Festival Rules
1) Eligibility. Any individual or group of individuals who are employees or students at the University of Houston System campuses may enter. In addition students or other researchers from Gulf Coast Consortia institutions associated with UH through the Keck center may enter. Entries submitted by groups may have small contributions from non-eligible individuals, as long as their contribution is artistic or scientific; contributions from professional visualization consultants or film makers are not allowed. Each eligible individual may contribute to a maximum of 2 entries.
2) Content. Any visual model, virtual world, video, film,
sequence of images, or animation that can be put into
a computer readable form that can be shown in the Visualization Theater is
acceptable. Where there are copyright issues involved the submission must have
appropriate copyright clearance. Each submission must be the property of the
person or group that submits it, and must have been created by them. All contributors to the project must be
listed on the submission form. The
submission must have been entirely created in the period since January 1st,
2008. Films created as class
projects, animations as part of research lectures, etc. are all eligible as
long as they were created during this time frame. No violence, nudity, suggestive scenes,
political axe-grinding, or content insensitive to religious, ethnic, or
minority groups.
3) Time limit. Entries should have a total running time
of not more than 5 minutes. Longer
entries up to 10 minutes may be submitted and will be eligible for screenings,
but may not be eligible for prizes, depending on how many submissions are
received.
4) Format. All submissions must be written to
DVD. Acceptable film formats
include MPEG2 MPEG4 .mov .wmv .vid with commonly available codecs. 3D objects and animations are best
displayed as OpenInventor or VMD objects. The higher the resolution the
better. Up to 1080p should present
no problems. If you wish to take
full advantage of the 8 megapixel image capability, or if you wish to render a
3D animation to a movie format, you should be aware that there are not yet
well-accepted standards for these formats. Please contact us and we will try to figure out a compatible
option. These formats should be taken as suggestions. We will do our best to accommodate what
you submit. However, if we can’t
read your DVD, we can’t screen it. If
time and entry numbers permit we will try and contact you if we are having
trouble reading your DVD.
5) Submission. Entry DVD's must be accompanied by a completed submission form. Submission forms are available for download on this website. DVD's must be clearly marked with the name of the applicant and the name of the project, either with an attached label, or neatly written in non-erasable marker. All entries must be submitted or postmarked by 5pm on Monday April 20th, 2009. Entries may be delivered in person or mailed to:
VisVidFest 2009
Texas Learning and Computational Center,
218 Philip G. Hoffman Hall,
University of Houston Main Campus,
Houston, TX, 77204-3058
6) Process. Entries will be pre-screened by the Festival
staff. If all requirements are met
they will be divided into appropriate categories and given to the judges. The number and division of categories
will be determined by the number of entries, to allow each submission a fair
chance at the prizes, and to ensure that submissions are compared to those
which are most similar. Prizes will
be awarded in at least two categories.
7) Prizes. Prizes are still being finalized. We are working getting the kinds of
things that people interested in visualization and film making would be
interested in having. Please check
back for updates.
8) Screening
and Announcement of Awards. The award winning entries, and as many
as possible of the total number of entries, will be screened in the
Visualization Theater in the week beginning Monday May 4th, 2009.
Depending on the number of entries, screening of winners may need to be divided
into more than one event.
9) Even if you do not win a prize, the Visualization
Theater will display your work in public at every available opportunity for at
least the next year.
If you have questions please
check the FAQ section first. If
your question is not answered send us email. See the contact page.
