Young Film-maker 2025

 Information Pack for 2024 – 2025

THEME – ‘Wonderful Water’

The Theme can be interpreted as broadly as the Young Filmmaker wishes and does not need to conform to the dictionary definition of the words.

The Theme for this year’s Young Filmmaker competition is simply ‘Wonderful Water’ so it gives young people the widest opportunity to share their creative talents in showing us what it means to them.

Introduction

The Rotary Young Filmmaker Competition is organised and promoted by Rotary GB&I.

There are two stages to the competition, each designed to support and encourage the development of filmmaking skills. Some stages may have more than one round.

Aims and Objectives

The competition aims to encourage young people to:

• experiment with filmmaking

• use digital and/or traditional methods of filmmaking

• demonstrate interpretation of the topic

• express personal ideas through filmmaking

 Who can take part?

The competition is open to all young people in the age groups shown below. They may be an individual or from any group or community organisation including schools and colleges, home educated, other young peoples’ community organisations, for example, community RotaKids, community Interact, Scout Groups, Girl Guides, etc.

The three age groups are:

Junior Up to and including 10 years old

Intermediate 11 to 13 years old

Senior 14 to 17 years old

Entrants must not be over the upper age parameter for each group on 31st August 2025.

With the age qualifying date of 31st August 2025, it should be noted that some junior entrants may be 11, intermediate entrants may be 14 and some senior entrants may be 18 at the time of some or all the stages of the competitions e.g., a competitor who may be 17 on 31st August but turns 18 on 1st September is allowed to enter. Competitors must include their age on the application form.

 Entrants should enter the competition organised by the local Rotary club through their respective group or community organisation or individually, as detailed above.

Local Rotary clubs can be found by using the club finder facility in the top left-hand corner of the Home Page of the Rotary GB&I website www.rotarygbi.org.

Entrants may participate in a competition held by a Rotary club outside of their geographical boundary but may compete in only one club event.

The Stages of the Competition

Entrants need to complete an entry form, available from their local Rotary club and submit it along with their film, to the local organiser, by the date and time specified by them. It is essential that the name of the competitor and their creative work is clearly linked with the right entry form and any necessary consent forms for photographic images used if applicable.

Local Heats

These are organised by local Rotary clubs and are generally between September and December. The winners of each age group are entered into a Rotary district competition.

Local Rotary clubs can be found by using the club finder facility in the top left-hand corner of the Home Page of the Rotary GB&I website www.rotarygbi.org.

District Finals

These are organised by each Rotary district for the winners of the local heats for each age group. The winners of each age group in the District Finals will receive a certificate and monetary prize.

Competition Guidelines

Task

To produce a film of up to five minutes duration based upon the theme, ‘Wonderful Water’. Mobile phones may be used in addition to cameras. Please use all devices horizontally or landscape not vertically or portrait.

To accompany the submission, each entrant must provide a brief sentence describing the relationship of the film to the theme. Failure to do so will mean the entry is ineligible and the entrant therefore disqualified.

Films, or any portion of them, that are part of a current educational exam portfolio are not eligible for the competition, due to educational exam board regulations.

Please Note: Films which incorporate images of people under 18 years or vulnerable adults must be accompanied by consent forms for the use of photographs, film or video recordings of children or vulnerable adults.

Plagiarism or Close Copied Images

Plagiarised or 'close-copied' films, or any portion of them, are not permitted in any competition. It is important that we protect the work of creative individuals. Whilst we are all inspired by the work of others, there is without doubt a grey area where inspiration carries over to close copying. For our competitions 'close copying' is where, to a reasonable person, the submitted entry appears remarkably similar in significant important respects to a body of work created elsewhere. We are looking for original pieces, not copies, which match the theme of the competition.

Judges

The judges will be people with appropriate skills appointed by the organisers at the club and district levels for the Local Heats and District Finals accordingly.

The judging criteria is as set out below.

Judging Criteria

Judges will consider:

• how well the film fits the annual theme

• if the story line has a start middle and end

• the imagination and entertainment value, including viewer engagement

• the editing and assembly of the film

• cinematography used including thoughtful camera angles and shot composition

• the use and delivery of sound.

The judges will not enter any discussion or correspondence regarding their decision; the decision of the judges will be final and not subject to any appeal.

Recognition

At all stages of the competition, competitors will receive a certificate of participation.

How to enter

To enter a local heat, contact your local Rotary club which can be found by using the club finder facility in the top left-hand corner of the Home Page of the Rotary GB&I website www.rotarygbi.org. In case of difficulty, contact the District Youth Coordinator PDG Peter Chandler by emailing stokesleyrc@gmail.com  for assistance.

 How to deliver your films and technical information

Do’s

Delivery of film :

·      1920 by 1080 pixels at 25 or 50 frames per second. 50fps preferred, Note: mobile phones default to 30 or 60 frames per second, to get control over the features of your phone camera, download the Filmic Pro App (both Android and Apple IOS) using Filmic Pro the iPhone is limited to 25FPS in 4K. To film in higher frame rates on the iPhone use the MoviePro app which will support 4K at 50p, but MoviePro is for iPhone only. For Filmic Pro supported Android devices go here https://www.filmicpro.com/support/

·       Codec MP4, .mov or .mp4, variable bit rate, settings - average 10Mbits/sec maximum 20Mbits/sec.

·      Please send finished submission files via WeTransfer to your local Rotary club organiser along with the completed entry form and any necessary consent forms. It is essential that the name of the competitor and their creative work is clearly linked with the right entry form and any necessary consent forms for images used if applicable.

·      Films should start and finish with 1 second of black screen and silence

·      Films should be shot landscape (with mobile devices and tablets held horizontally)

·      Films should be made up from all original material, generated by the entrant

·      The mix of sound and voice should be such that any narration or dialogue can be clearly heard over any bed music

·       The sound level and shooting style should be consistent throughout the film and the viewer should not need to adjust the volume control whilst watching the film. Sound level should peak -3dB off maximum, to avoid distortion.

Don’ts

Do not include in your film, material found on the internet such as

·       copyright music

·       video clips

·       stock images or pictures

Unless a license fee is paid to the originator or their agent and they are credited at the end.

Royalty free music or out of copyright music is suitable to include. It needs stating however that you have verified this, along with the name of the song, the artist and songwriter.

Do not include videos of local bands playing music without their written permission which must be submitted with the entry form. If the band are playing cover songs from other artists, this contravenes the copyright music law mentioned above and should not be used.

·       If any of the band members are under 18 the necessary consent forms will need to be completed and submitted with your entry

 Rotary Youth Competitions and other opportunities for young people

The Young Filmmaker competition is one of a number of competitions for young people organised by Rotary GB&I. The others are: Young Chef; Youth Speaks; Young Environmentalist; Young Artist; Young Musician; Young Photographer; and Young Writer. There are also annual Rotary Young Citizen Awards and the RotaryTechnology Tournament.  There are several Rotary specific programmes including RotaKids, Interact, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, Developing Future Leaders and more. To find out more about these competitions and other opportunities please contact your local Rotary club in the first instance for what is happening locally and also take a look at https://www.rotarygbi.org/projects/young-people/.

Working with Children

Rotary GB&I has adopted this statement of policy in working with children, vulnerable adults and those with disability:

The needs and rights of the child, the elderly, the vulnerable and those with disability take priority. It is the duty of every Rotarian to safeguard to the best of their ability, the welfare of and prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect of all children, the elderly, persons with disability or otherwise vulnerable persons with whom they come into contact during their Rotarian duties.