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Something...off...with the judging in #HobbitChallenge (Japan Round)? (And can anything be done to check it?)

banaili
Bree


Mar 26 2015, 4:23pm

Post #1 of 7 (1115 views)
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Something...off...with the judging in #HobbitChallenge (Japan Round)? (And can anything be done to check it?) Can't Post

Hello, everyone!

I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I know my thread for sharing our #HobbitChallenge videos got moved to this board, so I'm crossing my fingers in hopes this is the right place. I'm not sure what I hope to achieve with it, but I want to ask others if something seems off...To be honest, I'm really bothered by this...

So, I'm sure most of you guys heard about the #HobbitChallenge, right? It's an official fan contest where Hobbit fans could choose between three scenes from the films to re-create. The best re-creation from each country will be sent for Peter Jackson to see and choose an ultimate winner.

As a resident of Japan, my sister and I entered Japan's Local Round. One of our videos made it to the Final 5 in Japan.

The finalist videos in each country were to be judged by a panel of local judges, based on the below criteria. (These are the rules from the official contest website):

Quote
"All videos will be judged based on the following criteria: 30% for Dramatic Interpretation; 20% for Creativity; 10% Technical Execution (Camera, Sound, Lighting, and Editing) and 40% for Overall Impression."


Keeping that in mind...

Here is our finalist video: https://youtu.be/H-Zbx_UILXA

And this is the video that the Japanese judges chose to win for Japan's Local Round (it's the same person who won the Hobbit fan contest here last year ._. ): https://youtu.be/cAG5oSY4Adc

I just...I don't know what to say. It seems a bit strange, doesn't it? I don't want to seem like I think our video is the greatest thing since sliced bread or something, but I feel like it meets the judging criteria much better than the winning video.

On top of that, the rules for the contest say that entrants into the contest cannot have any connection to the people running the contest. But it seems like the Winner of this contest might have had a connection--the Winner is already followed on Twitter by the Official Japanese "The Hobbit" account.

After talking to the cast and crew, people are saying we should send in complaints, but we're a bit unsure how to properly go about this. We never expected to be in this sort of situation. It just seems wrong if people take a contest seriously and put in the effort to make a nice fan video (not only out of a love for "The Hobbit," but a love for film-making and creating, as well), only for the contest to have somehow been predetermined from the start.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else thinks something looks off about this...? And if you do, do you know of a place where we might make a formal complaint or ask for an explanation about what happened?

I just feel sorry to have to write something like this at all... -_- I'm still in a bit of a state of shock...I hope we can find out what happened...


Magpie
Immortal


Mar 26 2015, 4:33pm

Post #2 of 7 (1102 views)
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I'm not a lawyer... [In reply to] Can't Post

...so I have no idea what this means but I think this is what you need to look at:
14.  Disputes: Except where prohibited, Contestant agrees that: (1) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the United States District Court for the Central District of California or an appropriate State Court of the U.S. State of California, with Contestant expressly waiving any right of forum non conveniens, change of venue or the like; (2) any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with participating in this Contest, but in no event attorneys' fees; unless the assistance of an attorney is required by law and (3) under no circumstances will Contestant be permitted to obtain awards for, and Contestant hereby waives all rights to claim, indirect, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages, other than for actual out-of-pocket expenses, and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Contestant and Sponsor in connection with the Contest shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the U.S. State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the U.S. State of California or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the U.S. State of California. If any part of these Rules shall be declared invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect the validity of the balance of these Rules. In such circumstance, the provision declared invalid/unenforceable shall be re-drafted as closely to the original provision as allowed by law, so as to give effect to Sponsor's intent.

https://fanchallenge.thehobbit.com/loc/us/rules.php


There are a lot of rules on that page. It looks like failing to follow even one could potentially disqualify someone. And I didn't read them all but were winners determined (at least in part) by fan voting? If so, then what fans ever judge on the rules decided by the 'suits'. They vote for their favorite and they vote for their friends and it's pretty much the rule that those who can rally the vote have the best chance of winning... not the best.

I guess I would, if it were me, evaluate whether I was fighting to win a tangible prize or fighting for a less tangible 'I deserved it more' sort of honor. Maybe if it were tons of money at stake, I might fight it but otherwise, I would consider it a fun experience and move on. But that's me.


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tattooed_dwarf
Rivendell


Mar 26 2015, 4:35pm

Post #3 of 7 (1098 views)
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PM'd [In reply to] Can't Post

You


banaili
Bree


Mar 26 2015, 4:49pm

Post #4 of 7 (1091 views)
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Magpie, thanks so much for the disputes information! In addition... [In reply to] Can't Post


In Reply To
There are a lot of rules on that page. It looks like failing to follow even one could potentially disqualify someone. And I didn't read them all but were winners determined (at least in part) by fan voting? If so, then what fans ever judge on the rules decided by the 'suits'. They vote for their favorite and they vote for their friends and it's pretty much the rule that those who can rally the vote have the best chance of winning... not the best.


It was a bit complicated, the way the contest went. The first round was based on Fan Voting. If you passed the Fan Voting Round, then you move on to the Final Local Round. We got enough votes in Japan (I know we got a lot, thankfully!), so we made it to the Final Round in Japan. The final round was supposed to be judged by a panel of local judges, who were supposed to use the above-mentioned criteria to choose the winner.

Certainly, if it had been a matter of fan-voting, or if the winning video had clearly been of equal or better quality, I would feel bad that we lost, but I wouldn't complain. Those things are out of one's control. But this case just seems like something is really wrong. :(


In Reply To
I guess I would, if it were me, evaluate whether I was fighting to win a tangible prize or fighting for a less tangible 'I deserved it more' sort of honor. Maybe if it were tons of money at stake, I might fight it but otherwise, I would consider it a fun experience and move on. But that's me.


It will probably sound very silly (maybe even cheesy, haha), but the real reason we wanted to enter this contest was so that Peter Jackson would see our film work. We are only amateur, but we are studying film at university, and he is--of course--our ultimate inspiration. We just love the way he tells stories! The Local Round Winner does get their own prize. In fact, they get a bunch of collectibles, including replicas of swords from the movies, DVD copies, etc. Lots of things, actually, which total to quite a hefty price. Furthermore, they get, as I mentioned, the honour of having their video viewed by Peter Jackson. (If he chooses their film as the best internationally, then they can even win a trip to New Zealand. We certainly didn't expect to get THAT far, but just having our film seen by Peter was perfect for us! Sigh...it's really such a loss... T_T)

Edit: I should add...Maybe we took the contest too seriously, but we worked REALLY hard on our film. As I mentioned, being both Hobbit fans and student film-makers, it seemed such a perfect combination for our passions, so we went all-out with our work. It just meant so much to us...


(This post was edited by banaili on Mar 26 2015, 4:54pm)


banaili
Bree


Mar 26 2015, 4:49pm

Post #5 of 7 (1092 views)
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Thanks a bunch! [In reply to] Can't Post

Going to check it out now!


tattooed_dwarf
Rivendell


Mar 30 2015, 1:15pm

Post #6 of 7 (981 views)
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news? [In reply to] Can't Post

Any news


banaili
Bree


Mar 30 2015, 3:21pm

Post #7 of 7 (969 views)
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Well... [In reply to] Can't Post

We got an email from Warner Bros saying that they will forward our message to the appropriate department, but the message said that if they consider it worth pursuing the matter, we might hear back from them. All of that sounds very non-committal to us... :(

By the way, sending you a PM!


(This post was edited by banaili on Mar 30 2015, 3:21pm)

 
 

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