anyone, be they amateur or professional. Attendance is not required, but is strongly encouraged.

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1st, 2016

QUICK RULES SUMMARY:

Must be longer than 30 sec., shorter than 6 min.

No more than three entries per person/group.
Only one entry per category per person/group will be accepted.
No subtitles, watermarks, logos, credits, or text that is unnecessary to the concept.
Must not have premiered before July 1st, 2015.
Video must contain approximately 70% anime/manga.
Audio must be at least 70% music.
Must be age 13+ appropriate.
AMV-Hell style entries are not accepted in competition.
Must satisfy our technical requirements.

Go to the following link to register to participate: http://sakuracon.org/contests/amv/

OVERVIEW
Entries will be accepted in two separate groups as follows:
Competition:

These entries compete against each other in their respective categories. Our judging panel shall
determine the finalist roster, which shall be announced prior to the event. Non-finalist entries will not
be shown at the contest, but may be shown in the AMV Theater, time permitting. All entries must meet
all the general submission rules as stated below.

Exhibition:

These entries are presented on a non-competitive basis and are shown prior to the AMV Competition
during audience seating. Such entries must still meet all technical standards and content
appropriateness rules, as listed below.

The AMV Contest Coordinators and Judges reserve the right to disqualify any submission that not does meet the Official
Contest Rules, or for any fair and justifiable reason not foreseen in these rules. PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES CAREFULLY
BEFORE SUBMITTING. All submissions must be in our possession by the deadline date. NO SUBMISSIONS WILL BE
ACCEPTED AT THE CONVENTION.

SUMMARY OF CATEGORIES
Entrants are to classify each entry under one of these seven (7) of the following categories:
Action
Drama
Comedy
Fun
Romance / Sentimental
Upbeat
Trailer / Commercial
Depending on the kind of entries we receive, these categories may be modified or combined to ensure competitive
balance. The coordinators and judges may re-categorize any entry they deem incorrect for the category the creator
intended.
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SAKURA-CON 2016 AMV CONTEST RULES

October 12, 2015

SUMMARY OF AWARDS
AUDIENCE AWARDS (as chosen by Ballot during the contest screening at con):
Audiences Best of Show
Best video in each category
JUDGES AWARDS:
Judges Choice
Best Artistic
Best Technical
Best Concept
We will attempt to ship awards and prizes to those not present at the event. Depending on the destination, we may
require you to pay part of the postal fee. We will contact you after the event to make any arrangements.
A proxy may also be named to pick up awards and trophies for any creator(s) not present. If you wish to name a proxy,
follow all the instructions on the Generate Proxy Form page when logged into Sakura-Cons 2015 AMV Contest page.

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

1. Entries are limited to a minimum length of thirty (30) seconds and a maximum length of six (6) minutes.
2. Only three (3) entries will be accepted per individual or group. Only one (1) entry per category per person/group will

be accepted.
3. All entries submitted must be the work of the person or group as listed on their entry form. Entries found to have

been plagiarized from other AMVs will result in disqualification and banishment from our future AMV events.
4. Your entrys video content must consist of approximately 70% Japanese originated anime, video game, and/or

manga content.
5. Entries must use at least 70% external music or songs (i.e. not part of the original audio track of the video source).

Trailers/Commercials are an exception, and are exempt from this rule.

6. All entries must be appropriate for an age 13+ audience.
7. 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 videos concept.
8. Entries that include any inextricable credits, bumpers or slates will be disqualified. Sakura-Con will create custom-

designed titles.
9. Entries that are primarily a reel of multiple unrelated and random micro-AMVs (AKA: AMV-Hell styled entries) are

not eligible for completion. They are still are acceptable for Exhibition.
10. Previously released videos (as shown publicly at conventions, clubs, contests, or downloadable on the internet) must
st

not have premiered prior to July 1 , 2015 in order to be able to participate in the contest.
11. All entries must meet the requirements listed in the Technical Requirements section below.
12. Sakura-Con AMV staff and contest judges are ineligible to compete, but may submit an exhibition entry.
13. You irrevocably grant Sakura-Con and the AMV coordinators unconditional and eternal permission to use, copy, share,

and exhibit your entry in any way including for purposes and usages outside of or unrelated to this event.
14. The AMV Contest Coordinators and judges are the final interpreters of all rules. Their decisions are final.
15. All rules, prizes, and methods of judging for the Sakura-Con AMV Contest are subject to change at any time without

notice. We will attempt advice any changes via the Sakura-Con website and the AnimeMusicVideos.org forums.
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SAKURA-CON 2016 AMV CONTEST RULES

October 12, 2015

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
All videos are required to be in at least a resolution of 640 x 480 or better (720p preferred) and a frame rate of 23.976
(preferred) or 29.98. Audio must be at a sampling rate of no lower than 44,100 Hz (48,000 Hz preferred).
For best results please encode your AMV as an MP4 using H.264/AVC video compression. We will also accept other
formats provided that they are of good quality and dont require a strange degree of difficulty for us to work with.
Your video must have no noticeable video defects (interlacing, macro-blocks, banding, or aliased lines) and your audio
must sound clean and undistorted.
If you have questions regarding these technical requirements, please contact us at amv@sakuracon.org.

SUBMISSION METHODS
To submit your entry(s), you will need to enter all the required information into the online system (found on the AMV
Contest page at www.sakuracon.org) following these steps:
Create a user account. Please be sure to provide all the required information.
Under Submit Video, enter the information for each of your entries. Choose a delivery method for each entry (FTP
or LINK).
FTP:

Use the FTP information provided under "FTP Info, upload your entries as follows:
Create a Directory to match your submitted studio name (or real name if you dont have one).
Upload your entry(s). Do not exceed 1 GB. Name each file with your Submission number and video title.

LINK:

Videos may be accepted via upload sites (i.e.: web links, Dropbox, Sendspace, etc) provided that we do not need
to subscribe for access. Provide the URL link in the space provided. (Streaming sites such as YouTube will not be
accepted.)

We no longer accept entries submitted via postal mail, nor will we accept any entries in person.
If youre unable to get us your entry in any of the above methods, please contact us at amv@sakuracon.org to see if we
can work out an alternative method.

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