Scriptfest integration?

ZazaCast said:
No, you don't have to vote on every film in a fest, nor do you have to watch them all. I believe some people wait until the second round before voting.
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To add to this... they are also supposed to be rated on how they stand on their own. Not in comparison to the other films in the Fest.

As per Jason Ramsey...
Jason Ramsey said:
Couple of tidbits... The rating process is not intended to be a "ranking"... as you can tell, there are 1-10, not 1-45 stars. The ranking part takes care of itself. We strongly encourage you to rate each film individually, and you could have 30 films that are 6's... 4 that are 7's, 3 that are 8's, etc, etc, etc... Think of it as a simple review of the film. Rate it from 1-10 stars... Just like you might rate one youtube video, has little to no bearing on how you might rate the next one.
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Although I'm sure some people find that part difficult. I even have to remind myself at times.
One rule I wouldn't mind seeing.... 'Your vote doesn't count unless you have rated ALL of the entries.'
That way everyone will receive a rating and get a fair shake.

MAH
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
One rule I wouldn't mind seeing.... 'Your vote doesn't count unless you have rated ALL of the entries.'
That way everyone will receive a rating and get a fair shake.

MAH
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I second that one!!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

...unless people just randomly go through and check stars just to have votes count?
 
ZazaCast said:
I second that one!!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

...unless people just randomly go through and check stars just to have votes count?
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Still, any rating for the filmmaker would be better than receiving none. The Mods eliminate the low ball ones anyway. They look for users who deliberately rank certain entries down purposely.
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
Still, any rating for the filmmaker would be better than receiving none. The Mods eliminate the low ball ones anyway. They look for users who deliberately rank certain entries down purposely.
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Yeah: there's a pattern to everything and Jason doesn't like it when people cheat or try to play the system. He takes that kind of thing VERY seriously.

I second Zaza's seconding of the suggestion!
 
While we do take people trying to game the system very seriously, it's also very evident that people have very different tastes, so we generally like to avoid that sort of thing. We do flag some folks from time to time as someone to watch, but beyond that, we like to avoid (whenever possible) subjectively deciding whether someone's vote is legit, or not. If you flag someone as a person of interest, over time, it becomes more obvious.

We had one person who rated everything a 1 in the second round that they hadn't already previously rated. Obviously a red flag there, and without going into details it was obviously some low ball stuff after seeing suspicious first round votes. But, the system also works very well with the amount of ratings that come in. We checked the results with and without that persons results and another's, and there was absolutely zero impact on the placing of the films.

--

Anyways... to the idea that you must rate every film. We've thought about such a thing, and while it sounds like a great idea on the surface, it can actually discourage participation, rather than encourage it. If someone sees that they have to rate every film they just might not even bother b/c "I don't have time to do that".

If it were a problem that films were receiving far different amounts of ratings, we might consider more strongly some kind of direction towards that, but right now, that is just not the case. Everyone indeed does get a fair shake.

After the 1st round of voting the amount of ratings each film received are pretty even keel across the board. Plus, this is what we have the 2nd round for as well. It helps to equalize the amount of ratings even more, as well as brings in even more new raters b/c we're only asking them to rate 8 or 12 or whatever films. The largest discrepancy would be like + or - 5.. and it's usually more like plus or minus a couple.

What you end up having are the hardcore, dedicated folks who rate every single film, and also discuss a lot of them, and you have a LOT of people who rate 70-85% of the films, a few who rate a few, etc, etc... And, ou have a lot of people who rate films but don't comment in the threads at all. Remember, there are 2 to 3 to 4 thousand downloads per film each fest.

So, if the numbers weren't already so well balanced out in terms of how many ratings a film receives, then it might be something worth considering more than the passing thought it has been thus far. But, because they are, we are weary of introducing a requirement like this, that might have the opposite effect intended (actually discourage participation) and also just have people going and randomly selecting ratings on the films that they haven't seen.. Which, on that point, I disagree that any rating is better than no rating. It also makes it more difficult to identify patterns in the rating, etc, etc.

Later,
Jason
 
Definitely food for thought there Jason. You guys already have a LOT on your plate do deal with in terms of managing the fests.

As to promotion for scriptfest and betryalfest... don;t you think it's time for some new banners? (hint hint)
 
Sarah Daly said:
I don't get why everyone is so reluctant to share their scripts?
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It's a common phobia for new writers. Specifically, new writers who believe themselves to be the next M. Night. Shyamalan and their ideas worthy of plagiarism even though neither is likely the case.

The strange thing is how even 1st time directors usually seem completely at ease spreading their short films to all corners of the web with whorish abandon. You would think they'd be more concerned about someone trying to replicate their directing style considering all the rampant story theft screenwriters are apparently enduring...

Sarah Daly said:
Maybe there could be more of a 'script bank' where people can post scripts that are either available for use, or scripts that producers want feedback on in the pre-production stage?
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That would surely be better than the disorganized glut of "anybody need a script?" threads that always pop up and peter out with one or two replies at most.

But overall I would say that many of the last fests films would have benefited from some more fine tuning to the scripts and stories
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IMO, I have yet to see one that couldn't have used (at the very least) a little fine tuning.

DarkElastic said:
I think that what Rodders says about a process is the same for most filmmakers, and the problem with the filmfest vs the scriptfest is the timing. We have scriptfest being announced after the filmfest has been announced, so guys/gals are off getting their basic ideas together. If the Filmfest followed on after the scriptfest, there would be ready made scripts there to start the whole process and the scripts/stories would already have comments to make them better. Win win.
Right now, guys/gals are well on with their films in some capacity (mainly their concept) and it is only the stragglers that may pick up a scriptfest script.
So, put the scriptfest before the filmfest and that will give the scripts a better chance of being made.
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Exactly.

Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
Being 'forced' to share your script is not a good idea. When the movies comes out everyone will know exactly how it's going to play out.
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So what?

What you're basically saying is that the element of surprise is more important than execution. I think that's backwards logic.

And again, if this is your contention, why even have scriptfest integrated with filmfest at all when obviously the former serves only to detract from the latter?

This is similar Zak's comment about "unfiltered public feedback" being potentially damaging.

I really don't understand where either of you are coming from.

Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
For a short film I don't think that's ideal. All the impact would be lost.
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I disagree.

Especially since most of the participating filmmakers probably want their films to go on and be seen by other people on other websites or festivals in which case the most impact to be lost would be by using a leaky, unstable or otherwise faulty "foundation" rather than "spoiling" the surprise factor for a tiny fraction of your films eventual viewership.

Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
I know when I've read the book and the movie comes out that it rarely, if ever, lives up to my imagination.
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Scripts aren't books, they're blueprints. They are not written in a way that your imagination should be filling in every detail and nuance. They are designed from the onset to "come to life" after many other batters have stepped up to the plate and taken their swing. This is fundamentally different than a novel.

And once more, if this is the case, why even have a scriptfest? Why would anyone (who isn't a fool) knowingly participate in something that should apparently be retitled "SPOILERfest"?

I've seen some EXCELLENT scripts go down in flames due to poor execution on the filmmakers part.
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I would be interested in you PM'ing me some of examples of this as I have yet to see any, professional, independent, amateur or otherwise.

Don't assume that if the entry was poor it was because of a bad script. It's usually the other way around.
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This is the exact opposite of the commonly held and oft-repeated sentiment and I would be interested to see any examples of it you might have.

Here are the number of entries for the last scriptfests:

Scriptfest 1: 52
Scriptfest 2: 39
Scriptfest 3: 25
Scriptfest 4: 32
Scriptfest 5: 18

It doesn't take a veteran statistician to see the trend in these numbers. I am curious how many entrants scriptfest 6 will have this time around now that it has the luxury of it's own banner.
 
Idon't see you flying any banners Arroway. WHy don't YOU get out and spread the word? Share your ideas of how to promote the fest.
 
Rodney V. Smith said:
He doesn't wat to hear anyone else.
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Touche on the banner comment but please don't assume to know "wat" I want to hear.

The only thing I'm interested in is suggestions to ward off scriptfest 9 having -7.5 entrants (as per the current statistics).

P.S. Your banner is too large for the forum to let me display.
 
Rodney. stack your banners, rather than letting them run side by side. that'll help

arroway. If you are interested in trying to build a productive, thriving scriptfest, that is an admirable thing to do and it is a common goal. So, please take the idea of "forced" participation off the table and go from there :) We want to encourage participation and collaboration, not force it. I'd rather have 15 people who really wanted to be involved than 25 who didn't want to do it in the first place. The latter will cause the fest to suffer far more in the long term. It's gotta fester, and brew out of the member core who are dedicated and committed to such an endeavor. Or, who just really enjoy being a part of it. It doesn't have to explode over night.

DVXFest once upon a time had a prize of a package of minidv tapes :)

Later,
jason
 
So are we recruiting new writers for scriptfest or keeping it internal? I can put together some kind of promotion thing over the weekend, but need some ideas on promotion and who we're going after... I already have a photographer taking some promo photos this weekend so I can get some custom shots done with the models...

Any ideas, please let me know.
 
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