Page 1 of 1

AMPS 2016

Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 6:32 pm
by ned c
2016 American Motion Picture Society Film Festival

Founded in 1926, the American Motion Picture Society (AMPS) is the oldest non-commercial film society in the U.S. The headquarters to the Society relocated to southern Utah in 2014, and celebrated the first year of its International Film Festival at its new location in 2015. The 2016 Festival will start accepting entries beginning July 15 and continue through the submission deadline of September 15, 2016. Winners will be announced in the Comedy, Drama and Documentary categories November 15, 2016.

Films may be submitted via FilmFreeway: http://www.filmfreeway.com, or directly through the AMPS website: http://www.americanmotionpicturesociety.org/. All submission rules, regulations and application procedures may be found on both websites.

2015’s Festival received entries from four continents and 10+ countries. This year’s Festival is expected to exceed those submission statistics twofold.

Although 2016’s Festival is planned as a virtual Festival, preparations are being made to debut a live Festival in 2017, which will be based in beautiful southern Utah. 2017 Festival plans include live screenings, award ceremonies, seminars, guest speakers and even a red carpet!

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 1:44 pm
by John Roberts
Hi Ned, I'm keeping a close eye on AMPS this year after scraping a decent joint second last year, but the only film I have to offer at the moment is a music promo so I'm not sure where this would fit in your categories? Drama, perhaps? It was certainly a drama filming it and definitely comical at times :D Perhaps you could let me know?

I noted last year that I had to send hard copies of my film along with a FilmFreeway submission for consideration, the former cost a small fortune in registered shipping and took over 14 working days to be delivered, so I'm wondering why this is still the case as a number of festivals are accepting online only submissions. As I have commented on a number of occasions, the only time I EVER burn a DVD or Blu-Ray disc is for BIAFF, AMPS, Golden Knight etc. However, if this is still the case then that's OK.

Oh, slight typo in the link of the AMPS, so I've added the link again below. Maybe Dave W can edit it in the original post. [Done that now! Dave]

http://www.americanmotionpicturesociety.org/

All the best - John :)

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 9:27 pm
by TimStannard
I understand and also experience you problem with categorisation, John. I suppose mine's a "musical" but like I can take comfort from the fact the "Oklahoma!" wouldn't sit comfortably in any of those categories, you can perhaps take comfort from the fact that "Take on Me" would have similar problems.

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 5:00 pm
by ned c
Thanks for correcting the website link.

Categories: obviously we need to review the categories for the next year but in the meantime I think that music videos will fit into the "documentary" category.

Yes; one more year of DVDs; we realise the cost of production and mailing but we need to be absolutely sure that we can stream HD without dropouts before we go down that route. This year as a DOCUTAH screener we experienced a number of problems streaming HD; we could often reduce the quality and get a good run but this is not acceptable. Some films played perfectly and others with problems and it is very difficult to pinpoint the reasons. I feel that some of the problems stem from the load on the system at certain times of the day. All suggestions/comments welcome on how we can insure trouble free streaming. I am using Chromecast and have a 50 mbps download connection streaming to a Samsung 55 inch 4K TV from a desktop computer in another room about 15 feet away. We tried using an Android tablet but could never get it to work consistently.

ned c

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:23 am
by TimStannard
Regarding online submission, the idea is not to stream the videos (although this may work for some judges) but to download the videos to local storage and play from there. I am in the very early stages of working on a festival to be held later this year where we are planing to use precisely this method.
I'll keep you informed as it progresses.
I have also submitted "Greece" to another festival via a YouTube link. When it made the shortlist I was asked to send a link to a higher quality downloadable file, so i guess this method is common.

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:01 pm
by ned c
As screeners for DOCUTAH we have a legal agreement with the organisers (the local University) that states we cannot make copies of the films reviewed and the organisation provide an expert to help set up the streaming, which he did for us. Tim; if you would like copies of the agreements etc I will send them to you off the forum. This is America so a lawyer lurks behind every corner and there is great concern about copyright infringement.

ned c

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:59 am
by Michael Slowe
Oh dear, yet another sign that the death knell is about to sound for discs, that is DVD's and BD's. It's all very well for the professional world to handle all their material in files because broadcasters will transmit from files. What about my 'little old grey haired lady' who wants to view a film? She is not going to download anything, streaming for her is what runs through her garden and her grandson has installed a BD player attached to her TV and shown her what buttons to press. Will all the wedding videos be viewed on line? I suppose, with the youngsters they will, ah well, roll on holograms and lasers, leaving all today's whizz kids as confused as I am becoming.

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:19 pm
by TimStannard
Fear ye not, Michael,
The idea of on-line film submission is to make festivals/competitions even more accessible (and thus more attractive) to filmmakers. I don't see how this has any impact on discs etc. Indeed the Nottingham festival gave me the option of sending a DVD (they didn't mention Blu-Ray) but sending a high quality MP4 was just more convenient for them and for me.
Discs aren't going to die any time soon.
I filmed an amateur production last month and sold copies to the cast which went some way towards covering my costs. If I'd put it on-line either it would have been for free or on one of those pay per view sites (which would have had a smaller audience as not many would sign up for it - with people distrusting (a) technology and (b) putting payment details into websites).
Also having a physical object (in this case a nicely printed double DVD set in proper case) feels like you are getting something for your money. This attitude is changing but I think there are a few more years left in discs yet.
I'll gladly produce a DVD or BD of Greece is the WOrd for your little old lady if you think she'll enjoy it ;)

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 3:52 pm
by Michael Slowe
Tim, my 'little old lady' is whoever you want her to be. My point is that she can probably manage a disc but not a 'stream'. I know that festivals like this way of receiving submissions, I've sent plenty over the last couple of years and, once you've uploaded to Film Freeway or Withoutabox, it's easy. But, it is fairly common knowledge that Apple (in particular) want to kill off discs, why else exclude the slot in their current MacBook Pros? I'm sure that you are right in that they will be around a while longer but the trend is worrying.

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:53 pm
by TimStannard
Worrying in terms of home computers being able to produce them discs - and then primarily Apple. To me this is good news. Only enthusiast film makers like you and I will be producing discs in the future. But consumers still want discs. As you'll see in another thread, recorders may have gone out of favour, but there are still plenty of DVD/BluRay players our there and people still like to "own" a film on disc.

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2016 10:04 am
by Howard-Smith
I sent two entries to AMPS this year and I understand the Festival takes place this month. Does anyone know when the results will be announced? :roll:
Howard-Smith

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 3:45 pm
by ned c
The results were sent out yesterday (Nov 13th) by Kent Hayes; AMPS Secretary/Treasurer.

ned c

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:47 pm
by Howard-Smith
It's strange that we're now into December and, unless I'm mistaken, the results of AMPS 2016 which took place in November haven't been posted on the AMPS website?!

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:12 pm
by ned c
I just checked the AMPS website and on the Home Page there is a connection to the 2016 Winners List. Please check again.

Thanks

ned c

Re: AMPS 2016

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:03 am
by Howard-Smith
Oh yes. Got it now. Thanks Ned. :)