Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about FourDocs and uploading your film. If you can't find the information you need below, or you want to give feedback on any aspect of FourDocs, please email our Editorial Team at fourdocs@channel4.co.uk
What is FourDocs?
What else is on FourDocs?
Why only four minutes?
Can you tell a story in that amount of time?
What happens if my film is longer than four minutes (or shorter?)
Do you accept submissions by post?
Can anyone submit a film?
Once I've uploaded my film, do you own it?
What do I need to start making a FourDocs Film?
How do I compress my film?
How many films can I submit to FourDocs?
I've submitted a film, but want to delete it from FourDocs- Can I?
Someone's using my stuff - how do I stop them?
I can't afford to make my own film- Can FourDocs help?
How much does it cost to submit my film to FourDocs?
Do you accept films from other countries?
Do you accept films in other languages?
Can I chat online with other FourDocs members?
Will my film be shown on Channel 4?
Do you accept drama documentary?
How long will it take you to publish my film?
Who selects the films?
Why do I have to fill in a legal checklist?
What size should my video file be?
What speed internet connection do I need to upload my film?
I’m having trouble exporting my file
I can’t play films on my computer
I can’t get the FourDocs Guides to play on my computer
How will I know if my film has been published?
I've submitted a film and want to send you a new version - Can I?
How do I make a complaint?
What if I don't have any filmmaking equipment?
How can I link to FourDocs?
FourDocs is the place to upload four minute documentaries. Anyone with a story to tell or an opinion to voice can submit their film. The only rules are that it has to be four minutes long and comply with FourDocs legal and technical standards.
Once a documentary is uploaded, anyone can watch it. Uploaded films are categorised in different ways: you can watch the most viewed, the most recently submitted, or the highest rated.
FourDocs represents the democratisation of documentary film-making. Everyone can join in, not just those who are already making films. So get shooting and show us what’s out there.
Create a profile to keep track of your uploaded films, reviews you have posted and soon they will be able to create playlists of your favourite films.
FourDocs Guides give advice on all aspects of filming, editing and uploading your documentary. If you have any tecchy questions, you can post them in the clinic.
The archive of documentaries gives a sense of the history and progression of the genre.
FourDocs also has a rushes library of free, already cleared material that can be downloaded and used in your doc. We would also encourage you to upload video clips and music you want to share for others to use.
Four minutes is a challenging time-window to tell a story in. Four minutes is a manageable file size for uploading. On the Internet, four minutes turns out to be a very long time. Most of us don't or won't sit through long documentaries on computers. This might change. We hope it does. And if it does, the documentary running times can stretch. Crucially, a four-minute film is cheap to make. With a digital camera, some editing software and a broadband connection anyone can have a crack at FourDocs.
Yes you can! Some of the most famous documentary sequences have been four minutes long. Think about how much is communicated with a commercial or music video lasting just a few minutes.
Your film will still be accepted to FourDocs if it is between 3 and 5 minutes long.
No, what is broadband for if you still have to use snail mail? Instead we ask you to digitally compress your film and upload the file to FourDocs. You can find help on how to do this in our Get Editing Guide and the Compression Clinic. If you have any problems please email us at fourdocs@channel4.com and we'll do all we can to help.
Yes, absolutely anyone, that means you.
If you're under 16 and want to submit a film, please email us first and let us know at fourdocs@channel4.com
No, you still own the copyright. Before you upload your film, we ask you to agree to allow it to be downloaded under a Creative Commons licence. This allows you to keep copyright of your film while still allowing others certain uses of your work. Further explanation can be found in our Terms and Conditions and in our Be Legal Guide.
Visit our Get Thinking Guide to find out how to get started.
You can find all the information you will need in our Compression Clinic or in your edit software manual.
As many as you like.
If you would like to withdraw your film from FourDocs please email us and let us know at fourdocs@channel4.com. However, please be aware before uploading that we will only delete a FourDoc in rare and exceptional circumstances, most likely due to any legal complaints. Streaming on FourDocs should not affect any future broadcasting deal, so we are extremely unlikely to accept this as a reason for deletion, for example.
The Creative Commons licence that you agree to when you upload your film allows others to download your film and use it for their own purposes in a non-commercial, attributive, no-derivatives way. That means that they must give you credit and can't make any money from your film. Neither can they take any clips from your film out of context. If you suspect that someone is breaking this licence please contact us at fourdocs@channel4.com
Unfortunately we don't currently have any funding for film-makers. We may in the future provide bursaries to individuals from sponsorship schemes so keep coming back to FourDocs.
Nothing, FourDocs is absolutely free.
Yes.
Yes but they must be subtitled in English and we may ask you for a full transcript of what is being said. If you need help subtitling, take a look at our Accessibility Guide.
Yes, you can chat in the forum. You can also rate and review the films you watch.
This year we are running a competition to find the best 4 FourDocs. The deadline is 1st Sept 06. These 4 films will be screened on Channel 4's 3 Minute Wonder. We also broadcast 6 FourDocs on More 4 in July. We don't have any general plans to broadcast FourDocs on Channel 4 but if and when we do, we'll approach the filmmaker and pay them a licence fee for the broadcast. We also send the best 4 films each month to Kate Vogel who commissions 3 Minute Wonder and she's already had meetings with a number of filmmakers from the site as a result. One filmmaker has also been commissioned to make a series of 3 Minute Wonders as a result of uploading his film to FourDocs.
We do accept drama documentary but it is worth thinking about your reasons for choosing this style. The lines between the two genres have continued to blur but to film a documentary in this way you need to be able to justify your choice otherwise it just becomes drama. One reason might be that you're tackling a subject you wouldn't be able to film as a straightforward documentary. For example, if you wanted to do a documentary about alcoholism in the work place it might be difficult to get your contributors to talk about their experiences on camera as it would result in them losing their job. A way round this would be to dramatise the story based on interviews with these contributors about their experiences.
We will aim to publish your film within 10 days as long as there are no legal issues that we need further clarification on.
The FourDocs Editorial Team checks all films to make sure they are legally cleared for publication on FourDocs.
To be published on FourDocs your film must have been made responsibly and comply with certain legal requirements to make sure that it does not break copyright, UK law or harm anyone. We've tried to make this process as simple and painless as possible. The Legal and Best Practice Guidelines and the Be Legal Guide are there to help you. Take a look at these before you start filming to save yourself time and hassle later on.
About 87MB for a 4-minute film
Dimensions: Standard PAL, i.e. 720x576.
It doesn't matter if your film is in 4:3 or 16:9. The maximum we will accept is 130MB. If it is over this limit your film will not get to us.
Any broadband connection is fine for viewing films on FourDocs. However, if you want to regularly submit films or want higher quality video we'd recommend 1.5MBit plus.
Check your software help and manual. If that doesn't help then refer to our Compression Clinic.
Check that you have either QuickTime 6, Windows Media 9 or both installed (both are available for PC and Mac).
Check that they're working (using a file on a local hard disk).
Check that requisite plugins are installed in your browser.
If you still have problems try removing and re-installing both media player programs or try another media player.
Check that you have Flash plugin installed. Then check that your browser is working properly.
If you still have problems re-install Flash or try a different web browser with Flash installed.
We will email you to let you know that your film has been published on FourDocs.
Yes - you just have to repeat the upload process for each version.
We are really interested to hear your views on any aspect of FourDocs. Please email us at fourdocs@channel4.com with your comments.
Don't worry - there's a lot of people out there ready to help with production and editing equipment. Check out our Docs on a Budget guide for a list of helpful people.
Copy the code from our press page, which is here
