Doc Shop FAQ
For Hot Docs 2012, The Doc Shop has two market options. One is the onsite facility, The Festival Doc Shop. The other is the Doc Shop Online, a year-round destination marketplace for documentaries from all over the world. The following FAQs pertain to both markets.
What is the difference between The Doc Shop at the Festival and The Doc Shop Online?
At the Festival, The Doc Shop is an onsite digital facility available only for the duration of the event (10 days), and is accessible only by registered delegates of the Festival. The Doc Shop Online is a year-round internet site that is accessible only by registered members that are buyers, distributors, sales agents, and festival programmers.
When will my film be available online once I submit it and how long will it be online?
The Festival Doc Shop If you submit only to The Festival Doc Shop, your film will not be available online until the first day of the Hot Docs 2012 Festival and will only be available onsite during the 10 days of the Festival.
The Doc Shop Online If you submit only to the Doc Shop Online, your film will appear online one week after the Festival and will be available for one year.
Important Note: applicants who submit to the September 2011 content update for The Online Doc Shop are not eligible for the 2012 Hot Docs Festival.
If I am submitting my film to the Festival is it automatically included in both markets?
No. All entrants must choose to be included in The Festival Doc Shop and The Doc Shop Online. At the end of the submission form, there are several terms and conditions to be selected. The Doc Shop options read as follows:
Festival Doc Shop Option - I want my film to be digitized and included in The Festival Doc Shop. For more information regarding our onsite market for Hot Docs 2012, please view the information at this link and visit the Festival Doc Shop FAQ section. (Optional)
Doc Shop Online Option - I want my film to be digitized and included in the Doc Shop Online for a 12-month period. For more information regarding The Doc Shop Online, please view the information at the Doc Shop Online FAQ section. (Optional)
You must have selected one or both of the above options when you completed the Festival submission form in order to have your film included in both markets.
If you didn’t opt into either of these options on your original submission form and would now like for your film to be included, please contact docshop@hotdocs.ca.
If I have already opted into either of these markets, are there any extra fees to pay?
No. If you have already submitted your film to the Festival and paid the submission fee, then you do not need to resubmit the film, complete any forms or pay any extra fees.
Can I submit my film to The Doc Shop markets only?
Yes. The fee is $67.80 (including HST) and the Doc Shop entry form is available online via our website. You can access the form by logging into your MyHotDocs Account. If you do not have an account please click here to register an account. Once logged in you will see the Doc Shop Submission link on the left-hand side of your screen under Submission Forms.
What does the Doc Shop submission fee cover?
The Doc Shop submission fee covers:
- digitizing and cataloguing your film for our digital online site
- access to on-demand viewing reports of your film
- opportunity for buyers, distributors, programmers and sales agents to contact you directly about your film via email
- opportunity to send a link of your film to potential buyers
Are there any specific DVD technical specifications that I need to be aware of to submit my film(s) to the Doc Shop?
We try to accommodate a wide range of DVD formats. However, if your film has subtitles, we need you to supply a DVD with the English subtitled version as the only track (please read the next question for more details on subtitles). As a precaution before you send your screener, please be sure to watch it in its entirety to ensure that the DVD copy you provide is free of data errors. We will be unable to digitize DVDs with data errors. In addition, please ensure that your DVD is not copyright protected.
In addition, at this time we cannot accept High-Definition DVDs or Blu-ray Discs, which are high-density optical disc formats designed for the storage of data and high-definition video.
How should I deal with subtitles on the DVD in order for them to display properly?
If you would like to submit a DVD with english subtitles, be sure to submit the subtitled version as the only track. Online viewers will not have the opportunity to turn subtitling on or off. Please do not submit DVDs with menus or multiple tracks, where the user would choose between watching a clean or subtitled version.
In order to digitize my film, what type of file do I need to supply you with?
We have created detailed instructions to help you digitize your film. Please review our Transcoding Process document.
As a user of The Doc Shop Online, what hardware requirements do I need to make optimal use of the website?
The minimal requirements for Windows and Mac operating systems are as follows:
Windows
- Windows 2000 or higher with latest updates installed
- Internet Explorer 6.x, Firefox 2.x
- Adobe Flash Player 9+ plug-in
- Intel Pentium 4 2.33GHz processor (or equivalent)
- 128MB of RAM
- 64MB of VRAM
Macintosh
- Mac OS X v10.4 or later
- Firefox 1.5+, Safari 2.x or later
- Adobe Flash Player 9+ plug-in
- PowerPC G5 1.8GHz or faster processor
- Intel Core Duo 1.33GHz or faster processor
- 256MB of RAM
- 64MB of VRAM
Who uses The Doc Shop markets?
300+ Buyers, Distributors, Sales Agents and Programmers attend the Hot Docs Festival and all have premiere access to the viewing facilities of the Festival Doc Shop. Their primary goal is to find work to match their programming and portfolio mandates. In addition, these members have year-round membership to the Doc Shop Online and will be able to view your film through the year, if you opted in.
How can I promote my film if it is in either of The Doc Shop markets?
There are several ways you can promote your film:
- If you are attending the festival as a registered delegate, you have access to our online community of delegates and can contact individuals prior to the festival to set up meetings and/or let them know about your film.
- Whether you are attending or not, it is important to do research on each of the broadcasters/distributors and their specific programming/portfolio mandates. The majority of broadcasters/distributors have websites with sections for producers/filmmakers. When you know which broadcasters/distributors would be interested in your film, then you can contact them via their websites or the online community. The more research you do and the more knowledgeable you are about what kinds of projects buyers are looking for, the more impressed they will be as they will know you have done your homework. This strategy can be applied to festival programmers as well.
- You can send us a poster and/or 100 flyers to place in The Festival Doc Shop. Please send only one poster as there is limited room for posters.
Do entrants give Hot Docs any distribution rights to the film by submitting it to The Doc Shop?
No. Hot Docs only uses the digitized version of your film during the festival dates if the film was registered with the Festival Doc Shop only, or for one year if submitted to the Doc Shop Online.
What is DRM?
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, which is defined as any technology used to protect the interests of the owners of content.
Is DRM employed by Hot Docs to ensure someone cannot copy my film?
The technology being used to display the film is called Flash Streaming Video. It is the same technology employed on popular sites such as YouTube and Google Video. The video is streamed to your browser piece by piece, and is instantly viewed. Once a small piece of video is viewed, it is erased by the next piece of video. The video file cannot be replayed without a network connection to the source video, and it therefore cannot be copied.
This is unlike images that you view on a site which are downloaded to your cache, which is located on your computer’s hard drive. In these instances, once you leave the site, even though the images disappear from the browser, the image file still resides on your computer, and can be viewed and copied.
I have a question that hasn’t been answered in these FAQs. Can someone help me?
If you have additional questions, please contact us anytime at docshop@hotdocs.ca.
