DVX fest 20-30 min why not?

[FDL film music composer]

Hello,
Why DVX fest are only 6 min long? why not 20 or 30 min?
(It's a stupid question I know):)

[Zak Forsman]

theeeeeeeen, why are you asking it?

[FDL film music composer]

theeeeeeeen, why are you asking it?


it would be nice and interesting to see films long ..simply:thumbup:

[Larry Rutledge]

The reason they are not longer than 6 minutes is because the rules prohibit longer entries :)


The real reason is pure logistics. Consider that our last fest, brought in approximately 65 entries. If they were each 20 minutes in length that would require over 21 hours to view them all. That just isn't reasonable in the structure of our fests.

If we only had one fest a year than we could probably justify a longer format but considering we have 3 - 4 a year, the turnaround doesn't allow anything longer.

[jasonthewho]

The real reason is pure logistics. Consider that our last fest, brought in approximately 65 entries. If they were each 20 minutes in length that would require over 21 hours to view them all. That just isn't reasonable in the structure of our fests.


Although, if the required length was 20 minutes, only 3 or 4 entries would actually get completed. So the viewing time would actually be shorter!

Plus choosing the top 3 would be a cinch.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Although, if the required length was 20 minutes, only 3 or 4 entries would actually get completed. So the viewing time would actually be shorter!

Plus choosing the top 3 would be a cinch.

I don't know, I could easily finish a 20 minute short.
There's one. :)

[Mike Manning]

Frankly, no one wants to watch your 20 min short.

Believe me, I learned the hard way. If you think about it, what's the idea behind making a short? You aren't going to sell it, no one buys short films. The reason you make a short film, is so that you can pitch yourself to someone who has the capability of financing and green light that feature you've been working on forever. Generally, these people are very busy, and don't have time to watch you 20 minute film. They probably don't even have time to watch your 6 minute film.

Not to mention, many festivals only accept short films under 10 mins. it might be hard to find venues that will screen a 20 min movie.

At the end of the day, the shorter your film the better. It teaches you how to be brief, but concise. It forces you to get that good stuff in real quick, but it never over stays its welcome. And lastly, it teaches you how to consolidate an idea, and tell a nice short story.

With that in mind, even if DVXfest allowed 20 min films, I know personally, I would strive to keep mine under 6.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

At the end of the day, the shorter your film the better. It teaches you how to be brief, but concise. It forces you to get that good stuff in real quick, but it never over stays its welcome. And lastly, it teaches you how to consolidate an idea, and tell a nice short story.

With that in mind, even if DVXfest allowed 20 min films, I know personally, I would strive to keep mine under 6.I agree completely. I just didn't agree that nobody would make a 20 minute short. :)

Most of the best shorts that I've seen are usually longer than 6 minutes though. Somewhere around the 8 to 10 minute mark.

Besides, making something longer might help a few people with pacing when it comes time for them to make a Feature. Sometimes it's cool to set a mood and not just rush the story along.

I agree though, a 20 minute Fest would be a bad idea. My point was that if they did announce one that a fair amount of people would still probably enter. :)
No, not 70, but more than 3 or 4.

Cheers,

Mike

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

PS- This is the best reason why this won't happen...



The real reason is pure logistics. Consider that our last fest, brought in approximately 65 entries. If they were each 20 minutes in length that would require over 21 hours to view them all. That just isn't reasonable in the structure of our fests.

[Ezekiel667]

I agree with everyone else. 20 minutes would be far to long. Not that i wouldn't participate if it were a 20 minute fest, but it's just outrageous for that many entries to be that long.

If anything, I wouldn't mind 10 minutes instead of 6. It would allow for more development, and a better story.

[Larry Rutledge]

Even at 10 minutes you're looking at approx. 11 hours to watch them all. And remember, I have to review every entry to ensure it doesn't violate any of the rules ... you guys already can hardly wait while I review the shorter entries, if we make them longer that means it will take even longer before they are released for download :)

But aside from all that I am a firm believer that we are actually making you better filmmakers with the short limit. It's always easier to need more time than you have available (if we give you 10 minutes, people will wish they had 15, etc). In writing for film less is definitely more ... so being forced to write a story in the short timeframe improves your ability to find the nuggets of import within all the excess of story that you initially develop.

And if you think it takes more time to develop a thorough story, then I encourage you to take some time and really analyze television commercials. These are, normally, :30 to 1:00 in length and when well crafted they tell a full story. We know who the people are, we know why we like (or dislike) different characters, we know what kind of life they live (within the context of the story), we know what situation they are in, and there is a resolution at the end of it.

This process helps us as filmmakers learn how to identify the parts of the story that are necessary to get the story across. We have to remember that our audiences are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and they don't need to be spoonfed every conceivable element of the story.

[Ezekiel667]

Point taken.

[Tim Joy]

Nothing like boundaries and limits to spur some good 'ol creativity.
If we all had unlimited time and unlimited money, the movies would all suck...:zombie_smiley: except mine. Mine would be awesome. I would hire Clooney and Pitt just as background extras, always be rolling 12 stereo IMAX cameras, and have tanks. Lots of tanks....


Oh, and it would be an epic 17 hour masterpiece, all done in one continuous take, ending with the cast of friends (except Ross) taking off in a spaceship.

..And then- THEN they would have a group love scene in specially built sex space suits while floating above the earth.




...And then the earth would blow up. For real. The end.

[John LaBonney]

I'm totally frazzled (and bankrupt, maybe the government will bail me out) from working on my Twilight entry, and I expect it will come in under the six minute time limit. If the dvxuser fests were 20 or 30 minute films, I don't see how I could do it. The six minute films are do-able, but still allow the opportunity to get practice and hone skills.

[clarkage]

What about 20 min shorts with entrance fees??

[Mike Insane]

I have to be honest with myself, my stuff isn't good enough to keep people watching for 20 minutes. Maybe it could be but I think I would need to be successful with shorter films first. After watching the last 4 festivals closely, there are quite a few people in my boat. I do my best to watch every film in the festivals. I think I would quit filmmaking if I had to watch 20 minutes of some of the freshman entries out there. And, the filmmaker of those entries would get nothing out of submitting the films. I believe the real value of these festivals is the amount of honest and helpful feedback we all get. That is how we get better. I think with a longer entry time festival, that element of feedback would drop off dramatically. We don't want to be like some of those other festivals out there where you just send in you film and find out a month or so later if you won or not.

[clarkage]

I actually agree with Mike. Every time that i do these fests it is a HUGE learning experience and i think it would be a real downer to work that hard on something just to have it suck. With short films its still a challenge if not even more because you have t be able to tell the story in under 6 min. If you want to make a 20 min short go ahead there are other fests out there...