Rules and FAQ

FAQ & Rules

Frequently Asked Questions:

WHAT IS THE GENESEO INSOMNIA FILM FESTIVAL (GIFF)?

A chance for teams of (up to four) Geneseo students to participate in a twenty-four hour race to write, shoot, edit, and post a video of no more than three minutes using three or more elements from a generous list provided by the GIFF staff. Check out what past Insomniacs have done.

   WHAT IF I’VE NEVER EDITED VIDEO?

GIFF staff will be on hand for the entirety of the event to answer questions related to the GIFF and assist with technical issues. It is, however, recommended that you recruit SOMEONE for your team with some level of technical expertise.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Besides a great time you will talk about for years? 

The top three teams chosen by our panel of judges win valuable prizes! See the main page for this year’s prize list.

WHAT ARE THE RULES?

See below.

If you still have questions, please, reach out to our GIFF staff at brookes@geneseo.edu.

WHAT GEAR IS AVAILABLE FOR MY TEAM?

The South Hall Mac lab (345), complete with iMovie and Final Cut Pro, is available for Insomniacs to work during the the entire 24 hour period. Your team is expected to provide your own camera. Be creative with the tools at your disposal! (Don’t discount the value of a smartphone camera- some past teams have done very well for themselves by recording their entire video on a phone!) There is a very limited number of cameras and tripods on reserve in the library. We don’t recommend expecting this to be your primary means of video capture.

WHAT ABOUT MUSIC?

If your team’s video requires a soundtrack, GIFF has a strong preference for music which you create and perform yourselves. The point of this contest is to spotlight Geneseo students’ ability to tell a story using video, and music is an important part of the storytelling. By putting other people’s music, especially well-known national artists, at the forefront of a video, the very nature of the competition changes, and takes the spotlight away from your own work.


If creating your own music is not a feasible option, any sound you get from outside sources should have a legal copyright license that allows you to use it for free. Check out Creative Commons for a reader-friendly explanation of what that means and a list of reputable sources to find the right music for your needs.

THE MUSIC POLICY SEEMS LIMITING, WTH?!

The point of this contest is to spotlight Geneseo students’ ability to tell a story using video. By putting commercially available, top forty, or music produced by professional/semi-professional musicians at the fore-front of the video, the very nature of the competition changes. This says nothing about the the legality involved in copyright issues.

CAN WE SWEAR IN OUR VIDEOS?

It should be remembered that GIFF staff maintains the right to remove any video from competition for any reason. That having been said, the staff has yet to withdraw a video from competition. If you’re in doubt as to whether or not something would be too offensive, use this rule of thumb: Would you be embarrassed to sit next to your parents/grandparents while watching this video if they knew you made it?

WHAT IS A “GOLDEN TICKET”?

Each GIFF participant will be given an immensely valuable “Golden Ticket.” Each ticket should be given to a member of Geneseo’s faculty or staff after putting your name and the name of that faculty/staff member on it. If the Faculty or Staff member comes to the GIFF Award Ceremony on GREAT Day and redeems the ticket at the door, both people listed on the ticket are entered to win (AWESOME!) raffle prizes! Entrants must be present the evening of the Award Ceremony to win to win.

WHAT IS THE GIFF SCREENING?

On the evening of GREAT Day, all videos that were considered for prizes will be screened at a public showing where the winning teams will be announced. Historically, this has been a memorable event. Insomniacs are encouraged to invite friends and family over the age of 18.

Rules:

Read carefully and note the changes

  • Videos MUST be uploaded to YouTube, and links to those YouTube videos must be shared to the GIFF Brightspace dropbox before 5PM on Saturday.  Submissions after 5PM will NOT be considered for competition
  • Videos MUST be 3 minutes or less in duration including titles and credits.
    Submissions longer than 3 minutes will NOT be considered for competition
  • Videos MUST contain at least 3 of the elements provided the day of the event
  • All videos submitted must have been created during the 24 hours of the event
  • Team captains must register their team's name and all eligible members no later than March 15th
  • All registered team members must be current students at SUNY Geneseo
  • Videos submitted by teams not registered by the registration deadline will not be reviewed for competition
  • Videos MUST be uploaded to YouTube, and links to those YouTube videos must be shared to the GIFF Brightspace dropbox before 5PM on Saturday
  • Any music not created by the participating team must be legally licensed through a site such as the Creative Commons.
  • Citation of music used must be provided in the description field of the Brightspace dropbox
  • The three (or more) elements incorporated into the video must be listed in the credits
  • The three (or more) elements incorporated into the video must be listed in the dropbox description
  • Uploaded videos will contain the team name as the name of the submitted file. (Example: OneWordNoSpacesThankYou.mov)
  • Videos MUST be 3 minutes or less in duration including titles and credits. Submissions longer than 3 minutes will NOT be considered for competition
  • Videos MUST be uploaded to YouTube, and links to those YouTube videos must be shared to the GIFF Brightspace dropbox before 5PM on Saturday. Plan accordingly!
  • Videos must be submitted in WMV, AVI, Mov, M4V, or MP4 (H.264 compression)
  • Videos MUST be less than 2GB in file size
  • Videos requiring additional transcoding will not be considered for competition
  • Videos MUST be uploaded to YouTube, and links to those YouTube videos must be shared to the GIFF Brightspace dropbox before 5PM on Saturday! Plan accordingly!
  • Any prizes awarded will be evenly split between all registered members of a team

The production of this video must be done in adherence with all Federal, State, and local laws and in accordance with the student code of conduct.

Pay special attention to the following:

Any unauthorized use of electronic or other device to surreptitiously make an audio, video, photographic, web cast or digital record of any person while on College property without prior knowledge or without effective consent, except as permitted by law, when such a recording is likely to cause injury or distress. This includes but is not limited to surreptitiously taking pictures of another person in a location that violates the standard of reasonable expectation of privacy.

 

Small Print 

Team Captains must hold all copyright information for music, voice over, images and performances- these copyrights are the Captains' responsibility and may need to be obtained prior to the event. We take no responsibility for any breaches of copyright. Suspected breaches of copyright will be investigated. Proof of breach will result in disqualification from competition.

GIFF staff will post and share these videos via YouTube, web pages, and social media at their discretion. Submission of your video will be considered consent to do so.

Please note, videos will be screened at the GREAT Day Award Ceremony.

State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo College (the “Publisher”) and the Creator(s) agree as follows: 

  1. Copyright of the work remains in the Creator(s)’s name, and the Creator(s) reserves all rights, and grants the following exceptions.
  2. I grant the right to publish with the work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship.
  3. Creator(s) hereby grants and assigns to SUNY Geneseo College the right to reproduce or distribute the Work throughout the world in all means of expression by any method now known or hereafter developed, including electronic format, and to market the Work within SUNY Geneseo and throughout the world.
  4. Creator(s) grants the Publisher the right to use Creator(s)’s name in association with the Work in published form and in advertising and promotional materials.

In addition:

  1. SUNY Geneseo College guarantees that with their use of the Work, the Creator(s) will be given attribution of their Work.
  2. The Creator(s) represents and warrants that the Work:
    • Is the Creator(s)’s original work and that the Creator(s) has full power to enter into this Agreement;
    • Does not infringe the copyright or property right of another
    • Contains no material which is libelous, defamatory or violates another’s civil right, right of privacy, or is otherwise unlawful; and
  3. The Creator(s) shall indemnify and hold Publisher harmless against loss or expenses arising from breach of any such warranties.