So far you have my vote. You handled the theora codec contest very professionally, and because of this it was a success.

Most of the inferior contests are weeded out anyway due to low participation, or from the organizer being berated to tears. An imposed limit would be unwise.

I agree that you did an excellent job on the TTC contest. Also, I would not support discouraging unofficial contests either.

“saulgoode” wrote: In the three years since, each of the annual contests have respectively seen 9, 13, and 10 entries (not really supportive of a trend either way). Exactly which time period in the history of Brickfilms are we supposed to examine in order to find support for your claim?

The early years. While the number of entries in early Brickfilms contests was about the same, (10 entries for the Classical Music Contest and 12 for the Historical Fiction Contest) I believe the community was substantially smaller at the time. I don’t have any data to back this up and could be mistaken, though I was a member of Brickfilms at the times these contests were run. But anyway, the number of entries is not the only factor to consider; plenty of us can churn out a decent short in 24 hours, and if we want to enter multiple contests (necessary to keep the number of entries up in each) the amount of time spent on each entry has to decrease. I cannot speak for everyone, and I don’t think everybody would agree with this, but I would choose one official contest with 10 entries (in which every entrant put their best effort into the film and spent a great deal of time) over three official contests with 10 entries each, most of them shallow one-joke films. APE was one such contest with a huge level of participation. I think THAC fills the need to have this kind of contest.

A distinguishing factor which actually exists between those early contests and the more recent ones is that those early contests provided some nice awards such as the Audience Choice Awards and The Sisters Awards which were seen as accessible to a wider range of entrants, even if they felt their story, equipment, free time, or skill might not provide much expectation of winning overall.

Yes, I agree that these kinds of prizes are a good idea. You make a good point in that some people may not be able to devote the kind of time to making large projects that the “vets” do, but I think that unofficial contests have done a reasonable job of supplementing this. I think with some prizes geared toward the less experienced entrants you could have the benefit of giving newbies a chance without dividing up entries or motivating the more experienced members to scale back so they can enter both contests. Contests for beginners are of course a possible solution, but either way I think it could be difficult to verify experience and decide who is eligible.

It would be my goal as Minister of Film Contests to re-institute the idea that Brickfilms contests are for ALL members, not just a dozen or so entrenched veterans annually vying for the title of High Priest of Brickfilms. Yet I would be reluctant to do this with the annual, summer, major, official, “convention” contest.

This does seem to be the trend, although good brickfilmers do not have to be experienced brickfilmers; Jay Silver and Cannedgravy both made amazing debut films.

Sorry if I rambled on a bit, I don’t mean to clutter up your campaign thread. Thank you, I understand your ideas better now. You have my support. (Actually, you did before!)

-Smeagol

“Krick” wrote: Most of the inferior contests are weeded out anyway due to low participation, or from the organizer being berated to tears. An imposed limit would be unwise.

I agree with your assessment. It is my hope that by separating the recognized contests from proposals and discussions, there will be more leniency and freedom for those proposals and discussions. I would encourage brainstorming in the discussion forum without the requirement that the ideas shared be part of a fleshed out contest. A good idea should not be attacked because the timing is wrong; it should be recognized on its own merit and available for later consideration. In this way, good concepts from one contest might be combined with good concepts from another, resulting in better contests overall.

“Night Owl” wrote: This is my big question.
Since Watson seems to be missing in action, would you organize the BAMPAs on time if necessary?

You will probably be disappointed when I say that I would not. I do not view the BAMPAs as currently falling under the purview of the Ministry of Film Contests and do not see a great benefit to the community to change that. I would not discourage others (including the original organizers) from continuing the BAMPAs, but my focus as Minister of Film Contests will be on next year’s brickfilming activities, not this year’s.