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Student film festival draws worldwide attention to Sparta amid pandemic

Schools are closed due to COVID-19. But that's not stopping students all around the world from submitting short videos to a film festival in Sparta, Mich.

SPARTA, Mich. — Trying to find positive activity and purpose during this uncertain time can be challenging.

A faculty member at Sparta High School has created a way to reinvigorate the school community through a competition that's drawing interest from not only other Michigan schools, but also students dealing with the pandemic abroad.

Doug Hart, who is a history teacher at Sparta High School, recently came up with an idea whereby students, both from the middle and high school levels, video document their home-bound experiences with COVID-19.

The "COVID-19 Spartan Student Film Festival" was born. It's a local, state, nation and worldwide competition, with numerous prizes to be awarded to the winners at the end.

"We made it voluntary for the students," said Hart. "It's a way to create a common experience and purpose for our students as they try to process what's happening."

Students are required to create a video, 2-minutes or less, of their perspectives of the COVID-plagued world within which we all are living.

"It's a video diary, if you will," said Hart. "Members of each students' family can join the production, but they have to stay put either inside or outside their own homes."

Hart says video submissions from both the Netherlands and Columbia, South America, are among the many international video submissions he's received thus far.

"We're experiencing this pandemic in a global context," said Hart. "I think it'll be good for the kids to see how other kids across the pond are experiencing a similar thing we are."

Here's everything you need to know about the film festival, particularly those who are considering entering:

What?  An Online Student COVID-19 Student Film Festival spearheaded by Sparta Public Schools in Michigan.

Who?  Young SPARTANS (Grade 6 – Grade 12).

Where?  Online with all films produced in students’ homes. 

When?  Film shooting begins NOW! Submissions are due no later than May 8. International winners will be announced on May 22.

How?  Students will work individually or with family members or in remote digital production teams (where students will remain within their own residences).

Why?  Because a revitalization of our school community is acutely needed and in other communities around the world impacted by COVID-19.

What sorts of short films may students enter into the festival?  Anything related to their experience during the COVID-19 outbreak. We anticipate a variety of submissions ranging from fiction to non-fiction.

What categories and criteria will be used for judging the films?  Essentially, the film festival will include two broad categories: Fiction & Non-Fiction. The chart below provides a glimpse into how films will be placed and assessed. No movie can be placed in more than one category.

FILM CATEGORIES:

Description: Any dramatization including but not limited to poetry, monologues. May include such genres and types as musicals, raps, animations, science fiction, western, fantasy, silent films, gangster, animation, etc…

Judging criteria may take into account overall presentation, performance and content:

Presentation

Reflecting on quality of production (phone recordings are acceptable). Under consideration: directing, screenplay, sound, camera angles, costumes, editing, and other aspects. 

Performance

Quality of acting, singing, rapping, movement;

Content (applicable to COVID-19 experience)

Under consideration: cohesion, originality, relevancy, insightfulness and cleverness.

Description: This may include such options as monologues, dialogues, interviews, docudramas, musicals, raps, animation, PowerPoints, Prezis. 

Judging criteria may take into account overall presentation, performance and content:

Presentation

Reflecting on general quality of production (with consideration given to level of technology used - phones  are acceptable). Under consideration: directing, set, sound, editing and other aspects;

Performance

Quality of voice-over narration and in-front-of-camera communication;

Content (applicable to COVID-19 experience)

Totality of information conveyed. Under consideration: clarity of message, originality, cohesion, relevancy, insightfulness, cleverness.

What will the judging process look like?  The judging process will consist of 2 phases: Local & Global.

PHASE 1 (May 10 - 14): School Building Winners Announced on May 15!

All SPARTAN students will be invited to the film judging process. Middle schoolers will judge middle school submissions, and senior highers will judge senior high submissions. This will be done via Google forms. The top 3 films within the Fiction and Non-fiction categories in both the middle and high schools will be determined and move to the final international round. 

PHASE 2 (May 15 - 22): Global Winners Announced on May 22!

COVID-19 International Student Film Festival. This final inter-school competition will include judges external to participating schools. They will have extensive performance, film, and or broadcasting experience. Judges may include professional actors, university academics, filmmakers, writers, journalists, and theatre professionals. Overall COVID-19 Film Festival Winners will be announced on Friday, May 22.

Will junior high/middle school students be competing with their senior high counterparts? No. Middle/JH students will compete separately from SH students. However, the film festival does not oppose some vertical diversity in student production teams. While every film must be submitted either in the JH/Middle or SH category, the following combinations would be permissible: 

A. Junior high students may serve as major or minor actors as well as secondary crew 

members in SENIOR HIGH productions. Adults may also play minor acting roles.

B. Senior high students may play secondary roles as actors and/or crewmembers in

 JUNIOR HIGH productions. Adults may also play minor acting roles.

May students produce and perform with family members and work remotely with other students? Yes, brothers, sisters, and guardians/parents may co-create together, and students may digitally work with peers in other households.

What are the rules and guidelines for films submitted to the May 15 international round?

THE DO’S

All films must represent original work by the members of each Production Team.

All films must be 2 minutes or less. All others will be disqualified.

All films must be produced primarily by secondary students.

All submissions must be submitted by students who have already provided an Image Release Form (if necessary, a new form may be requested).

All films that use 3rd -party music must clear it with the original owners/license holders.

All films may include names of student production team members; however, all films must include the name of the responsible Production Team and school represented.

THE DON’TS

No submission can contain any third party work, INCLUDING ANY MUSICAL RECORDING OR COMPOSITION, unless (1) Production Team has a license to use work in the submission from the owners/licensors; (2) such work is in the public domain.

No submission may contain pornography or obscene content.

No submission can infringe on a third party’s intellectual property/privacy rights.

No submission may include students working physically from any place other than their home residence. 

What if a submission does not adhere to the rules and guidelines of this film festival? If a submission has not adhered to the above stated rules and guidelines, that submission will be eliminated from the competition. 

PHASE 1 (Local School Level)

PHASE 2 (COVID-19 International Student Film Festival)

If anybody has further questions, email Doug Hart at Sparta High School: Doug.Hart@spartaschools.org

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