Like I said a few posts back I haven’t entered a video contest that used public-votes to determine its winners in quite a while because those type of contests almost always devolve into chaos. And it’s also been a while since I did a post about another filmmaker’s attempts to win a vote-based contest. But long-time VCN reader Tim O. sent me link to his entry in Sprint’s “Epic Contest” and it’s so good it deserves a plug.
The Epic Contest is actually using a vote-based contest model that I don’t mind so much; voters pick a bunch of finalists and then those finalists go on to be judged by the sponsor. Well that’s the way it normally works. In this case, 10 finalists are screened by Captain Explosion, AKA Michael Bay and he picks one, $25,000 winner. Videos submitted to this contest where supposed to be epic in nature. Here’s Tim O.’s entry. To view it and vote for him, just click this image.
Click here to see a seriously epic contest entry
That was so tight it’s disgusting. It looks like “Epic Fall” is one of the top rated videos at the moment and if it makes it to the top 10 I think Mr. Bay will be hard pressed to choose a better winner. Plus it’s got smashing concrete and slow motion in it and that dude loves that shit.
The contest website records your IP address so you’re only able to vote once per day. It’s a pretty effective system. But apparently, this contest was beset by a lot of other problems. A LOT of people assumed that “epic” was code for “violent” and went out and shot graphic action scenes. But those folks all broke the #1 rule of video contest filmmaking; they didn’t read the rules before they started working on their entries. The rules state that videos “must not depict any dangerous activities or situations.” And here’s a bigger chunk of the rules:
“Submissions cannot communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which Sponsor wishes to associate. Sponsor, judges reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify any Submission that, in their sole opinion, refers, depicts or in any way reflects negatively upon the Sponsor, the Contest or any other person or entity, or does not comply with these requirements or these Official Rules”
So all the eager beavers out there that shot action-filled, Bad Boys-esque shoot ‘em ups wound up having their videos disqualified. At least you have the chance to learn from their mistakes. Remember, always read the rules before you shoot. I know most contest rules read like stereo instructions but you have to read them. Because you can’t win a contest if you don’t make a legitimate entry, now can you?
