Below are the general rules for the Found Footage Contest. For the purposes of the rules described on this page, “Filmmaker” refers to the person submitting a motion picture in the contest, “Film” refers to the motion picture submitted in the contest, and “Selected” means a film will be issued an award.

 

1. Contest Timing. foundfootagecontest.com is designed as an ongoing competition. Submitted films will be reviewed and judged on an ongoing basis by the administrators of foundfootagecontest.com. As such, the contest has no deadline for submission and no scheduled award date(s). Submitted films will be reviewed and awards will be issued on a rolling basis.
2. Film Distribution. Only films selected by the administrators of foundfootagecontest.com will be eligible for distribution. The scope of distribution shall depend on the quality and monetization potential of each selected film as determined by the administrators of foundfootagecontest.com. Distribution awards shall include one (or more) of the following: (a) distribution on the POV Horror Found Footage Channel on all published platforms (i.e. Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, etc); (b) global or limited distribution through other third party platforms (e.g. Amazon Video, Amazon Prime, iTunes, etc.). The Filmmaker will be required to enter into a separate distribution agreement with POV Horror LLC (the owner of the Found Footage Channel) prior to the distribution of the film. The terms of the distribution agreement will vary depending on the quality and monetization potential of the film as determined by the administrators of foundfootagecontest.com.
3. Filmmaker Rights. If a film is selected, the Filmmaker is under no obligation to commit the film to a distribution agreement with POV Horror LLC. The Filmmaker has the right to negotiate the terms of any distribution agreement presented through foundfootagecontest.com. POV Horror LLC will make an effort to meet the individual needs of each filmmaker, but is under no obligation to accept modified terms. If the Filmmaker elects not enter into a distribution agreement with POV Horror LLC, then the Filmmaker forfeits all distribution awards, including film distribution, distribution royalty payments, and cash advances against film distribution.
4. Festival Entrance. Only films selected by the administrators of foundfootagecontest.com will be eligible for film festival entry and festival screening. The scope of festival participation (i.e. entry, nomination, award, screening, etc.) is at the sole discretion of the administrators of each participating film festival. The selection of a film for distribution is not a guarantee that the film will be entered or screened at one of the film festivals. For films selected for festival consideration, foundfootagecontest.com shall cover submission fees associated with festival submission.
5. Post-Production Editing. foundfootagecontest.com and its partners has a dedicated team of film editors and special effects experts that can help elevate selected films to maximize quality and distribution potential. The decision for foundfootagecontest.com to utilize these services for selected films shall be based on the quality and potential of the film as determined by foundfootagecontest.com and its partners.
6. Language. All films must have English spoken language dialog or English subtitles for consideration. Films without spoken English dialog or English subtitles are subject to disqualification.
7. Entry Fees. Entry fees and taxes must be paid online via the online registration form and are non-refundable.
8. Online Access to Submissions. All film submissions must be accessible online. The contest and its administrators are not responsible for submissions that are not properly uploaded, or have a non-working link, or where the website the film is hosted on fails. The filmmaker will upload a private, unlisted, or password protected link to their film(s) which shall be used for review purposes by the foundfootagecontest.com selection committee.
9. Film Duration. Films under 60 minutes in length are considered short films. Films 60 minutes and over shall be considered feature length films. Filmmakers will adhere to contest instructions described on the foundfootagecontest.com website.
10. Award Decisions. Decisions of the selected (i.e. winning) films are final and may not be disputed.
11. Age. All filmmakers of submitted material must be 18 years of age or older effective as of the date of submission, or have parental consent and must fill out a waiver. If necessary, please [captainform id=”921230″ lightbox=”1″ text_content=”Contact%20Us” type=”text”] to ask for a waiver.
12. Country. Filmmakers may reside in any country.
13. Encumbrances. All films must be the original work of the author(s) and may not be encumbered by any third party. Films that have been sold to other entities or are currently under option are not eligible. Any promises, debts, obligations, agreements or encumbrances sustained or acquired by any filmmakers are not the legal or financial responsibility of FoundFootageContest.com and its partners.
14. Source Material. Adaptations of books, plays, or other source material written by another author are not eligible unless the work is in the public domain or the author holds the exclusive writes to create and distribute a motion picture based on the other source material.
15. Copyright. The filmmaker agrees and acknowledges that the scripts they are assigned and or shoot are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, England and all countries with which the United States and Canada has reciprocal copyright relations, whether through bilateral or multilateral treaties or otherwise, and including the not limited to, all countries covered by the Pan-American copyright convention, the Universal copyright convention, and the Berne convention.
16. Errors and Omissions. The contest and its administrators shall not be held responsible for any errors or omissions on the part of the writer(s) or filmmaker(s).
17. All rights to the film(s) are strictly reserved, including, without limitation, professional and amateur performance rights, stage rights, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video, and sound recording rights; rights to all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction now known or yet to be invented, such as CD, DVD, Blu-ray, screen capture, email, scanning, photocopying and information storage and retrieval systems; and the rights of translation and non-English languages.
18. Clearance. The filmmaker shall ensure that their film is fully cleared for publication, including, but not limited to, the cast, shooting locations, musical score, and any products and/or copyrighted material that appears in the film. Upon request, the filmmaker agrees to furnish written documentation clearly demonstrating approval by the cast, location owners, and owners of copyrighted musical scores, products, and other copyrighted material appearing in the film. Failure to provide such documentation may disqualify the film from the contest and receiving any awards.
19. Distribution Royalty Cash Prizes. Cash prizes awarded that are based on film distribution royalties shall be paid on a quarterly basis (90 days after the close of the fiscal quarter). Disbursement of royalty cash prizes is predicated on the Filmmaker first entering into a distribution agreement with POV Horror LLC and the actual distribution of the selected film. The amount of cash royalties distributed each quarter shall be based on revenue actually received by POV Horror LLC. The terms governing the distribution, duration, and payment schedule of the film shall be governed by the the distribution agreement between Filmmaker and POV Horror LLC.
20. Cash Advances Against Royalties. Prizes awarded that include cash advances against distribution royalties will require that filmmaker first enter into a distribution agreement with POV Horror LLC for the distribution of the winning film. Awarded cash advance prizes will be disbursed within 90 days from the filmmaker signing a distribution agreement with POV Horror LLC. The amount of the cash advance will vary depending on the film length, quality, and distribution potential.
21. Short Films. A selected short film may be grouped with other selected short films as part of a feature length anthology which will be distributed by POV Horror.

The following are general guidelines to creating a successful found footage film. While following these guidelines explicitly is not a requirement for submission, we strongly recommend that filmmakers strive to adhere to as many of these canons of found footage as possible to increase their chances of winning. The contest judges will, in part, measure the merit of each submission using these guidelines (in addition to other criteria).

1. No Narrative Filmmaking. Found footage films do not contain any shots/scenes filmed from a camera source that is not within the universe of the film.
2. No Musical Score. Exceptions to this rule include (a) mockumentary filmmaking where music is intentionally added by the fictitious filmmakers/editors in post production; (b) found footage films where a strong justification is provided as to how and why music was added (e.g. did the filmmaker edit the footage with music before it was lost?); (c) music is permissible if there is an in-universe source such as a radio or television.
3. No Non-diegetic Sound. Filmmakers often add non-diegetic sound to films to increase tension. In found footage films, the use of such sounds should be avoided or at the very least used very subtly.  An effective use of non-diegetic sound may include amplifying or changing the tone of sounds that are already natural to the environment.
4. Do Not Mic the Actors. Found footage films should rely on the on-board video camera microphones. This approach will ensure that the characters’ voices grow and fade as they move towards and away from the camera.  When the actors wear personal microphones, their voices remain artificially even, regardless of their proximity to the camera. To compensate for the lower quality of on-board microphones, many filmmakers add forward-facing and rear-facing microphones to their video cameras to enhance the audio quality of the final product.
5. Video Camera On-screen Graphics. Video camera recording frames and battery levels do NOT record to video and should not be included in the film unless a technical reason is provided in-film as to why and how these graphical elements found their way onto the video.
6. CGI. Filmmakers should be very careful when considering the use of CGI in their found footage film. Found footage films are designed to look like “actual” lost footage. Unless you are utilizing the services of a professional CGI expert on your film, we strongly recommend using practical effects. From our experience, mediocre practical effects are preferable to unconvincing CGI. Even when CGI is done effectively, such effects should be used very sparingly, and only when necessary to further the plot.
7. Filming Reason. Every scene in your film should have at least one compelling reason as to why it was filmed.
8. Cinematography. The quality of the cinematography should match the skills of the character holding the camera. Found footage films that are shot too-steady often come across as fake. Conversely, films that are shot too haphazardly and jumpy may cause viewer discomfort. Strike a balance that reflects the skills of the character holding the camera. One effective technique often used to compensate for “shaky cam” is placing the video camera on the ground during scenes where the characters are spending time in the same location or switching to a surveillance camera feed covering the fixed location.
9. Night Vision. It’s always best to film using actual night vision. If you elect to simulate night vision with a green filter, keep in mind that the characters’ eyes will not have the appropriate sheen that every night vision camera captures.
10. Explain How the Footage Was Recovered. Plausible deniability is enhanced when viewers are provided with a good reason as to how the footage was lost and recovered.
11. Minimize pointless Character Arguments. Many found footage directors are guilty of filming prolonged scenes where the characters argue with each other. These scenes are often added to extend the run-time of a film and are easy to film because arguing can be achieved without a script through improv-style acting. A shorter, well-paced film is much stronger than a longer film padded with filler.
12. Production Value. Many found footage filmmakers earned a reputation in the industry by using their resourcefulness to create a film with an extraordinarily large production value on a meager budget. Even if your film follows all of the preceding rules, the production value must be up to par.
13. Plot and Pacing. To keep viewers engaged, your film must have a good story with dynamic pacing and a solid conclusion.
14. Film Resolution. Shoot your film in the highest resolution your budget allows for. Making a film look aged in post production is easy, but increasing the quality of a low resolution master is impossible.
15. Save Everything. Keep all of your takes, deleted scenes, and other footage. Selected films may go through an editing process where that footage will be needed. If your film includes scenes with CGI or modified audio, make sure to save the footage from before the CGI/audio were added in case the special effects and audio enhancements need to be tweaked or redone.
16. Release Forms. Before you start filming, get signed releases for the actor(s), writer(s), private location(s), and any musical score or music appearing in the film. These forms are required to avoid legal issues during distribution.
17. Music. If you need to include a musical score (e.g. documentary music), find a royalty free public domain score. Unless you personally know the musical artist, using copyrighted music can be costly and lead to legal issues.
18. Avoid Using Copyrighted Material. Legal issues can be easily avoided by not using copyrighted material in your film. Copyrighted material that often causes issues includes: movie posters (from other films) appearing in a film, musical score, television playing in the background with copyrighted material (TV show, commercial, music), car radio playing with copyrighted music, names/logos of commercial products prominently used/displayed, scenes filmed inside (or on the parking lot) of commercial businesses (e.g. local business, gas station, McDonalds, etc.), and actors singing, humming, or playing a commercially available song. These are just a few examples of copyrighted material that you should avoid using. The list of copyrighted material extends far beyond this list.  Use your best judgment, if you think something “might” be copyrighted, then don’t take any chances.