Rules

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48 Hour Film Challenge (“Challenge”)
2011 Official Rules

In the United States, the challenge is intended for anyone inside United States, Canada, and other outside countries.

1. ELIGIBILITY: The FinalCutKing 48 Hour Film Challenge is open to anyone inside and outside of the United States. The following are not eligible: employees, contractors, directors and officers of FinalCutKing 48 Hour Film Challenge, Inc, its parent, subsidiaries and affiliated companies, distributors, web design, advertising, fulfillment, judging and Project agencies involved in the administration, development, fulfillment and execution of this Challenge (collectively, “Challenge Parties”), and the immediate family members of each (spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, and spouse or “step” of each) and those living in their same households (those persons whether related or not who live in the same residence for at least three months during the twelve-month period preceding the start date of the Challenge).

2. TO ENTER: To register for the Challenge, follow the instructions found at www.48FilmChallenge.com. There is no fee for registration but a team must be registered 1 hour before the event begins in order to receive the 3 film items.

3. The Challenge will commence on a Friday (Dec 9th, 2011) and end on the following Sunday (Dec 11th, 2011) as announced on the FinalCutKing website.

4. CHALLENGE TERMS OF SUBMISSION: By submitting an Entry into this Project, each Entrant warrants and represents that the Entrant owns all rights to the Entry he/she is entering in this Project, including, without limitation, the video or digital recording, and the performance contained in each Entry, with the exception of any assets provided by the FinalCutKing 48 Film Challenge for use by Entrants in connection with this Project. Each Entrant further warrants and represents that the Entrant has obtained permission from each person who appears in the Entry to grant the rights to the Project Parties described in these Official Rules, and will submit copies of such permissions to the Project Parties. By submitting an Entry, Entrant agrees to the Official Rules, and further agrees to indemnify and hold the FinalCutKing 48 Film Challenge, Project Parties and their respective affiliates, officers, directors, agents, co-branders or other partners, and any of their employees (collectively, the “Challenge Indemnitees”), harmless from any and all claims, damages, expenses, costs (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) and liabilities (including settlements), brought or asserted by any third party against any of the Project Indemnitees due to or arising out of the Entrant’s Entry materials in this Project, or the Entrant’s conduct during and in connection with this Project, including but not limited to trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights, right of publicity, right of privacy or defamation. Entrant agrees to release, indemnify and hold harmless FinalCutKing 48 Challenge and the Project Parties from any and all claims that any advertising, presentation, web content or any other material subsequently produced, presented, and/or prepared by or on behalf of FinalCutKing 48  or the Project Parties infringes on the rights of Entrant’s work as contained in any Entry.

5. SELECTION OF WINNERS: Entries will be judged by a group of filmmakers chosen by the FinalCutKing team. Entries will be judged by a process in which qualified panels of judges will evaluate the eligible entries based on the following judging criteria:
• Artistic Merit (e.g., Story, Creativity, Entertainment Value) (45%)
• Technical Merit (30%)
• Adherence to the Assignment (25%)

The Top Entry in each city will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken based on the highest score in the first Judging Criteria, continuing thereafter to each Judging Criteria in order, as needed to break the tie. Entrants agree that the FinalCutKing 48 Challenge has the sole right to decide all matters and disputes arising from this Challenge and that all decisions of FinalCutKing judging team are final and binding.

6. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY AND RELEASE: No liability or responsibility is assumed by FinalCutKing 48 or Project Parties resulting from any user’s participation in or attempt to participate in the Project or ability or inability to upload or download any information in connection with participating in the Project. No responsibility or liability is assumed by the FinalCutKing 48  or Project Parties for technical problems or technical malfunction arising in connection with any of the following occurrences which may affect the operation of the Challenge: hardware or software errors; faulty computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, electronic, wireless or Internet connectivity or other online communication problems; errors or limitations of any Internet service providers, servers, hosts or providers; garbled, jumbled or faulty data transmissions; failure of any e-mail transmissions to be sent or received; lost, late, delayed or intercepted e-mail transmissions; inaccessibility of the Web Site in whole or in part for any reason; traffic congestion on the Internet or the Web Site; unauthorized human or non-human intervention of the operation of the Project, including without limitation, unauthorized tampering, hacking, theft, virus, bugs, worms; or destruction of any aspect of the Project, or loss, miscount, misdirection, inaccessibility or unavailability of an email account used in connection with the Challenge. FinalCutKing 48 and Project Parties are not responsible for any typographical errors in the announcement of prizes or these Official Rules, or any inaccurate or incorrect data contained on the Web Site. Use of Web Site is at user’s own risk. FinalCutKing 48 and the Project Parties are not responsible for any personal injury or property damage or losses of any kind which may be sustained to user’s or any other person’s computer equipment resulting from participation in the Project, use of the Web Site or the download of any information from the Web Site. By participating in the Project, Entrant agrees to release, indemnify and hold FinalCutKing 48  and Project Parties harmless from any and all claims, damages or liabilities arising from or relating to such Entrant’s participation in the Project.

7. WINNERS: Winners will be posted online at www.48FilmChallenge.com

8. PROJECT ORGANIZER: Zach King – 13800 Biola Ave Box 1493 La Mirada, CA 90639

9. FILMMAKING RULES: The following rules apply to each participating group/production team:

A. Times

• The FinalCutKing 48 Film Challenge (FinalCutKing 48 Challenge) will occur in cities around the world on different weekends throughout the year.
• The FinalCutKing 48 Film Challeng will occur between a Friday 5pm (Pacific Standard Time) and the following Sunday 5pm (Pacific Standard Time). This is the “Official 48 Hour Time Period”. (Days and times of competition may vary in some countries.)
• The participating group/team must complete its film/video work in time to deliver it to an email address to be announced, on Sunday by 5:00pm (PST).
• Only works that meet the deadline will be officially part of the competition.

B. Creativity must take place during the “Official 48 Hour Time Period”. Any creativity work in advance of the competition weekend is prohibited. Creative work includes, but is not limited to:

• Rehearsing
• Costume/Set Design
• Shooting
• Editing
• Sound Design
• Rendering
• Outputting to tape or other media

C. The only work to begin prior to the “Official 48 Hour Time Period” is:

• Planning Story
• Organizing Crew
• Organizing Cast
• Securing Equipment
• Scouting/Securing Locations

D. All footage must be shot within the 48 hour time period of the project.

• No stock footage or footage shot or created at another time may be used.
• Animation and special effects are permitted, but must be created during the 48 hour time period. (Note: Stock footage as part of a special effect in a third party special effects program is permissible.)
• Still photographs are permitted, provided that the team has the rights to them. The photos do not need to be created during the 48 hour time period; however, stills created outside of the official 48 hour time period may not be used in sequence to create the illusion of motion.

E. Each participating group will be assigned required elements that must appear in its film, such as an article of clothing, a camera angle, and a prop.

• The required Prop must be seen on-screen during a shot.
• The article of clothing does not need to be worn but needs to be visible during at least one shot.
• Each Film must indicate the 3 elements chosen for the video by placing a 3 second title card with the title of the film and 3 elements used.

F. All cast and crew must be volunteers.

G. Any type of video or film camera may be used.

H. Participating groups are encouraged to work with a local composer and/or musicians to write and record music for the films. It is permissible for a participating group to use pre-recorded music; however the participating group must have the rights to any music used in its film and must provide releases for all music used. As with music, pre-recorded sound effects are allowed, but you must have rights to use them.

Note: Song parodies (i.e., use of identifiable pre-existing compositions with new or altered lyrics or music) may not be included in the film without a signed release from the composition’s rights holder. This rule applies without regard to whether the song parody arguably constitutes “fair use” under US or international copyright law.

I. The finished film must be a maximum of 3 minutes in duration – including credits.

J. Credits at the end of each film are limited to a maximum of 60 seconds.

The end credits must include the words: “This film was made for the FinalCutKing 48 Hour Film Challenge. www.48FilmChallenge.com“

Opening credits are considered to be part of the film, and therefore count against the three minute maximum. Additionally, if your film has opening credits other than simply the film’s title, you must include one of the following:

• the text “[your team name] presents” immediately followed by “the FinalCutKing Film Challenge” and
• indicate 3 elements used in your video.

Please keep the videos clean.