I agree with the statement regarding ranking. 20-25 seems very reasonable, and prevents that whole "fight for last place." If the judges would consider doing this I think many more people (10-15 to be precise) would come out feeling like they have improved and accomplished something. If we take a look at THAC, it's not as much about the competition and winning as it is about learning and growing as a community. This is evident when we rank 10 even though there are only three prizes. Three places actually makes the most sense of all, because it brings up competition and only accepts the BEST. Just something to consider.

Last edited by LiamG (January 4, 2015 (11:16pm))

Youtube | Flickr | Twitter

There seems to be some confusion over why we've limited the rankings to 10 entries. It's not out of laziness, or a desire to save time. It comes from a genuine desire to have *good* judging decisions when we post them. It's because we want the judging results to be of higher quality, not lower. The problem is that after about 10th place, the quality of entries starts to blur into a range in which it is hard to distinguish one from another.

An allegory:

For the sake of argument, let's imagine that there is a celestial realm where intelligences greater than our own are able to objectively discern the quality of all THAC entries from 1st to 68th. They put the best film at the top of the pyramid, and the quality descends from there. And for some reason, they're terribly fond of Comic Sans. I suggest that such a determination would resemble this:

Now, someone with a keen eye might be able to determine the precise ranking of all the films by looking at this pyramid. But we are mere mortals, confined by the shackles of artistic subjectivity. We don't see the form itself, we grasp dimly at a manifestation of it as perceived by watching the films for ourselves. It's more like a shadow cast by the flame of human opinion onto the rocky wall of a cave:

Even if we wanted to give the lower rankings, we could not do it in a meaningful way. To TRY to give you some kind of rankings would ultimately only deceive and damage; animators below the top few rankings can't improve their ranking from one year to the next with any consistency, as previous THACs and other BIM contests have demonstrated.

I know that the desire for more rankings is really a desire for validation or feedback on your entry. That's understandable. But this ranking system is never going to give that to you. There is too much noise in the system below 10th place to yield results that we're confident are of high quality in their discernment. We don't want to cheat you like that. It is the equivalent of asking a magic 8 ball for validation of your THAC entry.

You don't want your film to be validated or recognized by a randomly determined number that is not even considered adequately meaningful by the people who came up with it. And that's the best we can give you in the form of rankings as subjective as 11th place in a contest full of creative, talented people. So instead, we've chosen to focus on celebrating the very finest entries, and the fact that all of you MADE A MOVIE in under 24 hours and had, we hope, a positive experience doing it.

The only real feedback for people who are still growing and improving is feedback from human beings specifically watching your film and examining it for what you did well, and what could be improved upon. If you want more feedback, I encourage you to help be part of the solution by reviewing other THAC entries currently in the releases forum. Give them the sort of encouragement and critique that you'd like to receive for your own film! Together, we can make this a reality.

Could there be a few 'Special Mentions' that aren't to do with ranking perhaps? Like best newcomer, best comedy, best drama, best use of mod elements, best use of theme etc - particularly to encourage a wider range of takes on the theme. I know I've seen a few grumblings related to theme interpretation. Also such things could motivate people who feel they've got no hope of the top 10.

Last edited by BoatsAreRockable (January 5, 2015 (07:03am))

I think the top 10 is all that is necessary for ranking, but I would love to hear some "shout outs" or "honorable mentions" from judges for brickfilms not in the top ten.  It doesn't need to be anything formal, but a forum comment from a judge like "I also liked this film, that film, and some other film," would be a nice touch. Concentrating on judging the top 10 is most important though.

YT Twitter FB  Vine Website

"Submitted after deadline" by 4 minutes

For all I know this question might have already been answered either here or elsewhere, but has there been a date set yet for when the results will be announced? (or at least a rough estimate as to how long it will be till then?)

A date hasn't been set, but by the very latest I want THAC completely wrapped up by the end of January (winners announced, prizes sent). However, I do not think it will take that long. Judging for THAC is an involved process, so don't be surprised if it takes a few weeks.

YouTube | Twitter | Brickfilm Archival Project
Brickfilms Wiki | BiM: The Documentary

It doesn't work like that, hence my explanation. It doesn't really matter how many entries there are, it's still hard to distinguish one as better than another beyond around 10th place. This is supported consistently by the judging process in past BiM contests.

Will there be a live announcement of the top ten, like a chat room announcement?  Or will it just be a new thread?  Either is fine, I'm just curious.