Post by Hotshotz on Jul 13, 2009 15:25:32 GMT -5
Originally wrote over @ www.onrpg.com/boards/134628.html#post1817431
but they locked my thread in 5 minutes after i posted it.. saying "we will get back to you" but never did..
-----------------------------------------------
Did anyone ever tell you do something where you give it your best and work your very best on it, but all of a sudden before your almost done, they pretty much give you the finger and walk off?
Well thats how i feel like right now.
Got time? Read my story, which pretty much relates to the statement above.
As some of you know, there was a "Thread = (New Onrpg Video Contest - Win an XBOX 360)" started back on May 7th, with End date being June 30th.
Looking at the first prize, who wouldn't want to compete right? so i started thinking of what movie i need to make or how.
Note
Now, first I need to mention, I, along with brothers and friends, we make videos for fun under Blankminds Production name, however this video was being made 'especially' for this contest and had time limit too.
For those who dont want to read the entire thread and dont want to know the details, you can read the Summary
SUMMARY - MAIN POINT
And Below is how it all started...
SCRIPT
So May 11th, i finally got an idea. I was going to make a video on "Left 4 Dead" but a parallel story kinda.
The Script was written once but saw too many flaws, so we changed it a bit. the change was too heavy on effects and looking at the time we had left (which was about a month and a half) we couldn't do that because we have jobs and family to take care off too right. Then finally we finalized the script once and for all, which took maybe atleast 7 hours (not in one day, but total at end)
FOOTAGE
Perhaps the most difficult thing because when your making a zombie movie, you need to make sure you got enough zombies to run to make it look good. Because of which, i had to pretty much forced alot of people to come. Make them take day off from their work on the weekend. Only few attended, but i was glad to see a team atleast. Some left earlier, which made us shoot faster and think less which resulted in lot of useless/wasted footage/time.
The shooting was done in a pronvincial park, located about an hour drive away from us. We went there twice, and it took us pretty much the entire day. Starting packing in the morning at 11am and Got home by 7pm~ish, couldn't shoot at night time. We were only able to get atleast 75% of the footage done, remaining we couldn't because we were down to only 25 days of editing, sound and effects. And in between i had exam too.
I personally spent close to $70 (equipment, battery, props, food/drinks) and my brother/friend spent about $40 in total combined (gas, food, equipment)
EDITING
For footage editing, it took close to a week to finish this (but still needed a little touch up). By the end of this, we only had about 20 days left for Effects, and Sound editing. Defintely not enough. and on top of that, i only had 1 person to help me on this part, but since he doesn't know the software much, he took care of Photoshop effects after helping with footage editing.
Then, I finally started working on special effects after my test, not having enough time. Now ill tell you what went wrong and when.
THE BETRAYAL
Now, as i kept checking the contest thread, i saw a post on the 5th of June by one of the judges saying "Contest will be extended,
We'll decide on a new date on the initial post soon, keep checking!" ... So doesn't this mean that i should check the initial post later on to see a new date?
Well, i did, i checked almost everyday for a new date but no change.
June 29th comes with only 1 day left to submit, i had to confirm this. I thought to myself "If i submit my entry now, its viewable but i know i can do more to make it look better" so reflecting on the judges word (because if i see one of the Judge saying "contest extended, check date later" i would beleive that right?) I did not submit my video since no one else did and i repeatedly asked wat the new date is.. i asked on
June 29th - no response
July 2nd - no response
July 6th - no response
and guess what?
July 7th - Thread Closed, Winner announced
keeps you thinking.. "What the hell just happened?" "No one responded to the questions and then all of a sudden the thread is closed??"
THE UNFAIRNESS OF JUDGING
Do you want to know who won? who was declared as the winner?
An individual that goes by the name of "AAGUNS"
Lets see what so unfair about the judging here.
3 Days before the last date to submit (or atleast the last date that was first mentioned) June 27, AAGUNS posted a YouTube link calling it his entry known as "Combat Arms Tribute", he says "had to put a mafia twist to it, because did not have military equipment"
I watched the video, it didn't make sense to me, i saw the comments on youtube saying "... this is a test video, the final one will look better".. i questioned him about this and he follows up saying "no this is the actual video for my entry", later that day he removed the 'comment' from his youtube post, which got me suspicious even more.. so I checked his profile on youtube, saw another video which led me to another video under different name "Life of a Mafia".. same exact video but has the title shown inside video.. see the image below
Contest Entry video
Original Video made (Notice Title revealed in this one)
At this point of time, he had broken two rules of the contest.
Rule = literally means 'to govern ... unfortunately many use the word but dont understand the meaning of it or how to be put into affect.
RESPONSE FROM JUDGES
So looking at the Closed Thread, i got confused, but when i saw the winner name i got shocked, because when i mentioned to AAGUNS what he did wrong and should be disqualified he clearly said "i am dropping out" of the contest.. but judges did not care to read 'yet again'
I quickly messaged all 3 Judges asking for clarification on this situation.. this is the response i got by the judge who said "contest is extended"
Response #1
What we can do is post your movie officially on Onrpg and get a special forum section for people to give feedback and discuss your video.
Ok first of all: "I was no longer in charge of the contest[/b]"
A: How do we know that? are we supposed to PM each judge asking if they are still part of it? Isn't the thread itself supposed to be a forum-based chat to ask question and answers and to be notified of any changes? besides that, if you posted saying 'contest extended'.. the least you could do is take care of that responsibilty right?
Also, it says: "didn't see anyone asking for an extension[/b]"
A: That is not true "elvisqwq" posted on 3rd of July "need some time.... "
So i replied back mentioning the dates i kept asking for new date and elvisqwq asking for more time. then i mentioned AAGUNS didn't create a video rather posted an old video
Response #2
Reading this message, i was a bit relieved; since i thought the dropped-out judge would take his/her responsibility and fix this matter. I didn't understand the 'compete for first place'.. all i wanted at this time was to be able to submit my entry and have the judges recognize what AAGuns did.
And then the following day;
Response #3
.... ... .. ... ...
... well... I definitely do appreciate you trying to help me publicizing my work on various places..
But ending comments tells me that it was my mistake to begin with? "Just communicate clearly next time alright?!"
I'm pretty sure it was not me who mentioned "Contest is extended, check initial post" and im also pretty sure, it wasn't me who dropped out as a judge without notifying anyone.
I would have loved to show my video here, but when something like this happens, I dont even feel like showing it to anyone, 'cuz it will only remind me of this.
and seriously, if the contest was to just 'give-away' a prize for 'any kind of work'... why wasn't that posted in the original post? instead of saying "Create a video"...
FAIR or UNFAIR
You guys tell me... if you read the above;
MY PRODUCTION
I am only posting few screenshots of my video to showcase, dont really plan on posting the video anymore.. atleast not here.
Honestly, I was told once "if you remain honest and nice to everyone, they will take advantage of you"... unfortunately when your nature is like that, you cannot really change it.
---------------
I said "ONRPG" in the title and not the judges, because each admin and mod represent the website/forum itself and because of which I am left with full of Remorse, Anger and Hatred.. never have I felt like this in life. Only because i put so much effort into this; leaving less time to enjoy with my wife, friends, any activity that i skipped and my studies.
but they locked my thread in 5 minutes after i posted it.. saying "we will get back to you" but never did..
-----------------------------------------------
Did anyone ever tell you do something where you give it your best and work your very best on it, but all of a sudden before your almost done, they pretty much give you the finger and walk off?
Well thats how i feel like right now.
Got time? Read my story, which pretty much relates to the statement above.
As some of you know, there was a "Thread = (New Onrpg Video Contest - Win an XBOX 360)" started back on May 7th, with End date being June 30th.
Looking at the first prize, who wouldn't want to compete right? so i started thinking of what movie i need to make or how.
Note
Now, first I need to mention, I, along with brothers and friends, we make videos for fun under Blankminds Production name, however this video was being made 'especially' for this contest and had time limit too.
For those who dont want to read the entire thread and dont want to know the details, you can read the Summary
SUMMARY - MAIN POINT
- I entered the Xbox 360 contest at OnRPG
- Judges said contest is extended so i held on to my video waiting for new date but they never posted
- Only one guy posted a video of his old production and hid the title and added 'onrpg contest'
- Without telling new date, contest was closed and announced the guy who did not 'create' (rule #1 of contest) a video as winner
- I could have posted my video but didn't because of 'contest extended post'
- I spoke with the judges, and they stick to their word regardless of the announced winner's wrongful actions
- Winner spent 3 min to change name, reupload and enter contest
- I spent 30+ hours and got screwed completely
And Below is how it all started...
SCRIPT
So May 11th, i finally got an idea. I was going to make a video on "Left 4 Dead" but a parallel story kinda.
The Script was written once but saw too many flaws, so we changed it a bit. the change was too heavy on effects and looking at the time we had left (which was about a month and a half) we couldn't do that because we have jobs and family to take care off too right. Then finally we finalized the script once and for all, which took maybe atleast 7 hours (not in one day, but total at end)
FOOTAGE
Perhaps the most difficult thing because when your making a zombie movie, you need to make sure you got enough zombies to run to make it look good. Because of which, i had to pretty much forced alot of people to come. Make them take day off from their work on the weekend. Only few attended, but i was glad to see a team atleast. Some left earlier, which made us shoot faster and think less which resulted in lot of useless/wasted footage/time.
The shooting was done in a pronvincial park, located about an hour drive away from us. We went there twice, and it took us pretty much the entire day. Starting packing in the morning at 11am and Got home by 7pm~ish, couldn't shoot at night time. We were only able to get atleast 75% of the footage done, remaining we couldn't because we were down to only 25 days of editing, sound and effects. And in between i had exam too.
I personally spent close to $70 (equipment, battery, props, food/drinks) and my brother/friend spent about $40 in total combined (gas, food, equipment)
EDITING
For footage editing, it took close to a week to finish this (but still needed a little touch up). By the end of this, we only had about 20 days left for Effects, and Sound editing. Defintely not enough. and on top of that, i only had 1 person to help me on this part, but since he doesn't know the software much, he took care of Photoshop effects after helping with footage editing.
Then, I finally started working on special effects after my test, not having enough time. Now ill tell you what went wrong and when.
THE BETRAYAL
Now, as i kept checking the contest thread, i saw a post on the 5th of June by one of the judges saying "Contest will be extended,
We'll decide on a new date on the initial post soon, keep checking!" ... So doesn't this mean that i should check the initial post later on to see a new date?
Well, i did, i checked almost everyday for a new date but no change.
June 29th comes with only 1 day left to submit, i had to confirm this. I thought to myself "If i submit my entry now, its viewable but i know i can do more to make it look better" so reflecting on the judges word (because if i see one of the Judge saying "contest extended, check date later" i would beleive that right?) I did not submit my video since no one else did and i repeatedly asked wat the new date is.. i asked on
June 29th - no response
July 2nd - no response
July 6th - no response
and guess what?
July 7th - Thread Closed, Winner announced
keeps you thinking.. "What the hell just happened?" "No one responded to the questions and then all of a sudden the thread is closed??"
THE UNFAIRNESS OF JUDGING
Do you want to know who won? who was declared as the winner?
An individual that goes by the name of "AAGUNS"
Lets see what so unfair about the judging here.
3 Days before the last date to submit (or atleast the last date that was first mentioned) June 27, AAGUNS posted a YouTube link calling it his entry known as "Combat Arms Tribute", he says "had to put a mafia twist to it, because did not have military equipment"
I watched the video, it didn't make sense to me, i saw the comments on youtube saying "... this is a test video, the final one will look better".. i questioned him about this and he follows up saying "no this is the actual video for my entry", later that day he removed the 'comment' from his youtube post, which got me suspicious even more.. so I checked his profile on youtube, saw another video which led me to another video under different name "Life of a Mafia".. same exact video but has the title shown inside video.. see the image below
Contest Entry video
Original Video made (Notice Title revealed in this one)
At this point of time, he had broken two rules of the contest.
Rule = literally means 'to govern ... unfortunately many use the word but dont understand the meaning of it or how to be put into affect.
RESPONSE FROM JUDGES
So looking at the Closed Thread, i got confused, but when i saw the winner name i got shocked, because when i mentioned to AAGUNS what he did wrong and should be disqualified he clearly said "i am dropping out" of the contest.. but judges did not care to read 'yet again'
I quickly messaged all 3 Judges asking for clarification on this situation.. this is the response i got by the judge who said "contest is extended"
Response #1
I was nolonger in charge of the contest and I didn't see anyone asking for an extension. Nobody mailed or said they needed another X amount of days or weeks. We have a deal with another company as well.
What we can do is post your movie officially on Onrpg and get a special forum section for people to give feedback and discuss your video.
Ok first of all: "I was no longer in charge of the contest[/b]"
A: How do we know that? are we supposed to PM each judge asking if they are still part of it? Isn't the thread itself supposed to be a forum-based chat to ask question and answers and to be notified of any changes? besides that, if you posted saying 'contest extended'.. the least you could do is take care of that responsibilty right?
Also, it says: "didn't see anyone asking for an extension[/b]"
A: That is not true "elvisqwq" posted on 3rd of July "need some time.... "
So i replied back mentioning the dates i kept asking for new date and elvisqwq asking for more time. then i mentioned AAGUNS didn't create a video rather posted an old video
Response #2
I'll see what I can do about the first position, maybe I can convince the Judge that you two and your videos could compete for first place. Where are you from btw? US?
Reading this message, i was a bit relieved; since i thought the dropped-out judge would take his/her responsibility and fix this matter. I didn't understand the 'compete for first place'.. all i wanted at this time was to be able to submit my entry and have the judges recognize what AAGuns did.
And then the following day;
Response #3
It's been discussed with the company and Fabio and closed is closed. I'm sorry that it went awkward, I wish the request for more time had been clearer. I would definitely like to post your video on Onrpg itself, in the video section, I'll create a forum topic for feedback and add your YouTube video with the Onrpg account as well as promote your video on the Onrpg Twitter. At least you can gain status from that for certain. I can't do anything else for now.
There will be more contests, probably nothing for videos soon, but in the future for sure. Just communicate clearly next time alright?!
Show me your video!!
There will be more contests, probably nothing for videos soon, but in the future for sure. Just communicate clearly next time alright?!
Show me your video!!
.... ... .. ... ...
... well... I definitely do appreciate you trying to help me publicizing my work on various places..
But ending comments tells me that it was my mistake to begin with? "Just communicate clearly next time alright?!"
I'm pretty sure it was not me who mentioned "Contest is extended, check initial post" and im also pretty sure, it wasn't me who dropped out as a judge without notifying anyone.
I would have loved to show my video here, but when something like this happens, I dont even feel like showing it to anyone, 'cuz it will only remind me of this.
and seriously, if the contest was to just 'give-away' a prize for 'any kind of work'... why wasn't that posted in the original post? instead of saying "Create a video"...
FAIR or UNFAIR
You guys tell me... if you read the above;
- You think its fair for someone like me who spent so many hours trying to win this contest
- You think its fair for judges to stop checking the contest they started and come back after a month only to close it? leaving questions unanswered and no follow ups
- Do you think the judges were fair to place AAGUNS as winner even after i mentioned what he did wrong?
- Do you think Im wrong at any part or if its my fault at any stage?
MY PRODUCTION
I am only posting few screenshots of my video to showcase, dont really plan on posting the video anymore.. atleast not here.
Honestly, I was told once "if you remain honest and nice to everyone, they will take advantage of you"... unfortunately when your nature is like that, you cannot really change it.
---------------
I said "ONRPG" in the title and not the judges, because each admin and mod represent the website/forum itself and because of which I am left with full of Remorse, Anger and Hatred.. never have I felt like this in life. Only because i put so much effort into this; leaving less time to enjoy with my wife, friends, any activity that i skipped and my studies.
