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/ RULES

1. TIMES

  1. Online Registration: starts 4/11 ends 5/3

  2. In-person registration: 5/4 by 1:30pm

  3. Introduction and assignment of required elements: 1:45pm Round Room CFA

  4. Filmmaking starts: 5/4 at 2pm

  5. Films due: 5/5 at 8:37am

  6. Late films due: 9am (films in by this time will be judged)

  7. Late Films due: 12pm (films in by this time will be shown at the showcase and will only be eligible for the Audience Award)

  8. Lineup of films and judging will be finalized: 4:30pm

  9. Filmmaker Showcase and Awards Show: 7pm Kresge Hall

  10. Filmmaker Gala: 8:30pm outside Kresge Hall

2. CREATIVE PROCESS

All creative work must be done during the Event. This includes:

  • Writing the script

  • Rehearsals

  • Costume/Set Design

  • Shooting

  • Editing

  • Rendering

  • Output to other media

3. PREPARATION

The only work that may be done before the kickoff of the Event is:

  • Organizing Cast

  • Organizing Crew

  • Securing Equipment

  • Scouting/securing locations

4. FOOTAGE

  • All footage MUST be shot within the allotted time period of the the Event. Animation and visual effects are allowed but they must also have been produced within the time allowed.

  • No stock footage, archive footage, or any other material may be used unless it is tangential to your film (so images on a TV screen or computer monitor)

  • Allowable stock footage, such as explosions, bullets, or composited backgrounds, could be used for effects elements. But no footage of other actors/performers is permitted.

  • Photographs to be shown in the film may be created before the filming begins, but they may not be used to create the effect of motion (ie. action happening in a photo may not be part of the plot).

5. KICKOFF EVENT

Before the event begins, everyone will gather inside the Round Room in CFA around 1pm.

 

Final chance to register will be 1:30pm on the day of the event. Beginning at 1:30pm, required elements will be assigned to each team. And at 2pm, the filmmaking will begin.

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All teams must be present before 2pm to be eligible for the competition.

6. REQUIRED ELEMENTS

Each Team will be required to work with a prescribed element that will be provided on the day of the start to the festival. These items MUST be utilized in your film in some form. How they are presented is completely up to your Team. The items provided will be:

  1. A line of dialogue

  2. A prop

7. SAFETY

  • Please remember that this event is meant to be for the purposes of entertainment and building community. Be safe, respect each other and people’s personal boundaries.

  • Do NOT break any laws

  • Do NOT enter private property you do not have permission to be on.

  • Do NOT put anyone’s lives in danger!

8. CAMERAS / EQUIPMENT

  • Any cameras or equipment are fair to use. Please see tips/tricks on best practices for working with cell phone cameras.

  • 18|37FF does not provide any equipment to Teams.

9. RUNNING TIME

Films should be minimum 3 minutes, maximum 7 minutes long.

10. CREDITS

  • If you want to add opening credits to your film (which is not recommended), this counts against your required running time. If you add credits to the end of your film (which we recommend), then you are allotted up to 60 seconds for credits that doesn’t count against your time.

  • Please add on the front of your film the bumper that shows the “18|37FF presents” image. (Find this on the website under images.

  • Please add at the end of your end credits the text, “this film was created for the 18|37 Film Festival.”

11. MEDIA FORMATS

If your film cannot be viewed on 18|37FF equipment, it may be disqualified. Your film must be submitted on via the following media:

  1. Uploaded to a storage website (Dropbox, Vimeo or YouTube) and the link submitted on the 18|37FF website, or

  2. Emailed to 1837ff@gmail.com.

12. SUBMISSION NOTES

  • We recommend that each team submit two copies of the final film. With two separate naming structures for quality control purposes.

  • We recommend that you make sound levels relatively even throughout your film. (If your film has uneven sound or sound that peaks, it may be modified to protect the playback equipment.)

  • Projection specs vary from theater to theater and are beyond the control of the 18|37FF. If your film is very dark, it may be difficult to see in the theater.

  • All films received on the afternoon of the deadline (on-time and late) will be screened, presuming they meet the eligibility requirements.

13. PRODUCTION DOCUMENTS

Each team must secure releases for talent and crew, which must be turned in to the project organizers at the Kickoff Event on Friday, May 18. The film/video can not be screened if the 18|37 Film Festival Organizers receive the signed releases. Each member of your team MUST fill out this form.

​

Release forms can be found on the 18|37FF website or will be available at the Kickoff Event.

14. ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for the 18|37FF, Entries must be the original work of the Entrant; must not infringe third-party's rights; must be suitable for publication (i.e., may not be obscene or indecent); must not contain obscene or pornographic material; may not contain defamatory statements about any person, company, organization or entity; may not invade privacy or other rights of any person, company or entity; may not in any other way violate applicable laws and regulations, nor rules and policies of Knox College; and may not contain any copyrighted elements (other than as owned by the Entrant).

 

Entries containing prohibited or inappropriate content as determined by 18|37FF, in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate will be disqualified. 18|37FF reserves the right to refuse to screen a film or to make an announcement at the screening regarding the content of the film.

15. JUDGING

All films submitted by the deadline will also be eligible for awards. This year's judges will be announced during the filmmaker's showcase.

The awards are:

  • Best use of the required Prop

  • Best use of the required Line

  • Best Actor

  • Best Film

  • Audience Award

​

Films submitted after the 8:37am deadline, may still be eligible for the Audience Award, which will be voted on by the audience after the screenings. 

​

/ TIPS

  1. ​​Plan ahead: you can’t pre-manufacture anything for your film, but you can scope out locations you want to use, select who will be the actors and what roles people will play. Planning ahead on basic parts of your filmmaking will help save time and allow more time for the creative part of making your film.
     

  2. If you are using a cell phone to shoot your film, make sure you are filming in LANDSCAPE mode. (You are holding the phone longways in your hand.)
     

  3. Most cameras are not great in low/no light. Make sure where you are shooting has plenty of light. Unless you want to use the grainy, pixelated footage to your benefit. This also doesn’t mean you can’t use stylized or creative lights.
     

  4. If you are not using an external microphone to record sound, make sure you are not holding your camera in a way that does not cover its microphone.
     

  5. Shoot multiple takes to try and get the best performance. Don’t just use the first attempt and then move on.
     

  6. We live in an HD, and more and more a 4K world, but the films will more than likely be shown in a Standard Definition capacity. So, shooting your film in anything more than 1080p would really just be making an unnecessarily large file size.
     

  7. If none of this makes any sense, then forget it and just have fun! 

Tips
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