old draft of rules... please disregard...

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Larry Rutledge

Larry Rutledge

Fest Master


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DVXuser Announces ...
Monster Fest coming October 31th, 2009​

​

What is Monster Fest?

A monster is any of a large number of creatures which usually appear in legend or horror fiction. The word monster derives from Latin monstrum, meaning "omen", from the root of monere ("to warn") and also meaning "prodigy" or "miracle".

The term monster refers to a being that is a gross exception to the norms of some ecosystem. It could be a gigantic lizard (Godzilla) or huge moth (Mothra), it could be a mythical malevolent being (zombie, werewolf, vampire, etc). It could be an unnatural creation (the Smog Monster, Frankenstein, or The Fly, for examples). If referring to a human, a person referred to as a monster is taken as exceptionally evil, grotesque, unreasonably strict and uncaring, sociopathic, and/or sadistic. The word monster connotes something wrong or evil (e.g. a monstrous being is: very morally objectionable, physically or psychologically hideous, or a freak of nature). Society or individuals usually feel threatened by a being classified as a "monster".
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster, as expounded upon by DVXUser here)


SHOOTING DATES

DVXuser has set July 27th, 2009 - October 30th, 2009 as the designated shooting dates for all Monster Fest films.

Films MUST be made between this time. Deadline for entries is October 30th, 2009 at 11 AM Pacific Daylight Time

ADD'L GUIDELINES, LIMITATIONS, & REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMITTED FILMS



  • Required Element - There is no required element, however you are required to create and submit a poster.
    • Poster must be equivalent dimensions to a standard one-sheet (26"x40"). An example, equivalent dimension would be 3.25" x 5" (same dimensions as standard one-sheet, but 8 times smaller). Can also be portrait (26"x40") or landscape (40"x26").
    • Poster must not exceed 5MB
  • Each Filmmaker may submit a maximum of TWO (2) films. However, there is no limit to the number of films you may collaborate on, and you are encouraged to do so. Films MUST be separate, and not two halves of a whole film.
  • Films may be any Genre, provided they meet the required theme.


  • [*]Your total film, including all opening titles and credits, may not exceed six minutes. PERIOD.
    • Film Title - you must include the title of your film in your film. This may be in any format and may appear anywhere within the 6 minutes of the film.
    • Credits - You must include AT LEAST ONE (1) FRAME of credits at the END of your film. A MAXIMUM of FIFTEEN (15) SECONDS of credits will be permitted at the END of your film. This does NOT include any additional credits you place at the beginning of (or elsewhere in) your film.
    [*]You will also be required to attach a DVXuser leader to the beginning of your film. The running time of the leader does not count against your six minutes. (Note: If the length of the entry exceeds 6 Minutes plus the length of the leader, it will be disqualified. NO EXCEPTIONS.)
    • Must be one of the leaders provided here: http://www.dvxfest.com/leaders/
    • The leader must remain visually unaltered.
    • You are free to alter the leader's audio in any way. If audio is provided with the leader you may use it, omit it, or replace it (examples include, but are not limited to: overdubbed narration, V.O., music, etc)
    [*]Films may be shot with any camera and may be delivered in any aspect ratio. Depending on the viewing process this time around, if you have an unorthodox aspect ratio (such as "Again to Return" from LossFest), you may be required to submit a letter/pillarboxed version. Please just keep this in the back of your head as we move forward.
    [*]Films must be Rated "R" or lower... This is a hard R. If you are unsure, please ask first. Do NOT assume.
    [*]Absolutely NO Copyright Violations. Your material must be original, licensed, or royalty free. This includes (but is not limited to) Your script, music, sound effects, etc. DVXuser assumes no liability for copyright violations in your submitted entry.
    [*]All Filmmakers agree to grant DVXuser a NON-exclusive license to use your film for promotional purposes, for it to appear on a future DVXFest DVD (should there be one) or at a DVXuser Sanctioned Public Screening. We will make every attempt to contact you first if any of the above situations should apply to your film. If we cannot make contact, or you request us not to, we will not include your film.
    [*]You may NOT publicly exhibit any footage from your film entry, or shot for your film entry (this includes outtakes, alternate takes, etc) prior to the conclusion of the festival, or your participation in the festival. At such time you publicly exhibit any footage from your film, this will be seen as a forfeiture of any rights to prizes, awards, or acknowledgments. You will cease to be in competition at this point.
    • EXCEPTION: If you have submitted your film to a LIVE Film Festival and been accepted (Slamdance for example) and your film will air before the conclusion of our festival, this is an acceptable exception, BUT you must notify us that you are utilizing this exemption. This exception applies ONLY to LIVE festivals. Screening in any other online festival prior to the conclusion of MonsterFest, will render your film invalid for competition in MonsterFest. However, NO films may be publicly exhibited in any form prior to October 30th, 2009.
    • EXCEPTION: You may post screen grabs from your footage
    [*]The Festival is open to every country and every language. However, if your film's dialogue is in a language other than English, you must include English subtitles in your film.
    [*]There is NO Entry Fee. As always, our festivals are free and open to the public.
    [*]Anonymous entries are permitted with pre-approval from the DVXFest staff.
    [*]DVXuser Moderators, and DVXFest staff, are free to enter films, and have them rated by the viewers. However, they will NOT be eligible for prizes.
OUTSIDE PROMOTION
You may promote your individual entry outside of DVXuser for the purposes of drawing attention to the festival and to let people know the work you are involved in.

This is NOT to include any kind of vote begging whatsoever. The purpose is to draw attention to the festival and to your individual entry, not to garner votes.

You must also include a direct link to the Monster Fest forum, not just your own thread.

DVXuser will not tolerate any kind of spammish behavior.

Any outside activities deemed by the festival staff to be considered "spammy" or "vote beggy" may lead to your immediate disqualification from the festival.

Outside promotion is part of the filmmaking process, so we encourage you to take full advantage of it and enjoy spreading the word about your film. Be creative and have fun with it :)

UPLOAD INFORMATION

Upload information will be made available by Monday, October 12th, 2009 and will remain open until the upload deadline passes. Upload as early as possible in order to have time to adjust if you have a rule compliance violation.

CONCERNING TRAILERS/TEASERS
If you wish to make a teaser/trailer for your film, you may BUT... It may NOT contain any live action footage of any kind WHATSOEVER. Whether from your film or not. Absolutely NO live action footage. So, think of it more as a teaser than a trailer.

You MAY make teasers/promotionals promoting DVXFest on the whole, and these may be displayed at anytime. The NO Footage rule, still applies of course. You MAY use footage from previous festivals, but please obtain the filmmaker's permission for any clips you would like to use in this manner.

IF you are not absolutely sure that your teaser would be legal, then you need to ASK FIRST.


VIEWING AND VOTING PERIOD

The films will go live on October 31st, 2009. There will be two rounds of rating, and the rating system will be much the same as it has been for the past several fests... a 10 star rating system. We will have an additional sticky thread that will post as a FAQ/Q&A for the rating period.

The first round of Rating will take place from October 31st, 2009 (at the time the viewing officially opens) until 11 AM Pacific Daylight Time, November 10th, 2009.

Once the first round of rating closes, we will review and verify the results and in the same day announce a to be determined number of films that will be designated "Finalists". The 2nd round of rating will run from November 10th, 2009 until November 20th, 2009.

Anyone who is a registered DVXuser Member will be eligible to rate the films. However, only those persons ratings with 50 posts or more, (or if you are a submitting filmmaker) will determine the Finalists and the Winners of the festival acknowledgments and prizes (if any).

All other ratings will be for the benefit of the filmmakers to receive data on the how good the audience thought their film was, and we will also announce an "Audience Favorite" that will reflect the highest overall rated film, including ALL ratings.

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DVXuser reserves the right to make alterations, clarifications, and/or modifications to the rules until August 15th, 2009. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

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If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask away here in the rules thread, or, if you prefer, PM a moderator. But, let's all try to remain calm and civil as it will help the flow of information and ensure that as many people as possible have the most enjoyable festival experience possible. Please do not assume anything. If you are not absolutely certain, ask us first so we can clarify, and also make any changes necessary to the rules in the even that any confusion is caused by a lack of clarity within them.

Good Luck, and Enjoy MonsterFest!
 
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Really pumped now!

Submitting a poster, as in you must create your own thread - with the poster / hence submitting it? :)

If so I think that's good, would be nice to see every entry with a thread.

Thanks Larry, looks ace.
 
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You may NOT publicly exhibit any footage from your film entry, or shot for your film entry (this includes outtakes, alternate takes, etc) prior to the conclusion of the festival, or your participation in the festival. At such time you publicly exhibit any footage from your film, this will be seen as a forfeiture of any rights to prizes, awards, or acknowledgments. You will cease to be in competition at this point.
Click to expand...
Screen grabs still permitted?
 
As it states:

If you wish to make a teaser/trailer for your film, you may BUT... It may NOT contain any live action footage of any kind WHATSOEVER. Whether from your film or not. Absolutely NO live action footage.
Click to expand...

So, yes, you can include screen grabs in a teaser. But these would be individual grabs ... not a series of them into a "flip book" animation of your footage
 
This may have been covered elsewhere, but what is the time limit on an exhibition-only film (if there is one)? I won't quite be able to make the 6 minute limit, so I'm curious as to how long it can run. Perhaps it's more a matter of storage space and file size for exhibition-only?
 
I think if it's exhibition, it won't matter - most people would just prefer it to be shorter than longer I'm guessing.
 
We prefer not to have exhibition-only films. We much prefer that you approach the festival as it is intended.

Exhibition-only films are those that *almost* qualified, but had to be disqualified for some reason or other. But the filmmaker set out to comply with the rules, and (usually) submits the film thinking that he or she has indeed complied with the rules, and cannot modify the film in time to comply with the rules. In cases like those, we will occasionally allow them to be listed in an "exhibition only" category.

If you set out to make a film that will not comply with the fest, then don't submit it to the fest. Instead, you can start a User Films thread for that film.
 
Would aliens be considered monsters by default, or do they require some degree of grotesqueness to be considered a monster.

And this is a completely serious question!
 
chriscurl said:
Would aliens be considered monsters by default, or do they require some degree of grotesqueness to be considered a monster.
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Tricky. Do aliens, inherently, have to be considered monsters? Would you consider "Starman" or "E.T." as "monsters"? Starman was a human-appearing "alien" who wasn't a threat to anyone. E.T. was a grotesque little "monster" but he was completely beneficial to everyone. However, Scott's "Alien" was unquestionably a monster, as was the Predator.

Could "Hellboy" be considered a monster? Probably, but... heck, for that matter, what about every one of the "X-Men" characters, or those off of "Heroes"? Sure don't seem like "monsters" to me, even the nastiest ones. For some reason I don't think Sylar is a "monster". He's a bad dude with "abilities" but does that make him a "monster"?

If it was me empirically making a decision, I say there should be some threat involved and some element of non-humanity. Godzilla wiped out Tokyo over and over, that's a threat. Vampires are human-ish, but also are undead/non-human, and they are most definitely a threat to the innocent. I would think there should need to be some malevolance towards humanity (or individuals) and some manner of non-human-ness in order for us to properly consider the being in question a "monster".
 
Thanks for the clarification, that makes perfect sense.


Barry_Green said:
Tricky. Do aliens, inherently, have to be considered monsters? Would you consider "Starman" or "E.T." as "monsters"? Starman was a human-appearing "alien" who wasn't a threat to anyone. E.T. was a grotesque little "monster" but he was completely beneficial to everyone. However, Scott's "Alien" was unquestionably a monster, as was the Predator.

Could "Hellboy" be considered a monster? Probably, but... heck, for that matter, what about every one of the "X-Men" characters, or those off of "Heroes"? Sure don't seem like "monsters" to me, even the nastiest ones. For some reason I don't think Sylar is a "monster". He's a bad dude with "abilities" but does that make him a "monster"?

If it was me empirically making a decision, I say there should be some threat involved and some element of non-humanity. Godzilla wiped out Tokyo over and over, that's a threat. Vampires are human-ish, but also are undead/non-human, and they are most definitely a threat to the innocent. I would think there should need to be some malevolance towards humanity (or individuals) and some manner of non-human-ness in order for us to properly consider the being in question a "monster".
Click to expand...
 
This might be a dumb question, but I want to be sure... Does the film maker have to make the poster themselves, or can they have someone else make it for them?
 
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