Rules

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Video Submission Requirements

Blind judging is a key part of RICE, so videos must not identify their editors.

  • The video must not have been seen by any other participants of the contest, to the best of your knowledge.
  • The video may not be publicly available online until after the RICE awards stream has ended.
    This is typically in the 2nd week of March.
  • If there is not a reasonable amount of ambiguity to who edited your video, it will be disqualified from RICE.

  • RICE submissions may be sent to other events ONLY when the editor of the video is not identified until on or after 4 March.
    This includes when the editor + identifying video information appears in text!

    Frequently Asked Questions (tap to expand)
    Do I have to make a video specifically for RICE?

    No, but:

    • Your video must not have won any prior awards
    • Your video must not have been publicly attributed to you yet
    • Your video must not be easily found online
    • You must be reasonably sure other RICE participants have not seen your video
    Can I submit unfinished videos to RICE?

    Yes, but your video will get better feedback and have a better chance at awards if you fill the timeline (and don't have any black spots left).

    Can I beta test or proof my video before I submit it to RICE?

    The official stance is that as long as you are reasonably sure other RICE participants haven't seen your video, you can submit it.
    In practice, this means you should only beta test with people who have said they will not be entering RICE.

    I realize it is impossible for everyone to be blind from every single video.
    I cannot control what you do privately, but I would expect you to at least try to follow the spirit of the rule and avoid beta testing your videos with people you know will be entering RICE alongside you.

    Can I submit my RICE videos to other contests before RICE is over?

    Your video cannot be unblinded before 4 March.
    This means your video cannot be shown outside RICE with your editor name attached to it before 4 March.

    • If the contest lists finalists or winners online with only the video titles or only the editor names (but not "video title by editor name") then you are good to go.
    • If the contest awards show happens on 4 March or later, you are good to go.
    • If the contest is small/local/obscure and doesn't list your videos (even with your name attached) in a place easily findable by other RICE participants, then use your best judgement.

      The spirit of the blind rule is to prevent other RICE participants from knowing you made your submitted videos. If you are reasonably sure other participants won't be able to see that info before 4 March, then go ahead and submit to the other contest.

      Part of the advantage of being an event designed for server regulars is the allowance for flexibility in this matter. Use your best judgement and submit in good faith.

Discord server membership

  • Anyone can be a spectator, regardless of when they joined.
  • To submit a video, you must join the server by November 30th, before RICE begins.
    (For example, to submit to RICE 2026, you need to join by November 30, 2025.)

Video count & length

  • You can submit up to two videos.
  • Each video must be at least 30 seconds long.
  • If you are submitting two videos, each video cannot be longer than 5 minutes.
  • If you are submitting only one video, it can be up to 10 minutes long.
  • These are hard limits. We do not round the durations.

Multiple editors

  • A video can have a maximum of 2 editors credited.
  • The collaboration counts as 1 video submission for each editor listed.
  • If a video credits more than 2 editors, it will be rejected.

All video types and sources are accepted.
It can be live action, animated, or other.

Content Restrictions
Your video must follow a general 16+ rating or below.
Read the actual content restrictions here.

File specifications

  • .MP4
  • 8-bit
  • H.264 (AVC) or x264 codec
  • 250MiB or under

If you don't know what this means, use AMVTool's default settings to encode the final version of your video for submission.

Files over 250MiB will be recompressed with your original file discarded.

Files otherwise outside the specs will not stream properly on the platform we use to view and comment on videos.
If your video does not stream properly, a proxy version will be made.
While participants have the option of downloading original files, many only view the streamable versions.

Subtitles and captions
Upload a separate SRT file for captions.

Our streaming platform will not show included subtitle tracks without a separate SRT file to reference.
If your captions require styles not supported by SRT, consider burning them into your video, instead.

Content Restrictions

Your video must follow a general "16+" rating or below. If your video does
not meet the specifications listed below, it will be rejected.

RICE content restrictions are stronger than the general server rules.
Content that may be posted to #vid-share may not be allowed in RICE. As
RICE is a feedback event, we want all participants to be able and willing to
watch and comment on all videos.

  • No porn.
    1. No bare genitals on screen.
    2. Sexual arousal of the viewer should not be the intended effect of coital scenes.
  • No obscene/harassing lyrics.
    Songs with lyrics that do not follow these rules must be cut or otherwise censor the words that do not comply.
    1. No audio sources (e.g. songs, trailers) where sexual acts are the primary theme.
    2. No racial epithets, racial slurs, or hate speech of any kind in lyrics.
    3. Cussing is okay, as long as those words comprise less than approximately 30% of the overall content/words.
  • No realistic or detailed wounds.
    • The focus is the realism and detail of the wounds themselves.
    • "Blood" refers to any red or black liquid that comes from a wound.
    • Blood without visible wounds is not a concern.
    • These rules are enforced EXACTLY as written. Context is NOT taken into account.

    Realistic and detailed wounds are:
    1. Bloody dismemberment of body parts.
      (such as arms, fingers, teeth, etc., being split from the body).
      Example GIF

      From Sekiro Shadows Die Twice (2019 - game):
      sekiro_arm

    2. Visible internal organs such as muscle, intestines, guts, brains, eyes popping out, etc.
      Example GIF & image

      From Elfen Lied (2004 - 2005):

      elfenlied From Cyberpunk Edgerunners
      (2022):

      cyberpunkedgerunners_gore

    3. Visibly torn or shredded skin inside a bloodied wound.
      Example images

      From Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022):

      mk_gore From the show Supernatual (2005 -
      2020) season 10:

      spn_tornskin

      and season 5:

      spn_tornskin2

    4. Blood actively pumping out of wound.
      Example GIF

      From the Supernatural (2005 - 2020) show, season 3:

      spn_pump

    5. Blood chunks.
      Example image

      From the Supernatural (2005 - 2020) show, season 5:

      spn_bloodchunks

    The wounds are NOT realistic or detailed when any of the following are true:
    1. The wounds are hidden or censored (such as covered by clothes)
    2. The blood (or fluid) is a color other than black or red
    3. There is no blood (or fluid) coming from the wound
    4. The scene or action takes place in silhouette
  • No videos with malicious intent.
    1. No entry should harass a person or group, online or offline, even if the names are censored.
    2. No entry should be made with the intent to harm (e.g. "bending the rules" or using upsetting content specifically to injure, shock, and/or upset people).
    3. If it can be assumed many people will want to avoid watching your video because of its subject matter, it may be rejected.

Discussion Rules

In addition to the Server Rules,

  • Please use the Kollaborate comments for anything you want the editor see, especially in-depth critiques.
    They are exported to TXT files at the end of the event. You can use this tool to convert from Text (Copy&Paste) to your editing program's marker format.

  • Do not reveal which video(s) you edited.

  • Do not guess who edited which video.

  • When reviewing videos, do not emphasize video quality related to compression.
    We asked for videos under a certain file size and many people aren't experienced with compression.
    Video quality may be lower than usual because of this.
    Don't discount an otherwise good video due to compression issues.

  • When creating an event, you must state the "theme" in the description or title.
    Anyone is allowed to schedule/host voice chats (VCs) with any theme. Want to host a viewing where no one is allowed to talk? A VC where only positive things are allowed to be said? How about a VC that is a roundtable of feedback?
    You can do it, just make sure you state what it is about before you start.
     
    All VCs must still follow our rules, which includes any criticism-geared VCs.
    Read our guide on how to give feedback here.

  • Refrain from playful jabs or joke insults.
    What you say affects more than the person you're talking to.
    Even if you think the those jokes are okay between you and the person you're joking with, it can (and often does) give the wrong impression for people who are not in on the joke, are not close to you, and/or are new to the event.
    Even if your joke may have been fine at another time, during RICE it may be interpreted incorrectly due to the stressful nature of the event. This goes for both voice chats and text chats.

  • You may reveal and/or upload your video publicly ONLY once the RICE award stream ends.
    Inside the RICE-specific Discord channels, there will be a special thread where you can reveal once the final round of voting has completed.
    However, you should not reveal or post the video ANYWHERE ELSE until the stream has ended.
    The exact date of the award stream varies, but is typically within the 2nd week of March.