Craft a compelling short film in this category where participants are not only challenged to tell engaging stories but also to pay attention to crucial elements like sound quality and camera usage. Your storytelling prowess should be complemented by clear and crisp audio, emphasizing the importance of high-quality sound. Furthermore, demonstrate your cinematographic skills through thoughtful camera usage, ensuring that shots are well-framed and visually captivating. Participants are encouraged to utilise video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, or DaVinci Resolve to polish their productions. Integrate special effects judiciously to enhance the visual appeal and bring your narrative to life. It's essential to provide English subtitles to make your film accessible to a broader audience. BOSEPO specifically invites students to create films that address topics related to any of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, encouraging filmmakers to use their creative voices to contribute to global conversations on pressing issues.

Short film regulations

Here is the overview of all short movie regulations. In the qualifying round, a film may be disqualified based on not meeting any one of the following criteria:

• Duration:  3-5 min (most frequent reason for disqualification, film credits count towards the final duration);

• Language:  any language; always accompanied with subtitles in English (even if the film language is English);

• Subtitles:  hardcode, visible colour, legible font;

• Style:  The film should have a story and character(s), stock footage must not take more than 25% of the total film duration and must be credited. AI-generated footage is not allowed!

• Technique:  camera recording, animation, stop motion

• Minimum resolution:  1080p

• Orientation:  The film must be filmed in landscape orientation (16:9 aspect ratio is preferred) for optimal viewing.

• Music and sound effects:  Ensure that any music or sound effects are original, royalty-free, or properly licensed, with credits provided.

Mentors should register their students' short film projects through our registration system. Upload the synopsis to the "Abstract" section, and film poster to the "Research Paper" section.

Upload the film video file to your Google Drive (making sure that the file name is identical to the film title) and share it with info@bosepo.ba

Synopsis guidelines

After you've finished writing your latest Hollywood smash and put your pen down (or shut your computer), you might think your work's done. But there's one thing left to do: write a film synopsis.

• General

  • Synopsis: Typically a one or two-page document that summarizes your film. It contains the film's title, genre, logline (a one-sentence summary), and a five-paragraph explanation of the film's storyline, major plot points, and key characters.

  • Logline: One-sentence script summary. A logline is a brief summary that introduces your story in a nutshell, often captivating interest with its brevity and wit.

  • Formatting: When preparing the document, use 1.5 spacing, 11 pt plain font (like Roboto, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Arial). Use 1-inch margins on all sides.

  • Submission: Save the document as PDF, and name it following this format: BOSEPO 20xx - Film Title, e.g. "BOSEPO 2026 - Return".

• Header

  • Write the title of your movie.

  • Write your name, surname, school, year and class.

  • Write the genre of your movie, e.g. a rags to riches sports drama.

  • State the topic of your move: select 2-3 UN Sustainable Development Goals and explain in a sentence or two how each stated goal inspired your project.

• Logline

  • This gives your reader a taster of the storyline. A logline is typically one or two sentences that identify the main character, the challenge they're trying to overcome, and why they need to overcome it.

  • Much like a good pasta sauce, you only need a few ingredients for a tasty logline. Four, to be precise:

    • inciting incident,

    • main character,

    • central conflict,

    • antagonist.

  • Once you've got those four ingredients, you can put them together in different ways. This formula can be helpful (you can flip the order of the four ingredients any way you wish):
    When an inciting incident happens, the main character decides to do a central conflict against the antagonist.

  • Most screenwriters advise writing loglines that are only one sentence long. Some people say no longer than 30 words. But if your movie is on the complicated side, you might need to stretch your logline to a couple of sentences. Here is an example logline for the Grand Gold winner movie of 15th BOSEPO:
    A girl returns to her hometown, where she left behind her parents' house full of childhood memories that come flooding back and create sometimes painful, sometimes happy recalls. Followed by rain she searches and ultimately finds the true reason for her return... 

• Synopsis

  • Your synopsis should be roughly two pages long. A one-page synopsis is likely to not have enough detail, but anything over two pages is too bulky. Your reader should be able to finish reading your brief synopsis in a few minutes. You don't have a lot of space to play with, so skip the subplots and secondary characters. If it's not essential to your script's A-story, cut it...

  • Use simple language everyone can understand and avoid superfluous adjectives and adverbs. Stick to simple, succinct, clear language.

  • Use the present tense (even if your story's set in the past), and write in the third person perspective. 

  • Introduce the setting (maximum 1 paragraph): It should include:

    • Your characters’ names and occupations

    • Where your characters live and work

    • The time period of the story

    • The reason you’re telling the story

Type the characters' names in capital letters (e.g. ROCKY) when they first appear. After that, type them normally (e.g. Rocky). Make sure your synopsis includes the protagonist, antagonist, love interest, allies of the protagonist or otherwise important secondary characters. You do not need to include the names of smaller characters.

• • Summarise Act 1 - The Setup (around 2 paragraphs): The first act is where you set the stage at the beginning of the story. It shows the viewer who your main character is, what their life's like, and what they care about. Importantly, you want to communicate some of the challenges that your character is facing. Obviously, your character wants to overcome these challenges, which has a big impact on how the story progresses. Then, you'll need a catalyst or ‘inciting incident' – something spicy that happens to get the story started. This will spark a series of events that sets the protagonist on an epic journey of character development. It inspires their character arc and helps them reach their goals.

  • Summarise Act 2 - The Conflict (around 5 paragraphs): The second act is where your story starts hotting up, as your intrepid protagonist sets out to achieve their goal. It's the point of no return. It's also where your character starts hitting roadblocks as they get to know their new situation and see the many challenges ahead of them. The intensity of the story escalates, with plot twists that keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Our protagonist, now fully committed to their quest, encounters unexpected challenges that test their resolve and force them to adapt. This is a good time to flesh out the rest of the characters in the story, both friends and enemies, as well as the protagonist. Enemies become more formidable, their motivations clearer and their actions more directly opposed to the protagonist's goals. The central conflict deepens, revealing that the struggle is not only external but also internal, as the protagonist grapples with personal doubts, fears, and the realization that the journey may change them in ways they hadn't anticipated. You'll also want to expand on the story's central conflict, whether it's a person or a thing.

  • Summarise Act 3 - The Climax (around 2 paragraphs): Explain how the main conflict ends and what happens to your characters after. Do not worry about spoilers – your reader needs to know what happens. Make sure you tie up any loose ends. The third act is where your narrative arc culminates, the story comes together, and we see the final clash between our protagonist and antagonist. Often, this is the point where we get to witness the true strength of the antagonist – after not seeing much of them in the film – which can surprise the protagonist. Your viewers are probably aware that the main character will win in the end – after all, that's how stories usually go. But it's much more exciting if you keep them on tenterhooks for as long as possible.

Film poster guidelines

The humble film poster is one of the oldest and most effective promotional tools for producers. While many vintage film poster examples are now cherished by collectors and art fans for their striking designs, film posters had and continue to have a simple commercial function – to promote the film and attract audiences to see it.  

Here are the guidelines to prepare your poster:

• Poster size: A3 (297 mm by 420 mm) - most design software will have A3 size templates available

• File format: PNG or PDF

• Poster content: At a functional level, all film posters usually contain the title, star(s), director, and release date (in this case, you will have to include "BOSEPO 20XX" into your poster design), and some may also feature slogans to further entice the audience.

• Design elements: Of course, the poster design and the overall brand identity play a huge role in ensuring the success of the film marketing campaign. Eye-catching colors, larger-than-life typography, and exciting graphics help to conjure up a cinematic experience in static form, while images of film stars help to connect with fans.

You may use any preferred software to create your poster, such as Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher, MS Publisher and even MS PowerPoint. Generative AI usage is not acceptable and will lead to disqualification.

If this is your first time designing a poster, we recommend reading this article by evatotuts+.

You are required to bring one high-quality printed colour copy of your film poster. This must be submitted at the registration desk during project setup.