• Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: THAC 6 results!

Prisac, sorry we didn't list your name, I've added it now.

brick4brains wrote:

For an animation competition I was not very impressed by some of the animation in the high scoring entries and the sound on many was bordering on pathetic. The voice acting was however very good so maybe that had more to do with the final outcomes.

I think the balance of Presentation and Story/Theme was, for once, about right in this competition.  I wouldn't mind the presentation category being divided into smaller categories in the future, but part of the motivation behind this simplification was that VN wanted to get results quickly, we knew what aspects were supposed to be considered part of presentation over all, and a more complex ballot would have slowed the process down quite a bit.  (I didn't really have time to do all this, but I made time and pulled an all-nighter to prepare for a test the next morning.)  Animation and sound are a couple of areas that tend to suffer in a THAC contest given the very tight time limit, but I do think that the films with the highest "presentation" scores generally had a better balance of good technically quality throughout the film than those with lower scores in this category.  That having been said, I was only 1/4 of the panel and if it were up to me, "Caravan" and "Jim and Bob's New Car" would have placed quite a bit higher.

I watched all the top 20 again and what is disapointing to see is that one of the high ranked entries had 6 scenes and 3 of them had no mod element. Hello judges!

I assumed that any problems of this nature had already been weeded out by Stevie Collins, at any rate a couple frames of an obscured mod element isn't enough for disqualification anymore.  Regarding "whole scenes," my guess is that you may not have been looking hard enough, or considering the same things as Stevie did for mod elements, as he did make a lot of allowances for the "letter" mod, particularly if you're referring to Night Owl's entry.

A very big congratulations to the top 20, except the one that cheated.

Who are you referring to here?  There's no need to 'pull punches,' it just makes you look like you're not willing to open yourself up to being proven wrong or criticized...

-Sméagol

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Woah, 16th. Not bad at all mini/bigsmile.

Congratz to Nick, Nikolas and especially Brendan. You deserve it!

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Filip wrote:

Woah, 16th. Not bad at all mini/bigsmile.

No, I got 16th.

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Penta's Website

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Remember, the mod element is about making the film in 24 hours, not about having the mod element in every shot. Not sure if that makes sense, but I hope it does.

Night Owl's Website

  • Location: Kiel, Germany
  • Joined: December 30, 2008

Re: THAC 6 results!

Well, least it sounds like it makes sence.

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: THAC 6 results!

Technically both statements are related; you need the mod in every shot to prove it was filmed in 24 hours.  It's part of the rules; by them you must have the mod in every shot. Although you can make a film in 24 hours without the mod element, it can not be considered a THAC film as it violates the rules.
Maybe that clarifies somewhat.

  • Location: Kiel, Germany
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Re: THAC 6 results!

that, makes sence too. ugh I'm confused.

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Congrats to Krick! Congrats to everyone! mini/smile

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Can someone post how I did?

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Re: THAC 6 results!

11th is good.....isn't it? I was hoping to do much better (top 10). At least I would have received a score. I need more feedback on my films if I'm to progress and get better. Oh well there's always next year. Also you have my name wrong. I was using PE668 until my web email account died. I'm using Bodville now so that's not an issue but it would have been nice to have my BIM login name correct.

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bodville's Website

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Re: THAC 6 results!

What were the prizes?

Happy THACing mini/sunnies
  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: THAC 6 results!

bodville wrote:

11th is good.....isn't it? I was hoping to do much better (top 10). At least I would have received a score. I need more feedback on my films if I'm to progress and get better. Oh well there's always next year. Also you have my name wrong. I was using PE668 until my web email account died. I'm using Bodville now so that's not an issue but it would have been nice to have my BIM login name correct.

Fixed.

11th place out of 67 entries is good, yeah.  You know, that film was really impressive technically, I was surprised it did not place a lot higher, and by that I mean at least top 5 or 6.  As I mentioned, your film and "Jim and Bob's New Car" were two that I had expected to place higher.  But I was only 1/4 of the judging, of course.

It had some great technical work (I loved the effect with the trees) but it was a little confusing and hard to follow.  I hadn't seen the explanation (VN provided us with YouTube links directly to the films) and it does help, but in my opinion if a film is really difficult to understand without an outside explanation, it's probably not clear enough.  So I ranked your film highly in presentation, but not in story, because I didn't get what was going on for much of it.  Again though, I would have personally expected it to place higher than it did.

Congrats on your win in the Go Miniman Go! contest as well.

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Sméagol's Website

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Thanks, I need all the feedback I can get (good & bad). It don’t want to railroad this thread into a why I didn't come 4th, as we really should just be thanking the judges and congratulating the winners. So I’ll make this retort short.

I try to bring something new to brickfilms, away from the talking head or parody clones (YouTube has enough of them), my goal is purely to make original action films. And sometimes I fail. Looking at what I produced, 654 frames of animation (12 hours), 6 video tracks, 9 audio tracks (8 hours editing) in my film, to come 11th, I have failed. My story had two subplots, confusing doesn't equate to bad story in my books, but I watch lots of art-house cinema. I'll never spoon feed an audience the story and there will not be any text to read to move the story along.

One quick example: 9 out of ten people I showed this film to didn’t pick up (1st viewing) that the outlaws were drunk. But there were many indicators. They were yahooing and had bright red cups (which I though was too obvious), they fall out of the caravan when it stops and the bravest of them has a staggering walk cycle before taking his last drink of courage to approach the Bull. And that’s why the bull looked so freaky (surreal) to them because they were drunk out of their minds. I thought that the BIM community would have a more critical eye, but with 68 entries perhaps it got lost.

Please don't get me wrong I thought the judges did a great job and Krick's film was my favourite. I'm just disappointed in myself.

CrimStories

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bodville's Website

  • Location: Cupcake Land
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Re: THAC 6 results!

Wow. To tell the truth, that was totally unpredicted. Congrats, Krick, Nick and Nighty!

And congrats to everyone else who entered. It takes guts and dedication to make a movie in just one day.

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Re: THAC 6 results!

bodville wrote:

My story had two subplots, confusing doesn't equate to bad story in my books, but I watch lots of art-house cinema. I'll never spoon feed an audience the story and there will not be any text to read to move the story along.

I agree, I had thought about elaborating on that point...a story should be understandable to the point that it's possible to comprehend and works, but it need not be totally transparent.  I like "confusing" movies that make you think, but I guess I felt that this one was just difficult to follow in a way that didn't really contribute to the meaning.  I think the fast pacing given the 24 hour limit might have contributed to this.

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Congradulaitons to everyone!

Yechi Hamelech!

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Phew this thread was starting to get a bit teary (without me). Like the speech that goes past the allowed time at the Oscars.

Hazzat wrote:

Yeah, the shirt collars, eyebrows, mustaches... All pointy.

Riiiiiight. Modified eyebrows yep, ok, that was smart. Shirt collars as the MOD is stretching the interpretation alot, but ok. Score 1 for the home team.

Night Owl wrote:

Remember, the mod element is about making the film in 24 hours, not about having the mod element in every shot. Not sure if that makes sense, but I hope it does.

StevieCollins wrote:

The mod element MUST be included in EVERY FRAME of your film excluding those that are completely computer generated (basic credits, etc.). If your credits include video or pictures, the mod element must be visible there as well.]

So this rule was not enforced, ok that's 2 for the home team.

Night Owl wrote:

Actually, all the mod elements are in the frame with Weed Cops, but they are hidden well. Look at the shirt collars. mini/wink I actually did check that beforehand, and Stevie allowed it.

Well it helps that you were able to liase with Stevie during the competition who else was so lucky? Before you answer there were questions in the forum during THAC 6 that were not replied to.

Sméagol wrote:

Regarding "whole scenes," my guess is that you may not have been looking hard enough, or considering the same things as Stevie did for mod elements, as he did make a lot of allowances for the "letter" mod, particularly if you're referring to Night Owl's entry.

Fair cop, on closer inspection I spotted the mod (eyebrows ha, clever very clever) in all but one scene. Home team scores....3


ME wrote:

A very big congratulations to the top 20, except the one that cheated.

Dam the sarcasm smilie fell off again.

Sméagol wrote:

Who are you referring to here?  There's no need to 'pull punches,' it just makes you look like you're not willing to open yourself up to being proven wrong or criticized.

Yep your right it's time to fess up. I didn't want to name names because I don't really think that Night Owl cheated but I do think he didn't play well in the spirit of this competition. Having friends make special allowances and all. Shirt collars being considered a MOD is rich. What has been modfied? What about this whole scene with the complicated composition (that would take me 24 hours alone) where is recognizable MOD element in that?

Mod

As long as the letter, number, or symbol is recognizable as conforming to the basic shape of “A”, it will be acceptable. "O" "o" or "0" will not be accepted.]

I'm going to score that as 1 for me.

So to re-cap I don't really think he cheated just that he didn't follow the rules like everyone else did. Home team scored 3 to my puny 1 but is that one a breach of the rules enough to get that entry disqualified? You be the judge cos very few seem to agree with to me.

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Re: THAC 6 results!

b4b wrote:

What about this whole scene with the complicated composition (that would take me 24 hours alone) where is recognizable MOD element in that?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3506/329 … 8686_o.jpg

For the love of God, there's an angled stripe on the hood.

http://rockfootage.org//files/63/b4b_fails.jpg

That's zip for you. Now do as the other losing teams do and go home already. mini/tongue

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Re: THAC 6 results!

If you had played with the brightness/contrast, you would have spotted it pretty bloody quickly, or you could hav actually looked at the frame. Also, the frame could have been cropped in post, so there could easily have been a mod element which was cut off, which is allowed by the rules.

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Re: THAC 6 results!

Wow! Maggosh helped me for once. Thanks.

Brick, it's not like I had a special deal with Stevie or anything. I thought that shirt collars (I didn't use eyebrows) might be valid, so I went into the public IRC chat and asked him. To be frank, I was a little surprised myself that he allowed it. At any rate, I remember similarly hard-to-spot things being used in past contests.

What about this whole scene with the complicated composition (that would take me 24 hours alone)

If you're interested in how it was done: I had already planned out the film when my dad asked me to go get milk. In the back of the bus (Berlin has fabulous public transportation), I took a steady stream of pictures with my camera that were later assembled into a video that was displayed on a computer screen behind the two guys in the car. At any rate, I'm flattered that the effect impressed you so much that you turned it into your avatar.

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