The Michael Baisden Short Film Showcase

Dust off your cameras, fire up your typewriters and get set as Michael Baisden launches his premiere short film contest.

The mission is to give filmmakers, amateur and professional, a chance to exhibit their production and writing skills.

The vision of the Short Film Showcase is to inspire, build, and sustain the relationships that build the foundation for civic action and help build stronger, more caring and effective communities.

To promote the mission and vision, Michael Baisden is allowing both professional and amateur filmmakers to illustrate, through a film, 10-minutes or less.

Get creative with the required elements. Mix and match references from your favorite style, motif and song palettes to fuel your vision. How you include them is up to you. Get inspired.

Style & Content

Be Yourself. Share your issue. Be passionate. Be original. If it looks and sounds like something we've all seen for years, our eyes will glaze over. Originality excites us more than whether it looks like prime time.

This is important: we want mini-movies rather than dry Public Service Announcements. We encourage narrative — meaning a story-line. We're not looking for lots of talking heads and scrolling text of facts and stats to tell the story. Show us dramatically rather than telling us.

Eligibility

To be eligible, Entries must be the original work of the Entrant; must not infringe third-party's rights; must be suitable for publication (i.e., may not be obscene or indecent); must not contain obscene or pornographic material; may not contain defamatory statements about any person, company, organization or entity; may not invade privacy or other rights of any person, company or entity; may not in any other way violate applicable laws and regulations; and may not contain any copyrighted elements (other than as owned by "The Michael Baisden Show). Entries containing prohibited or inappropriate content as determined by the "The Michael Baisden Show", in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate will be disqualified. The Michael Baisden Show reserves the right to make the final determination as to which Entries are eligible.

Film Categories

• Audience Favorite
• Best Cinematography
• Best Drama
• Best Sci-fi / Horror
• Best Comedy
• Best Documentary
• Best Student
• Almost anything you can think of!!!!

Film Length

The finished film must be a minimum of 5 minutes in duration, and a maximum of 10 minutes in duration.

Credits at the end of each film are limited to a maximum of 60 seconds. The 60 seconds are considered additional to the length of the film. (That is, a film may be 10 minutes long, with an additional 60 seconds of credits, for a total running time of 11 minutes.)

Film Format

We will accept your film submission on Mini-DV or DVD only, regardless of original shooting format. No films will be returned, so please keep a copy. DVD's must be playable on US consumer grade DVD players. DVD's must not include labels or stickers on the DVD, please use a black Sharpie pen to write the Project Title and Contact name on the DVD. Foreign languages films are acceptable only if subtitled or dubbed in English...do not send English translated scripts with your film. No PAL format. For DVDs, send converted/playable for Region Code 1 (North America) or Region Code 0 (universal). Do not send rough cuts or temp prints. We reserve the right to ask for resubmissions.

Before the finished film begins, the tape should have:

• 5 seconds of bars and tone
• 5 seconds of black
• Title card with: Your name, date, city, title, and genre
• Title card with: "This film made for the Michael Baisden, Short Film Contest"
• A local newspaper, showing your city and date
• 2 seconds of black
• Your film

Rights

The filmmakers have the rights to the finished videos. However, The Michael Baisden Show reserves the right to broadcast the videos, include scenes from videos in future promotional materials, and include videos in DVD compilations.

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