Three-Minute Masterpiece rules

The "Three-Minute Masterpiece" digital-film contest is back! Make your own movie and win two passes to Seattle International Film Festival.

Here's how it works:

You use your digital-video camera to make a film on any subject you like, as long as it's suitable for a family-newspaper audience. (No graphic sex, violence or bad language, please.) It must be three minutes or less.

All digital video files must have a screen size of 640x480, 720x480 or higher.

Acceptable Quicktime files:

• DV video with uncompressed 48khz stereo audio at 16 or 24 bit sampling rate.

• 8 bit or 10 bit uncompressed video with 48khz stereo audio at 16 or 24 bit sampling rate.

• H.264 (mpeg 4, part 10) video with stereo AAC audio at 44.1khz. Data rate must be 2000kbps minimum. (.mp4, .m4v, .mov)

Acceptable AVI files:

• DV video with uncompressed 48khz stereo audio at 16 bit sampling rate.

• Uncompressed AVI with uncompressed stereo audio at 16 bits.

Acceptable Windows Media files:

• Hi-Def WMV files may be accepted. Minimum screen resolution is 640x480. Audio must be stored at 44.1khz.

Examples of unacceptable files:

Note: This is a partial list.

• Quicktime video files using Sorenson, Cinepak or H.263 codecs.

• Flash Video files (.flv).

• Real Media files of any kind (.ram, .rm).

• AVI files with MP3 audio.

• DIVX or XVID files.

Send us two separate DVDs, each with one copy of your movie, to: Seattle Times 3 Minute Masterpiece Contest, 1120 John St., Seattle, WA 98109.

Include your name, address, phone number, age (if 18 or under), e-mail address and the title of your movie.

We'll judge the entries, and the winners will be shown on The Seattle Times Web site and at the Seattle International Film Festival. The grand-prize winner will get two full-series passes to this year's film festival and a scholarship to either (winners' choice) the Seattle Film Institute's Hands On Filmmaking class or Intensive Digital Video class (see www.seattlefilminstitute.com for class descriptions). Also, one youth winner (age 18 or younger) will win a scholarship to SFI's Summer Teen Filmmaking Program (see www.seattlefilminstitute.com for class descriptions).

Entries must be postmarked by Friday, April 20.