The 60 Second HorrorFest is a micro film festival for middle and high school students to explore their creativity and skills in the horror/thriller genre. Students produce a film based on a provided prompt. Teachers are also provided with lesson plans to help with teaching students about the horror genre. This introductory contest allows students to practice telling a precise, yet compelling story within the allowed timeframe.
The contest prompt will drop at 8AM Pacific Time on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 on STN social channels and the website. Schools have between October 1-25 to register and upload completed horror films. Deadline is October 25, 2024 at 5PM PT and winners will be announced on Halloween, October 31, 2024.
The following are the contest guidelines:
There are three divisions for this contest: Middle School and High School Division I and II
Each entry is $25 for a team of up to 6 students.
Schools may enter an unlimited amount of teams, however, each student can only be registered once as a student leader on the team.
The final edit must be within 30-60 seconds.
Title slate and credit are not required, however, if included it does count toward the total run time.
This is a student-only contest. Teachers may only advise.
While entries may depict certain themes, they are not permitted to directly display any explicit act of violence, substance abuse, nudity, or profanity.
To be considered, entries MUST include all required elements in the prompt.
Submission does not guarantee a place in the festival. Various factors such as quality, time constraints, or appropriateness will result in your film being dismissed from inclusion into the festival. STN reserves the right to remove any film from the festival due to time constraints or contradicts the rules of entry stated above.
Due to the nature of this contest and quick turnaround, judging feedback is not given. These projects are meant to facilitate storytelling, creativity, and collaboration among students. Teachers will be provided with lessons to help guide student learning.
All questions and concerns about contests can be sent directly to dave@studenttelevision.com.
** Refunds will not be granted after your registration has been submitted. Please plan accordingly. **
HORRORFEST CURRICULUM
3-Act Structure for a 60 Second Film
So, as many of you know, pretty much every film follows a 3-act story structure. However, it is easy to assume that a 60 second film does not abide by these rules. That assumption would, of course, be incorrect. In fact, many of the films that were submitted last year were visually appealing and had a good beginning, but lacked a full 3-act structure. While I do not want to attempt to fit an entire 3-Act Structure lesson into this email, No Film School posted a killer breakdown that I recommend using in your classroom.
So here is how I would approach teaching this contest, starting with day one:
Review 3-Act Structure with your students. This link can easily be turned into a powerpoint.
Watch the past finalists from the 60 Second HorrorFest on the STN YouTube channel.
Then, have the students break down each of the 3 acts of each short film.
Ask them to indicate the action/plot progression that marks the transition into each act.
Pay special attention to the timecode: when did these transitions occur?
Talk about how this structure provided motivation, built suspense, and created resolution.
Have the students start brainstorming ideas for their film entries this year, filling out a 3-act structure as a starting point.
HORROR FILM LESSONS
Using Off-Screen Space in Horror to Build Suspense
The Gradual Reframe to Build Suspense
The Kuleshov Effect and the psychology of a reaction