Withoutabox - Secure Online Screener

[Oliver Darden]

Has anyone used the Withoutabox - Secure Online Screener feature to submit a film to film festivals? I hear that a lot of festival programmers prefer this format because it cuts down on the large amount of paper and DVD cases they receive.

The only bad thing I've read about it is that Withoutabox does not offer HD. Their website says: "We do not currently support HD video. You will be able to upload an HD video, but the file will NOT be displayed in HD."

They say they want the frame size to be 480x360 / 30 frames per second...... Does that mean I cannot upload a 1280x720 / 23.98 file? Has anyone done this.... if so were you pleased with the results?

[Josh Bass]

I have done several. I thought the withoutabox screeners were uploaded via being stored on IMDB (it is all very confusing). Yes, no HD, though I think it's not quite as bad as you say. . .I've watched my screener online and it's 854x480 or soo. Maybe a little less. Could be worse. I think what happens is no matter what you upload, it gets smashed down to the above resolution.

My WAB membership is the free one, so I get charged about $3 to upload the screener, and it costs about the same to mail a DVD in a padded envelope.

[Oliver Darden]

Thanks for the info Josh.

Vimeo should partner with them or something.

[Kevin Spahr]

I thought the quality of the encode was poor and it matters to me what my movie looks like. (doubt if it matters to the screeners)

Another gripe of mine is that there is no info provided to the submitter on who and when the online screeners are viewed. It would be nice to know that someone actually watches your entry. That might make up for the poor quality.

In my limited experience in the festival circuit, I think some festivals are less than honest.

[Josh Bass]

funny you should say that. Tangental to this topic, there is another thread about film fests on "another forum", and someone put out a craigslist ad earlier this year looking for camera ops to work on a documentary about the fest circuit and all the issues associated with it. He'd been trying to line up interviews with various fest directors up to and including the biggies. Said he hadn't gotten a single person to agree to be interviewed so far.

[Kevin Spahr]

I think that the real truth is that if you are running a film festival, your goal is to make your film festival famous. You want to pick films with big names attached - it looks good to have lots of famous people walking on your carpet. You pick films that have lots of buzz and that have won lots of other awards at festivals bigger than yours.

I think that unless your film has "big names" or is just magnificent and mind blowing, you would be better off using the money you would spend on the festival circuit to seek a distribution deal directly with distributors. Remember that the entry fees are peanuts compared to the money you need to spend at the festival if you want to get noticed.

Then there are the festivals like this:
https://boards.withoutabox.com/showthread.php?t=51196

[Matt DeBruycker]

I've actually heard that festival directors do not like withoutabox at all. I went to a seminar hosted by Jon Gann the director of the DC Shorts Film Festival and he even does programming for other big festivals. He said that he prefers DVDs and so do every other festival director he's ever talked to. He had a lot of great information about selection process and various topics. It made me a lot more confident on how to tackle a festival run if/when I ever get there.

[Josh Bass]

Do tell? If you got secrets, spill 'em!

[Matt DeBruycker]

Submit your film by dvd, they do not like withoutabox
They answer emails, if you have questions ask
Having Premiere status is important, any film readily available will most likely not be selected
Running time is important, as they think about programming, with short film festivals they like to have a mix of longer films with very short ones, the shorter it is the easier it is to program

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, I'll have to look back at my notes when I get the chance

[Josh Bass]

Darn, that's the stuff I already knew. I have to say though, a few fests I've entered recently have a note that they PREFER the withoutabox screeners.

Regarding the other stuff, I think it's kind of tacky that most fests accept shorts sometimes up to 50 minutes in length (yes really), knowing full well they'll likely not be programmed. There should be a note on their site/withoutabox page advising the poor chances of your movie being programmed if it's over, say, 10 or 15 minutes.

Also, I checked because I'd considered simply putting my most recent movie online as well as doing fests, and almost every fest I researched doesn't seem to care if your film has distribution (i.e. online), where it concerns acceptance. Even Sundance. That said, if they're going to heavily discriminate in favor of only programming things that are premieres or at least only shown at fests, they should say so. I realize some do, but most don't, and I think it's a little sleazy and dishonest.