Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Grant Contest Deadline Extended

Because the added step of creating a KICKSTARTER project does demand time and effort -- and because students are nearing the end of the semester -- we're postponing the Grant Deadline til next Friday, December 9th at midnight.

Please touch base with Andrew Rudd if you have a grant application in progress.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Announcing the new Kickstarter Initiative




Are you making a film for the Open Frame Film Fest this year?  If so, you're probably eligible for a production grant (or mini-grant) from the Communication Arts Department. 

We've moved our grant request deadline to November 30th at midnight, so there's still time for you to apply.

Because there are so many (meritorious) films in the mix this year already, we’re planning on funding projects ranging from $100 mini-grants to (potentially) $1000 grants.  This year, the Open Frame Film Fest will fund projects based on similar criteria to previous years. 


This year, we are asking students to pitch their projects to us by making their own KICKSTARTER  projects.  The amount of funding you request from the Communication Arts Department grant should only be HALF (or less) of the total funds you try to raise for your kickstarter project.   
Whether or not your kickstarter project is successfully funded will NOT affect your funding from our department, but in order to apply for funding at all, you MUST prepare and submit a kickstarter project. 
We believe that crowd-sourcing and developing an audience for your short film across the lifecycle of your production process will be an important part of media production regardless of context in the new-media environment where we live, so we view this new step in pre-production to be a key part of your educational experience. 
So get started!  Review the criteria we'll use to judge the projects,  check out a bunch of kickstarter pages (you may want to check out indiegogo pages too, though we recommend kickstarter because of their fee structure) , and then go ahead and make your own.  
Production mini-grant and grant applications will be due on November 30th by midnight.  

Criteria for Judging the Open Frame Grant Project


To be funded, a film project must meet the following criteria: 
1. The film must be submitted to the Open Frame Film Festival.  Receipts will be paid out upon submission of the final film. 
2. All expenses must be approved beforehand (in budget form) by Open Frame director, Andrew Rudd. 
3. Reimbursement may only occur with a receipt.
4. Grant applications will not exceed $1000. 
4. only 30% of a film’s budget may be spent on food / craft-services.
5. only 30% of a film’s budget may be spent on props or costumes (exceptions can be made in the case of period films).  
6. only 30% of a film’s budget may be spent on gasoline.
7.  up to 100% of a film’s budget may be spent on payment to professional crew or equipment rental.
8. Only films with at least three Malone students involved in key roles are eligible for funding.
Grants will be awarded based on these criteria, and priority will be given based upon these additional criteria: ;

  • This film and production will exemplify the Malone University Mission (and Foundational Principles) and the Mission of the Communication Arts Department.
  • This film script and production proposal demonstrates excellent creativity and vision.
  • This film will allow a very significant number of Malone students to gain filmmaking experience and contribute to their learning experiences.
*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 grant selection committee will include Communication Arts Faculty members, Faculty members from other departments on campus, alumni and community filmmakers.
Because we recognize that the kickstarter audience is necessarily broader than the Communication Arts Department and Malone University, you may submit a one page explanation of how your film’s process and product will exemplify Malone’s (& the Communication Arts Department’s) mission.  Otherwise the materials for your grant application should be embedded in your kickstarter page.