How to make a Winning short for LossFest...

All in good humor:

9. Instantly whip-up a half-ass film poster and signature.

 OK so you may not have a concept yet, or even a title... FO-GET-AHH-BOWT-IT!. What you need to do is make a movie poster and start a new thread with a temporary title that doesn't make any sense. Whats important is that you let everyone know that you are making a film (probably) and that you were one of the first people to have a poster! Dont forget to reserve the first 3 posts in your thread for BTS photos, frame grabs, and blogs- even though you know you probably wont update them with that information.


10. Bump your film's thread after every response, or just do it for no reason.

 People need to see your film's thread at the top of the page, the longer you stay on top of the page, the greater your chances are of winning. This might take you not leaving the computer for the next three months but that is the commitment you may need to make. Add responses to anything that anyone says, or even just make something up. Whats important is to get people to feel comfortable on your thread. After you get 100 pages or so, all you need to do is shoot something on the Red and your golden.





 
11. Crew Up!
Guys you can't make these films by yourself. Find people who are good at certain things and delegate work to them. And for those maniacs out there that CAN DO EVERYTHING... delegate the work anyway, because GUARANTEED, your film will benefit from collaboration.
 
blindbuzta said:
11. Crew Up!
Guys you can't make these films by yourself. Find people who are good at certain things and delegate work to them. And for those maniacs out there that CAN DO EVERYTHING... delegate the work anyway, because GUARANTEED, your film will benefit from collaboration.
Click to expand...


hear hear. crew helps maintain your sanity and you actually get things done faster.
 
blindbuzta said:
11. Crew Up!
Guys you can't make these films by yourself. Find people who are good at certain things and delegate work to them. And for those maniacs out there that CAN DO EVERYTHING... delegate the work anyway, because GUARANTEED, your film will benefit from collaboration.
Click to expand...
There's no GUARANTEE. :)

I've actually been shopping around (locally) for a DP. So far from the reels I've seen.... my work would suffer.
I'm far from perfect, have plenty to learn, and I would HAPPY to have someone come on board and shoot my film for me.
Still, I'm not going to let some schmuck who can barely handle a camera shoot it either.

If I was in L.A. I would jump into THIS thread and take full advantage. Some of us don't live in L.A. though do we. :)

EDIT: On the flip side. I go over my scripts with some of the best writers DVXuser has to offer and I try to use talented actors in my films.
If I could use a talented crew... I would do so. Might get me out of placing in the finals the past 3 festivals and move me into the top 3.
A better camera might help as well. :)

Cheers,

Mike
 
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Since I live in the middle of butt-fu** nowhere, casting is nearly impossible. I am going to have to get some "creative" friends to give me a hand with this one.
 
12. Develop alliances and make a name for yourself on this site.
The more people that know you here, the more votes you will get. good or bad.
 
But number of votes does not help

Theoretically, if 10 people rate for your movie as a 10, your crew say, and those are the only ratings you have, and 100 people rate Fat Monster's movie an average of 8.0. You win.

The reason that's theoretical is that Larry would throw those 10 ratings out or that would be considered too small a sample.

But in the range of # of votes people actually get, the difference is seldom as spread as the above example, and the few people that only get 20 or so ratings could actually benefit from that if the ratings were all good.

Now if you want to talk about hype blinders and that predisposing people to rate a film higher than they otherwise might, well sure that's something to consider, but I know the films that were viewed and rated most in the last few fests did not win 1st place, with the exception of 02.

Are the most viewed / rated films in the top three? Yes but they don't always win.

Notice also I'm saying number of ratings, vs. number of votes. That's because we don't have votes anymore. Just ratings.
:beer:
 
I was hoping to see this thread die, because it now seems very arrogant of me to claim THIS is how to make a winning short... but maybe it will help a few people who can see past that.

The other suggestions, even in jest, are all relevant, and highlight the immense amount of talent and work it takes in many areas to make a hit movie. Marketing is definitely a big factor in the "real" world and in the festivals here too. Some entries have much better marketing than the film lives up to, which to me is sad in a way, because all that time and energy used for pumping the thread and feeding the hype machine might have been better spent rewriting the script and producing a better movie. To each his own...

I feel pretty confident that 96.7% of the low-rated entries needed work on the script as their main "flaw", and I would highly encourage everybody to seek advice from friends, family, and users here about their script. The Scriptfest III is perfectly timed so we can find some great writers who might be willing to at least read your script and give feedback, or maybe even rewrite it. Check 'em out.

Here's to making movies :beer::beer::beer: -the most tedious and challenging art-form in existence.
 
This thread turned out to be an interesting read.

I might do lossfest, but with no hopes of winning, just for the sake of having a topic to make a short on.
 
natemac42 said:
This thread turned out to be an interesting read.

I might do lossfest, but with no hopes of winning, just for the sake of having a topic to make a short on.
Click to expand...

Yes it did. I am relatively new to this site after purchasing my DVX. It is interesting to find a forum where no one is bashing each other. I am also considering a low-no budget lossfest short with no real hope of winning, just as you are :) can't wait to see what the people with a mass amount of resources create. good luck
 
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