Welcome to the third annual FLORIDA TODAY short film contest, 90 Seconds to Fame.

We’re looking for films of 90 seconds or less in comedy (scripted funny story), drama (scripted serious story, such as thriller, romance and horror), and documentary/home movies (real moments and stories).

Viewers will vote on the movies at floridatoday.com to choose a winner in each category and an overall winner. In addition, there will be critics’ choice awards chosen by film professionals. The winning films will be shown at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival (http://3boysproductions.com), which takes place this fall.

Make sure you read all the rules. Among them: The director or producer must be a Brevard County resident, or a graduate of Brevard high schools who might be living somewhere else. Films must have been created this year. We will take submissions on DVD or CD in MPEG2 (a standard DVD) or QuickTime (preferred). They must be submitted with the printed registration form by 5 p.m. July 31. Larger file sizes are better; we’ll take care of the compression.

Are you ready? Get out the camera. Warm up the computer. You have 90 seconds!

Here are some tips to make sure you have a good entry for the 90 Seconds to Fame contest:

• Keep the movie to 90 seconds or less. That includes titles and credits. No exceptions.
• Make sure the movie is lit well enough so it will play well on a computer screen. Moody lighting is up to you, but be sure your subjects can be seen. Horror movies, in particular, can fall into the trap of being too dark.
• Good audio is important so your dialogue, and therefore the action, is clear.
• If you use music, make sure you own the copyright, it’s royalty-free, or you have permission to use it.
• Keep the movie clean. We will not accept movies that are unfriendly to a general audience.

-- Download the Rules Here --