A film submitted to the Drama category should be a fictional film that explores emotional themes, character development, or serious subject matter in a compelling way (no more than 7 minutes in length, not including credits).

Drama

Judging of all films will be conducted by an outside third party, and the linked rubric above will be used to score each film, based on the following description.

Judging Information - Content and Impact portion criteria:

Story - Tells a compelling story with a clear, complete plot and relevant, well-developed characters.

Plots should be clear for the audience, allowing them to easily discern the direction of the story. Student filmmakers should consider how they will introduce the audience to the world of the film (exposition), begin the conflict, generate rising action, and culminate the action with a climactic event.
Characters should be well-developed and properly introduced, preventing the audience from wondering who they are and how they fit into the story.

Originality - Tells an original story, displaying creativity and/or imagination through characters, scenarios, etc.

Student filmmakers should strive to submit films that have a great deal of originality, avoiding the reproduction of videos that have been submitted in the past or other well-known productions.
Although it can be difficult to completely avoid common motifs and tropes, student filmmakers can still express their creativity and imagination through their own spin on characters and scenarios. Films that display this degree of originality will score higher than films that seem to "copy and paste" these elements from other sources.

Engagement - Attempts to draw a sincere response from the audience more so than laughter.

The purpose of a drama film should be to elicit a sincere response from the audience regarding the realistic characters and conflicts that are presented throughout it. With this understanding, films that overall seem to have the purpose of making the audience laugh will not score as well as those that do focus on the sincere elements. Drama is a broad genre for film; topics could be sad, romantic, tense, thought-provoking, etc. Student filmmakers should decide what sincere response they are looking to draw from the audience and focus on it through the development of the film.

Acting - Displays evidence of rehearsal and believability of roles.

Actors appearing in the film should have rehearsed their role and had a clear direction in each scene. Although ad-libbing can be useful and effective, too much of it can make the film appear "thrown together."
Actors should also seek to "buy in" to the character that they are portraying. Do their facial expressions and mannerisms match their dialogue? Student filmmakers should consider how to best make their film's characters believable.

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT

Use this checklist to be sure you have completed all requirements:

1) Was my film created AFTER last year's Film Festival submission date of March 14, 2025?

2) Is this the only film I'm submitting to THIS category?

3) Does my film meet the time limit requirements for THIS category (not including credits)?

4) Is my film appropriate for a K-12 school event?

5) Did I, or another student, do ALL the work on this film (brainstorming the idea, determining the structure, recording each shot, and editing the final product)?

Note: For K-2 students, teachers may offer direct guidance with these tasks; however, ultimately, the students are responsible for completing them.

6) Am I submitting my film to the correct category and division?

7) Did I include ALL required information in the film's credits (writer, director, actors, videographer, editor, cite all music and images, editing program)?

8) Did I verify none of the music I used in my film is copyrighted?

9) Does my film adhere to the Film Festival's AI policy?

If you answered "No" to any of the above questions, you should revisit that section before submitting, otherwise your film is subject to disqualification.