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watch ITOOFC #4 Rules, Details, and Knick Knacks

Indie Talk's Online Original Film Competition - Round 4

Important Dates:

Start of competition: Friday, September 16th 12 Midnight PDT
End of competition: Monday, October 31st 5 PM PDT

Start of voting: Monday, October 31st 5 PM PST
End of voting: Monday, November 14th 5 PM PST
Poll void and closed.


Category is the following: Horror In honor of Halloween dream up and shoot the best damn 5 minute Horror movie the net has ever seen!

Concept is the following: "A man/woman tries to communicate with the dead." This is the general theme your movie must have in order to compete in this competition. Head Judge Poke and the panel of judges will reserve the right to disquailfy any entry that they deem does not meet this qualification.

BONUS is the following: Prop - Knife It must appear prominently at some point in the film. Any type of knife will do, but here's the catch: the film that is judged to have the most horrific knife will be awarded 2 points, all other films utilizing knifes will be awarded 1 point. Head Judge Poke and the panel of judges will reserve the right to award or not award points based on their judgement.

Now before you go thinking this bonus is only a couple points, just remember that a few points can make the difference between winning and losing!

EARLY BIRD BONUS is the following: All entrants that PM Poke or Indie by 5 PM PDT on October 29th (the original deadline) will receive one point.

Who, How Much, and Prizes:

Any registered member of IndieTalk can submit a film. (Prem, non-Prem, etc)

You do not need to "sign-up" in advance, though posting a reply with your intention to submit something would be handy. (So we can gossip about you)

There is no entry fee. Not a penny. Just your desire to be the best.

Important Requirement!!

Once you have uploaded your completed, qualifying entry you *must* PM IndieTalk or Poke with the URL of your online film.

Note: There may be a few changes in the upcoming days... mostly clarifications.

Prizes!


Everyone that uploads a completed, qualifying entry will receive:

One Detonation Films Data-CD title of choice

and

"What They Don't Teach You At Film School : 161 Strategies to Making Your Own Movie No Matter What" by Tiara White & Camille Landau

_______

Awards By Merit:

"Judges' Choice" Award


This is the big one.

Head Judge Poke will be working with other selected judges, to determine which entry is simply... the best. The winner not only gets some well-deserved recognition on the boards, but also:

1) 1 Year IndieTalk Premiere Membership (if already Premiere, your membership will be extended one year, no matter what level you are).
2) A copy of Judith Weston's "Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television"
3) A copy of John Alton's "Painting With Light"

_______

"Peoples' Choice" Award
Category removed.


_______

"Best Score" Award

This Award is only available to entries that have 100% original scores. No royalty-free tunes, nothing left around from last year... simply a score generated for the film in question. Fot the boardmember musician in question:

1) 6 Month IndieTalk Premiere Membership (if already Premiere, your membership will be extended 6 months, no matter what level you are).
2) A copy of "Knowing The Score: Film Composers Talk About the Art, Craft, Blood, Sweat, and Tears of Writing for Cinema" by David Morgan

_______

New Category
"Best Acting Performance" Award

This Award goes to the best acting performance, male or female, as determined by the judges. Actors will be judged on a point system, much like the films.

1) 6 Month IndieTalk Premiere Membership (if already Premiere, your membership will be extended 6 months, no matter what level you are).
2) An actors' CD for dialect-training (pick one dialect) (Details TBA)

_______

What Topics Can I Submit?

You 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.

No, you won't. To make sure that it is a genuine new effort made, a "genre" and "general concept" has been assigned. Head Judge Poke and the panel of judges will reserve the right to disquailfy any entry that they deem does not meet these basic qualifications.

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 codec suggestions 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 set the stage at 360x240. (And e-mail or PM IndieTalk or Poke any funky embedding options)

What Else Do I Need To Know?
  • Don't use unlicensed copyrighted material in your film. If you try to pull a fast one and use copyrighted music, you'd better be ready to provide documentation that you had permission.
  • You do not lose any "rights" to your film, by submitting. It remains yours, all yours.
  • This is not the mud-tossing thread. GO HERE if you want to do that. (Not too rowdy, though)



:director: Be creative and have fun, dammit!

Poke
 
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I am so in :cool:

Nice new category, too... Best Performance!

Veeeery interesting twist with the new "concept". It's going to great to see how many wildly different variations come out of that.

:)
 
Interesting how similar this is to the project I'm about to go into production on... alas it will be two or three times longer than the 5 minute limit.. and don't know that post will be done by the cut off date.

Those are some good books you're offering up this time around, good luck all who can compete! One of these times I'll be in.
 
As long as you're alright Poke. I was kind of worried there for a bit. ;) Yep, real life always comes first, no doubts there.

Is it the knife or the use of the knife that has to be horrific?

Good luck you guys! :D
 
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Boz Uriel said:
Is it the knife or the use of the knife that has to be horrific?

Either, or. I think if the knife looks horrific it has a leg up, but you could blow the competition away by stabbing Zen with it. I mean, let's talk about stabbing Zen here.

Poke
 
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Sorry, it's my first contest and I'm a little nervous, is it 5 minuets total? Does the rolling of credits count as time? What about opening credits? When does the clock actually start and end?

Oh man I got the munchies. :(
 
The 5 minutes is the maximum allowed. If you can do it in under 5 mins, that's fine... some stories only take 3 mins to be told, for example. Just can't go over the maximum of 5 mins.

Opening/closing credits count towards the time, yes.

Don't be nervous. :cool:
 
Only a man whose heart is pure can wield the knife, and only a man whose ass is narrow can get down these steps. And if mine's is such an ass, then I shall have it.

Oh yeah, I have got a script to write...Good luck everyone.
 
The TOTAL length is 5 min.. no longer.
Clock starts when it starts to play and ends when it's over... it just needs to be over by 5 min. all credits and everything within the 5 min timeframe
 
CommanderGoat said:
Just to clarify, is the Knife a neccassary prop? Or is the use of a knife a bonus, and the most horrific knife a double bonus?

Use of knife - bonus. Most horrific knife - double bonus.

the knife doesn't have to be in the film, but it would be a good idea.

Poke
 
In light of our contest here at indietalk, one of my brainstorming sessions sparked an interesting question.

What is the difference between a horror film and a terror film? More to the point, will my film be disqualified if it's a terror film instead of a horror film?

I was always told that in a horror film the audience is supposed to have sympathy for the 'monster'. i.e. Frankenstein's monster (later named Victor by a blind man) isn't out to harm anyone and the audience can sympathize with him. Dracula has a broken heart and a grudge against God, all he really wants is love. Both of these being horror films.

Freddie Kruger, Jason, and others have one goal in mind; kill people, die a horrible death and re-animate somehow at the last minute only to be killed agian and re-animate for the next film. These all being terror films where the audience sympathizes with the moster's victims.

At least that's what I've always thought. Anybody else?
 
If you have an idea but are not sure it will fit, give Poke a PM. :cool:

Really though, the categories are pretty broad and encompassing allowing much leeway.

_______

I am having the hardest time coming up with ideas so far, btw, though it's not yet time to
smiley_panic.gif
 
Let me say, although right now I have 2 ideas for what I want to do, I am not at all interested in the Horror/Terror/Scaring people genre. However, I am interested in showing my own versatility and I just bought a cheap minidv so...

Can we just say that scary/terror/horror generally is accepted? As in the threat of violence/death at a minimum is used in a confrontational way? Just a little clarification would be good...
 
The genre horror is supposed to be broad. If your film fell in the horror category in any way - Slasher flick, Monster flick, Horror Comedy, Suspense, Horror/Thriller, etc. - we'll accept it. I you're still not sure an idea is acceptable, PM me and we can discuss it.

Poke
 
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