Are you a writer, director or producer based in the North West? Made a short film of any genre with a running time under 20 mins? Send it for consideration for Filmed Up and see it in its full glory on our cinema screens.
Filmed Up is our regular short film night that showcases the work of North West directors, writers and producers. The screenings happen every quarter and the films are selected from an open submission of short films under 20 minutes in duration, of any genre, old or new made by filmmakers based in the North West.
This event is a great opportunity to showcase your filmmaking skills to a captive audience, meet other filmmakers, and also see if your film wins the audience award, which is voted for on the night.
We accept films of all genre fiction, animation, documentary, artist film…all are welcome!
If your film is seleceted you will also be in with a chance to win the audience vote on the night, get a share of the box office takings (35% split between the filmmakers) and, if useful for you, the DCP of your film after the screening.
If your film is not selected, you can get feedback form the panel on request. It also doesn’t mean we will never show it. We try and keep all films we watch in mind and make recommendations to other organisations and programmers, and may also screen them in other part of our programme. If this happens we will always make sure to ask your permission first of course.
So if you’re a filmmaker based in the North West and think your film fits the bill, we’d love to see your work.
All you need to do is check the eligibility criteria and fill in our online submission form. Alternatively, we are also on Film Freeway (please note, submissions only open on Film Freeway once the previous screening is past)
Eligibility criteria at a glance:
- Made by filmmakers currently living in the North West (Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, the red region on that map)
- Under 20 minutes
- Of any genre
- Of any year
A few practical things to remember:
You need to have cleared copyright of all external material you have used in your film (any video extract featured; soundtrack, including credit music etc). We cannot screen films which have unauthorised use of material.
If you have made a lot of films please send us one submission per screening, we try to make each screening varied so it is unlikely we would programme several films from the same person in one screening.
By “filmmaker currently living in the North West” we mean either the director, writer or producer is based in the region. Not sure you are in the North West? Check out this map with the North West highlighted. You can type in your postcode, if it’s not in the red region, then it’s not eligible for Filmed Up.
We don’t accept resubmissions: if you submitted a film previously and it was not selected, you can’t resubmit that same film for the next screening. But you can totally submit a different film!
All films screened on the night will be selected by a panel of HOME audience members.
Technical
The web link you send us will be what we use for the screening. The quality needs to be good enough: preferably HD, 1080p (1920 x 1080) or 720p (1280 x 720); but SD 576i (720 x 576) will do if you are happy with that.
Please make sure audio is authored to -3db, no higher
Have any questions? Check out our FAQs below or drop us an email.
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m not sure how to upload my film online
It’s best if you upload your film to either Vimeo or YouTube (both are free to join). You can make your film private and password protected if necessary. If you do upload to Vimeo make sure it is available to download, whether it’s private or not. Or you can create an account on FilmFreeway and submit it via this platform.
You can also use any file sharing platform you would like (dropbox and google drive are the ones most people use) but please make sure to remember the following:
- The films will be watched by a panel so access cannot be given to one specific email address only
- The panel will need access to the film over a long period so don’t set them so that the link expires within a few days (or weeks), so for instance a wetransfer link is unlikely to be suitable.
I don’t want everybody to be able to see my film online
Not a problem, you can make your film password protected on Vimeo or unlisted on Youtube (please don’t make them private as the video will need to be watched by several people whose email addresses you won’t have). On FilmFreeway only festivals you submitted to can see your film.
My film is too big to upload online
Don’t panic! If you’re uploading to Vimeo try their help page: vimeo.com/help or if you’re using YouTube visit: youtube.com/help It’s often the case that you need to re-render your film; you don’t have to pay for an account unless you want to.
My film is an artist film, will you consider it for Filmed Up?
Yes please send it in, we welcome films of all genre and are really keen to have a wide variety for people to discover. Please note however that the format of the event will be that of a short film screening (i.e people sat in front of a screen for the whole duration of the screening), so if you think your film needs to be part of an installation then Filmed Up might not be the best outlet for it.
Can I send you a music video?
Yes as long as they show creativity (i.e there is more to it than just shooting the band / the artist performing)
You said I need to have permission to use my soundtrack, does it mean I need an original score composed for my film?
You don’t need to have an original score composed especially for your film but you need to have cleared permission to use all the music in your film. So you can try and seek permission to use the music that is already on your soundtrack or you can find royalty free music to use.
For more information you can have a look at this comprehensive article on using music for your film on BBC Film Network.If you want a list of places where you can get Copyright free music, have a look at Vimeo’s list of sites where you can find music for your film.