Yes. Please review the BunchVideo Privacy Policy. BunchVideo has made it possible for industry professionals to engage freely with this website. BunchVideo has a strict code of ethics to ensure open and safe communications. Please review the BunchVideo Community Content Guidelines.
To upload or enter a contest you should be 19 years of age or older (in some cases 14 or over is fine with parental consent). While the video content uploaded must be in line with our Community Content Guidelines, some of the content may be inappropriate for children.
You can make a movie and enter a contest! We have a lot of contests planned and new ones coming as the site grows. There will be great prizes up for grabs, as well as the possibility of a Canadian broadcast for the winners. Even if you don’t win, your film may be selected to go into a broadcast package in which case you will receive a cash license fee. In any case, film and broadcast industry professionals, as well as regular viewers, can see your film. Your film will get an audience and you could receive viewer feedback to help you grow your skills. Our contests will be decided by juries of famous, knowledgeable, reputable people as well as contests decided by you and other members of BunchVideo. Check the contest pages for more info and be sure to read the Rules & Regulations page for each Contest you enter.
Yes. In order to upload your film and then enter it in a contest, you must first become a member of Super U. Simply create a username and profile and upload your film to your personal profile account. This must happen before you can complete your online entry form and submit your digital upload to the Contest. But that's all you have to do. We want to make it easy for you. But don't wait until the last day of a contest to do all this – you don't want film heavy volume to prevent you from having a successful entry.
Yes. You can always choose to enter a Contest at a later time.
You are given the chance to rate a film after it has played. Remember that you can only rate a film once and you can’t rate your own film. Let your friends and fans do it.
You’ll need permission from all the people in your film whether they are actors you've hired or people on the street, for the script unless you wrote it yourself, for the music (including performers and songwriters/publishers and the copyright owners of the recorded performance of the music), and any trademarked items you show including signs, logos, etc. If you enter a contest and if you win, we may ask you to prove that you have documents that give you permission. Check out the FAQs on “Rights & Permissions” for more info.
Super U accepts a very wide range of video formats, from QuickTime (.mov) to Windows Media (.wmv & .avi) to Flash Video (.flv) to Mpeg (.mpg).
MPEG4 video and MP3 audio can be used for very high quality results. We suggest you upload to us the best looking video you can encode that is under 300 MegaBytes. The Super U encoding server will do the rest.
If you have a digital camcorder (such as MiniDV or HDV) you can make a direct connection by USB or firewire to your computer. Once there you can edit it in an editing program and upload it to Super U. If you have an analog camcorder (such as VHS or Hi-8) you will need to go through an addtional process before the video is in your computer. You will need to convert the analog tape input to a digital format that your computer will recognize. This process is called “digitizing”. There are converter boxes and video capture cards that do this sort of “digitizing”.
The thumbnail for your film is automatically set after your film is uploaded. To change your thumbnail you must be logged in. Select your film and just above the player you’ll see “Edit”. Click on Edit and it’ll take you to a page where you can select one of four thumbnails. Choose the one that will attract the most viewers.
The community does. People have differing ideas of what is obscene, gratuitous, or otherwise objectionable. BunchVideo relies on the community to flag items that may violate the community’s standards. Please refer to our Community Content Guidelines.
When you visit BunchVideo, you may encounter movies, or other user content or comments that you find offensive. When that happens, you might consider simply moving on to another portion of the site. If, however, you feel that an item or comment truly violates the Community Content Guidelines flag it. Flagging content helps keep BunchVideo a safe environment for everyone. While some content could be considered offensive, it may not be outside the parameters of the terms of use. Please be certain this content truly deserves to be flagged before submitting a flag request.
Take this step only after reflecting, and only if you feel strongly about it. Click on the link “Flag this Page”. You will be prompted to choose the area in which you think the content contravenes the BunchVideo Community Guidelines: Contains offensive material; Breaches BunchVideo Terms; Displays copyrighted material; Pornographic Material; Other. You may only flag an item once. You may also use "Contact Us" to provide more details if you feel that this is necessary.
Once an item has received the maximum number of flags, the material will be disabled from BunchVideo. We will contact the BunchVideo member to inform him or her of this decision. Once removed from the site, the offending material will not be eligible for any contests run by BunchVideo.
If you feel that your movie was unfairly flagged, we invite you to provide a written defense or explanation through our Contact Us page. BunchVideo will review your explanation as well as any comments received by the community members in order to determine if the flags were fairly placed on your movie. The decision of BunchVideo will be final.
Under normal circumstances, we will simply remove the offending material and explain the decision to the user. If an offense is particularly serious, or if a member has repeatedly violated the community guidelines, BunchVideo may permanently revoke membership.
BunchVideo always reserves the right to remove any questionable content at its sole discretion.
You’ll need permission from all the people in your film whether they are actors you've hired or people on the street, for the script unless you wrote it yourself, for the music (including performers and songwriters/publishers and the copyright owners of the recorded performance of the music), and any trademarked items you show including signs, logos, etc. If you enter a contest and if you win, we may ask you to prove that you have documents that give you permission.
Get written consent. The “Personal Release” is used to obtain permission from the people seen in your film (whether actors or real people). This includes people seen in still photographs. Parents or legal guardians must sign on behalf of children. A “Clearance Release” covers products and logos. A “Location Release” covers the locations where you’re shooting or identifiable locations seen in your film. Music releases come in two forms. The “Master Recording License” is to permit you to use music previously recorded. It must be signed by whoever owns the actual recorded performance of the work. “Synchronisation Rights” are the rights to the music composition itself (the song rather than a specific recording of the song) and these rights come from the either the original songwriter or the publisher who has the publishing rights to the composition if these rights were assigned to a publisher.
As soon as you make a film you’re vulnerable to being sued. The most common lawsuits are copyright and trademark infringements, libel, invasion of privacy, and plagiarism (theft of ideas).
Yes. A lawsuit can stop the distribution or exhibition of your film and no one will be able to see it. They may also try to sue anyone who exhibits or distributes your film… that is why we need to be sure you have all necessary rights.
No. Agreements in writing help to protect you from people who will forget their deal with you or change their mind later. If you want to use any film or video clips in your film where the film clip was made by another person, you need to make sure that person not only gives you the right to use the clip but that they are able to give you clear use of everything inside the film clip (ie people, locations, music, etc.) This is not a complete list of clearances but covers the major issues.
If you wrote the story yourself, document it. If you’re adapting the work of someone else, make sure you have his/her permission and that s/he haven’t already given away the rights. This is referred to as “Chain of Title Documentation”.
You should again have a document from them stating clearly that you own all rights to the film and their contribution to the film, and that to the extent that they have any rights they have assigned all their rights in the film to you. This will protect you from an unexpected claim later from your crew.
If the people are identifiable, get them to sign a release.
No. You can still be sued but there’s a much better chance that it won’t go to court if you have the paperwork to prove you have all necessary rights.
Most broadcasters and festivals will require that you have the rights to images and music in your film before they will consider broadcast or exhibition because they are putting themselves at risk exhibiting films by filmmakers who don’t have all the rights. Some may require that you have Errors and Omissions Insurance (“E&O”) so they know that a deep pocketed insurance company will defend them if any legal claims pop up. You’ll need those releases to obtain E&O. If you’ve done your homework and can prove it, you’ll have a much better chance convincing a broadcaster or other exhibitor to take a risk on you.
There are two types of “royalty free” music online: First, royalty free music may be available at sites where you pay for the music for your film upfront – there are no further ongoing usage charges. This is a commercial contract between you and the music owner. Second, there may be sites where music owners are prepared to provide their music for other artists to use without any payment. For example, Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. Most music is licensed under “Attribution”, so in your production you should credit the author of the music. You must always be careful to ensure that the music you get online is from a source that you trust. If you’re using music that’s been created by someone else, you should always ask permission, whether or not they’re asking for money. Please read the fine print carefully and keep track of where you got the music - when you win the contest, we'll be asking you for the info.
Contest winners receive a Canadian TV broadcast licence as a part of the Grand Prize. BunchVideo works with its broadcast partners, like Super Channel, Canada’s national pay television network, to showcase the films that win our contests. This is a great promotional opportunity for your film. When your film is selected, in order for you to be declared the winner, you must confirm that the exclusive Canadian TV broadcast rights are available and have not been licensed by any other Canadian broadcaster; that you have the right to sign the licence agreement; and that you have all the necessary rights and permissions (such as for the script, actors, music, location, trademarked items, etc.). Any film uploaded to BunchVideo has the opportunity of being licensed for Canadian or International TV broadcast. Granting the exclusive TV broadcast rights to BunchVideo will not stop you from entering your film into festivals or uploading it to other online video venues. BunchVideo has the right, but not the obligation to broadcast the films it licenses and does not guarantee broadcast.
