Yup, you heard right!  The seventh Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest, as well as the first official BiM THAC, has commenced!  Feel free to ask any and all questions in this thread, and Sméagol or I will be sure to answer as quickly as possible.  At least one of us will try to be present in the #brickfilms IRC channel throughout the day.  You have exactly twenty-four hours to complete your entries, and good luck to all. 

Theme

The theme for this year's THAC is "Unexpected". This can be interpreted a number of ways -- it can be integrated into the story of your film, or in your approach to creating the film. We encourage taking creative license in your interpretation of the theme.  Please don't give us a plot and ask if it's unexpected.  It's all up to you, so surprise us!

The Mod Elements

LETTER MOD

This year's letter mod will be the letter "S."  The regulations are as follows:

1. The S does not necessarily have to take the form of an upright S, so it can be flipped, or rotated any number of degrees.

2. The allowed variants are the numbers 2 and 5, as well as the letter "Z".  Note that neither the letter "V" nor tally marks may be used in place of 5.

3. For clarification, these are the only allowed letter mods, and no other letters or numbers will be accepted.

4. The mod must be visible in each frame of each shot, if the color mod is not used.

COLOR MOD]

This year's color mod will be a black LEGO piece connected to a yellow] LEGO piece. The regulations are as follows:

1. The yellow and black pieces must be LEGO or a similar make and must be touching, if not connected.

2. Any pieces may be used (including minifigures), so long as they are the correct colors [dark gray is acceptable as a variant for black, as is gold for yellow].

3. The mod must be visible in each frame of each shot, if the letter mod is not used.

MOD APPLICATION

•  As you can see, there are two mod elements, so you can use them interchangeably in your frames, but one or the other must be present.

•  Thus, you must utilize one of the following three combinations of mod elements in each frame of your entry:

1. Only the color mod.

2. Only the letter mod.

3. Both the color and letter mod.

•  Remember that in your credits, the mod elements do not have to be present, unless pictures or videos are included.

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.

Submission

Please send all entries to [email protected] by tomorrow, January 3, 2010 at 12 noon GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).  Please remember to INCLUDE YOUR USERNAME IN YOUR E-MAIL.Any entries sent after this time will be, unfortunately, disqualified.  In your e-mail, include the names (username or otherwise) of everybody who helped you out with your film and a download link for the film.  To ensure that all entries are viewable by everyone, a version of the video with a maximum file size of 10 megabytes per minute must be submitted within the 24 hour time period. For compatibilty and consistency, entries must be encoded using one of the following codecs:

Realvideo (Realmedia), DivX (in a .avi file), .wmv (Windows Media) or .mov (Quicktime).

Please don't upload your films to YouTube today, even if you have the private setting on.  You are welcome to upload your entries as soon the clock strikes 12 (GMT) tomorrow, but not a second before.  You may upload a high quality version if you want but your film thread must contain the one you submit in the e-mail.  Acceptable sites for hosting are ones like MediaFire. 

Rules

•  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 so choose, you are permitted to have created original music beforehand.  Music does not have to be created within the 24 hour time limit.
•  If you want a refresher on prizes, visit the THAC 7 thread.

Entrants

As the day goes on, I'll update here with a list of people whose entries I have received.  In the order of reception:

Duke Boy
Nolnahorolyat
Stoppedmotion
thefourmonkeys
ahnt
Darthrugg
Epic Studios
Daragh
vik
Jon64
Rsteenoven
MPfist0
roRyL
icebergstudios
LegoStarWarsGuy
TheBrick
vegasproductions
Just Kidden
MisunderstoodClones
KG
Ryan18245
BBP
VIMStudios
Color747
Leonardo812
Buge
Awesomeonomy
The Thug
SpiceyTaco101
ScreamingTantrum
legostudiosplus
Crosshair Animation
MooCJ
Blacitch
Brickboarder
Goliathan
RiceManPro
BuilderBrothers
Tardispro
CarrollFilms
Coobrick studios
wenchance
The Frozen Brick
BGanimations
Robukka
SpudNicStudios
ScypaxPictures
Legoander
filmyguy
kris
Fancypants
rycroftfilmz
Just_a_Minifig
BrickStudio1
Daniel Sitch
Bodville
Peanut Studios
Brain Wave
Max Butcher
Darkman
Brickcellent
Euphreana
Thijsvanbrunschot
TG Tom
NewRight
CheeseyBricks
Squash
John Dunn
Shale/Captain_Bulldog
ThatGuyThatBrickfilms
Nichartri

Last edited by Cheshire (January 3, 2010 (02:09pm))