Anime Revolution Idol 2012 Official Rules *UPDATE!!*

[KazenoShijin]

ANIME REVOLUTION IDOL 2012 SCHEDULE

Thursday August 16th, 2012
- Anime Revolution Idol Live a capella Auditions - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Friday August 17th, 2012
- Anime Revolution Idol Practice (Not Mandatory to Attend) - 9:00 am to 10:30 am (MAIN EVENTS)
- Anime Revolution Idol Round #1 - 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm (MAIN EVENTS)

Saturday August 18th, 2012
- Anime Revolution Idol Practice (Not Mandatory to Attend) - 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm (MAIN EVENTS)
- Anime Revolution Idol Round #2 - 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm (MAIN EVENTS)

Sunday August 19th, 2012
- Anime Revolution Idol Practice (Not Mandatory to Attend) - 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm (MAIN EVENTS)
- Anime Revolution Idol Round #3 FINALS - 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm (MAIN EVENTS)


Anime Revolution Idol 2012 Contest Rules

"On-Line" Auditions:

CANCELLED

The reason for the cancellation of the on line auditions, is because I've got SO much going on already, that it will help lighten the work load a little bit, but it also gives more people a chance to enter. Some do not have access to recording equipment, and I think the live audition format helps to really showcase your talents in front of the judges and an audience! Plus, it gives EVEN MORE TIME to prepare your songs!

Plus, there hasn't been a lot of auditions sent in as of yet, so I'm thinking that's partially to do with some of the above reasoning...

Please see below for the revamp of the "At-Con Live" Auditions...

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1st Tier "At-Con Live" Auditions:

Contestants will need to prepare a song to sing at the Live Auditions, which will likely take place the evening of Thursday August 16th, 2012, sometime during pre-reg pass pick up at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.

We're working on making it so the entrants don't have to have a pass to try out for Idol on this night. More on that later... However, if you DON'T have a pass, and you make it into the contest, you WILL need to purchase a convention pass for the entirety of the weekend, in case you make it into the later rounds of the competition. This is a PERFECT chance to make use of the Pre-Registration option through the Anime Revolution website!

Moving along...

Each performer will go on stage for roughly 2 MINUTES to perform for the judges A CAPELLA. This means NO RECORDED MUSIC ACCOMPANIMENT. The judges may choose to stop the contestant early if they feel they've heard enough, but may also allow the contestant to perform a little bit longer as well.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO AUDITION, BUT BE WARNED, THERE WILL LIKELY BE AN AUDIENCE SO PREPARE ACCORDINGLY!

As a contestant, you will stand in front of the judges' table and sing without a mic for them. This will allow for your true voice to shine through without any interference from electrical/mic equipment. The judges will have cards with which to write notes for you as feedback, so you can take that as constructive critiquing to use for future purposes if you'd like. It will be up to the judges to choose 12 people from those who come to live auditions to try out, which is a VERY DIFFICULT thing to be tasked with. Please prepare yourself should you not make it into the actual rounds of the contest. We want everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves and hurt feelings are always something I like to avoid if at all possible. As this is a contest, there is always the chance you may not move on, so please, if you think you will have trouble with the possibility of rejection, it may be best not to enter so as to avoid hurt feelings.

Your audition song MUST BE SUNG IN JAPANESE, and can be from an anime series (eg. Sailor Moon), movie (eg. Tonari no Totoro), videogame (eg. Kingdom Hearts), or just straight J-Pop (eg. "But" by Koda Kumi), J-Rock (eg. "Gekiai no Merry Go Round" by Psycho Le Cemu), J-Reggae (eg. "Luck" by Lecca), J-Ballad (eg. "I Believe" by Ayaka) or Enka ( traditional Japanese music eg. "Kiyoshi no Soran Bushi" by Kiyoshi Hikawa)! Although audition songs MUST be performed in Japanese, english may be allowed {although limited} in the actual rounds of the competition.

Please note, people WILL be allowed to watch the live auditions, so you should be prepared for that. My reasoning for this is that we can then see the true vocalists' talents come out live in person, and each potential contestant has a chance to perform for an audience. Any one can record themselves and clean it up with all sorts of neat editing gadgets (autotune, etc.) and such with the programs, but to sing live is TRULY the first test!!

The contestants MUST NOT have the lyrics of their songs written in any form on themselves, or on paper, present when they are performing on stage during the live audition, and the rounds. Memorization is the key!

You can 'show up' and sign up at the convention on the Thursday for a spot to audition, but it would be preferred that you sign up early via a simple e-mail to me with the following information:

*Your Full Name
*If you have a 'stage name' you'd like to be introduced as, please let me know
*Your Age
*City You are From
*Name of Song you will be singing for us
*Name of the Artist who originally performed the song
*If there is a tie up of some sort to an anime series/movie/game, etc, please let me know.
*The names of the 3 songs, their artists and tie ins, you would like to perform for the duration of the contest, should you make it past the auditions. You can use your audition song in one of the rounds of Idol if you would like to.

You can e-mail me the above info at: ARidol@animerevolution.ca

EVERYONE GOING INTO THE LIVE AUDITIONS MUST BE PREPARD TO MOVE ON TO THE ROUNDS, MEANING YOU SHOULD HAVE YOUR CD OF INSTRUMENTALS WITH YOU TO GIVE TO THE IDOL COORDINATOR AT THE END OF THE AUDITIONS AFTER CONTESTANTS NAMES ARE ANNOUNCED. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!!

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RULES OF THE ROUNDS...

The contestants who move on to the actual rounds of the competition need to have instrumental tracks ready. The CD's should be labelled appropriately with the contestants' name, and a list of the 3 songs on the CD IN ORDER of how they are to be played in the rounds {eg. Track #1 is Round #1's song, Track #2 is Round #2's song, and Track #3 is Round #3's song.} USB will also be allowed, but you must have the songs in order for easy transfer...

The backing music should indeed be instrumental with only backing vocals intermittently throughout. If choosing to use a song that doesn't have an official instrumental release, the original singer's vocals should be removed with a music editing program without compromising too much of the original audio quality of the music itself. We want to be able to hear your voice over the original as much as possible!!

ALL Contestants must have at least three songs prepared, just in case they are chosen to move on to the next round. The audition song may be used in one of the rounds. Please note, contestants should plan on attending all days of the convention, as Anime Revolution Idol will run over 3 days, with each official contest round running on a different day (Likely a Friday, Saturday, Sunday situation.)

Like auditions, Round #1 will ideally run for about 2 Hours, allowing roughly 4-5 minutes at most per song. This will also give the judges more time to critique, as well as give the contestants the feedback they'd like. There would also be intermittent performances by myself and some others ideally, at the beginning, and as needed throughout (eg. during judges' final deliberation). The judges would cut down the performers to 6 people for the semi-finals on Saturday.

Round #2 would run for about an hour to an hour and a half, allowing once again for 4-5 minutes per song. This again will allow the judges more time to vocally critique each contestant. Once again, we may have performances from past idol winners perhaps to help fill time while the judges deliberate and choose the 3 overall finalists.

The final round would probably take about 30-45 minutes or so at the closing ceremonies. The final 3 would then battle it out for the 2012 Anime Revolution Idol Winner!

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THE JUDGES & HOSTS

There will likely be 1 host (myself) and 3-4 judges this year.

I'm thinking Grace will be back as our head judge for her 3rd year in a row (We love you Grace!! Your feedback is AWESOME!) and she will be joined by 2-3 others. Please note there is always the chance that we may have a celebrity judge on board, so please prepare accordingly!

The judges will be deciding on 1st Place, 2nd Place, and 3rd Place. We will also have an "Audience Choice" award. How this works is at the end of Round #1, I will take votes from audience members and tally the winner for the awards presentation at the end of Round #3. So, if you make it into the contest on Round #1, but don't move on to Round #2 or #3, you may STILL have a shot at getting Audience choice based on your Day #1 performance!
Judges will be looking at:

Singing Ability - Do we have a Susan Boyle on our hands? Or maybe a William Hung? Vocal Capabilities, holding a tune, good timing? If song calls for emotion, does performer deliver? Does performer forget the lyrics and make it known, or seemingly fudge through it? Did they choose to challenge themself by singing a song by the opposite sex? Out of their usual range? If so, how was it handled? Did voice sound too strained? Vocal control? Techniques? Proper breathing? Vibrato? Things like that. Will go into more detail on judges guideline sheets...

Overall Performance - Use of Stage/Movement / Did the performer peak the audience's interest? / Audience Involvement? / Does performer seem to 'get into' the song or just stand there performing only half heartedly?

Song Originality- Is your song one that is constantly sung on a yearly basis? (eg. Final Distance by Utada Hikaru) or are you trying something new? Have you chosen the same song as someone else? If there are two or more linguistic versions of a song, did you choose to sing in Japanese or English? (Eg. Japanese "Passion" compared to English "Sanctuary" from Kingdom Hearts.) It is more favourable to sing the song in its original format, providing it is not your native tongue. How diverse are your choices? Do you sing same kind of song {eg. Rap} throughout all three rounds, or try to diversify your choices {eg. Round #1: Rap, Round #2: Ballad, Round #3: Rock.}

The judges will be using points cards for quick tallying and comments, so that they can easily refer to notes and such for the final judgement process, rather than having to look through hastily scribbled stuff on ordinary paper. Also, if a contestant would like feedback later on, the judge can refer to the notes, as trying to remember a performance off the top of your head is rather difficult with so much going on!

One of the BIGGEST and most CONTROVERSIAL subjects in this contest is singing in English. Now, this is an Idol contest at an anime convention. That said, anime is primarily Japanese language based. The overall point is: Try to choose a song that is NOT your native language!! AND NO DISNEY SONGS! YES THEY ARE IN KINGDOM HEARTS... BUT NO!! That being said...

If you MUST do an english song, then run it by me first, and I'll run it by the judges and chances are if you are able to do it, then you will be permitted to sing ONE english song through the competition. So, if you use it during Round #1, then you MUST sing Japanese {Or another language not of your native tongue} in Rounds #2 and #3, providing you move on to those rounds.

VERY IMPORTANT: If given a choice between a song that has been used in english and in Japanese, but with slight differences {eg. "Simple and Clean" VS. "Hikari" from Kingdom Hearts,} the judges will be instructed to dock marks if the english version is chosen over Japanese, since the choice is there, and as mentioned above, Japanese is favoured over English. If the english song itself is made specifically for the dub {eg. "My Only Love" by Jennifer Cihi from Sailor Moon English Dub}, and has not appeared in the original Japanese version, and IF it is permitted by the coordinator and judges, then the judges will not dock marks.

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ELEGIBILITY OF ENTRANTS:

The contest will be open to past winners just as much as everyone else who would like to audition, providing they are paid attendees of Anime Revolution 2012. AR Staff are more than welcome to enter, but should ensure that if they make it past the auditions, they should be able to attend and perform in the rounds following at the times in which they fall.

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"LEGALITY" MUMBO-JUMBO

The rules and regulations of the Anime Revolution Idol Contest are subject to change without notice. Although we will do our best to keep updates communicated through the website and forums, these changes may occur at any time. For any questions or inquires, please send an e-mail to ARIdol@animerevolution.ca.

Decisions made by the Anime Revolution Idol Coordinator and Executive Staff are final. No Exceptions. Anime Revolution and its staff are not responsible for lost, misplaced, or illegible entry forms. Any violation of the Anime Revolution Idol Contest rules can result in disqualification from current and future Anime Revolution Idol Contests.

Participation in the Anime Revolution Idol Contest implies an understanding and acceptance of these rules and regulations.

[Kudo D Uzumaki]

Can we audition/enter in pairs?

[KazenoShijin]

Yes, duets are certainly welcome!

Please provide e-mails for both parties though if you don't mind.

Thanks!

[Aelita]

Hnn... I'm starting to wonder if I should enter or judge... O_O;;;
I usually do English dubs. Right now, I can only think of 3 songs that I KNOW I can pull off in Japanese due to the fact that I memorized the translations. Maybe 4, if I count "Light Lag", but that song's difficult in English as well. @.@;;;

I'm going to ask for your advice, Jeremy-san. What should I do?

[KazenoShijin]

Hnn... I'm starting to wonder if I should enter or judge... O_O;;;
I usually do English dubs. Right now, I can only think of 3 songs that I KNOW I can pull off in Japanese due to the fact that I memorized the translations. Maybe 4, if I count "Light Lag", but that song's difficult in English as well. @.@;;;

I'm going to ask for your advice, Jeremy-san. What should I do?

Well Aelita, you have 7 months to prep, which could be enough time to memorize a few Japanese songs. There is the option of being allowed to sing ONE english song if you need to, but I'd prefer that we stay away from it lol.

I think you could memorize pretty well between now and AR. Remember, the online audition and live auditions must be in Japanese, so you can read off of the lyrics while you record at home. That's fine. Live, you'll need to have the song memorized, but only need to sing 2 minutes of it for the judges. If you make it into the actual rounds after the auditions, all of those songs will need to be memorized as well, but if you already have the one down for the live auditions, then you can use it at it's full length in one of the rounds. You would then only need to memorize 2 other songs if you make it into rounds 2 and 3.

I have faith that you can do it! This is also why I posted these so early, to give everyone time to practice! Hmm, I just realized that technically, there's actually JUST under a year to practice in all actuality, as it's only the online auditions that are due by May 1st, so you'd still have June, July and perhaps part of August to practice too!

In any case, good luck! You are still welcome to be a judge if you wish!

[Aelita]

Hnn... I'm starting to wonder if I should enter or judge... O_O;;;
I usually do English dubs. Right now, I can only think of 3 songs that I KNOW I can pull off in Japanese due to the fact that I memorized the translations. Maybe 4, if I count "Light Lag", but that song's difficult in English as well. @.@;;;

I'm going to ask for your advice, Jeremy-san. What should I do?

Well Aelita, you have 7 months to prep, which could be enough time to memorize a few Japanese songs. There is the option of being allowed to sing ONE english song if you need to, but I'd prefer that we stay away from it lol.

I think you could memorize pretty well between now and AR. Remember, the online audition and live auditions must be in Japanese, so you can read off of the lyrics while you record at home. That's fine. Live, you'll need to have the song memorized, but only need to sing 2 minutes of it for the judges. If you make it into the actual rounds after the auditions, all of those songs will need to be memorized as well, but if you already have the one down for the live auditions, then you can use it at it's full length in one of the rounds. You would then only need to memorize 2 other songs if you make it into rounds 2 and 3.

I have faith that you can do it! This is also why I posted these so early, to give everyone time to practice! Hmm, I just realized that technically, there's actually JUST under a year to practice in all actuality, as it's only the online auditions that are due by May 1st, so you'd still have June, July and perhaps part of August to practice too!

In any case, good luck! You are still welcome to be a judge if you wish!

I have no problems with memorization. I just can't get the emotion out as well as I can with English songs. As my mother would say, I "sound like an idiot."

HOWEVER, I don't mind a bit of a challenge, so you probably won't be hearing anything from me until it's pretty close to the deadline. I'll be working on my Japanese language skills until then~ ; w ; //

[Hitomi]

Holy -insert happy profanity-, Aelita. Light Lag. One of my current favourites. DO IT. I will love you even more. \ o /
And not being able to express emotions as well in Japanese is one of the challenges! You have 7 months to nail down what to express where!

[Mune]

so much energy and enthusiasm!!! I love it!!! Keep it up guys I'm pumped to hear everyones voices!!!

[Mune]

Holy -insert happy profanity-, Aelita. Light Lag. One of my current favourites. DO IT. I will love you even more. \ o /
And not being able to express emotions as well in Japanese is one of the challenges! You have 7 months to nail down what to express where!

hey hitomi are you by anychance ladyhitomi on youtube?

[Kimberly-Anne]

I'm super excited too!
Can't wait to get a chance to hear everyone sing