I. DEFINITIONS
A. A short film is defined as an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits.
B. This excludes from consideration such works as:
- previews and advertising films
- sequences from feature-length films such as credit sequences
- unaired episodes of established TV series
- unsold TV series pilot
II. CATEGORIES
An award shall be given for the best achievement in each of two categories.
A. Animated Short Films
An animated film is created by using a frame-by-frame technique, and usually falls into one of the two general fields of animation: character or abstract. Some of the techniques of animating films include cel animation, computer animation, stop-motion, clay animation, pixilation, cutouts, pins, camera multiple pass imagery, kaleidoscopic effects, and drawing on the film frame itself. Documentary short subjects that are animated may be submitted in either the Animated Short Film category or the Documentary Short Subject category, but not both.
B. Live Action Short Films
A live action film uses live action techniques as the basic medium of entertainment. Documentary short subjects will not be accepted in the live action category.
III. ELIGIBILITY
A. To be eligible for award consideration for the 2008 Awards year, a short film must fulfill one of the following criteria between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008 within two years of the film’s completion date:
1. The film must have been publicly exhibited for paid admission in 16mm, 35mm or 70mm film or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan Digital Cinema format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels, source image format conforming to SMPTE 428-1-2006 D-Cinema – Image Characteristics; image compression (if used) conforming to ISO/IEC 15444-1 (JPEG 2000), and image and sound file formats suitable for exhibition in commercial Digital Cinema sites, in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County for a run of at least three consecutive days with at least two screenings a day. Student films cannot qualify in this manner.
OR
2. The film must have participated in a competitive film festival as specified in the Academy Festival List, and must have won a best-in-category award. Proof of the award must be submitted with the entry. The Academy’s Short Films Awards Festival List may be obtained from the Academy and is available on the Academy’s Web site.
3. A student film may also qualify by winning a Gold Medal award in the Academy’s 2008 Student Academy Awards competition in the Animation, Narrative, Alternative, or Honorary Foreign Film award category. Winners in the Documentary category are not eligible.
B. A short film may not be exhibited publicly anywhere in any nontheatrical form, including but not limited to broadcast and cable television, home video, and Internet transmission, until after its Los Angeles theatrical release, or after receiving its festival or Student Academy Award.
IV. SUBMISSION
A. Short films must be submitted to the Academy in 16mm, 35mm or 70mm film or as a digital file formatted according to the digital qualification standards described in III.A.1. Please contact the Awards Office for a list of acceptable formats. Formats requiring special technical presentation that meet the technical specifications above will be given consideration if made available for Academy voting screenings in Los Angeles County.
B. The print or copy of the short film submitted for Academy Awards consideration must be identical in content and length to the print or copy that qualified.
C. Dialogue or narration must be substantially in English or the film must have English-language subtitles.
D. Prints or copies should be marked “Short Film Entry” and shipped prepaid to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Prints or copies submitted will be retained by the Academy throughout the voting process.
E. The deadline for receiving the entry form, all required materials and film print or copy is 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, October 1, 2008. Foreign entries must also comply with this rule.
F. For the first round of judging only, works may be submitted digitally. If a short film advances to the second round of voting, two film prints must be received by the Academy by 5 p.m. PT on Monday, December 29, 2008.
G. The Academy will retain for its archives one film print of every short film receiving a nomination for final balloting. All prints of films that are not nominated will be returned.
H. The recipient of the statuette will be the individual person most directly responsible for the concept and the creative execution of the film. In the event that more than one individual has been directly and importantly involved in creative decisions, a second statuette may be awarded. However, no more than two awards will be given to a winning production. In cases where more than two individuals claim major creative contributions, the copyright holder must decide which two will be eligible to receive Oscar statuettes and so inform the Academy. Companies or organized groups shall not receive nominations or awards.
I. No short film may be submitted more than once for Academy Award consideration.
V. VOTING
A. Excellence of the entries shall be judged on the basis of originality, entertainment and production quality without regard to cost of production or subject matter.
B. A Reviewing Committee, consisting of volunteer active and life members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch, will view all motion pictures entered and mark all entries 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 or 5 with the guidelines of 10 (excellent), 8 (good), 6 (fair) or 5 (poor). In each category not more than ten pictures receiving the highest average numerical scores above 7.5 shall be considered further. In the event that fewer than six pictures receive average numerical scores above 7.5, those with the next highest average numerical scores shall be included until six pictures are selected.
C. To determine nominations, all entries selected by the Reviewing Committee shall be screened by the Branch Nominating Committee consisting of all active and life members of the Academy Short Films and Feature Animation Branch. Those members of the Branch who served on the Reviewing Committee, and who viewed all of the selected pictures, in either or both categories, will receive mail ballots. The running order of the films in each category shall be determined by lot. The 10 to 5 point system will be used for voting at this screening. Those films receiving an average score of 7.5 or more shall be eligible for nomination. However, there may be not more than five nor fewer than three nominations in each category.
D. Final voting for the Short Films awards shall be restricted to active and life Academy members who may vote for only one film in each of the two categories. Members must have attended official Academy screenings of the nominated achievements. However, those members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch who served on the Branch Nominating Committee, and who viewed all the nominated pictures, will receive mail ballots. When a non-standard format nominated film cannot be included in the official Academy voting screenings for its category, members must submit evidence of having seen that film elsewhere in order to vote in that category.
