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.
DID you know you can learn how to edit your own Anime Music Video’s? We have some great videos that will teach you how to get started. Click on the Learn How link below and check out the build your own AMV videos made by our AMV guru Chris.
If you would like to enter our AMV contest for the upcoming convention, then sign up below.
Also remember to review all rules lower on this page before entering!
1: Contest Entries must be received no later than 11:59 pm Mountain Standard Time on September 28th, 2023. If your submission is going to be late, please contact us ahead of time so that accommodations may be considered. We understand that there may be difficulties in getting your videos to us, especially in the case of international shipping. We absolutely cannot accept any video submissions AFTER SEPTEMBER 21st, 2023. No exceptions!
2: Videos submitted to this contest must have a finalization date of no older than May 1st, 2022. Videos that are older than this must be authorized by the contest staff. All inquiries on this topic should be submitted to [email protected] via email. Any video that has been submitted to Anime Banzai’s AMV contest in previous years cannot be submitted to this year’s contest.
3: By submitting your videos to this contest, you affirm and agree to grant the contest sponsors and organizers (herein referred to as Anime Banzai and its affiliates), the unconditional license to publish, reproduce, distribute, and otherwise utilize each submission without restriction, in its entirety or in part, on the internet, in exhibitions, advertising, media, or wherever else may be deemed necessary for promotional purposes. Credit will be attributed to the creator or creators of each video used for these purposes.
If we use a video for such purposes, we will do our best to inform the creator beforehand.
4: By submitting your videos to this contest, you affirm and agree that the submission is entirely and without condition your own creation, and that it does not contain any material which may infringe on the intellectual property rights or other rights of any third party. This includes channel, TV, studio, or program watermarks. If it does, you must have and present upon request proper authorization and/or license that has been obtained from the creator, distributor, or holder of such rights.
5: Each editor is allowed to submit up to 4 videos. This includes multiple editor project submissions.
6: All submissions must be no longer than 7 minutes in length. Any video that exceeds this time limit will be disqualified.
7: All video submissions must conform to a uniform standard of decency. Videos that contain excessive violence, explicit sexual behavior, excessive sexual innuendo, or excessively explicit lyrics will be disqualified. We are aiming for a PG-13 rating; decisions regarding the suitability of this material will be made by the judges and contest staff. If you wish to use music with questionable lyrics, please use a clean/radio edit version to help avoid disqualification.
8: Approximately 80% of each video submission must be made from video footage acquired from an anime/manga source. Video game cut-scene footage, computer graphics, and similar material is acceptable; non-anime animated material is allowed, but not encouraged.
9: No less than 75% of the total run time of the video must have musical accompaniment.
10: Subtitles are ONLY allowed if used for artistic or thematic reasons within the video. Videos submitted with fan-sub or official subtitles, credits, or incidental text for any other reason that are not removed prior to being entered into the contest will be disqualified.
11: All video submissions must be at a minimum resolution of 640×480 Full screen format, or 640×360 Wide screen format, and use an acceptable compression format. More information regarding resolutions and formats can be found on the Submission Guidelines page.
12: Parody videos of original material or derivative material is allowed, and must follow all of the rules of normal video submissions.
13: Video submissions will be placed by the judges and organizers into the category that best suits the video. Category choices marked on the submission forms will be used as a recommendation for these decisions.
14: We will be adding a bumper before and after each video presented during the contest event. These bumpers will display the title of the video, the name of the source material and music, the submitter’s editor nickname and/or studio name, and the video’s category and length. Do not add any bumpers, logo scenes, website links, watermarks or personal intros to the videos; any video with the aforementioned articles will be disqualified. Videos with material that is judged to be an integrated part of the video may be exempt from this rule, upon staff discretion.
15: All decisions made by the judges and staff regarding judging results, presentation, and organization of this contest are final. Any questions regarding these decisions can be directed towards the directors of the contest, [email protected].
16: In order to make the submissions process as simple as possible, editors for a multiple editor project should elect one of their number to act as a contact person when dealing with the Contest staff. The editor that has been selected as Contact should be the one to submit the AMV to our contest, and all correspondence regarding the video and the contest will be directed to the Contact Editor. This will help us cut down on the number of duplicate entries we receive, and ensure that we have the best information available for getting in touch with the editors when needed.
17: Only one copy of each video submission will be accepted, regardless of the number of editors who worked on the project. If we receive multiple copies of the same entry, we will get in contact with each of the submitting Editors and request that all but one of the entries be canceled. If we need to intercede in these cases, multiple submissions of the same video will be vetted on a “first come, first serve” basis – we will keep the first entry of the specific AMV we received, and the rest will be disqualified.
18: By entering a multiple editor AMV project into our contest, the submitter is stating that they have the express permission of all involved editors to distribute their work. The submitter in turn has granted this permission to Anime Banzai to publish, reproduce, distribute, and display the submitted AMV project as needed for exhibition and promotional purposes [as per Rule 3]. If we are notified of any requests to have the submission revoked by a dissenting editor that was involved in the project’s creation, we will attempt to contact each editor involved, and an appropriate decision will be announced by the Contest staff after due consideration.
19: Prizes awarded to an entry that is also a multiple editor project will be identical to those awarded to videos that are submitted by a single editor. If multiple editors of a winning video are present at the Anime Banzai AMV Awards ceremony, please let the Contest staff know so we can acknowledge participating Editors accordingly.
20: All prizes will be shipped to the address provided on the submission form. Please allow for 4-8 weeks for delivery of prizes; we cannot be held responsible for complications of shipping that may arise from customs laws of any country to which prizes may be shipped.
If you have questions regarding any of the rules listed above, please contact us. Our email address is [email protected].
