Submissions for the 2012 AMV Contest are now CLOSED.

AMV Contest - Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Anime Music Video?

An anime music video, or 'AMV' for short, is a video production that uses footage from one or more animated works in conjunction with a musical track to create a whole new piece of performance art. The source of the video material used in each AMV can come from anime series, movies, video games, commercials, and even custom animated art designed by the editor. As for the music, any type of song can be used, including songs or audio tracks created by the editor.

What do you need to create an AMV?

It varies from project to project, but you'll need some basics:
~ A personal computer with video and audio editing software. There are a lot of different options here, but it's important to remember that you'll need a lot of free hard drive space and a video card capable of handling the work load. If you need more details, visit animemusicvideos.org to get suggestions and help from the community!
~ Video footage to use in your AMV. Try to find the best quality video source you can, with the highest resolution. Footage taken from DVDs (or Blu-ray discs, if you can get them) and high quality digital media is the best. Some AMVs use only one source, but you can use as many as you like.
~ A song (or two) to use in your AMV. Again, try to find the best quality source that you can for your song selection. In many cases, DVD audio is the best source.
~ An idea for your video! This one's important! The best videos are those that have a strong theme or central concept.
~ Plenty of free time. Making an anime music video can take a while, especially if you're going to include material from a lot of different sources. Make sure you have enough time to finish your project before the deadline.

How does the AMV contest work?

Editors send us a copy of their AMVs, our judges pre-screen entries according to the Contest Rules, and we show the best submissions from each category (as many as we have time for) at our convention in October. During the Contest event, our audience and guest judges will vote for their favorites. The winners will be announced at a particular event at the convention (usually a separate AMV Awards ceremony), and then posted to our site. Prizes and awards will be given to or sent to the winners!

Do I have to be present for the contest?

No, you do not have to be present at the convention to compete in the AMV contest. We'd like to see as many of our contributors at the contest as possible, but many of them live out of state (and in some cases, in other countries). If you know someone who will be at Anime Banzai this year and you want them to accept any awards and prizes in your stead, you can fill out the Proxy form. Your Proxy will need to present the completed and signed Proxy form to the AMV Contest organizers in person, at the convention, before we can turn over any prizes or awards to your Proxy. If the editor or their proxy is not present at the convention, we will mail prizes and awards to the addresses listed on the submission form.

How do I submit an AMV to the contest?

If you'd like to submit one or more videos to our contest, you'll need to complete a submission form; you can fill the form out on our site. We'll automatically be notified when you complete the form and submit it.

If for some reason you can't use the submission form hosted here on the site, we will also have a downloadable PDF version of the form that can be mailed to us.

After we receive your submission form, we will review your information, and then send you a confirmation email, or an email asking for additional information we might need. Your confirmation email will contain a number that we will use to identify your video submissions. The confirmation email will also include any additional instructions you may need to get us your submissions.

All digital submissions and emails containing download links must be received by 11:59PM Mountain Standard Time, September 22, 2012.

~ FTP transfer - We have set up an FTP server to which our contestants can directly upload their submissions; we would prefer to have as many videos submitted this way as possible. If you elect to use this method to submit your AMVs, we will send you a confirmation email with instructions on how to upload your files to the server.

~ Direct Download Transfer Site - Instead of using the FTP transfer, you can upload your videos to a site like RapidShare or MediaFire and send us a link. If your video is hosted at animemusicvideo.org, or a personal website for your studio or editor group, we can also download it from there. You can include links to your videos when filling out your submission form, in the submission field marked "URL." The DDL link will need to be viable for at least 72 hours after we receive your reply; we will attempt to download files as soon as possible.

~ Torrent File Transfer - We can accept file submissions via Torrent P2P sharing. Please include a magnet link to your file's Torrent in the submission field marked "URL" when submitting your video. The Torrent seeder needs to be available for at least 72 hours after submitting your entry; we will attempt to download the files as quickly as possible.

~ Regular Mail or Parcel Service - If it's not possible to send your video over the internet, you can instead submit your video to the contest in physical format. We accept CD-R/+R and DVD-R/+R physical media; we cannot accept submissions on magnetic tape formats of any kind. Take care to carefully pack your discs to prevent any damage during shipment. You can get cardboard or foam padded Disc mailers from any office supply shop, or from the post office. We can also accept submissions mailed to us on Flash storage devices; if you want to use this method, take care to ask your local postal agents for appropriate shipping precautions. Note: Flash storage media will not be returned.

You'll need to include a printed copy of your submission form or confirmation email with your package. All packages must be postmarked by no later than September 22, 2012.

You can mail submission forms and media to the following address:

ANIME BANZAI
AMV CONTEST
P.O. Box 575707
Murray, UT 84157

~ Hand Delivery - We can accept entries in person at Anime Banzai planning meetings; you can find the time, date, and location for these meetings on the front page of the Anime Banzai website, here. If you want to submit your AMVs this way, please contact us by email ahead of time, so we know to expect you. We CANNOT accept any entries at the convention, nor will they be accepted in person at any other time or place, unless an arrangement has been made beforehand.

What kind of videos can I enter into the contest? Is there anything I can't use?

We accept almost any kind of AMV for our contest. As long as your entry follows our contest rules, you're in!
A full disclosure of all the rules for our contest can be found HERE.

Are entries sorted by category for the contest?

We sort all of our AMV entries into 4 main categories, and into a handful of sub categories.
The main categories for video submissions are:

ACTION
COMEDY
DRAMA
CATEGORY X

When filling out the editor submission form, you will be asked to select a category for each video submitted. This selection will likely be the category the video is entered into, but the judges may decide that your video belongs in a different category.

Any video that may not fit into the first three categories can be submitted as a Category X entry.

What are the awards for the contest?

Every year we give out several awards, which are either determined by popular vote or by the Judges.
There is an award for the most popular video submission in each category (ACTION, COMEDY, DRAMA, and CATEGORY X). Category awards are decided by audience and judges votes.

There is a Best in Show/Fan Favorite Award, which is awarded to the AMV that has the highest number of popular votes overall, determined by the audience's vote. Our judges abstain from voting on this one.

There are also awards for the following:
~ Local Award: We encourage our local editors to submit their AMVs to our contest! We give out a special award every year to the best Locally produced AMV. Local editors are those who live within the state of Utah.
~ Newbie Award: We also like to recognize the efforts of our editors who are new to the hobby; every year we give out a special award to the best video made by an editor who has made 4 or fewer videos to date, including the video that was submitted to our contest. We've even given this prize to editors for their first AMV ever, in years past.
~ Technical Award: A special award is given out for the most technically impressive video, with special attention given to editing skill, clever special effects, and clear results of tremendous effort.


AMV Submission Guidelines

When submitting an entry for the Anime Music Video Contest, please send us the best quality format possible. Doing so will improve the chances that your project/s will win a prize.

Acceptable Video Formats

Please submit your best possible material. We prefer that you submit your entries at a minimum resolution of 640x480 for full screen videos, or 640x360 for wide screen videos. Both NTSC and PAL are acceptable, and all videos must have a frame rate of at least 23 FPS. We may be able to accept submissions with lower resolutions; video entries that pass a visual inspection, performed by a member of the contest staff, can be accepted.

High Definition

Anime Banzai's AMV contest accepts high definition submissions in 480p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. Please encode your HD content in a common format and bit rate. While the main viewing projectors for the AMV contest are high definition (1080p this year), projectors used as repeaters (for the overflow room, etc.) may not be.

Acceptable Video Codecs

Basically, if we think it looks good, we'll accept it. We prefer AVI, MP4, MOV, MPEG2, MKV, and similar file formats.
However, the following codecs are not accepted for video submissions: RM, ASF, or any DVD video formats that have included menus. We don't have the time to strip DVD menus out of submissions.

If the bit rate of your submission is too low, or if we encounter any other problems with your submission, we may contact you.

Acceptable Audio Codecs

We accept WAV, PCM, AC3, MP3 and similar audio formats, at a bit rate of at least 160kbps. The higher the bit rate, the better. Please do not send in any audio formatted in Real Audio.

Our performance area will probably not have the equipment to make full use of surround sound encoding; all of the videos we receive will be played at the presentation using stereo sound.

Last Updated: 30 June 2012