2012 June | Video Contest News - Featuring News about Video Contests!

Mofilm offers $49,000 in production grants in new Durex contest

Posted by Dan L. on June 27th, 2012

Mofilm has already paid out close to half a million dollars in production grants this year but this week they announced that they’ve got $49,000 set aside for just one category in in their new 2012 London contest. The product? Durex Condoms. I’ve never seen a video contest for condoms before so this is virgin territory (no pun intended) for crowdsourcers. Plus the concept that Durex wants everyone to work off of is great. Here are the details:

Durex is not only about great sex, importantly it’s also about great relationships. A global study revealed an interesting statistic, 69% of the times that respondents had sexual activity for the first time, it was planned. That means that 31% of first time sexual activity was unplanned or spontaneous. We would like you to make a film about these other 31% of times to remind people to ‘be prepared for the unexpected: Always carry a Durex’.

We want you to create either a 15 second, 30 second or 60 second film for a new Durex youth product, which is passionate, playful and a little provocative, funny, smart, inspiring & open-minded. Please be very cautious about the tone, manner and mandatories in the brief. Most importantly, it must not be pornographic, be politically driven or explicit in nature.

I’m guessing that you already have a funny idea in mind, right? There’s like a billion different ways to work with the “prepare for the unexpected” angle. I’d probably want to enter this category even if Mofilm & Durex weren’t offering to front some of the production costs. In all, 35 grants will be paid out. But different amounts are being offered depending on how long your film is going to be:

15 second films: $1,000 x 14 grants
30 second films: $1,500 x 14 grants
60 second films: $2,000 x 7 grants

If you have an idea for a short film about Durex condoms you can apply for a production grant to help pay for your submission right here: http://www.mofilm.com/competitions/london-2012/durex.html You will have to fill out a Non-Disclosure Agreement though before you can even read the brief. (I haven’t done that yet. I figured I should write this post before I promised not to reveal any details of the contest.) Once you submit your NDA you’ll have until July 13 to submit a script. And oh yeah…if you actually win the contest you’ll get $8,000 and a trip for 2 to London. There are a bunch of runner up prizes too but you can head to the contest page if you want the full story.

Why do youtube view counts freeze at 301?

Posted by Dan L. on June 26th, 2012

Youtube absolutely fascinates me. My inner video geek gets psyched every time the site makes even the tiniest of changes. I’ll never forget that fateful day when youtube suddenly started playing videos in HD! And oh man….when the 100MB file size restriction was lifted it freaking changed my life. But one of my favorite things about youtube is that it’s sort of got an air of mystery to it. No one outside of the company really knows how the site does certain things. For example, if everyone knew exactly what constituted a “real” view it would be easier for jerks to fraudulently inflate their view counts.

But for once someone from youtube has decided to go on record and explain one of the site’s weirdest quirks. In this video by , we finally learn why view counter for some videos often freeze at 301.

So to all you goofballs who are still trying to “reload and refresh” your videos until they become “viral” hits, you can stop. That trick may have worked back in 2005 but the days of eacy fake views is long gone. Now if you want to get youtube views you actually have to make an entertaining video. Or you could just hire some guys in China to generate a 10,000 views for five bucks. I’m actually working on an article about how you can spot fake or purchased youtube views so if you’re into youtube talk, be sure to check back here next week for the full story.

Ecos Detergent’s “Get Washed” winners

Posted by Dan L. on June 20th, 2012

Man, early summer is really a slow time for “video contest news.” I’ve been looking for interesting story ideas for the last few days but I haven’t seen anything that’s especially post-worthy. Well…I guess I could just post the video that won the Ecos “Get Washed” contest. Ok, so this spring the makers of Ecos “all natural” detergent asked their fans to create a commercial for them that was good enough to air on TV. There was a public voting phase to determine the finalists and then judges picked the ultimate winners. Here’s the video that won the top prize.

Grand Prize Winner. Prize: $10,000:

Apparently that was shot with an actual, old-fashioned 8MM camera. The video kind of has a quaint charm to it but I was really surprised by this pick. It’s not something that Ecos could ever air on TV, is it? I guess they must have given up on the “make our TV commercial” plan. Oh well, it’s too nice outside to care. Two other videos won runner up prizes and you can see them . Or you could just go for a walk around the block. I recommend the latter option.

When will Doritos announce the 2013 Crash the Super Bowl contest?

Posted by Dan L. on June 16th, 2012

Man, I haven't bought a bag of these in a while.

The start of the 2012-2013 NFL season is now just three months away so I think it’s finally time to start thinking about the new installment of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest. Actually, I know that a lot of you guys have been thinking about the contest for months. According to my traffic stats, during April and May, dozens of people a week visited VCN for the first time after googling phrases like “doritos commercial contest 2013” and “when does the Crash the Super Bowl contest start?”

So when will we know the details of the 2013 Crash? Well, Fritolay keeps the details of the contest top secret until early fall. Frankly, we don’t even know for sure if there will be a 2012-2013 installment of the CTSB contest. But last year’s contest was a massively gigantic success; one fan-made Doritos commercial ( was ranked the best commercial of the year on USA Today’s ad meter and another CTSB ad () was ranked the best spot of the game in a (sort of bogus) facebook poll. So two teams of filmmakers won million dollar bonuses and Doritos got a mountain of free publicity. So I don’t think Doritos will be walking away from this incredibly successful franchise. And why should they? It’s been working great for them and each installment of the contest is bigger than the last. Last year Doritos received about 6,000 submissions! Can you imagine the backlash from their fans if they tried to skip the contest this year?

If the Crash is coming back for 2013, the planning has got to be well under way at Fritolay HQ. But we probably won’t hear any details until the end of September. Last year, Doritos launched the contest on September 27th, they started accepting entries on October 3rd and the deadline was November 21st. So if they stick to the same timeline you’ve only got 5 1/2 months to work on your entries!!! Better get crackin’, buddy! Ok but seriously, you really should wait until the contest is actually announced before you start working on your ads. Like I said, the 2013 installment isn’t a sure thing yet. Plus you never know what kind of new twists Doritos could add to this year’s contest. You don’t want to spend half the summer working on an epic commercial about Nacho Cheese Doritos only to find out in September that this year, Fritolay only wants ads about Cool Ranch Doritos.

VCN will let you know as soon as we hear any new details about the 2013 Crash the Super Bowl contest. If this is your first time visiting the site, be sure to bookmark us or subscribe to our blog feed!

Speedstick’s “Don’t Sweat it, Hande it” winners

Posted by Dan L. on June 13th, 2012

Yo, WTF is going on over on Tongal? In the last few weeks there’s been just an avalanche of new contests being announced on that site. I just checked and they’ve got 13 open contests right now. I really need to do more entries for them. One contest I meant to enter was the “Don’t Sweat it, Handle it” contest that Tognal ran for SpeedStick. But of course I forgot and the contest is long over. Here’s the pretty funny video that won the grand prize.

First Place Winner. Prize: $12,500:

And a special congratulations goes out to friend of VCN Jared Anderson who scored the #2 spot in this contest!

Second Place Winner. Prize. $4,000

Funny stuff. Actually there were a lot of great winners in this contest. You can see them all here. If you feel like a dope for missing this one, guess what….Tongal is running a second “Don’t Sweat it, Handle it” contest right now. But this time the winning video will feature a voice over from actor Danny Purdi who of course plays Abed on Community. Details for that one are right here.

Sweet: Canon’s new T4i DSLR will feature a flip-out touch screen and auto-focus

Posted by Dan L. on June 11th, 2012

Canon's new T4i

My Canon T2i is now 2 years old and it still takes damn good video. But for the last 6 months I’ve been shooting with an HVX200; not because the picture quality is better but because shooting with a DSLR is a freaking hassle. There are really only 3 reasons I’ve been using my HVX; it has a flip out view screen (very helpful if you’re filming yourself), it has autofocus and I can record stereo audio.

My dream video camera would combine the best attributes of a DSLR (sharp, film-like HD) and the best features of a prosumer camcorder. Oh….and it would be nice if this magic device cost less than a thousand bucks. Well, I guess video camera dreams really can come true. On Friday, Canon announced the details of their new T4i and I’ll probably be buying one as soon as they’re available.

The T4i comes with pretty much every feature I’ve ever wanted to see in a DSLR. For starters, it’s got a flip out view screen (just like the 60D) that also happens to be a touch screen. I have an ipad and I swear, every once in a while I will put my fingers on my T2i’s screen and try to enlarge the picture. So a real touch screen will help me look like less of an idiot. According to Canon’s press release, the camera will also record “Incredible Stereo Sound.” But I would probably still record audio desperately to my Zoom recorder. If this camera really can capyure incredible audio it would be a major advancement for the T-i line. But for me the most exciting feature is the “silent and Continuous Autofocus.” When I’m not shooting video contest entries I’m shooting documentary projects….and it is incredibly frustrating to try and shoot on the fly with a DSLR. You can’t capture reality if it’s constantly going in and out of focus.

So I am very psyched about the T4i. I’m hoping to shoot a documentary short this winter and I have been searching and searching for just the right camera. (I’ll be filming a lot of action outside.) So I think this is just what I’ve been looking for. Here’s some info about when you can buy one of these and how much it will cost:

The EOS Rebel T4i Digital SLR camera will be available at the end of June for an estimated retail price of $849.99 for the body alone; $949.99 bundled with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens kit and a Movie Kit bundle for $1199.00 with the new EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens.

I don’t know a lot about lenses but I do know that a 18-135mm would have a crazy range. You could do some really interesting stuff with that much zoom. So the “Movie Bundle Kit” sounds like it might be the best option.

Gain’s milllion dollar winners donate $100K to charity

Posted by Dan L. on June 8th, 2012

Don't get excited....Gain will never run this contest again

Remember Gain Detergent’s huge “I Use Gain and I Smell Like Million Bucks” video contest? Well the two guys who won the million dollar grand prize last summer, Lance Merkley and Doug Browning of Richland, WA just received their first payment of $100,000 from Proctor & Gamble and they did something pretty amazing with their winnings; they gave every penny away to various charities. Hey, I’m sure you would have done the exact same thing if you had won…right? This local news story has all the details:

This giant donation is pretty damn admirable for a few reasons. First, these guys were under no obligation to do this. I specifically remember that Gain prohibited finalists from promising to donate any of their winnings to charity. Second, Gain is probably paying these guys in 10 annual installments of $100,000. If I won a million bucks I’d like to think that I’d donate at least 10% but I know there’s no way I could just give away 100% of my first payment. I don’t think anyone would have faulted these guys for giving away 10% percent of each check they got. After all, they’re probably going to have to wait a whole year before they get another check! Don’t they have credit card debt or student loans or mortgages to pay off?

Roomba’s iRobot Dance Revolution winners

Posted by Dan L. on June 6th, 2012

Dagnabbit. I forgot to enter Roomba’s contest. To enter, all you had to do was shoot a video of yourself doing the robot to roomba’s new theme song. 20 people won robotic vacuums that retail for about $600. Vacuuming by hand is for dorks who aren’t awesome enough to own robotic slaves. So I really wanted to win one of those things. Oh well. There was a public vote phase and here’s the video that came in first. Caution: After you watch this video you’re probably going to have the roomba-roomba song stuck in your head for ~~the next few days~~ the rest of your life.

I have to say, the face the robot guy makes at the 0:40 is freaking brilliant. There wasn’t really any extra prize for winning the public vote so I hope Roomba sends that guy two vacuums so he can wear one on each foot and ride around town like he’s the king of the robots.