Idea: Film Forum Writing Competition

Necronomicon

Just wanted to throw this out there, see what people thought. It's shamelessly stolen from Dub13 on the Soccer forum, where it worked really well a couple of years ago.

The idea is that we get forum users (10-15 ideally) to write an article (on absolutely anything film related - a film review, an ode to your favourite of all time, a genre article, maybe you think they don't make them like they used to, etc).

People who want to participate declare their interest for the purposes of counting. However, when the articles are posted, they are posted annonymously (PM'd to the organiser) to ensure that there is no voting by popularity of the author.

The way it was done originally in the Soccer forum (but I guess the mechanics could be open to debate) was: people expressed their interest on this thread, and then given a deadline to submit the article, via PM, to the organiser. When all the articles were submitted, a thread was made with the first half of the articles, accompanied by a poll. Soon after that a second thread was made with the remainder of the articles. Then one final thread was made, with the most popular 4 or 5 from the entire pool of articles to decide on the overall winner.

It was a huge success in the forum, and its aim of encouraging more substantial content really came off. The standard of writing was terrific as well. While I wouldn't mind participating myself I'd equally be happy to organise.

Any interest?

Anakin.S

I like the idea, I'm not a great writer but I always enjoying reading anything film related

johnny_ultimate

Would be interested in anyway, I do enjoy a good ramble.

Renn

I'd like to submit my piece about the clear link between The Room and Casablanca.

Hank_Jones

Renn wrote: »

I'd like to submit my piece about the clear link between The Room and Casablanca.

Now there's a piece I would be interested in reading.

lorcanot

id give it a bash

Kess73

Would be interested in this.

MrSir

Renn wrote: »

I'd like to submit my piece about the clear link between The Room and Casablanca.

You think of everything don't you?
And yes I would be interested as long as people kept their stupid comments in their pocket!

Handsome Bob

I'm in. Any rules in regards to word limit?

I'm in.

Necronomicon

Cool, might be picking up momentum after all

I count 8 including myself, I think if we got 10 it'd be good - two threads of 5 articles each, then a final maybe (using either the same articles or a new one submitted by finalists, guess we can decide that later).

LZ5by5 wrote: »

I'm in. Any rules in regards to word limit?

500-750 is what I proposed, if everybody agrees with that.

ziedth

I'd give it a go,

I'm not a very good writer but enjoy a good rant.

500-750 sounds good, any idea of a deadline?

I'm a little busy over the next couple of days is the only thing.

Necronomicon

I hadn't thought too much of a deadline, I think if we get the numbers we could decide it amongst ourselves, there doesn't have to be too much of a rush, just not too much time that people would lose interest.

humanji

I'd be up for it too. It sounds fun.

Mr. K

I'm interested!

Necronomicon

Cool! I'm just going to list everyone who replied in the thread, I know one or two comments were in jest so I'm not sure where they stand, but we might have sufficient numbers either way now (if anyone wants out just let me know so I can update accordingly):

Necronomicon
Anakin.S
johnny_ultimate
Renn
Hank_Jones
lorcanot
Kess73
MrSir
LZ5by5
Darko
ziedth
humanji
Mr. K
ShagNastii

Necronomicon

Also, I know a couple of the lads that have replied are football fans, so if you missed it at the time, you might be interested in reading the articles in the original competition:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055434553

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055435756

johnny_ultimate

May I propose upping the word count to 1,000? 750 words can be awfully limiting, although at the same time may force everyone to be more focused!

ShagNastii

Count me in. Great idea btw

Necronomicon

Cool, list updated to include ShagNastii.

@ johnny_ultimate, sure I think 1,000 is reasonable. To keep the articles at roughly the same length should we say 750-1000? If everybody is happy with that.

johnny_ultimate

Necronomicon wrote: »

@ johnny_ultimate, sure I think 1,000 is reasonable. To keep the articles at roughly the same length should we say 750-1000? If everybody is happy with that.

750-1000 sounds good to me anyway!

Brimmy

Renn wrote: »

I'd like to submit my piece about the clear link between The Room and Casablanca.

There's no point in doing this because this article is already going to win.

Handsome Bob

That word limit sounds good to me, it's actually a nice change from what I usually have to write. :pac:

ziedth

Would 15 be a perfect number?

3 threads with 5 in each and the top 2 from each?

Just s suggestion.

Necronomicon

ziedth wrote: »

Would 15 be a perfect number?

3 threads with 5 in each and the top 2 from each?

Just s suggestion.

Good idea.

I count 11 definites; my list above was anybody who replied in the thread, but it wasn't clear if they were taking part or not, I've PM'd those for clarification.

Killme00

I'll do one

Necronomicon

We now have 13 definites:

Necronomicon
johnny_ultimate
Renn
lorcanot
Kess73
MrSir
LZ5by5
Darko
ziedth
humanji
Mr. K
ShagNastii
Killme00

Necronomicon

I'd just like to bump this to see if anyone is interested in filling the last two slots. If not I think we should progress with 13.

ShagNastii

A few film forum mods not involved? C'mon lads you guys/gals surely have an article in you.

LittleBook

I'll give it a go

Hrududu

I'd be interested if there's space left.

Necronomicon

Great, we have our 15

Necronomicon
johnny_ultimate
Renn
lorcanot
Kess73
MrSir
LZ5by5
Darko
ziedth
humanji
Mr. K
ShagNastii
Killme00
LittleBook
Hrududu

So we'll have 3 threads of 5 articles (staggered over a few days so they can all be given due attention).

The articles will be PM'd to me, and I'll post them anonymously in the designated thread, accompanied by a poll (the authors will be revealed after the final).

When voting has closed, a final thread will be set up with the two highest voted articles from each thread (using the same articles).

The only question is, what sort of deadline should be set? I didn't want to decide that one myself, thought I should put it to everyone involved. I'm going on holidays next weekend so I might need someone to take over organising if they could.

johnny_ultimate

I'll be happy to help with the organising if you need. I'm on pretty much every day, plus I have the power to sticky threads

Deadline wise, I guess just make sure everyone has enough time to put something together. How about Monday week, the 12th, or that too much time?

Maybe leave it a week or two for the deadline, I know that myself and one or two others who are taking part are pretty busy for the next week or so and as such an extended deadline would be nice.

Duggy747

Dang-nabbit!!

I only copped onto this now, this would've been right up my alley.

Oh well, I'll enjoy reading yer stuff anyways.

Necronomicon

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I'll be happy to help with the organising if you need. I'm on pretty much every day, plus I have the power to sticky threads

Deadline wise, I guess just make sure everyone has enough time to put something together. How about Monday week, the 12th, or that too much time?

Deleted User wrote: »

Maybe leave it a week or two for the deadline, I know that myself and one or two others who are taking part are pretty busy for the next week or so and as such an extended deadline would be nice.

I think striking a balance between giving people enough time and not too much time that they lose interest is important.

So I'm thinking either July 12th (Monday week as johnny_ultimate suggested) or the following Monday July 19th if the 12th is too soon?

Duggy747 wrote: »

Dang-nabbit!!

I only copped onto this now, this would've been right up my alley.

Oh well, I'll enjoy reading yer stuff anyways.

I'll give you a PM if anybody has to pull out

Tusky

Count me in - very busy over the next two weeks but i'll try make time.

[edit] Appears I was too slow. Put me on the backup list then.

ziedth

The 12th is fine by me lads,

Renn

Yeah 12th is fine.

LittleBook

12th is fine with me

Handsome Bob

12th is cool with me.

humanji

12th is grand for me too.

Necronomicon

Cool, the 12th it is!

Besides, since we're staggering the threads over a couple of days, I'm sure nobody would begrudge anyone a day or two extension to go in the third thread, if they really need it.

Edit - I just realised that the 12th is Monday fortnight, not Monday week.

MrSir

The 12th is a suitable time for me.

The Sparrow

Seems like an interesting idea, I'd be interested. I presume if this is successful there will be another competition?

On that note, what is the logic of keeping it to just 15 articles? The Creative Writing Forum does a similar thing but obviously fiction related and it is open to as many people as send in an entry. Then all of the articles are posted in an anonymous thread with a poll and the winner is the one who gets more votes. Seems a cleaner way to do it to me as everyone votes once, instead of having to vote multiple times for the same article and it is a big success in Creative Writing.

Seems a shame to just take entries from the first 15 people to reply.

ziedth

I'd imagine it's because it's allot of hassle for the OP because he's keeping all the entries annom.

I think 15 is the perfect amount tbh. Any more then that and I'd imagine not everyone will read all the entries.

Necronomicon

The Sparrow wrote: »

Seems like an interesting idea, I'd be interested. I presume if this is successful there will be another competition?

On that note, what is the logic of keeping it to just 15 articles? The Creative Writing Forum does a similar thing but obviously fiction related and it is open to as many people as send in an entry. Then all of the articles are posted in an anonymous thread with a poll and the winner is the one who gets more votes. Seems a cleaner way to do it to me as everyone votes once, instead of having to vote multiple times for the same article and it is a big success in Creative Writing.

Seems a shame to just take entries from the first 15 people to reply.

I definitely think seperste threads would keep peoples' attention more. As for the 15, it was picked because at first the thread was a ghost town and I didn't think we'd even get that

But there's been a few people declare interest since, I'd be open to a 4th thread if we had the numbers, if the other lads don't mind?

ziedth

I certainly don't anyway,

moe the better and all that.

Necronomicon

I think we should add the three new entrants to each of the existing threads, so have 3 with 6 articles each. If we get 20 we can change that to making a 4th thread.

In case they don't see this thread I'll PM Duggy, Tusky and The Sparrow to see if they're still interested.

Duggy747

Yer, I'm still interested

Necronomicon

Necronomicon
johnny_ultimate
Renn
lorcanot
Kess73
MrSir
LZ5by5
Darko
ziedth
humanji
Mr. K
ShagNastii
Killme00
LittleBook
Hrududu
Duggy747
Tusky
The Sparrow

This is our updated list, we are now at 18. So as it stands, we'll have three threads of 6 articles. If 2 more people are interested, we'll cap it at 20 and have 4 threads of 5.

The deadline to PM your articles is July 12th, good luck everybody