I'm not prejudging them. I mean this in the most respectful way possible. Smile hasn't animated in a long time. Camila isn't the most versed in animation either. People I've talked to are discouraged because they feel there won't be any objectivity in the rating system.
Rest assured, even though I haven't animated in a long time, I recognize a good animation when I see it and I can usually point out which part of animations make them great, or which parts could have been improved. The difference with an animator and a non-animator when it comes to judging is that an animator can give better tips on
how to improve, but since teaching people isn't the main point of a competition, I think I'm perfectly sufficient for the job.
Since Oxob has decided to make the judging process more transparent, I'll follow suit by describing how I will judge the animations (since there hasn't been a briefing on how we should judge nor was there a criteria prescribed for us to follow). Unless a person of authority says that I should change anything, or someone else gives any reasonable grievances, this is how I'll score.
First of all, a 10 won't be unreasonably hard to obtain from me. I will give a 10 to the animation which I deem to be the best in the round (of course, this won't be the case if the best animation in the round isn't particularly impressive). All other animations will then be judged relative to the quality of this/these (if there are multiple animations that are on equal standing for the best) animation/s. The reason I choose this is because I know how judging has been controversial in the past, and I think that instead of having a personal preference as a standard (like saying "a 10 should be something that looks like *insert favorite animation here*"), I think it would be easier for participants to accept their scores if someone else, a fellow participant, sets the standard. Of course, this will make judging a bit hard for me since I should first seek the best one out of the bunch before rating the rest, and that would require a lot of time on my part, but I'm willing to make this sacrifice because I take this responsibility seriously. Real prizes are at stake and I've been granted the honor of choosing which ones deserve them the best, so I'll do it with the best of my abilities. I also have a criteria and I will elaborate on that later.
With that, I will put higher importance on the combo and the animation of the combo itself, instead of the other aspects of the animation. This is because I think B.S.E. is a competition about combo, not a competition on who makes the most put-together animation. Meaning, you might see a 30 second animation with no music/sound/intro have a higher score than one that's 2 minutes long and includes the elements I just said, if this animation really shows more skill from the animator in core animation (like the flow, smoothness, and other technical elements that directly relate to the movements of the stickfigures). Beware, I might even reduce the score of some who will use certain unnecessary elements that will obstruct a proper viewing of the core animation (like an obscene level of v-cam impact shakes, cutting in the middle of the combo for some obnoxious transition, etc). However, polishing is still appreciated, and might be what gets my favor if two animations are tied for the top but one is more holistically sound.
Another thing is that following the theme and integrating it to the animation will give significantly more points from me than if it's just there but isn't used to its full potential. This is an exception to what I said earlier about a well put-together animation, because if the theme demands music/sound/other elements, then they will become important.
Here's my criteria.
Choreography: 10 - This is where you make the combo look good. This is also where I judge how well participants of the combo (i.e. the stick doing the combo, the one receiving the combo, things used to deliver the combo like weapon/power/etc, and the environment) correspond to each other and work together. This is also where I judge how well you did with following the theme of the round.
Technical skill in animation: 10 - This is where the combo itself is judged. Included, also, are how well everything is animated.
Just these two. No "wow factor" or anything else. To remind you guys, the best gets a 10, so the best in choreo will get the 10 and the best in technical skill gets a 10. You need to be the best in both aspects to get a perfect score of 10 for the round. Like I said, this doesn't mean that only one gets a 10, because there's still a possibility of being equally impressive with someone else.
Regarding the cnc, I will give them. Learning isn't the main point of a competition, but I think it's a significant part of it and shouldn't be overlooked. Of course, I won't be able to give as in-depth technical tips as a pro animator, but I will do my best. If Oxob says something contrary to what I say though, it would be best to follow him than it is to follow me. I have some animator friends that are hella good too, so I might even ask them for advice.
I don't know what else I can say, so if anyone has a question, post here or PM me and I'll try to get answer as soon as I can. I can change some things if anyone thinks I should (but of course, there should be a convincing reason or you're a host/admin).
