Film Festival entries should be less than 10 minutes in length.  If your film is longer than 10 minutes, you can still submit it but the judges are not required to view more than the first 10 minutes.  If you film wins an award, only the first 10 minutes will be featured at the STN Film Festival in March.

2012 Student Film Festival

Rules & Regulations

Writers, Producers, Directors – Submit your creative films in the annual STN Student Film Festival.  Winners will be announced at the 7^th Annual STN Student Film Festival and Music Video Showcase on Friday, March 23rd, 2012 at the STN Affiliates Convention in Dallas, Texas. As part of the Film Festival, nominees and winners will be screened in the main banquet hall, along with selected music videos produced for the on-site competition.

The Rules & Regulations for submission of entries are outlined in this document. All entries must also follow the Rules and Regulations for All STN Contests. Entries that do not adhere to the Rules & Regulations are subject to loss of points and/or disqualification by the judges. All decisions by the judges are final. The Board of Directors of Student Television Network reserves the right to change or amend these Rules & Regulations, at any time, and without notice. Film Festival entries include three (3) main categories:

1. High School Short Film – Live Action or Animated

-         Films should be no longer than 10 minutes including credits.

-         Films produced after January 1, 2011 are eligible for entry.

-         All film footage must have been shot after January 1, 2011.

2. High School Documentary

-         Films should be no longer than 10 minutes including credits.

-         Films produced after January 1, 2011 are eligible for entry.

-         All film footage must have been shot after January 1, 2011.

 3. Middle School Film

-         Live Action, Animated and Documentary are judged as one category for Middle School Film submissions.

-         Films should be no longer than 10 minutes including credits.

-         Films produced after January 1, 2011 are eligible for entry.

-         All film footage must have been shot after January 1, 2011.

-         Middle Schools may not enter High School Film categories.

 Film Festival Awards
All films submitted will be eligible for an award, even those submitted by schools that do not attend the convention.  Awards will be given in the following areas:

-         Best Short Film

-         Best Documentary

-         Best Middle School Film or Documentary

-         Best Cinematography

-         Best Sound Design

-         Best Editing

-         Best Directing

-         Best Original Score

-         Best Original Screenplay

Submission
-         Each program may submit up to 3 films.

-         Advisers may not shoot, write or edit any part of a Film Festival entry. This is a hands-off contest and must be 100% student produced.

-         All films must be submitted on DVD-R with two (2) copies of the DVD-R included.  Please double-check your DVDs to make sure they play. Judges will be viewing the DVDs on their personal computer. DVDs that do not play will be disqualified. 

-         Please mail entries with the registration form and payment (if payment was not made online) to: STN Film Festival 2768 Loker Avenue West Carlsbad, CA 92010. Entries must be postmarked by January 11, 2012.

-         Label all DVDs with your School Name, entry number from the online registration and the Film Category you are entering (e.g. Short Film, Documentary or Middle School Film).

-         Contest entries are subject to United States Copyright Laws and may be disqualified or lose points for disregarding these laws. Please refer to the STN website for our copyright policies.

-         There is a $15 fee for Film Festival submissions.

Judging the Film Festival
The judges are looking for original work, created and produced by teams from STN affiliate schools.  The event encourages film-style storytelling and techniques.  All content, writing, video and audio must be original.  Students are encouraged to create their own original soundtracks. Judges are only required to watch 10 minutes.  Winning films may not be shown in their entirety at the Film Festival  Any number of current students may have been involved in the making of a film entry but the online registration form will only take up to 6 names. More than 7 are considered "staff."

Click here for Film Festival printable PDF