Howdy folks!

THAC is almost upon us, and I'd like to take this opportunity to fill you all in on the specifics of the contest.  The ninth Bricks in Motion Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest (THAC NEIN) will begin at 12:00 pm (noon), GMT, on December 17, 2011. This is the third BiM THAC, the 9th for the brickfilming community.

Rules

• Starting at 12 noon GMT on December 17, 2011 (Greenwich Mean Time), you will have 24 hours to script, animate, edit, and upload a film. Any entries not received by the end of the 24 hour time period will unfortunately have to be disqualified.  Here is a list of cities and their corresponding times, all set to noon GMT.

• The theme will be announced in a thread titled "THAC 9 Starts NOW!" in the Contests & Community Projects Projects forum.

• To prevent entrants from creating their films ahead of time, the contest theme, a crucial thematic aspect that entries should include, will not be announced until the contest begins.

• In addition to the theme there will be two "mod" elements. The mod elements are visual elements that must be included in every frame of your film to ensure that nothing is animated before the beginning of the 24-hour time period; they are different for every THAC and will be announced at the start time.  There will be two kinds of "mod" elements, and entrants only need to ensure that one of the two elements is present in any frame of footage for their film.  The two elements may be used interchangeably throughout the film, and must be physically included in the set, not added in post-production.

• The first element will be a letter of the alphabet or a numeral.  This symbol will not need to be used as a letter or numeral in the context of the film, though it can be; a clear effort to include something in the shape of the letter or number will suffice.

• The second element will be two LEGO (or other plastic brick) components of two given colors connected to each other, whether by locking into each other by the studs of the brick, or as pieces in a minifigure or technic construction. 
Baseplates and floor pieces will not be allowed to count.

Note: It is not original to make a film about how the element changes from scene to scene and appears in every shot. The element is not intended to be the focus for the film, just a way to ensure entries are made within the 24-hour time period.  Use your brain.

• Entries must be animated and must be primarily composed of stop motion animation. 3D, Flash, or other animation techniques 
may be used to supplement the stop-motion but may not be the main focus.

• The film should contain LEGO or similar 'brick' construction toys, such as MEGA Bloks.

• There must be at least 30 seconds of animation in the entry.  There is no maximum length.

• Joint entries are allowed, as are multiple entries.

• Entries may not contain adult language, graphic violence (blood and/or gore) or sexual themes.

• While copyrighted/trademarked properties are allowed, you are discouraged from basing your movie off of preexisting films 
or franchises (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.). It's not original, and will hurt your chances in the judging process.

• Copyrighted 
music may be used, but if you do not wish to do so, you are permitted to create original music beforehand; music does not have 
to be created within the 24 hour time limit.

Length and Format

• This year, only two ways of uploading will be accepted: YouTube and Vimeo.  The reason for this is to establish pre-determined standards so that judges and myself don't have to deal with downloading, converting, etc. multitudes of file types or different websites.  Please plan accordingly.

• If uploading on YouTube, change the privacy from "Public" to "Unlisted". This means that the only way to watch the film is if you have the link. Send the link in an e-mail afterwards.

• If uploading on Vimeo, while uploading, in the "Privacy" tab, select "Private" and "Password protected."  This will only allow viewers with the password (which you will e-mail along with the link) to watch your film.

• Send all e-mails to thacnine [AT] gmail.com

Judging

Judging will occur over the next few weeks after the contest has ended. The judging panel has yet to be decided.  Also, don't worry, the actual process will be much less complicated than the last time I ran THAC.

Prizes

Prizes have very graciously been donated by Kaminoan (Jared Burks) from Fine Clonier Custom Minifig Decals & Accessories.

First Place: Kaminoan's book Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! and $10 in-store credit!
Second Place: $7.50 in-store credit!
Third Place: $5 in-store credit!

I am looking forward to seeing the creation all of your great films!  Fire it up, y'all!

Cheshire

Last edited by Cheshire (December 16, 2011 (06:08pm))