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vitualis Moderator
Joined: 01 Oct 2000 Location: Australia
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Firstly, thanks to all the entrants into the first VideoHelp.com Short Film Competition. It has been hard work on our side getting this competition off the ground, but it pales into insignificance compared to the obvious planning, effort and thought that has gone into the excellent short film submissions.
Secondly, thanks go to all the other moderators who have helped me design and run this competition and spent time discussing and judging each short film.
Third, a general thanks to all the members of VideoHelp.com for taking an active interest, downloading the short films and rating them in the "Member's Choice Award".
Last but not least, thanks of course goes to Baldrick.
Now, the prizes!
The Cunning Plan
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=290057
First place and winner of "The Baldrick" (prize $200)
Best Cinematography (prize $100)
Best Screenplay / Acting (prize $100)
Best Technical production (prize $100)
Winner of the Member's Choice Award (prize $200)
Total prize money: $700
Undoubtedly the best short film of the competition, the favourite of the VideoHelp members, and my personal favourite. Congratulations to Kristy Linderholm.
Paul's Reverie
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=290065
Second Place Winner (prize $200)
A favourite amongst several of the other judges, congratulations to Thomas Shaddox for an excellent short film.
Wasp
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=290068
Third Place Winner (prize $200)
Best Soundtrack (prize $100)
Total prize money: $300
A truly remarkable short film from a self described amateur. Superb combination of "live action" and animation and with the stunning use of surround sound effects, wins the "best soundtrack" award. Congratulations to Bo Johansen.
Good Day
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=290060
Fourth Place Winner (prize $200)
A unique and artistic film, quite different from many of the other entries. Congratulations Mani Ghodratnama for producing an excellent short film.
Baldrick - City of Tomorrow and The Baldrick
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=290056
http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=290066
Equal Fifth Place Winners (prize $100 each)
Excellent efforts and perhaps under-appreciated, these two films were particularly well received by the judges for keeping well to the theme word.
Congratulations to Onnie Granados and Eric Thomasma!
There you have it! The winning films of the VideoHelp.com Short Film Competition 2005. If we could, we would give everyone a prize, however, it is a competition after all.
All prize winners should contact me by e-mail (my e-mail address was in your application package) if you want to receive your prize. Monetary prizes are sent through PayPal only. Thus you will need to either provide me with the e-mail address you use for PayPal (or if you don't already have an account), just an e-mail account you are willing to use with PayPal. The prize money has been generously been provided by Baldrick, VideoHelp.com administrator.
Best regards.
_________________ Michael Tam
vitualis' Medical Rant :: stay updated, read the rant
The Medicine Box
GNU VCDImager Authoring Guide Series
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MackemX Member
Joined: 29 Nov 2002 Location: VIP Lounge
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sanjayk Member
Joined: 31 Jan 2005 Location: India
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to all winners ! Its time to celebrate
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mattso Member
Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Australia
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Just curious, 3rd place winner gets a bigger prize than 2nd place winner?
Anyway, good effort all-round, I must say. I hope this competition carries on every year?
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vitualis Moderator
Joined: 01 Oct 2000 Location: Australia
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greymalkin Member
Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Location: United States
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gadgetguy Contestant
Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Location: Michigan, USA
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I'd like to thank the academy...
Seriously, thanks to everyone involved in the preparation and execution of the Short Film Competition 2005, especially Vitualis, Offline and Baldrick. It was a fun and worthwhile experience.
_________________ "Shut up Wesley!"
-- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Buy My Book
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DereX888 Banned
Joined: 24 Aug 2002 Location: beautiful
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lordsmurf Video Restorer
Joined: 10 Jun 2003 Location: Want my advice? PM me.
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| DereX888 wrote: |
May I suggest the theme/subject for the next competition: "The Bald Rick" ?  |
Somebody should throw a dictionary against a wall, and the first page that comes out has the word. Toss the page in the air, and it picks it's own side. Finally, flip a coin that lands on the page. The word it covers most is the theme word.
Better yet, have some really rteally young kid open up the dictionary and point to any word.
_________________ digitalFAQ.com -- Help with VHS to DVD, DVD recorders, other video/photo issues.
NoMoreCoasters.com -- How to avoid bad burns, how to find the best blank DVDs.
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ozymango Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Location: Portland, OR
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ozymango Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Location: Portland, OR
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| vitualis wrote: |
The Cunning Plan
Undoubtedly the best short film of the competition, the favourite of the VideoHelp members, and my personal favourite. Congratulations to Kristy Linderholm.
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Author, author!!!
Perhaps Kristy will take some time from his or her busy schedule to share a little bit about themselves and the making of this movie?
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daamon Cockney Pommy
Joined: 10 Jun 2003 Location: Melbourne, Oz
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Good evening ladies and gentlemen. And "Congratulations" go to...
Drumroll...
...Each and every contestant, irrespective of prize money awarded or not - every entry has clearly appealled to someone. The planning, effort, time, weed and beer that was put into these projects is admirable.
...The admin team for their time and effort in getting this off the ground: Vitualis, offline and Baldrick. But also the supporting mods who were in the wings playing an equally vital role.
...The voters, for taking the time to download the clips, figure out how to get the codecs installed to watch them and for actually watching most, if not all, of them.
All in all - I'd say the "Short Film Competition 2005" was an inaugral success!!!
When can we look forward to the announcement of "Short Film Competition 2006"? Preferably sooner rather than later - that'll give everyone more time to ponder, prepare, shoot, edit and submit in time for a December deadline.
I've certainly been inspired by these entries and, with more time, will most likely submit.
_________________ There is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England: Telstra Stadium, Sydney, 22/11/2003.
Carpe diem.
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.
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lumis Member
Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Location: the remnants of pangea
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okay.. now that the competition is over i've got a few things i'd like to get off my chest.
1) why did the prize monies suddenly change?
the baldrick went from $500 to $200
the "best" awards went from $200 to $100
link to current page;
http://shortfilm.videohelp.com/2005/09/awards-and-judging.html
link to google's cache;
http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:kPJyzDqBKFYJ:shortfilm.video ... k&cd=1
2) i believe kristy's entry should have been disqualified, or atleast questioned.. although undoubetly the best film (hell, it's even my favorite).. it appears that kristy is a professional, or at worst semi-professional.. hell, her name is listed at imdb.. ozzymango brought this up in her entry thread, which raises some very interesting questions..
and hopefully he can get some type of interview to have those questions answered..
3) most of the entries (including my own, but especially "inside divx"), had nothing to do with baldrick, even a mild reference.. and should have been disqualified.. although the field would have significantly shrunk..
4) i'm glad a few people liked my entry.. most people seemed to despise it though.. but i did the best at being the worst, so i guess that counts for something
and a special thanks to DereX888 & his kids for their award.
_________________
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DereX888 Banned
Joined: 24 Aug 2002 Location: beautiful
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Well, I thought I saw different amounts before too...
yet it ain't my money, so I have no comments on that.
Lets all be happy there were *any* awards, since its not like Baldrick had to do it, right?
But I agree with your #2.
Perhaps next time the entry rules will be more strict and no professionals allowed?
@lumis:
theyre NOT MY kids, although one of them is my bro
I prefer not to have any children until I'm at least 50... or better yet: never
_________________ Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order and the like. - Justice Douglas
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vitualis Moderator
Joined: 01 Oct 2000 Location: Australia
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| lumis wrote: |
okay.. now that the competition is over i've got a few things i'd like to get off my chest.
1) why did the prize monies suddenly change? |
We didn't have as much total prize money as I originally thought.
| Quote: |
| 2) i believe kristy's entry should have been disqualified, or atleast questioned.. although undoubetly the best film (hell, it's even my favorite).. it appears that kristy is a professional, or at worst semi-professional.. hell, her name is listed at imdb.. ozzymango brought this up in her entry thread, which raises some very interesting questions.. |
I did not disallow professional or semi-professional applicants. I'm still not entirely sure that I should. It appears at least that Kristy's entry at least is a personal effort rather than a project that is part of a studio.
If Steven Spielberg decides to put in an entry the next time round and it was something that he made with his own two hands rather than through the resources of his studio, should it be disqualified? Tough question.
This time around though, I had not thought about the possibility when I was designing the comp.
| Quote: |
| 3) most of the entries (including my own, but especially "inside divx"), had nothing to do with baldrick, even a mild reference.. and should have been disqualified.. although the field would have significantly shrunk.. |
Some of the references were vague. We decided not to be strict with the theme word in this comp though "brownie points" were given to those entries that used the theme word well.
It is likely that we will use a less difficult theme word next time, and yes, probably disqualify films that do not include the theme.
| Quote: |
4) i'm glad a few people liked my entry.. most people seemed to despise it though.. but i did the best at being the worst, so i guess that counts for something  |
I have my personal favourites but I think that all the entrants should be applauded for at least putting in the effort.
Regards.
_________________ Michael Tam
vitualis' Medical Rant :: stay updated, read the rant
The Medicine Box
GNU VCDImager Authoring Guide Series
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jimmalenko VH Veteran
Joined: 27 Aug 2003 Location: Down under
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| vitualis wrote: |
| I did not disallow professional or semi-professional applicants. I'm still not entirely sure that I should. It appears at least that Kristy's entry at least is a personal effort rather than a project that is part of a studio. |
How's about something like a minimum post count of 100 posts or something ? At least that might weed out a few blow-ins. JMHO but I'd like to see an active contributor get rewarded and not just someone who can register specifically and solely for the purposes of the film competition.
_________________ If in doubt, Google it.
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gadgetguy Contestant
Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Location: Michigan, USA
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I want a clarification on the whole "Theme" thing, because I read it to mean that the theme of the movie was to be "Baldrick", but it was pretty clear that most people felt that you only had to reference "Baldrick" somewhere in the film. Will you be disqualifying films that only reference the theme word, but don't really have it as the theme of the film? Or will that still be acceptable?
Edit: Just saw Jimmy's suggestion. I think that's an excellent idea.
_________________ "Shut up Wesley!"
-- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Buy My Book
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Baddox Member
Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Location: Mexico, MO, United States
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How many of the films had original soundtracks? I think that's what the category should have been.
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ozymango Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Location: Portland, OR
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| Baddox wrote: |
| How many of the films had original soundtracks? I think that's what the category should have been. |
I know it's quibbling, but are we talking Best Music (on the soundtrack) or Best Sound Design (combined use of various sound sources on the soundtrack, including music)? I'm assuming you mean Best Original Music. Is that correct?
I love Bo's music soundtrack, but it is worth pointing out that the sound design and editing, including music, on "Paul's Reverie" is worth a special noting for it's complexity and quality beyond "just having cool original music." But being none of the sub-categories were open for viewer voting, I guess it's up to the judges to decide what they want to use for qualification purposes.
Anyway, anybody know if the music from The Cunning Plan was original to the film (written for the movie) or not? It sorta sounds familiar but I really like it and wonder if it was written for the movie, is it from a recording, or is it a recorded-for-the-movie-arrangement-of-an-existing-tune?
EDIT: I also very much enjoyed the sound design/editing on "Good Day," as well as the musical choices, but because the musical inclusions weren't composed for the movie but from other sources, I gave the nod to "Paul's Reverie."
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ozymango Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Location: Portland, OR
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| vitualis wrote: |
| lumis wrote: |
1) why did the prize monies suddenly change? |
We didn't have as much total prize money as I originally thought.
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First, thanks to you and all for even having this short film competition, and rewarding prizes.
Being this was the first time out, despite the snafus I certainly had a good time and would definitely be interested in entering a film in any future contest.
So, in that spirit -- and acknowledging that so far I've seen no actual postings from any of the judges or sponsors asking for feedback about the contest itself, only about the contest entries -- I'll offer a few obviously unsolicited comments :
In regards to the monetary prizes, I can certainly understand how financing can fall through. But in future cases, should this occur, could a timely and not-unobvious notice be posted somewhere updating both entrants and viewers as to such a change as soon as it happens?
While this didn't and wouldn't affect my entry in any way (changes in prize amounts), that does seem a fairly large change in the contest and all effort should be made to notify entrants accordingly when there are big changes.
| Quote: |
I did not disallow professional or semi-professional applicants. I'm still not entirely sure that I should. It appears at least that Kristy's entry at least is a personal effort rather than a project that is part of a studio.
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I also have no issues with professional entrants; in fact, I think it would be way-cool if some pro or top-notch amateur is a member of this list and wants to enter.
My concern with "professional" entrants is only along the lines of having them declare their status at the time of entry, and that I think it would encourage wider participation of both pros and amateurs if there were separate categories for both.
How one would define a "pro" is certainly something you'd have to work out, for your own purposes.
| Quote: |
If Steven Spielberg decides to put in an entry the next time round and it was something that he made with his own two hands rather than through the resources of his studio, should it be disqualified? Tough question.
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I think the answer to that question is very much worthy of further consideration, and depends to a great extent on the goal or goals of the contest and the judges in the first place. And I'm not sure I understand the motivation behind this contest, if indeed there is one.
Is the goal to show the best films of a certain length, period? Then one just allows all levels of entry, with no differentiation between any levels of expertise.
Is the goal to show both good movies and encourage participation of the most videohelp.com members? Then one may want to allow and encourage entry by anyone and everyone, and have a separate "award" or even category for contributions by members. And of course one would have to decide what it is to be a "member."
Is the goal perhaps an experiment to see what kinds of "promotions" videohelp.com might offer to encourage more members, more advertising, etc.? Is their hope that these contest entries might be used for specific promotional purposes already in development?
| Quote: |
| We decided not to be strict with the theme word in this comp though "brownie points" were given to those entries that used the theme word well. |
Did "brownie points" have any impact on the actual real-world points awarded to any film?
I'm not trying to pry and I mean no disrespect, I'm just genuinely curious as to whether there were any general or specific hopes and interests on the part of the sponsors and judges as to what you wanted to accomplish here. I know when I submitted my movie, I had two goals:
1) Get noticed, and make people laugh.
2) Maybe make a few $$$.
Being as I accomplished both goals, I am 100% satisfied with my own goals in this contest. I'd just love to know if we're helping to satisfy your goals out there!!!
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Baddox Member
Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Location: Mexico, MO, United States
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Yes, I mean Best Original Music, or Best Original Score it could be called.
| ozymango wrote: |
Anyway, anybody know if the music from The Cunning Plan was original to the film (written for the movie) or not? It sorta sounds familiar but I really like it and wonder if it was written for the movie, is it from a recording, or is it a recorded-for-the-movie-arrangement-of-an-existing-tune?
EDIT: I also very much enjoyed the sound design/editing on "Good Day," as well as the musical choices, but because the musical inclusions weren't composed for the movie but from other sources, I gave the nod to "Paul's Reverie."  |
If either of these or any other films used other people's/groups' recordings or recorded-for-the-movie-arrangements-of-existing-tunes without permission they were in violation of copyright laws (assuming this contest adheres to USA or similar copyright laws), and could/should be prosecuted, or at the very least, disqualified from the contest. Recognizable tunes or lyrics are copyrighted as much as the studio recordings themselves.
On another note, I empathize with ozymango regarding the balance of motivations between fun, getting noticed, and rewards. While I did indeed do this film mostly for fun (it's not like I saw the contest was opened, and thus went out and bought a camera with no prior liking to cinematography just to make a few hundred bucks), I did agree to follow all the contest rules with the hope of the promised possibility of rewards. If I made this film purely for fun, I wouldn't have stayed up late most days the last week before the deadline--I would have taken as long as I wanted to to finish it. I'm sure most of those who entered films would agree with me. Let me say that I am in no way sour about the changes in the rewards--money is better than not one bit of money, but it could be argued that since I and the other filmmakers followed the rules of the contest (all the while having fun, but still having to rush myself and stress myself out as the deadline approached), we should expect the other parts of the contest announcements to be followed.
Honestly, the 2 week delay in the results made me more antsy than the prize change. I repeat that I am in no way sour--this was their first contest and my first contest entry, so it can be expected that both sides wouldn't have everything go their way.
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vitualis Moderator
Joined: 01 Oct 2000 Location: Australia
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Thanks for the comments!
1. Regarding professional / semi-professional entries
I do not think that the competition should be restricted to "long time" VideoHelp.com members. Simply, it will be too restricted a competition.
I am of two minds about "professionals" entering the comp. Although I can see that it may not necessarily be "fair" for amateurs / enthusiasts entering the competition, it also raises the quality the competition. Just because someone has a degree of technical competence does not mean that they will produce a good short film. Similarly, as shown by the short film by Bo, being a complete newbie does not mean an excellent film cannot be produced.
The problem with "making another category", is that it is yet another criteria to judge AND it raises the problem if we don't get enough entries for that category. My personal opinion is that all clips should be judged equally. I agree with the comments above that for the next comp, we need more disclosure on the background of the entrants.
2. Regarding the theme word "Baldrick"
I have posted this a number of times. "Baldrick" needed only to have been referenced in the short film. How important or unimportant it is to the short film is up to the author. However, "clever" uses of the theme word were viewed favourably, though not specifically scored for.
"The Cunning Plan" fitted well with the theme with the multi-level use of "Baldrick" (the character named "Baldric" who was "helped people" like our own Baldrick, the use of the photo of Baldrick from Blackadder, and the use of the term "cunning plan", again a reference to Baldrick from the series).
3. Regarding "soundtracks"
Firstly, let me remind everyone that how the judges made their decisions were our perogative.
I used the term "soundtrack" in a generic "use of audio" sense. That is, sound effects, music, etc. Some of the other judges may have taken it differently. I "could" have broken the category into more defined "music", "sound effects", "sound production" domains but I simply decided not to. Remeber, I'm doing this in my limited free time, not as a job.
As per the competition guidelines, existing copyright laws cannot be broken. As far as I know, none of the accepted entries did for video or audio content. No complaints from members of the public were raised in the 14 days of public viewing. It's a little bit late now for speculation.
4. Regarding changes in the competition timing and awards
@ ozymango: fair enough.
However, as per the contest conditions, I/we maintained the right to change the competition at any time. Actually, for a while in early December, I thought about cancelling the whole thing since at that stage we had only a handful of entries.
Remember that we have real lives and real jobs too! I was horrendously busy over the Christmas and New Year period and the film comp simply was not a high enough priority for me to pay much attention to it. It was only a few days before the "announcement deadline" that I actually had enough time to download all the film clips and start judging the clips. offline was a great help during this period. Obviously, as I had not arranged for clips for public download, the annoucement of the "member's choice award" was going to be inevitably delayed. I made an "executive" decision to also delay the judging results so to not influence the public scores to the short films.
As for the cash award, blame Baldrick. Actually, since he footing the bill for the prizes and provided the bandwidth and webhost, you probably shouldn't unless you want a banning...
5. Regarding promotions
Actually, the only film I considered to be close to disqualification was the "Behind Divx" entry as it was getting somewhat close to a commercial promotion. I think that it would lessen the competition if we allowed adverts, even subtle ones, as entries in the competition.
6. Regarding "brownie points"
I wondered if that turn of phrase would come to bite me on the arse... No, as part of the judging criteria, there was no specific rating system for "Baldrick-ness". However, how the top films were selected were on a criteria I dubbed "overall impression" -- my logic being, that a film may be fantastic in one or two disciplines but still "suck" overall. Alternatively, a crappy soundtrack with crappy acting may not preclude a short film from actually being really good.
Those films that used the theme word well would have made a better impression on the judges, and presumably, have scored better in the "overall impression" criteria.
7. Regarding my "goals"
It is probably not well known to the current VideoHelp.com membership, but I / the mods tried to organise a film comp about 2 years ago. That sort of fizzled as we had issues uploads, bandwidth and eventually, lack of interest. A lot of the material (e.g., terms and conditions, judging criteria, etc.) used in the comp were actually recycled from the previous comp.
This time around, I decided to be a little bit more proactive... and it mostly worked. Snafus I blame on myself for not allocating enough time to run the comp.
My goals were to be able to see something unexpected. To see creativity in action. And to participate in something completely outside my career discipline. The varied short films submitted, more than met my expectations (you can see what I consider to be my favourites in my blog).
Thank you all for your valued comments.
I do intend to run another competition later in the year.
Regards.
_________________ Michael Tam
vitualis' Medical Rant :: stay updated, read the rant
The Medicine Box
GNU VCDImager Authoring Guide Series
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offline incognito
Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Location: Mondo Caine
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You should know that vitualis single handedly resurrected, designed the framework, and ran every aspect of this years competition. He managed this despite, at the end, being exhausted after working a 10 consecutive day week. My role was very minor. The five Judges spent a minimum of 3 hours each just viewing the entries before even entering their raw results, and this was despite two of them being sick and two being particularly busy at that time.
In the end it was worth the effort. Despite the less than expected number of submissions, the quality and entertainment value of those we got was beyond outstanding.
Thank you film makers and thank you to those that voted. Also thanks to Baldrick who made this event possible.
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ozymango Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Location: Portland, OR
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| vitualis wrote: |
It is probably not well known to the current VideoHelp.com membership, but I / the mods tried to organise a film comp about 2 years ago.
My goals were to be able to see something unexpected. To see creativity in action. And to participate in something completely outside my career discipline. The varied short films submitted, more than met my expectations (you can see what I consider to be my favourites in my blog).
Thank you all for your valued comments.
I do intend to run another competition later in the year.
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Vitualis (Michael);
Thank you very, very much for putting on the contest and for your comments/responses above. I am glad to know that you also enjoyed it enough to even think about doing it again!
Of course I speak only for myself here, but I certainly didn't know you tried to do this before, and I certainly would have had a completely different approach to this contest had I known some of the background you presented here. And not in a bad way! In a good way!
I will humbly submit, along those lines, that many other people (both contest entrants and the viewing public) might also share some of my increased positive appreciation if we'd known, at the start, some of your hopes, issues, and concerns.
I'm fairly certain that more people will enter the next contest simply because they now have some idea what kinds of movies people made; I loved hearing from all the movie makers about how their stuff came to be!
And I will humbly submit that many people will surprise you with talent, support, and generosity -- if you let them.
Thanks again!
P.S. Also and I'm not trying to be a smartass here, please don't forget that some of the contest entrants also have real lives and real jobs! In my younger years, my family (mostly father) used to put on local bicycle races, criteriums and road races ... we ended up with amateur entrants ... and more than a few ABLA (later USCF) cyclists participating ... and all sorts of hitches ... ...
Anyway, I'll seriously be glad to help participate behind-the-scenes in a future contest, if you'd like! For no charge! Within limits!
Last edited by ozymango on Jan 29, 2006 12:23, edited 1 time in total
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DereX888 Banned
Joined: 24 Aug 2002 Location: beautiful
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Baddox Member
Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Location: Mexico, MO, United States
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| vitualis wrote: |
Just because someone has a degree of technical competence does not mean that they will produce a good short film. Similarly, as shown by the short film by Bo, being a complete newbie does not mean an excellent film cannot be produced.
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I think some people would be surprised how many of us who entered the competition were "complete newbies". Others who entered should speak for themselves, but I for one found out about this competition in mid-November, after owning a camcorder for only 5 months. Neither I nor the other guy who helped me with this entry had ANY experience with any aspect of film making (with the exception of prior musical experience, although still only moderate experience with recording). In fact, I bought my camera only to record humorous impromptu antics among friends and various events, and was only inspired to try making an actual film by seeing this competition. So, yeah, I could definitely be considered a "complete newbie," but I didn't feel it necessary or proper to openly announce that during the judging and voting period of the competition. While quite applaudable, Bo's operational knowledge of the software and effects methods he used doesn't lead me to believe he's a complete newbie, unless you mean a complete newbie to film competitions, in which case, I'd bet many of the entries would be considered complete newbness.
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ozymango Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Location: Portland, OR
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| Baddox wrote: |
| In fact, I bought my camera only to record humorous impromptu antics among friends and various events, and was only inspired to try making an actual film by seeing this competition. So, yeah, I could definitely be considered a "complete newbie," but I didn't feel it necessary or proper to openly announce that during the judging and voting period of the competition. |
Probably the single biggest reason that I entered this contest was a chance to be part of something special -- a bunch of people who wanted to see what they could do, with what they had. And the thing I have enjoyed most is getting to know something about the other entrants, and how they made their movies. Thanks for sharing, Baddox!
EDIT: And while I applaud your modesty in that you didn't feel it "necessary or proper" to announce your amateur status during the competition , I personally feel it's relevant in consideration of your film as evidence of a much greater talent.
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Gobs Member
Joined: 30 Sep 2005 Location: Denmark
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| Baddox wrote: |
So, yeah, I could definitely be considered a "complete newbie," but I didn't feel it necessary or proper to openly announce that during the judging and voting period of the competition. While quite applaudable, Bo's operational knowledge of the software and effects methods he used doesn't lead me to believe he's a complete newbie, unless you mean a complete newbie to film competitions, in which case, I'd bet many of the entries would be considered complete newbness. |
I wrote in the application form that I've never made a shortfilm before. Which I hasn't. I didn't know that the application form would be posted on the forum. It was not a diabolic scheme to make everyone like my movie. I was just excited that I had a reason to make a shortfilm.
I'm sorry you are so mad at me. I really liked your movie , and it did get a better place than mine.
Bo
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gadgetguy Contestant
Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Location: Michigan, USA
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| vitualis wrote: |
2. Regarding the theme word "Baldrick"
I have posted this a number of times. "Baldrick" needed only to have been referenced in the short film. How important or unimportant it is to the short film is up to the author. However, "clever" uses of the theme word were viewed favourably, though not specifically scored for.
"The Cunning Plan" fitted well with the theme with the multi-level use of "Baldrick" (the character named "Baldric" who was "helped people" like our own Baldrick, the use of the photo of Baldrick from Blackadder, and the use of the term "cunning plan", again a reference to Baldrick from the series).
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I just wanted it clarified so I know whether to start working on my entry for Short Film Competition 2006 or wait until it's announced.
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Baddox Member
Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Location: Mexico, MO, United States
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Oh no, I'm far from mad at you. There's nothing wrong with saying that in the application, assuming that the application comments wouldn't be made public. I wasn't directing any disgruntlement toward you--it's just a bit discouraging for admins to say things to the extent of: "Everyone did a great job, take Bo's submission for example, it placed in the top 3 even though he was a complete newbie" when I myself was also a complete newbie. The level of experience really isn't relative. What would be relative would be if someone had the support and budget of a studio. And while it technically wouldn't be against the rules, it would really bug me if a seasoned professional film maker submitted a film and took home all the prize money that he/she doesn't even remotely need. To use a previous example, if Spielberg spent 10,000 dollars for an entry to this competition just to secure a couple hundred dollars of prize money, it would in fact tick me off quite a bit, having worked undoubtedly harder than Spielberg, but to no avail.
I don't know exactly what the gracious hosts of this competition intended the entries to be, but I got the impression that they were looking for very low- or no-budget films that were good because of creativity and resolve instead of experience and technical prowess. Phrases such as "pickup up your miniDV camcorder" lead me to arrive at these conclusions. That being said, no entry looked to me to be backed by a large budget or studio or anything of the sort, and I think the competition was a success--I hope the hosts believe so as well. Please, no hard feelings Gobs, none were intended.
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