I was going to post this in another topic, but it happens so often, I just decided to go and make a thread about it.

Firstly, does anyone understand why the mod element was created in the first place? Simple: it was created so that the judges of the Twenty-Four Hour Animation Competition (THAC) would know if a shot was filmed within the 24 hours or not. That's why your film gets disqualified if you forget to put it in your shot, because despite what you may say, there is no way for the judges to know that you filmed that shot within the 24 hours.

Now why the rant? Because so many members who decide to make a contest on here make the mod element a part of the contest, whether the contest has a time limit or not. Why is this bad? One, the mod element is an annoying but necessary part of THAC. Having it in every other contest is just overkill. Now, you may think of other contests where a certain phrase or object must be inserted in the film. These are totally different, because that element usually affects some part of the story, so a certain amount of creativity is involved in putting that phrase/object in. The mod element, on the other hand, is just there, no creativity required. Not fun at all.

Two, if your contest does not have a time limit, there is absolutely no point in having it there, since it's only purpose is to ensure something was made inside the time limit. Now, there are some contests where the material you enter into that contest MUST have been made for that contest, so they require the mod element for that — but I think those contests are totally lame, and I'll leave it at that.

Please, if you're going to make a contest, put some creativity into it. Skip the mod element, and instead put in something like a maximum animation limit of 15 seconds, or incorporating non-LEGO elements (I've always wanted to use broccoli for trees). These may seem harder to do, but that's the point! They should encourage you to think creatively, which makes the contest more fun/challenging, and should inspire better films.