Anime Expo 2000?

people think of the following:

Thanks for the opportunity to put our comments in.

membership rates).

It's an interesting idea, it's on par with major SF conventions and certainly with the San Diego ComiCon. It would be nice to see it done for Expo 2001, the tenth anniversary of Expo's predecessor, AnimeCon and AX-X (Anime Expo 10). Certainly though there is enough programming in both cons to do that. I haven't seen this year's con program, but judging from last year, the con was a little light on formal programming. (Probably done deliberately so people could spend the time queueing- it's a joke! Please don't hit me! Ouch. ?

Another idea for AX-X would be to relocate it *for that year only* back to San Francisco.

I also agree the the correspondent who suggested a mini-con in the last quarter of the year. Considering the plethora of East Coast cons, spread right throughout the year, and only three dedicated anime cons on the West Coast (Fanime in the first quarter, BAKA-con second, and Expo early third) a fourth in say November would be pretty popular. A better publicised event like InPAC, Thanksgivings last year, would be just the ticket.

masquerade. (We will also have the main dance on Friday night.)

I don't know if this would work; a dance compared to the juggernaut of the masquerade would be run over. It's just not enough of a drawcard. Instead, how about scheduling a second meet the guests function? It could be enough to draw some of the overflow for the masquerade away.

Besides, fanboys aren't that social ?

dedicated to it.

Alternate programming- just like your computer animation programming of years back.

Great idea, although you may have to get permission from people to have their picture included in the CD-Rom. I'm not saying that anyone would refuse, but it might be better to try and get as many people who can be identified's permission than to scrap a whole print run(? burn run?)

Hey! I've been lobbying this for years! But again the above applies, permission from people to appear on the tape. In addition a legal statement signed by people (costumers, guests, etc.) appearing on the tape giving permission to appear on the tape AND waiving any claim to profits, fees or any other momentary claims from the sale of the tape (unless of course it has been arranged with the con.) Such a statement is on the masquerade entry forms for the San Diego ComiCon.

The SPJA would own copyright of the tape, which means that if it wanted to the tape could be sold for a profit.

Another question would be whether *any* video taping and still photography would be allowed in the auditorium. At Bucconeer and ComiCon there was a separate photograph area for people to take pictures of costumers. If the SPJA owns copyright on the masquerade tape and/or the masquerade itself it could theoretically prohibit unauthorised video taping.

Are we talking stars of the level of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung or Michelle Yeoh? If not, then why? Only HK film buffs would be enthused to see them, and is the number of such buffs attending Expo worth the expense? As someone else posted, it might be better guesting more people from the anime and manga industries. (Man, shades of Anime East/Far East con!)

Thanks, Mike

Widya Santoso

(Who is hoping for a reunion of all the masquerade entrants at AnimeCon to be at Anime Expo X)

That was kind of my opinion too although I wouldn't have had time to go to much programming even if there were more %_% Four day con would give me a lot more time, but like people mentioned you have to consider the membership rates.

Ugh, the lines are disgusting ^-^ and it's not really staff's fault, people just show up at the door or in front of the building, there's nothing you can do about it except let them sit there, let them into the room early, or ban them from coming within 1,000 ft of the entrance. One other method would be to have an insane amount of programming to force people to choose what they want to see the most. (But again this stops working for UberEvents like Masquerade) Check out the pictures on some of the web pages of people camping out in front of convention center at 2 AM (I'm not sure that's even legal)

to SF all of a sudden just for one year! I'd rather the con stay in one area than roam around. I'd say the same thing if AX was traditionally held in SF and someone proposed holding it in LA just for one year. Unless there was a really good reason to. I'd rather see AX hold 2 cons in both SF and LA to make everyone happy.

Um, what if the guests wanted to watch masquerade ^-^

Oh boy I think some are too social ^o^

I think the AX membership badge has that little disclaimer saying they can use your likeness for anything they want as long as you're at the con. (Now, I'm hoping this doesn't mean someone can take a picture of me in the shower and burn a cd-rom of it... O_o of course me in the shower is not something anyone would buy.)

Out of curiosity does ComiCon sell tapes of their masquerades? Do they make a profit? ^-^

SPJA is a non-profit organization, I'm not sure how this would affect their status. They could ask for DONATIONS maybe, but they can't start overpricing their tapes I think.

Now there's a quick way to make a lot of people angry ^-^ What's wrong with photographs? Granted people on stage are going to get BLINDED by all the flashbulbs but that's kind of expected. If they wanted to they could ban photography, I just wouldn't want to be the person that announced it or had to enforce it.

(and a note to you photo-hounds: a lot of you aren't using your camera right, your flash bulb going off way in back is just going to give you an ugly washed-out picture, bring a tripod or read up on how to use your camera in these kinds of situations!)

Wow, 10 years coming up soon already...

-Richard http://rink.simplenet.com Dang it, I can't get a 10 year shirt The most I can hope for is a 5 ;_;

We have traditionally taken the position that we don't want to counterprogram due to the fact that it pisses off attendees. However, we have too many things we want to try and not enough time to do it. I'd like to see karaoke and the music videos gain a more prominent part in the schedule.

If we can work it out, we are going to TRY to merge an assigned seating system with some of our registration programming. This will hopefully eliminate the need to line up too early. On the other hand, a lot of people might not get to sit together. I guess it's all a trade-off. However, not having to spend 4 hours in line has its appeal.

We are weighing this as a future possibility. A lot of our guests want to come to AX, but cannot make it during the summer. It's all a question of whether our people think they can handle two cons. If we do do a Winter AX, we will try to shift it far away from AX's date. It will also be a shorter 3 day convention. Our first major test will be the 4 day con.

We don't split guest programming. It has to be something that only fans participate in.

I put in the wording in the badges as a precursor to the CD-ROM project. That wording would also apply to every masquerade attendee due to the fact that they are all SPJA members who have badges.

See above.

I personally don't care too much about the profits on the tapes. They help promote anime and AX. I just have doubts on the prices if we don't do a large run. I also don't mind if people keep recording for their own purposes during the convention. I think that our set-up will be far better than any personal copies.

Anime America had a limited photography policy. I think that ACen might have too.

I'm trying to find something nice for the 10 year veterans...

Actually, I find both it's current spot and the possibility of keeping it in the same room a problem...

This year, it was tough getting from the Masquerade to the MV Contest, and only a delay on the MV allowed me and my friends to get in.

putting them both in the same room would pretty much guarantee that some people would miss BOTH events.

I'd suggest holding the MV contest earlier on Saturday, or on a different evening.

Damien Roc

Well, the problem with Masquerade is that it is a live event that can only be viewed in person by the people in that room. With music videos, you don't need to be 'in the same room' anymore, because you're just broadcasting video. Now, if you could get a HUGE screen(s) in the main room that is viewable from the back, and simulcast to all the other theaters, would this be acceptable to everyone? It might even encourage people to go to overflow rooms instead of live Masquerade so they can get better seats for music videos.

I don't know how 'viewable' MVs would be from the back, so I suggest simulcasting to at least two other theaters, maybe three or four. This way everyone can sit where they like. Voting will be a chore, I don't know if a paper vote by membership number (1 per person) would be good, or if a voice vote during MV is better.

evening.

You've got Masquerade in early afternoon and eves already. People in Masquerade are (supposed) to show up for rehearsals in late morning or noon hours. People want to go to panels, etc. during Saturday. Masquerade and Music Videos alone is enough to completely kill the entire day if you start them too early. It depends on if staff can keep everything on schedule. Which never happens on monster events of these sizes ^-^

Another idea is to knock out some of the walls, if possible, and hold one HUGE music video exhibit. Have four or six screens projecting them. Now, the problem with this is the sound quality is going to go to hell if you're not careful. I don't think music videos do Dolby Digital or THX (yet), but keeping good audio quality in weird room configurations is a problem still. I don't know what the Hilton's room configuration is like, can the walls be taken down between halls? Then we could plop everyone in one GIANT room, and people would have a better chance at good seating due to more screens.

If this is a stupid idea just open up ALL the video theaters to do music video contest, and have an MC in each room do the voice votes. Videos would be broadcasted to all the theaters at the same time, and MCs would give the go-ahead to proceed to next video when they're done with the votes. The hardware aspects of this would need working out to accomplish. Someone else mentioned the idea of having a central A/V station that sends out the video to all the theaters from a single location for the entire con.

I'd LOVE to do my videos in 5.1/Surround Sound, if anyone can point me in the direction of (cheap) sound editing software that can do this let me know. I want to be one of the first videos that flashes surround logos on their title screens ^o^

-Richard http://rink.simplenet.com What fool came up with this Region Code block for DVDs ;_; Gotta find a spatializer... (sp?)