San Diego 48 Hour Film Project

Team Leader Info

You signed up a team. Congratulations, you’re a team leader! This page walks through everything you’re responsible for: what to have ready before kickoff, what happens at the kickoff event, the rules you need to keep in mind during the weekend, and how to get your film and paperwork submitted on time.

Almost everything you do as a team leader happens on your team dashboard at 48hourfilm.com. Log in and poke around before the weekend so you’re not learning the interface at 7pm on Sunday.

Before Kickoff

Sign and upload your Team Leader Agreement

This is the one piece of paperwork with a deadline before the competition starts. Download the Team Leader Agreement from your dashboard under Pre Production → Pre Kickoff Paperwork, sign it, and upload it before the kickoff event begins. Upload all three pages — partial forms don’t count. A team may not participate without it.

Written and digital signatures are both accepted, and so are photos of a signed form as long as they’re in focus and show the complete page.

Download everything from your dashboard

• Tech Specs — download HQ’s technical specification from your dashboard and send it to your editor. The San Diego requirements are also listed below.
• Title card templates — select your team, then your project, and you’ll see the download buttons. Build your own if you prefer, as long as the timing and information match.
• Release forms — Waiver and Release, Location Release, Music Release, Materials Release, and the Certification Statement. All of these are also available at 48hourfilm.com/documents.

Print and pre-fill your release forms

Print a Waiver and Release Form for every single person who will touch your film — cast, crew, the poster designer, the caterer, everyone. Each person signs their own form, and each form is two pages, so upload both. Get them signed before filming starts. This form is what protects you as team leader if someone gets hurt on set.

If you already know your locations, get Location Releases signed ahead of time too. The person who signs is whoever owns or is responsible for the location — your friend who rents the apartment, or the restaurant owner.

Read the rules

Read them before the weekend, not during it. There is no substitute for this.

Filmmaking Rules Competition Rules

Pay particular attention to the AI rules, which have been updated. See Using AI in your film below.

Know What Wins

A panel of industry professionals judges the films. Best Film is scored as:

• Artistic merit (story, creativity, entertainment) — 45%
• Technical merit — 30%
• Adherence to the assignment — 25%

Other awards typically include Best Directing, Best Writing, acting awards, and Best Use of the required elements. The Audience Award is voted at the premiere screenings, and late films are still eligible for it.

The Best Film winner screens at Filmapalooza, the official 48HFP awards weekend, and receives a trophy there. Full details are on 48hourfilm.com/judging-and-prizes.

Know what you can and can’t do in advance

You may not do any creative work before the clock starts. That includes writing the script, casting, rehearsing, costume and set design, shooting, editing, sound design, and rendering.

You may organize your crew, organize your cast, secure and test your equipment, and scout and secure locations. You can also do dry runs and experiments to make sure your gear and your people are ready — including a practice export so you already know your editing suite can hit 24p and the 2 GB limit. Just don’t create anything you intend to use in the film.

Send a representative to kickoff

Every team must have someone at the kickoff event. If you can’t be there yourself, send someone you trust, and make sure your agreement is uploaded before they arrive.

At Kickoff

Kickoff is Friday, August 28th — see the kickoff event page for the venue, map, and full schedule.

• Once all teams are checked in, teams spin for their genres on the Wheel of Genres. Your film must be in at least one of the genres you spin for. You’re welcome to combine it with other genres, but it has to be clear to the judges that your film is in its assigned genre.
• Leading up to 7pm, teams receive their three other required elements: a character (name and occupation), a prop, and a line of dialogue.
• The clock starts at 7pm Friday and stops at 7pm Sunday. Your upload must begin by 7:30pm Sunday.

Write your assignments down as soon as you get them, and photograph the sheet. Text them to your whole team before you leave the building — you do not want to be arguing at 2am about whether the prop was a “mug” or a “cup”.

During the Weekend

Your required elements

All four of these have to be in the film, before the end credits and within the official running time:

• Genre — at least one of the genres you spun for.
• Character — must be seen on screen, and it must be clear who they are, either directly or by context. The name doesn’t have to be spoken or shown. They can appear in full, in part, or in a photograph or other representation.
• Prop — must be seen on screen. A picture of the prop is acceptable.
• Line of dialogue — must be used verbatim. It can be spoken, sung, or written, in any language, but if it isn’t obviously the required line you need to provide a translation.

Footage rules

Every frame of your film must contain core footage — footage shot or created during the official filmmaking weekend. Animation, titles, and special effects count as core footage if you made them during the weekend.

Supporting footage created before the weekend can be layered over or under core footage, as long as every frame still contains some core footage and you assemble it during the weekend. Supporting footage may not include people or other performers, unless that footage came from a previous 48HFP weekend for a previously submitted 48HFP film. You can’t use Generative AI to create supporting footage.

Still photos are permitted as core footage even if they weren’t created during the weekend — but a sequence of stills used to create the illusion of motion counts as supporting footage, not core.

Anything you didn’t create needs a Materials Release.

Using AI in your film

Generative AI is prohibited. You may not use AI to create writing, scripts, music, images, special effects, or footage. Generative AI means any system that produces new content in response to a prompt.

Non-generative (assistive) AI is permitted for technical post-production tasks: noise reduction, audio cleanup, color correction, upscaling, stabilization, rotoscoping, and similar enhancement features built into your editing software. These may only improve human-created source material. Prompt-based generative features are prohibited even inside otherwise-approved apps.

Any AI use must be legal in your jurisdiction, limited to material you hold the rights to, and disclosed on your Wrap Up Form — list every AI tool you used. If you used AI or effects, you also need to complete the AI and Effects Disclosure Form. When in doubt, don’t use it.

Rights, releases, and safety

• Everyone signs a Waiver and Release Form before they start work. Cast, crew, and anyone else who contributed. If you used an animal, the owner signs.
• All cast and crew must be volunteers.
• You need rights to everything. Every song and piece of music needs a signed Music Release. If a composer wrote it during the weekend, they sign. If it came from a music library, the person who bought the library signs and names the library on the form.
• Fair use is not permitted. All music, footage, images, audio, and other content must be original, properly licensed, or used with explicit permission. The 48 is an international competition, so nothing in your film may violate copyright anywhere in the world.
• Song parodies need a signed release from the rights holder of the original composition, regardless of fair use arguments.
• Safety is your responsibility. Keep a safe set. Films that result in the death or mutilation of an animal may be disqualified.
• Using SAG-AFTRA actors? There’s a streamlined process and extra paperwork — see the SAG-AFTRA section at the bottom of 48hourfilm.com/documents.

Length, slates, and credits

The start of the file is 17 seconds of required slates, then the film, then optional end credits. With a max-length film and a full minute of credits, the whole file is 8 minutes 17 seconds.

Your film itself must be at least 4 minutes and no more than 7 minutes. Opening credits count as part of that 7 minutes. End credits do not.

Required slates, in this order:

1. 5 seconds of black
2. 5 seconds of a title card with your team name, title, genre(s), city, and date
3. 5 seconds of a title card reading “This film was made for the 48 Hour Film Project 2026. www.48hourfilm.com”
4. 2 seconds of black

Then your film begins. Title card templates are on your dashboard; you can build your own as long as the timing and information are identical.

In San Diego we prefer you do not use the animated 48HFP bumper. Use the static title card instead. The bumper is allowed by HQ, but it reads as an ad at the start of every film, and we would rather the screening open on your work.

Keep the slates silent. Do not start your film’s audio — music, dialogue, or sound design — until after the 2 seconds of black. If you do put music under the slates, it may be cut off.

End credits are capped at 60 seconds. Bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage are fine within that minute. Your end credits must include the words “This film was made for the 48 Hour Film Project. www.48hourfilm.com”.

Opening credits, if you use them, are part of the film and count against the 7 minutes. If they include anything beyond the title, they must also include the text “a 48 Hour Film Project”.

If your film isn’t in English, you must upload an .srt subtitle file by the 7:30pm deadline.

Encode settings (codec, frame rate, audio, file size) are in Tech specs.

Don’t release your film early

You may not distribute your film in any way before its official 48HFP premiere screening — no uploading it anywhere, no showing it to anyone outside your team. Make a poster and a trailer instead and share those. Trailers should be no longer than 48 seconds.

Submitting Your Film

Films are submitted online through your team dashboard.

The clock that matters is your checksum. As soon as you drag your file into the film drop off box, the system fingerprints it — that can take a couple of minutes, so don’t cut it close. Once you have an on-time checksum, you’re on time.

Tech specs

Encode to these specs before you drop off. A file that will not play on 48HFP or theater equipment may be disqualified. Send this section to your editor Friday night.

We highly recommend a test encode in your editing suite before the weekend — with dummy footage, not anything you plan to use in the film — so you already know 24p, Rec.709, and the 2 GB cap work on your machine.

• Container: MP4, H.264 or H.265 (MP4 will be one or the other). Variable or constant bitrate is fine for video.
• Resolution: 4K or lower. Maximum 4096 × 2160. Minimum 1920 × 786. Strong preference for theater-native sizes:
  • 1920 × 1080
  • 1998 × 1080
  • 2048 × 1080
  • 2048 × 858
  • 3840 × 2160
  • 3996 × 2160
  • 4096 × 1716
  • 4096 × 2160
• Picture: Square pixels, Rec.709 (ITU-R BT.709) color space, 2.4 gamma, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. These are usually the MP4 defaults. Very dark images can be hard to see in some theaters, so expose for the screen, not just the monitor.
• Frame rate: 24p constant frame rate. Not 23.976. This is often not the default in your NLE, and it is what cinema screens display best. The wrong frame rate can cause sync and display oddities. Use constant frame rate, not variable.
• Audio: 16-bit, 48 kHz, stereo or 5.1 surround, AAC (the MP4 default). Use constant bitrate for audio, not variable. Mix preference: dialogue at -9 dB average, max peak -3 dB. Uneven or peaking audio may be modified to protect the playback equipment.
• File size: 2 GB maximum — a hard limit on 48hourfilm.com. For a max-length 48 film that means a target video bitrate under 34 Mbps. Upload on wired ethernet if you can; wifi is the backup, a phone hotspot is last resort.

Running time and the required 17 seconds of slates are in Length, slates, and credits. Total file length with proper slates, a 7 minute film, and a full minute of credits is 8 minutes 17 seconds.

HQ’s Tech Specs PDF on your dashboard may have additional render notes. Use this page as the San Diego delivery list.

Set yourself up to succeed

• Be logged in and sitting on the Film Upload page at 7pm. If you know your final title, fill it in ahead of time so the only remaining step is dropping the file in.
• Use Chrome or Firefox. Do not use Safari — it has known problems with the uploader.
• Watch your film start to finish before you drop it off. Confirm the render actually plays all the way through, and that it matches the tech specs above.
• Don’t let your computer sleep or start a screensaver during the upload. This is the single most common cause of a stalled upload.
• Keep the exact file you uploaded and do not change it. If anything goes wrong, re-uploading the identical file gets you credited with your original upload time.

If your upload stalls

First: don’t worry. About 10% of films stall while uploading. It is a normal, expected part of drop off night, and it does not affect your On Time status as long as you upload the same file.

Work through these in order:

1. Turn off screensaver and sleep mode on your computer. If your computer goes to sleep, it will almost certainly stall the upload. This is the most common cause.
2. If you’re using Safari, switch to a different browser. Chrome and Firefox are what we recommend.
3. Refresh the browser and upload the SAME file again. Do not re-render, do not re-export, do not rename it. The identical file is what preserves your original drop off time.
4. Get on a stable internet connection. Wired ethernet first; wifi next; phone hotspot last.

Two situations that look like failures but aren’t:

• The upload hit 100% but the Film Info page doesn’t show it as complete. That’s a stall. Refresh your browser and re-upload the same file.
• It’s past 7:30pm and the upload is still stuck. You’re fine. As long as you had an on-time checksum and haven’t changed the file, keep retrying. Your drop off time reappears once the fingerprinting phase (the yellow beam) finishes.

If something else goes wrong

• No yellow beam, nothing happening at all? Almost always the browser. Switch to Chrome or Firefox. Still stuck? Try a different computer.
• Error saying your file is corrupted? That’s about how the file was received, not the file itself. Refresh and try again.
• Need to finish the upload somewhere else? That’s fine, as long as you have an on-time checksum and you upload the exact same file. Get it to us as soon as you can.
• Missed the deadline entirely? Submit anyway. Late films still screen at the premiere and are still eligible for the Audience Award.

Paperwork Due By Midnight Sunday

Everything below is due by midnight on Sunday and uploaded through your dashboard. Your film will not be screened until we have your signed releases.

Uploaded under Production → Paperwork & Additional Content:

• Waiver and Release Form — one per cast and crew member, both pages of each.
• Certification Statement — one per team. Your signature certifying that all creative work took place during the official competition period.
• Music Release Form — one per song or composer. Skip it if you used no music at all.
• Materials Release Form — one per source. Covers sound effects, photographs, stock footage used in post-production effects, video filters, and similar. Materials from the same source can share one form, but each source needs its own form, signed by whoever holds the account at that third-party source.
• Location Release Form — one per location.

Filled in online on your dashboard:

• Team Roster — under Pre Production → Team Roster. This is where we get names from if you win an award, so get it right.
• Wrap Up Form — under Production → Do the Wrap Up. This is where you give us your logline and tagline, tell us about your weekend, and disclose any AI use.

Blank forms and a full checklist live at 48hourfilm.com/documents.

The Wrap Party

You just made a movie in 48 hours. Come celebrate it.

As soon as your film is uploaded, head over and join us — no ticket, no cover, just show up. Bring your whole team, and bring the cast and crew who only saw their own piece of the weekend and haven’t seen how it all came together.

• When: Sunday, August 30th, 7pm to 10pm — right as drop off closes.
• Where: BJ’s Brewhouse at Hazard Center, 1370 Frazee Rd, San Diego, CA 92108, in Mission Valley.
• Cost: Food and drink are no-host, so bring a card. There’s no charge to attend.

This is the best part of the weekend for a lot of people. It’s where teams trade war stories about the location that fell through at midnight, the actor who nailed the line of dialogue on take one, and the render that finished with four minutes to spare. Everybody in the room just went through the same thing you did.

A few practical notes:

• You don’t have to wait until you’re completely done. Your film needs to be uploaded, but your paperwork isn’t due until midnight. Plenty of team leaders finish their Wrap Up Form and roster from a booth — bring a laptop or a charged phone if you still have forms outstanding.
• Don’t screen your film for anyone. The no early distribution rule still applies until your premiere. Talk about it all you want, just don’t play it.
• Late film? Still come. Your movie still screens, and you still earned a drink.

Full details, map, and directions are on the wrap party event page.

The Six Eligibility Requirements

Every 48HFP submission worldwide has to meet these six requirements to be eligible for judging and awards. Miss any one of them and your film is disqualified.

1. Your film is submitted on time.
2. Your film meets the minimum and maximum length requirements.
3. Your film includes the required elements — character, prop, and line of dialogue.
4. Your film is in at least one of its assigned genres.
5. Your production documents are submitted on time.
6. All creative work took place during the official 48 hour time frame.

The Audience Award, Best Poster, and Best Trailer are not subject to these requirements.

Getting Help During the Weekend

Instead:

1. Check the rules first. Most questions are answered in the Filmmaking Rules or the Competition Rules.
2. Call or text the San Diego 48 hotline. We check messages regularly all weekend.

Call or Text +1-619-48-321-48 Email the San Diego 48

Our Facebook group and Discord are also good places to reach other teams for last-minute cast, crew, and gear.

Also Worth a Look

• Kickoff event details — venue, map, and schedule
• Wrap party — where to find us Sunday night
• All upcoming events — mixers, workshops, auditions, and screenings
• How to participate — for finding cast, crew, and volunteers
• Team leader premiere tickets

Be careful. Have fun!