Rules

Hello, and welcome to the AnimeCon XMV Competition 2027! We’re back in business!

A new and improved set of rules for the oldest XMV show of the Netherlands

First things first, and most importantly: a deadline. We’ll need your submission before or on March 31, 2027. That’s a Wednesday, if you’re wondering. Videos submitted after this date might not be eligible for the show as we need to be able to check the videos, make title cards, get therapy, have a life, and so on.If there is something wrong with your submitted video you will get some time (even after the deadline) to make it work. This will be discussed with you personally through direct/private messaging. This extra time is just to fix minor mistakes in playback, not to rework the whole video.In order to be able to participate, there are some things you need to do, might want to do, or outright can’t:

What you MUST submit
An animated music video, including a credit screen of 10 seconds at the end. This part is preferred to be silent white on black, mentioning the sources used, but not your name or alias. If you want, you can send us another version with credits to you as well. We will only use the version without personal credits for the competition, and retain the full version for future showings. We don’t know if there will ever be a showing outside the event, but hey, you’ll never know…

What you CAN submit:
Animated footage from Asia, preferably with emphasis on Japan
Game footage
Risque content
Cartoon violence
Blood and gore
Horror
Explicit lyrics
Directly visible violence
Sex (implied or otherwise) 

What you MIGHT be able to submit (but is ultimately at our discretion):
Stills
Animated footage from the rest of the world

What you absolutely CANNOT submit:
Anything prohibited by Dutch Law, like (but not limited to) sexual acts involving minors, bestiality, et al.
Footage with fansubs and/or fansub logos (if you get your source material from dubious origins, we rather don’t want to know)

Length: 
Maximum 4 minutes and 10 seconds, or 250 seconds.Again: you don’t need to utilize the full 4 minutes: sometimes short and sweet is the way to go.

Resolutions and aspect ratios:
640*480 to 4096*2160
1.33:1 (4:3)  to 1.78:1 (16:9)
If you want to send something in 2.39:1 (Cinema Scope), please reconsider. It might be aesthetically pleasing to your video, but you will waste a lot of space above and below.
Our screen will be 500*280 cm,  with a video chain resolution of 1920*1080. Recommended frame rate is 29,97fps. If you want to go higher, you’re welcome to, but we can’t guarantee the outcome.

Containers:
MP4, M2TS, MPEG, MKV and others, but please do not use closed or old-timey containers or codices, and pay attention to the mix. Listen to your editing software if you’re in doubt.

Tips and tricks:
Make sure your audio is leveled on -3dB, and make sure you encode it in a decent bit rate. Peaks can go higher than -3, but make sure no audio is clipped.

Do not use Bluetooth headphones while editing. Watch your video on a device with as little processing as possible. Every electronic means of processing adds a delay, which might ruin your timing.

Please include your name and the title of your video in the file name. And please, do not name your file sequence01.mpg. It makes our lives much easier if we don’t have to rename every file that enters the pool.
If you use more than a few sources, please add a txt-file with the list, name it appropriately, and put both the video and the list in a ZIP or RAR-file. Please retain your project file and other related data until after the competition.

You can share the video with us through any regular file sharing service, but we do recommend WeTransfer, Google Drive, or Dropbox. Do not upload your video to video sharing sites like Youtube, Vimeo, X-Hamster or Pornhub: it’s hard to get the video in a playable format, and the compression wreaks havoc on your efforts. We also don’t want to deal with hot singles in our area.

We urge you to be present at the event itself to see it on the big screen and experience the reactions from the audience. The XMV Show has been a packed room since its inauguration back in the Naughties, so it’s always fun to be there.