Tips And Tricks | Video Contest News

Archive for the ‘Tips and Tricks’ Category

Sample Crash the Super Bowl release form

Posted by Beardy on November 16th, 2011

Just 6 days until the deadline, BTW

Here’s a nightmare scenario for you: Imagine that you’ve spent hundreds of dollars and countless hours writing, shooting and editing the ultimate Doritos commercial. Then after weeks of waiting and hoping you get the big call; you’re a finalist in the Crash the Super Bowl contest! You’re going to receive $25,000 and a free trip to the Super Bowl! But before the win is official, you have to get a big stack of paperwork taken care of. You have to fill out tax forms and transfer your copyrights and of course, you need to get all of your actors to sign Fritolay’s official release forms. But when you go to your actors and tell them the good news, they aren’t excited that the ad they were in might play on TV. They just want to know how much of your prize money they’re going to be getting. Suddenly the stranger you hired off of craigslist to say one line in your CTSB entry has your entire future in the palm of his hand. If he doesn’t sign the releases, you don’t get to be a finalist. Of course, there’s no way he won’t sign….but that signature is going to cost you.

That type of scenario is exactly why you need to get your actors and your crew members to sign agreements with you before you submit an entry to a big video contest. Of course, the sponsor’s official releases will trump any release forms you concoct on your own. But your goal should be to get your cast and crew to commit to a few key terms before you shoot. So really, you should put the term “release form” out of your head. Instead, what you need is a “Actor/Producer Agreement.” (Or a Crew Member/Producer Agreement.) This type of agreement is signed by both you and your actor. It’s like a mini-contract that lays out what both of you are going to do. Here are three crucial points the agreement needs to include:

The actor must agree to sign all future releases and paperwork related to the project:
You are the owner of the entry and all the audio and video created during the shoot.
How much compensation an actor or crew member will receive if you win any prizes.

I’m shooting a Crash the Super Bowl entry of my own this week and in my actor/producer agreements, the actors will each be getting 5% of any “Cash Prizes” I might win. It’s very important that you include a stipulation like that in your agreements because Fritolay gives the Crash the Super Bowl finalists a bunch of non-cash prizes. But you can’t split a ticket to the Super Bowl so be careful about how you phrase things. Also, 5% might not seem like a lot but it’s a pretty good payday for someone who only spent one afternoon working on your entry. And 5% per crew member and actor can add up fast! If anyone balks at the number, just be sure to mention that the top prize in this contest is a million bucks. 5% of a million dollars is 50 grand. So like I said, 5% is pretty fair.

Unfortunately, Doritos doesn’t provide any release forms that you could have your actors sign before the shoot. So you’re going to have to create your own actor/producer agreement. Or you could just use the one that I use! Below is a SAMPLE Crash the Super Bowl Actor/Producer agreement that I may or may not have created. I don’t want to say who wrote this thing since it seems to contain bits and pieces of other agreements that are floating around the web. Also, for legal purposes I have to advice you not to just use some bogus-ass agreement that you found on the Internet! If you really want to be protected you need to hire a lawyer to draw up a legit agreement for you.

So now that I think about it, let’s say that this particular agreement is for “Novelty Purposes Only.” It’s just a funny sample for a non-existent Crash the Super Bowl entry named “Doritos: They’re Toasted!” Like I said, you shouldn’t use this form but if you were going to you’d have to do a replace the fake producer’s name with your own. Same goes for the title of the ad. (Find and Replace in Word would do the trick.) But again, don’t use this form and if you do, come crying to me if it winds up biting you in the ass.

Click here to download the DOC file: CTSB-sample-agreement

Remember agreements like this one are signed by both the producer and the actor and each person gets a copy. That way no one can argue that they didn’t have time to study the document carefully. If anyone has any questions, concerns or feedback about the agreement, e-mail Dan at VideoContestNews.com.

How to get unlimited, real youtube views

Posted by Beardy on October 27th, 2011

Youtube: Where all your viral dreams come true

Every once and a while I will come across a “viral” video contest where the winner is determined by youtube views. And when I do see a contest like that, it takes a lot of will power for me NOT to enter. You see, in my time running this website I have learned a lot of shady tricks; and “how to get to get tons of fake youtube views” is one of those tricks. Basically if you go to the right website you can order all the views you want. But those “views” are just fake, junk views. They’re just generated by some guy in India using a computer that is constantly changing its IP address. (or something like that) They don’t come from real people. So in most “viral” contests, buying fake views would be considered cheating. If you buy fake views, there is a good chance you’ll get caught because fake views leave evidence behind. And not only could you get disqualified from the contest you’re in, you could be kicked off of youtube for violating the site’s Terms of Service.

So like I said, I try not to enter “viral” video contests. But about two months ago I came across a contest that was being run by a new micro-jobs website that I just had to enter. The competition was being run in two stages. In the first stage, people were supposed to create funny videos about giraffes (The website’s mascot is a giraffe) and then try to get as many youtube views as they could in four weeks. The people who created the Top 5, most viewed submissions got to go on to round two where they would compete for $15,000. I decided to enter but I promised myself I would NOT buy fake youtube views. (here’s my submission) I figured that with the resources I have at my disposal I could get into the Top 5, fair and square. This website just keeps getting more and more traffic so I stuck a banner ad for my own video at the top of this page. And man, did that get me a lot of views! Plus, I have a kind of popular youtube channel with a few thousand subscribers. So I was able to get a good chunk of views from there too.

But inevitably, as the view count deadline approached, the cheating began. Several other contestants started buying fake views and I was pushed out of the Top 5. I contacted the contest organizers and I explained how you could tell when someone’s view count was phony. But they said they really couldn’t do anything about it because the practice wasn’t actually against the rules. (So technically, it wasn’t even cheating!) So basically I recived the OK from the contest organizers to do whatever I could to get in the Top 5. But I still didn’t want to take the easy way out. So I started looking for a legitimate solution to my problem.

And I found that solution in like five minutes. It turns out that any youtube user can now sign up for the site’s “Promoted Videos” program. Basically you can now buy views from youtube! Except unlike the other views you can buy, these are REAL views that come from REAL people. If you use youtube’s promotions program to get 10,000 views, it means that 10,000 different people actually watched your video. So while some might consider this bending the rules of a viral video contest, no one could claim that you’re breaking the rules since your views are coming from real people and since you’re not violating youtube’s terms of service.

Here’s how the program works: After you sign up, you pick which video you want to promote. Then you tell youtube how much you are willing to pay per view. I think I went with 12 cents but you can go even lower. And remember, that is the most you are willing to pay per view. You then get to select the keywords you want associated with your video. So if your video has a giraffe in it (like mine did) you can select “giraffe” as a keyword. Then when someone searches for giraffe videos on youtube, your video will appear in the “Promoted Videos” sidebar. The more specialized a keyword is, the more you will pay per-click. Here’s a a screengrab of my Promoted Videos Dashboard that shows the keywords I used for my giraffe video:

Note: I cut out the irrelevant parts of this chart in photoshop

So even though I “bid” 12 cents per view, most of my views only cost me 2 or 3 cents. And as you can see, the keyword “funny” was the most popular keyword by a long shot.

After you set your keywords, you tell youtube how much you want to spend every day promoting your videos. If you say “$5,00″ youtube will run your video as an ad all day until you have spent $5.00. I think the best thing about this program is how fast the process is. If you want a huge number of views right away, you can tell youtube you want to spend $200 a day. Youtube will pimp your video like crazy and by end of the day, you’ll have thousands of real views. Here’s what your “dashboard” will look like once your “campaign” is up and running:

Again, this was photo-shopped to save space

The final view count for my giraffe entry was about 16,000. And that was enough to get me into the finals. As you can see, I recived 10,659 views thanks to youtube’s promoted video program. And that means I was able to get 6,000 views on my own. And that’s pretty damn good! If the other contestants hadn’t bought fake views, I would have been able to get in the Top 5 without any help from youtube.

So youtube’s Promoted Videos program is pretty much just a giant, view-creating machine. However many views you want, you can get. And you only get charged when someone actually clicks on your video. But there is one major drawback to this program; this s&%# ain’t cheap. I spent about $300 to get those 10,000 views. So was it a wise purchase? Well, the results of the contest I was will be officially announced on November 1st so check back here on Monday to see how I did. Ok, spoiler alert: I didn’t win the grand prize but I did win some cash. But don’t tell anyone I told you that.

Putting together a cheap-o Halloween make-up kit

Posted by Beardy on October 24th, 2011

Back in grade school and high school I was one of those kids who’s “thing” was “making movies.” My friends and I always had some kind of video project in the works but of course we did most of our filming in the summer. And like most 14 year old screenwriters, we were mainly interested in stuff like monsters, zombies, aliens, serial killers and drunken clowns. (ok, maybe that last one was just me.) We were shooting our mini-epics long before google or amazon so if we ran out of clown makeup or fake blood in July, we were pretty much screwed. So every year I really looked forward to the week after Halloween since all the stores would sell their make-up, costumes and props for 50, 60 or even 90% off. Come November first I would stock up on a year’s supply of stuff like this:

So realistic!

Unfortunately, the days of the “post-halloween” sale are pretty much gone. In fact, I’ve noticed that some big stores start pulling their Halloween stuff off the shelves BEFORE October 31st! The reason is that the Christmas season now officially begins on November 1st. So the masks and costumes need to disappear fast to make room for all the fake trees.

That sucks for several reasons but the good news is that a lot of stores now start reducing the prices on their Halloween merchandise before Halloween. I almost never use effects make-up in my video contest entries so I haven’t stocked up on cheap Halloween make up in many years. But recently I was in JoAnn Fabrics buying some hot glue sticks or something when I saw a small plastic box with different sized slots in it.

Click the image to order one of these things

It was called an “Art Bin” but for some reason, when I saw it I immediately thought “this would be perfect for storing tubes of Halloween make up!” It turns out that for the last 15 years or so, I had been subconsciously waiting for a solution to a problem I had when I was a kid. You see, I always stored my Halloween makeup in a ziplock bag. And I can still vividly remember how gross that bag got. I’d open a thing of white makeup, use it and then toss it back in the bag. So in no time the inside of the bag would be covered in cheap, greasy makeup.

So even though I have almost zero use for effects makeup, I had to buy that box and fill it with $1.00 tubes of fake blood, green and blue makeup and black nail polish. When it comes to stuff like this, it’s better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it. And actually, there are a lot of things you can do with the kind of cheap Halloween makeup you can buy at target or walmart. For example, you could do what a lot of filmmakers have done and shoot your own Twilight or Zombie-themed contest entry! And a little purple and brown makeup can make a pretty realistic bruise or black eye. Oh you know what else is good to have on hand? A can of white hair spray. It’s great for giving scientist or politician characters a little extra pizazz. However you probably want to avoid featuring realistic blood, gore or injuries in MOST of your video contest entries. I say “most” of your entries because every so often, I’ll see a video contest that kind of has a hardcore edge to it. So if a contest is kind of edgy, you could push the envelope a bit and include a little violence just for the shock value.

If you actually try and put together a low-budget, effects makeup kit of your own, there are a few other items you should include. If you see spirit gum and spirit gum remover in the Halloween isle, grab some. That stuff can come in really handy. And while your at it you might as well buy a few fake mustaches. Why? Because fake mustaches are freaking funny, that’s why. To finish off your kit you’ll want to add some Q-tips, makeup sponges, and wet naps. And or of course, you can’t forget the toothpicks! Toothpicks are how the pros scratch themselves so that their makeup won’t smear. But I bet you already knew that.

If you’re like me, once your $7 makeup kit is complete, you’ll look at it, feel proud for about five seconds and then you’ll shove the box into the back of your closet. I doubt I’ll actually use any of the stuff in my kit but next summer if I find myself inspired to shoot a video contest entry about a mime or a vampire or a sports fan with a painted face, I’ll be good to go.

LED Panels: My new favorite lights!

Posted by Beardy on October 20th, 2011

Hello, beautiful.

For years I have been lighting my video contest entries with a pair of giant, 1,000 watt halogen lights with enormous “soft boxes” attached to them. But frankly, those lights suck. The bulbs get so hot that the lights have fans inside of them! The fans are so loud that I’m always worried the mic will pick up the whirring sound they make. And anyone who has ever put together a soft box can tell you, they’re a pain to set up and move. Worst of all though, 1,000 watt bulbs aren’t easy to find. The ones I used cost about 16 bucks each and I used to break them all the time. Since you can’t just pick these bulbs up at your local home depot, I had to order them special online. But recently, the company that sold me my light kit stopped carrying the bulbs! They sold me their last two and said they don’t even know where I could find more of them.

So I took that as a sign that it was time to get some decent lights. I did some research and decided to spend a little cash and buy my first LED panel. And let me tell you something…these things are pretty sweet. In fact, I used my new LED light on one shoot and the very next day I ordered a second one. Here’s why these things are so amazing:

1. The panels put out the equivalent of 500 watts of light but only use 50 watts of energy. So you’re probably not going to be tripping any breakers with these.

2. The light is so simple you could set it up in seconds.

3. The LED panel is so small you could stick it in a back pack.

4. The light emits pure white.

5. The LED bulbs stay cool to the touch.

6. There are separate switches on the back for different sections of the panel. So basically, it comes with a “dimmer.”

7. They’re so small you can fit one in a back pack.

8. The look pretty cool.

And yes, “looking cool” is an important feature. When you’re working on a low-budget video project, I think a professional atmosphere is good for the moral of the cast and crew. So I really like these lights. But they do have a few problems:

1. They’re not cheap. These lights cost me $179 each. You can order them here, BTW.

2. The light they emit is incredibly STARK. They have zero warmth to them. You’ll need to carefully white balance and color correct your footage so it doesn’t look like you shot it in a prison.

3. The lights I ordered didn’t come with stands. You’ll need to order them separately. This one works fine.

4. Even on the lowest setting, the lights give off strong shadows. You’ll need to diffuse the light somehow.

To be honest, at first these lights were kind of frustrating Sometimes they would work great and sometimes the looked like crap. It took me a little trial and error but I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of them. I’ll throw one more numbered list at you. Here are some tips for getting better footage out of your LED panels.

1. Buy two of them. Trust me, they work better in pairs.

2. Set them up far from the subject. The farther away the lights are, the better. If you put them to close it will look like you’re shooting a horror movie.

3. Use white umbrellas to diffuse the light. Wax paper or Parchment paper should help too.

4. Crank the lights up as bright as they go and then bounce the light off a ceiling or wall.

5. Use them with natural sunlight!

I’ve found that these LED panels work great when you have some natural sunlight in your scene. If an open window is your main light source, you can use the light to fill in the shadows. Seriously, it works like a charm since the sun and the LEDs are the same “color temperature.” Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Below is my entry for Home Run Inn Pizza’s Halloween video contest. People were supposed to create scary stories that involved HRI Pizza. I lit this whole scene with 2 LED panels and the sun. And I mean every shot in this video was lit with the LED lights; even the wide shot of the exterior of the house:

Click the image to watch...if you dare.

To a causal viewer, the lighting in this video would probably seem totally natural. But trust me, without the LED panels it would have looked like garbage. Take the shot of the ghost for example. You can see that the sunlight is coming from behind him. So without an LED light shining right on him, his front would have been totally dark. But I didn’t need to bathe the guy in artificial light. I only had the LED panel on at about 30%. And check out the shot of the skeleton in the kitchen. Most of the light in that scene was coming from the kitchen window. But the LED was able to fill in the shadows that the sun created.

Ok, sure…I know that there are a lot of lights that could yield similar results. I could have stuck a 300 Watt bulb in a paper “china ball” lantern and the effect would be about the same. But the LED panels are a lot more precise and you can “sculpt” the light since the panels have barn doors on them. Plus, a gigantic China Ball can’t fit in tight spaces like the LED panel can. So if you have a few hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket, I suggest ordering an LED panel and trying it out. After you get the hang of it you’ll want to stick it in a bag and bring it to every shoot you do.

Oh by the way…did you see what I did there when I used my Home Run Inn pizza video as an example? It was my crass attempt to get a few votes for my entry. Voting in that contest runs until the 27th and to vote, all you have to do is log in to facebook and click the vote button. So please do vote if you have 15 seconds to spare. If I get in the top 15, I’ll win free pizza for a year! Also, be sure to watch the video. Views don’t matter, I just think it’s pretty funny.

Archive for the ‘Tips and Tricks’ Category

Sample Crash the Super Bowl release form

How to get unlimited, real youtube views

Putting together a cheap-o Halloween make-up kit

LED Panels: My new favorite lights!

VCN's Twitter Updates

Having Contest Problems?

Favorite Posts

Video Contest Resources

A-Hole Hall of Fame

Recent Comments

Posts of the Past