Frequenly Asked Questions
No need to use snail mail any more, you can now submit your short film online - no technical knowledge required.
- What are the delivery requirements for the competition?
- What about AVI files?
- What is the 'frame rate'?
- Why does the text need to be 30 pixels in height?
- What is 'title safe'?
- How do I export from Adobe Premiere?
- How do I export from Final Cut Pro?
- How do I export from Macromedia Flash?
- How do I export from iMovie?
- How do I export from Quicktime Pro?
- What do I do if I have none of the above helps?
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What are the delivery requirements for the competition?
We accept the following formats (in no particular order):
- Any QuickTime format (e.g. Sorenson, Motion JPEG, etc)
- H.264
- MPEG-1,2 and 4
- DivX, xVid and 3ivX (all versions)
- AVI (but see below)
- Ogg Theora
- WMV (Windows Media)
- Real Player format
When exporting, please make sure your compressed version is good enough quality for us to judge it. As a rough guideline it should not be smaller than 320x240 pixels, and not less than 15fps.
Please also remember to keep any text reasonably large, and title safe. For instance, if you're editing a film at normal PAL (720x576) resolution, then don't use text that's less than 30 pixels high, and leave a large border between your text and the edge of the film (see below).
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What about AVI files?
Many PC programmes will export as a ".AVI" file. Please note that AVI itself is not a compression format, it is merely a "wrapper" for them. Whilst we can play .avi files that contain one of the formats listed above, AVI also supports some codecs that we cannot play (e.g. Indeo Video). Please make sure you're exporting using a supported codec if you're saving to an AVI file.
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What is the 'frame rate'?
Video is displayed as a sequence of still pictures or frames. The rate at which these are displayed is known as the 'frame rate'. The standard frame rate for the UK is 25 frames per second (fps).
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Why does the text need to be 30 pixels in height?
There are two reasons for this. Firstly, televisions cannot display text as clearly as computer monitors. This means that text must be of a minimum size for it to be clearly legible. Secondly, the films for the competition will be shown via the internet. The resolution of internet video is even worse than that of television as the compression used will blur the picture.
For this reason text should be at least 30 pixels in height (at broadcast resolution) to ensure that it is visible.
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What is 'title safe'?
Television screens do not display all of the picture that is available. There is usually a strip around the edge of the picture that is cut off. The size of this strip depends upon the make and model of television.
If the video picture contains elements that must be displayed, such as subtitles and credits, then these elements must be placed within the area known as 'title safe'.
The 'Title Safe' area is a border which 10% the size of the screen. So for a broadcast resolution picture (720 x 576) the top/bottom border should be 57 pixels wide and the left/right border should be 72 pixels wide. Keeping any text within this area ensures that it will be displayed whatever the make and model of television used.
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How do I export from Adobe Premiere?
Once you have you video in the timeline, go to 'File' menu, select 'Export Timeline' and then 'Movie'.
Macintosh users should select 'Quicktime' as their output format. Windows users should select 'AVI'. The codec for both of these settings should be one of those mentioned above.
There are numerous tutorials on the finer details of how to do this on the internet. A good place to start is the Adobe website which has numerous tutorials on using Adobe Premiere.
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How do I export from Final Cut Pro?
Ensure the sequence you wish to export is selected. Choose Final Cut Pro Movie from the Export menu item, in the File menu. In the Save dialog box, ensure that Make Movie Self-Contained is checked.
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How do I export from Macromedia Flash?
Option #1:
When 'Publishing' ('File' :: 'Publish' :: 'Settings') from Flash and choose the Quicktime export option. Once you have done this you can then use Quicktime Pro to convert the Flash file into a Quicktime file (see below). Note that this method only works if the Flash movie does not contain any sub-movies.
Option #2:
An alternative is to use swf2avi which can convert entire Shockwave files to an AVI.
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How do I export from iMovie?
From the File Menu, choose either "Export" or "Share" (depending on your version) and you are presented with the export options dialog box. You can either choose one of the presets, such as "Web", or choose "Advanced" to specify your own compression settings.
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How do I export from Quicktime Pro?
If you have created your video in Quicktime Pro then all you need to do is save the file. Choose 'Export' and select 'Quicktime' as the format. You can click "Options" to specify your compression settings. When saving the moving ensure that the 'Make movie self contained' is selected.
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What do I do if I have none of the above helps?
Google is the a good starting place. Google groups is also very helpful, especially if you are having specific problems with your software. The links below may also help with specific software mentioned above.
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