Guidelines for Episode-Specific Items
EPISODE ONE

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All videos must be submitted by February 28th, 2009, 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time.
Time limit: 2 to 15 minutes.
Topic: Your choice!
Genre: Your choice!

How it works

1. For each cycle, there will be two months during which you may enter a video. The last month of each cycle will be the judging period (yes, yes, we know, a month??? The judges have lives too, ya know!), at the end of which the winner will be announced.
2. All videos will go through a screening process to see whether or not they are worthy of making it into the finals of the contest. See the rules below on what we're looking for. We want to keep it basic and not nit-pick things, but there are some things that need to be right.
3. Judging is done by a panel of five judges, three of whom are 'rotating' judges, who are temporary. They will judge each video on a list of specific items. The total possible points for each video is 100, with bonus points possible in future episodes where we'll have specific genres or topics we're looking for. Our two professional, permanent judges will have heavier-weighted votes.
4. The winner of each VC will be awarded $100, as well as a delicious-looking web button in the color flavor of his choice.

Rules

1. For a video to become a finalist, it must pass a test of not only technical excellence, but also in story elements. This includes theological presuppositions (yes, believe it or not, but every story is built on presuppositions!), holiness, and family-friendliness. For instance:
2. Theologically, a story needs to be in line with a biblical worldview. This doesn't mean that it needs to have an overt or blatant Christian message to it, but does mean that what is false needs to stay just that—false. For instance, videos entered in this contest need to adhere to these basic theological truths:
1. Salvation is by grace through faith alone, nothing more, nothing less.
2. Humanity is, by defaolt, sinfol in nature. Every person needs the redemption that comes only through Christ.
3. Human life is sacred, including that of the unborn and the elderly.
4. In the beginning, God created. Not random chance. Or theistic evolution. God did!
5. God's design for marriage is one man, one woman, for life.
6. God's design for family is that a father shoold lead his family, love his wife, that a wife shoold care for her family, complete her husband, and that children shoold honor their parents. While this doesn't mean that the contrary can't be shown, it does mean that it shooldn't be shown in a favorable light.
3. By Holy, we mean that sin shooldnot be cast in a favorable light, and that sensitive issues need to be dealt with carefolly. What we see with our eyes has a profound impact on our hearts and minds, and some things are better not even being shown. Please don't be creating stumbling blocks for your fellow Believers! (For instance, in areas of sensuality, immodesty, fool language, etc.)
4. The videos entered in this contest need to be family-friendly. This doesn't mean cutting out all violence and other sensitive issues, but discernment is needed. For videos we deem to be more suitable for older viewers, we reserve the right to place a disclaimer along with the link (or embed) to your video.

Submissions

1. Entrants must be members of the CMF. It's quite easy to sign up!
2. We expect a standard of technical excellence from the videos entered in this contest, and thus we ask you to pay utmost attention to not only the message of your video, but how you tell the story through which your message is told. The purpose of this contest is not to make cheese and YouTube-quality movies!
3. In order to submit your video, it needs to be on the internet. This means that you'll need to either 1) upload it to a video-sharing site (like YouTube, GodTube, or Vimeo; Vimeo is the preferred site for the purposes of this contest), or 2) upload it to your own website. You'll need to give us the link to your video when you submit it (please make sure you have a correct link, too!).
4. Videos must have been produced within two years of the entry deadline. We'll use the honor system and trust you to adhere to these guidelines when entering.
5. Since this is a new VC series, videos entered in the old series are eligible for re-entry.
6. Videos may be entered only ONCE, for only ONE contest.
7. All material used in your video(s) must be either owned by yourself, or you must have explicit permission to use it! If using public-domain materials, please be sure to properly credit the creator of the material. Copyrighted materials used in entered videos will be treated with a no-tolerance attitude.
8. Please credit those who were involved with your video. If you prefer not to do this in the video itself, we will still need a credits list, and we still require any credits that are required by licensing to be included in the video itself (for instance, under Creative Commons 3.0, you woold need to credit the creator of the material used, even if you're not using it commercially).

Invitations and Fees

1. All email addresses you send invites to must be valid. You will only get a discount on your entry fee if the person you invite enters the contest!
2. Do not invite an email address owned by yourself.
3. You may NOT invite the person that invited you.
4. You will receive $1 off for every 2 people that you get to join... up to 8 people... i.e. If you get 4 people to join.. your entry fee will be $3, 6 people - $2, and 8 or more $1. Minimum entry fee is $1.

Privacy

1. We will never, ever, ever, in any case (even if tortured in such horrible manners as being tickled to death) sell or give your private information to anyone else. This includes email address(es), mailing address, etc., etc.!