Some Questions about Festivals...

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Newbie Filmmaker 1

I just have a couple (really stupid) questions regarding film festivals...
1. If accepted to a festival, is it required that you attend? (What if you can't make it, due to work or whatever??) Do they take the honor away from you and not show your film at the festival? I'm very curious about this.
2. Should I only apply to the "big" festivals first, and then--if rejected---apply to the smaller ones? Someone said if you lose your "virginity" to some smaller festival, then Sundance and other big ones won't want you. Is this true?? (How wierd!!)
3. I shot my full-length (98-minute) movie---very low budget---on video. Many festival applications say "Films must be available for presentation in 35mm composite condition, digibeta or betaSP" (or some such phrasing). Should I just say "sure, no problem" and then cross that bridge if they accept me? Is it very expensive to convert a digital video to 35mm? (roughly how much?) Please help...
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME :cool:
 
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There's a book by Chris Gore, called "The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide", that sounds just perfect for you. :cool:

Is it very expensive to convert a digital video to 35mm?
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Yes.
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I've heard that kind of transfer doesn't look very good, either.

If accepted to a festival, is it required that you attend?
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Normally, no.

Some fests (like TVIFF) suggest that it may be easier to get accepted if you can make the event.

There's just no way to physically get to them all. :cool:
 
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Thank you...I'll check out that book. DARN--- if converting to 35mm is expensive and doesn't look good, that really stinks---because many of the festivals are asking for that, for the actual screening purposes. Would you suggest converting it to some other format--- I believe they also mention something called Digibeta and BetaSP. Are those any better?
---confused and broke $ ---
 
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I've heard price quotes of about $285 - 300 per minute for transfer from video to film...and in order to do that and achieve decent results, I believe it's better if you shot in a 24p mode - if you didn't do that for your feature, you may not want to worry about it.

DigiBeta and BetaSP are broadcast quality formats - like TV quality - and they usually cost a flat rate for a transfer, maybe $150-200 for a feature on BetaSP, $200-300 for DigiBeta. They don't look as good as 35mm on a big screen, but they look pretty good.

When considering festivals, I would probably recommend what you thought - try a few top tier fests first, saving your premiere status for them, then start submitting to the next level after seeing how your luck runs there.

I've won a couple of awards at festivals I wasn't able to attend. I think in some cases it helps if you're at the fest and a presence there, but in the end, the quality of your film will hopefully be what's judged, not whether or not you did shots with the festival director.

Best of luck - and may I say, zensteve, you're looking hotter and more Asian than I recall you looking in previous avatars... :weird:
 
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Newbie Filmmaker 1 said:
I just have a couple (really stupid) questions regarding film festivals...
1. If accepted to a festival, is it required that you attend? (What if you can't make it, due to work or whatever??) Do they take the honor away from you and not show your film at the festival? I'm very curious about this.
Click to expand...

It's not usually required that you attend. I've won awards without being at a festival. They just mail it to you if you're not there to accept.

2. Should I only apply to the "big" festivals first, and then--if rejected---apply to the smaller ones? Someone said if you lose your "virginity" to some smaller festival, then Sundance and other big ones won't want you. Is this true??
Click to expand...

Apply to them all. If by some miracle you get into Sundance, you can turn the other ones down. The problem here is that lead times on festivals can be months out. If you sit around and wait for festivals that you are likely to be rejected from, you'll have missed deadlines on other venues.

And while Sundance may say they want premieres, there are exceptions if they want the film bad enough. Open Water premiered at a smaller festival and was seen by a Sundance programmer who then invited them to Sundance, which led to their distribution deal.

3. I shot my full-length (98-minute) movie---very low budget---on video. Many festival applications say "Films must be available for presentation in 35mm composite condition, digibeta or betaSP" (or some such phrasing). Should I just say "sure, no problem" and then cross that bridge if they accept me? Is it very expensive to convert a digital video to 35mm? (roughly how much?)
Click to expand...

Going to 35mm is VERY expensive. Expect to shell out about $20,000.

You can get an HD blow-up for around $1500-2000. And BetaSP or digitbeta transfers for a few hundred (they usually charge by the hour of running time).
 
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Absolutely silly (even miracle) question: if somebody has figured out ever is it reasonable way to solve the 35mm issue by getting some one(e.g. rent) and then make a copy screen-by-screen(or whatever it calls)? will it be attractive? cheaper? or do not even look toward this way?
 
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Beeblebrox's ballpark figures from earlier, for a feature-length.

Beeblebrox said:
Going to 35mm is VERY expensive. Expect to shell out about $20,000.

You can get an HD blow-up for around $1500-2000. And BetaSP or digitbeta transfers for a few hundred (they usually charge by the hour of running time).
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AlexGg said:
That's right! Thank you.
So, did somebody compared "how much"?
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Hmm, tough to compare - I'm guessing that it takes many man-hours to transfer a film, frame by frame, from video to 35mm...so part of the equation is "how much is your time worth?" And there may be color correction, or light, balance-type issues that have to be dealt with, rather than just advancing a frame of video and a frame of film, and then taking the snapshot.

In other words, it may look more cost effective to rent the equipment and learn it, but you may not get the same quality of transfer (especially your first time around on the equipment) that a professional house would provide.

What does raw film stock run per minute? Is that part of the $190-$300 per minute charged for transfer? How soon do you need it? How much time do you have to learn the technology properly? All factors that I have no clue about - but wouldn't mind hearing answers, if anyone has them.
 
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