Indietalk's Online Original Film Competition
Important Dates:
Start of competition: Friday July 16, 9am pdt
End of competition: Friday August 27, 5pm pdt
Start of voting: Friday August 27, 5pm pdt
End of voting: Friday September 10, 5pm pdt
Category Is The Following (MYSTERY):
Drama
Mystery
Comedy
Horror
Action
Sci-fi
"Prop" Is The Following (Pack of Gum)
Prop = Pack of Gum (Bubble or Chewing, your choice)
Who, How Much, and Prizes:
Any registered member of IndieTalk can submit a film.
There is no entry fee.
Grand Prize is a custom designed banner-gif (complete with fancy laurels) and some bragging rights. Perfect for cluttering up your website with. If we receive 9 or more submissions, there will be a second & third place banner-gif created, for your ego-stroking needs.
What Topics Can I Submit?
A thread will be started on Friday July 16 that will announce the basic "genre". It will be randomly selected from a list of genres that include (as examples) comedy, horror, drama, mystery, etc.
With genre in hand, you'll have 6 weeks (an astonishingly long time) to come up with an original story that is no longer than 5 minutes in length.
6 weeks is enough time for weekend-warriors to get something done, and should also be long enough for full-timers that want to join in to do something on a weekend.
(Note: 5 mins is the maximum allowed, not required. If you can get the job done in 30 or 60 seconds, go for it.)
I'll Just Submit Something I Made Last Year, If Genre Fits.
No, you won't. To make sure that it is a genuine new effort made, a "prop" is going to be listed along with the genre. That prop (something very common, easy to find, and/or extremely cheap) must appear prominently at some point in the film. If for some reason it is impossible to locate a suitable prop, it must be mentioned in the dialogue.
Examples of props are "two white socks", or "a banana" or similar. You are in hard times if you can't spring 29 cents for a piece of fruit.
Where Do I Send Submissions, And On What?
If you are nice and efficient (and have your finished film encoded in a digital file in the correct format), you can upload it directly to a hosting server.
If you are lame and want to make me work hard, you can email me for a mailing address to send your submission on:
a DVD
A CD
A Mini-dv tape
A VHS tape
A Hi-8/Digi-8/8mm tape
If you have it recorded in PAL or SECAM (who knows where we'll get entries from), it must be on VHS tape.
From there, I can encode to the appropriate online viewing format.
What Is The Appropriate Online Viewing Format?
For films shot on mini-dv (720x480), reduce to half size.
That means 360x240, for the math-impaired.
There is an allotted 25MB hosting per film. For a full 5-minute film, that is 5MB per minute. Here are some codecs to make it fit.
VIDEO
Sorenson 3
MP4
AUDIO
Q-Design 2
Quality % can be set to 100 for both audio and video.
Setting the BPS between 60 to 80.
Setting a keyframe every 15 frames.
Depending on suggested video codec(s) (and BPS setting) you can compress as low as 1MB per minute, to as high as 5MB per minute.
Also, all the above codecs are included in the basic install of Quicktime for end-users... which means everyone will be able to see/hear them.
If your submission is an .swf or similar, please try to set the stage at 360x240. If already started before this came up, no worry. Just try to export at an approximate %. (And e-mail or PM any funky embedding options)
How Does Voting Work?
Each submission will have its own thread, in the Online Competition forum. Each thread will have ratings enabled (as Screening Room), as well as replies for feedback. The ratings are NOT the vote for best film. The ratings and feedback are just like Screening Room, allowing the filmmaker to get decent input.
A "stickied" topic at the top of the forum is where the voting takes place. All submitted films will be listed there in a line, in a "poll"-style format. Each film title in the poll will be a direct link to the film as well, for last minute viewing. This will be the front-page poll, too. That way, each voter will not miss any chances to actually see the remainder of possibly unviewed flicks.
What Else Do I Need To Know?
Don't use unlicensed copyrighted material in your film.
You do not lose any "rights" to your film, by submitting.
Do not mail in your only/original tape.
If you want your mailed tape back, enclose a return envelope.
Be creative and have fun, dammit! 8)
Important Dates:
Start of competition: Friday July 16, 9am pdt
End of competition: Friday August 27, 5pm pdt
Start of voting: Friday August 27, 5pm pdt
End of voting: Friday September 10, 5pm pdt
Category Is The Following (MYSTERY):
Drama
Mystery
Comedy
Horror
Action
Sci-fi
"Prop" Is The Following (Pack of Gum)
Prop = Pack of Gum (Bubble or Chewing, your choice)
Who, How Much, and Prizes:
Any registered member of IndieTalk can submit a film.
There is no entry fee.
Grand Prize is a custom designed banner-gif (complete with fancy laurels) and some bragging rights. Perfect for cluttering up your website with. If we receive 9 or more submissions, there will be a second & third place banner-gif created, for your ego-stroking needs.
What Topics Can I Submit?
A thread will be started on Friday July 16 that will announce the basic "genre". It will be randomly selected from a list of genres that include (as examples) comedy, horror, drama, mystery, etc.
With genre in hand, you'll have 6 weeks (an astonishingly long time) to come up with an original story that is no longer than 5 minutes in length.
6 weeks is enough time for weekend-warriors to get something done, and should also be long enough for full-timers that want to join in to do something on a weekend.
(Note: 5 mins is the maximum allowed, not required. If you can get the job done in 30 or 60 seconds, go for it.)
I'll Just Submit Something I Made Last Year, If Genre Fits.
No, you won't. To make sure that it is a genuine new effort made, a "prop" is going to be listed along with the genre. That prop (something very common, easy to find, and/or extremely cheap) must appear prominently at some point in the film. If for some reason it is impossible to locate a suitable prop, it must be mentioned in the dialogue.
Examples of props are "two white socks", or "a banana" or similar. You are in hard times if you can't spring 29 cents for a piece of fruit.
Where Do I Send Submissions, And On What?
If you are nice and efficient (and have your finished film encoded in a digital file in the correct format), you can upload it directly to a hosting server.
If you are lame and want to make me work hard, you can email me for a mailing address to send your submission on:
a DVD
A CD
A Mini-dv tape
A VHS tape
A Hi-8/Digi-8/8mm tape
If you have it recorded in PAL or SECAM (who knows where we'll get entries from), it must be on VHS tape.
From there, I can encode to the appropriate online viewing format.
What Is The Appropriate Online Viewing Format?
For films shot on mini-dv (720x480), reduce to half size.
That means 360x240, for the math-impaired.
There is an allotted 25MB hosting per film. For a full 5-minute film, that is 5MB per minute. Here are some codecs to make it fit.
VIDEO
Sorenson 3
MP4
AUDIO
Q-Design 2
Quality % can be set to 100 for both audio and video.
Setting the BPS between 60 to 80.
Setting a keyframe every 15 frames.
Depending on suggested video codec(s) (and BPS setting) you can compress as low as 1MB per minute, to as high as 5MB per minute.
Also, all the above codecs are included in the basic install of Quicktime for end-users... which means everyone will be able to see/hear them.
If your submission is an .swf or similar, please try to set the stage at 360x240. If already started before this came up, no worry. Just try to export at an approximate %. (And e-mail or PM any funky embedding options)
How Does Voting Work?
Each submission will have its own thread, in the Online Competition forum. Each thread will have ratings enabled (as Screening Room), as well as replies for feedback. The ratings are NOT the vote for best film. The ratings and feedback are just like Screening Room, allowing the filmmaker to get decent input.
A "stickied" topic at the top of the forum is where the voting takes place. All submitted films will be listed there in a line, in a "poll"-style format. Each film title in the poll will be a direct link to the film as well, for last minute viewing. This will be the front-page poll, too. That way, each voter will not miss any chances to actually see the remainder of possibly unviewed flicks.
What Else Do I Need To Know?
Don't use unlicensed copyrighted material in your film.
You do not lose any "rights" to your film, by submitting.
Do not mail in your only/original tape.
If you want your mailed tape back, enclose a return envelope.
Be creative and have fun, dammit! 8)
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