Indietalk's Online Original Film Competition - Round 2
Important Dates:
Start of competition: Friday September 10, 5pm pdt
End of competition: Friday October 22, 5pm pdt
Start of voting: Friday October 22, 5pm pdt
End of voting: Friday November 5, 5pm pdt
Who, How Much, and Prizes:
Any registered member of IndieTalk can submit a film.
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. That means no bitching about the prizes.
All-new prizes! (Reserving the right to improve them, if I can)
"Popular Vote" Prize:
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at sucking up to the masses.
2) A copy of "Blowing Stuff Up Vol. 1" by Detonation Films. If you like creating FX, you'll dig it.
"Critics' Choice" Prize:
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at hoodwinking judges.
2) A copy of "Blowing Stuff Up Vol. 2" by Detonation Films. It's like Vol.1... but different!
Best Original Music Prize:
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at having more talent than Wham
2) A copy of... something. Working on it. (Maybe a Wham album?
)
All entries (regardless of place):
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at rising to the challenge.
2) A pat on the back.
What Topics Can I Submit?
A thread will be started on Friday September 10 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" and a "line of dialogue" are 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. The dialogue is a simple sentence that must be spoken.
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 the hosting server. The URL for the upload page will be posted 3 days before submissions end. It is automated... and will also cut off any submission that is larger than allowed. (See below)
If you are lame and want to make me work hard, you can PM/email me for a mailing address to send your submission to, 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 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 any funky embedding options)
How Does Voting Work?
New Voting Setup
There are three categories. "Popular Vote" , "Critics' Choice" and "Best Original Music" awards.
Popular Vote: This is settled with a straight-up "poll". All films are listed in a single poll, and the film with the most votes at the end of voting period wins.
While the public cannot see who cast what, IndieTalk can. He'll be on the lookout for sneaky weasels that try pad their votes with shill accounts. We're keeping it clean.
Critics' Choice: This will be chosen by a panel of 5 volunteer judges. Each judge will be required to view and give feedback on every submission. Judges will be armed with a checklist of categories to score against, with a total value of 100. All 5 total values for each film will be totalled, giving the Grand Score.
Best Original Music: Please note the word "original". Pre-composed royalty-free songs do not count... neither does that tune you wrote last year, that is still gathering dust on your hard drive. There's no shortage of composers about... and they need work, too! Scoring for this is similar to above, but has its own check.
(You may still use pre-composed royalty-free music in your film if you like... you just won't qualify for this particular prize)
(I'll have a screenshot of what the scoring sheet looks like in a few days, if this sounds confusing)
Other notes on judges:
1) Judges can still cast "poll" votes, for most popular.
2) They may enter films, but the films will not be official and may not be considered for prizes.
3) Unless, that is, there are no valid entries at all (such as last round), where only unofficial entries were submitted.
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!
Important Dates:
Start of competition: Friday September 10, 5pm pdt
End of competition: Friday October 22, 5pm pdt
Start of voting: Friday October 22, 5pm pdt
End of voting: Friday November 5, 5pm pdt
Who, How Much, and Prizes:
Any registered member of IndieTalk can submit a film.
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. That means no bitching about the prizes.
All-new prizes! (Reserving the right to improve them, if I can)
"Popular Vote" Prize:
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at sucking up to the masses.
2) A copy of "Blowing Stuff Up Vol. 1" by Detonation Films. If you like creating FX, you'll dig it.
"Critics' Choice" Prize:
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at hoodwinking judges.
2) A copy of "Blowing Stuff Up Vol. 2" by Detonation Films. It's like Vol.1... but different!
Best Original Music Prize:
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at having more talent than Wham
2) A copy of... something. Working on it. (Maybe a Wham album?
)All entries (regardless of place):
1) The obligatory gif-banner that proclaims your mastery at rising to the challenge.
2) A pat on the back.
What Topics Can I Submit?
A thread will be started on Friday September 10 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" and a "line of dialogue" are 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. The dialogue is a simple sentence that must be spoken.
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 the hosting server. The URL for the upload page will be posted 3 days before submissions end. It is automated... and will also cut off any submission that is larger than allowed. (See below)
If you are lame and want to make me work hard, you can PM/email me for a mailing address to send your submission to, 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 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 any funky embedding options)
How Does Voting Work?
New Voting Setup
There are three categories. "Popular Vote" , "Critics' Choice" and "Best Original Music" awards.
Popular Vote: This is settled with a straight-up "poll". All films are listed in a single poll, and the film with the most votes at the end of voting period wins.
While the public cannot see who cast what, IndieTalk can. He'll be on the lookout for sneaky weasels that try pad their votes with shill accounts. We're keeping it clean.
Critics' Choice: This will be chosen by a panel of 5 volunteer judges. Each judge will be required to view and give feedback on every submission. Judges will be armed with a checklist of categories to score against, with a total value of 100. All 5 total values for each film will be totalled, giving the Grand Score.
Best Original Music: Please note the word "original". Pre-composed royalty-free songs do not count... neither does that tune you wrote last year, that is still gathering dust on your hard drive. There's no shortage of composers about... and they need work, too! Scoring for this is similar to above, but has its own check.
(You may still use pre-composed royalty-free music in your film if you like... you just won't qualify for this particular prize)
(I'll have a screenshot of what the scoring sheet looks like in a few days, if this sounds confusing)
Other notes on judges:
1) Judges can still cast "poll" votes, for most popular.
2) They may enter films, but the films will not be official and may not be considered for prizes.
3) Unless, that is, there are no valid entries at all (such as last round), where only unofficial entries were submitted.
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!
Last edited:
Welcome! 
Just sent you a PM as well.
