CONTENT
Starting from scratch on a new film or new photographs?
What do you love? What makes you angry? What do you find beautiful? What do you need to tell? Family stories, secret selves, neighborhood histories, and imagined worlds all make good subjects.
Artists will also find inspiration on the Baltimore Youth Film Arts Filmmakers & Photographers page. Beginners will find useful tips on the BYFA Tricks of the Trade page.
RESOURCES
SOUND
EDITING TOOLS
STORYTELLING
Visual Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary, by Nancy Kalow
SPECIFICATIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS
FilmFreeway accepts all major video formats in full quality HD up to 10 GB. They will transcode videos for playback compatibility and performance, but recommend submitters use settings close to their output settings (additional information below on what specifications refer to):
CODEC: H.264; BITRATE: Maximum bitrate of 2200 Kbps; FILE FORMAT: mp4; RESOLUTION: use “Aspect ratio preserved” with a maximum video height of 720 pixels; AUDIO CODEC: AAC, with constant rate of 128 Kbps, 2 channel stereo
Vimeo and Youtube accept most major CODECS. Check their online sites for the best settings to use for your project if you are providing links to your works. IMPORTANT: If you are linking your video via Vimeo, be sure to update your settings in Vimeo to allow for embedding. Your video will still be password protected. Embedding simply allows the Vimeo video player to be displayed within the FilmFreeway interface.
Specification notes:
CODEC is the format in which your video will be encoded.
BITRATE (or data rate) controls both the visual quality of the video and its file size.
FILE FORMAT is the multimedia container format designed to store audiovisual data.
RESOLUTION the ratio of the width to the height of an image or screen.
AUDIO CODEC is the format in which your audio will be encoded.
COPYRIGHT & PERMISSIONS
As stated in the Festival Terms and Conditions, submitting artists are solely responsible for the content of their work. Born in Baltimore will not consider or exhibit work containing copyright violations. That video footage, music, or sound are accessible on the internet does not mean they are free or in the public domain.
Definitions and descriptions of "public domain," "copyright," and "fair use" may be researched on the web, and sources of free music may also be found on the web. But the Festival strongly recommends as a best practice that all materials, including music, be original.
