15 Suggestions to Better Your Chances of Winning a Festival

Jay Rodriguez

Jay Rodriguez

Coffee Member
ADVENTURES IN JUDGING
FILM SUBMISSIONS

By Elizabeth English


15 Suggestions to Better Your Chances of Winning,
When Entering Film Festivals & Filmmaking Competitions

Suggestion #1: SEND YOUR SUBMISSIONS IN EARLY!
• Don't wait until the final deadline date! Your submission can be buried in a pile or boxes of hundreds or thousands at the bigger festivals and competitions. The previews could be hurried. Maybe the film jury or programmer or creative executive saw a film sent in earlier and has decided that's his or her favorite narrative, documentary or animation.

Suggestion #2: TWO WORDS: GOOD PACKAGING.
• Your DVD or VHS tape may be roughly handled, by three or four people or more. It will be stored and stacked on shelves or in boxes for perhaps months. Make sure it looks good, will hold up, and will play perfectly each time it's previewed through all of that!
• DO NOT use shredded paper (or kapok) -filled envelopes for mailing your submission! Use bubble wrap envelopes or wrap your DVD or VHS tape in bubble wrap. Kapok-filled envelopes are a mess when opened at the film festival, spreading fluffy powdered paper all over the office floor and the person opening the envelope. It also damages DVDs and VHS tapes.
• Use the simplest packaging form possible, one that's easy and quick to open. Don't tape it together as if the contents were made of gold.
• Postage: use enough postage to cover the cost of mailing. Most festivals and competitions will not pay the postage due, and your entry will probably be returned to you, un-opened.
• If you're sending your submission from another country other than where the film festival office is located, always indicate on the customs declaration label that the contents of the package are a commercial sample, or of no commercial value. No festival wants to pay customs duties to receive your submission.
• If you want a confirmation that your submission was received, please send (with your submission package) an SASP, which is an attached post card with US postage (if entering a US competition) or get a delivery confirmation sticker from any US post office. Write on the postcard: your name and address in the mail-to area, and on the back or in the message area, write: (name of festival) has received the film (title of your entry) on this date_________.
• Do not send an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) with your submission if the festival or competition announces that they will not return any entries or submissions. You'll be wasting the postage.
• DVD PACKAGING: The best, most professional way to package your DVD is in a regular DVD box like you get when you buy a movie on DVD. A “jewel box” type of packaging is also acceptable, but not preferred, and little paper envelopes are unprofessional at best, and may get lost in the shuffle. When using a DVD box, have a paper label inside the plastic covering. A label that goes all around; front, back and one side. Be sure the film's title is on the side edge, too, not just the front. Festivals stack the hundreds or thousands of DVDs they receive on shelves or in boxes, and they need to be able to see the title on the edge. Don't expect the contest to label your film for you.
• VHS TAPE PACKAGING: Most festivals and contest no longer want VHS tapes, but if you have to send one, the best, most professional way to package your VHS tape is in a regular plastic VHS tape box like you get when you buy a movie on VHS. And with a paper label inside the plastic covering. A label that goes all around; front, back and one side. Be sure the film's title is on the side edge, too, not just the front. The VHS tape itself should also have a label on the face of the tape and on the side. Festivals stack the hundreds or thousands of DVDs or VHS tapes they receive on shelves or in boxes, and they need to be able to see the title on the edge. Don't expect the contest to label your film for you.
• Entry forms and release forms: Please fill them out CLEARLY in black ink. Sign them. Print them, if possible, rather than using fancy cursive writing in purple or pink ink. Make sure your e-mail address is clear. If you have a mix of zeros (0) and the letter O, make sure they can be read for what they are. Same with the letter I & 1, or L & lower-case l. They all look the same sometimes, so be clear, if you ever want to hear from the festival again. An e-mail address like this: OO0011Ill@aol.com is hard to figure out.
• Remember to enclose the entry form, release form and entry fee with your script in the same envelope, unless you submitted via WAB.
• Read the contest's or film festival's guidelines, and follow them!
• Make sure your entire submission package is user-friendly!

Suggestion #3: LABELING THE DVD OR VHS TAPE:
• Scrawling the film's title on the DVD face with a marker pen is not acceptable, and looks immediately unprofessional. No label at all on VHS tapes? It happens all the time. You should label your DVD or VHS tape with a paper label that has been printed out and is readable.
• Label the box, label the outside edge, and label the face of the DVD or VHS tape. Why expect the film festival to label your DVD or VHS tape for you?

Suggestion #4: LABELING DETAILS:
• Print the film's title, running time, whether it's NTSC or PAL, director's name, contact info: e-mail address and website URL on the DVD or VHS tape label. (If you change your address, phone number or e-mail address, please let the festival know this right away, so they can contact you if you win! Also send or include e-mail addresses for co-directors and producers and screenwriters on your film, to be notified of the film's status in the contest.)
• Include the same information (above) on the box the DVD or VHS tape comes in.
• If you have a www.withoutabox.com (WAB) tracking number, include that number on the DVD or VHS tape label and the box. Don't just write the WAB tracking number on the mailing envelope, and expect the film festival to notice it when opening the envelope.

Suggestion #5: ENTRY FEES:
• If sending a check or money order for your entry fee, attach it to a cover letter or the entry form. Don't just drop it down inside the mailing envelope. It may not be seen when the contents are removed.
• When sending a check from someone else, write your name on it so we know what film it's for. * If you submitted your film and paid the entry fee via WAB, please print out and include the WAB entry confirmation page with your submission.
• You probably shouldn't ask the film festival or contest to waive or discount the entry fees. You spent all your funding on the film's production, and have none left for entry fees? Every film festival and contest has heard that many times. You should always set aside entry fee money, as a vital part of financing the film, so you can submit your film to contests and get it seen! The film festival needs your entry fees in order to operate the contest and run the festival screenings.
• Suggestions: Do without a few take-out pizzas, forget having a couple of manicures, rent a DVD rather than spending the money on theater tickets and popcorn, take a bus instead of a cab (or walk), have a yard-sale and save the profits for entry fees, and/or sell something on E-bay and use the money for entry fees. In other words, don't ask the film festival to financially support your film more than they already do.

Suggestion #6: MEDIA KITS AND PRODUCTION STILLS:
• Don't send media releases, production stills, director's statements, crew and cast lists, photos, and other paper or CD documentation with your submission unless the contest absolutely requires it to be included with your submission. If they decide to screen your film, the programmer will ask for it then. Most film juries just want to preview your film without any prior information—just as an audience would.
• Don't send in long resumés and lists of credits or info about your other festival wins with your entry forms and submission, unless the contest requires it. It won't help you win. It won't (or shouldn't) influence the judges, because each festival has different criteria. And consider the festival's boxes of hundreds of unneeded media packages and production stills that have to be sifted through to find the ones that go with the films selected!

Suggestion #7: CHECK EACH DVD or VHS TAPE before sending it out.
• Take the time to watch the whole film to be sure it doesn't skip, stop, freeze, jump, can be fast-forwarded, etc., and that the sound is good. Don't expect the contest to let you know your DVD or VHS tape is no good, and to ask you for a replacement copy, and then to preview it again. Generally, you only get one chance to shine. Be sure that each DVD or VHS tape plays perfectly!
• Make sure your DVD or VHS tape starts at the beginning of the film. Film juries don't want to waste time by watching leading color strips and countdowns and sound checks! The festival programmer and screenings coordinator do not want to do the extra work of trying to avoid all that if they select your film for screening.

Suggestion # 8: SHOW UP!
• If your film is selected for screening, make every effort to attend the entire film festival, to show support for the other filmmakers whose films will be screened, and to show your appreciation to the festival director, staff and crew, and the jury that selected your film.
• At the film festival, introduce yourself to the festival director, the programmer and the screenings coordinator. Let them know how to contact you by phone or cell-phone during the festival.
• Be prepared for a short Q & A session either before or after your screening, if the programmer offers that. And thank the festival and the audience for the opportunity to show them your work.
• If possible, bring your film's stars and talent with you. Audiences just love to see and meet actors and others involved with a film they enjoyed watching. And showing up just might get the actors and other crew positions on films by other directors!

Suggestion # 9: MARKETING YOUR FILM AT A FILM FESTIVAL:
• Do have posters and postcards or flyers about your film to leave at the festival's free literature tables, and elsewhere around town. Be sure the screening time, date and venue location is correct on your PR pieces.
• You might want to consider arriving a day ahead of the festival dates to place your info around town.
• Have plenty of business cards, with the film's title on them, available to pass out to everyone you meet. Get as many business cards from others as you can. You may need those contacts some day very soon.

AND NOW FOR THE CREATIVE STUFF:

Suggestion #10: TITLES & LOGLINES:
• Have a fabulous, unique movie? That's wonderful, but you need to know how to create a great title, and how to turn your great story into a great logline.
• But be sure to go to IMDb.com first to see if your title has been used before. IMDb.com has a listing of every film produced from the 1800s to today's films and those that are in pre-production and production.
• There is, and always has been, only one real secret to success as a filmmaker in the entertainment industry. Tell a great story. Period. Whether your film is a narrative feature or short, a documentary or animation. And you need to figure out how to tell that fabulous story, and “sell” it, with a fabulous title and a logline of only 25 words or less!
• Your first impression to the film industry movers and shakers is all about the fine art of pitching your film, via your eye-catching title and logline. Give your film a great, imaginative and unique title! A memorable title that immediately makes the film jury and audiences need to see this film.
• Don't simply summarize your movie with set-up, conflict, and resolution. Don't just write a one-sentence TV Guide-style logline emphasizing the main storyline. Don't limit yourself to the plotline. Don't write that the story is “exciting”, “amazing”, a “blockbuster”. Never describe the little details of your film in the logline, nor leave out important information. Try not to use your characters' names in a logline.
• Do emphasize the unique elements of your film that enable audiences and film juries to connect with the situation and to identify with the film's protagonist.
• You've got to cram a lot into a short, two- or three-sentence logline: genre, conflict, character, action, location, time, any crisis to be resolved, hint at the potential transformation of the main character, marketability, and do it all in 25 words or less, and all in present tense. And it needs to sizzle! The title and logline are the keys that open the door to getting your film a good preview. The same amount of thought that a director takes in creating a film should also be taken in deciding on a title and writing the logline.
• “Sell the sizzle; not just the steak!” A great title for your film is the first (and maybe only) introduction to a contest jury, an agent, a producer, or studio. “You've got 3 minutes; pitch me what you've got,” is what you'll hear from the entertainment industry movers & shakers who might buy and distribute your project. But you probably wouldn't even get that meeting or a reply to your query letter, if you didn't have an interesting title and logline that caught their eye.
• The audience reading the festival program, and the film jury, should know immediately what the whole movie is about and get excited about the story-line and idea, and can visualize the film. Use that title and logline to “sell” your film to them, and make them want to buy tickets to your film's screening!

Suggestion #11: ROLLING CREDITS:
• When adding the film's credits to your film, consider the film festival audience and the film jury. Don't make the credits so long that anyone viewing your film gets bored! Don't have all your credits at the beginning. Don't add 3 minutes at the end for credits. Keep it going as fast as possible.
• Create your credits in an interesting way. Make them appropriate to the genre and theme of the film. Consider running the above-the-line credits (stars, DP, editor, producer, screenwriter, director) over the first scenes. For end credits, or below-the-line crew and cast, try adding music from the film to keep the viewers' attention and interest. The credits are a part of your film; why blow it off?
 
Suggestion #12: THE FIRST 5 MINUTES:
•Do you realize that most film juries only watch 5 to 10 minutes of your film at the first previews? That's right. Say the jury has 100 feature films to preview. At a minimum of one hour each, that's 100 hours. So they watch a few minutes of each film, then maybe they'll fast-forward it a bit, to decide which films they want to see all the way through. Can you get them to watch the rest of your film, after they've only seen the first few minutes of it?
• Make sure those first few minutes are focussed on the storyline, are super interesting, well-edited, and well-filmed, invisibly edited, perfectly and professionally acted and beautifully directed, and have a great film score to attract attention and to “describe” the theme and story.
• Clicheéd opening scenes are death to a film. How many times have you seen poorly-thought-out films that open with this scene: a dark bedroom, an alarm clock rings, a hand reaches out to turn it off, the clock falls on the floor, and the actor sits up in bed, turns on a light, and rubs his or her eyes? Or how about this boring opening scene: anonymous feet walk along a hall, down the stairs, out the door, along the sidewalk and get into a car? Or the opening scene where the camera pans along a long hallway or table full of photographs, hoping to introduce the viewer to the family or the protagonist. Shocking opening scenes of blood-and-guts action by an unknown person or persons doesn't work, either.
• Just like a screenplay, your film must show (not tell) the “who, what, when, where and why” of the story in those first few precious scenes. The “how” and any plot details or twists can come later in the film.
• The worst thing that can happen, if and when your film is selected for screening at a film festival, is that some of the audience members get up and walk out of your film. Festival directors and programmers are embarrassed, and you'll have to slink out when it's over. Don't let that happen! Do your creative utmost to hook the viewers from the beginning, and keep them happy and interested for the rest of the film, and satisfied at the climax. (It's a lot like sex…)

Suggestion #13: CONTENT & STRUCTURE:
• As for the content of your film, selecting a good script with a great story is your first job. Documentaries and animation films need scripts, too!
• Story Structure:
• ACT I: who is the protagonist and what is his/her story? Set up a dilemma for protagonist. Introduce the characters. End of Act I: most conflict, protagonist is ready to change to new direction.

• ACT II: This is where the real story begins, and is the longest part of your film. “A story is built around an active protagonist who struggles against primarily external forces of antagonism to pursue his or her desire, through continuous time, within a consistent and causally connected fictional reality.” (From Robert McKee's “Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting”)

• ACT II: “Filmmakers sometimes have a lot of trouble with Act II. It can seem monotonous, episodic, or aimless. This may be because they've conceived of it as a series of obstacles to the hero's final goal, rather than as a dynamic series of events leading up to and trailing away from the central moment of death and rebirth.” (from Chris Vogler's, “The Writer's Journey”)
• OK. End of Act II. Crisis at high point, realization has set in for protagonist, confrontation with antagonist coming up, moment of truth about to occur, movie moment happens.

• ACT III, no more than fifteen minutes long, resolving all conflicts, yadda, yadda, yadda. What's the hardest part of the film to shoot well? The ending. The climax usually happens about one to three scenes from the end of the script, followed by a short resolution that ties up all loose ends. The big finish, the problem is resolved, the question is answered, the tension lets up, and we know everything will be all right!

• DIRECTING THE FILM: Make sure you've clearly defined your characters and that the actors have given them unique qualities special to them, so they are recognizable as individual people and have depth.
• DIALOG: Same with the dialog. Don't have every actor's character speak the same. Or as they normally speak. Direct the actors to make each character unique, yet believable. Don't let actors merely read their lines.
• ENVIRONMENT & AMBIENCE: Let the environment and ambience of the settings be shown. Show weather and seasons and times of day or night. Make sure your characters visibly REACT to each other, to actions and events, and to dialog spoken to them.
• CONFLICT: Have conflict, whether personal, local, national, or world-wide...or even universal. Then resolve that conflict at the end.
• CLICHÉS: Avoid too many clichés in characterizations, dialog, actions and reactions. Do something new and interesting.
• DIALOG & ACTION: Every word of dialog and every scene of action and exposition in your film must move the story forward toward its inevitable or surprising conclusion. Every scene must move the story forward. The film should “read” like a good novel, be fast-paced, and the viewer should not want to stop watching your film until the satisfying end.
• Avoid like the plague having your actors speak long lines of exposition! Actors and directors and the audience hate to hear a character verbally explaining what he or she is thinking, planning, worrying about, or is going to do, or did in the past. Action! Show it, don't tell it!
• TRANSITIONS: Remember transitions. Each scene should flow into the next, logically, or be hinted at in a previous scene. Don't make the viewer wonder where we are in this scene. Lead them into it. If your two characters will be going out for pizza in the next scene, or are going to rob a bank, hint at that in the previous scene(s). Set it up for the pay-off. You can have many set-ups and pay-offs, all moving the story forward and building toward the ending pay-off, which resolves the conflict

Suggestion #14 : PRODUCTION VALUES: The elements that make your film believable to the audience:
• EDITING: Editing, although it's probably the most important aspect of making a good film, should be invisible to the audience. In simplest terms, editing, or cutting, is about juxtaposition of elements in filmed coverage. The key part of a film editor's job is to make his or her own contribution as imperceptible as possible. The film should be seamless. Editors select, tighten, pace, embellish, arrange and translate the director's vision into a movie; taking a mess of chaotic bits and pieces that seem to defy continuity, and many hours of raw footage, and turn it into a cohesive story, letting the director's filmed material guide the editor. Film editing should not call attention to itself, nor strive to impress.
• FRAMING SCENES: Vital to the visual enjoyment of your film. Artistically framing scenes and actors in a way that makes the viewer feel a part of the scene or story and to be visually stimulated, is important, of course, but unique framing can also define a film director's, DP's, or a cinematographer's unique visual style.
• LIGHTING: Make sure the lighting is correct for both exterior and interior scenes. Your film should not be blue-ish because you didn't use a filter. The lighting should not change abruptly from room to room in interior shots. The actors should be lighted well. There should not be shadows on the walls of interiors, even though they do exist in reality. Shadows on walls are a major distraction, unless you're doing a horror film. Lighting quality can make or break a film.
• SOUND: Sound should be even, and be appropriate to the scene. Actors speaking dialog should be clearly heard and understood. Action scenes should not blast the viewer's ears. Don't jump from soft to loud without a transition in sound. Remember room ambience in sound. Interior and exterior shots need subtle background sounds to be believable.
• SET DESIGN & PROPS: Sets and props are so important to the smooth enjoyment of your film. Make sure you have chosen visually interesting sets, and have props be real and believable.
• LOCATIONS: Always choose locations, for every scene and shot for their visual, aural and cinematic appeal.
• WARDROBE, HAIR & MAKEUP: Bad choices here can ruin an otherwise fine film. Get professionals who know how to do wardrobe, hair and makeup for film! Be sure your crew knows exactly what you want to see, and can accomplish the job for whatever population, location, period or era your story is in. These elements are completely different than they are for everyday use, and show up badly on film if not done well.
• FILM SCORE: Use the power of music in film! Music is one of the most important elements in a film, and it can be creatively and artfully used to arouse, to manipulate, to frighten, or to soothe & calm, to aid in transitions, to punctuate a special moment, to comment, to move plot along, to focus, to add sense of continuity, to add information, to heighten tempo, add dramatic tension, to change mood, to add character and to define it, to be a theme for the film, as well as to add dimension and give the film a new or different meaning.
• RUNNING TIMES: A short narrative or documentary should be up to 30 minutes. A feature is up to 60 minutes, or 120 minutes, max. For the film festival circuit, a short 33- or feature 68-minute film's run time makes the programmer's life difficult, trying to slot your film into the tight screening schedule. Many a good film has been dumped at the last minute from a festival screening schedule because it was a few minutes too long.
• All of the above suggestions hold true for short-short, short, feature narrative, documentary and animation films!
• Wait! I'm just shooting a low-budget short indie film!” you say? Well, all of the elements of packaging and content listed above remain the same for your film as for a high-budget feature film from a major studio, IF you want to have your film screened at a top film festival, and win.

And finally, Suggestion #15:The more professional and viewer-friendly your entire submission package is, the better your chances are of winning a competition, getting your film screened at the festival, and of selling that film or getting distribution. Remember, when entering a competition, if your film wins or is a finalist, or is even a semi-finalist, distributors, producers and agents will ask you for it, and the festival will want to be proud to have selected your film!

COPYRIGHT 2005 ELIZABETH ENGLISH
 
Great post, coffee ::thumbsup: Thanks for sharing...I look forward to using this info with my Hero Fest entry after I've won here :grin:
 
Just a question about the DVD packaging, I've read elsewhere they prefer it to be (like you said) just white with the title only. (or some color...but basically the title / your info only)

But your last paragraph says to make it as professional as possible. What if one can make the DVD have a full back+front picture/screens/design as if an actual DVD you'd buy from a store?


...I'm betting thats too much. But good to know if can or shan't go ahead and do it.


thanks. And, excellent thread Jay!
 
Honestly, they'll take it either way but most say to keep it simple just so that you don't make their jobs harder by "trying" to find the film's title on an over complicated looking DVD surface
 
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