Student Film Competition

A new student film competition for celebrating student films that capture the Technology Heroes is now available.  To qualify for judging, films must relate a story of a Technology Hero in a positive light and must be set in a Microsoft and/or AMD Technology environment.

Entries can feature real or imagined Technology Heroes in dramatic, humorous, surprising, or futuristic settings — and can be in any film genre like: action, adventure, comedy, documentary, drama, science fiction, or animation.

The website for the film competition is at www.heroeshappenhere.com/film.aspx .

GENERAL COMPETITION GUIDELINES
• Participating Students must 18 years of age or older and must be actively enrolled in an accredited film school
• Open to individuals or teams (teams cannot not exceed 4 individuals)
• Films must be made specifically for the Microsoft Heroes 2.0 Student Film Competition
• To Qualify for judging, films must relate a Heroic technology-related story and must be set in a Microsoft technology environment — today or in the future — and can be in any of the following genres; action, adventure, comedy, documentary, drama, science fiction, or animation.
• Films can be a maximum of 4 minutes (including any titles and credits), no more than Maximum 150MB, and must be encoded in WMV, MOV (QuickTime) or MPEG.
• Participating Students must have written permission from all team members and any contributors who worked on the film to enter it in accordance with the Competition’s Full Official Rules – including the performers, musicians, director (if not you), etc. This is very important because if your film is selected as a finalist, we need to know that all of the contributions which make up your film can be included in our live event Awards program and for other Competition-related purposes.  
• All entries must be received by December 15, 2007 at www.heroeshappenhere.com/film.aspx.
THE ENTRY DEADLINE WILL BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO WITH NO EXCEPTIONS MADE FOR LATE ENTRY.

PARTICIPANTS MUST BE REGISTERED, AND ENTRIES MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
• A treatment or synopsis for the film of 250 words or less (must be written in English);
• A title for the film; and
• A screenshot of the film.

JUDGING CRITERIA
• Overall Impression - 40%
(includes cinematography, editing, sound, image quality and technical production)
• Creativity/Quality of Story Telling - 30%
(includes screenplay, acting and overall impression)
• Depiction of Technology Heroes in a Microsoft technology environment - 30%
(includes extent and quality of depiction, creative adaptation)
You or at least one (up to four) member(s) of your team will be required to personally attend the live Awards event, presently schedule in Los Angeles, California on February 27, 2008 (travel package provided).

PRIZE AMOUNTS (all amounts are in USD)

• General Category: Grand Prize — $25,000; First Prize — $15,000; Second Prize — $10,000
• AMD Green Award: Grand Prize — $25,000; First Prize – $15,000

 People’s Choice Award — $5,000.
AMD GREEN AWARD
Theme: Lead the World to Energy Efficient processing
To qualify for the AMD Green Award, participants must relate a Heroic technology-related story around energy efficiency and conservation, and be set in a Microsoft technology environment – today or in the future.    
In addition, the film schools of all award recipients will each receive a USD $5,000 honorarium.

ADDITIONAL PRIZES
Finalists will also receive travel and accommodations to attend the Heroes 2.0 Awards Ceremony presently scheduled in Los Angeles, California on February 27, 2008.

TIMELINE
October 12
• Film site live
• Outreach materials mailed to Film and Animation Schools
November 26
• Film Team to send submission deadline reminder
December 15
• Submission Deadline
December 17
• Pre-judging
January 10
• Judging
January 15
• Finalists Notified
January 31
• Copyright, performance releases due from finalists
• Travel release of liability & publicity release forms due from finalists
February 5
• Book Finalist Travel