Cranked Up Film Competition
Deadlines
About festival
Cranked Up Film Competition
Calling ALL aspiring filmmakers, actors, musicians, sound technicians, editors, and the like!
We are incredibly excited to announce that Cranked Up Films will be hosting a horror film competition this October! Entry is COMPLETELY FREE! Winners will be invited to a screening at the Ashland theater, given awards on-stage, and have their films distributed to our streaming service, Cranked Up TV!
If you are interested in competing but don’t have anyone to work with, we will be hosting a kickoff event on September 10th at 7p.m. at the Good Deed Entertainment building in Ashland (141 E Main St, Ashland, OH 44805) where we will reveal the prompt and go over our rules. If you’re unable to make it, we will live stream the event on our social media accounts @crankedupfilms and make a Discord group so that you can create teams to collaborate!
Our awards show on November 7th at the Ashland Theater (212 Center St, Ashland, OH 44805) will have FREE entry for both the screening and awards show!
Winners will have a chance to earn any of the following awards, which they will be granted on stage in the form of medals for each team member.
• Best Interpretation of Prompt
• Standout Acting Performance
• Best Cinematography
• Best Sound Design
• Best Costume Design
• Best Writing
• Best Editing
• Best Music
• Audience Choice
Festival Amenities
Accepted Content
Submission Categories
Cranked Up Horror Film Submissions
These films should be between 4-7 minutes (not including credits) and based off of the prompt that we reveal on September 10th, 2026!
Festival Team
Gwen Keherly
Competition Director
Reagan McCullough
Competition Director
Festival Rules
Logistics and General Requirements::
· Participants will have from August 22-September 9 to register for the event
· September 10, we will host a kickoff at the GDE building and create a Discord group where participants can team up and will be given the prompt. They will have until October 2 to send in submissions
· October 16, winners will be announced and invited to the awards show and showing
· Kindness and respect are of the utmost importance in both filming and event participation
o If this rule is broken, you will be subject to disqualification
Video Requirements::
· Required media format- ProRes 422 HQ, .mov, 1998x1080 (DCI Flat 1.85) [1920x1080 is also acceptable], 2 channels audio
· 5 second title card with “this film was made for Cranked Up Film Competition”
· End credits must include “this film was made for “Cranked Up Film Competition”
· All core footage must have been shot within the time period of Sep 10-Oct 2
o Supporting footage that was shot before may be laid over or under core footage
· ABSOLUTELY NO generative AI use is allowed for writing, scripts, music, images, special effects or footage
o Generative AI is any tools that CREATE content for you. All video, music, voices, and sounds MUST be of your own creation.
o You are allowed to use non generative AI to help with noise reduction, audio cleanup, color correction, upscaling, stabilization, rotoscoping and other enhancement features (If you have questions about this email gwenk@gooddeedentertainment.com)
· If there is another language in your film, you must caption it
· Must have FULL rights including selling and transference for any copywritten content or simply don’t use it
· Maximum of 60 seconds for credits (will not count towards the film’s runtime)
· No pornographic material
· No acts of extreme violence
Filming Requirements::
· Teams should prioritize safety of ALL living beings involved in filming
· Cast and crew must be volunteers
· Any camera can be used
· All films that have a chance to be distributed on Cranked Up TV are subject to review
· No pre-screening distribution
· No entries will be returned
· Production costs are not covered by Cranked Up Films
