So….this was a video contest about ass cancer. It was sponsored by the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada (say THAT five times fast) and the goal was to create a PSA that would encourage people to get screened for the aforementioned disease. I like really weird, quirky contests so I was very, very close to entering one this. I had two hilarious ideas but I never actually filmed them. That’s because the ideas were a little too hilarious. When creating a PSA about the human butt, you have to strike exactly the right note. Did the winning video hit that note? You be the judge:
PSA contest winner. Prize: $2,500 (Canadian)
The end is kind of like a cliffhanger, isn’t it? The guy just stood there and I was expecting something to happen…but nothing did. I once had a screenwriting teacher that said that an effective final scene should leave the audience imagining what happens next. So I’ve got to hand it to the director of the winning PSA. He got me to imagine what happened after the screen went black.
The Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Alliance announced the winners of their AMD Awareness video contest this week. This was a big one. First place was $10,000, second was $2,000 and third and fourth place was $1,000 each. The point of the contest was pretty straightforward; make a video explaining what AMD is, what the symptoms are and encourage people to get tested. Here’s the winner:
The AMD website said that “more than 40” entries were received for this contest. Since this was kind of a serious topic, that’s a pretty good number. After all, shooting a PSA about people losing their vision isn’t really as fun as making a Butterfinger commercial. Still, I’m surprised more people didn’t go after this one. Since there were 4 cash prizes, anyone who entered would have about a 1 in 4 chance of winning at least a thousand dollars. And you’d have a 1 in 40-something chance of winning 10 grand. Those are amazing odds when you think about it.
If you’ve entered a few video contests but never won one, the best advice I can give is for you to pick your battles more carefully. After watching so many contests play out I’ve realized that most filmmakers who do enter these contests set their price tags way, way too high. I don’t understand why hundreds of people are winning to gamble a Saturday afternoon shooting an entry for a huge-money contest but shooting an entry for a $5,000 contest isn’t worth their time. Just look at the Crash the Superbowl contest. 4,000+ people entered that one last year because millions of dollars were up for grabs. People spent lots of money and time making amazing entries that only had a 1 in 675 chance of making it to the finals. And this year, all but 1 finalist entry won a big cash prize after they scored well on the Ad meter. So the other finalists walked away with just $25K in cash.
So what is smarter to enter? The contest where you have a 1 in 40 chance of winning $10K or the contest where you have a 6 in 4,000 chance of winning $25K…and then a 1 in 2 chance of having your commercial air during the superbowl…and then a 3 in 60 chance of being rated one of the top spots of the game and winning the BIG money?
Whenever I see a contest that’s got really confusing instructions or is about a really unappealing subject I always seriously consider entering. Why? Because if I think the instructions are confusing and if I think that the topic is unappealing then probably 90% of filmmakers will feel the same way. If a contest is hard to enter, enter it. It might take a lot of time and research to get a strong concept together but if you do a half-way decent job the sponsor will be thrilled that they got at least one non-crappy entry.
I mention all this because for the last few days I have been trying to wrap my brain around a contest called AntiHIVirus. Yes…it’s a video contest about HIV. Specifically, the goal is for filmmakers to create PSAs about HIV prevention.
But here’s the catch; the ads are to be aimed at an international audience. Therefore, contestants are encouraged to use little or NO DIALOGUE.
This is a very, very attractive contest to enter. Here’s why:
The winners are picked by judges
There is no public voting
There are three top prizes: $5K, $3K and $2K
The subject matter and the no dialogue thing will discourage a lot of people from entering.
There is one big “con” to this contest though. All entries are hidden until after the submission period ends. So you don’t know if 2 people have entered or 200 people have entered. But really, who the heck wants to make a dialogue-free spec PSA about HIV?? I shoot video contest entries for topics that I think will be fun to cover. And this contest does not seem fun at all.
After days of trying to think of a good concept for this one I’m throwing in the towel. The deadline to enter is October 13th. Can you come up with something by then?
Video contests can get pretty ugly. If you're having a problem with a contest let us know! Maybe we can kick a little ass on your behalf. E-mail us at Videocontestnews@gmail.com.
