SSFF23 Guidelines

COMPETITION RULES

1. Eligibility

• The participants should be members of San Diego Malayalees (SanMa) Organization . 

• Participants can only take part in the movie created by the team that they are part of.

2. Guidelines

• As many directors can join from each team.

• Each Director can make their own team of writers  editors, cinematographers and actors from the  team they are part of. (If needed, Arts committee members from the respective teams can provide assistance with identifying artists (editors, cinematographers, actors) within the team.  

• Directors are not allowed to create team with people outside SanMa members 

• Directors are not allowed to create team with people outside there respective assigned team. Exception if approved by SSFF 23 co-ordination team.

• Two directors can collaborate to generate one short film 

• Directors will have the freedom to choose any genre 

• Actors and Technical Staff like cinematographer, editor, writer etc. will be allowed to participate max of 2 movies in their respective team .

• Dialogue or narration must be substantially in Malayalam. Usage of English or other Indian languages  intermittently is accepted with subtitles.

• The short film should be a minimum of 4 min and can be max 15 mins long.

• On Due date - you would be provided google drive location to upload your movie 

• Upload one version that is with credit and one without credit. 

• Directors who are following all rules will be provided with an addition +10 for Best Director Award on top of Judges review.

3. Official Filmmaking Period

Short film creation (shooting and editing) should occur between Jan 15th  to March 11th (Official Time Period) 

4. Creative Process

All creativity must take place during the Official Time Period. Creative work includes, but is not limited to:

• Writing the script

• Rehearsing

• Costume/Set Design

• Shooting

• Editing

• Sound Design

• Rendering

• Uploading to Google Drive

5. Footage

All footage must be shot within the Official Time Period of the project.

Animation and special effects are permitted but must be created during the Official Time Period.

No stock footage or footage shot or created at another time may be used unless the footage is part of a post-production effect or on a background monitor, i.e., a television, as long as the team has rights to the stock footage and the stock footage is placed over or under footage that is shot within the Official Time Period. Allowable stock footage includes bullets, fires, explosions, chromakeyed backgrounds, etc., but stock footage of people or other performers is not allowed.

Pre-made sequences or compositions that are available to all via purchase or download are permitted if a majority of frames contain content (e.g., text or images) created within the Official Time Period. The pre-made portion of the sequence may not include people or other performers.

Still photographs are permitted, provided that the team has the rights to them. The photos do not need to be created during the Official Time Period; however, stills created outside of the Official Time Period may not be used in sequence to create the illusion of motion.

6. Volunteers

All cast and crew must be volunteers 

7. Cameras

Any type of video or film camera may be used. There is no limit to the number of cameras. 

8. Music Rights

Participating groups are encouraged to work with a composer and/or musicians to write and record music for the films. It is permissible for a participating group to use pre-recorded music or sound effects can be used . Make sure those sound effects or music is non copyrighted. 

9. Total Running Time

The finished film must be a minimum of 4 minutes in duration, and a maximum of 15 minutes in duration—not including end credits. In other words, the official running time begins after the required SanMa slates (which will be provided) and ends prior to the end credits. The required slates and the end credits do not count towards the minimum time of 4 minutes. The film story may not be longer than 15 minutes. SanMa reserves the right to shorten any film that exceeds the maximum length for screening purposes.

10 . Required Media

• Video Codec: H.264

• Media: Online Submission 

• File Type: MPEG 4 (.mp4) (preferred), MPEG 4 (.m4v)

• Resolution: HD 1080 (1920x1080) (preferred)

• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (16:9) (preferred)

• Pixel Ratio: Square (1:1) (preferred)

• Frame Rate: 24 FPS (preferred), 24 FPS (23.976), 25 FPS, 30 FPS (29.97)

• Interlacing: Progressive / NON-Interlaced

• Audio Codec: AAC (.aac), WAV (.wav), MPEG4 (.mp4)

11 . Production Cost

Teams can look for external business or sponsors for production cost . They can thank these sponsors as part of the movie credits. 

But teams cannot place there product or mention business during the run time of the movie