Too Early?

I say the next contest can be anything you want, but it has to be a cliffhanger. Hahaha!!! If done well, we'll be pissed off about 50 times wondering what really happened next in each film.

Plus it would make good conversation pieces on the board.

Or not...

:)
 
A few weeks back the idea of "Bio-Fest" was kicked up, so I'll bring it to the table now too.

Very simple:
60 seconds (no more, no less) to tell us about yourself in the most creative way possible.

It would be a short fast 'fest' (a month maybe two) to give us a break from the heavily involved ones - then something bigger again next for the summer.

BioFest1.jpg


- Mikko ...is shamlesly recycling photoshops.

EDIT: Apears this was my 1,111th post! "woot!"
 
mikkowilson...

Funny stuff, that "60 seconds to go with the flow line":grin:

But I gotta disagree for two key reasons:

1) It is too much like a preliminary round of a larger contest (IE Project Greenlight)

-and-

2) We would spend countless days, burn countless favors, etc. making a film that we would not be able to do anything else with beyond DVXUser.

As it stands now, the powers that be not only allow, but even encourage us to pursue whatever paths we choose with our respective film once the DVX fest is over.
 
People are knocking the romance genre, but really any popular genre, that's proven well at the box office, is a viable way to go. Since most of us are aspiring film makers to one degree or another, I'd MUCH rather put my efforts & time into doing a commercially viable project than some obscure thing that only has one end use: DVXuser.

If it were horror/suspense. Cool.

Romance. A great challenge & adds incredible diversity to your portfolio.

Comedy. Again, challenging to pull off well & would be a fun & lighthearted event to view.

Musical. BIG TIME challenge. Not among my favorites, but I'd be up for the challenge & it could involve any of the above genres.

Personally, keeping it broad is the way to go. It allows the most creativity in respect to how it'll integrate with the film industry. How many studios are asking us to pitch them the SAME story, but told in a different manner, or simply using different props, etc . NO ONE. They all want something unique, fresh, and grande. By simply choosing a broad genre (even zombies was a little to confined for my taste, though it kick started me into making shorts, for which I'm glad), it allows us the most freedom to push ourselves in commercially viable directions, building our portfolios or learning new tricks that will apply to the bigger projects we apsire to go after.

At least that's my two cents.

Then again, I spoke to Jarred when I was up in Vancouver, BC end of last year, and odds are that the next project/festival may be in a totally different direction than just genre based short stories. I heard what WAS planned prior to everyone pushing for Sci-Fi Festival, and WOW, it was a doozy! But, he gave in to what the masses wanted & we never got to see what he really had planned. I bet if we don't push it, and just see what he comes up with, we'll be pleasantly surprised & challenged.
 
Cool stuff Norm, I agree about giving a nice wide area to work in, a general genre. Also, good to have you back in the boards again, after spending long hours (I'm sure) working on your sci-fest entry!
 
I wish I had known about DVXuser.com a year ago. I would have submitted in all of the earlier ones, they seem like they could have been a lot of fun. I personally will most likely submit something in whatever the next one is. I'm excited for whatever Jarred has in store.

I'm just really glad to have an interesting project [or diversion from regular video work] every few months- even if it isn't anymore than fun and practice. Prizes to me are a moot point, it gives me a reason to kick my ass into making more films-and that's good enough. Sorry for sounding so after school special.

So in short, keep them coming [the contests, I mean]. Thanks.
 
"I think romance would be a definite change in pace, but I wonder how many individuals would opt not to submit due to the "subject matter of love"."


...or the lack of experience with said subject matter...
 
Thanks, Brandon. Yeah, I WAS pretty absent there this past week in the forums, as PANDORA had WAY too much of my attention ... it needed it, but boy a lot of other things have suffered for it (time with family, partnership tax returns that are overdue, other business ventures, etc.).

P!body - I've been a member since end of '04, and I never even knew about the festivals until AFTER the one right before Zombie fest had ended & they announced the winner ... somehow I tripped across the thread (I think I saw it in the winner's signature in some thread) and said "They've got festivals in here?!".

Wasn't until after Jarred posted a BIG banner on the launch page that people really knew what was going on. That, combined with a genre that a lot of people saw as fun & challenging, really helped to kick it in gear.
 
My top choice is SOOOO Musicalfest. I think it's amazing.
2nd choice - hmmm...I guess, DocuFest. Like 6 minute documentaries. That could be interesting and would be a change of pace so narrative-boys don't dominate all the time.

OR HOW ABOUT AD-FEST? 30-sec spots?
 
Romance-Fest (I almost said "Love-Fest", but that sounds too hippiesque) would make the most sense. Like Norm says, it would be a nice notch to have on each of our production belts. Like Sci-Fi, it is a "big tent" genre that encompasses much in the way of possibilities.

Another way to go would be Adventure-Fest or Mystery-Fest, but I've already decided that the pony I'm gonna back is called Romance.
 
penfever said:
My top choice is SOOOO Musicalfest. I think it's amazing.
2nd choice - hmmm...I guess, DocuFest. Like 6 minute documentaries. That could be interesting and would be a change of pace so narrative-boys don't dominate all the time.

OR HOW ABOUT AD-FEST? 30-sec spots?

ad fest would be interesting.

the products have to be ficticious and the ads must be 45 seconds or less.

I think that'd be incredible.
 
i think they should make it romance-fest just to hit everyone with a curve ball and see what we can do with it, seeins how its a genre that doesnt really come up too often on here.

i've never done a romance film before, but i think it'd be cool to try.
 
I think romance would be awesome, but I also could get behind horror/suspense. I've never really tried to freak someone out, but I think I could.
 
i think the only reason they wouldn't go horror is we kind of just did that with the zombiefest. there are too many options to go straight back to horror, imo
 
I like the romantic genre idea. It would be hard to pull off right, but that's what these should be, "challenging". I say the harder the better. Anyone can make a zombie film, and apparently they did. lol How many people entered zombiefest? Of course we could do porn.
 
For my $0.02, I like film noir as a hopeful candidate for the next contest, even if it is technically only a "sub-genre" or merely a "style." It offers us a wide choice of subjects and storylines. For the cinematographers here, I'm sure many of us would drool at the chance for a film noir contest. For what it's worth, my personal interests are limited ONLY to the following genres, listed in order of degree of personal interest:

1. Action-Adventure (including thrillers, crime dramas, etc.).
2. Science Fiction.
3. Horror.
4. War (but typically, far too expensive for us to shoot credibly).

These are the genres that, at least to me, are the most gratifying (e.g. "fun") to shoot, and the most enjoyable to watch.

If the next contest leans toward the romance or comedy genres, I'd be hard pressed to get remotely excited about writing and shooting something for either of those two. Certainly, both genres are arguably the most difficult to pull off credibly. Hopefully that fact alone won't become the reason for their popularity among the membership here, because I can't tell you how much I hate watching poorly executed shorts of these two genres, and there are a LOT of those.
 
Since no one here really expects to get "picked up" from a tiny short...right?...I'd rather see technical "themes" than story themes. Lighting, sound, direction, production design, etc. No matter the genre.

Especially when you consider you'll be sitting down and watching 20, 30, 40, 80 films...all the same (even if they're different). How enthused is someone when they get to the last one in the list? Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just too focused on learning the craft. (Or trying to :grin: )
 
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