Welcome to OpenCut 2!

We are thrilled that you have decided to enter the most dynamic film editing competition in the world. Please take a couple minutes to read through the following notes.

PayPal ISSUES:

When you registered, you are supposed to be taken to a PayPal page to complete your registration. Sometimes this process hangs and does not finish.

The fix is easy. Simply send us your fee via PayPal to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and forward us the confirmation number. We cannot fully process your entry and ship your media without this payment.

We have around two hours of 120 FPS 2k along with some 4k timelapse to send you. Please send a minimum 160 Gb drive here:

OpenCut Project

Silverado Systems

2600 East Bidwell Street, Suite 280

Folsom, CA 95630

Your media (about 120 Gb) will be copied to the drive and will be shipped back via overnight Fedex with all the other entrants on July 31st.

Acceptable media:

Firewire or USB bus powered drives.

Here is an example of an acceptable drive:

http://silverado.cc/shop/product.php?productid=960&cat=0&page=1

Unacceptable media: PLEASE do not send the following drives:

RAID drives (unless its a mini-RAID like a G-RAID that is Firewire bus powered).

We CAN handle drives with separate power supplies, but its problematic when we have 30 drives copying at a time which all require a power outlet.

We'd like to take bus powered hard drives for two reasons:

1. Fire hazard. Its sort of dangerous when we are copying 30 adapter-based drives at a time to have them plugged in everywhere to every outlet available.

2. Non-US power supplies. During OpenCut 1, we had some people send in drives that were not standardized to US power outlets.

However, we'd are able to make an exception for you if the only drive you have is adapter-powered or SATA. Please send us whatever drive you have and we'll accommodate you--that includes bare drives and adapter-based drives.

DELIVERY OF MEDIA:

We want to have drives sent out to everyone on July 31st for delivery on August 1st. International drives will go out on the 30th.

If we get late drive submissions, you'll just get the drive back later. However, it doesn't diminish your entry--you just need to work faster.

SUBMISSIONS:

OpenCut 2 is due on September 15th. I was able to cut a sample project based on the footage in about 4 hours. I anticipate color correction and effects would take another 3-4 hours solid.

In three weeks you should be able to make an AMAZING 30-60 second commercial or a concept piece for Alpine Meadows.

Judging will take place after submissions are uploaded on the 15th. The winner will be announced on September 22nd.

Instructions on how to upload your cut to VUZE for judging will be sent towards the end of August.

A reader at REDUser.net had a fabulous idea: "Could someone upload BOTH a commercial and a concept spot?"

Normally, only one cut is acceptable. However, for this project we'll allow it!

If you would like to do both a commercial and the concept spot, we'll accept both entries. It works because of the lengths of the projects involved.

CUTTING:

You are able to employ any means necessary to complete your cut. You can use a Mac or PC--the platform does not matter.

You can do it yourself, you can have friends help, or you can enlist a pro. Its truly an open source project. If you have assistance from a friend or associate, and your project wins, that person will also receive credit for their participation. Example, if you have a friend compose an original score for the project--they would be listed as original composer if your project was selected.

FREERIDE ENTRIES:

If you have a friend who wants to participate, they can sign up for the Freeride option, pay their entry fee, and copy the files from your media. There is no limit to the amount of people who can copy media from your drive and participate.

MAJOR PRIZE ADDITION!

A lot of the comments I've been getting have been "Wow...this has been great to work with...we can't wait to get our RED ONE, but we still have a ways to go..."

We'll try to make this a little easier--at least for one lucky editor. Effective immediately, every winner of each OpenCut will get a free full 7-day rental of #21 (Calvin) and the complete gear list. Everything included.

You pay for the shipping and cover the insurance. We cover the $8000 rental.

Now you have some extra motivation for OpenCut 2!

OTHER QUESTIONS?

Please send any other question you might have to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We'll do our best to address it as fast as possible.

Thanks for registering for OpenCut!