Hello, brickfilmers.

As discussed in the “When is THAC 6?” thread, I will be organizing our THAC 6.
I am posting the rules on the thread this year instead of on a website since Hostbrickmovie is down.

THAC 6 will begin on 12:00 noon (GMT) January 3rd 2009

RULES

1. Starting at 12 noon GMT on January 3rd, 2009 (Greenwich Mean Time), you will have 24 hours to script, animate, edit, and upload a film. Any entries not received within these 24 hours will be disqualified. To help insure that there is no cheating, the theme will not be announced until the contest begins. The theme will be announced in a thread titled “THAC 6 Starts NOW!” in the Contests, Film Festivals and Community Projects forum in the Contests, Film Festivals and Community Projects.
Here is a list of cities and their corresponding times, all set to noon GMT.

2. Also announced in this thread along with the theme will be the “mod” element. The mod element is an element that must be included in every shot of your film to ensure that nothing is animated before 24 hours. It could be a shape, a letter, or even a printed graphic. One thing to note is that as long as the mod is physically included in the set (ie not added in while your editing it), you are free to include it however you want. In addition, it does not have to remain consistent throughout the film; in one scene it could be printed on a piece of paper and taped to a wall, while in another it could be a pattern of bricks on the floor. See this page for more detailed information on the mod element. (Note: It is not original to make a film about how the “mod” element changes from scene to scene and appears in every shot. It is not intended to be the focus for the film, just a check to ensure it is made within the 24 hour time period.)

3. The film must be animated and must be primarily composed of stop-motion animation. 3D, Flash, or other animation techniques may be used to supplement the stop-motion but may not be the main focus.

4. The film should contain LEGO or similar ‘brick’ construction toys, such as Mego Blocks or whatever.

5. There must be a minimum of 30 seconds of animation in the film, not including credits or stills.
There is no maximum length.

6. Joint entries ARE allowed, as are multiple entries.

7. While copyrighted/trademarked properties are allowed, you are discouraged from basing your movie off of preexisting films (Star Wars, The Matrix, etc.). It’s not original, and could lower your score in the story area. Copyrighted music may be used, due to the time constraints for this contest, but if you do not wish to do so, you ARE permitted to create original music beforehand. Music does not have to be created within the 24 hour time limit.

LENGTH AND FORMAT

1. To ensure that all entries are viewable by everyone, a version of the film with a maximum file size of 3MB per minute must be submitted. For compatibilty and consistency entries must be encoded using one of the following codecs: Realvideo (Realmedia), DivX (in a .avi file), or .mov (Quicktime).
2. You may upload a high quality version if you want but your film thread must contain the one you send to me in the e-mail as well.
3. You may also upload a version to youtube.com or dailymotion.com or something similar, once you do have a Realvideo, Quicktime or DivX file.

PRIZES

Will Chapman, of brickarms.com, has very kindly offered us prizes for THAC 6.
So he will be getting a package for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes.
But those prizes will be decided soon. We don’t know which package it will be, but it will be a weapons package.
Go to http://www.brickarms.com for more information on brickarms’ LEGO weapons and such.

Special thanks goes to Will Chapman of http://www.brickarms.com and the bricksinmotion community.