The Rules

Rules are subject to change up to the beginning of the shoot weekend, 7pm Friday May 17th.

1. The  ‘Film’ must be created between 7pm Friday and 7pm Sunday of 'the shoot weekend'.  You can use any resources you have available, including (but not limited to) actors, music, sound effects, stills and footage (stock footage or your own old footage) - as long as you have clearance/permission that covers all the material included in your film.  

2. The duration of the ‘Film’ must be minimum 1 minute and maximum 5 minutes. This includes your titles and credits.


3. The ‘Film’ must be uploaded to our portal as a single digital movie file using our recommended file specs. Uploads must BEGIN by 7pm on Sunday, May 19th. If your upload fails you can rebsubmit your file within 48 hours, as long as it matches the MD5 code in your wrap up form. Please note that we will also accept links to files on Vimeo or Dropbox as a backup. This must be accompanied by an MD5 code to verify the file was completed before 7pm on Sunday May 19th. If teams submit using both a link and the online portal we will judge the file in the online portal. Please see our Film Submission page.

4. The ‘Film’ must include all the required elements as supplied at the launch. 

5. The ‘Film’ must include the final closing credit: "Made as part of 48HOURS 2024".


6. All teams must fill out the online wrap-up form before 7pm at the close of the competition. Access to this form will be provided to the Team Leader's registered email address before the start of the competition.


7. Your single file entry must include the following video content in the following order:


  • Your team intro (any length up to 20 seconds - this is OPTIONAL).

  • Info Card: ‘Film’ title, Team name, Genre, City - 10 seconds.
  • The ‘Film’.
  • Black screen: 5 seconds.

The team intro, info card and 5 sec of black screen are not included in the 5 minute duration limit. The film's titles and credits are included in the 5 minute duration limit.

8. You must have the rights to all material that appears in the ‘Film’. Release forms must be signed for all actors, locations, music, stills or stock footage and anything else that you need permission for that you use in the ‘Film’. This must be held by the Team leader until requested.
 Please read the Copyright FAQ and AI FAQ if you have any questions about rights.

9. Your team leader must be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.


10. Do not make the entire ‘Film’ public on the internet until after it has finished in the competition. This means that you must wait until you find out if it has made your city final. If it is a city finalist then you must wait until the national finalists are announced.
You may upload and share a single clip or teaser, up to 15s in duration if you wish.

11. 48Hours will not accept entries that contain content that we consider offensive, especially when specifically directed at individuals or groups. Decisions on this will be made at the discretion of the 48Hours management. For more information please see our classification page.

12. You must not break the law.

**Please note that some individual awards may have additional requirements for eligibility.