Well being 14 I have not yet done this, but I wish to help you anyway if that is ok. Well for music whatever song you have if someone wrote it then you will need to contact the record company for rights I beileve. I am not really sure if the academey will accept that. Also for like the hat the same goes with music I would beileve. Sorry but I am not really sure, but as for what type of film you send in is up to you. If it where me I would most likely send in a short comedy or documentary. Possibly a drama but it is entirely up to you. I am sorry if this did not help after all I am I guess you can say an experienced beginner. Hope someone else can help you out also I hope everything works out for you.

Film: Imagintaion becomes reality.

well it wouldn't be good film-making practise to unlawfully use copyrighted material, however you can ask them if they'll accept it. Personally I wouldn't use anything like that for a number of reasons. It'd show your film-making skills better if you had an original score on your film.

As for signs and brands, that's mostly fine, as long as you don't project any brands in a negative manner.
Clothing is totally fine to be clearly visible, comes under fair use. (But again, don't say or imply, that any of it is sub-standard)

What are they looking for? Presumably something good.
Make it look professional, make sure you have good lighting and sound mixing.

I would say that if you're just sending it to a university, and not publicly displaying the film, or making any money from your film, it should be fine to use a beach boys track. It's quite commonplace to use other peoples tracks for films in universities, and I'm sure it completely acceptable, they wouldn't expect everyone to have the ability to score their own films, as it's a film making course, not a music course you're applying to. If you wanted to start pushing your work towards chnnel 4 or something, then you'd need to secure the rights for the track you wanted to use.

Ok, but one guy says it's ok to use unlicensed music, and another guy says it's not. Has anyone here actually submitted a film to a university? If so, what did you do?

Also, Vierstein: You said lighting was key, and I've been reading some books from the library about it, and have a basic idea of how to do it. Where can I get a basic lighting kit, and how much would it cost me (in USD). Also, does anyone have any quick, simple tips on lighting to add?

Lastly, I'm using a HD camera, but everytime I make a movie the sound i terrible (There is a buzz when it is silent). Would I eliminate this using a Boom? Where can I get a boom, and how would I use it (do I just hook it into the camera, or would i need DAT).

Much Thanks

Here's the best way to get around copy-righted music. You can re-record the music the music. What I mean is get some buddies who can jam out on the guitar and have them play the song. Record the music and with little fuss you now have a copy of the music that you can use for whatever you want, no questions asked.

The actual song and lyrics still belong to the composer (don't try and take credit) but the music you recorded is yours and for your use.

--QD Jones

Strongbad, search around this site. There are a dozen threads that answer your questions.

Knotty Alder - The way I understand it there are two kinds of music rights. Performance and creator. Your idea gets around the performance issue but whomever created that tune still has rights to money when it is used. The reverse problem is using Mozart whose work is so old the creator copyrights are non-existant. Anyone can use it, but if some orchastra played the tunes they have some rights to that performance. So in a nutshell get your friends to play some Mozart and you are in the clear, otherwise you are in the same pickle, if it is a pickle.

My gut instinct is that if you contacted the Beach Boys and told them/their agent it was a student film and you're looking for the right to use a song but not rights to distribute it you'd probably get permission in writing for free. The added effort of acting like a Producer would also look good to any Film School.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Strongbad - why don't you just ask the university what they require?

If it was me though I would try and do it the way you would if you were a pro already. Ie get someone to write an original score or get the permission that way even if the uni don't need it you standout amongst the other applicants by being like a pro whose going to take it seriously.

I fail my right to exercise.

I submitted my film to university with a Tom Waits track on it, and it was fine. More or less everyone on my course used pre recorded music at one point or another... that's how it is here in the UK anyway. I should spend a little less time worrying about the music and more time concentrating on your filmic content, if that's what you're applying for, as you can bet that's what the university will be concerned with.