Bricks by the Bay Brickfilm Festical (and Competition)

[seaotter71]

Hi all! I am organizing a brickfilm festival (and competition) for the Bricks by Bay Convention in California. I love the talent in this community and wanted to encourage all of you to participate, even if you can't attend the conference. We are hoping brickfilmers will create and submit a film that exemplifies the convention theme of "Fun and Games," or send us their most recent stop-motion masterpiece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=Ud0KIU5t7sA

Winners in the following categories will be announced during the Bricks by the Bay Convention awards ceremony and will receive a brick-built trophy and a LEGO set:

• Best Film
  
• Best Film in the convention theme (2104: “Fun & Games”)
  
• Best Story
  
• Best Technical Achievement
  
• Young Filmmaker Award (12 and under)
  
• Special “Sweatbox” award to the best Film by a convention attendee
  

Judges for the 2014 festival include David Pagano, founder of Paganomation, an award-winning production studio whose work has been seen on LEGO.com, Nickelodeon, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, and BrickJournal magazine. If you have any questions, you can post them here or send me a message. Thanks for reading and I hope you participate!

Rules:

• To be eligible, films must have been published publicly to YouTube.com between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014.
  
• An email containing name, age, link to the video, stating if the video is an entry into the best convention themed brickfilm category, and whether a convention registrant must be sent to brickfilm@bricksbythebay.com by 11:59 PM Pacific time, June 30, 2014.
  
• Entries may be made by an individual or team.
  
• Limit one film submission per person or team.
  
• To be eligible for the Convention-Themed Film category, films must be made specifically for the festival and incorporate the convention theme of “Fun & Games.”
  
• You do not need to be a registered Bricks by the Bay participant nor do you need to be present to be eligible for the Best Film, Best Story, Best Technical Achievement, or Young Filmmaker awards. You do need to be a registered participant in attendance at the convention to be eligible for the “sweatbox” award.
  
• Brickfilms in languages other than English should include subtitles.
  
• The principal animation technique must be stop-motion using LEGO bricks. CGI, live-action or other forms of video may be used to supplement, but brickfilming must be the focus.
  
• Films must be at least 30 seconds long, but no longer than 2 minutes in length (excluding credits).
  
• No mature/explicit content is allowed. This includes, but is not limited to: swearing, excessive violence, overt sexual content, discrimination and intolerance. Bricks by the Bay is family-friendly event and we ask that the contest entries be family-friendly as well.
  
• Please refrain from using licensed LEGO themes, such as LEGO Star Wars, or construction toys from other companies, such as Mega Blocks.
  
• You must possess or have obtained the rights to all the materials, such as music and graphics, in your film.
  
• Bricks by the Bay reserves the right to deem any film ineligible for any reason, at their discretion.
  

Edited May 25, 2014 by seaotter71

[Darkdragon]

• Please refrain from using licensed LEGO themes, such as LEGO Star Wars, or construction toys from other companies, such as Mega Blocks.
  

This looks like a fun competition. Out of curiosity, there are no licenced minifigs allowed, no licenced parts at all (including stickers from those sets), or just no licenced films such as a Star Wars or Superman film?

[seaotter71]

That's a good question. I would say parts and stickers are ok if they do not show any trademarks. Like superman's spit-curl hair or his legs. If you used the Mary Jane torso with the spider-man t-shirt it would be a gray area and I wouldn't unless it was crucial to the story. I'm always happy to think through any specific questions.

This looks like a fun competition. Out of curiosity, there are no licenced minifigs allowed, no licenced parts at all (including stickers from those sets), or just no licenced films such as a Star Wars or Superman film?

[Darkdragon]

Aren't you afraid this rule will cause a lot of would-be entries to not participate? So many filmers are doing SW and Superheroes these days. I know you must have your reasons, I"m only curious on this matter.

[seaotter71]

We deliberated it quite a bit, but decided to play it safe since this is being put on by the Bricks by the Bay Organization, not an individual. And we also thought this might nudge people to create something for the festival.

[SteampunkDoc]

The no licensed themes rule is good as it promotes original thought in the crafting of characters, settings and stories.

It's the no longer than two minutes rule that I have an issue with. It is incredibly difficult to craft a story, develop a plot, and have a nice climax in such a limiting time.

Four minutes would be a good compromise, it's just long enough, but still not so long as to burn all of your time showing one or two films.

Either way, I'll be entering one of my creations, it's just to bad I won't be there to see the others.

Also, thanks for allowing others to enter and win even if not present. that will certainly open it up to a lot more talent.

Edited March 20, 2014 by SteampunkDoc

[Darkdragon]

Ah. Well that makes sense I think.

If I have time to create something, I'll join in the fun as well.

[seaotter71]

The no licensed themes rule is good as it promotes original thought in the crafting of characters, settings and stories.

It's the no longer than two minutes rule that I have an issue with. It is incredibly difficult to craft a story, develop a plot, and have a nice climax in such a limiting time.

Four minutes would be a good compromise, it's just long enough, but still not so long as to burn all of your time showing one or two films.

Either way, I'll be entering one of my creations, it's just to bad I won't be there to see the others.

Also, thanks for allowing others to enter and win even if not present. that will certainly open it up to a lot more talent.

Thanks for seeing the bright side of it. Editing down is hard. I've struggled with that on my own projects. But I'll take note, maybe next year we an have a "long form" category if there is enough interest. Humberto

Ah. Well that makes sense I think.

If I have time to create something, I'll join in the fun as well.

I hope you can. If you don't have time, you can always submit something you've published since July of 2013. And thanks for all you do for this forum. Humberto