Aesthetica is a digital festival and prides itself on the technical quality of the films shown. All films screened at the live physical festival are edited onto genre reels where films play back to back without the need to break. We believe in not only showcasing the best short films from around the world, but also in creating a seamless and engaging audience experience.
The 2022 festival will be a hybrid event, exhibiting films live in cinemas and venues across York, as well as via our online platform, creating an on demand festival experience from home. As such, you may be requested to supply two versions of your film.
Formatting Guide
Short Film & Features
- Aesthetica is a digital festival and we only accept Quicktime files. We do not accept playable DVDs, DCPs, tapes, or film reels.
- For submission films should be submitted via FilmFreeway.
- For live screenings films should be submitted as high quality Quicktime in the following format:
- Quicktime wrapper – Apple ProRes 422 codec (h.264 will be accepted if bandwidth is an issue.)
- Audio Codec – Integer 16bit 48KHz Stereo
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Progressive
- For online screenings films must be uploaded directly to our server as h.264 files.
- If you are submitting a feature film, you may be asked to provide a quicktime matching the above settings or a DCP depending on the screening venue.
360 Films
- 360 films will be viewed and exhibited on Oculus Go Headsets as well as being made available via our online platform.
- You will be asked to provide a high quality downloadable .mp4 version of your film during the submission process.
- Please ensure that your work is compatible with Oculus Go Headsets prior to submission.
VR & Immersive Experiences
- VR & Immersive experiences will be viewed and experienced using Oculus Rift and HTC Vive setups.
- Please ensure that the build you provide on submission of your VR or immersive experience is compatible with this system.
- Technical requirements should be detailed alongside your submission and a downloadable build must be sent for our programmers to test.
Important Technical Notes
Codec
- ASFF uses Quicktime ProRes as its working codec for all film screenings (excluding VR & Immersive experiences).
Aspect Ratio
- In order to standardise our screenings, all films are screened within a 1920×1080 boundary.
- Ratios such as 2.35:1, 1.85:1, 1:33:1 should be presented within a 1920×1080 frame centred and pillarboxed or letterboxed accordingly.This excludes 360 & VR.
Technical Compliance
- It is the filmmakers responsibility to ensure that the delivered film is technically correct. The festival adheres to a strict quality control check for all films, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the filmmakers to check the quality of their work. Please check your film thoroughly before delivery.
- ASFF does not accept responsibility for visual or sound errors.
Audio
- All ASFF films will be exhibited in stereo. Please do not supply a 5.1 mix in any circumstances.
Padding
- All colour bars, leaders, cigarette burns and audio cues should be removed.
Subtitles
- Any films that are not in the English language must be subtitled. Subtitles must be clearly legible and burnt into the quicktime.
- Any subtitles and caption must be clearly legible. Please pay particular attention to font size, type and subtitle colour. White text on a light background will be hard to read.
- Where necessary ensure subtitles have a border/drop shadow or are presented in a different colour to white to ensure the text is clearly legible.
- For English language films, all filmmakers will be requested to supply a subtitle file (.srt or .vtt) to make their work accessible to viewers on our online platform.
File Name
- Please ensure your Quicktime file is named as the title of your film.