Film Jam 2025 - August 4 - September 1 2025

Creator Hub Announcements
1

VRChat’s Official Film Jam Begins August 4!

1066×1600 358 KB

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

We’re hosting our first-ever Film Jam! Filmmakers of any experience level are encouraged to join.

Filmmakers are free to form their own teams to work with, however there are only a limited number of prizes per winning team.

Read the full contest rules here.

Important Film Jam Dates

The Film Jam will begin accepting submissions on August 4 and will close on Sept 1 at 11:59pm PST.

The submissions will be judged from September 2 to September 12.

On September 19, the Filmmakers of VRChat Group will host two film screenings (premieres) in VRChat, showcasing the winners’ films.

What Films Are We Looking For?

Filmmakers must pick one of these three themes to submit to the jam:

  • The One Who Changed It All
  • Two Days, One Moment
  • Not Doomed Yet

Please pick a theme that inspires you or most closely matches your vision!

The films will be judged in the following categories:

  1. Story & Concept

(Originality, narrative structure, theme, emotional impact, clarity of message.)

  1. Direction & Execution

(Overall vision, shot composition, pacing, tone, performances, and how well all parts come together.)

  1. Technical Craft

(Cinematography, editing, sound design, music, visual effects, animation, lighting.)

  1. Art & Style

(Visual creativity, World choices, Avatar Choices, color grading, and artistic choices.)

Some additional requirements:

  • Must be between 1-10 minutes long.
  • Must have EN subtitles baked into the film.
  • The film must be made specifically for this Jam.
  • Content must be PG-13 content rating.
  • Exported at 1920 x 1080, H.264 mp4.
    • Bit-rate recommended: 6000 kb/s
  • Must be uploaded to YouTube (public or unlisted)
  • Must be HORIZONTAL! No vertical videos / shorts.
  • Narrative films and documentaries are okay!
  • No music videos.
  • You must observe the TOS of the avatars.
    • You cannot use avatars from other IPs without permission.
  • Avoid using copyrighted music in your film.
  • If we believe your film violates copyright or IP infringement in some way, it will not be considered.
  • You must submit the final version of the film.
  • Do not use your video to advertise a product.
  • Avatars that appear in the video should be clothed appropriately.
  • Do not use harsh video or audio.
  • Avoid using lots of text or small text.

As a reminder, you can use the new Camera Dolly and Camera Drone with VRC+ for your films! Watch our tutorial on getting started with the Camera Dolly here.

Using the Camera Dolly or Drone is NOT a requirement for the film jam.

Where Can I Submit My Film?

Film entries should be submitted through our Google form, found here!

What About Prizes?

10 Film Teams will win the following:

  • 1 year of VRC+ (will be split with up to 12 team members)
  • An exclusive badge for winning the Jam (limited to 12 team members maximum)
  • Opportunity to be showcased in a public playlist on the official VRChat YouTube account
  • Opportunity to be screened during the September 19 Premieres

Don’t know where to start?

Never made a film before or looking for a team? Join the Filmmakers of VRChat Discord to find other team members, attend workshops related to filmmaking in VRChat, and more!

We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

July 28 2025 EDIT:
We’re adding an FAQ for some questions we’ve seen floating around!

FAQ:

Q: What do the themes mean exactly and how should we use them?
A: The themes are broad on purpose! We want people to interpret each of the three potential themes in their own way. As long as they are incorporated in some way in your film, we will more than likely accept it.

Q: What filmmaking tools do you recommend?
A: The default camera works well, but for more advanced tools, consider VRCLens by Hirabiki. You can also take advantage of the VRChat Drone and Dolly!

Q: Is copyrighted music ok? Are song covers ok?
A: Copyrighted music cannot be used for this jam. Because the winning films will be on YouTube and livestreamed, we want to make sure that all film submissions follow the YouTube copyright rules and terms-of-service. Royalty-free, public domain, licensed, and original music is allowed. Song covers are also allowed as long as someone on your team created the cover, or you get permission from the creator!

Q: Can we use public worlds? What about public avatars?
A: Public worlds are allowed to be used, as long as they’re not based off a copyrighted IP! As for avatars, public avatars are allowed as well so long as they are not from a copyrighted IP either. Please note that not all public avatars are meant to be public; you should look up the Terms of Service for the original avatar to make sure a public model is allowed. With avatars that are purchased and used for filming, please make sure to follow the avatar creator’s Terms of Service as well. Please make sure to credit avatars and worlds that are used!

Q: Is my avatar appropriate for the jam?
A: Please make sure that all avatars and content in your film adheres to VRChat TOS and YouTube TOS, and your film is PG-13.

Q: Can I be on more than one team?
A: Yes, you can! However, we recommend focusing on just one project, as juggling multiple teams can quickly become overwhelming.

Q: Can I submit more than one project?
A: You can, however we encourage participants to focus on submitting just one project and make it the best it can be!

Q: Where should we upload our films?
A: Upload them onto YouTube as PUBLIC or UNLISTED! When you submit the film, you will be able to paste the link to your film in the form!

For further updates, check our social accounts. See you on set!

12 Likes
2

That’s very good! Great initiative.

3

Hmmmm.. okay.

4

What constitutes whether or not something fits these themes?

At least upon my quick reading of the contest rules, this seems very vague.

Screenshot_20250721-142440
Screenshot_20250721-1424401280×1206 105 KB

5

Also, a few other questions, sorry for the second post, doing this from mobile.

What if my film doesn’t have voice?

These seem redundant? YouTube auto-transcodes every video. And what if I want to produce it in 4K?

What are the thresholds of something that is a music video vs. something that has music as a narrative device?

What are some examples of a harsh video or audio? This is very vague.

1 Like
6

Does creating a film based on a VRChat world we’re affiliated with violate the “Do not use your video to advertise a product” rule? (Assuming the film never encourages the audience to visit the world or engage with its CE features.)

I don’t mean as a way to bend the rules, our group is just inspired to make a film that heavily features a VRChat world we have ties to but we don’t want it to be seen as advertising.

3 Likes
7

Is the film required to be filmed entirely in VRChat with player actors? What if I were to, for instance, animate avatar characters in blender using world footage for backgrounds? Would that be sorta against the spirit of the jam?

2 Likes
8

I don’t quite understand if I can use public avatars or avatars that I bought and changed like the novabeast and will this violate copyright?

2 Likes
9

Does the Narrative has to fit the vibe of those Themes? Or is it like that also the Title has to be one of those?
Like how close should we keep the narrative to those Themes and how much experimental can we be?

10

i assume that this refers only to things, and possibly services, that you’re selling etc.
could i have a confirmation that it would still be ok to make a video for the jam that would take place in the “universe” of an existing show being recorded in VRC, that would effectively promote it?

1 Like
11

Im trying to figure out what ip based avatars “can” be.

12

I am so stoked for this!!!

1 Like
13

adorei irei participar

14

Irei participar com minha equipe da Barreira brasil

15

What constitutes whether or not something fits these themes?

We want to leave the themes up to your interpretation, they’re a little vague on purpose! We don’t want to stifle your creativity. Please interpret the prompts however it means to you.

What if my film doesn’t have voice?

We would recommend adding subtitles for sound effects or audio cues anyways, for those who are hard of hearing or Deaf. But otherwise you probably don’t need subtitles.

These seem redundant? YouTube auto-transcodes every video. And what if I want to produce it in 4K?

You can produce in 4k, but note that the world we’d be premiering the films in can only optimally handle 1080p/6000kbps, which is where the recommendation comes from. We’d have to transcode your video down to 1080p during the Premiere.

What are the thresholds of something that is a music video vs. something that has music as a narrative device?

Music as a narrative device is fine! We’d like to avoid people making “music videos” of popular songs that are just people dancing to the music with no narrative structure. I hope that makes sense.

What are some examples of a harsh video or audio?

A film that purposely uses extremely loud or jarring visuals or audio without a narrative reason should be avoided. This is a little vague on purpose, but we basically want to avoid people making “Spider-man runs a chain over his Blue Yeti for 10 minutes,” if that makes sense.

This is fine! We just want to avoid making “commercials for products.” Promoting a world that you like or one that you’ve made is fine.

As long as the majority of the film is filmed in VRChat, it is fine to animate in other mediums or show off some IRL footage. The primary goal of the jam is to celebrate being able to make films in VRChat, so the majority of the footage should be filmed in VRChat.

We wanted to protect the rights of the avatars people may have access to. For example, you should check the Terms of Service of the avatars you want to use to make sure it can be used for films. We definitely want to avoid people using avatars that people do not actually have the right to use.

The narrative / inspiration for the film should match one of the three themes. Interpreting those are up to you, it’s a little vague on purpose! I would encourage you to let your imagination run wild.

this is fine! :3c

2 Likes
16

I feel like there’s information missing here. By default, YouTube transcodes to all resolutions including 1080p. Their 1080p is VP9/AV1/h264, often a horrible bitrate.

Is there a separate submission area/field for the raw video file? Because that would make more sense to how the rule is written.

I think so. My current style involves few or no words, and relies heavily on visuals and music, which is why I ask.

Thanks for the replies flare. I appreciate it. :smiling_face:

1 Like
17

Content must be PG-13 content rating.

1984 PG-13 or 2003 onwards PG-13?

Avatars that appear in the video should be clothed appropriately.

Appropriate as if they were in most public settings or appropriate as in merely covering the top and bottom (e.g. someone wearing a bikini)? Also, are censor bars or anything along those lines okay, at least for comedic effect?

18

Current 2025 standards of PG-13. You can’t use vulgar language or include hardcore violence/gore/sex scenes. Let me know if this doesn’t answer your question!

I think being tasteful here is going to really matter. For example, if a character is naked 100% of the time and covered with censor bar lines but it’s almost like a micro bikini, that probably wouldn’t be okay.

If someone is wearing a bikini on a beach and is just hanging out, enjoying the sun, it’s fine.

Context matters a lot!

Also as a side note, we’ve been getting a lot of questions on the Filmmakers of VRChat Discord, so I’ll be editing my original post with a short FAQ to try and answer those. Thank you for everyone’s patience!

1 Like
19

I know it’s a PG-13 short film and we’re not allowed to curse, but… are we allowed to censor the cursing so we’re allowed too.

20

So I don’t even know where to start with finding out what avatars and worlds can and cannot be used. Where do I find the IP, and how do I know if it’s copyrighted?

Also, could the film be made by just me, with just me? As in, no one else does writing or acting or filming or editing or anything?