Usually everyone who submits a film starts a thread to discuss it and their production process. That is where most people will tell you what they shot and cut it with.

Question...
 

Please forgive me if I missed this somewhere. I

Will there be one winner for DVC #5 (winner take all) or will there also be other categories? i.e., Best Picture, Runner-Up Best Picture, Best Cinematography...etc.?

It will be one winner takes all the prizes (best picture).

Runner-Up will get a certificate. No other official categories as Rob said.

Excellent! Thank you Rob and Dylan.

Title of Crew Member
 

I need to credit my entry properly. What is the title of the individual that claps the clapper in from of the camera before each take and screams, "Scene1! Take 1!"?

The Clapper - no seriously. And if they load the tapes/film too, Clapper/Loader

Screamer clapper guy!

Screamer Clapper Guy
 

In my case it will have to be screamer clapper girl. I enlisted my nine-year old daughter for this duty.

And she will be credited. :)

My movie came out to 4:57 without credits. Dylan said he doesn't mind if we go a few seconds over, so would a total time of about 5:10 be reasonable?

I think the 5 minute time limit was without credits, so you should be good if it's 4:57 without credits.

Hi Mark
 

Great question.

I ran into the same situation. Wasn't sure so decided to do "screaming fast" credits to be on the safe side. With credits mine is 4 frames short of 5 minutes.

quick question, since this is my first DVC, I'm curious, how long does judging take and when are finalists, winners etc announced?

It usually takes a week or two for the films to be released and watched, and then a winner to be announced. However, with Dylan away things might be different. I would say expect at least two weeks.

Aw, crap. I just saw in the "Who finished?" thread that films are not to be shown publicly until they are officially released. In my "oh my god, I did something" excitement, I've neglected to follow this rule, and have shown the film to a circle of other friends, and have threads on two other message boards about it. The people have no connection to this website, and they aren't video or film related communities, but still, I believe one would consider them "public".

I'd hate to have a chance of winning if I'm breaking the rules here, so what happens in a situation like this? Disqualification and a place on the Wall of Shame?

I try to paypal Dylan enough for a bottle of scotch, which, while not being sufficient incentive to garner any extra votes for my movie, it should be enough to cover the minor screw-ups.

Send booze.



Actually, I think we can let it slide. Showing it to your friends won't affect judging.

Weeoo! Isn't Dylan great, guys? Such a gracious gentleman. I'm most pleased to hear this, and will make sure it doesn't happen next time, so nothing has to "slide" one way or the other.

In the meantime, I'd meant to make a donation at some point (namely, when I was halfway certain I'd finish something), would it be do that now? I don't want it to seem like a retroactive bribe, or anything...

i think dylan meant no sneak previews here, to keep the process consistent. since i post mine on a free media site, other members of the site download it anyway, because it appears automatically under the "new media" banner. i think 30-40 people have watched it already, which is kinda fun.

but the thing about having it viewed here is the feedback! the discussion! the swapping of gear details and technical expertise....well worth the price of admission!

oh, right it's free.

the cost of admission is editing until your eyeballs bleed....

Bleeding eyeballs - yes, I can relate to that.

I too have mine parked out in the open. I just don't post the link here publicly. If folks wanted to see it bad enough they can research where I have consistently placed previous clips for judging. They won't because that defeats the purpose.

Mostly the not posting the links yet idea is pretty much, if I recall the conversations, to keep bandwidth usage clean until the judges can get to them. If I tell everyone I know where mine is stashed and it's on some sort of bandwidth metered site, the site may lock out my video till the end of the month and the judges might not get to see it.

I suppose the other ideas is so we don't get into the Hollywood vote soliciting they do out on the left coast by having our friends take out huge ads in Dylan's home town paper telling the world how great "Memories of a Dream" is. That is however a good idea.

"Dear Mr. Editor. I want to let you know about an amazing short film I just randomly saw yesterday by this great upcoming director in Columbus, Ohio..."

Sean McHenry

Yeah, it's a good thing we are all people of integrity here... no secrets.

True enough.

The original purpose of not disclosing your movies location was so that the judges could see it before your bandwidth was exausted. If they could not view it you weren't going to get any votes.

Even for this time, remember, you are going to have 30+ people who are going to "HAVE" to see it in order to vote. One entry, one vote.

My recommendation is if you are going to have to vote, because you are one of the people who turn in an entry, don't just view the movies------download them and save them all. You will have to view most more than once to decide and it will save you much time. No sense downloading it each time you need to view it.

Mike

I actually set my page up as a download page. I don't think it will actually play as streaming.

Yep. I didn't mention that but Mike is absolutly right. Besides, it makes a nice CDROM or DVD of eveeyones works, even if they are all in different formats.

Sean

I'm impatient to watch everyones shorts! I'm constantly checking back!! :)

Glad I'm not the only one checking in all the time.

You don't want to see me in my shorts. I have chicken legs.

Very close to posting the first batch. Should be up tomorrow morning. I'd rather post the movies from a Monday to a Friday, but I think if I wait to MOnday I'll have a mutiny on my hands. :)

Dylan, I'm the same way, usually, but what with the extenuating circumstances (your unfortunate flight experience), I think it'd be okay.

And I really don't think you'd have a mutiny on your hands unless--somebody had to find a way to say this, if it has to be me, so be it--some of the movies are rated "Arr!"

Man, my humor is so hip and cutting edge.

Okay, chekcing in. No movies posted yet. I had to break down on the whole integrity thing and went ahead and watched Sean's movie. But at least I will hold off on making comments until the film is officially posted.

Maybe...

The Natives are getting restless...eh..eh...eh.

Is there a reason why the movies aren't all released at the same time? Why are they released in batches, spaced days apart?

I know that I would find it easier to judge them fairly if I could watch them all in one sitting, but I won't be able to resist downloading the first postings when they appear...

Dylan?

Thanks,
Bill

Monday???? I think I'll have to check myself in to rehab by then. Just shooting the film I went though 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of scotch (that scene didn't make the cut), and a bottle of vodka. Of coarse I had help but that doesn't include editing, or composing the music. (note to self, don't have alcohol for a prop).

Hey Bill, a fair question. The answer also touches on why we don't want people to post them ahead of time. The purpose is to give everyone the same amount of exposure. Yes, some people can sit down and watch them all at once, but most people can't spare a couple hours in one shot during a work day. So, if there are 4 or 5 a day, it makes sure that every film is more likely to get watched. If they were all at once, some might get skipped or missed. If you want to watch them all at the same time, just wait until the last day.
Plus, it's fun getting to see 4 new short films a day for a week.

Dylan