Yep, even ear plug companies are running video contests these days! Hearos brand ear plugs announced the winners of their “Pretty in Pink” video contest on wednesday and all of the selected videos are pretty decent. Here’s the entry that took the top prize, Caution, it’s kind of loud.

Grand Prize Winner. Prize: $5,000

Once again, a video featuring white people rapping comes out on top.  The submissions that took 2nd place ($1,500) and 3rd Place ($750) are actually pretty slick and worth checking out.  But the entry I really want to spotlight is the one that came in 5th.  What you are about to see is one of the most elaborate video contest entries ever made.  It’s not especially hilarious or anything but trust me, this shit is bananas.

5th Place Winner.  Prize: An ipad.

Is that a fucking masterpiece or what!!?  I’m sure they recycled some actors but by my sloppy count, I saw about 80 different people in that video!  I’m guessing these guys threw a filming party and invited everyone they knew to act as crazed extras.  But I know a lot of people and it’d still be nearly impossible for me to get 30 of my friends in one place on the same afternoon.  And the action everyone was doing was just ingenious.  Did you notice the guy at the very end who was about to repel off the balcony?

Now… think of all the work and trouble and expense that went into that video and now imagine how the filmmakers and their friends must have felt when they found out that all they had won was a $500 ipad.  That prize is an insult for a video like that!  So why didn’t this video at least win one of the top cash prizes?  I’m guessing they got the boobie prize because they made one giant mistake.  They used (what I assume to be) copyrighted music and sound effects.  The rules of the hearos contest specifically prohibited “music, image and/or artwork that you did not create.” These folks seem like a talented bunch but there is no way they produced the angelic music heard during the second half of the video.  It had to have been pulled from a movie soundtrack or something.  So let this be a lesson to all of you!  No matter how awesome your video is, contest judges can’t pick it if it breaks the rules and uses content that other people own the rights to.

2/20 UPDATE: That elaborate party-themed entry was created by a film group called Team Awesome Seattle.  They have credits for their video on youtube and they list 38 actors.  So I guess they used everyone more than once but 38 actors in one video is pretty impressive.  It looks like the group has shot a lot of video contest entries in the last year.  If you’re interested, you can see more of their work here.