MAY DVXUSER.COM SHORT FILM FEST TOPIC

[Neil Rowe]

FOR THE MAY DVXUSER.COM SHORT FILM FEST THE TOPIC IS:



"SOMTHING NEW IS GAINED, AND SOMETHING OLD IS LOST"



THIS IS OPEN TO THE FILMMAKERS INTERPRETATION, AND DOES NOT HAVE TO BE DEPICTED IN THE ORDER WRITTEN.
THE ENTRIES ARE DUE BY THE END OF THE MONTH OF MAY, AND HERE ARE THE RULE DETAILS:


1. the MAY CONTEST will be that NO STILLS OR FOOTAGE WILL BE RELEASED UNTIL CUTOFF AND THEN OPEN FOR REVIEW AFTER THAT.


2. FILMMAKERS WHO ARE SUBMITTING AN ENTRY SHOULD NOT POST THE LINK TO THE FILM, OR STILLS FROM IT. ANYWHERE ONLINE. THE LINKS, AND TITLE OF THE FILM SHOULD BE SENT BY PRIVATE MESSAGE TO JOHN HUDSON ON DVXUSER.COM. ONCE THE CUTOFF POINT IS REACHED AT THE END OF THE MONTH, THE FILM TITLES , AND LINKS TO THE FILMS WILL BE POSTED BY JOHN HUDSON IN ONE SINGLE POST. *


3. THE IDENTITIES OF THE FILMMAKERS WHO SUBMITTED THE ENTRIES WILL NOT BE POSTED IN THE SUBMISSION VIEWING POST, AND ARE NOT TO BE GIVEN OUT BY THE FILMMAKERS BEFORE OR DURING THE CONTEST. THIS WAY THE DVXUSER.COM COMMUNITY WILL VOTE BLINDLY, WHICH PROMOTES FAIRNESS. VOTING WILL BE BASED ON THE TITLE OF THE FILM.


4. ANY LENGTH FILM WILL SUFFICE FROM UP TO *AND AROUND 2 MINUTES. NO LONGER THAN 2:15, AND THAT MUST BE FIRM."


5. THE USE OF ANY UNLICENSED MUSIC OR MEDIA IS NOT ALLOWED. THIS MEANS THAT IF YOU DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO A PEICE OF MUSIC OR MEDIA WHICH YOU WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE IN YOUR FILM WHICH IS NOT OTHERWISE CONSIDERD TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOU CANNOT INCLUDE THE MUSIC OR MEDIA IN YOUR FILM.


. HOPE THIS GETS SOME CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING, AND GOOD LUCK!!

[Dan_Lahav]

ohhhh good one. Gotta get busy ;D

[Wtemitim]

I think I will get on this....Do we have to use unlicensed music?

[theos]

Just bumped into the contest threats but still cant realy keep track . . were are last months submitions posted pls. I want to get fired up 4 this month I hope. Quite busy but would love to!

[J.R. Hudson]

Hi Theos

Youre correct. We need to better organize this! In the meantime...

http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/YaBB.cgi?board=contest;action=display;num=10818136 83

[theos]

Thanks

[Wtemitim]

anyone know about my question?

[Dan_Lahav]

I personally dont see why it matters. As long as nobody is making a profit than who cares? This is an internal DVXuser contest. Although, there are people on this forum who disagree with me... so just to please everyone, i use music from my sound effects CD's. Anyone else care to chime in?

[J.R. Hudson]

Sigh.......

I dont know. As much as I like 'existing music' I choose to use Acid and all of their ridiculous loops; it's fun to create my own music and it can be really controlled in the timeline and in the tracks.

I cant answer this one guys. Like Dan said, there are some here who consider unlicensed music.....Unlicensed. We might not be profiting with duckets but with batteries and shades and what other prizes we come up with it will have a value.....

I gotta say no. Right?

[Wtemitim]

I personally like having the song first then editing to it, and I don't know many composers who do pro bono work.

[BLWolf]

A compromise could be that you allow unlicensed music but if it is used it has to be classical (or at least the writer and original performers of the piece have to be dead). That way the original composer who sweated to write the piece can't be affected. There could still be a licensing issue with the current performers of a classical piece if you use their rendition, but they didn't actually compose the piece so I really see no big problem since there aren't massive amounts of cash for prizes and this is pretty much an internal DVXuser contest that is mainly taking place for non-profit/educational purposes. Just my 2-cents.

[J.R. Hudson]

I'm open either way even though Ill use my own or none at all...

I'll leave this answer to Jarred.

Jarred!

[Elvis]

I belive that most film festivals say you hve to have a release form for the music. I could be wrong. ???

[Barry_Green]

Every festival I've ever entered has had a submission form to fill out, and on it it always says that you guarantee that you have all rights to all copyrighted materials used, and that you hold the festival harmless, etc.

As a standing matter of policy it would seem wise for dvxuser to implement a similar policy, wouldn't it? But it is of course the J-man's call as to how to proceed.

[J.R. Hudson]

It is Jdoggs call; but I'll vote for NO UNLICENSED MUSIC after giving it some thought and reading these posts.

[Dan_Lahav]

lol.. this isnt a festival. nobody's paying tickets. prizes are donations. There is no business being run here... Am i missing something? *:P

Dont get me wrong... I can go either way, i guess im just confused as to why Unlicensed music would be breaking the law in our contest ???

[Monglane]

From a legal standpoint, it doesn't matter that no one's making a profit. The intellectual property rights embedded into the music (whether it be original composition or a particular rendition) make it mandatory to have the artists' authorization to just *reproduce* the piece, let alone edit it. A simple early fade out to fit the needs of a short film is considered an edit.

In Europe (and I think the US as well), you have the right to use and tweak a song as long as it's for your personal use, or for use within the family circle, and not for publication. The only tolerance (and it's only just that : a tolerance), as far as I know, concerns demo reels. Putting a link on a forum is considered publication.

Therefore, I would have to agree with John : using unlicensed music in a contest entry *is* illegal. Will anyone bother to the point of litigating against the author, dvxuser.com and its owner, that's another issue. But they could, and I read somewhere that some fora got some heat in the past for allowing such practices.

[David Jimerson]

Well, then, that toasts an awful lot of the footage posted in other threads, doesn' it?

[Monglane]

In theory, it does, David. In practice, I doubt anyone would take offense, although they *could*. My point is, if this monthly contest becomes some kind of an "institution" (which I hope !) endorsed/organized by a website as reputable as this one, and with such a vast audience, the regular and widespread use of unlicensed music may attract more attention than individual initiatives sprinkled here and there--although, again, as a matter of principle, the risk is the same. And I'd hate to see the contest (or the website, for that matter) jeopardized in such a way.

That's unless someone qualified in federal intellectual property law says otherwise, of course. I'm only a European lawyer ;).

[Neil Rowe]

if people use the unliscensed music in the contest hosted by the website, and win somthing from the website, or its sponsors, then the website could be held accountable for distributing the content. but! in the other threads where people just post links to their own works .. the website really wouldnt be liable for what someone is hosting somewhere else under no affiliation with, and not made for this web site, or its contests in particular. so i dont think it would affect individual posts cntaining links to nonaffiliated works here at all. but i would agree that we should impose a NO unliscensed music or content at all rule . if the film is bieng made for the contest. similar to the rules at medialiquid.com which are here:

http://www.medialiquid.com/dvmaker/guidelines/legal.html

(right now some people who read that are like "yeah right..like im going to do all that..".. well you dont have to, leave the winnings to the people who are ready to get real about what they want to do.. :) )
now while the release forms and that are really to protect the filmmaker. they are also made to protect the organization that sponsors the contests.
i doubt jarred wants to get sued over anything at this point in time, and as silly as that sounds..welcome to the world. where people spill coffee on themselves cause they are trying to drink it while driving, and then sue mc D's because the coffee was hot. perhaps dvxuser.com could just have some sort of online agrement form makes the filmmakers check a box that says they have read, and agree to all the terms of the contest, and have rights to the content of their entry before they can submit their film link for the contest? or some sort of preventative step anyway.. i know some people think its all paranoid, and silly, but thats professional filmmaking. when your working for money or profit, you need to play by the rules. if peoples ambitions are under ever getting into actuall flimmaking, then they shouldnt care, but if they plan on going anywhere in the field , then its probably about time they got used to how it works. i understand that in dabbling around with stuff it doesnt seem like it matters or hurts anyone, but in the professional world thats just plain not cool at all. just think if you made a film, and some other guy on the other side of the world uses your film , and puts his original music to it, and wins some contest.. even just for a battery, and sunglasses. youd be pretty pissed he even made it..let alone won anything. ..who knows .. maybe you woulndt care? anyway . of course its all up to jarred as to what direction he wants to take all of this, but let me just end my semi-rant :) with this. if you plan on making a good short(or any film in general), that youd like to have a chance of doing anything with beyond dvxuser.com, you should make it in such a way that it wont be immediately unacceptable as a professional peice of work for entry.i know it sucks for people who havent worked with music before, but youre going to have to do it some time, and until it happens your limiting yourself to the amature realm not only with the films you make, but in the eyes of many professionals as well. all just IMHO of course :)

[Everdene]

Back to the topic of the contest, I keep on thinking of the end of Castaway. I hated that ending because it dragged on forever and then it had that corny scene tacked on where Hanks finds a new gal, but it makes me think of a bad example of "Out with the old; in with the new."

By the way, I agree with all the thoughts that are pro licensed music. Not only is it not legal to use unlicensed music, it kind of seems like cheating (unless you get the artist's permission).

Anyway, I'm bummed that I probably won't have time to submit an entry since my wife and I have another entry to this world coming near the end of the month (a new baby). Although, maybe I could do something with newborn footage...

[Neil Rowe]

yeah, you can kiss your newborn hello, and your life as you knew it goodbye! :) lol Congrats man, they are the greatest thing ever.. perhaps one day all of our kids will be chatting on "kidsoffamousfilmmakers.com"

[J.R. Hudson]

OOOH! Congrats on the little monkey that is coming!

Alright, it's in our (jarred's, DVXuser, Members) best interest to get permission if using licensed music. It's official.

Get rights!

[Phil]

Great idea I.A.L., on everything. I will definitely try to do this one...but I may be busy filming something else ;)
Congrats IAL!

[Barry_Green]

Monglane, that response was superb. Are you an American living in France, or actually a French citizen? Your command of the language is exceptional.

IAL, you know I love your posts, but we just *have* to introduce you to the "paragraph". I get lost in those huge sprawls of words! ;D

[Neil Rowe]

;D bwahahaha! back on my planet im cool when i talk like someone who never passed 5th grade english!

..yeah i know, sorry about that. i have a complete lack of self disipline when it comes to writing out the einglish language.. man.. i even speel english wrong.. lol- somwhere back in time i decided that all of the "rules" for writing were just silly.. since then ive gone a long way down the wrong rabbit hole.. .. my handwriting looks like im trying to draw little animals on the paper. :P
i need some rehab...

[Monglane]

Are you an American living in France, or actually a French citizen? *Your command of the language is exceptional.

Thank you so much, Barry, that's very kind of you to say :).

I am a French citizen by birth but I was educated both here and in the U.S. Somehow I managed to get into NYU Law and then Stanford Economics (I'm rather fond of seaboards ;)). Also worked in NYC for a couple of years, got married to a Wellesley grad in Massachusetts and grabbed a US citizenship that happened to be floating nearby. That's that.

And now, on to more interesting things : filmmaking ! :D

BTW, did you know that Rush speaks French almost fluently ? Must tease him about that next time he is around... ;)

[J.R. Hudson]

.................fond of seaboards...........

If you mean the 'ocean' I too can not ever be away from the ocean.

[Beat Takeshi]

Plus.... when the compilation DVD is made there will be a small production cost so that kind of changes things as far as no money is being made. I dont for see too many orders but you never know who and where the DVD might go...better to be safe than sorry.

[Monglane]

John... yes that meant just what you thought, and I understand what you mean. I did so much sailing when I was younger, but I guess "responsible life" finally caught up with me, even though I still do my best to try and evade it. :P

[J.R. Hudson]

Sigh..........

Sailing. I taught myself! You should have seen me the first time out in a 26 foot sloop in san Diego bay; just going in freakin circles. Tack damn it! I figured it out though and sailing is purity.

Nothing, and I mean nothing is like a boat in the middle of the ocean.

Sigh....................

[Beat Takeshi]

Well, nothing is like a boat in the middle of the ocean...with a big ass fish on the end of your line.

[Zoomforce]

Well, its been said kinda but entries must use non-infringing music, its just good practice.

I like the DVD compilation Idea, and if we start selling them here on the site, and the submitters start getting some cash, we gotta keep everything Legit.

[J.R. Hudson]

The first film has been received for MAY. I will hold it until JUDGING begins. Jarred, let me know if you want to check it out!

[Terry_Lasater]

How will the viewing and voting process remain anonymous?

Won't some of the links to the short films incorporate names we are familiar with?

[Neil Rowe]

thats a good point.. :P i suppose that not everyone will know whos website is whos though

here.. let me put some smileys here and pretend like they mean the question was answered by some ingenious plan..

;D and then ::) then some of :-/ and then this one :) so well be all 8)

[Terry_Lasater]

We won't know which website belongs to which person... this time.

But next time... (?)

[Neil Rowe]

..simple. its just this -> :o and then this :D

[Terry_Lasater]

ummmm.... are we communicating or something? ::) ;D

Hey, I don't really care... but since the powers-that-be have determined this should be totally anonymous, I'm curious how that can happen.

[Neil Rowe]

yep..it's an oversight which has just now been brought to light.. oh well, hopefully no board politics will play a role in the voting anyway.-which was the intent of the blind vote.

[Barry_Green]

And with around 2,000 members now, hopefully there's be some entries from new competitors as well, ones that we may not know so well. Yet.

[J.R. Hudson]

It'll work itself out. It's only the second month!

Hey IAL

Did those shades get there yet?

[Neil Rowe]

nope. ill keep an eye out though.. ive got a few things coming between today and tues.. yesterday ups came, and i thought it would be them, but it was my lightwave equalizer... i broke down and got one cause my cats went to town on a homemade mic muff i made.. lol oh well. i'll pm you when they get here :)

[mrbimmer]

When do we get to start viewing some of these short films? Will it be June 1st?

[J.R. Hudson]

Sounds like a plan! :)

[mrbimmer]

John-
What are the stats on the entries for May? How many do we have? Are we still on for June 1? We should show them on the 27, because thats my birthday!!! WOOHOO.

We can wait until June 1 I guess....
8) 8) 8)

[Zoomforce]

who won may?