Select Page

2023 48 Hour Film Rules

Uncategorized

 

2023 48–Hour Film Festival Rules 

 Questions: Direct all questions to J-D Boyle at  

I. Times and Dates

  II. Creative Work 

 ALL CREATIVE WORK MUST BE DONE WITHIN THE “Official BEA Film 48 Time Period”. “Creative work” is defined as:  

  • Writing the script 
  • Rehearsing 
  • Costume/Set Design 
  • Shooting 
  • Editing 
  • Sound Design 
  • Rendering  
  • Exporting media in a form for submission to BEA. 

 III.   Pre-Competition Work 

The only work to begin prior to the “Official BEA Film 48 Time Period” is:
Organizing Crew 
Organizing Cast
Securing Equipment
Scouting/Securing Locations 

IV. Sources of Footage

  • All footage must be shot within the “Official BEA Film 48 Time Period.” 
  • No stock footage or footage shot or created at another time may be used. 
  •  Animation and special effects are permitted but must be created during the “Official BEA Film 48 Time Period.”  
  • NOTE: Stock footage is permissible as part of a post-production effect or on a background monitor, i.e., a television, as long as the team has rights to the stock footage and the stock footage is placed over or under footage that is shot within the Official BEA Film 48 Time Period. Allowable stock footage includes bullets, fires, explosions, chromakeyed backgrounds, etc. Stock footage that plays a significant role in the story is not allowed. 
  • Still photographs are permitted, provided that the team has the rights to them. The photos do not need to have been created during the “Official BEA Film 48 Time Period”; however, stills created outside of the “Official BEA Film 48 Time Period” may not be used in sequence to create the illusion of motion. 

 V. Kickoff

Teams from BEA Chapters that wish to participate must submit a team application online to the BEA Film 48 organizers by noon EST October 18th.  Click here to sign up. 

  • Each group will be assigned randomly a Genre for its film: Action/Adventure, Classic Horror Mystery/Spy Film, Romantic Comedy, Superhero or Teen/Meddling Kids Movie. 
  • Each participating team will be emailed their required elements, in addition to the assigned genre, that must appear in its film.  These may include a Character, a Prop and/or a Line of Dialogue, and upload instructions for completed film by 1:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, October 22. 
  • The assignment/elements email will be sent to the email address provided by the team captain on the entry form.

 

VI. Content Requirements

  • Each participating group will be assigned required elements that must appear in its film, such as a Genre, a Character, a Prop and/or a Line of Dialogue. 
  • The required Character and Prop must be seen on-screen. 
  • The required Line of Dialogue must be used verbatim. It may be spoken, sung and/or written. It may be in any language but will need to be translated and/or subtitled to clearly demonstrate its use.  
  • In order for a film to qualify for the competition, each team’s film must be in the genre assigned to it and must contain all required elements within the official time limit and prior to the credits. The Film 48 organizers have sole discretion to determine if an entry meets all the eligibility requirements. 

 

VII. Student Status 

  • All members of the production crew must be students at the BEA Chapters institution. 
  • Actors in the film don’t have to be affiliated with the University. However, these actors still count as team members. Extras may be used in the films and do not count as members of the team. Extras may not help in any aspect of the film’s production and cannot portray specific characters or have speaking roles. 

VIII. Team Size 

  • Each team must have a minimum of five members in order to be eligible to compete in the BEA Film 48 competition. A maximum of ten members will also be enforced. All members must be listed on the competition registration form before the start of the competition.

 

IX. Camera Use

  • Any type of video or film camera may be used. There is no limit to the number of cameras. 

X. Music 

  • Participating groups may work with a composer and/or musicians to write and record original music for the films. It is permissible for a participating group to use pre-recorded music, assuming they have copyright clearance to include it. In the absence of a composer, we recommend using free public domain music.  Use of original music will be taken into account during judging.  
     

XI. Total Running Time

  • The finished film must be a minimum of three (3) minutes in duration, and within a maximum of six (6) minutes in duration, not including end credits. (In other words, the official running time begins after the required slates and ends prior to the end credits. The required slates and the end credits do not count towards the minimum time of three (3) minutes. The film story may not be longer than six (6) minutes.) 

 

XII. Credits/Slates 

PRE-FILM REQUIRED SLATES: Before the finished film begins, the media should have:  

  • Five (5) seconds of black 
  • A title card with: team name, title, genre, and date 
  • A title card with: “This film was made for BEA Film 48, Fall 2023” 
  • Two (2) seconds of black 
  • OPENING CREDITS: After the two (2) seconds of black, some films start with opening credits. These are not encouraged, but if you use them, opening credits are considered to be part of the film, and therefore count against the six minute maximum.  
  • END CREDITS: Credits at the end of each film are limited to a maximum of 60 seconds. The 60 seconds is considered additional to the length of the film. That is, a film may be six (6) minutes long, with an additional 60 seconds of credits, for a total running time of seven (7) minutes. The end credits must include the words: “This film was made for BEA Film 48, Fall 2023.” 
  • SLATES AND CREDITS AFTER BEA Film 48: After the competition, films screening online should retain the pre-film title card that says: “This film was made for BEA Film 48, Fall 2023” 

XIII. Submission Requirements   

  • Submissions must be uploaded by each team to the submission site by Sunday, October 22th at 1:00 p.m. local time. 
  • Notes on submissions: We recommend that you make sound levels relatively even throughout your film. (If your film has uneven sound or sound that peaks, it may be modified to protect the playback equipment.) 
  • If your film is very dark, it may be difficult to see during the screening. 
  • All films received on the evening of the deadline will be screened, presuming they do not violate any of the submission criteria.  However, only those films submitted prior to or at the deadline will be eligible for winning in the Competition. 

 

XIV. Original Content 

  • To be eligible for the competition, Entries must be the original work of those persons comprising the Entrant; must not infringe third-parties’ rights; must be suitable for publication (i.e., may not contain obscene, pornographic or indecent material); must not contain defamatory statements about any person, company, organization or entity; must  not invade privacy or other rights of any person, company or entity; must  not in any other way violate applicable laws and regulations; and must not contain any copyrighted elements (other than as owned one or more members of the participating group Entrant). Entries containing prohibited or inappropriate content as determined by BEA Film 48 organizers in their sole discretion, will be disqualified. BEA Film 48 reserves the right to make the final determination as to which entries are eligible. BEA Film 48 also reserves the right to refuse to screen a film or to make an announcement at the screening regarding the content of the film. 

 

XV. Distribution

  • The members of the participating group Entrant may not distribute their film in any way before the premiere screenings. This includes uploading the film to any website other than the submission site.  

 XVI. Organizer’s Rights 

  • Broadcast Education Association Chapter is the official organizer of the BEA Film 48 competition. 
  • All films submitted to BEA Film 48 competition may be used by the BEA Film 48 organizers for future promotional uses. The entries may be used for the making of a documentary film about the competition itself. 
  • No Entries (media or documents) will be returned. 
  • The Film 48 organizers may, in their sole discretion, disqualify entries deemed to be inappropriate or otherwise non-compliant. 
  • The BEA Film 48 organizers may add to or amend these rules at any time prior to the beginning of the BEA Film 48 time period for the production of entries. 

 

XVII.  Liability and Hold Harmless Matters
By entering this BEA Competition, the members of the Entrant agree that BEA, its board, employees, members, sponsors, agents, assigns and affiliated associations and companies will be held harmless from any claims, actions, lawsuits, demands assessments and/or judgments coming from any and all members of the Entrant participating in the Competition.   Moreover, members of the Entrant agree to indemnify, defend and hold BEA, its board, employees, members, sponsors, assigns and affiliated associations and companies harmless against any and all claims, actions, lawsuits, demands, assessments and/or judgments arising from Entrant’s participation in the Competition. 

Verified by ExactMetrics