Total War: Shogun 2 Creative Video Contest Winner Announcement

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TotalWar.Org is proud to present...

Total War: Shogun 2 Creative Video Contest Winners


The votes are in! The videos were watched and judged by a panel of five judges, including Laurence from The Creative Assembly's cinematics department.
It was a close race. While one came away as the clear winner, we ended up with two-way ties at both second and third place.

All five of the placed winners will receive the following badge to wear with pride on The Org:

And now, the winners. Drum roll please...

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#3a

@Kraken's delightfully gory "Blood Bath"

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#3b

@Maltz' epic tale, "Date Campaign Condensed"

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#2a

@MrBoBo's homage to fuedal Japan's warrior women, "Onna Bushi Tribute 2"

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#2b

@Tomisama's excellent narrated "A Peasant's Tale."

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#1

@(HG)Mariscal Zhukov's "The Dragon of Echigo."
The spectacular storytelling and cinematography lead to a unanimous decision by the judges.




We'd like to thank ScopeSgt13 for submitting "Samurai - Trailer" and perablenta for submitting "Shogun 2 Fan Movie Trailer #2"
Your submissions were enjoyed by the judges and we hope you try your hand in future contests.

[Maltz]

Congratulations to all participants and winners!

[Peasant Phill]

Congratulations to all contestants. a truly divers but high quality range of videos.

[Tomisama]

Congratulations to the winners, and Grand Org Salute to all who entered.

I hope we can do this again real soon (I know I am already working on the next one)

Until then, may the wind always be at your back, and may all your videos go viral

[MrBoBo]

Well deserved, congrats Zhukov. Nice work as well Kraken, Maltz and Tomisama.

[Kraken]

I must agree with judges, Zhukov film is the best, others films are far far away, congratulations But I hope we will have chance to revenge.

[(HG)Mariscal Zhukov]

Thank you to everyone, really it took me some time, because among other things I needed to change the game files (for the initial position of the troops or get rid of any unit in some shot, for example), as well as synchronize dialogs the best possible way with the characters.

It also made ​​things easier when CA released the patch for Shogun 2, allowing the possibility of removing all User Interface elements, which were quite tedious for making videos with the game.

I want to thank all those who have made possible a contest like this, a great incentive to bring out that Stanley Kubrick who is in all of us (more or less ). Really nice videos, and totally original which we have seen here

I must agree with judges, Zhukov film is the best, others films are far far away, congratulations But I hope we will have chance to revenge.

Thanks Kraken, I have no doubt about it. I have seen very good shots in your video

[MrBoBo]

It would be great if they had some tools built into the Total War games similar to how Team Fortress 2 was updated with video editing tools.

[frogbeastegg]

All of the entries were excellent - well done to the creative minds behind them.

It's always amazing to see what people can create with a video game and a recording tool. Hehe, I struggle to take a simple screenshot!

[Gregoshi]

Great contest. Thanks to all the participants and congratulations to Zhukov on his winning entry.

[Tomisama]

A Special Thank You to all at the Org who were involved in the creation, support, and bringing this event to us.
And those who officiated with Laurence (thank you too Laurence).
Your efforts are sincerely appreciated.

It was great fun!

And thanks for the new badge

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And those who officiated with Laurence (thank you too Laurence).

In hindsight I should have included a list of the judges just for the sake of openness. Besides Laurence it was the content staff: me, Phill, Voigtkampf and Nigel.

[perablenta]

I really don't want to come off as a sore loser, but

''1. Video must be longer than one minute and less than ten minutes.''

I have a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKqfmpiymY, which is 11:58, and if I had known rules could be bent I would have posted it instead of the trailer for it.

But hey... congrats to the winners.

[Graphic]

I really don't want to come off as a sore loser, but

''1. Video must be longer than one minute and less than ten minutes.''

I have a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKqfmpiymY, which is 11:58, and if I had known rules could be bent I would have posted it instead of the trailer for it.

But hey... congrats to the winners.

The rules were bent in the case of Zhukov's video because what goes over the 10 minute mark is a few seconds of text and then a Total War logo, not game footage. We're not contest generating robots, so excluding a video based on a technicality because a logo lingers too long didn't seem like it was in the spirit of the competition. So the judges made a judgment call.

The video you linked has 1:25 of game footage over the limit and most likely wouldn't have been considered if you submitted it.

[perablenta]

I don't intend to debate technicalities with people who aren't going to follow their own rules.

[Myrddraal]

What great videos. Glad I stopped by! It would be nice to see the winners/runners up in the media library.

[Graphic]

I don't intend to debate technicalities with people who aren't going to follow their own rules.

We're not debating technicalities at all, we're discussing reasonable and unreasonable leeway. If you can't see the difference between Zhukov's video and yours in that context as I have explained it (like your fellow runners up can), then yes, there's clearly nothing more to discuss.

You're free to edit down your video in anticipation of any future video contests we may hold. If it's found to be within the spirit of the guidelines (like being seconds over the limit because of credits or a logo) it will be judged with the rest.

[Maltz]

Again I think this is a great event and I like all videos. I have a few suggestions for the future contests (such as a story contest, if there is going to be one).

(1) Time of production

I hope ORG's competition specifies a time of production to be qualified for a contest. It is perfectly fine to include entries made BEFORE the contest is announced, considering some works may take a long time to complete, and sometimes a competition is delayed due to another ongoing competition. But the contest should be clear about the dates or those who specifically produce a new work during the narrow time frame for the contest (see 2) may feel robbed by great works produced not really for this contest.

For example, if this is the very first STW2 video contest of the ORG, then we can specify that all works made since the beginning of STW2 can qualify. But if we are going to host another video contest later, then we can specify that the video production must be later than May 21, 2012.

(2) Extension of the competition period

Extending the competition period is quite unfair for submissions who were on time, as they had less time to work on it. It is better to design a longer competition period instead of keep extending it.

(3) Rules are rules

I feel morally compelled to argue that rules should not be bent under any circumstance. There can be bad and stupid rules, but they are rules. This is the foundation of the justice system. In the case argued above, it is very easy to request the maker of the video to make a cut to be able to qualify.

(4) Participant badges

To encourage future participation in a not-very-popular contest (10 or less participants), I hope that all participants are given some kind of badge as long as their work is not disqualified.

[(HG)Mariscal Zhukov]

I appreciate the comments

(3) Rules are rules

I feel morally compelled to argue that rules should not be bent under any circumstance. There can be bad and stupid rules, but they are rules. This is the foundation of the justice system. In the case argued above, it is very easy to request the maker of the video to make a cut to be able to qualify.

Referring to the comment of Maltz, if one of the supervisors of the contest asks me to reduce the duration of the video to 10 min, for me there is no problem doing it. But as Graphic has well commented, in my case, what's relevant in a few seconds of text, shown previously, and a moving logo that we've all seen more than a dozen times? It is totally trivial to the story that I'm trying to tell in the video. There is no difference between stop watching on 10th minute and continue with those last 17 seconds. If it would be the video of another contestant I would have understood in this way, honestly.

[Andres]

I must say, superb work by all of you guys And congrats to (HG)Mariscal Zhukov

I really don't want to come off as a sore loser, but

''1. Video must be longer than one minute and less than ten minutes.''

I have a video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKqfmpiymY, which is 11:58, and if I had known rules could be bent I would have posted it instead of the trailer for it.

I see your point, but after watching the video, I have to say it's obvious that cutting off the last 17 seconds wouldn't have made a difference.

Also, there's a huge difference between 17 seconds and almost 2 minutes.

@Maltz:

1) good suggestion
2) those who had already entered their submission were able to use the exta time to polish their work even further, imo
3) Rules are rules, but there should always be room for common sense.
4) definitely a suggestion to keep in mind for future contests; thanks

[Tomisama]

Please consider the following to be regarding only potential future video contests, this one has been completed.

From years of experience running community competitions, the written rules must be the final word.

If any decisions are required, they must sight a specific reference in those rules, or you risk alienating the very people you wish to serve.

I would also suggest a preliminary posting of the rules with the first announcement of the intended contest, so they can receive public discussion. And a final permanent and unchanging version presented when the beginning and ending dates are finally announced.

I know this seems like a lot of trouble, but you are potentially dealing in international public relations, and as long as you keep that perspective, all will go well.

I would also suggest that videos should be categorized in to Short Subjects under 5 minutes, and Epic Productions which can last up to 10 minutes, with the option to enter one in each category, and with the expectation to be judged separately and against separate criteria.

And it would be helpful if those criteria were published in advance also. In deciding what they might be, other categories or classifications may emerge

All and all a great contest, keep’em rolling!

And thanks again.

[Graphic]

I feel morally compelled to argue that rules should not be bent under any circumstance. There can be bad and stupid rules, but they are rules. This is the foundation of the justice system.

Not really. That's the entire reason we have judges, especially in the case of higher courts. They're there to consider mitigating factors and the specifics of each case in order to determine what is just, taking into consideration the spirit of the law and the main intent of it, not to just blindly and strictly apply the law as it's written. Otherwise cases could be detirmined by computer algorithms and ridiculous 150 year old laws about sodomy and brushing your horse on Sunday would be enforced.

The overlapping 17 seconds of text and logo in Zhukov's video wasn't what made people vote for his video. If he edited it off nothing whatsoever would have changed with the video or the outcome of the contest. It was then decided that the overlapping seconds were irrelevant, not even worth bugging Zhukov to edit off.

We're a Total War fan site running a contest on our leisure time with a prize paid for out of the staff's pocket, not a corporation with a legal department. I don't think that necessitates such a strict, calculating, legal interpretation of the rules. If the judges felt that the overlapping seconds made the video better or worse, therefore effecting the outcome, I assure you we would have asked Zhukov to resubmit a shorter version. They don't, so we didn't. It's much ado about nothing, I assure you.

[Maltz]

I am not really interested in asking for a change in the rulings of the video competition. The results have been announced and my first reaction was simply "congratulations". I am only making suggestions for future competitions.

For example, these days I am drafting the rules for ORG's AAR/story competition. If I hold the belief that some judge may alter the rules because of some "good reason", why do I bother making up the rules? And why do I bother participating in this very competition if I am not even sure whether the rules proposed by myself will be followed? Bending the rules could have a profound negative impact on participants' morale. This is my sincere suggestion as a participant and also a rule maker.

Edit: I recognize that the staff has made a good job holding the competition and provide support for submissions throughout the period. It is excellent work. I also think it is a good opportunity that a few minor issues turning up (it is natural. No issue turning up = nobody cares) so we can hear the staff's view and the participants view on it. I think we can harvest people's energy, enthusiasm, and attention on the ORG and carry on to our next events!