Concept:

Directors will have only 24 hours to make a complete movie, from the initial concept, all the way through to an uploaded, coherent film.

Rules:

1. Starting at 12 noon GMT on December 29, 2007 (Greenwich Mean Time), you will have 24 hours to script, animate, edit, and upload a film. Any entries not received within these 24 hours will be disqualified. To help insure that there is no cheating, the theme will not be announced until the contest begins. The theme will be announced in a thread titled "THAC4 Starts NOW!"in the Contests and Film Festivals forum at www.brickfilms.com. Here is a list of cities and their corresponding times, all set to noon GMT.
2. Also announced in this thread along with the theme will be the "mod" element. The mod element is an element that must be included in every shot of your film to ensure that nothing is animated before the allotted 24 hours. It could be a shape, a letter, or even a printed graphic. One thing to note is that as long as the mod is physically included in the set (ie not added in post production), you are free to include it however you want. In addition, it does not have to remain consistent throughout the film; in one scene it could be printed on a piece of paper and taped to a wall, while in another it could be a pattern of bricks on the floor. See this page for more detailed information on the mod element. (Note: It is not original to make a film about how the "mod" element changes from scene to scene and appears in every shot. It is not intended to be the focus for the film, just a check to ensure it is made within the 24 hour time period.)
3. The film 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.
4. The film should contain Lego or similar 'brick' construction toys
5. There must be a minimum of 30 seconds of animation in the film, not including credits or stills. There is no maximum length.
6. Joint entries ARE allowed, as are multiple entries.
7. While copyrighted/trademarked properties are allowed, you are discouraged from basing your movie off of preexisting films (Star Wars, The Matrix, etc.). Its not original, and could lower your score in the story area. Copyrighted music may be used, due to the time constraints for this contest, but if you do not wish to do so, you ARE permitted to create original music beforehand. Music does not have to be created within the 24 hour time limit.

Length and Format

1. To ensure that all entries are viewable by everyone, a version of the film with a maximum file size of 3MB per minute must be submitted. For compatibilty and consistency entries must be encoded using one of the following codecs: Realvideo (Realmedia), DivX (in a .avi file), or .mov (Quicktime).
2. A high quality version may also be submitted at any time, during or after the contest, but is not required. There are no file size or codec requirements for the high quality version.

Prizes:

RevMen has once again generously agreed to provide 2 Brickfilms DVDs as prizes for the THAC competition. I am providing the other prize, an Exoforce Lego Set.

First Place:

8106 Aero Booster

Second Place:

Brickfilms Contest DVD, your choice. HAT, HAV, or FIG.

Third Place:

Brickfilms Contest DVD, your choice. HAT, HAV, or FIG.

Voting:

In a departure from past THACs, this time around there are no distinct Panel and Entrants' awards. Instead, judges' and entrants' ballots will be combined to award all three prizes. This means that, in order to be elligible for any prize at all, entrants MUST submit a ballot. Failure to do so will effectively disqualify said entratnt's film from the running, and in the even that they win a prize, their prize will instead be awarded to the next runner up.

All four categories are evenly weighted so that being outstanding in one area or having exceptional equipment in another is less likely to have a major impact on the final results. In doing this, overall consistency is rewarded, and we hope to encourage more less experienced animators to enter.

Below are the guidelines for judging the entries, each category includes suggestions for what to consider when raking the films. It is understood that rankings are at times subjective, but we do ask you to take careful note of what your are NOT to judge films by in a specific category.

-Animation: 25%

Several things have to be taken into account when judging the animation. Focus should be on: (i) technique (actual animation skills when under pressure such as smoothness, impressiveness, appropriateness to the situation) and (ii) quantity within the time period.

Note that lots of high quality animation should rate higher than 30 seconds (minimum required amount) of high quality animation or 10 minutes of horrible animation.

-Cinematography: 25%

Cinematography should be judged on the skill of the director's shot construction and technique throughout the animation. Things to look for would be effective framing of the shots, camera movements, angles, steadiness, lighting, use of color and all those other elements that demonstrate planning and/or a keen visual eye. We want to stress that actual image quality should not completely be taken into consideration when judging cinematography. Of course if the viewer cannot read or see important on-screen information cinematography will be effected, but we do not want to discourage entrants with lower quality cams to enter. Your cinematography (even if a bit grainy) will be viewed with what you are intending to convey in mind.

-Sound Design: 25%

Sound design is the general sound of the movie. Films will be judged on use of foley, sound effects, effective usage/appropriateness and use of music to modify/enhance mood. Using foley or music etc is not mandatory; thus the overall effectiveness of whatever sounds are included is what this should be judged on. Notes: If there are 'speaking' parts the quality what is said should not be judged as this relates to the next section, story. The audio quality of spoken parts should not be judged (unless, of course, the spoken parts are so badly recorded that they are inaudible or not understandable); we are not judging the quality of your microphones! (It does help not to use the mic in the QCP4000 or the LEGO cam if at all possible though...)

-Story: 25%

It is expected that your film will include some sort of story that relates directly to the theme (remember, theme will be released at the moment the competition begins). Ideally, the story should be judged primarily on its plot, the skill and manner in which it is told and how well it relates to the theme. Remember, a story can be told in many ways, however the way you choose to express your story may impact directly on how well it is understood by others...

Participation:

All entries must be received in the form of an e-mail containing:

1. A working (for the time of the contest) link to at least the small version of your film. If you need hosting, send an email to 24hour@david.brickfilms.com. On the day of the contest, it will be set up as an auto-responder, and will send you a message containing the username and password for an FTP account.
2. The names of everyone who worked on the film.
3. The entrant's username at brickfilms (If available. you do not have to be a member or brickfilms to enter, but it will help streamline the process... why not join?!).
4. E-mails are to be sent to david@brickfilms.com.