“PERSONAL INFRASTRUCTURES” — 2010 SMIBE Short Film Competition

COMPETITION BRIEF
With its second annual competition, SMIBE continues to bring together a growing body of moving image stories about the built environment. We hope the competition will become a forum for the exchange and discussion of persuasive issues about the built world. For this competition, SMIBE welcomes moving image stories that investigate, explore, and entertain our communities about social, environmental, political, technological, and economic issues that designers of the built world should be discussing.

What are issues that we should be addressing in our built world?
To answer this question, SMIBE turns to our talented community of professionals, college and university students from architecture, landscape, art, industrial design, interior design, motion graphics and film to offer a challenge: produce a three minute, engaging and entertaining moving image story about “Personal Infrastructures.” We are looking for stories about memorable characters and the infrastructures in their lives. Enlighten and entertain us with stories about infrastructure, either on a personal scale, public scale or somewhere in between.

Above all, we look for groundbreaking work that blends rigorous craft with intelligent storytelling. Submissions should not exceed 3 minutes in duration and can be produced in any motion image medium. Entry is free.

Five general category and five student category submissions will be chosen as Finalists by a panel of prestigious judges invited by SMIBE. Subsequently, these judges will select two of the ten finalists, one general category finalist and one student category finalist, to be awarded a Grand Prize of $500 each and a unique SMIBE trophy. In addition, the top ten finalists will have their videos screened at the MAK Center in Los Angeles and at the Graham Foundation in Chicago.

Upon submission, contestants will be asked to share information about their submissions and themselves on the SMIBE.org website. There will also be an online forum for audiences to discuss the presented work. We hope this sharing of work will inspire us as much as the challenge itself.

TIMING
Contestants may submit entries at here beginning January 1, 2010, and ending March 31, 2010. All entries must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on March 31, 2010. Contestants must be registered and logged-in in order to submit their entry.

PRIZES
Ten Finalist Prizes
The ten finalist films will be publicly screened in Los Angeles and in Chicago, and will be featured on the smibe.org website.

Grand Prize Winners
In addition to winning $500(USD) the two Grand Prize winning submissions will be screened in Los Angeles and in Chicago, and will be featured on the smibe.org website.

RULES
Contestants must meet terms of eligibility.
There is no fee to enter a submission.
Submissions should be no longer than 3 minutes in duration.
The work may contain any combination of video, motion graphics, animation, visual effects, sound and music.
Contestants must use Vimeo to post their work; this site has posting instructions such as max file size and media type.
During the registration process the contestant must submit a 300 characters maximum blurb about their submission (indicate if the submission is entered in either the General Category or the Student Category) to be entered on the online submission form.
When posting work on Vimeo use the word “smibe” at the begnning of the name of the video. For example: smibe-myexcellentvideo
If invited to be a Finalist, each entrant(s) must submit a non-authored DVD with his or her submission in QuickTime format. File dimensions should be 720×480 (16:9) or 640×480 (4:3).
Submissions containing copyrighted material, video, or sound are subject to disqualification and removal from the SMIBE website.
Contestants may submit more than one work.
Teams are allowed to enter a submission, but each submission must be accompanied by a primary contact that meets the eligibility criteria. Individuals may submit entries as individuals and/or as part of a team.
Submissions may not be updated or modified.
Entries that contain any content that is pornographic in nature, lewd, or sexually explicit will be disqualified.
SMIBE reserves the right to disqualify or remove any submissions it deems in violation of the Rules or Terms & Conditions of the Challenge.

JUDGING
Grand Prize Selection
Once the submission period is completed, SMIBE will manage a vetting/selection process to narrow the review group to 20 entries to be given to the judges’ panel. The judges will then score each of those entries and through tabulation, the top 5 entrants in each category (student and professional) will advance as Finalists. These 10 Finalists will be submitted to the final selection jury who will select two Grand Prize winners, one for each category. The jury retains the right to distribute the award prize money to more than two winners or to award no prizes if no film is deemed to merit a cash award.

Submissions will be judged on:
- Originality of story
- Effectiveness in expressing the “Personal Infrastructures” theme
- Quality of execution
- Ability to blend rigorous craft with intelligent storytelling

JUDGES
Frances Anderton – host of the radio show DnA: Design and Architecture on KCRW, and L.A. editor of Dwell Magazine
Susan West – documentary film producer, In The Realms of the Unreal, directed by Jessica Yu
Andrew Zago – architect and educator, principal at Zago Architecture
John Kaliski – architect and urban designer, principal at Urban Studio and president of AIA Los Angeles
Cliff Garten – artist, public art that interfaces with infrastructure
April Greiman – graphic artist and director of Los Angeles-based design consultancy Made in Space.

ELIGIBILITY
The challenge is open to all professionals, college and university students worldwide, 18 years or older. Teams are allowed to enter a submission, but each submission must be accompanied by a primary contact that meets the eligibility criteria. Individuals may submit entries as individuals and/or as part of a team.

COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP
By submitting an entry by a sole creator to a category, Contestant warrants that contestant is the sole designer, creator, and owner of the artwork, including all visual and auditory components, or has permission to use copyrighted components, and further warrants that the artwork does not contain information considered by Contestant’s place of business, university, college or any other third party to be confidential. By submitting an entry by a group of creators, the contestants warrant that they jointly designed, created, and own the visual and auditory artwork or have permission to use copyrighted components, and further warrant that the artwork does not contain information considered by contestants’ place of business, university, college or any other third party to be confidential.

WINNER NOTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION
The Grand Prize winners along with the 4 additional Finalists will be announced on April 30th, 2010 on www.SMIBE.org.
Student Category winners are subject to verification of enrollment status, age, and any other eligibility requirements as of March 31, 2010. Grand Prize winners shall provide SMIBE with an invoice in the amount of the prize(s). Winners shall also be responsible for any taxes, fees and local tariffs, as applicable.

HOW TO ENTER
Post your submission to Vimeo.
Complete online submission form on smibe.org.
Questions and/or problems with submission form should be addressed to [email protected]
If invited to be a Finalist, entrant(s) must submit a DVD with their submission in QuickTime format.