I worked as a film festival screener. Here's why I rejected your film in under a minute.

For a semester in college, I worked as a film screener for the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Athens, OH, not Athens, Greece, unfortunately. But, all the same, AIFVF can be considered a substantial film festival. The festival has been occurring every spring for over 50 years, and is an Academy Award Qualifier. 

For those who might not know, in order to submit your film to certain awards ceremonies like the Academy Awards, BAFTAs, or the Canadian Screen Awards, you have to first place at a qualifying festival. And that means that someone who wanted to submit for an Academy Award had to go through me first. 

We received hundreds of applications, and watched about 50 short films and 2 features a week. Watching this many films, we very rarely watched them all the way through.

Let's break down the first minute of your film through the eyes of a screener.

00:00 - 00:10

Here we're looking at basic technical issues. Is your sound quality clear? What about lighting? Is your film too dark? Is it overexposed? What about camera quality? Obviously there are exceptions to all of these rules in cases of artistic expression, but I'd say about a quarter of all films we're submitted are disqualified in this round. And I'm sorry to sound people, but sound quality is one of the most common issues. Either background noise is prominent, lapel mics can be heard rustling against clothing, sound is tinny or off pitch. The terrible thing about working in sound is that when something is wrong, our brains pick it up right away, even if we don't understand just what is off about it.

00:10 - 00:30

If you've made it to this round, we've started to look at artistic aspects. What does your sound design look like? Are your sound effects believable? What about with VFX and SFX? Does a terrible CGI model throw us out of the story? Also in this category falls actor performance. Sometimes it just takes one poor line delivery to have an entire film thrown out. We're also looking at editing. Like sound, good editing goes unnoticed, it's only when a cut is in the wrong place that the audience is jolted back into reality.

00:30 - 00:60

At this point, you've beaten out most of the crowd. Here, we start to look at plot. Is it engaging? How is the pacing? Are you showing the audience rather than telling us? That last one is a HUGE issue. Since films start as a written script before they become a visual medium, some screenwriters tend to overexplain through dialogue, not realizing that the blocking of the scene should be the thing telling the story. Is your dialogue realistic? Does your story even make sense?

00:60 - The End

If you're still here, congratulations! You're in the top 1%, and we will likely watch your film to completion. At this point we're only asking a few questions: Why you? Why now? And why should I care? Answer these riddles three, and you will be granted access to a most prestigious place: a regional film festival.

It seems like a lot of work and a lot of rejection for nothing. But don't let this deter you. Smaller festivals are less picky, so start local! Getting your project in front of an audience of any size allows you to get necessary feedback! And don't just attend to watch your own film, local festivals are a great place to network and find other passionate people! So get out there! Good luck! Break a... reel?