http://www.smallworlds.com/2010/05/10/short-film-competition/Lights! Camera! Action!
May 10, 2010 2:59 PM
Hello citizens. Have you ever fancied yourself as a movie director, sitting in your directors chair? Or perhaps you'd like a chance at an acting debut? Whichever it is, your chance is here.
I'm extremely pleased to bring you news of a new competition that we've never tried before - a film contest. And to make it even more exciting, as well as giving away lots of Gold, we've come up with a prize you are really going to want to win: The Golden Dan award!
Introducing the SmallWorlds Short Film Competition
What we're looking for is a short film that's between 1 and 3 minutes in length. You'll need to create it using SmallWorlds avatars and 'shoot it' on location in SmallWorlds.
We've got some really fun categories for you to choose from and some fantastic prizes too!
Categories & Prizes
Three Categories
1 - Movie Take-off/Spoof: Your opportunity to pay tribute to your favorite movie!
2 - Original Film: Do you have an original short film idea? Now's your chance to create it!
3 - Music / Song: Make your own music video!
* Each Category Winner will receive 10,000 Gold and a Golden Dan Award (see below).
* Each Category will have 1 Runner Up, each of whom will receive 6,000 Gold.
So what will you create - a comedy? an action film? a drama? Perhaps a music video? It's all up to you because you're the director! There's a whole world of fantastic spaces you can utilize for your scenes, and if you pool inventory resources with your friends, you'll have lots of props to use.
The Golden Dan Award
Look at this fantastic additional prize that we'll award to the three Category winners: it's our very own version of the famous Oscar statue - The Golden Dan! He's still being cast as we speak, so I was unable to get a picture of him to share with you (if you imagine a merging of Oscar and Dan you'll be pretty close!). We'll unveil him when we announce the winners.
This item will be given away as a premium prize award at our discretion to the winners of some of our future competitions also. It's our way of paying further tribute to the fantastic talent we see in SmallWorlds.
Short-Film-Making ResourcesThere are a number of really great SmallWorlds themed videos already up on YouTube and I found one I thought was rather good (you'll find others if you search on YouTube... most are songs however). I managed to track down its creator, Junuz Brzi of Bosnia, and asked him for a few tips for those of us new to the world of film direction.
Kent: Hello Junuz. How many of these kinds of videos have you made?
Junuz: I've made two SmallWorlds themed ones, but I've played with video a lot (at a pretty amateur level - lol!)
Kent: What video capture and editing software do you use?
Junuz: For capturing "live" video from SmallWorlds, I used CamStudio, which is a free open source software, and for editing I used some old Adobe Premiere. Very old.
(editors note: Windows now comes standard with Windows Movie Maker, and Apple iMovie for Mac users. You can also try here for other free video editing packages)
Kent: Can you give me some pointers about how one goes about creating something like this? Where do you start and what are the next steps?
Junuz: There is no exact mathematical formula! It's more about inspiration and enthusiasm.
I love Discovery Channel, I liked their video, so I was thought "why not make a video take-off of it in SmallWorlds". I then asked my good friends from SmallWorlds to help me in "shooting", I captured enough video material, then put it all in my video editor. Then it's time to play around and edit it.
Kent: Finally Junuz, what tips do you have for video creators?
Junuz: Have patience, capture more than you think you will need, repeat capturing until you are completely satisfied. Doing this stuff is just so fun, and creative - I love it!
Judging
The competition will be judged by Kent Kronkite, Honesty Blaize & Dan SmallWorlds. The entries in each category will be judged on the following elements:
* Creativity / Originality
* Technical Execution
* Entertainment Value
Competition Guidelines
* One entry per Smallworlds account
* You must load your Short Film onto YouTube. If you're not sure how to do this, watch this video.
* Supply the YouTube URL within your competition entry on to the official competition forum thread.
* Specify which category you are entering.
* Your entry must be a minimum of 1 minute and a maximum of 3 minutes long
* All footage must be shot 'on location' within SmallWorlds, using SmallWorlds avatars as your actors & film extras.
* You are free to use all features of your movie editing software to full creative effect. Use music, sound effects, whatever you like to make your SmallWorlds Short Film the most creative you can!
* Competition closes midnight, 31st May 2010.
Well citizens, I do hope you have lots of fun with this latest competition. I'm certainly looking forward to your entries. The competition is open for 3 weeks, and I hope to announce the winners on or around the 7th of June.
You've got until midnight May 31st to get your entries in. Good luck!
~ Kent Kronkite
The Legal Stuff
* The SmallWorlds Short Film Competition is open to SmallWorlds standard and VIP Club members 13 years of age or older. Employees of Outsmart 2005 Limited and its helpers, moderators, officers, directors, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising agencies, promotional suppliers, or production agencies, and their respective dependents, immediate family members (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and individuals residing in the same household, are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited by law.
* The 3 category winners and the 3 runners up will be selected based upon the sole and exclusive discretion of the SmallWorlds Competition Judges. Each category winner will be awarded 10,000 Gold and a Golden Dan Award statue. Each runner up will be awarded 6,000 Gold, All submissions are carefully reviewed before determining the prize winners. The judge's decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
* Competition closes midnight (SWT), May 31st, 2010. The winners will be chosen and notified on or about June 7th, 2010
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Topic: 5/10/2010 Lights! Camera! Action! (Read 4492 times)