Official Rules for the 2009 Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival (GPSFF)
FILM SUBMISSION FORMAT
All GPSFF submissions should be sent as a Quicktime movie (*.mov) burned onto a data DVD (please do not encode the DVD).
Submissions should not exceed 15 minutes in length.
SUBMITTING A FILM TO GPSFF
To submit a film to GPSFF, please fill out the submission form located at http://gpsff2009.wufoo.com/forms/gpsff-2009-submission-form/. When the form is completed successfully, please complete print out the confirmation notice and attach it to your submission (this confirmation notice will also be emailed to you).
Mail 1) your DVD disk and 2) a hard copy of your confirmation notice to the following address: Cinema Studies Program - 209A Fisher-Bennett Hall - 3340 Walnut Street - Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Multiple submissions to GPSFF are allowed with a limit of 3. However, you must complete a submission form for EACH submission. You are permitted to mail all your submissions in one package, however.
Submissions will not be returned.
DEADLINE
Normal Deadline: NO SUBMISSION FEE (films must be postmarked by February 1, 2009)
Late Deadline: $10 submission fee (films must be received by 5pm on February 13, 2009). Entry fees are non-refundable. Please make out all checks to "GPSFF - Campus Philly." We also accept cash.
JUDGING PROCESS
Phase I: Due to the amount of films we receive and limitations on the judges’ time, film submissions are first pre-selected by students. Film submissions are randomly assigned to groups of three GPSFF volunteers. Each group will have at least two different universities represented. The group screens all films in their entirety, and picks films according to three criteria (see below). However, given that these volunteers are not film experts (although many have experience in the field), their overarching concern besides the three criteria is a film's "watchability." Will the film engage the audience? Approximately five films per category will be sent off to the panel of professional GPSFF judges. The cutoff is relative to other films in the category.
Phase II: GPSFF only invites respected members of industry and academia to serve as its judges. In each genre, judges select the five “best” films– a “first”, “second,” and “third” place winner, as well as two “honorable mention” films.
In both phases, three general criteria are used:
Technical (1 to 5 points) – Submissions are judged not on the equipment they use (HD vs. SD or digital vs. film), but on whether the submission uses the equipment to its utmost capacity. This category is concerned primarily with the use of lighting and sound. The student screening panel will be concerned primarily with whether the image and sound are recorded acceptably. Judges will be concerned with the technique of the cinematography and soundscape.
Originality (1 to 5 points) – Submissions are rated on the quality and uniqueness of the story in addition to how the story is told. The student screening panel is concerned with whether the story engages the audience. The judges will be concerned with narrative technique and the story's uniqueness.
Acting (1 to 5 points) – The student screening panel will be concerned with whether it does not make the audience cringe. The judges will be concerned with acting technique.
All screening, selection, and jury decisions are final. GPSFF screens many fine films; however, as with all festivals there is limited programming availability. By entering the GPSFF, Submitters are verifying that they understand their entries are not guaranteed a screening at the awards ceremony.
GPSFF reserves the right to reclassify the genre of any film submission.
ATTENTION: RULE CHANGE AS OF JANUARY 26, 2010.
GPSFF has the highest respect for the creative and propriety rights of our student participants. The following is an updated copyright clause to better fit the needs of all GPSFF submitters. These new protections will be retroactively applied to all previous submissions to GPSFF 2010.
Failure to comply with the guidelines, rules, regulations, or eligibility may be cause for disqualification from GPSFF.
If you have question about the rules, please do not hesitate to contact us at http://www.gpsff.com/contact.php