AV News 193 - August 2013
The advantages of judging remotely are that you can do it in your own time, you
can take breaks when you feel you need them and you can have as much time as
you want between entries to make notes and come up with a descision. Also you
do have the opportunity to watch a sequence again if needed, something which
is not possible in a live competition.
As with all competitions we found the entries varied greatly, there was some
superb photography, but not always put together in the best way. Transition effects
were greatly overused in some entries. Some sequences had very good concepts,
but the execution meant that the original idea did not come across to its best
advantage. Sound quality also varied widely, a lot did not have a
voiceover, but were generally well read when it was present.
Technically the quality of the presentation was very variable, but this was often
due to the software used. Jill found that watching on a 1920x1050 monitor some
of the images were badly degraded by upsizing. This was almost always the ones
produced using Proshow and occasionally the Wings ones. All of the
PicturesToExe sequences played perfectly. John viewing on a smaller monitor did
not notice this degradation quite as much.
We did feel that some entrants had put their sequences in the wrong section
and would have scored higher in the correct section. An example was something
entered into the Music, Poetry & Song group, which was clearly a Documentary
as it had neither Poetry or Song within it and was not a musical interpretation, but
told a story & gave facts and information.
All in all it was very enjoyable and we hope that our written comments have
helped the authors to see how we came to our conclusions and will help them
improve their sequences.
Keith sums up perfectly how we all felt about the experience.
When somebody asks you to do something for them reality seems to go on the
blink for a while and you hear yourself say 'yes I would love to do it for you'. When
the job finds its way into your lap reality slips back into place and you then realise
what is involved. So there I sat on my own in the dark with a pen and paper. The
first one rolls and where do you start? I gave it a middling mark so that I can come
back afterwards and adjust it up or down if needed when I see more. When I
finished the first section some had the same mark so I had to go back and adjust
them again until they were in order. By this time I had had enough of sitting in the
dark on my own and decided to do the next section the next day. Some days later
I am back in the dark on my own with a pen and paper. The first one rolls and
where do you start? A sense of déjà vu came over me but I shook it off and got
on with the job. When I finished the second section some had the same mark so
I had to go back and adjust them again until they were in order. By this time I had
had enough of sitting in the dark on my own and decided to do the next section
the next day. I won't go through it with you again but needless to say the same
thing happened until the job was done.
This all sounds as if I hated doing it but nothing could be further from the truth
because I enjoyed it very much and would happily do it again. Having said that
being in a hall with an audience and the atmosphere that an audience gives you
is by far the best way to judge and it would be a very sad day if we didn't get
together for these occasions.
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