PLAY NOW ACT NOW

About

What is Play Now Act Now?

Play Now Act Now is on the lookout for the hottest young and emerging talent in aged 16 to 25 in NSW. This is your opportunity to submit creative works to our live, online competition in three categories, Short Film, Digital Design and Microfiction, which engage with an important issue affecting the lives of young people. Winners stand a chance to take home a share of $15,000 CASH and PRIZES.

One of the biggest issues in NSW and Australia involves young people, drugs and alcohol and government attempts to regulate and control the sale, service and consumption of these substances. Inherent in this issue are the changing views and opinions on the culture of drugs and alcohol in young people’s lives and the broader Australian cultural landscape.

Plat Now Act Now is about using the creative mediums to have a constructive and open discussion about the place of drugs and alcohol in our lives. We’re not for, against or coming from any point of view, rather Play Now Act Now is about creating a forum in which different opinions, stories and experiences can be heard and expressed.

Inside everyone is an artist with something unique to say: Play Now Act Now is here to help you explore those burning questions and share your thoughts with the world.

We’re proudly supported by Metro Screen and NSW Health.

How it works…

Our competition takes place ONLINE and LIVE. Play Now Act Now accepts works in three categories: Short Film, Digital Design and Microfiction with the main creative stipulation being that all works feature our signature item – some reference to drugs and alcohol.

Every month there will be a unique theme to help guide your approach and you can enter one creative piece in each category, every month of competition from April through September. Every month two winners from each category – one by POPULAR VOTE and one by OFFICIAL SELECTION – will win $100 cash and a place in our grand final to take place in October.

SHORT FILM:

Short Film must be no longer than TWO MINUTES in length (including credits), conform to OFLC MA15+ standards and must include either the words Play Now Act Now or the festival sting (which can be downloaded here). Your film can be of any genre: drama, documentary, experimental, animation, sci-fi, comedy or period drama – so long as you address our signature item anything goes. You can also use whatever equipment is available to you to record, whether hi-def, whiz-bang camera or bog standard mobile phone. Technological constraints will factor into our judging process. When you’ve made your film, simply upload it onto VIMEO (we will not accept any other external video players) and submit the URL along with your Play Now Act Now entry form.

For more information on this section please refer to Play Now Act Now’s Short Film Entry Guidelines.

DIGITAL DESIGN:

Formally our graphic design category in which participants were challenged to create a design hosted on the front and back of a beer matt. This year we’ve opened the doors to embrace artists from other disciplines, be they digital photographers, typographers or graphic designers, to create a SINGLE DIGITAL STILL IMAGE. Good design should be universal and easily understood by everyone, conveying a particular idea or concept quickly, effectively and innovatively. We are looking for the most original and eye-catching engagements with the Play Now Act Now signature item.

For more information on this section please refer to Play Now Act Now’s Digital Design Entry Guidelines.

MICROFICTION:

Creative writing is one of the most democratic artistic mediums – and in acknowledging this Play Now Act Now is embracing the changes to the way it is consumed in the online environment. Microfiction participants are being challenged to engage with our signature item in no more that 250 WORDS. You can still work in any genre, transporting readers to a new world and pushing the boundaries of form as you tell your story. We are also asking Microfictioneers to go that little bit further in the visual representation of your work by using WORDLE to create a tag cloud of your story. These won’t be part of the judging process, however it will help your entry ‘pop’ off the screen and entice the public to read your entry.

For more information on this section please refer to Play Now Act Now’s Microfiction Entry Guidelines.

Signature item

Play Now Act Now’s signature item is that all entries must in some way make reference to drug and alcohol; it is a thematic bend through which you must approach your Short Film, Digital Design, or Microfiction. We want to hear your story, how you think drugs and alcohol fit into both youth culture and the greater Australian culture.

Play Now Act Now realises that many young people are exposed to alcohol and drugs in some way in their lives, we want you to engage with the issue that arise from that experience. That doesn’t mean taking the moral high ground or replicating government public service announcements, nor do we want to see entries simply about the act of drinking alcohol or taking drugs.

We believe the best stories are ones that approach our signature item with originality and offer something constructive to the debate surrounding the culture of alcohol and drugs. You decide how and the extent to which you integrate alcohol and drugs into your work, so long as they feature some reference that’s fine by us.

Remember, Play Now Act Now is more interested in what you have to say, not what you think we want to hear. So be creative, honest and find new and interesting ways to incorporate the signature theme into your work.

Monthly themes

Play Now Act Now will run online between April and September 2010 and will comprise five calendar months of LIVE COMPETITION in each of the three categories. Each month will have a unique theme, which will be announced as we call for entries. How you interpret the theme is entirely up to you, but your entry will be judged on successfully and creatively you approach it. Our deadlines for entry can be found below, make sure you check to find out what the current monthly theme is:

MAY COMPETITION

Deadline: 27 April 2010

Theme: UNSOCIAL NETWORKING

JUNE COMPETITION

Deadline: 26 May 2010

Theme: TBA

JULY COMPETITION

Deadline: 25 June 2010

Theme: TBA

AUGUST COMPETITION

Deadline: 27 July 2010

Theme: TBA