Snapshot In Time Rules and Regulations

The SiT2004 project was designed to give members of the Media Studio users group an opportunity to share their work with the rest of the users in the group. Now, in its third year, SiT will consist of video segments contributed by members of the users group ranging in length from 1 to 3 minutes each from around the world.

SiT is a non-competitive compilation project. It is open to all levels of editing experience. Although SiT contributions have yielded a prize from Ulead in the past, no assumption must be made that this will be the case for this and future projects.

SiT will run concurrently with Theme: “Water”, which is a contest. Submissions for Theme: “Water” which will also be used for SiT must adhere to all the rules of both projects. The Theme: “Time” rules can be found here.

Project Guidelines

To guarantee a success to this project, certain rules and regulations would have to be created to maintain a consistence in submitted segments. These rules and regulations are listed below.

Rules and Regulations

1) - Eligibility

1.1 - Only members of the mug-sw users group are eligible to participate.

1.1.1 – Unlike previous years, registration is not necessary, but it will help with the administration of the project, and if we're expecting a contribution because you've registered, we're able to detect mishaps such as it being lost in the post. Register by adding a record to the database in the mug-sw area, noting your name, location (State/region and country), the disc you intend to contribute to (if both, indicate whether you are contributing the same clip to both, or unique submissions). If your circumstances change, please update the record accordingly.

1.1.1.1 – In the event there are more contributors registering for the SiT project then there is space to maintain a reasonable quality for the final DVD, an announcement will be made on the list and the disc will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

1.2 – Submitted contributions will be edited using any version of Ulead Media Studio Pro and/or Ulead Video Studio.

1.2.1 – The use of 3^rd party software will be allowed to assist the contributor in the creation of there contribution. This may include, but not limited to, photo enhancement, audio and special effects.

2) – Program Content

2.1 – Program content will be shot during the designated time period.

2.2 – Subject matter will be at the discretion of the segment producer.

2.3 - Material constituting copyright, trademark, trade name or service mark infringement is prohibited. Any material requiring a record of payment or official waiver pursuant to Section 3.1 must have one. Any material requiring a talent release pursuant to Section 3.2 must have one.

2.3.1 – Organizations or clubs that are based on a trademark, trade name or service mark and are deemed to be public are exempt from Section 2.3. These organizations or clubs can be, but not limited to, car fan clubs, hobby clubs, etc.

2.4 - Material which is intended to defraud the viewer or designed to obtain money by false or fraudulent means is prohibited. Use of any telephone number or electronic mail address to solicit funds is not permitted.

2.5 - Commercial material as defined in Section 4.1 is prohibited.

2.6 – Obscene program material is prohibited. Programming is "obscene" if: the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by state law; and the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. Prior to the inclusion of the segment, the segment's producer must certify that the content of the intended segment is not "obscene". See Section 6.1.

2.7 - Any material constituting an invasion of privacy, defamation, or libel or slander of any person, entity or organization, is prohibited.

2.8 – Program segment may not be used for any criminal activity or other illegal purpose, nor may it be used in any manner which violates any local, state, and federal or international law.

2.9 – Submitted segment shall not be less than 1 minute or exceed 3 minutes in total length.

3) – Copyrights and Releases

3.1 - Producers are responsible for payment of any fees in connection with use of any material constituting copyright, trademark, trade name or service mark, subject to the "fair use" exception as recognized in statutes and applicable case law. Payment amounts and information about use are available from the holder of the copyright, trademark, trade name or service mark. An official license or waiver (with record of payment, if necessary) from the holder of a copyright, trademark, trade name or service mark must be in the procession of the segment submitter, subject to the "fair use" exception set forth above. See Section 6.1.

3.2 - Producers are responsible for obtaining talent releases for all program participants involved in any aspect of submitted clip. Copies of releases must be in the procession of the segment submitter. See Section 6.1

4) - Commercials

4.1 - There can be no commercial endorsement or commercial sponsorship of any business, enterprise, product, service, event or individual. This includes advertising by or on behalf of any candidate for public office, any audio or visual reference to any business, enterprise, product, service, event or individual for which any consideration was received by anyone in exchange for the display, announcement and/or reference to such business, enterprise, product, service, event or individual. Further, any use of commercials or any use of an on-camera product, service or event for a commercial purpose, or an individual commercial endorsement is strictly prohibited.

4.2 – Incidental display of commercial products is allowed.

5) - Indemnification

5.1 – Clip producers agree to accept full responsibility for program content submitted for inclusion to the project. Clip producer shall indemnify and hold harmless any persons involved with the organization, collection, compiling and final distribution in any case of any copyright, trademark, trade name, or service mark infringement and any other claims arising from inclusion of the user's clip.

6) – Submittals

6.1 – In lieu of submitting all required releases and/or certifications, the following declaration will be deemed to be in effect. “By the very act of submitting a video segment to the SiT project, I hereby agree too and abide by the rules and regulations as laid out in this the Snapshot In Time 2006 rules and regulations.”

7) – Production Milestones

7.1 – Filming for the SiT project shall be between October 1^st, 2006 and October 31^st, 2006 inclusive. There are no requirements that the produced clip must cover the full time period.

7.2 – Editing for the SiT project shall be completed by and postmarked to coordinators no later than January 31^st, 2007.

7.2.1 – Submissions can be submitted at anytime prior to the cut-off date.

8) – Editing Specifications

8.1 – NTSC standard will be (720 x 480) at 29.97 (30) fps.

8.2 – PAL Standard will be (720 x 576) at 25 fps,

9) – Segment Video Details

9.1 – All submitted segments will start and end with the following specification:

9.1.1 – Segments will start with 1 second black.

9.1.2 – 5 second title area with white text on black background. All text will be 18 pt. Ariel font. Text will be centered and on separate lines the contributors name, location and skipping 2 lines, the following text “ Copyright 2006 “ followed by the contributors name.

9.1.2.1 – All titles will be within the title safe area.

9.1.2.2 – Titles should not fade in or fade out.

9.1.3 – 1 second black.

9.1.4 – (Optional) Additional, submission-relevant titles such as dedication, voluntary rating etc. Layout and duration as per 9.1.2.

9.1.5 – (If 9.1.4 is used) 1 second black.

The duration of the submission for the purpose of section 2.9 does not include the duration of information titles detailed in this section. Any additional text, font, position and font point size elsewhere in the contribution is at the discretion of the submitter, and is included in the submission duration.

9.2 – All segments will be rendered following the following specification.

9.2.1 – Completed segments will be delivered as DV-1 AVI file or DVD compliant Mpeg-2. Final rendering into mpeg-2 will be coordinated by the Final Coordinators. On the cover of the supplied media, contributor will indicate the field order used or if it is deinterlaced.

9.2.1.1 – Recommended practice for DV-1 video will be lower field first.

9.2.1.2 – Completed segments delivered in Mpeg-2 format can be either upper or lower field first.

9.2.1.3 – Mpeg-2 segments will have a minimum bit rate of 6 megabits per second.

9.2.2 – Segments will be delivered to coordinators in the following media DV tape, CDR or DVD +/-R. If the contributor wishes to have their submission returned, a stamped self addressed envelope will be provided to the coordinator. In the event of international borders, a postal money order made out in the local currency of the coordinator to cover the return cost will be included with the self addressed envelope.

9.2.3 – Segments can be delivered to regional coordinators in an alternate media solely at the discretion of the regional

coordinator.

The best format for submitted video is DV type 1. This allows the standard conversion and MPEG transcoding to take place in the same pass, maximising video quality.

10) – Segment Audio Specifications

10.1 - Audio track will be a 48 KHz, 16 bits, stereo PCM file in WAV format.

10.2 –Audio level not to exceed 0 db. Audio shall have reasonable clarity and volume.

10.3 – If a contributor intends to include a commentary track with their submission, it shall be of the same length as the main audio track. Sections 10.1 and 10.2 will apply to this audio file.

10.4 – Submissions with audio encoded other than above will not be accepted. This will include, but not limited to, Dolby 5.1 encoding.

11) – Coordinator Responsibilities

11.1 – Coordinators will review each submitted clip as to eligibility based on the defined rules and regulations.

11.1.1 – If a submitted clip is deemed ineligible by the coordinator due to the disregard of the rules, the coordinator will contact the contributor as to its ineligibility and the reason thereof.

11.1.1.1 - Contributor will have the opportunity to correct the problem as long as there is allowable time remaining before the deadline date.

11.1.2 – If the coordinator is unsure of eligibility, they will contact the project manager for clarification. Decision of eligibility by the project manager will be final. See also Section 11.1.1.1

11.1.3 – RC’s will combine into a single file all clips submitted to be sent to the FC’s along with any notes and issues.

11.2 – RC’s or FC’s will review all submitted clips for typographical errors, title-safe issues and other issues not covered by the rules and regulations.

11.2.1 – In the event of an error, Section 11.1.1.1 will apply. If there is inadequate time available for correction, the submitted contribution will be used as-is.

12) – Submission Information

12.1 – Contributor will supply a brief description of submitted contribution. The description will be included in the final DVD release as either a printed page and/or a pdf document on the disk.

12.1.1 – Description may be subjected to editing for content and length.

12.2 – Contributors may supply up to three audio tracks with their submission (director's commentary, editing notes etc). Liaise directly with the coordinator if this feature is to be exploited.

13) – Distribution, Extra Content, Contributor Rights and Copyright

13.1 – The completed SiT project will be made available to all contributors as well as non-contributors.

13.1.1 – The cost of complete project will be determined at time of release.

13.2 – The SiT project as a whole will not be subjected to commercial purposes and will not be sold or distributed in any shape or form.

13.3 – Extra content on final release is not guaranteed or implied. In the event extra content is made available, the content will only be made available to contributors of the SiT project.

13.4 – If there is commercial interest pertaining to a specific segment, the contributor of the segment will have full rights for their clip and no other.

13.5 – Copyright of the SiT compilation as a whole will rest with the SiT organizers.

13.6 – Contributors retain the copyright to submitted contribution.