This September The Radar Festival will be showcasing the hottest new talent in music video. If you're new talent, it could be you! Make new videos for established artists and the best will be screened at the Apple Theatre in their Regent Street London store. It's a chance to win professional commissions with labels like Domino, Warp and Tummy Touch, to be taken on by the fabulous production company Colonel Blimp or just to win cash and bask in public glory. Go to www.radarfestival.com to find out how.

Please help spread the word and pass this message on to any friends or colleagues who could be interested. If there’s any groups or organisations you think would like to hear from us, please email caroline@radarfestival.com to suggest names. Huge thanks.

All entries welcome, all ages, shapes and sizes. The deadline for entries is August 31st 2006.

         

I can't seem to download the paperwork. -j

         

Please do read their Rules the terms are outrageous!!!!! Asking people to do basically a video on a low-no budget bases without the back up of a production company, so more or less of their own pocket. An then in article 3,4 and 6 waive all the rights to the festival which in turn will charge you a fee of 15% on any earnings you will make from commercial exploitation of the video... Even if it would be unlikely to happen, it's just the whole principle. This is your work be careful who you hand the rights to... This is just wrong. It's not helping people.

         

So the festival will take 15% of what the film maker can recoup from the record label. Radar Festival should definitely look forwards to receiving about 38 pence in their bank account some time in the future then. ;-)

Sounds like good fun though and a good means of getting some exposure. As long as you go into it with your eyes open...

What's that 'got to be made on a Mac' about? I challenge anyone to ascertain simply by watching whether a promo has been cut in Avid, Final Cut or with a pair of scissors. (although obviously you can't do a fade to black with scissors.)

         

yep. not doing this festival. rules too wierd.

         

i'd rather eat my legs

         

I was going to enter, but that contract is crap, can we get a response from the organizing commitee? Because this is pure exploitation.

         

Hi, I'm the organiser. There isn't a budget, I hope people do see a value in it for getting themselves exposure in a very public way at a professional level - look at the partners involved. Looks like I need to re-word the contract info to make it clearer. It's not that makers don't earn from it - it's just to avoid getting into wrangles about being able to show the video at the festival and associated festival events. If there's a commercial project, like say a DVD or a TV project, then we do a new contact, so you can earn money from it. The 15% is just to make it clear Radar will expect some part of the deal, possibly 38p. It's an Apple requirement about mac, as we're showing in their cinema for the festival. Don't know if Apple sell scissors.... I'm doing this for free because I really like music video. If someone would like to offer me some money though I'll take it. I'm at caroline@radarfestival.com

         

ps - thanks for comments though, it's good to know where the site isn't clear, Caroline

         

Well still you're asking people to hand the rights to the festival, which they shouldn't have to. As for the DVD, surely if the work goes on a DVD (and it won't be all entries supposidely), it can be the object of a seperate contract.
And if you can get that many sponsors, surely you can get something to cover your own fees. Otherwise there's nothig wrong with asking for a reasonable entry fee to cover admin expenses...

         

Caroline-
The line that scares me is the one about not having the right to distribute or display my video. If I decided to make a video to one of these tracks on my own I know that is not specifically legal, but I also know that since it is non-commercial I could post it online and submit it to many festivals without anyone getting upset. It seems like submitting to this contract would be prohibiting myself from from having this work posted in my portfolio. I'd assume you and the labels involved don't really care about that sort of thing, but have to put in such conditions to protect the music from more unlikely exploitation. If that is the case, the rules should reflect that more.

         

Hi. Maybe labels wouldn't really care in a lot of instances as they wouldn't have any association with someone using their music in a video without their permission. And if people follow that route, it's their choice. But the Festival's intention is to create a bridge between amateur video and professional work. Labels are specifically making tracks available here to people to make videos and it's their business to take care of how their music is used, it's also their duty to their artists to make sure they're represented in a way the artists are happy with. The rules aren't that people can't show elsewhere, it's that people have to check and get an OK to do that first. It's a good distinction to bring up; you're exchanging a 'right' to distribute your video without anyone else's say so, against potentially getting higher level exposure in the festival and any follow-on benefits.

         

Hi. Assuming that many of you would rather enter a new music video in the Radar Festival, and not eat your own legs, thought I'd mention that you now have just less than 10 weeks to get your entries in. There's been interest from people in 42 countries, and new partners on board since the last post, so if you make something great you get more and better exposure from this than a) you did before and b) leg eating.