DV CHALLENGE #2

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the second episode of our digital video challenge. This challenge, although hosted by DVinfo, is not an official DVinfo event, but an individual challenge amongst members, hosted by myself. Thanks to Chris Hurd for letting us do this here.

Our second challenge follows the rules and format of the first challenge.

The rules:

To enter, you just need to make a post in the sign up thread (look above or below this thread) stating that you are competing, and you are in. In your post, feel free to tell us your location and a little about yourself. If you post an intent to compete, but end up not entering, or not making the deadline, YOUR NAME WILL BE ADDED TO OUR WALL OF SHAME. Names will stay on the wall of shame until you compete in a following competition.


6pm PST, Thursday, July 7th, I will post the theme of challenge #2. This is a guideline you must follow or adapt to your movie. It will be pretty broad, giving you lots of room to work with. You then have until midnight Friday, July 15th to shoot, edit, and post your video on the web. When your film is complete and ready for viewing on the web, you email me the URL to your video, which I will forward to the other judges (this is to make sure the judges get to see your movie before mass response blows your bandwidth out). Once we have all seen your video, I will make a post with everyone’s URL in DVinfo so that everyone can review your work. Winners will be announced on Sunday.

The genre of our second competition will be: ANY. That's right, anything goes, comedy/action/drama/documentary, etc... as long as you stick to the theme. To give you some idea, the theme of Challenge #1 was "Trapped".

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NEW: There will be a sub category of judging! Besides the main round of judging, there will also be a technical category! This is separate from the main judging. Films will also be judged on use of a technical aspect of filmmaking, such as editing, specific cinematography, foley, costumes, etc... THE TECHNICAL CATEGORY WILL BE NAMED AT THE SAME TIME THE THEME IS GIVEN!
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You are entirely responsible for putting your film up on the web. We cannot help you with this, but we will provide some info to help you. If your film is not available for us to see at the scheduled time, it is not our responsibility and you are out of judging. You may not show your film to anyone before the judges see it.

The duration of your film must be under 3 minutes, including titles. There is no penalty for films considerably shorter than 3 minutes, so you can enter with a 30 second film if you like.

YOUR FILM MUST BE ALL NEW MATERIAL.
50% of your score will be on the use of the theme. If you shoot ahead of time, and ditch the theme, you will lose.

All levels of competition are welcome, from high school to Hollywood.

Although this is a contest to get us all out there making movies and polish our skills, a little competition makes it a little more fun. Winners will receive a cheap paper certificate hot off my laser printer. DVinfo moderators may enter, but will not be considered for judging.

You retain 100% ownership of your film, and are 100% responsible for its content. If you plan on using copyright music or material, be prepared to provide proof that you have the rights to use it.

Deadlines:
The deadline is midnight, Pacific Standard Time, Friday July 15th. to email the URL of your film to me.

Scoring:
50% on use of theme, 50% on production value. Technical theme is judged separately. Awards to Best Picture, Runner Up, and Best Use Of Technical Theme.

Please feel free to email questions/suggestions to me at dylancouper@hotmail.com

Not sure if it is a problem with others, but waiting a month, or signing up over a month in advance for this seems a bit excessive.

I was expecting a theme in about a week, like this Thursday or Friday, not July 7th. How many of us know what we will be duing a month from now, and if we will have time. Hell, at 57, I may not be alive by then!

Just my two cents.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Because I'm no "spring chicken" myself, I laughed at and empathized with your remark! However, it may be that picking a timeframe is a no-win situation. If I remember correctly, there were people who felt bad about Challenge #1 because they didn't have time to see the post and enter. This way more people will have the opportunity.

Personally? Even though it's not great timing for me, I'll go for it just because it's fun. And if something goes wrong and I end up on the "wall of shame," well--I just do!

I hope you'll give it a go. It's a lot of work, but last time my friends and I had a blast!

Yeah, I like the greater lead time. In terms of lining up crew and talent it is pretty key.

How do you sign up without knowing the theme? I'd like to sign up, but if the theme does not trigger my imagination? :(

Thanks for the reply Lorinda. You are probably right on the time, but it is hard to wait. I'll spend my time studying I guess. Best of luck!

Mike

How do you sign up without knowing the theme? I'd like to sign up, but if the theme does not trigger my imagination? :(

I suspect that's why its the DV Challenge instead of the DV Contest :)

Not sure if it is a problem with others, but waiting a month, or signing up over a month in advance for this seems a bit excessive.

Mike

Mike, want to know the truth? :)

I wanted to run it by now, but I've been out of town for the last week, I'm back for 5 days, then I'm out of town on a different gig for another 10 days. That brings up to the end of June, and I certainly wasn't going to schedule this to run through the July 1st / July 4th holidays. The following weekend was the next best time.


How do you sign up without knowing the theme? I'd like to sign up, but if the theme does not trigger my imagination? :(

Cosmin, if everyone knew the theme, they could start shooting it right now, and take a month to do it, taking the challenge out of it.
The theme will be VERY broad. Look at the last one with the theme of "trapped" and the variety of entries we had.

Can I offer a prize to make things a little "more interesting"?
Maybe Chris will throw in one of those cool LED flashlights he was giving away at NAB too :)

-Guy

You bet! Just shoot me an email!

I look forward to it

"Cosmin, if everyone knew the theme, they could start shooting it right now, and take a month to do it, taking the challenge out of it."

I understand. But is it still possible to sign up AFTER the theme is announced?

"Mike, want to know the truth? :)

I wanted to run it by now, but I've been out of town for the last week, I'm back for 5 days, then I'm out of town on a different gig for another 10 days. That brings up to the end of June, and I certainly wasn't going to schedule this to run through the July 1st / July 4th holidays. The following weekend was the next best time."

I was gone for most of the month of May, and the first five days of June, so I know how it is.

Thanks Dylan, and what format do you suggest for the post so that the most viewers can see it---Quick Time?

Thanks-----Mike

"Cosmin, if everyone knew the theme, they could start shooting it right now, and take a month to do it, taking the challenge out of it."

I understand. But is it still possible to sign up AFTER the theme is announced?


I'm thinking about it. On one hand, if someone just found out about the competition and wanted to enter late, I'd think about letting them enter, since there is no advantage. However, what you are asking is "can I wait until I see what the theme is, and if I like it, I'll enter", which is against the spirit of the challenge, so I'm tempted to say no. I'll think about it for a few days, but I'm leaning towards no.

Really, the theme will be so broad that you shouldn't have a hard time coming up with a few minutes of video to wrap around it. Those of us who compete in 24 and 48 hour competitions have no problem shooting 6 minute pieces that require us to jump through all kinds of hoops (using music, props, locations, detailed themes, sub-themes, characters, etc...) which I hate.

This contest is more about just getting people out and doing it. If you complete a project, you are ahead of those who didn't try.

Thanks Dylan, and what format do you suggest for the post so that the most viewers can see it---Quick Time?

Thanks-----Mike


If it was me, I'd use Quicktime.

Scoring:
50% on use of theme, 50% on production value. Technical theme is judged separately. Awards to Best Picture, Runner Up, and Best Use Of Technical Theme.

Dylan,

Is it possible to add a scoring category for artistic merit? It seems as is stands that if you produce a truly meaningless piece that solidly fits the theme and looks great you will win.

This seems a lot different than Challenge #1:

No, you will not be judged on camera/picture quality. Whether you shoot on HDV or a $500 one chip camera makes no difference. The story you write and the way you deliver it will represent the majority of your score. Production value will fit into your score, but the camera itself is not important.

I would really like to see a 1-5 (or 1-10) each for Theme, Production Value, and Artistic Merit (which can include script, acting, etc.).

But that's me :).

Thanks again for running it.

Dylan,

Is it possible to add a scoring category for artistic merit? It seems as is stands that if you produce a truly meaningless piece that solidly fits the theme and looks great you will win.

This seems a lot different than Challenge #1:


It's basicaly the same as how we scored #1. :)

If it fits the theme, how can it be meaningless? The artistic aspect is how you deal with the theme, and that goes beyond just dialogue. If someone incorperated the theme somehow else into their film then.... Hmm... Maybe I'm giving too much of a hint. Nevermind.

I'm heading out of town until the 28th, if you have any general questions please post them, if you have any urgent questions, please forward them to my hotmail account. Thanks!

EVERYONE GETS A FREEBIE!!!
I'm working on a shoot tomorrow, and will not be home in time to post the theme for DV Challenge #2, therefore, I will be posting it tomorrow MORNING, instead of 6pm PST. This gives y'all an extra 12 hours! You’re welcome! Don't waste it!

Just an FYI for first timers:
By this point you should have some sort of shooting schedule in place, and a cast and crew, even if it is only yourself and your cat.
A safe schedule would be something like:
-Brainstorm ideas Thursday night.
-Write script and gather resources Friday.
-Shoot Saturday. Capture footage Saturday night.
-Re-shoot ugly footage Sunday. (just kidding)
-Edit, edit, edit in all your free time until Tuesday.
-Get it online Wednesday.
-Go out and party Thursday and Friday night, but not before sending me the link to your movie.

New email!

thedvchallenge@hotmail.com

It it seems as if the only exercise I get lately is "jumping to conclusions" or in this case "Jumping to challenges". My first "shame" award for having to back out, however I am consoled in that at the last minute my best client hired me for a project that will permit me to build a DIY killer box for photo retouching and .... AND NLE video editing.
Yours,
Tom

Not sure why I didn't cancel weeks ago.. (wishful thinking rocks!). Sign me up for the wall of shame. The indy feature I'm working on this summer (Deadlands - DoP) goes into production this weekend and I was hoping to get something done before that started. But all I've been doing the last week is getting ready for that.

No dice.. maybe next time.

I almost broke my arm this weekend because of a chair accident, and so I just basically today feel comfortable getting back to being a DP, so I doubt that I'll be able to turn one in.

Everyone's got a story... :)

SOrry guys, unless someone dies or you are doing 16 hour days on a feature, there is no excuse. Anyone can find 3 hours to whip up a one minute piece for the competition. Wall of Shame it is!

No biggy.

I dunno.. I wasn't feeling terribly inspired by the topic. It's a fine topic, the gods just didn't strike me with the inspiration I needed.

(quasi-excuse) FWIW, my best friends father did pass away last week (very close - like a 2nd father growing up). I started thinking about doing something relating to that (there are some family secrets.. legends.. etc - respectful of course - a tribute) but for various reasons just couldn't make it work.

Maybe next time.

Dylan,
I can't remember if last time we were able to view the shorts before a winner was announced. Will we be able to this time? I'd love to watch them all and decide which one I think was the best before the winner is revealed.

Dylan,
I can't remember if last time we were able to view the shorts before a winner was announced. Will we be able to this time? I'd love to watch them all and decide which one I think was the best before the winner is revealed.

I think so. On saturday all links are published and on sunday the winner is revealed. I am gonna hand in my entry today...

Erm, I'm on track to the wall of shame. I'm probably going to be working till 6*AM* today capturing tapes (because some spots should be done by friday before client leaves for India).

We will probably announce the winners Sunday night, or Monday morning, but post links to the contestants Saturday night.

Yup, nail me to the wall. I got a rush paying gig, and, well, did I mention it was paying?

Good luck to all.

The wall of shame seems to be getting crowded. I'm still in, I've got 3 shots left to get and I'll be done with the edit tonight.
Who else is in?

I'm finished mine...only after I thought I wasn't going to do one, again. But I got it done!

Well, I'm going to have some lunch and then start mine... :)