Anime Boston Voice Acting Contest

[Azure]

Thought this would have been mentioned before, but I can't find it. Got nerves of steel and are going to anime Boston? AB runs from April 20th-22nd. By the way not that I'm actually doing any admin stuff right now but I'd talk about this contest only here, and not your travel plans.
OK my civic duty done! My PMs checked I'm off.

Think you got the chops to work it along side your favorite dub voice actors? Think you can do it better than all of them? Well now's your chance to put your money where your mouth is... or at least your voice. Hosted by Tom Wayland of TripWire Productions and Michael Sinterniklaas of NYAV Post, the winner will get a trip out to New York to fulfill their dreams recording a role in an upcoming anime release.

Contestants will be randomly selected to compete in the first of three rounds:

* In the first, everyone will read from a monologue (no longer than 1 minute in length) that they have selected themselves. The passage can be from any source (TV, film, play) but must be suitable for all ages at the show (PG-13).
* The second round is the "Versatility Round", in which contestants will be forced to read a passage in an unexpectedly bizarre (and hilarious) character voice or accent. There is no preparation for "angry drunk Scotsman!", "elderly nun with Tourette's!" or "Captain Kirk!"
* During the final round, the remaining contestants will perform dialogue for a short scene in an anime, complete with the video. Can you handle the lip-flap?

The ultimate winner who survives all of that will get a free trip out to the Big Apple to spend a day recording the dialogue for their own character in one of the new projects Tom & Mike are working on.

All contestants must fill out a registration form before the event and must be 18 years or older. Make sure to stop by the Info Desk for a registration form and more information.

More info: http://www.animeboston.com/events/gameshows/vac.shtml

Lets hope this one is run properly -eh?

[Yoda117]

Lets hope this one is run properly -eh?

I'm sure that Mike and Tom will do well with this, but just in case I've mentioned an item or two to keep things a bit more honest. Whether or not they'll listen is another story.

That said, I know that I'm not allowed to participate due to previous experience

Instead, I'm just going to take a trip to a local studio to audition some gear when I get some free time away from the booth.

[D-Mac Double]

Contestants will be RANDOMLY selected to compete in the first of three rounds:

So, lemme get this straight:

One could head all the way to the convention solely for the purpose of entering the Voice Acting Contest, after weeks and weeks of preparation, only to wind up with nothing to do simply because they weren't randomly picked to compete?

Now, if I'm understanding this correctly, this whole contest idea sounds kinda... extremely poorly thought out.

[Fernie]

Sounds similar to the one Tom held at the now defunct Big Apple Anime Fest a few years ago. A bit of a shame that only twenty or thirty folks out of what'll likely be something hundreds will be lining up for will get a chance to participate, but it's at the very least a fun panel to watch. I mean realistically, would they actually have the time to audition everyone who wants a chance? Or should a line start forming before the con even begins for the sole purpose of being the first twenty they'll have time to listen to, depriving those contestants of the rest of the convention's events? You'd probably have better odds of just sending them your demo instead of making the trip to Boston and expecting to win a role there. Was it any different over at AX Idol? Any other con that has had this sort of a prize?

But yeah, going to Anime Boston solely for the voice acting competition wouldn't be the brightest idea. But if you happen to be going there anyway then this is a nice bonus. I wish I could go and watch.

[seiyuu]

I would kill to go!! If only so I could watch! Why's it gotta be all the way in Boston?

[Tregster]

Huh.. well, that's interesting. Random.. why not just audition everyone first? Well.. I guess that would take a long time too :\ What if the people they randomly select all suck and have no acting experience.. you know those people will enter too lol

[Chrissii]

Well I'm going to be there anyways so I guess I'll try and check this out. o.o

[Batgirl]

I never trust these Anime VA contests. There's always a lot of bad communication and they always end up being pretty lame.

Fun if you wanna try and do it just for that sake, but its not a life-changing opportunity. If you're going to be there, I'd put your name in the pot, but don't go for the SOLE PURPOSE of being in the contest.

[River Kanoff]

I think the only reason I'd op out is because I don't trust my on the spot ad-lib skills just yet.

[Jerma]

This has really been ticking me off lately.

First off..I live less than 15 min outside of Boston and this would be a breeze to attend. I am not a big fan of anime nor would I normally attend this convention. This seemed like a cool oppertunity to try and show them what I got.

that being said I think its very stupid to do these contests like this. Having people just get randomly selected out of a pot of people is just stupid considering what the prize is. Lets face it..whoever wins this competition gets cast as a role in an animation. That prize is very big to those of us with passion and talent, rather than potentially randomly select a bunch of idiots to go on stage and make fools out of themselves.

If you are ever going to hold a true competition there needs to be prior screening. Either weeks before the Con have people send in demos...or give everyone interested a piece of a script and send it in to their emails or w/e....you just cant have a competition like this if you very well could be squating all the real talent because of a stupid name out of a hat drawing.

Think about if you went to that con and your a great actor/actress...your prepared, you got what it takes....and then you dont get randomly selected and some moron wins the competition out of sheer luck of being the best in a crowd of terribles. It would make me a little angry ill tell you that right now.