Regulation “ALTER EGO”

March 11, 2019

REGULATION


On holding the professional award of the Stuntmen’s Guild “ALTER EGO” for the best stunts in cinema and TV

1 General Provisions

1.1 The founder of the Award is the Stuntmen’s Guild of the Cinematographers’ Union of the Russian Federation.

1.2 The “Alter Ego” Award is a professional award given for the best performance and staging of stunts in the field of film and television production.

1.3 The “Alter Ego” Award is given to stuntmen, stunt coordinators for the best performance, staging stunts in full-length films and television series, commercials, and music videos aired on TV and in movie theaters.

1.4 Award winners in each nomination will be awarded statuettes of a sample approved by the organizing committee, as well as (if available) gifts from sponsors.

2. Aims and objectives of the Prize

2.1 The “Alter Ego” Award is to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of stuntmen in the development of the film industry of Russia, to reward the best representatives of the profession, and to draw the attention of the producers and film lovers to the stunt scenes which are an integral part of the making of feature films.
2.2 One of the points of the strategy of the state cultural policy in the sphere of cinematography is to improve the quality and competitiveness of national cinematography. But it is quite obvious that it is impossible to increase the competitiveness of cinema without stunt scenes, because none of the modern projects, whether it is a historical blockbuster, action film, comedy, melodrama, fantasy, etc. do not happen without stuntmen. The Alter Ego Award is a motivation for stuntmen and stunt coordinators to find more spectacular and contemporary solutions to staging and performing stunts.
2.3 Strengthening the prestige of Russian stunt movies and the Russian stunt school.
2.4.Popularizing Russian cinema among the youth and contributing to the promotion of Russian cinema on the world market.
2.5.Revealing the most vivid, original ways of stunt scenes and methods of shooting stunts, which make a movie or other visual production more entertaining and realistic.

3. General Provisions


3.1 The Alter Ego Award is held annually and is awarded for stunt work and stunts performed in Russian, foreign, or co-produced full-length films, television shows, and video clips broadcast on television.

3.2 Place and date of the award ceremony is chosen by the organizing committee based on expediency, if possible trying to coincide with the professional holiday Stuntmen’s Day which is celebrated on April 28 every year.




4. The Award nominees

4.1 Nominees in the Award categories may be individuals who specialize in staging stunt scenes (professional stunt coordinators) as well as film companies (film producers), who have agreed to the Rules and provided a video of stunt work (with certain parameters, see clause 4.5) in digital media and submitted the application for a nominee by the time specified by the Award Organizing Committee on site www.alterego-awards.org

The stunt works which have been sent for the assessment of the Award must be screened in cinemas or on TV strictly within the period of the Award period, namely from January 1 to December 31 of the year of the Award.


4.2 The Alter Ego Award is self-funded, and therefore participation in the selection is for a fee of 25,000 rubles for 2021 for each nomination.

Participation in the nomination for members of the Guild of Stuntmen is free of charge (participation fee for members of the Guild is paid by the Stuntmen’s Guild of the Russian Federation).
Stunt coordinators (not members of the Stunt Guild) who have Russian citizenship, as well as film companies, producers of stunt feature films and television series wishing to be nominated in the Alter Ego Award, should pay their participation fee of 25,000 (twenty-five thousand) rubles for the Award in each nomination.



4.3 The nominations “Best Foreign Stunt Film (Series)” and “Best (CIS countries) Stunt Film (Series)” are open to stunt coordinators who are not registered on the territory of the Russian Federation, agreed with these Regulations and who submit their stunt works on digital media or by uploading videos to online storage services within the deadlines specified by the Award’s Organizing Committee. The stunt works submitted for the assessment by the Board of Experts must be screened (on film or TV) strictly within the period of the Award, i.e., from January 1 to December 31 of the year in which the Award is presented. The Award application submission is free of charge for foreign nominees in these nominations (funded by the Stuntmen’s Guild).


4.4 The right to apply for the Award nomination selection is granted to stunt coordinators responsible (including according to the credits) for the staging of a stunt scene, as well as to film companies (producers of feature-length stunt films or television series). The right to apply for the Award also is assigned to the Board of the Stuntmen’s Guild of the Russian Federation Union of Filmmakers (without the prior consent of the stunt coordinator of the nominated project).


4.5 To participate in the Award nominee selection, the applicant must submit the application form and video material (duration no more than 3 minutes, HD resolution no lower than 1280 x 720, ideally HD 1920 x 1080 pixels) to the Organizing Committee of the Award (by digital media or by uploading the video to online storage), for applicants who are not members of the Stuntmen Guild, to pay for their participation in the selection. Requirements for the video material: the video submitted for the Award must be presented strictly as it was shown on the air.

No independent editing (re-montage) of materials is allowed, nor is it allowed to use work materials. The exception is the nominations for the best stunt films. In this case, it is allowed (not exceeding the specified time-code) to cut the stunt scenes of the film (only the way they were shown in the film) and to glue them into a single video-block.

4.6 Timing of the provided stunt video materials nominated for the Prize:

  • Best fire and pyrotechnics stunt – 1-minute maxBest high-altitude stunt – 30 seconds max
  • Best stage combat stunt – 3-minute max
  • Best fall, cascade fall stunt – 1-minute max
  • Best vehicular stunt – 3-minute maxBest horse stunt – 3-minute max
  • Best stunt with special effects and special technical, stunt devices (air ramp, air ratchet, rope systems, etc.) usage – 2-minute max
  • Best stunt performed by female stuntman – 2-minute max
  • Best battle scene – 3-minute max
  • Best original stunt – 2-minute max
  • Best stunt film (Russia) – 3-minute max
  • Best stunt film (CIS) – 3-minute max
  • Best foreign stunt film (TV series) – 3-minute max

4.7 One stunt coordinator (nominee) can submit no more than one stunt work for each nomination. At the request of the Organizing Committee, the applicant must confirm his/her right to submit a particular stunt scene for the selection (this may be confirmed by the film credits or an agreement with a film production company).

5. The Award nominations

The Alter Ego Stunt Guild Award for Best Stunts in Cinematography is awarded to winners in the categories:

5.1.Best fire and pyrotechnics stunt
5.2.Best high-altitude stunt
5.3.Best stage combat stunt
5.4.Best fall, cascade falls stunt
5.5.Best vehicular stunt5.6 Best horseback stunt
5.7 Best stunt with special effects and special technical stunt devices (air ramp, ratchet, rope systems and etc.)
5.8. Best stunt performed by a female stuntman
5.9.Best battle scene
5.10.Best original Stunt
5.11. For contribution to the profession
5.12. Best Russian stunt film (TV series)
5.13.Best (CIS countries) stunt film (series)
5.14.Best foreign stunt film (serial)

6. The Award procedures. Organizing Committee, Expert Council, Counting Board

6.1 The Award Organization Structure.

For the preparation and implementation of the Award, organizing committee (the Organizing Committee), Expert Council, and Counting Board shall be established.
The President of the Award – Inshakov A.I.

The Organization Committee includes: The President of the Award, the Organizing Secretary, members of the Council of Stuntmen Guild, representatives of Cinematographers’ Union of the Russian Federation.
At the invitation of the organizers, the Organizing Committee may include stuntmen, artists, politicians, businessmen, athletes who are ready to assist in the Award procedures.

6.2 The duties of the Prize Organizing Committee include:

Preparation and approval of official documents, regulations on the Award, the general plan for preparing and holding the event, cost estimates, staffing, raising sponsorship funds, creation of a PR department to cover the Award, etc;

Preparation and approval of the composition of the Expert Council of the Award;
Preparation and conduct of meetings of the Expert Council of the Award, a meeting of the Counting Board for voting results;
Receiving and primary processing of nominees applications, preparing lists of nominations and submitting them to the Expert Council;

Checking the applications received for authenticity, confirmation of the role, and title of the professionals participating in the stunt scene. 

Verification of video materials and documents, including the compliance with the nomination criteria and conditions of the Award, according to the current Regulations;

Official approval and publication of the List of Nominees based on the results of the review of applications by the Expert Council;
The direct organization of the Award Ceremony;
Approval of the statuette design, corporate style of the Award, advertising products, etc;
Approval of the composition of the Expert Council (from stunt coordinators, actors, cameramen, stuntmen, etc.);
Decision of other technical and organizational issues related to the organization of the Award.

6.3 All applications that meet the requirements are placed on a single bulletin that contains the name of the nomination and the serial number of the stunt scene (the name of the project, stunt coordinator, and other information is not inсluded on the bulletin for the objectivity of the evaluation).
This bulletin is given to each member of the expert council together with digital media with video material of nominated stunt works.


6.4 The members of the Expert Board (individually) look through the videos of the nominated stunt works and mark in the bulletin the most liked ones. In this case, in each nomination, a member of the expert council can mark only one stunt work.


6.5 Voting results are counted by the Counting Board which consists of three members of the Cinematographers’ Union who are not members of the Organizing Committee and are not members of the Stuntmen’s Guild. The counting of votes of the members of the Expert Council is formalized by a protocol, that is handed over to the Organizing Committee. According to this protocol, the Organizing Secretary of the Award Organizing Committee seals the names of the winners in envelopes for each nomination separately. The sealed envelopes are kept by the Organizing Secretary until the day of the Award ceremony. One hour before the official start of the ceremony, the Organizing Secretary of the Award Organizing Committee hands the envelopes to the director of the Alter Ego Award Ceremony. During the ceremony, the director of the ceremony hands the envelopes to the awardees for the public announcement of the winners.

6.6 Information about the winners of the Competition for the Award, known to the persons who signed the Protocol of the voting results, is confidential until the announcement of these results.

6.7 The stunt works which have received the highest number of votes in each nomination are recognized as the winners. The list of winners can be increased by the works which received the highest, but the same number of votes.

6.8 Winners in all nominations, except for the nomination “For Contribution to the Profession”, are determined by the Expert Council. The winner in the nomination “For Contribution to the Profession” is determined by the Council of the Stuntmen’s Guild of Cinematographers’ Union of the Russian Federation

6.9 The names of the winners of the Award are announced at the annual awarding ceremony.

The application form for the Award nomination can be filled out at www.alterego-awards.org

Phone number of the Alter Ego Award Organizing Committee:

+7(499)254-70-56, +7(903)-521-15-03

Office of the Russian Stuntmen’s Guild: – Moscow, 13 Vasilievskaya St. “