Film Submission Guidelines

Film submission guidelines and whatnot.

1. Film length
   Short films should be a minimum length of 3 minutes and a maximum length of 20 minutes.
   Feature length  films can be between 40 minutes and 90 minutes. 
   As a general rule we prefer amateur film  submissions to be  no longer than 10 mins. 
   You have a better chance of your film being screened if it's a short film. We only screen 2-4 feature length films over the course of the festival.
2. You must have the artist’s permission to use their track(s) on your soundtrack. No permission, no inclusion.
3. Film screeners should be sent to us in digital format. If your film is chosen for the festival we'll then ask you to send on two DVD's of your film. (What's a screener?)
4. Ensure you include the following with your submission. All should be submitted digitally. 
    - Bio of the director
    - Short Synopsis of the film
    - A poster of the film so we can promote it on the website..
5. The ABSOLUTE deadline for film submissions is Sunday September 15th 2013. 
6. You should know by September 30th if your film has been selected for the festival.
7. Films that solely promote a business won’t be considered (e.g. Max Powers Climbing Clinic). We’re ok with sponsors featuring in films.
8. You MUST make us aware if your film has previously been screened at other film festivals (adventure or otherwise) in Ireland.
9. This is an adventure sports and environmental film festival. Your film should reflect that. 
10. This is a family friendly affair so keep it clean

What’s in it for you?

• Cash prize (amount to be confirmed) for best short film as picked by the festival judges (not audience vote).
• The winners of both the judges vote and audience vote get a festival trophy.
• We’ll promote all films that are of a good standard, regardless of whether they are screened over the weekend. We’ll do this through our website and social media pages.
• If your film makes it through to the final selection, your film will be entered into two separate judging categories. An Audience vote and the Judges vote. 
• We encourage film directors/producers whose films feature in the festival to introduce their films on the night. It helps the audience get a better feel for the film and it adds a touch of class.
• The glory!!

Arrgghhhh!  I don’t have permission to use the music on my film.

Bummer. Ok, so if you have already have music edited into your film which you have not obtained permission for there are a number, well two,  options available.

1. You can choose not to enter the film into the What If, Why Not? Festival. We can still host your film online should you wish.

2. You can re-edit the music track using creative commons music or royalty free music.

Also to the best of our knowledge, unless you have the permission of the musician to use the track in the film you’re in breach of copyright law.

“One of the core aims of the festival is to promote new talent, both for film makers and musicians. It really is at the root of why this festival was created. It was a tough call to be honest as many good films won’t be submitted because the film makers don’t want to re-edit their soundtrack. However a line in the sand needs to be drawn and in the long run I think that it’ll create a more symbiotic relationship between film makers, especially Irish amateur film makers, and musicians. And that I hope will led to greater opportunities for both groups”           

- Graham Clarke (Festival Coordinator)

Need to find new music?

Got a film but not sure where to source music for your soundtrack? Well good news my friends. We here at WiWn have our very own FREE music library. Check out our music catelgoue on the MUSIC page. 

Interested? Drop us an email and we’ll hook you up.

Still can’t find music that you like. Try these other free(ish) music sites.

Vimeo Music – Awesome site. Choose between free, personal and inde production price ranges.

Right Clearing – Great, easy to use.

Friendly Music – Over 5 million tracks downloaded. By far the most used site. Effective musical mood map too which helps you find the right type of track for the mood of your film.

Still can’t find the type of music you want. Drop us an email and we’ll see what we can do. There are lots of sites out there that host royalty free music and we know quite a few of them.