Okay, here they are! The results of the Video Contest!! Winners listed first, followed by comments on the rest. The entries are still listed below.
A little about the judging process: The final decision was the agreement between the opinions of four mods and Kitoky was kind enough as to provide her feedback for each entry (something you don't get in every contest
) This was incredibly hard to decide and I could tell from the start that some contestants were going to be disappointed but alas this is life, you win some, you lose some. Everyone did a terrific job and I hope the experience doesn't disappoint you for future contests.
1ST PLACE: Elven Archer
Kitoky: Absolutely perfect music video. The transitions of the clips and the song just match perfectly all throughout the video and it’s just awesome. I like that you don’t show the infamous scene where Sam picks up Frodo to carry him whenever the lyrics goes “I Will Carry You!” [thumbs up] Repetitiveness gets dull, and your video doesn’t have that. Awesome job, I have absolutely no complaints.
Eruadan: Okay, I honestly watched this video for 20 seconds and already thought it was awesome so props to you
Another nice touch that not everyone captured was the importance of having a video you could actually follow visually, and choosing to focus on two characters mainly certainly helps. Excellent job.
2ND PLACE: Lonnie
Kitoky: Despite my unwittingly disliking to youtube because it makes the videos SO slow, this is a very good video, the song feels very Middle-Earthy. The Love & Friendship text at the beginning feels out of place though…. But I definitely loved the “I know you’re the one to pull me through” moment with the clip. The ending with the sudden transition to Loreena McKenna’s song is just too much =/. Excellent video work!
Eruadan: The lyrics for this song certainly helped put together some feelings and emotions in the movies that aren’t exploited flat out. Very good choice in music.
3RD PLACE: Meganelf
Kitoky: This is the first entry I saw where the song made me imagine head bashing and guitar smashing so I never thought, “Wow! This sure fits for a Lord of the Rings video!” As the song went along, watching the clips go by with the beats of the song, it began to merge and it started to FIT. And every time it went, “<i>Dare you to moooove</i> and there were different clips that came on and to me it seemed like all of them just added something. It was really something. The one time it got me was when the clip of Frodo & Sam are sitting and resting on their journey to Mount Doom and Sam looks up as that phrase was sung. Very awesome. I like a music video that can bring that out of me.
Eruadan: I’m a bit of a Switchfoot fan so I tried not to be biased, and I don’t think I was, or needed to be in order to think this was a very good video, so congrats.
>> Princess of Ithilien
Kitoky: Very unconventional, very cute. And Legolas as Timon. I’m sorry, that just <i>cracked me up</i>. Very creative! I would’ve never thought to use a Disney Song for a Lord of the Rings video; the lyrics and the beats also complement the clips throughout the video. It totally fits!
However; the lines where there is speaking, some of the clips does matches lip-wise, but others…. It throws you off when you hear the lines, but they’re not speaking anymore. So I think you could find different clips to complement the lines in the song.
Eruadan: I thought this was well put together; it was funny and has a nice assembly of scenes that fit to the lyrics of the song in a funny way.
>> Twippo
Kitoky: My main problem with your video is the song. It does fit to a theme but it’s just so hard to hear the lyrics and if you can’t hear the lyrics you can’t connect them to the clips, and that’s the ultimate downfall. After I paused the video to look up the song I ended up going back and forth from the lyrics page and the video; and so as I did that, I really did enjoy the video and it’s really neat and it was wonderful. It’s the fact that I couldn’t understand the lyrics at the beginning; I don’t know if that’s how the song goes or if that’s some sort of bass vs. vocals glitch I don’t know, but otherwise, excellent video!
Eruadan: I actually loved this video. Personally its one of my favorites, it’s poignant and probably very close to the more emotional themes of the films. I actually thought this was the most Lord-of-the-Ringish of all, but one of the purposes of the contest was to see how innovative you can be. Excellent job.
>> Altariel Frodo
Kitoky: I knew someone was going to do Into the West.
Well, the song I can’t complain about, because who doesn’t love Into the West? However, the transitions of the clips and just the order of clips doesn’t tell a very smooth story. There were moments that the clips complement the song, but it was too in-and-out. I liked the overall theme. One itty-bitty critique is that in a music video, you don’t want to focus on any speaking from the clips unless it matches with something being said/sung to the song. Leave it only to looks, body shots, actions, but make sure it doesn’t focus on the clips where they’re talking.
Eruadan: Very nice video. I’ve actually seen a lot of videos for this song, due to its importance but it was still very enjoyable. I totally agree with Kitoky on using clips with verbal movement, unless you include what they're saying as a voiceover.
>> Kelenloth
Kitoky: Loved the intro and the beat as the pictures switched from one another. But when I kept watching the video, to me it implied that there was a contest between the members of the fellowship. So on the competitive note, I didn’t see the Lord of the Rings angle to it…. Or any that I can remember; was there competition? I don’t remember. That beginning’s great though.
Kudos to you being the first one to fully credit the song and clips.
Eruadan: Nice touch using some still images, certainly sets it apart from using only clips. I found the LotR theme of it a little hard to follow but otherwise very nice.
>> Star_Gazer
Kitoky: I loved this video and I’m kinda sad it didn’t make it to place, but I still love it. The thing I really like about this video is the reverse tactic when the lyrics goes “…. Would just be wrong…. I’m pressing on!” I love it. And some clips do match the lyrics exactly, it’s kind of funny since it’s such a bangin’ song and it’s really hyper and speedy. One was about “… keep my head on straight.” And then there’s the clip of the Uruk-Hai head on the stick. Ew, but it made me smile. It’s pretty darn good. And I like that the song title pops up at the beginning, I always like the info before the video instead of after, but I’m weird. Great job!
Eruadan: Very nice job, overall, you were right up there, that's all I have to say.
>> lady_Ëarwen
Kitoky: I loved the opening, openings seem to really been a hit for me this contest round, but as the song started going and the clips flipped from one another, it didn’t feel like the song and clip matched anymore. I did like the clips that matched with ‘… stars colliding against the dark of the night…’ though. Great job!
Eruadan: I really thought this was one of those videos where lyrics didn't always go with the clip, not even in a contradictory manner. I watched them all several times trying to really understand what you're saying and I ended up enjoying it. Very good job!
>> Pandora
Kitoky: Something about the song just doesn’t fit the video/Lord of the Rings… The song also seems to focus on one person; that ultimate ‘superman’ and the clips emphasize a group so there’s no real connection between the song and the video except for some complementary scenes to fit the lyrics. Effort counts though!
Eruadan: Actually I couldn't have said it better, so I agree with Kitoky on this one. It was a lovely video though. I liked them all!!
>> Ellethwen
Kitoky: I like the theme though I had to listen really really really closely to hear all the lyrics so that I could connect video with the song, but after the first minute or so, I got the jist of it. Throughout the video I couldn’t help but notice how slightly unproportional the picture is but that’s not really important. The picture was clear but I did see it on file. Good job!
Eruadan: I thought it was very good, loved the song although I couldn't follow the lyrics too well but I had that problem with most of them, that's just a language-barrier problem
>> pirateoftherings
Kitoky: Well…. Eruadan said in the rules that you’re making a music video, and technically it is; there are videos, there are music. It’s a music video, conventional but it passes. I personally love this one, it’s very original and it’s not at all conventional. I like the jerky transitions to emphasize the fear and threat of the Nazgul. And overall, I just love evil; but unfortunately it didn’t cut it. =/ I did notice the transition from one song to another although that mixing the tracks was very clever, it wasn’t quite smooth enough. Awesome work!
Eruadan: Thanks for being a little bit more unique mixing clips and audio, very nice video.
>> Mrs. Elijah Baggins
Kitoky: Interesting. (pause) Very interesting. It took me a while to realize the slow clip movements was youtube being incredibly slow for me. The song; interesting pick. The subject; very thoughtful… I don’t think it flew. I can’t picture Eowyn thinking like that and having that as her point of view on her relationship with Aragorn, Arwen and herself. Everytime I hear this particular song I think of the rather frequent beer commercial I keep seeing on TV. Nice effort though. [thumbs up]
Eruadan: I thought this was certainly one of the most unique, and I tried really hard to not be biased by the fact that I hate PCD, and I think I did. Still, I think the modern mentality in these lyrics is not something Eowyn would've ever thought. Now there's the comic side to all of this. To a person who knows little of LotR and sees the movie, would probably laugh at this angle taken on these characters so I definitely think this video has its target audience.
Official Entries:
Princess of Ithilien
Twippo
Meganelf
Alatariel Frodo
Kelenloth
Elven Archer
Star_Gazer
lady_Ëarwen
Lonnie
Pandora
Ellethwen
pirateoftherings
Mrs_Elijah_baggins
Finally, I'd like to apologize to everyone for making you guys wait such a ridiculous amount of time for judging and awards, and there's really no valid excuse I can give you so I won't. If it's any consolation, I gave more priority to real life stuff I deemed more important at the time. Sorry again guys. I had fun though, hoped you guys had fun too, excluding the waiting time.
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*whispers good luck to self*
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