Archived competition. Submissions and voting are closed.

Organized by quintin3265

Submissions

2010-02-01 – 2010-02-25

Voting

2010-02-28 – 2010-03-07

This competition has been postponed in favor of Muuurgh's competition, but may be held in the future.

Putting the video back in game remixes

Video games are a unique form of entertainment that combines music, video, and a great story into one engrossing experience.  While video game music is an important part of that experience, it often loses its emotional value when separated from what's happening on the screen.  Ever wondered how your favorite remix would sound if it were actually featured in a game or put to live action?  Video Remix Rumble is a competition designed to put the video back into video game remixes.

The premise

In this competition, competitors will create music videos for video game remixes.  The challenge is simple, but allows for an infinite number of possibilities.  The rules:  select any remix and make a music video out of it.  There are only limited restrictions on what types of music or videos may be created:  unmodified songs from game company OST CDs and "rips" of tracks directly from game media are prohibited; and you may not simply insert the original game footage directly under its remixed music and enter it into the competition.

Competitors must choose a remix of any song featured in a widely distributed video game (for a defintion of "widely distributed" and other specific terms below, see the detailed rules).  Anyone may enter as an individual, or teams of two may be formed to allow participants to specialize in either video or audio.  Teams must compose music that has never been released before prior to the competition, but individuals are permitted to either write an original remix or to use remixes that have been previously published at any site.  Individuals may also use remixes written by other community members, provided that they have received permission from the song's creators to do so.

Video may come from any source.  Gameplay footage, anime, or cartoons are available.  Stock footage may be included, as may collections of news clips, home videos, and other mashups.  Live band performances may be filmed.  Live acting presents an obvious possibility and a unique challenge.  To top it all off, you can select Vegas, Premiere, Final Cut, or whatever editing software you want, and may add titles, post-process video, scramble colors, and use the software to its fullest.  You can submit a cell-phone video, or one that is high-definition.  HD videos will be available in both their original formats and a downsized quality for web viewing.

The winners of the competition will be featured on the front page of remixSite, and will receive "followed" links to a non-adult-content site of their choice.  Not only that, the ability to brag about your creation should be reward enough.

The details

Unlike remixSite's Composition Combat, which held a three-month window of competition, Video Remix Rumble will occur in half the time.  The competition period for Video Remix Rumble begins on February 1, 2010, and all submissions must be received by February 25, 2010, at 11:59:59pm Pacific Standard Time.  After a two-day eligibility determination period, public voting will occur until March 7, 2010, at 11:59:59pm Pacific Daylight Time.

Video Remix Rumble will utilize the remixSite "Compos" feature to organize submissions and voting.  These and other functions of the competition will be automated.  Entrants will upload videos to remixSite, and then submit them to the compo using the submission feature.  Revisions may be made and resubmitted before the deadline.  Voting will occur using the "toplist" voting system: each user will create a list of the videos in the competition in the order (s)he believes the videos should place.  Videos placed higher up the list will receive more points.  The voting system was designed to be anonymous and requires free registration at remixSite.  The previous "one vote list per person" rule will be in effect.  After the competition concludes, the results will be made visible and a spreadsheet of anonymized votes will be released using remixSite's "vote spreadsheet" feature.

Declare your intent

If you plan to enter the competition, you must declare your interest at the remixSite forums prior to February 1.  Declaring that you are interested does not bind you to enter the competition, but indicates that you are reasonably sure that you will submit an entry before the deadline.  A review of the number of contestants who have declared their intent to enter will allow us to determine whether the competition should move forward.

No retained songs are associated with this entry.

These rules are simply copied from remixSite's Composition Combat, and do not represent the final rules for this competition.  If there is sufficient interest to support the competition, then the rules will be updated appropriately on February 1.

1. To enter Video Remix Rumble, competitors must use the "submit a song to this compo" button with remixSite's compos feature.  The compos functionality will be the core focus of this competition.
2. There are distinct periods to remixSite Composition Combat:
   • October 17, 12:00PM EDT to November 29, 6:00PM EST: the "competition period."
   • A brief period where the initial list of songs eligible for rating will be compiled.
   • Ending on December 4, at 6:00PM EST: the "appeals filing period."
   • December 5, 12:00PM EST to December 15, 6:00PM EST: the "rating period."
   • A "compilation period" during which the results will be tabulated and announced.
   • Optionally, from December 19, 12:00PM EST to December 22, 6:00PM EST: the "first and/or second prizes tiebreaker period."
   The "competition period" is the time during which entrants create, post and revise songs that will be entered into the Challenge. The "appeals filing period" is the time during which competitors listen to the other competitors' songs and file any appeals of rules violations to the remixSite Group. The "rating period" is the time during which community members may vote on the songs entered into the Challenge to determine the winner. After the "rating period," the results will be announced and winners paid, or, if a tie exists, a "first and/or second prizes tiebreaker period" will occur subject to the tiebreaking procedures listed below. Unless one of the conditions for extension in these rules is triggered, prizes will be distributed on December 25, 2009.
3. Any perceived violations of eligibility rules must be brought to the attention of the remixSite Group by Forum posting during the "appeals filing period." An example of an eligible appeal is when a competitor believes another piece is not influenced by the theme of the contest. Appeals may be filed by competitors or community members, and will be judged by the remixSite Group with input from experts in the community. After the "appeals filing period" ends, songs' eligibility for rating is final. The only exceptions to the "appeals filing period" finality rule are if a DMCA takedown notice is received for a song, in which case the rules regarding DMCA takedown notices will apply regardless of whether any community appeals were filed; if plagiarism is suspected, in which case an appeal may be filed at any time; or if a competitor revises his or her contest song after the competition period ends, in which case the artist will lose eligibility for all prizes without any appeal being necessary.
4. During the competition period, entrants should post updates to their songs using the "revisions" features by revising their songs as they progress.
5. Songs must be new. Entered songs may not have been posted on any other site, or have been entered into any other competition, prior to their entry into the remixSite Composition Combat. They may not be posted to other sites during the challenge. The song must remain exclusive to remixSite at all times during the contest period AND the review/voting period in order to retain eligibility for the prizes.
6. Songs that have a VGMdb influences status of "Not selected" will be ineligible for judging. Songs must be listed as "original works."
7. In the case of a bug or other issue that prevents a significant number of participants from being able to properly adhere to these rules or to submit songs, the contest may be extended to allow for proper submission after the bug has been resolved. If a very limited number of contributors are affected, or if the bug is resolved early in the competition period, however, the competition time will not be extended. Likewise, community members whose computers do not contain modern browsers with Javascript support may be unable to vote and no special accomodations will be made. To be eligible for a time extension, bugs must be reported to the remixSite Group using its bug tracker system at http://www.shoemakervillage.org/mantis, or by posting a thread in the remixSite Forums. Bugs that have not been reported to the developers are not cause for special consideration, regardless of their severity or the number of people affected by them.
8. The remixSite Group does not guarantee availability on weekdays to answer questions, to rule on appeals, or to resolve bugs. A delay in responding to an issue submitted on a weekday will not be considered as evidence in any dispute, even if the delay affects the results. If not addressed immediately, issues submitted on weekdays will be handled on the following Saturday or Sunday. For this reason, most significant contest dates fall on weekends.
9. The artist with the highest rated song will receive $500 in cash through an online payment system. The winner is responsible for paying any fees imposed by receiving payment through the online payment system. The artist whose song ranks in second place will receive a free game from any game console (maximum value $59.99). The artist whose song is the "most improved" between its first posted revision and the final revision will receive $30 cash. The formula for determining which song is most improved is the number of song revisions times the difference in rating between the first and last revisions. The number of song revisions for the purposes of this formula will be capped by ten, such that uploading an excessive number of revisions will not increase the odds of winning this prize. Contestants may submit more than ten revisions and the last revision may still be counted as the final score; however, in this case the "most improved" multiplier will still equal ten. The winners of the $500 grand prize and the second place free game prize are ineligible for the "most improved" prize. For the "most improved" prize, ratings outside of the rating period will be counted in the criteria.
10. The latest revision of a participant's song will be considered his or her submission for the Challenge. Previous revisions will only be considered for the "most improved" prize.
11. Only one song per participant is allowed. Participants are encouraged to upload as many songs as possible for general posting to the site during the competition period, but they must identify in the "remixSite Composition Combat Registration" thread which song they wish to be entered into the competition. A competitor may change the song he or she wishes to submit to the competition during the competition period, but doing so renders that contestant ineligible for the "most improved" prize for all songs submitted.
12. Due to technical limitations, the remixSite Forums require separate registration from the remixSite site itself, so two registrations are required.
13. If a user revises an eligible song after the end of the competition period, that song will become ineligible.
14. Judging will occur by community vote using the existing remixSite reviews system. Anyone is eligible to vote, but only one vote per person is allowed. Security features are implemented to prevent abuse and fraud; however, the remixSite Group reserves the right to, at its discretion, disqualify votes that are deemed to violate the one-vote-per-person rule. Active human monitoring of voting will be employed. The remixSite Group is not authorized to change the value of any individual review, only to disqualify suspect reviews. If a competitor is proven to be using automated software to affect the ratings of other competitors' songs, the competitor will become ineligible, all of his or her ratings for all songs will also be deleted, and (s)he will be banned from remixSite. Such griefers may also face legal liability in the case that the competition's outcome is affected or the remixSite Group receives negative publicity as a result of hacking.
15. The winner will be the eligible song with the highest average rating during the voting period. Because votes may be registered before or after the rating period, the displayed ratings may not necessarily be the ratings that are considered for the Challenge. A chart of the songs along with their ratings and the number of ratings during the eligible time period will be posted publicly at the conclusion of the competition.
16. To encourage users to post ratings, to ensure fairness, and to discourage across-the-board negative ratings by competitors, the 25% of songs that receive the fewest number of ratings will not receive any prizes, regardless of how highly those songs are rated.
17. In the event of a dispute after the results are announced, the remixSite Group will be the final arbiter of all disputes.
18. In the incredibly unlikely case of a tie in voting, a runoff vote will occur. Community members who have not yet voted will vote on the tied songs only. Only reviews that were first cast by new people during the runoff period will be eligible for counting. If a tie still remains after a runoff period, the remixSite Group will determine how to proceed. If the tie is for second place, the runoff round will only determine which artist will win the second place prize, even if the winner of the runoff receives a higher rating during the runoff period than the winner of the competition received during the normal voting period. If there is still a tie for any prize after the runoff, the remixSite Group will determine how to proceed. If there is a tie for the "most improved" prize, the remixSite group will determine how to proceed without any runoff.
19. Both detailed reviews and quick ratings will be counted equally for voting totals, although detailed reviews are encouraged.
20. Reviewers may not change their votes after voting for any reason, even if the rater clicked the wrong button accidentally.
21. Songs entered in the contest remain the copyright of the artist submitting the song. However, the artist grants the remixSite Group a non-exclusive license to use songs submitted in the contest for promotional purposes and site posting only. The license does not grant the remixSite Group or any other entity the right to use contest songs in games or any other productions without separate licensing. During the competition, appeals, and voting periods, competitors may remove their competition songs from remixSite, but by doing so will become ineligible for any prizes. The prize winners may not remove their songs from the site using the "Remove Song" feature, but participants that did not earn a prize are released from this license and are bound only by the remixSite general posting guidelines after the prizes are awarded.
22. If a multi-person band wins a prize, the prize will be awarded to the person who submitted the song to the contest. The remixSite Group is not responsible for disputes amongst band members concerning prize distribution.
23. Artists may submit only their own works. MIDI files containing little more than the original work are eligible for the competition; however, files may not contain any copyrighted material from the game disc. Artists may not submit copies of game soundtrack audio, and may not excessively sample soundtracks. If a DMCA takedown notice is received from a game company, the affected song will not be eligible for the competition unless the takedown notice is proven to be baseless in a court of law. Such litigation is a matter between the artist and the plaintiff only, and remixSite will abide by all laws or court rulings in the case of such a dispute.
24. In the case of an appeal on the grounds that a song does not adhere to the theme of the competition, the remixSite Group will determine how to proceed.
25. Rules not expliticly specified in this document may be adjusted at the discretion of the remixSite Group in the interest of fairness. These rules may be modified as the need arises for any reason until the "competition period" begins.
26. Participants are encouraged to upload their submissions in a "lossless" format, such as WAV, FLAC, or unprotected WMA lossless. Any codec supported by "ffmpeg" will be converted to MP3 and will be available for download in both the original format and the converted MP3 format. Lossless music preserves the quality of the original samples and recordings as much as possible, and we encourage submitters to submit the best quality available.
27. While videos may be permitted to be uploaded to the site, videos are ineligible for the competition. Users may, however, submit videos of perfornances of their songs if they wish as separate entities that will not be judged.
28. Internet Explorer 6 is not supported at remixSite. Any issues related to Internet Explorer 6 are not grounds for consideration in any part of these rules. Visitors should upgrade to Internet Explorer 8, or use an alternate browser.
29. When considering average rankings, the remixSite ratings system rounds to two decimal places. For the purposes of this competition, however, ratings will be rounded (not ceilinged or floored) to four decimal places to reduce the probability of a tie. For the purposes of rounding, a digit of five will round up to the next whole number.
30. By entering, you agree that the remixSite Group's liability for any reason will not exceed the total value of all prizes being offered in this competition.