Rules
THE BIG RULE: Your Video Race production must be completed within the 24-hour period. This includes your “slick production graphics”.
The Video: The total run time, including credits, of all videos must be 5 minutes or under. To be eligible for competition, it must be turned in at the finish line before midnight on the night following the elements reveal. There will not be Video Race staff at the Angelika to pick up drives until 9:30 pm on Saturday. Please do not try to leave drives with the Angelika staff; they are a gracious host, but are not affiliated with the Video Race.
Format: Quicktime File compressed with H.264 at 720p 23.98 or 29.97. It can be 480i or 480p. Any other format will not be allowed. You must turn in on a USB flash drive. (No DVDs please.)
Team Members: You should count as part of your crew: anyone who writes, conceives, or contributes substantially to the script, and, of course, the production crew. This includes: Director(s), Producer(s), Camera operators, Production Assistants, Location or Studio Sound Recordists, Grips, Gaffers, Lighting directors, Editors, Composers, Location scouts, etc. Anyone above or below-the-line personnel on a production should be counted. In short, anyone who directs the actors, holds a camera, a mic, or a clapper, anyone who sets up the lights, writes your script, digitizes and edits your footage, composes the score, animates your opening titles, or otherwise plays a substantial role in conceiving, writing, producing, or post-producing your video. You don’t need to include the following people as crew members, unless they also take over a crew function: actors (see below), extras, musicians under the direction of the composer, moms, dads, sisters, or grandmothers who run out to Starbucks, the pizza delivery guy, unless you ask him to hold a mic, The Red Bull teams, or the bewildered people you encounter at the surprise location, unless you ask them to hold a mic.
Actors: Actors do NOT get in free to screenings. You may start lining up talent before the Race begins.
Equipment: You are expected to provide your own cameras, microphones, lights, editing systems, and other equipment. You can own it, rent it, beg for it, borrow it, or steal it (just kidding), but we cannot provide it for you. No color bars or tone please.
Out of Town? You are welcome to shoot and edit your video anywhere, but it must be turned in by the midnight deadline at our Finish Line. No special arrangements will be made to accommodate out of town teams.
YouTube: Team have the rights to their own video and may put them online AFTER the Video Race finals are over. Do not put your video online before then, it will lead to disqualification.
Content: 24 Hour Video Race productions videos may not include sexually explicit material, obscene content, nudity, or material that promotes hatred or violence towards groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity. Remember: your video will be screened in front of your peers!
Judges: We are extremely grateful to have a panel of distinguished judges from the film and video community, who are graciously donating their time and expertise. The judges have been vetted for conflicts of interest and we can assure their impartiality and diligence. The judges’ decisions are final and their scorecards are confidential. Why do we do this? Because every year we get a handful of disgruntled teams who think they should have won but didn’t, and they want to second-guess the judges. If you were a judge–especially a volunteer doing it out of the goodness of his or her heart–would you want to have to deal with an angry filmmaker? Some preferences are subjective–that’s the nature of film.
If you wish to recommend someone with the qualifications and interest in being a judge, please contact us.
Required Elements & Judging Criteria: At the start of the race (midnight) , a special video will reveal theme, location, prop, line of dialogue, . At the starting line, we will provide teams with a document detailing the required elements and the criteria by which the videos will be judged. We will also make the elements available online for those who choose not start the race at the theater. We make everything as clear as possible. The best way to win is to creatively integrate the required elements. Your video might be brilliant, but if it doesn’t meet the criteria, it won’t win.
Judging Rounds: There is much that we cannot determine until we have some idea of how many teams participate, and how many teams actually finish the race on time. However, this is what we do know: when you turn in your video at or before midnight on the deadline, you will receive a number that will assign you a random group (by category) and your screening order within that group. The screening schedule will be posted on our website on the following Monday. Judging will be tournament style, in which all videos will be screened and judged in preliminary rounds held over evenings during the week following the end of the race at the Angelika Film Center Dallas. Videos advancing to the Finals Round will be judged on a date announced after prelims. The awards ceremony will take place at the end of the Finals Rounds.