TimeFest Official Rules

Zim said:
It used to be 16:9 or if your using a DVX100 you could use letterbox. This time they complained about compression and that letterbox is "ok but not preffered".I didn't catch that one at first so mine is done with a DVX100b in letterbox. Next time I will have to use squeeze or maybe they will only allow films done with HVX or RED!

If they are not wanting to use the DVX anymore they should change the name of the fest to something like the RED fest. Maybe HVX fest.
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"OK" is still "OK" so don't see the problem. It's not "OK but we will secretly resent you". :)

You should want to chop the letterbox off your film for web anyway.

Why waste that bandwidth on black bars when you could be putting it towards better compression for your image??????????

A lot of filmmakers who shot on HVX or RED will be going to 2.35:1 anyway and they will be chopping off their letterbox for the web for the reason I mentioned above. So obviously you don't have to shoot squeeze to not get black bars.

Everyone has the same file size limit. If you want to waste bandwidth on black bars. Feel free.

What would give you the idea we don't want people using the DVX?

We opened up the kinds of cameras you can use - that's all.
 
I believe that last Fest they wanted 16:9

From last Fest...
Deliverables must be formatted as widescreen 16:9 or 2:35 aspect ratio and provided as an h.264 compressed file (either .mov or .mp4). with a maximum size of 50 MB. Additional details will be released closer to the entry deadline.
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Is that true this Fest?

Can someone clear that up? Not sure why it would change.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Jack before it had to be letterbox for the fest. At least that is what I was told.


can you submit 4:3 for the fest? I didn't think so I PM someone who said letterbox would work. I might try squeeze next time
 
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No. It never had to be letterboxed. It was always 16X9 or wider EITHER Letterboxed or Anamorphic.

For the DVD's they wanted one aspect ratio. 16X9. So the DVD would be 16X9. If you sent letterboxed 16X9 they would chop off the black bars and blow it up to 16X9 for the DVD anyway.

Every fest I have participated in, I have submitted 2.35 with no letterboxing for web. When they used to ask for "high quality" mpegs, I would give them 16X9 anamorphic (letterboxed to 2.35 since there is no such DVD animal as 2.35)

So it never had to be letterboxed. Only ever had to be 16X9 or wider and for the DVD EITHER a Letterboxed 16X9 that we could conform to true 16X9 or a true 16X9 file.

:beer:
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
No. It never had to be letterboxed. It was always 16X9 or wider EITHER Letterboxed or Anamorphic.

For the DVD's they wanted one aspect ratio. 16X9. So the DVD would be 16X9. If you sent letterboxed 16X9 they would chop off the black bars and blow it up to 16X9 for the DVD anyway.

Every fest I have participated in, I have submitted 2.35 with no letterboxing for web. When they used to ask for "high quality" mpegs, I would give them 16X9 anamorphic (letterboxed to 2.35 since there is no such DVD animal as 2.35)

So it never had to be letterboxed. Only ever had to be 16X9 or wider and for the DVD EITHER a Letterboxed 16X9 that we could conform to true 16X9 or a true 16X9 file.

:beer:
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Whatever happened to fest DVDs?? I haven't seen one since, sheesh, sci-fi fest?
 
From the Love Fest:

All filmmakers agree to grant DVXuser.com and its agents non-exclusive rights for their films to appear on a DVD or for DVXuser-sanctioned public screenings. Deliverables must be formatted as widescreen 16:9 or 2:35 aspect ratio and provided as an h.264 compressed file (either .mov or .mp4). with a maximum size of 50 MB. Additional details will be released closer to the entry deadline.

I ask about this and was told to use letterbox.

The Time fest says:

All filmmakers agree to grant DVXuser.com and its agents non-exclusive rights for their films to appear on a DVD or for DVXuser-sanctioned public screenings. Deliverables must be provided as an h.264 compressed file (either .mov or .mp4) with a maximum size of 50 MB. Letter boxed submissions are OK, but not preferred as they negatively impact compression quality. Uploading website will be announced in the future.

You see the "not preferred" was added and after I was PM'd to use letterbox the last fest it made me wonder.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
No. It never had to be letterboxed. It was always 16X9 or wider EITHER Letterboxed or Anamorphic.

For the DVD's they wanted one aspect ratio. 16X9. So the DVD would be 16X9. If you sent letterboxed 16X9 they would chop off the black bars and blow it up to 16X9 for the DVD anyway.

Every fest I have participated in, I have submitted 2.35 with no letterboxing for web. When they used to ask for "high quality" mpegs, I would give them 16X9 anamorphic (letterboxed to 2.35 since there is no such DVD animal as 2.35)

So it never had to be letterboxed. Only ever had to be 16X9 or wider and for the DVD EITHER a Letterboxed 16X9 that we could conform to true 16X9 or a true 16X9 file.

:beer:
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So what do you think is better for the fest? 4:3 letterbox in post? Letterbox? Squeeze mode?
 
can you submit 4:3 for the fest?
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You can submit 4:3 if you want. You can submit 4:3 letterboxed to 16:9 if you want. Or you can submit native 16:9. All are acceptable for this fest. This was not always so, but it is so for TimeFest. We changed the rules to get rid of the 16:9 requirement for TimeFest.
 
For timefest I would chop off my Letterbox in compressor (if you are on a mac). And up your bandwidth a bit. That will give you the best websized image.

that's what I did for my fest entries on DVX.
 
Are there any guesses as to how long the new voting system is going to take?

Reason being I dropped out of TimeFest as my script was stronger without the theme, but if just by luck the next fest fits it with just dropping in an element I'd want to do it.
Start shooting early July. Any guesses yet? Or too soon to ask?
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
For timefest I would chop off my Letterbox in compressor (if you are on a mac). And up your bandwidth a bit. That will give you the best websized image.

that's what I did for my fest entries on DVX.
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I've order a new Final Cut Studio. it should be here next week. (school employee's discount, $499) So I will try seeing what compressor will do. I probably won't mess with my time fest film. I've moved on if you know what I mean.
 
traviscool said:
How do you chop your letter box?
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If you have FCP suite 2 you do it in compressor by selecting auto crop letterboxed area of source and setting your dimensions as any 2:35 dimensions.

In the version of FCP suite before that, you do the same but you have to manually crop it. All can be done under the geometry tab.

If you don't have either of the above, you leave the letterbox on or ask a PC guy :)
 
in Premiere you should be able to select 2:35 dimensions on export when using the Adobe Media Encoder.

Can't remember how to do it in Vegas and don't currently have it installed.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
If you have FCP suite 2 you do it in compressor by selecting auto crop letterboxed area of source and setting your dimensions as any 2:35 dimensions.

In the version of FCP suite before that, you do the same but you have to manually crop it. All can be done under the geometry tab.

If you don't have either of the above, you leave the letterbox on or ask a PC guy :)
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I'll probably leave it, I only have FCE.
 
ok, so i know there is a 50mb file limit but what resolution do you export as? I wanna try exporting out and see what kind of file i'm ending up with here.

:) I'm excited to start watching these things.
 
Resolution is your choice.

You can make it HD if you want, but it will be highly compressed.

you'll see some 720 X 405 and a lot of 480 X 270 and some other stuff too.
 
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