This year we are making some significant changes.

• We are accepting Electronic Submissions only.
• You MUST submit your entry through our Entry Form located HERE
• The contest is now divided into 2 divisions – Anime/Animation and Live Action
• Prizes and certificates will be handed out at the convention to participants that are present.

Please take this opportunity to read the rules and if you have any questions feel free to email us at [email protected].

Good luck to all the contestants and we thank you for showing your support.

1)    All entries and corrections must be in our office by the deadline in order to be considered for the contest. There are 1 (one) round of competition for 2012.  The round starts May 1 and ends August 15, 2012 – All entries MUST be received by 11:59pm Pacific time.  Any entries after that time will be disqualified.

We understand mistakes can happen and will make every effort in our power to make sure the submissions you have worked hard to get to us are in proper order and in the event they are not working we will make every effort to contact you.

2)    You do not need to attend the convention to enter the contest, although it is highly encouraged. There is nothing like seeing your videos played on a big screen infront of hundreds of fans and having an audience react to it accordingly.

3)    There are twelve (12) categories this year for our Fandom Music Video Contest.  They will be Animation – Romance, Drama, Action, Comedy, Fun, Other and Live Action – Romance, Drama, Action, Comedy, Fun, Other.

When you submit your videos you must choose which category you feel best fits your video. If it is between two categories and you are unsure then indicate whichever one you feel is the best fit – if the judging panel feels it is a mismatch for the category, we will move it to the correct category and notify you of the change.

4)    For the Anime/Animation music video categories we do ask that at least 75% of your submission be Anime, Animation or video game related. You are also welcome to use anything else you feel best enhances your video and the category.

For the Live Action category you can use anything with a theme that fits into the following categories: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Fun or Parody.  You can pull from movies and television shows featuring Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Pop Culture, etc.  You can use actual film or video footage, or you may create your own footage.

5)    When submitting your video, you must complete the Online Contest Entry Form. By completing this requirement completely you ensure faster processing of your video.  We will be unable to look up credit information for you as there will be time constraints once reviewing and judging begins.

6)    The contest is an Teen and Mature audience showing and thus no video can be played that is more than a R rating,  Example: If the song can not be played on the radio without editing then it is not appropriate for all ages.  Hentai is not allowed under any circumstances where genitalia are showing or censored, nor is excessive violence.

7)    Once submitted to us, your submission becomes property of Badwolf Productions.  By submitting your videos to us you have given us permission to use your work as part of our video programming or any other programming affiliated with Dragon*Con.  We do not own the intellectual property rights to your work.

All judging and disqualifications are at the discretion of the judges.  A submission may be disqualified for any reason.

Entry Fee: There is no fee

Entry Deadline:  August 15, 2012

All submissions must be in our office by these dates.  Any entries received after this time will be disqualified.

We will accept digital formats only.

1. Use the Contest entry form.  You will provide a link to where we can download your video from your personal server.
2. Use the Contest entry form. and provide the link to your file on DROPBOX.  You MUST use DROPBOX - other services will NOT be allowed.  Once you are signed into Dropbox, you can share your video with us using this email.  [email protected]
3. As it may take days or weeks for us to copy all videos, please make sure you leave the video shared with us till the contest is over in September.

If we have to do any editing (converting, etc) to your entry we can’t ensure the quality.  In order to ensure your quality please follow the formatting rules.

All submissions should be no less than 1 minute and no more than 6 minutes in length.

• 640×480 Frame Size (4:3 Standard Definition)
• 720×480 Frame Size (Wide Screen Standard Definition)
• 1280×720 Frame Size (High Definition)

4)    The preferred submission format for the contest is:  H.264 Encoded MP4.  (You can download a free H.264 encoder HERE http://www.h264encoder.com/)

5)    All entries must be in digital format.  See upload/download requirements above.

6)    Make sure your video will play on several players before submitting it to us.  We will make every effort to play your submission however if we can’t play your video it is disqualified.

We will reject any submission that comes in as a non-standard or non-approved format. MKV, OGG, FLV are all non-approved. We will be putting your submission into a play list and we will not take the time to convert your files to MP4 format. If we have to do any editing to your entry we can’t ensure the quality.

In order to ensure your quality please follow the formatting rules.

Watermarking, television logos and subtitles are  NOT allowed – Please use DVD video for your content.  If your video has logos, or subtitlest heavy watermarking, it will greatly affect your final score.  You may display your group or studio name before the start of the actual video.  There must be 3 seconds of black, then your studio or group name or logo.  Studio, group name or logo can be displayed for no more than 3 seconds.  Any submissions failing to adhere to this will see their final score affected by up to half. 

7)    All videos must also include Embeding code from one of our approved Video Streaming Hosts.  These are as follows; YouTube (Prefered) Vimeo, Veoh, Metacafe, Flickr and Photobucket. YouTube is very strict on copyrighted content, and may disable your video based on content or music used.  If this happens, please try one of the other Video Streaming sites.

When uploading your video to any of these sites, make sure it is set to Allow Embeding and make sure it is accessible.  With YouTube, it does NOT have to be Public – you can mark it as Unlisted – then it can still be viewed by anyone with the link.

Judging will occour during the 2 week period after the contest deadline.

A panel of 12 judges will rate videos based on the following criteria:

• Concept/Artistic Vision
• Editing
• Cinematography
• Originality
• Category Fit/Match
• Judges’ Overall Impression

1. You may submit a maximum of three videos per division (Anime or Live Action). This means you may submit up to 6 videos.  No person or group can submit more than one entry per category.
2. The Video Awards contest running time is 2 1/2 hours. During this time we will show the top 4 videos from each category.  As time permits, we will show videos that did not place, upon audiance or creator request.
3. Judging panelists will be chosen by the contest coordinator.
4. An entry may only win one award with the exception of the Best in Show awards. The award the video wins is at the discretion of the judges.
5. Videos must be less than 2 years old (Created on or after Oct 1 2010).
6. Videos entered in earlier Dragon*Con FMV Contests are ineligible for competition.
7. Two Divisions (Anime/Animation & Live Action) split into Six Categories each:

• Romance – Videos that focus on a love story between characters.
• Drama – Videos that evoke an emotional response from the audience through a medley of music, video, and editing which usually involves dramatic subject matter or dramatic elements from the anime.
• Comedy – Videos that contain parody or wacky content.  As long as someone thinks it is funny you will probably be okay.
• Action – Videos that focus on action whether it be fighting sequences, fast-paced imagery or motions of characters.  Think ACTION!!
• Fun – Videos that make you feel good. They get your body moving, feeling the groove, or just bring a smile to your face. Dance, Trance, Techno, Happy slice of life pieces and other types of the sort.
• Other – This category is for videos that don’t fit into the rest of the categories. Movie Trailers, Horror, Experimental Videos, WTF’ers, etc., they all go here.

There will be 1st, 2nd, 3rd place  award for all six categories. Awards will be presented during the Fandom Music Video Awards program hosted at Dragon*Con.

Grand Prize: There will be a “Best of Show” Winner.  This submission will not necessarily be one which has won in one of the other categories. Contestants can choose to compete for one of the six main categories which will automatically qualify them for “Best of Show”

Only one submission per category per person is allowed.  If a category does not receive at least 4 submissions then the category will be removed and the submissions will be put into the closest related category.

1. The votes of the judges will be tabulated during the pre-convention screening. Some judging may occur after this should there be problems with the pre-convention screening. The judges will make all decisions regarding winners. All decisions are final.
2. You DO NOT NEED TO BE PRESENT at the convention or the contest to win.  We will be handing out certificates and awards at the con to creators that are present.  All other certificates and prizes will be mailed.  A picture ID will be required in order to pick up your submission at the convention.

All rules are subject to change without notice.

If you are not present and your submission wins, Dragon*Con will cover the cost to ship your awards to you.