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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Mr Vertigo wrote:

This looks (and sounds) like it's going to be a great contest.  I actually have an idea for a film that's been rattling around in my brain for a while now, so this might be a good opportunity to bring it to life.  Question: does the story itself have to relate to sight/sound, or is the contest mainly about incorporating sight/sound on a more technical level?  The rules seem a bit unclear on how the theme applies exactly.

It could be either. I do think that stories where the sound is a meaningful part of what makes the story and the film overall what it is, will have an advantage in this contest. But this doesn't mean every movie needs to take it to the level of something like Nathan Well's film a few years back, Unsound. The film doesn't need to literally be about sound, if sound is used as part of what makes the story work, a la most Kubrick and David Lynch films. In fact, less directly literal use of the theme is something I find preferable!

Also, what's the contest policy on depicting medicine/drug usage?  I have an idea for a film that would feature a drug as a central plot element.  It would be entirely fictional and mostly medical in nature, but it's possible I might include a shot of someone injecting themselves with a syringe, or taking pills, etc.  Would that be within acceptable limits?  I realise the explanation is kind of vague, and I myself haven't fully planned it out yet, but it would be useful to know all the same.

That sounds okay. It could be a slippery slope to enforce this rule but basically we're trying to avoid extremely controversial or potentially offensive content.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Licensed stories and characters can't be used but can they be referenced in dialog?
Example:
Reed: Have you seen that Star Wars movie?
Dirk: Yeah, I've seen it four times.
Reed: You know, people tell me I kind of look like Han Solo.
Dirk: Really?

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

This is quite intriguing.  I may attempt to enter, depending on how much time I have to work on an entry.  Good luck to all those who are entering!

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Sméagol wrote:

Films may be submitted as early as the beginning of July 1st 2016, though they cannot be made public until after the deadline has passed.

What's the hurt in making the video public before the deadline?

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

VN wrote:
Sméagol wrote:

Films may be submitted as early as the beginning of July 1st 2016, though they cannot be made public until after the deadline has passed.

What's the hurt in making the video public before the deadline?

Not a contest runner but it's usually to avoid accusations of plagiarism; if people can see a film a month before the deadline, anything remotely similar to that film released after that point has to deal with "wow this is so much like ____" regardless of whether it actually influenced the director or not.

Kind of nice to have all of the videos released at the same time too, builds a fun atmosphere.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

And also means that people are more likely to see them all.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Bricks_on_Film wrote:

Licensed stories and characters can't be used but can they be referenced in dialog?
Example:
Reed: Have you seen that Star Wars movie?
Dirk: Yeah, I've seen it four times.
Reed: You know, people tell me I kind of look like Han Solo.
Dirk: Really?

Yeah, this sort of thing is fine.

VN wrote:

What's the hurt in making the video public before the deadline?

Squash outlined it pretty well but basically we do want to avoid copycat entries and encourage people to come up with an idea on their own, drawing on other sources, rather than drawing inspiration, within the same contest, from other entries. It creates a nice element of surprise because you don't know what your film will be up against, and it's fun to have all the films come out at once, sort of like an online film festival.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Would the Minecraft minifigures and a Minecraft-ish setting be considered a copyright/licensing violation? My version is called "Minecrap" but the title/graphics definitely reference the Minecraft game/brand. I'm thinking this won't work but figured I'd ask.

Oh yeah... what about cover music? You know, Woodrow Village versions of Black Sabbath? (hmmmn... sounds very specific). Instrumental versions to narrow it down further.

Thanks and this is a great contest theme. Without audio films would be an entirely different experience. A lot of really well-animated stuff gets compromised when the sound is not a priority. Great way to emphasize the importance.

Last edited by Woodrow Village (June 2, 2016 (05:46pm))

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Woodrow, covering copyrighted music would still violate copyright, so it's not within the rules for this contest. And I hesitate to say no outright to Minecrap, but it sounds like a fairly direct parody of Minecraft, using the recognizable characters etc. so I don't think it's within the spirit of the rule against basing films on preexisting franchises, which is intended to avoid parodies and fanfilms in favor of original concepts.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Thanks! That was kind of what I expected and it makes sense.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

If I use a piece of classical music that is a non-copyright infringement recording is that allowed?

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Yep, that's allowed.

Worth making the distinction you made though, which is that recordings themselves of songs in the public domain may still be copyrighted (and usually are, in the case of something like classical music). So you have to find a recording that is in public domain or has a suitable creative commons attribute license.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Hype! I've always found it tricky to get video and audio to work in perfect harmony, so this should be great fun!

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Sméagol wrote:

All music must be credited, even if you made it yourself.

What about sound effects? I know that it's pretty easy to credit sounds from freesounds or a similar site, but, what if I wanted to use the Wilhelm scream? Or a gunshot from a movie? Or something I recorded myself.

I'd assume that, with the potential for SO many sounds to be featured in a brickfilm, sound effects won't follow the same rules as music. But, I thought this could use some clearing up.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Sméagol wrote:

Entries must contain only images, sounds, music, and story material which you have the rights to distribute

I'm no Sméagol, but this implies that sound effects follow similar rules as music.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Public domain sounds you don't have to credit, I'd think, since they /are/ public domain. Music should be because it's more complex than sound, so even if it is public domain, it helps to know where it came from. Sounds from movies are pretty frowned upon (in my eyes anyway) because you don't have the rights to use them unless they are public domain. For sounds downloaded from freesound, you have to abide by the particular sound license. Thus, if a sound is CC 3.0, you need to give credit. CC0, no credit.

Basically, Wilco summed it up it seems.

(Of course, since I'm not running the contest, this is just my opinion from the sidelines)

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Willco/rio said it. But crediting yourself on sounds would be as simple as "sound design by Dyland"

I'm not sure of the copyright status of the wilhelm. Probably one of the few uses of legitimate fair use regardless. Ripping a gunshot sound from a copyrighted movie would be against the rules.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

In my films, I use old walking sound effects from Brickfilms.com for when my Minifigures walk. If I were to use these sound effects in my entry, would I need to credit Brickfilms.com? If I didn't, then who should I credit?

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

William Osborne wrote:

In my films, I use old walking sound effects from Brickfilms.com for when my Minifigures walk. If I were to use these sound effects in my entry, would I need to credit Brickfilms.com? If I didn't, then who should I credit?

I would really suggest against using those sound effects. They are over used and don't sound all that good. I would recommend making your own by recording a folly track for each character. You just take your mic and a pair of shoes and tap the shoes against the ground each time the character steps. The nice thing about this is you get a unique sound for each step and you can set up your surface to match your environment in the movie.

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Re: Summer Contest: Sight & Sound

Yeah, I probably should try that out. Seeing as the theme has a lot to do with good sound design, perhaps it makes sense to do your own sound effects. If I like the effect enough, I might record my own footsteps from then on in my films. Thanks, Aquamorph.

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