UNDEAD FEST 2011 or WHY DVXFESTER'S FEST-BITCHING HAS BACKFIRED ON US

Matt Harris

Matt Harris

Veteran
PRELUDE


I'm not trying to stir up trouble, this is just an open letter to everyone who is salivating for the next great fest.
And I am certainly not mod bashing, as i really appreciate everything all the mods do.
This is just food for thought.


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CHAPTER 1 - THE BACKSTORY


During Villainfest, there was a lot of griping towards mods and the fest in general:


1. The streaming annoyed some people. I don't stream, i download zips, so i didn't care.


2. Mod participation annoyed some people, uploads were delayed, people complained, mods apologized. No big deal.


3. Newbies complained about the rules being described in an overly complicated manner, despite being so simple.
This I agree with, but it's still an easy fix. The rules page just needs to be brief and concise. Not multiple paragraphs in length.


4. Newbies complained about not knowing when the fests started. Although this is a doofus problem,
I do feel the fests should be promoted more heavily throughout dvxuser.com, but we'll get to that later.


THE RESULT: Mods apologized, they have lives, they do this for free, things slipped through the cracks but they
acknowledged the concerns of the people, and they vowed to make changes. And the fest turned out fine, actually it was a great fest per usual!


But the complaining made mods regroup as hungry filmmakers circled the wagons with pitchforks and torches.
The mods announced that they needed time to revise the rules, figure out a new fest, and that in the meantime we
will have a 48 Hour Fest. A fest genre that is certain to churn out rushed, weak films that are far below the capacity
of the filmmaker's who's lives depend on these fests. (HAWK)




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CHAPTER 2 - GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT


Turning the next dvxuser fest into a 48 hourfest might sound intriguing at first, but ultimately it is the wrong move IMHO.


I'd like to confront the elephant in the room head on.
We don't really want to do a 48 hour fest. We want a real, 3 month long fest so we can develop our scripts, our scores,
our poster art, audition actors, fire actors, then re-hire actors once we realize we have no other actors etc.


Mods, It's not too late! Just announce a cool as hell fest ASAP, rules can come later!
Keep the tried and true dvxfest schedule and keep the fall fest as something horror.
You want participants? Go with UNDEAD FEST. Done. That is a winner!


UNDEAD FEST. START DATE: TODAY. END DATE: OCT 31st


(My alternate idea, SCARE FEST, is also something that would spark filmmaker's imaginations)




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CHAPTER 3 - DVX 48 HOUR FEST PROS AND CONS


PROS:


1. Noone has to give a crap until the rules are announced on a friday night in the near future.
Then everyone scrambles, gives up their weekend (which is impossible if you have a wife and kids)
and tries to throw together a half-assed short film.


I'm not saying you can't make a solid short in a weekend, but how many of us will? We then will watch
and review everyone's movies on Monday while we are wired off sugar free red bulls and 5 hour
energy IV drips. The reviews will be harsh because the films will be rushed and lacking.
Filmmaker's will be defending their films saying "what the hell do you expect? I had 48 hours??"


Sorry, I know this was supposed to be pros but that's the real deal scenario.


CONS:


1. Lack of participants - this will be the lowest entered fest of all time. Guaranteed. Lock.
Blink and you'll miss this fest.


2. The films, having no time for preproduction, will all be shot in everyone's kitchen
and will have a drug deal gone bad and someone with a hand gun killing a bad guy with an eye patch.


3. Filmmaker's who can't do everything themselves will have sloppy sound, apple loops as score,
and horrendous movie posters.


4. Aside from #3, just in general, it will be difficult to finish your movie. We will see a bunch of director's
come Sunday night saying "Sorry I just couldn't get my movie done because __ and __ fell through."




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CHAPTER 4 - CONCLUSION


Mods, we want a fest to sink our teeth into, not a fest that, by dvuserfest standards, is an afterthought.
We love you and appreciate you, and the fests were fine as is, aside from some nitpicks. Let's stay
on the classic track of a horror fest come Halloween 2011. Everyone wants it.


Filmmaker's back me up. I am the voice of the voiceless. I know that you know that I am speaking
for your deepest desires. You want UNDEAD FEST to happen, and you already have ideas in your head.
And you want to start on your script and concept art now.


Let us unite and work towards THE GREATEST BUZZ-WORTHY FEST OF ALL TIME.


UNDEAD FEST 2011! START DATE: TODAY. END DATE: OCT 31st!


(or we can just go with 48 hour fest if that's what people want).





 
Last edited:
Short answer: the 48hr fest is not in any way a replacement for our typical 3-month festivals. It is in addition to, not instead of.
 
Great! I thought I read Jason saying it would replace the next next, and that we'd all regroup in December and go from there.

I'm just pushing for a fall horror fest.
 
You make some really good points, Matt. I agree with quite a bit of what you said. I'm in no way knocking a 48-hour film fest, but it's not an intriguing idea to me. Now, it may be a really good exercise in pre-production and quick editing, but I also believe the films will really suffer. It's hard enough trying to make a good film in three months and think of all the polishing going on throughout the editing process then. Even still, your film may still have some issues (technically) that you did not have time to fix. I think the question is do you want to see a good/great film (something to aspire to or learn from) or do you want to see a film that somebody threw together boasting that at least they got it finished? Just my two cents.
 
I'm not aware of Jason having said something like that. If he did, that's news to me, but I haven't kept up as much with everything as I probably should. However, I know when we discussed it, the 48Hr fest was intended originally to be a supplemental, bonus fest. Because some people don't want to commit three months and thousands of dollars to a fest film, so we're trying to reach out and expand the fest to include folks who aren't up for such a huge venture, but would love to have a fun and crazy filmmaking weekend, rushing against other DVXUsers around the globe...
 
Marlon you summed up my long winded soapbox far better. What you said is what i meant.

Barry, I'm on the same page as you. Had you guys announced a new 4 month fest, and said the 48 hour fest is an added bonus, I would be stoked!
I just don't want to have the 48 hour fest be the only thing for the next 3-4 months.
 
Nah, Matt, I think you were as thorough as you needed to be. Barry, "rushing against other dvxusers around the globe" does make it sound a bit more inviting though. A race against time - not a bad pitch.
 
I am game for another fest that I can spend some time on and undead is perfect for me. Lets do it. I love you Mod's seriously I couldn't give up that much of my free time to do all you do. So I say lay off newbies and STHU!!!
 
(not sure if this is a petition or whatever, but) I'm absolutely in. Each one of these fests pulls me in a direction I'm not comfortable with, so I learn a lot. Besides, maybe I can get Marlon to help out again since he's done with his movie... :grin:
 
Hawk it's a petition, although I'm pushing Undead Fest, I am really just pushing for a real fest for us to sink our teeth into. And I name dropped you in me plea :)
 
If the fests need a hiatus to reboot themselves, that's a good idea. I think it's needed with the falling entries/viewing figures. You could do a lot with this fest and the user base you have.

But IMO I wouldn't take the fall fest to do it, as it's always the most popular. If mods need time off for a shake up, I'd do it on the next fest (which is normally less popular as it crosses Xmas), and I don't think you'd have any complaints. But WTFDIK. Even if I don't get time to enter I always enjoy watching the Halloween fests.

And Matt, love ya, but not Undead fest please ;-) too specific. I'd struggle to watch potentially 50 odd zombie films in a row......My vote is to get back to the halloween themed idea where you can do almost anything you want, spirits, monsters, undead, vampires... as long as it takes place on Halloween.
 
Darkline, point taken if Undead is too specific, i'm just trying to rile up the imagination's of the modders to give us something juicy!
 
Dont get me wrong, The idea of time off to figure out a new format is a good one. Just not now. Not the fall fest when people are most eager to get involved (traditionally).

For a long time I've thought it should have it's own dedicated web page and given a push. Some of the shorts are as good as what's winning much higher profile competitions. Something like this would be good http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk . But I appreciate that might be too much work.

Maybe Im unimaginative but I think if they stuck to 'horrorfest' 'dramafest' and 'actionfest' for the three, then the mods might save a lot of work trying to figure out new themes and rule changes. Film-makers are free to do what they want within them. Some of the past fest themes IMO have been too specific which could be another reason for the fall off in attendance - but who knows, I'm sure there are many factors.
 
Honestly, I'm down for whatever the next fest is - 48 Hour or Scare Fest. They both sound like fun.

Now that the VillainFest is over and I've had time to think about the fest, what struck me most was the absence of the mods in this fest. In the past, it seemed like they were always around, answering questions, writing reviews, and even entering. With this last fest, at times it felt like a bit of a ghost town.

I'd love to see the mods entering films again. I remember so many of their films from the past. They inspired me and I'm sure others too. If we could get a few of them involved in the next fest (whatever it is), I think it would really up the anticipation and the participation.
 
I think A SCARE FEST woulod be a great way to bring in the fall season. I'm in for that, I have always wanted to do a horror.
 
I always thought the staple fest here was the one in October - fake blood/gore/more gore. Why would anyone want to replace that? hyuck

I do think for the sake of all you guys who are going to enter the 48 hour fest you should NOT be required:

1. No posters
2. No bts shots
3. No worries about your individual thread until after the film is up

Listen, it's 48 hours you shouldn't have to do more than that.

As far as the October dated fest, we've never had it called "Fright Fest" - just saying.
 
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