A Monthly Competition. Interested??

[freak_in_cage_10k]

I'd throw in some US cash flow for that. I don't really like the idea that people will have to pay to enter their movie. What if paying was not required? But you can only win the prizes if you have paid??

thats a gd idea man, maybe a CD with all the created videos could be sold v cheap to help pay for it in the future?

i especialy like the "last months winner gets to judge" idea.

with ppl on modems- why not burn your movie onto a CD-R and then use an internet cafe to upload it?! it wouldn;t take v long so wouldn;t cost much at alL!!

[pacmania_2001]

I'd throw in some US cash flow for that. I don't really like the idea that people will have to pay to enter their movie. What if paying was not required? But you can only win the prizes if you have paid??

Hmm... I'm not too sure about the two different classes of entry type thing(those who paid/those who didnt).

The things we need to first work out is
(a) How many people are interested in doing it. (Judging by this thread, quite a few)
(b) Can we get sponsers (have to talk to Baldrick more about that)
(c) What do people prefer (entrance fees, voluntary donations etc). We could hold a poll to figure this out.

I don't mind doing like the web design for the site if needed either.

[tgpo]

Other could upload them as well. I'll gladly upload entries if people mail them to me on a CD.

[pacmania_2001]

I don't mind uploading any entries either provided they are mailed to me (crappy download limit ).

So if any Australians/New Zealanders want to enter they could send it to me.

Good idea too about the CD/DVD of the entries being sold to help pay for the costs.

[tgpo]

Okay we need to lay down some rules. All moderaters interested meet in the mod forum.

[rhegedus]

How about running it for a few months without prizes? That way you get to know the interest in the competition and entrants get to know what level they need to aim for.

[Baldrick]

2-3 GB? How did you calculate that?

5 movies x 10 MB = 50 MB * 100 downloads = 5 GB
5 movies x 20 MB = 100 MB * 100 downloads = 10 GB
5 movies x 20 MB = 100 MB * 500 downloads = 50 GB


This site total bandwitdh is about 600-1000 GB / month....and it is only compressed text and tiny images.

Or should only the judges be able to view the movies??

[pacmania_2001]

This site total bandwitdh is about 600-1000 GB / month....and it is only compressed text

.

Holy Shite.

I was just wondering about that before when looking at plans and I guessed around 100GB.

[tgpo]

How did I come up with them??

I guessed :P

I've never had to think about bandwidth before, my host gives unlimited. I think we need to get a list of who wants to be included in the first month's competition. This way we get an idea of about what we're loking at here.

[pacmania_2001]

Perhaps to save bandwidth only the judges can see all the movies and only say the top 3 get posted for general viewing.

How does that sound?

[tgpo]

Sounds good.

We should also pm everyone who submits with comments/improvements that could be made.

We could also let everyone know in a general way what needs to be improved in most videos, and offer tips and tricks and stuff.

Perhaps the winner could also share their secrets and thoughts about their video with everyone.

[pacmania_2001]

Yeh, I am thinking that the site would have the following (just throwing out ideas).

Top 3 videos
Comments by judges on them.
Honourable mentions
Tips for entrants
Sponsor Page
Submission details

Anything else you guys can think of?

Edit: We can also help pay for the site by having advertising (no pop-ups though).

[tgpo]

Yeah. Perhaps a few of the advertisers of dvdrhelp.com would like to also helpout our spinoff site.

[pacmania_2001]

Perhaps a few of the advertisers of dvdrhelp.com would like to also helpout our spinoff site.

Maybe Shop4Tech perhaps?

[tgpo]

Perhaps a few of the advertisers of dvdrhelp.com would like to also helpout our spinoff site.

Maybe Shop4Tech perhaps?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jomo isn't welcome.

[tgpo]

Yeh, I am thinking that the site would have the following (just throwing out ideas).

Top 3 videos
Comments by judges on them.
Honourable mentions
Tips for entrants
Sponsor Page
Submission details

Anything else you guys can think of?

Edit: We can also help pay for the site by having advertising (no pop-ups though).

Perhaps we could have users submit video tutorials for various programs. How to get specific effects, editting techniques. Lighting tips. Camera ratings. Various Camera Features - I would like this one myself!!!

[pacmania_2001]

Perhaps we could have users submit video tutorials for various programs. How to get specific effects, editting techniques. Lighting tips. Camera ratings. Various Camera Features - I would like this one myself!!!

Sounds good.

I was also thinking that if anyone else (non-judges) wanted to see all the entrants for a month (not just top 3) than we could offer (for a small charge) a CD with the movies on them.

[tgpo]

A cd sounds good. We'll need to get all the posters permission to use the videos. Maybe when they submit we need a line in the agreement that we can distribute the video and charge for it to pay for the website.

[pacmania_2001]

Yeh, just a standard release form. Maybe Adam or Txpharoah can give us some advice on what we would need.

[tgpo]

It seems like we just may have something here.

I guess now we should move onto the website design.

[vitualis]

Short film contest definitely sounds good!

Perhaps some entrance rules like (please discuss!):

• 2 minute limit
• DivX / MPEG-4 only
• Framesize = ??
• Framerate: 25 fps or 29.97 fps only
• Max bitrate limit of ??
• Audio = stereo only?
  
• Restriction on content?? No porn?? Other stuff (could be hard to judge)??
• The yearly tropicana short film festival in Sydney (huge event) usually has a "theme" each year. For example, a year or two ago, each short film had to somehow incorporate "matchstick" in the film. Perhaps we could do something similar?
  
• Strict closing date -- should it be monthly or bi-monthly or quarterly?
• Video clip to be e-mailed / FTP uploaded / mailed on CD?? -- to whom?

Whoever receives all the video clips must then put them all on CDs (thus total max. bitrate and hence size rule is important) and send them to all the judges... ?? Moderators ??

The winning clip is posted for general viewing. Would there be a ?? prize for the winner or just bragging rights?

There could perhaps be a description + pictures of a number of short-listed clips and the short-listed authors get a copy of the CD with the video clips for free.

Everyone else could purchase the CD with the video clips of the entrants for a small and reasonable fee... e.g., approx. $US 10-15 (or even $5 but then it's starting to get a little hard to pay for the postage and packaging).

Ideas?

Regards.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

No porn?? Regards.

DOH!!! - unless of course it saves us from tgpo flashing his 1 inch wonder around the place, so i guess the rule does have advantages! :P

[tgpo]

Short film contest definitely sounds good!

Perhaps some entrance rules like (please discuss!):

• 2 minute limit
• DivX / MPEG-4 only
• Framesize = ??
• Framerate: 25 fps or 29.97 fps only
• Max bitrate limit of ??
• Audio = stereo only?
  
  

• I think that 3-5 min would be better. You can compress almost 6min of video as MPEG-4 and have it still look good for under 5mb.
  
  I say DivX/3ivx/MPEG-4 only.
  
  Framesize can be what ever you can get in under the size limit. But nothing smaller 320x240.
  
  Framerate: NTSC or Pal standards would probably favor best. Nothing Under NTSC Film.
  
  Max Bitrate: As high as you can make it while remaining under 5mb
  
  Audio: Stereo/Mono, whichever.
  
  These are just my thoughts.
  
  

• Restriction on content?? No porn?? Other stuff (could be hard to judge)??

[tgpo]

No porn?? Regards.

DOH!!! - unless of course it saves us from tgpo flashing his 1 inch wonder around the place, so i guess the rule does have advantages! :P

Naw man. It's 7 inches......around.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

No porn?? Regards.

DOH!!! - unless of course it saves us from tgpo flashing his 1 inch wonder around the place, so i guess the rule does have advantages! :P

Naw man. It's 7 inches......around.

lol- a modification to stiflers "ladies, i have a 12 inch P****.....AROUND!!!" from american Pie 2 i believe lol!

[galactica]

Just out of curiosity:

what would the judging criteria be?

Quality of the clip? Effects? Acting ability?.................

[tgpo]

No. We're not gonna grade on encoding quality and stuff like this. I've detailed my ideas about what we should grade on in the mod forum.

[tgpo]

So how's the website looking thus far pacmania??

[pacmania_2001]

Check the mod forum tgpo, I have put up a basic design in there. If the majority like it in there I will publish a picture of it out here.

[vitualis]

For people wanting some tabs on progress...

What we are thinking about at present:
- 2-3 monthly short film competition
- probably 5 min max length with max. size of around 20 Mb
- exact allowable video specs not hammered out yet but probably DivX/MPEG-4 only
- clips to be mailed on CD-ROM to me (and I will redistribute to other judges)
- you can host your own clips if you want public appriaisal

- we will judge by a number of criteria
- winners will win a small prize (probably nominal only + bragging rights unless we get sponsors)
- enter for the glory!!

Regards.