So you want to win a spot in The Moment Invitational, huh?

Rad! We want you to win too, so here’s everything you need to know about:

1. How To Make A Film

2. How To Submit Your Film

3. How The Winners Are Selected

4. Basic Rules

How To Make A Film

1. Follow the Theme: The theme of the film festival is “Suspense.” Storyboard an idea related to “suspense” that you can make into a 3 minute or less short film. Be unique; play to your strengths, and make something that is really “you” – not what you think we want to see. And feel free to interpret the word suspense however you want!

2. Plan Your Shoot: Pre-production is vital. Plan your shots well, including actors, props, light, and sound design. Light is especially important, as phones don’t perform well in low light, so definitely secure some external lighting if you need it. Base your lighting, color, and sound needs around the overall mood you are trying to achieve, and carry that mood through the whole film for consistency. For some inspiration, take a look at previous Moment Films.

3. Shoot Your Film: Shoot your film 100% on mobile, using whatever tools you want! We especially recommend using stabilizing tools, like a tripod or gimbals like DJI Osmo and Smooth Q. We also recommend Moment lenses to achieve different perspectives, and our favorite app to shoot in is Filmic Pro. Make sure you’re filming in at least 1080p resolution (4k ideally).

4. Edit Your Film: Using whichever software you prefer, make a cohesive edit that tells a story of “suspense.” Add music if you want, from sites like Musicbed, but make SURE you own the rights to whatever you use. When color grading, make sure to keep in line with the original tone you wanted to convey.

2. Head over to this form. We’ll ask you for the Youtube link and a little information about you and the film.. Once you submit, you’ll get confirmation that we received it.

3. Due to high volume of submissions, we may not be able to get back to you right away, but we’ll be working immediately to narrow the films down to our Top 10.

4. Share, share, share! Part of the judging process (see below) is based on how hard you work to promote your film. Make sure to tag us when you do:

+ Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook: @moment

How The Winners Are Selected

1. A panel of judges, comprised of previous Moment Film filmmakers, will pick the winning film, based on these criteria:

Theme - Did the film stick to the theme of “suspense”? (30%)

Narrative - Did it tell a compelling story? (30%)

Quality - How is the overall film quality (25%)

Promotion - Did the filmmaker promote their film well? Has it gotten traction? (15%)

2. You’ll be notified when the winning film has been selected, by 3/9. At that time, we will also contact the grand prize winner about their NYC trip, event, and a mountain of prizes! The rest of the Top 10 finalists will receive personalized feedback about their film from pro filmmakers.

Basic Rules

1. All footage much be shot on a phone.

2. All footage must be shot in 1080p or higher.

3. All films must be submitted through the above mentioned process.

4. All films must be submitted by 11:59pm PST on February 27th, 2018.

4. If using music, you must own the rights.

5. Must be 18+ to enter.

6. Mandatory attendance to film festival in NYC (with our $500 travel credit) on 3/31.

7. Must follow the Official Rules and abide by the YouTube Community Guidelines.

For additional information, you can check out the Official Rules.

And that’s about it! You only have until 2/27 to submit your film, so better get started!

Good luck!

Moment Team