V. Soundtracks/Sound Design

This genre includes self-made film soundtracks and audio design works and covers work done for films as well as radio plays, sound design work as well as orchestral and vocal musical compositions in all musical genres (rock, pop, jazz, beat, etc.) and all the stylistic periods of so-called serious/classical music.

The following may be submitted

• “Finished" works (e.g. for short films, feature films, animated films) with music and/or with sound
• Pieces of music on their own or sound works on their own which inspire the making of a film or writing
   of a manuscript, screenplay, etc.
• Audio design works
• Works (music/sound) suitable for operas, musicals


1. Categories

• Amateur composers (children, young people, adults)
• Professional “trainee composers” (including those still studying, apprentices, etc.) and professional
   composers


2. Form

• Audio file of approx. 5 to 15 minutes (max.)
• Maximum file size 1 GB
• Entries to be submitted as MP3 files
• opera and musical recordings as MOV or MP4 (H264) files and
• in HD resolution (1280x720 or 1920x1080) or SD resolution (16x9)  

3. Topics

Participants can select as many topics as they wish but may only submit 3 (three) works.

The topics outlined below are intended as a stimulus to engage the participant “musically and in terms of sound-dramaturgy” with the main idea of the contest.

V.1. "Cinema in your head" – a self-designed scenario, a basic idea
(e.g. dialogues, telling a story, a plot, etc.) with a soundtrack
and/or

V.2. Music arouses feelings - submerge in the world of sounds
and/or

V.3. "Violence" expressed by means of music
(e.g. strength, force, tension, bizarre - threat, war, destruction with denouement and harmonisation)
and/or

V.4. "Get something going"
(focus on rhythm, rousing, promoting movement, dance-like, etc.)
and/or

V.5. A blend of electronic and classical music
and/or

V.6. An exploration of style
and/or

V.7. Music and space
(illustrative example: "AVATAR," 2009)
and/or

V.8. Contrasts
and/or

V.9. Drama and tragedy – pain, suffering, grief, despair, the finality of death and similar themes
[illustrative examples: "Once upon a time in the West" (1968), "Hair" (1979), "Out of Africa" (1985), "Platoon" (1986), "The English patient" (1996), "Amadeus" (2002), "The Chorus" (original title: Les Choristes) (2004), among others]
and/or

V.10. My hit
and/or

 V.11. Audio spot (30 seconds and 90 seconds in length)
Music and text (with witty punchlines, for example)
and/or

 V.12. Soundtrack of a picture series
(illustrative example: Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”)
and/or

V.13. Free topic
(Participants can submit work which addresses the main idea of violence prevention in a different way to those described above.)

4. Conditions of participation

• Submissions must be uploaded to the competition’s digital database by participants
• The submitted work(s) must not be listed with GEMA
• Amateur composers and “trainee composers" must describe the topic of the work
• Texts and/or dialogues (written, spoken, sung or displayed) in German and English
• For the award of certain prizes a score is required
• On request, the participant is to provide a version in broadcast quality on DVD
• Participants must send a completed and signed entry form as an attachment to the e-mail address
   provided,  participation is not possible without registration
• The organisers’ decision is final. There is no recourse to legal action.

Closing date for entries: 15 July 2014

We recommend uploading works to the database at least four days before the closing date and mailing the written entry form (PDF) in good time.