Thursday, September 30, 2010

Open Frame Grant Contest

This year the Communication Arts Department will award production grants to worthy film projects. The top grant will include a budget of $1000 along with priority access to equipment and facilities. Other student grants will also award priority for equipment and facilities and will include $200 budgets. Students may apply for these grants anytime from tomorrow (October 1st) until October 11th at 8 am.

The top grant will be awarded competitively based on which production application best meets the following criteria:

This film and production will exemplify the Malone University Mission and the Mission of the Communication Arts Department.

This film is based on a winning script from the 2010 writing contest.

This film will allow a very significant number of Malone students to gain filmmaking experience and contribute to their learning experiences.

The production application demonstrates the producer's / director's ability to plan well for the various demands of a film shoot.

The producer has either assembled an impressive crew of collaborators or presents a persuasive case that s/he will be able to do so.


*in cases when other factors are relatively equal, upperclass students will have a slight advantage over lower. In such cases, seniors would have the most advantage.

The mini-grants will not employ criteria number two to evaluate the validity of applications.

The grant selection committee will include Communication Arts Faculty members, Faculty members from other departments on campus, alumni and community filmmakers.

Your actual grant application should be no more than three pages. You should provide an additional title page and you may provide appendices of evidence to demonstrate the points you make in your application. While you may include any information you would like to in the application, you must include a one sentence summary of the short film and a one paragraph summary of the short film. Other materials you may want to include (either as appendices or in summary):

An artistic vision,

Statements about the project's unique merits

An explanation of the production approach

A tentative production schedule

Tentative storyboards

Tentative crew members (who have indicated interest)
Strategies for recruiting talent and crew

Tentative locations for filming

A list of other producers or collaborators.

Any letters of recommendation about the director's or producer's ability to complete a project like this one.

a director's reel


While any of these materials may be included, none of them are required. Applicants are STRONGLY URGED to make mention of each of the items in the appendices within their application to encourage the judging panel to examine them.

The winners of the grants will be announced on October 20th by 5 pm

You can see a short film proposal here. While this proposal was prepared for a micro-documentary, and to elicit the support collaborators, it gives you a rough sense of how a proposal might unfold.