• Comedy
• Drama/Action
• Documentary/Informational
• Music Video
• Animation/Experimental
• Commercial/Promotional

Each entrant chooses which division and categories they wish to compete in. While any single entrant or entry may compete in multiple categories no entrant may compete in both divisions.

Using the guidelines below you must decide whether you wish to designate yourself as a Professional or an Amateur for your participation in this year’s competition.

Professional Division
The Professional Division is designed to serve folks who have worked in the film or video industry in a paid capacity or who have had significant independent film production experience.

Anyone may choose to designate themselves as a Professional for the purposes of this contest in order to qualify for the more valuable prize packages available in this division. Keep in mind however that the competition will be much stiffer, with more experienced producers employing more expensive equipment to generate higher production values.

Amateur Division
The Amateur Division is designed to serve folks who have no paid or professional multimedia production experience but who have a story to tell and the digital tools with which to tell it. Again, anyone may designate themselves an Amateur but, if you are a professional, you risk earning the scorn and ridicule of your peers by being the digital equivalent of Danny Almonte in the Little League World Series. If you’re a pro, pick on kids your own size.

While SixMinCin will not monitor the credentials of any entrant we do reserve the right to reject any Amateur Division entry which, after investigation, we believe would be better suited to the Professional Division. In such a case the entrant will be given a one-time opportunity to change their designation to Professional for all entries in the 2003 competition.

Below are detailed descriptions of each category
and the criteria under which each will be judged.

Comedy
The Comedy Category is pretty self-explanatory: your production should be intended to make people laugh. Remember that everyone has a different opinion of what is funny. Humor which might be offensive (racially or sexually oriented, etc.) may be too much for the judges and/or audiences to handle. Be true to your own vision but keep in mind that your objective is to win the competition by winning over audiences.

Your entry in the Comedy Category will be judged almost entirely on its ability to make people laugh and/or smile. Character and plot development will be important for more subtle presentations of humor while shooting and editing may play a bigger role in more physical comedy.

Drama/Action
While a production in this category can include humorous elements, your production’s primary objective should be to captivate the viewer’s imagination with strong physical action and/or emotional interaction between characters. Again, care must be taken not to present a scene which could offend some viewers. As with the comedy category you must make your own decision about where to draw the line. This is the same challenge faced by Hollywood producers with every script they review and movie they create.

Your entry in the Action/Drama Category will be judged primarily on its ability to evoke the intended emotional response from the audience. Whether that intended response is anger, sadness, fear, nostalgia or what have you, the yardstick will be your ability to tell your story in such a way as to touch your audience emotionally in under six minutes.

Documentary/Informational
Entries in this category should examine and factually explain an interesting person, place or thing. This could include a short training video. Your choice of subject, along with your ability to capture and keep the audience’s attention throughout will be paramount judging criteria. Depth of research, location footage, intelligent interview segments and creative editing techniques will all factor into the judges’ evaluation of your Documentary.

Music Video
These productions should generally follow the model of the music videos shown on MTV, VH-1, CMT, etc. The extent to which the story told in the video either explains or complements the lyrics of the song will be important. Expressive performances by the musicians along with thoughtful shooting, directing and editing will be primary judging criteria. Production values will also be more important in this category than in others.

Animation/Experimental
These entries are created using computer animation software, claymation, stop-motion photography (digital only) or any other creative method which does not involve the use of analog film. Experimental productions could include the creative use of Flash, PowerPoint, evocative slide shows – whatever your mind can come up with!

In spite of the lack of live actors, storytelling will still be the primary judging criteria. Do we understanding the setting and the characters? Can we follow the plot? Additional weight will be given to specific production techniques and their ability to captivate the imagination of the audience while not getting in the way of the story.

Experimental entries will be judged almost entirely on the level of creativity they employ in communicating ideas or feelings through the digital medium. Almost anything goes and the reaction of the judges will be entirely their own.

Commercial/Promotional
Entries in this category can be either actual, proposed or satirical television commercials, public service announcements or promotional video productions for any product or company, either real or imagined. Successful entries in this category will be those which can demonstrate the value of the product or service presented and persuade the viewer to purchase it. Other productions may choose not to incite direct purchase response but rather to establish or support brand recognition. The best entries in this category will be those which impart the best impression of the company or product they are presenting and are the most successful in persuading viewers to part with their money.