Keep it Hot
Spring is coming to an end, summer is just around the corner and before it gets really hot outside, we’re turning up the temperatures at the HanamiCon AMV Contest. Under the theme “Keep it Hot”, we want to heat things up for you. It doesn’t matter whether your video is about a hot romance between two characters, the obligatory trip to the beach on a hot summer day, a special unit of the fire department or simply a fight from your favorite shonen that really heats up the audience. The theme is open to interpretation and can include anything from love to action, so let your imagination run wild and show HanamiCon visitors what a really hot AMV should look like.
Basic information about the competition
Type of contest:
Open contest with theme
Deadline:
May 11, 2025 | 11:59 p.m.
Video length:
Maximum 5 minutes
Contest-specific rules:
The submitted AMV must have been published after May 31, 2024 and must not have won a prize in a contest. (This includes a ranking from 1st to 3rd place and additional prizes such as Editor’s Choice and the Audience Award).
We are of course particularly pleased to receive new AMV submissions.
Regulation on the subject:
The theme of this AMV competition is “Keep it Hot”. The most important thing is that you show us something in your video that you think is really hot or something that you associate with heat. This can also simply be classic “warm” colors in an anime. There are no limits to your own interpretations, although there may of course be deductions in the rating if the theme is badly missed. You are welcome to send us your interpretation of the topic as a comment when you submit the AMV.
Prizes:
The 1st to 3rd place and an audience favorite will be awarded.
The audience favorite will be determined by voting after the videos have been shown at the convention.
Prizes will only be handed out at the awards ceremony and afterwards at the information stand. Uncollected prizes will not be sent to the winners after the convention.
Organizational Info
Contest management: AMWizard | Discord: backlogwizardnick
If you have any questions or problems, you can also reach us at amv@hayuko.at.
Apart from that, the Austrian AMV community is super nice and will be happy to help you with general problems or questions about material, video, editing software, etc.
A-AMV Discord: https://cutt.ly/AustrianAMVDiscord
General rules and regulations
Rules for the video
- Video material:
The video material may consist of anime, games and any other type of animation (cartoons, Disney, stop-motion, etc.). However, it should be noted that the main focus is on the topic of “Anime and Japanese/Asian culture”. We do not wish to exclude Western animation from the contest, but we reserve the right to reject video material if it strays too far from this main focus (e.g. Western video games with no recognizable anime style, Hollywood films with no connection to Japanese/Asian culture, etc.).
It is permitted to use alternative material (this includes, for example: Live action, material not matching the above rule and AI images & videos). However, this may only be present in a maximum of â…“ of the total video length.
If you are unsure whether certain video material is permitted, you are welcome to ask us at any time.
- Prohibited material:
As the competition has an age rating of FSK16, the finished video must not contain any content with a higher age rating. You can check the age rating for your video material on the FSK website (https://www.fsk.de/freigaben). If an anime does not yet have an FSK rating, you can use the Japanese age rating as a guide, which you can usually find via a Google search. If you are unsure about the age rating, please feel free to contact us.
Of course, video material with a higher age rating can also be used, provided that the finished AMV censors the problematic scenes enough to guarantee an age rating of FSK16. Conversely, the video material should not be edited in such a way that an FSK16 release is exceeded.
- Technical requirements:
The video must have a minimum resolution of 720p and should be submitted in a 16:9, 21:9 or 4:3 format. By default, a resolution of 1920 x 1080 is recommended, which corresponds to a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Furthermore, the video file should be playable with a standard video player (e.g. VLC Player). The following file formats are suitable for this: MP4, AVI, MKV and MPEG.
- Reuse of AMVs:
The video must consist exclusively of your own clips and may not contain any content from AMVs from other editors.
- Subtitles / watermarks / third-party logos:
Third-party logos, watermarks and subtitles should be removed from the original material to the best of your ability, as this could have a negative impact on the rating.
However, if the concept of your video requires one of these things, then this rule is of course not relevant for you.
- Intro / Outro:
As the competition will be judged anonymously, we ask you not to use an intro/outro for your entry. During the contest, we will display all important information about the video and editor to the best of our ability (usually as a slider).
However, if you insist on an intro/outro because it is part of your AMV concept, please send us an alternative version of the AMV with your name removed or made unrecognizable, as this way we can guarantee a fair and anonymous evaluation by our jury.
Rules for submission
- Correctness of the submission:
All details of the video material and music used must be correct to the best of your knowledge when submitting the video.
- Download link:
We ask you to send the video via a file hosting service (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).
Please note, however, that you often have to share the link to share the video first so that it can be used by other people.
- Number of entries:
Only one AMV entry per participant and cooperation project is permitted. However, passive assistance or feedback does not count as active collaboration on a cooperation project, which means that the editor in question may of course also send in their own video.
- Late submissions:
If a submission is delayed, this must be reported in advance. It costs nothing to ask, so please let us know if there are any technical problems or other delays and we will certainly find a solution.
We cannot and will not accept unannounced submissions after the deadline has passed.
Other rules
- Breach of rules:
The competition management reserves the right to disqualify an entry in the event of a breach of the rules.
- Publishing the AMV:
The AMVs may only be published after the competition. If the competition is an open contest, you may of course have already published your video and publish it before the competition.
FAQ
How many AMVs will be shown on stage?
It is our aim to show all submitted videos on stage. However, depending on the schedule of the event and the number of entries, this is sometimes not possible.
If the number of entries exceeds a certain level, we may not be able to show all AMVs on stage and give priority to the entries with a higher score.
Will I receive a confirmation when you have received my AMV?
We will endeavor to send a confirmation of receipt of your AMV within 72 hours. If you have not received a confirmation message after a longer period of time, please contact us.
However, sometimes the confirmation emails end up in the spam folder, so it always makes sense to check this.
How is the jury made up?
We always try to put together a jury consisting of people who have experience in various aspects of AMVs.
These include:
– Professional or many years of experience with editing
– Participation in many contests and therefore experience with the process of AMV contests
– Experience with a variety of current and popular anime
We endeavor to put together a jury that is as diverse as possible.
How does the jury rate?
Aspects such as originality, first impression, story, effort, execution, editing, choice of scenes, effects, mood/atmosphere, quality and recognition value are evaluated. Points will be awarded in several categories, which will be added up to an overall ranking at the end.
The audience favorite will be chosen by the audience of the convention. The exact procedure may change depending on the convention, but a vote is usually held at the convention after the videos have been shown.
The jury will carry out an anonymous evaluation to the best of their knowledge and will therefore not know the editor of the AMV. Hereby we would like to promote a fair evaluation.
Can I see the AMVs somewhere after the convention?
It is entirely up to the creators whether they make their video publicly accessible. While we will endeavor to publish a list of submissions, it is up to the editors to decide if they want to publish their AMV.
How do I know if my AMV is not too extreme or complies with the rules?
Follow the rules to the best of your ability and there should normally be no breach of the rules. In case of doubt, however, you can contact us at any time and if there has been a breach of the rules, you will be contacted and informed of the exact breach.
If your video contains a rule violation and you can no longer make the video compliant in time, we will gladly give you some extra time to adjust the problematic parts and send us the corrected video.
Will there be feedback on every AMV submission?
If you would like feedback on your entry or information on the scoring, you can contact us and we will endeavor to provide you with the feedback you require.
Is the use of AI tools permitted?
The use of AI tools to help create the AMV is permitted. Video and image material created by an AI is also permitted in principle, but the material used must comply with the rules (see “Video material” and “Prohibited material”).
