LossFest 2009 Viewing Information - Now Open

[Jason Ramsey]

Welcome to the DVXuser.com Loss Fest 2009
The time has finally come to enjoy the fruits of your labor over the past several months. As always, we have an interesting mix of films for this fest and it's been an interesting time previewing all your work. Regardless of how the voting turns out, we all appreciate the huge amount of work it takes to complete and submit a film -- all of you have our admiration and respect.

HOW TO VIEW:
http://www.dvxfest.com/lossfest/

Note: Some things have changed, so be sure to read the following carefully

- ANYONE can now view the films. You do not need to be a dvxuser member, nor be logged into DVXFest.com to view the films. This obviously makes sense now that we have opened up outside promotion. So, share the link around once the films go live, etc.

- If you are eligible to rate the films (a submitting filmmaker, or a dvxuser member with 50 or more posts) then you will need to log on to dvxfest.com using your dvxuser member name and password. If you have never logged in to dvxfest before in this manner, the first time may take several moments to authenticate and verify. However, after this is done, all subsequent log ins will be instantaneous.

TROUBLESHOOTING:
I CAN'T LOG IN!?#i(@?!
Relax There are still some glitches in the log in authentication process that may occasionally cause your login information to not work properly.

If this happens, simply notify Larry R via pm with the title "DVXFest Login" and politely inform him of the fact. He will process any and all requests in bulk and will notify you once your log in information has been corrected.

In the meantime, enjoy watching the films as you do not have to be logged in to download and view them. Only to vote. Once Larry gets your log in information updated, you will then be able to begin rating the films.

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VOTING/RATING INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES:

There will be two rounds of voting. We will allow ample time for each round of voting, so please do not panic, and we will notify everyone well enough in advance of the impending deadline to rate the films for each round.

Generally when the ratings begin to trail off in the first round, we will set a date and let everyone know what that deadline is.

After the first round of rating has concluded, we will take a brief recess to tally, and verify the results as well as search for any kind of discrepancies in the ratings.

We will then see where the clear breaking line is for the top films. We will announce the top 7 or 8 or 10 or 12 (whatever that number may be) to the public and will commence a 2nd round of rating. A lot of folks often have questions about this process, and we are happy to try to elaborate further at some other time. Just rest assured, that (while not perfect) the system works very well like this and the 2nd round is a necessity.

The reason why we do not have a set TOP 8 for example is b/c number 9 might only be a few hundredth's of a point behind 8th, and it would hardly seem fair to exclude them. So, we find the place where the break becomes more apparent and the films above that clear break will be the finalist fims.

All votes from the first round are "carried over" to the 2nd round. You do NOT get to re-rate. The purpose of the 2nd round is to equalize the number of votes across the films as much as possible, and to bring in as many new voters as possible. Those eligible voters who may be less active in the fests, but would love to watch 8 or 10 films and would gladly rate each one on a scale of 1 to 10 as they go along.

You MAY change your rating for the films during that round in which the rating was cast. However, once that round ends, your ratings are locked and may not be changed. During the 2nd round you may only rate films that you may not have previously rated.

The system really does work very well on the whole. A lot of thought went into it, and there is more behind the scenes that obviously we keep to ourselves to maintain the integrity of the system. The system is very good at providing more accurate average ratings of the films (and by indirect consequence the final rankings of each film for the competitive aspect of the process). The system also does a very good job at minimizing the impact of any potential shadiness, as well as making it more easily identifiable and dealt with.

We are always trying to improve every aspect of the fests, and we encourage appropriate feedback at the right place and the right time.

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LossFest Sponsors / Prizes

As usual there will be a nice selection of prizes given out thanks to Jason Ramsey our prizemaster and our generous sponsors who always donate really cool stuff. When you buy from any of our sponsors be sure to let them know you appreciate their support of dvxuser and dvxfest.


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There was some other stuff, but I've forgotten it. Will add it here if I remember (perhaps after a nap )

If you need any clarification or have any questions, please feel free to post here, or pm me if necessary. But, let's please try to keep the debates out of here for now (there will be plenty of time for that later) and use this thread or information purposes.

Thanks.

later,
Jason

[Morox]

Hopefully I can view a couple tonight. That'd be great.

[Ezekiel667]

I'm excited to vote, seeing as I couldn't enter the Fest.

[Morox]

Any update on whether or not they will be up tonight? I am anxiously awaiting.

[Larry Rutledge]

It's up ... First post updated with the details.

[Zak Forsman]

omg... let the madness begin.....

[Norm Sanders]

Are the exhibition only films included with the Zip files? I want to view them for sure, but don't want to waste additional bandwidth if they're already included in Zip.

BTW, Larry, SLICK set up on all the web stuff. You're a madman genius!

[MrKilloran]

The quickening!

[Norm Sanders]

Uh-oh, missing some films from the zip files it looks like. However, because the listings on the viewing page aren't in alphabetical order, it's REAL difficult to see what I'm missing.

I've just unzipped all 6 folders, and have 61 files. I did a count on the viewing page, and including exhibition only films (2), there should be 65?

Larry/Jason, can you let me know which films are specifically missing from the zips, so I can download them specifically? Hate to miss one.

[Zak Forsman]

geoff's exhibition entry probably isn't in the zips. his was a late addition. so that's one.