Greetings, Filmmakers.
The Required Challenge Elements are meant to level the playing field, not to restrict your ability to tell the story you wish to tell. If you have any questions or need clarification, please feel free to ask the organizers for help in the Rules channel on the festival’s Discord server.
In addition to all conditions specified in the Official Rules of the competition, the Required Challenge Elements for the various challenge categories of the 2020 Cyberpunk Now Film Festival are as follows.
Required Challenge Elements By Challenge Category
Animation
If a project submitted to the Animation category is less than two (2) minutes long, the color blue and its many shades may not appear in the first forty-five (45) seconds of the film.
If a project submitted to the Animation category is more than two (2) minutes long, the color blue and its many shades may not appear in the first half of the film’s total running time.
For all projects submitted to the Animation category, participants should prepare a mock cover of a relatively well-known independently published hacker or digital counter-culture publication, such as 2600, Phrack, PoC||GTFO, Hack-Tic, Mondo 2000, Blacklisted 411, etc. Do not use a publication currently owned by a conglomerate, such as Wired. The magazine cover and its title should appear clearly in the foreground of a shot for at least 4 seconds.
Comedy
For all projects submitted to the Comedy category, participants should prepare a mock cover of a relatively well-known independently published hacker or digital counter-culture publication, such as 2600, Phrack, PoC||GTFO, Hack-Tic, Mondo 2000, Blacklisted 411, etc. Do not use a publication currently owned by a conglomerate, such as Wired. The magazine cover should appear clearly in the foreground of a shot for at least 4 seconds.
All projects submitted to the Comedy category should include at least one reference spoken in dialogue to “the Woz event.” This may be explained or dropped. You are not being asked to reference a specific real-life event, you may define it as you see fit. Merely including the line on a title card or in a voiceover is not sufficient to fulfill this requirement, it must be used in a scene.
All projects submitted to the Comedy category should include the spoken dialogue line, “Do I look like Keanu?” Merely including the line on a title card or in a voiceover is not sufficient to fulfill this requirement, it must be used in a scene.
Drama
In projects submitted to the Drama category, the number “6-5000” (spoken as: “six five thousand”) should appear prominently in the foreground of a shot for at least four (4) seconds or be spoken clearly in dialogue by a main character while they are on screen. Merely including the number on a title card or in a voiceover is not sufficient to fulfill this requirement, it must be used in a scene.
In projects submitted to the Drama category, a character must appear on-screen holding a flashlight backward and be seen turning the flashlight on and off.
All projects submitted to the Drama category should include the spoken dialogue line, “The _____ must flow.” Fill in the blank with any word other than “spice.” Merely including the line on a title card or in a voiceover is not sufficient to fulfill this requirement, it must be used in a scene.
Found Footage
If you are submitting a project to the Found Footage category, you must comply with at least one option from the following four available requirements.
Found Footage Option #1: CONSPIRACY!
Produce a mockumentary from the year 2030 using evidence retrieved from Archive.org to tie famed architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller to the downfall of an ancient secret organization during a “manufactured crisis” in 2020. Reveal the conspiracy, bring light to the lies!
Found Footage Option #2: CORDED!
Include at least six shots of people holding corded telephones in your project. Include at least one shot of a phone booth. These shots must be at least 3 seconds long each.
Found Footage Option #3: READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Open and close your project on images of newspapers, and show at least one clip of someone reading a newspaper. Remember though, this still needs to be a cyberpunk-themed film, be creative.
Found Footage Option #4: DAMNATION!
Use at least 30 seconds of archival footage of religious cults in your project.
Educational
If you are submitting a project to the Educational category, you must comply with at least one option from the following four available requirements.
Educational Option #1: TIME CAPSULE?
Produce a demonstration meant for people 50 years in the future, detailing how a technology we take for granted today functions and is used in everyday life. Assume this technology will be obsolete and essentially forgotten when the project is screened in 50 years.
Educational Option #2: GREEN! PURPLE! DARKNESS?
At least one actor must speak dialogue on the screen while wearing a green shirt and holding some object that is purple. At least one different actor must appear on screen wearing a purple shirt and holding a green sign. The sign’s content is up to you. Your final shot before the end credits should be of a light being turned off.
Educational Option #3: DRONE ON?
Open and close your project with original footage from a drone. At some point in the film, someone should hold up a pair of goggles (any kind of goggles).
Educational Option #4: SMALL AND MIGHTY?
Tell the story of contagion from the virus’s perspective. This does not necessarily need to be the focus of the entire film, but there should be a clear connection if you are also telling other stories.
Experimental
Projects submitted to the Experimental category must include two audio clips from the hacker radio show Off The Hook. Recordings of the show are available as MP3 files from 2600.com/offthehook. Clips used may not include background music. You must provide a URL to the source audio file and time code or the source of the clip when you submit your film. Both clips must each be at least 3 seconds long.
