A Very Disruptive Film Festival

The year is 2017 (wow, is it already?), and we've seen some truly questionable business ideas made manifest as websites, apps, services, drones, and everything in between. As we navigate this colossal dumpster fire of technology, wouldn't it be lovely to stop for a while, take in the sights, and capture this moment for all eternity.

You hold the great responsibility to create an engaging short film paying homage to recognizable tropes from modern startups and startup-like things, your team name, and our app-rich lifestyle in general. Instead of boxing yourself into a film about tinder for fistfights, ask yourselves: what is swiping people really about? How does it engage an audience? Why? What makes this service tick? Capture this elusive magic on film, and you will surely win!

Your film should be approximately 2-4 minutes in length (although we will not penalize a movie for being slightly shorter or longer). You may use any any narrative or visual style. Really, we mean it, anything goes. Trailers, news clips, 80s-style horror, claymation, or a music video are all excellent options. So is interpretive dance. Feel free to take a risk; we promise we won't think less of you. Be creative, but feel free to borrow styles or tropes you find compelling. Win the hearts and minds of your audience, and you have an easy shot at winning the entire Olympics! (we admit, the movie is a bit like the golden snitch in this regard).

Please submit original work (don't send us other people's films!), try not to steal music too blatantly, and remember that your film must be finished in time for the premiere. Winners will be selected by popular vote, with the following awards (team points!):

Selection Criteria

The best picture awards
1st place: 150 points
2nd place: 100 points
3rd place: 0 points

But wait, there's more! Great films deserve recognition, and we will generously reward standout work with even more points! Each award will earn your team 25 points. Without further adieu, these worth-less awards are:

best actor or costume
best musical act, accompaniment or soundtrack
best visual style, effect, or animation
least legal startup idea
least ambitious overall

You will have a great time making the film if your team comes together and works as a team! If you get a professor or an admin to take part, we'll all probably be very impressed. There may or may not be a celebrity panel of judges to determine the winners, but there will definitely be a fancy premiere with snacks and a panel discussion accompanying each film.

Finally, we emphasize that the film competition is an essential part of the CSAIL Olympics, and we encourage you to take it to new and surprising heights. Here are some tips to get you started: Make an MIT Dropbox (where space is unlimited) that will have all of your film prep materials so everyone can stay informed. Pick a particularly charismatic and available person to be your producer. This person will make sure the film happens on schedule, and actually reaches the finish line. Make sure the project moves along at a steady pace. If you get everything done early, you will have time to get everything done the way you like it. Moreover, whoever has to edit this film at the end will actually have enough time to do a good job of it. When googling for tips and tutorials, remember that this is "no budget" production, not a "low budget" one. A low budget tutorial implies that there exists a budget, and is therefore probably not what you are looking for.

To make this movie, you will need to fill 4 key roles:

Screenwriter: This person is responsible for producing an awesome script. While the entire team can (and should) collaborate on the writing, one person should bear the responsibility of moving it along, and finishing with plenty of time for filming and editing. After deciding your themes, ideas, and plot, write a short script (a description of the movie). It should list not only the dialogue (if any), but also what's happening on screen, and why (should this be a sad moment? Should the shadows look creepy? Should there be heavy metal playing?).

Don't get lost in the details - write the entire film before you refine and elaborate. Take some colorful markers to highlight actor-related things, set-related things, and effect-related things. This will help your team coordinate their preparations and make sure no tasks are left unaccounted for.

Director: this person is in charge of picking locations, putting together a list of shots, and getting this project filmed. Some advice: Cast your actors! When casting your actors, get them to run through a scene or two in character to make sure they are a comfortable fit. Make a spreadsheet with all of your scenes and takes. Budget film time. Write down approximately how long each scene and each shot are. Try to use everyone's time efficiently. Film early, and leave time for re-shoots. Prepare a list of shots you want to film, and prepare all you can in advance. When you show up to film, you should have everything you will need on hand, and everyone should know what the plan is, where the shots will take place, and what preparation is needed. If your film needs daylight, try to film in the first half of the day so your work isn't ruined if you aren't done when the sun sets. Be careful about filming outdoors - you *will* be very cold, and the lighting *will* change on you quickly. Try to film all shots in a given scene in one meeting. It is difficult to deal with with changing outfits shots that go along with a scene in one meeting - it is hard to get everyone one the same page twice. DSLRs make excellent film cameras, but your phone will do just fine[1].

Remember: lighting and acting are far more important than how fancy your camera is. Don't film in 4K, ain't nobody got the time to edit that. Use a tripod or tripod-like contraption to reduce camera shake (carrying a tripod as extra weight attached to the camera helps reduce shake on a moving shot also). If you find yourself saying "whatever, we can fix this in post", no. No, you can not. Try to get all your video and your audio to be the best it can be when you film, and your editor will thank you.

Sound Person: This person is responsible for picking music and getting the most usable audio recording of the film they can manage. Some advice: Have a sound person Record quiet room tone (~30 seconds of silence in the room). You will need this to stitch your shots together - true silence sounds nothing like silence in your environment, and will be jarring. Use camera audio to sync a better audio recording device, if able Know what audio you can fix in post, and what you absolutely need to record with actors (dialogue!). Make sure you have usable audio before you finish recording a scene. This is the fault that makes most unwatchable movies unwatchable.

Please try to avoid stealing music (we don't care, but Youtube will). There is an abundance of royalty-free music available on the internet (soundcloud, ocremix.org, etc.). Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) is probably your free tool of choice. A laptop or (and) a phone can do a decent job recording your audio track. If someone on your team has an audio recorder, or a dedicated microphone you should use it. If you happen to stumble upon a condenser microphone, they're just the best for narrator-style voiceovers.

Editor: This person will take the mess of video files, sound, pictures, and text, and produce a shiny film for all to enjoy. Be nice to your editor - they will have a lot of solo work to grind through. Some advice: You don't need Avid or Final Cut Pro. You should look into Lightworks (http://www.lwks.com/), or Pitivi (http://www.pitivi.org/), or anything that will let you do basic editing (Apple and Microsoft have free things that do this). Email out to csail-related if you would like to spark a heated discussion about the tools available. Color grading makes everything look so film-y (cool down shadows and highlights, warm up midtones). Try to get a draft of your video done a few days before the finale. Your team will certainly have feedback.

That's all there is to it!
Good luck! Crush it!

[1]: iphone movie
Previous years' movies available on the CSC youtube page here