High School “Spirit of Festival” Video Contest
This contest is open to any high school student in grades 9-12.
The mission of the METG is to support and promote theatrical arts and education. While primarily
focused on the stage, film and video are increasingly important and valid aspects of how these arts are presented. Prior to the creation of the contest many schools were even already producing videos as part of their festival days. We have created the Spirit of Festival Video Contest to showcase these student-developed original videos while also celebrating the theme that Festival is a celebration of Theatre and each school's hard work.
Theme:
The purpose of the video is to highlight the “Spirit of Festival”. How can your team showcase what makes the METG Festival amazing in your own creative way? Some questions/facts that might help:
● The Festival is made up of over 85 member schools from all over the state.
● What are some of your favorite experiences from Festival?
● What are some events that you associate only with Festival?
● What would your school year be like without Festival?
● Please do NOT use the term “competition” in the video. The event should be celebrated as a Festival!
Contest Specifics:
● The video team can be comprised of any individual from within the school and does not
need to be a student directly involved in the festival production or theater program.
● Each team must have a coach who is either a teacher at the school or officially
authorized to act as such an agent by the school administration who will approve their submission.
● Prior to submitting your video, test it to make sure that it has both video and audio.
● To submit your video, please email it to metg@metg.org.
● The winning video will be showcased during the METG State Finals Closing Ceremony.
Teams:
● A video team can be comprised of as many students from the school as the group decides.
However, it should be noted that the winning team will only be allowed to send a maximum of four (4) team members and the coach (as a chaperone) to the 2024 METG Finals. (Additional tickets may be purchased subject to availability.)
● It is recommended that the video team consider including a variety of student experts to create the best video possible. For instance, it may be helpful if a video team includes one student who is interested in writing, another who has experience in video production, another that has talent in theater, and another who has talent in art or composition.
Video Requirements:
● The length of the video is to be no more than five (5) minutes.
● All videos must be original and may not be prepared by a professional nor contain content that is inappropriate for general audiences.
● Videos must comply with copyright rules and regulations. Sources of information and materials used (i.e. music) must be properly acknowledged and credited in the video. Any additional rights and usage records or payments required are the responsibility of the submitting party to acquire and maintain.
● Videos can be made for a 2023 preliminary or semifinal festival round and include play titles, school names and footage of festival entries in rehearsal if you choose.
● Somewhere in the video should be the Name of the Presenting School, Title of the Video (if any), and “This film made for the METG Spirit of Festival Video Contest”.
Video Format:
● Video should contain 5-10 seconds of black at the beginning and end of the video. This is NOT included in the 5 minute maximum time.
● Resolution should be minimum 1280 x 720 (720p). Full HD 1920x1080 (1080i or 1080p) is preferred. Other resolutions are acceptable but METG, Inc. takes no responsibility for any quality issues resulting from transcoding to the format used for presentation.
● Frame Rate should be a US Standard (60, 59.94, 30, or 29.97 FPS). Other frame rates are acceptable but METG, Inc. takes no responsibility for any quality issues resulting from transcoding to the format used for presentation.
● The recommended format is an H.264 codec in an MPEG-4 wrapper (.mp4). Most other .mp4, .m4v, .mov, and .avi files are acceptable.
● Windows Media (.wmv) is NOT an acceptable format.
Judging:
All videos will be submitted to the METG office. The videos will be reviewed and distributed to
the Video Review Panel.
Other Conditions:
● Participant assumes all responsibility for injuries, damages, and costs. The Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG, Inc.) is not liable for any injuries or damages caused by or to the participants during filming, for broken equipment, or materials and services purchased to produce the submission.
● The Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG,inc.) reserves the right in perpetuity to use submissions in any way deemed appropriate by its managing bodies including use in advertising and fundraising without any payment or other form of remuneration to the submitting party. Ownership of submissions beyond this remains with the submitting party.
● The Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG, Inc.) is not responsible for copyright errors made in the videos.
Prizes:
The winning video will be shown as part of the METG State Finals closing ceremony.
Application Deadlines:
Registration must be submitted online by TBD.
Link to Registration Form:
Coming soon!
