TimeFest Official Rules

Time must be the theme.

I think being set in the future or past is not inherently a theme of time; unless travelling there.
 
Guys -- we've been getting a lot of questions here and in PM's. Remember, in big bold letters at the top of the "rules" post it says:
Time should be an integral theme that runs through each film, but filmmakers are allowed to choose their own genres. A few examples are-- films where the central character is racing against time to complete a vital task, films that explicitly manipulate time through editing and storyline such that time is a central theme, time travel, films that deal with the cause and effect of time's influence.
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The film must be "about" time. It must deal with time as its central theme. It cannot just be some incidental element. For example, a "coming of age" film would not qualify -- yes, coming of age takes time, but then again so does everything else. So did reading this post, for that matter -- obviously you couldn't make a "timefest" film about reading posts on DVXUser, right?

So embrace the theme. Make it about "time". As Barry_S said, a race against time, or time travel, or an out-of-sequence film that manipulates time such as "memento" or a film that deals with time's influence, maybe something like "the portrait of Dorian Gray"... point is, if your idea isn't explicitly and inherently dealing with time as a central and primary element, then you should go back to the drawing board and come up with one that does.

Here's a way I explained it to someone else: we just had LoveFest, and the central theme was "love". The film had to be about love, exploring the concept and theme of love inherently. You couldn't satisfy that requirement by making a movie about a basketball-playing chimpanzee where a guy in the audience yells out "I love this chimp!" Sorry, that wouldn't float, whereas a film like 6" 45RPM EP, or "Remember When" or "Where The Heart Lies" or "Winter Lilacs" -- those all dealt inherently with the theme of love.

So no, you gotta do better than to just take any old film idea and then slap on a scene of a character looking at his watch. :) That's not gonna fly. Time cannot be a cheap bandaid on the film, it must be the core central theme. The film has to be developed around the theme and concept of time and integrate it inherently.

Does that help clarify?
 
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Barry_Green said:
The THEME of the film is time. Just using a gimmick does not satisfy the theme.

Just as in LoveFest the driving theme behind the film was "love". You couldn't satisfy that requirement by just having somebody answer a phone call and end it with "love you, bye." That wouldn't fly. Nor can you satisfy the theme of time by just including a slow-mo shot.

The film must be about "time" in some way, as a central theme.
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So what you are saying is, if I make a movie and throw in a phone call with a funny quip about how the main character is going to be late, UNLESS he can travel through time! Then continue making the film about a pre-school musical, that is basically what you are looking for right? Good to know, I was worried for a minute that I would have to rework my idea.
 
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haha, hey Peter good to see you around :beer:

Peter Murphy said:
So what you are saying is, if I make a movie and throw in a phone call with a funny quip about how the main character is going to be late, UNLESS he can travel through time! Then continue making the film about a pre-school musical, that is basically what you are looking for right? Good to know, I was worried for a minute that I would have to rework my idea.
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... in case anyone in the class is confused ... this is what we call "sarcasm" (sär'kāz'əm) :)
 
OK, this is probably a stupid question, particularly since the Fests got opened up to all cameras, but I seem to recall that at one point the uploads had to be native 24p. Is that no longer a requirement? I mean, assuming I can actually pull off the whole "making a movie" thing, I have access to a DVX (unless this one gets stolen too :( ), but in all honesty I don't have any editing software that can handle actual 24pA, so is it OK to shoot 24p and upload it in 60i?
 
No back in the day they had to be 24p. Though I don't know if it had to be 24pA vs. 24p. Lemme check now that things are open to call cameras exactly what the dealio is....
 
"You may enter up to two films as the primary filmmaker. There is no limitation to how many films you may work on."

This may seem like a dumb question, but what constitutes primary filmmaker? Director or Producer? I ask because we actually have 3 films we could make and as an example in the Oscars the Producer gets the award for Best Picture, not the Director. So if I co-write, direct, and produce 2 of them, and then write and direct a 3rd that someone else produces, or different people produce all 3, how does that place with this rule?
 
are you actually going to make three shorts between now and june 16th? that could answer your question right there.
 
flmmkr said:
"You may enter up to two films as the primary filmmaker. There is no limitation to how many films you may work on."

This may seem like a dumb question, but what constitutes primary filmmaker? Director or Producer? I ask because we actually have 3 films we could make and as an example in the Oscars the Producer gets the award for Best Picture, not the Director. So if I co-write, direct, and produce 2 of them, and then write and direct a 3rd that someone else produces, or different people produce all 3, how does that place with this rule?
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yes this is a good question, because the three of us from Waco are all working together but each is writing/directing seperatly. that counts as 1 each not 3 each correct?
 
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