yes! today’s the day we can start talking about this! (we’ve been holding it in for a while and it feels so good to let it out!). today, stillmotion is announcing Big Shorts, a filmmaking challenge meant to make you look at storytelling from a different perspective. rather, to hear it differently…
the aim:
to harness the fierce power of audio, whether it be natural (nat) sound, dialogue, or your soundtrack. we’ve found that audio is one of the most overlooked elements in filmmaking, so we’re challenging you to make it your focus! we hope it’ll give your approach a swift kick in the <bleep> and get you thinking in a different way – one that will pull your viewer in deep and make them even more captivated by your visuals.
assignment deets:
we’ve got two categories: hobbyist and pro. you be the judge of which group you belong to and which of the two challenges is best suited to your skill level.
hobbyist: create a 55-60 second film
use the theme of “family”
use the song “Honey” by Sunbeam
put an emphasis on nat sound in the piece
pro: create a 115 to 120 second film
use the theme of “home”
use the song “Building Houses” by Wesley Jensen
put an emphasis on nat sound as well as dialogue in the piece
include the line “my heart is” somewhere in the dialogue, either spoken on camera or as a voice over
both categories have until August 21st, 2012 to create their film. pieces under or over the intended length will be disqualified, so time things right! we’ve given you 5 seconds of buffer room so no excuses! you can use any section of your group’s song for your piece, but please use only that song. work alone or with a friend. got more than one friend? that works too. we like social folk.
for all of the information on how to enter, and all of the rules and regulations, please visit BigShortsChallenge.com
good luck!
- stillmotion
hey all, here is the breakdown on dialogue / VO
any entered films in the hobbyist category that contain dialogue
or voice over will be disqualified from winning any prizes.
for the
hobbyist challenge, we really want you to focus on your ambient / nat dounds usage to really push your story.
If you still have an urge to
use dialogue or voice over, please enter the professional challenge.
now, background chatter could technically be ambient / nat sounds, and in that case, that would be fine, but we would really urge you to ensure it’s actually ambient / nat sounds, and not VO, as the lines can be grey and we want to make sure this is fair for everyone
I had the same question regarding background chatter. For my storyline it’s more laugh and shouts of joy I hope that is ok for the hobbyist category ?
I have the same questions as Eric and Jen!
Hi! So excited about this! I know that we cannot have any voiceovers or dialogue in the hobbyist video – does this mean NONE at all, as in background chatter, voices, screaming, laughing, etc…? Thanks. :)
just to clarify, can there be dialogue/voice over in the hobbyist film? or is that only allowed in the pro? thanks.
This is exciting news!!!