2009 September | Video Contest News

Archive for September, 2009

And who says rap videos never win video contests?

Posted by Beardy on September 25th, 2009

It never fails. In every, single video contest there is almost always one rap entry. It’s a no brainer. It’s the easiest way to get a lot of required information out quickly and in a possibly amusing way. I myself once filmed a rap video for a contest and the entry went on to win $5,000. But that was way back in 2007 when the concept was still fresh. Today, the rap video idea is pretty played out. Even though there is always at least one rap video submitted to every contest, it seems like the rap videos never, ever win. Oh…until now.

A few weeks back I blogged about the Department of Health and Human services Swine Flu PSA contest. Apparently the got more than 200 entries and for once, a rap video beat out all the other contenders. Here’s the winner.

First place. Prize: $2,500 and a national TV spot.

What cracks me up about this video is that the guy is a real doctor! Guess Health and Human services thought that’d be a nice hook for a TV spot. You can read more about the contest and the winner on the ….official white house website?? Holy crap. That’s a pretty sweet prize in and of itself. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Rapping-Doctor-Wins-H1N1-Video-Contest/

The video contest that can’t get no respect

Posted by Beardy on September 25th, 2009

The ghost of happyjoel

This next contest we heard about thanks to super-video contest winner HappyJoel. In fact, it’s HIS contest. After having some fun doing an imitation of Rodney Dangerfield for Conan’s “Please blow up my car” contest, Joel decided he needed to encourage others to also channel Rodney.

The rules of the contest are amusing so I’ll just post them straight from Joel’s site. After years of being frustrated by the limiting rules of other contests, Joel decided to keep the restrictions on his own pretty loose:

“You must submit a video of your best Rodney Dangerfield impersonation.

ALL THE JOKES MUST BE ORIGINAL! YOU CANNOT USE ANY OF RODNEYS OLD ROUTINE! Just jokes IN THE STYLE of Rodney Dangerfield.

Post YOUR video as a response to MY video by midnight October 4th, 2009. Winner announced Monday, October 5th. Here’s the link for my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Hm-UFvWtQ

1st PRIZE: $50 iTunes Gift Card

2nd PRIZE: $25 iTunes Gift Card

3RD Prize: My intern and I will call you and say hi.

Since it’s my own video contest, I’m finally going to run one the way I wish they all were run. The winner is to be determined by me and me alone. There is no time limit minimum or maximum. I am picking based solely on which one I think is the funniest. I don’t care about production value, I don’t care if it was filmed with a webcam, cell phone or HD CRX-500 or whatever the hell it is. NO age limit. Any Nationality. Just make it funny, make it watchable, and make it feel like Rodney.”

So far, only 2 people have entered and one of them is Joel’s personal assistant for hire from India! The assistant’s entry cracks me up but I think it’s ineligible to win. Still, it’s funny so I’ll post it as inspiration.

So there are two itunes cards up for grabs and only one entry so far! This one definitely qualifies as “ripe for the plucking.” You know what I like best about this contest? That the winners will be announced the day after the contest closes. Joel understands that in any video contest, the waiting is the hardest part.

Scariest Story Ever told

Posted by Beardy on September 25th, 2009

This site has only been up and running for a few weeks and even though I haven’t really done much to promote it we’ve started getting a small but growing stream of visitors. We’ve even heard from a few contest organizers which I think is a good sign.

VCN’s un-written policy is that if a contest organizer asks us to post about their contest, we’ll do it no mater how big or small the contest is. On that note, here’s some info for a contest called The Scariest stories Ever Told. The top prize is $500 plus some prizes and it sounds like a very, very easy contest to enter. All you have to do is sit in front of a camera and tell an original scary story. Scariest story wins!

Jawbone.tv is running a video contest to discover The Scariest Story Ever Told, and we’ve got more than a thousand bucks in cash and prizes to make it happen. Contest opens today (September 22, 2009) and runs through until October 22, 2009.

# 1st place

* $500 Cash.
* $474 prize package

# 2nd place – 5th place

* Prize packages

For all the details, Click right here.

Olivia Munn picks her fan film

Posted by Beardy on September 24th, 2009

This was an unusual but very cool video contest. G4′s Attack of the Show host Olivia Munn has been looking for video pitches for Star Wars fan films. She agreed to appear in the final version of her favorite concept and Atom Films would put up a production budget of $5,000. Today Olivia announced her choice; it’s an idea called “Galaxy News.” You can see Olivia announce the winner and the selected video pitch below.

I like the concept. I think it’s a good choice. Yeah it’s not a traditional fan film concept but it’s just right for this type of thing. $5,000 isn’t really a ton of money top make a high quality short film. So with the news show idea they can shoot most of it in front of a green screen in only a day or two. If it’s written and paced well it’ll be joke, joke, joke, joke, joke end. It’ll be able to hit hard and fast and won’t take too much effort or money. So, way to go nerds!* Good thinkin’!

More details and pitches here: http://community.atom.com/groups/olivia_munn

*I use the tern “nerds” with the utmost affection for I too am a Star Wars nerd.

Archive for September, 2009

And who says rap videos never win video contests?

The video contest that can’t get no respect

Scariest Story Ever told

Olivia Munn picks her fan film

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