The Happenin’ Hotspot for After Effects Artists

From Jeremy Hanke, Editor at MicroFilmmaker Magazine:

Thousands of filmmakers are discovering an extremely clever way to encourage potential film investors to finance their films: the speculative trailer. Created by shooting a few key scenes from a script the filmmaker wants to get funding for and editing them into trailer format, a speculative trailer shows the style and look of the final film to potential investors and allows them to see how it might be marketed.

To encourage you to create a speculative trailer for that film you’ve always wanted to get funded, Microfilmmaker Magazine has teamed up with Adobe to bring you the Microfilmmaker Magazine/Adobe Spec Trailer Contest. A panel of highly regarded filmmakers and editors, which currently includes acclaimed Indie directors Mike Flanagan (Oculus, The Ghosts of Hamilton Street) and Alex Ferrari (Cyn, Broken), will judge these speculative trailers and the top ten will be listed on our website for our readers to watch and vote on.

The winner of this contest will receive the brand new Adobe Creative Suite 3: Production Premium package (featuring Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects CS3, Flash CS3, Encore CS3, Soundbooth CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Illustrator CS3, OnLocation CS3, and Ultra CS3) and Red Giant Magic Bullet Suite 3, for a grand prize total of $2498!

The submission deadline is August 15th, 2007. The top ten will be posted on September 7th, with voting for Microfilmmaker Members available from then until Midnight September 14th. The winner will be declared on September 15th, 2007.(I recommend that anyone wishing to enter this contest read Mike Flanagan’s amazingly insightful article on editing trailers first.)Read the complete submission instructions below:

1. Trailers must be no shorter than 60 seconds in length and no longer than 120 seconds in length.
2. Trailers must be in English or have English subtitles.
3. Trailers must have utilized at least one Adobe product in their creation. (This does not have to be a video program such as Premiere Pro or After Effects, but may include Adobe graphic products like Photoshop or Illustrator or audio programs like Audition.)
4. Trailers must be shot for no more than a $500 budget if you own your own camera or an $800 budget if you must rent your camera.
5. 80% of the footage in your trailer must have been shot after June 1, 2007.
6. Trailers must be in either uncompressed Windows video (.AVI) or uncompressed Quicktime (.MOV) NTSC or 24P files burned to DVD.
7. Each DVD submitted must be in a full size DVD case. (CD cases and clamshell cases will not be excepted.)
8. A filmmaker may submit more than one trailer, but each trailer must be on its own separate DVD in its own separate DVD case.
9. Clearly label your DVD case with the following information:
   a) Trailer Name
   b) Director’s Name
   c) Genre
   d) Running Time
         e) Shipping Address
         f) Phone Number
         g) Email
         h) Trailer Budget
         i) Which Adobe Product Was Used in Creation?
10. Clearly label your DVD with the following information:
          a) Trailer Name
          b) Director
          c) Email
11. All submissions must be postmarked no later than August 15th, 2007.

Failure to follow any of these ground rules will cause your entry to be disqualified. 

Submit all trailers to:

Microfilmmaker Magazine
c/o Kari Ann Morgan
100 John Sutherland Dr. Ste. 7
Nicholasville, KY 40356

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email either myself or our PR director, Kari Ann Morgan.

Additional and Legal Information:
Discs that have been mis-burned or do not play properly will be discarded, so please double check your discs before you mail them in.
Trailers will not be returned, so do not send master copies of your trailer.
By submitting your trailer, you give Microfilmmaker Magazine permission to use it in part or in its entirety in advertising related to this or future contests.