Clarifications on Submission Guidelines

Our team had some questions about the contest rules, particularly regarding the slate at the beginning of the animation and the “second of black”. Is it okay if we have moving titles (on After Effects, Final Cut, etc) to display our title and team information or does it have to be a plain title screen?
Also, is it allowed for sound effects or music to begin playing before the actual animation begins? Does the time start counting immediately after the second of black is over, or does it only begin counting when the first image of your animation is shown?
Sorry if these questions are unclear. Thanks in advance for your help!

It says that you should have a slate with white text on a black background with your team name/number, your project’s title, and the length of the video itself (not including credits, the 2 one seconds of black or this slide). Then you have 1 second of black, then your animation, then one second of black.
You can add whatever you would like before this point but until then I would steer clear of fancy displays.

The time starts as soon as the one second of black is over.

I would agree to stay away from the fancy stuff and just have the 5 second slate be just that a still slate with the information on it.

I don’t see where it says it has to be white text on a black background though…

Thank you so much!

Just clarifying on the one second of black- is there allowed to be any sound playing at all during this time?

There shouldn’t be any sound audible during the two seconds worth of black.

Oh I thought it did, apparently it doesn’t.

Are images/video/audio allowed in the credits?

The credits can be whatever you want, they are not part of the judging or anything.