Star Walking Inc. presents The 4th International Fan Film Festival - Oct 19th 2007

ACCOUNCING THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL STAR WARS FAN FILM FESTIVAL.

Star Walking Inc. "The Star Wars Appreciation Society of Australia" is pleased to announce that The 4th International Star Wars Fan Film Festival will be held on October 19th 2007 as the opening of the "Jedi Force 07 EXPO" to be held in Melbourne Australia.

The Fan Film Festival will form part of the Expo's Art Show, all submissions will be considered works of art and will be treated as such.

Now is your chance to enter.

Submissions should be sent to:

Star Wars Fan Film Festival
PO Box 427
NORTHCOTE VIC 3070
AUSTRALIA


Entries are being accepted in the following catagories:

Animation
Documenty
Drama
Action
Comedy
Music Video
Film Trailer

Awards will be given for:

Best Film (Live Action)
Best Film (Animated)
Best Film (Comedy)
Best Film (Documentry)
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actor
Best Director
Best Cinematography
Best Effects
Best Screenplay
Best Makeup Effects
Best Costumes
Best Trailer

and the peoples choice award for most popular film.

The judging panel is yet to be decided, but judges cannot have film entered in the festival.

Please PM me if you have any questions (and I'm sure there will be a few) or to get a copy of the festivals entry form.


CONDITIONS OF ENTRY.

MISSION & OBJECTIVE
To showcase the best Fan Films Star Wars fans have to offer the world.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
This is a chance for Star Wars fans from around the world to showcase their talents.
The Fan Film Festival forms part of the Art Show at the 2007 "Jedi Force" Expo in Australia. All fan films are considered works of art and will be treated as such.
No profit is to be made from these films or from the Film Festival.
The Festival is open to ALL Star Wars fan films including (but not limited to) documenties, parodies, Action & dramas.


1. NO MONIES OR PROFITS ARE TO BE MADE FROM YOUR EFFORTS - THIS IS A NON-COMMERCIAL EXERCISE

2. ABSOLUTELY NO FOOTAGE, STILLS OR ARTWORK FROM ANY LUCASFILM PROPERTY MAY BE USED.* (SEE BELOW)

3. ALL ENTRIES ARE TO BE CONSIDERED WORKS OF ART AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH.

4. Anyone can enter, no matter how amateur or professional.

5. There will be awards and a voting system.

6. All entries are to be Star Wars related. This does not mean that it must involve known characters or necessarily has to be a 'serious film', it should however be sufficiently Star Wars related that it doesn't fall under a 'general Science Fiction' category.

7. A maximum of 2 entries per entrant per category.

8. Winning entries from prior Star Walking Inc. film festivals cannot be re-submitted

9. All films must fall under a PG or less rating; no swearing, no nudity, no profanity and no excessive gore.

10. Films are welcome from all countries, but as Australia is a predominately English speaking country, all entries must have English subtitles. They don't have to be perfect translations, but they must be easy to read.

11. Live action films must be of at least 3 minutes minimum duration. Animated films (whether computer generated, hand drawn, etc...) must be at least 1 minute, 30 seconds in length. Maximum length for all films is 50 Minutes, (longer times will be considered on a film by film basis).

12. Any films submitted will become part of the Star Walking Inc. library and be available for viewing by any Star Walking Inc. members. Films will not be returned. So do not send us your master copy.

13. All entries must be submitted THREE WEEKS prior to the festival for rating and programming.

14. Any form of film-making is acceptable, including, but not limited to, short stories, epic adventures, documentaries, cartoons, animation (e.g. Lego, action figure, hand drawn), live action, computer generated, or other forms of film-making not yet invented.

15. Final entries must be submitted on Multi region DVD (PAL or NTSC), but may be made in any format (Super-8, Hi-8, 16mm, computer, etc...) as long as it is

 

I will be entering.

A shame about the restriction of 2 films.

I will have all three at that point, by my reckoning. Oh well, I guess we'll put II and III in.

 

Damn, I start shooting my film in May and will not be near finished 'til that... But I could make a short-story! Hmm... maybe so, maybe so


-Robin

 

Yeah I would be inteested in it but we don't shoot our film until at east febuary so we'll see though.

 

We'll probably enter both RvD, and RvD2 when it's finished and released.

Sounds like fun!

M. Scott

 

I will probably start principal photography on my fan film in later this moth, so im up for this competition as well.

 

Great stuff guys.

I'll have the entry form available for download in the next week.

 

This is awesome. Really great job putting this together thus far.

I will attempt to finish my film by then, this is really good for pushing people to finish projects.

 

But that's a whole 'nother yeeear!!

 

(shudders as Luke whines in my head...)

 

plus it will give people a chance showcase all aspects of their film making abilities.

 

And it might even give me time to finish DITF.

 

Does "no official artwork" from the real films include music?

 

Hmmn. I might enter "Twilight Jedi" in this festival.

 

Sounds like good competition. This is gonna be fun...

 

Does "no official artwork" from the real films include music?

In the past, copyrighted music (whether from the films or anywhere else) has been okay to use. Can't imagine this would've changed.

 

Music is fine, basically it refers to images.

Try to do the music yourself if you can...if you can't I'm sure there are plenty of people that would love to help.

 

What if we just won't?

Sorry, you guys are good, but come on. If I have the option, why would I know use a composition from one of the world's greatest film score composers? My Star Wars films are going to have Star Wars music, that's for certain.

Sorry if that sounded rude or argumentative, but I just don't get the need for an original score in a fanfilm. In an original film, I'd love to use you guys, I've seen some great stuff. But in a fanfilm, it just seems dumb to lose that iconic piece of it. It's like reinventing the lightsaber...

 

Because strictly speaking, you don't have that option. The use of John Williams (or other professionally composed and released) music, like the rest of fan films, is a copyright violation. But unlike the visual aspect, which people are willing to let slip, the use of copyrighted music without permission can cause major trouble for you if you want to show the film somewhere besides YouTube or your own site.

I heard that Google actually struck a deal with the major music companies to allow their material to be uploaded and showcased on YouTube, so that's cool. Technically they could still come after you on your own site, but unless you're selling the flick, the worst they can really do is make scary lawyer noises and make you take it down, which is often not worth the effort.

Anywhere else you want to show it -- festivals, screenings on local, national, or international television programs besides the news, etc. -- will make you sign a release form, and part of that form will be language to the effect that you own the film and assigning others the right to exhibit it does not violate anyone's copyright, and they always specify the words "including music". If you didn't get original music composed for your film, you cannot sign that form and the film cannot be shown in those venues.

We've had to turn down opportunities to show RvD several times on television (one of them just this morning!) because we can't afford the many-thousand-dollar licensing fees we would probably have to pay for the two tracks we use (and much more if we don't do it and the fee becomes a fine).

Given the option, find someone to make you a new score in the style of John Williams. Then you get the best of both worlds. It's got the right flavor, but it's unique to you instead of the same music everyone already knows, and is also music you have the right to release to others in the context of the film (though make sure that's part of your agreement with the composer!).

M. Scott

 

Which is what we are doing for two tracks maybe, but truth be told, I don't think I'm gonna find music at the level I can (whether technically legal or no) and that fits so perfectly from a completely original score. Besides, at the end of the day, if no one but me and my mother see this thing, at least it will be what I wanted it to be.

In any case, we are getting off topic, and it is completely my fault, so I apologize, and get talking about this festival...

 

You seriously just made me do a double-take. I would think that the ONLY way to get something to fit perfectly with your film would be if it were created specifically for your film. And there are dozens of composers on this site alone chomping at the bit to write something for a decent film.

It's your choice to use John Williams music or Hans Zimmer or an original score or none of the above. But your arguments for doing so simply make no sense to me.

M. Scott

 

Within the question, an answer.

 

I'm going to take that as a lighthearted remark, it will make future conversation easier.

Dorkman, the fact of the matter is, I am making a Star Wars film, and the Star Wars music is just as iconic to the idea of Star Wars as lightsabers, stormtroopers, and yellow lettered opening crawls. What could ever fit a Star Wars movie better than Star Wars music? It seems like pretty solid logic to me...

 

You missed an element, as Dorkman pointed out. What fits a new Star Wars movie better than Star Wars music is new Star Wars music. Most of the spin-offs start with the classics as a basis then branch off into new territory. We all agree it's your film, you can do what you want, and if it gets accepted into this or some other festival, congrats will be in order.

While not as impossible as it was years ago finding a composer that?s in synch with your stuff isn?t easy. The most I?ve ever done was find some obscure techno music authors and got their permission to use their preexisting stuff for UCF. (there were talks about getting brand new stuff but scheduling wise it didn?t pan out). In the end though it was a good choice, I can?t imagine a better soundtrack for the film.

 

Thing is, I've listened to some great composers here, but everytime I hear spin offs of Star Wars, they aren't StarWarsy enough for me. They sound like they have all the smae instruments, but they are missing the musical phrase, which i cannot describe well what it is, that is common to all Star Wars songs. I have found two pieces of original work which I consider good enough that they would work well in my film. Assuming I am allowed, I would like to use those in the second and third installment respectively. Aside from that, it's all on Johnny Williams.

I DO intend to see about getting help with the score for some of my upcoming original projects, but by upcoming, I mean in the next couple years. As far as film projects go, I have already pretty much booked myself for at least 4 years, lol.