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

A Go Pro + some helium balloons + fishing line = cheap aerial photography

Posted by Dan L. on September 25th, 2012

Last year I bought a little GoPro camera and I sent it up into “space” using a weather balloon. The footage from 100,000 feet up was really cool but the best stuff was recorded right after take off. Since my little space balloon adventure I’ve wanted to see if I could send a GoPro up just 500 feet or so and get some overhead shots. It looks like I’m not the first person to have that idea because today I found a tutorial that explains how to do aerial photography with a GoPro, some party balloons and a fishing pole:

The footage that the guy in the video shot is pretty hazy but it did look steady enough to be usable. One of these days I’m going to set up a rig like this and get some areal shots for a video contest entry. Contest judges love crazy camera tricks! No seriously….they do. Judges always like it when it’s obvious that someone put a lot of thought and work into their entry. If you slip a cool overhead shot into one of your videos, someone is going to be impressed with your creativity.

AND NOW, A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Helium is a non-renewable natural resource. It’s the most abundant element in the universe but it’s very hard to come by here on earth. Most of it has to be extracted from pockets of gas in underground caverns. The human race is using helium at an absurd rate and we are on track to exhaust the Earth’s Helium supplies in less than 30 years. Scientists estimate that if the government sold helium at an appropriate market rate, a single “Happy Birthday” balloon would cost about $100. In the next few years we’re going to be hearing a lot of stories about our diminishing Helium supply. So if you want to send your GoPro up in the air, you better do it soon.

Dortios and Michael Bay reveal the details of the 2013 Crash the Super Bowl contest!

Posted by Dan L. on September 18th, 2012

DORITOS: They’re exploding with flavor!

Dortios is scheduled to announce the details of the 2012-2013 Crash the Superbowl contest during a webcast on Crashthesuperbowl.com at 8PM EST on Wednesday, September 19th. But a few hours ago, USA Today spoiled the surprise and blabbed about all the stuff that Doritos was going to reveal tomorrow night. So…SPOILER ALERT: If you want to wait another 20 hours to hear some specifics about this year’s contest, look away now!

Ok, nobody really wants to wait until the webcast, right? Good. Here are the basic facts about the 2013 Crash the Super Bowl contest:

1. Doritos is the only brand involved in the contest this year.

2. FIVE finalists will be selected in January.

3. The public will vote and TWO winning ads will air during the Super Bowl.

4. If your ad scores the #1 spot on the USA Today ad meter you win a million dollar bonus.

None of those facts are especially shocking. All those things pretty much happen every year. But there are two NEW pieces of big news to report:

1. If you make the finals and if your ad is the highest ranked Doritos commercial of the game you’ll will win a chance to work with Michael Bay on the next Transformers movie. What kind of job you would have isn’t clear yet. I doubt you’ll be a producer or anything but hopefully this will be an actual, meaty job where you can get real on-set experience. It would really suck if the winner was just a glorified PA. I think the dream position would be as a second unit director. If the winner got to direct a few action shots they could get into the DGA and they’d have an instant career in the film industry. That would be a hell of a good prize.

2. This year Doritos is going to try and involve non-filmmakers in the contest. They will be encouraging people to offer up their homes, pets etc. to producers who are shooting entries for the contest. This will happen via a special section on Doritos’ facebook page.

That’s all the news I’ve got to report right as of 11:00PM on the 18th. I will update this post after the webcast tomorrow night!

———–

POST-WEBCAST UPDATE: It’s Wednesday night and I just watched the big CTSB webcast announcement. Basically it was just a pre-recorded video that featured the guy in charge of the Crash, Jeff Klein and Michael Bay. Bay took Klein on a little tour of his production offices and they talked a tiny bit about strategy. I only learned one bit of new info from the video; Michael Bay will be one of the official Crash the Super Bowl judges this year. Personally, I think that’s fantastic news. I know that a lot of CTSB fans (myself included) are unhappy that the same people and ideas wind up winning this contest every year. So maybe Bay will help Doritos make some bolder and more unique choices this time. The full webcast is now online and you can watch it .

After the webcast ended, CrashtheSuperbowl.com disappeared! It now looks like the entire contest WILL take place on facebook! Yes, Crashthesuperbowl.com is dead and gone. Just a few minutes ago, Doritos changed their facebook page. It now looks like this:

BOOM.

When you click on that Crash the Super Bowl tab it takes you to a “Get Started” page. I’m sort of amazed that the contest is really going to be just a gigantic facebook app this year but I did totally call it! It’s really a brilliant move on fritolay’s part. For the next 4 months, millions of facebook feeds will be clogged with links to Crash the Super Bowl entries. When you upload your submission I bet all of your facebook friends will automatically see a link. If an average of 5 people are involved with every CTSB submission and if they each have an average of 150 facebook friends and if 6,000 people enter the contest this year (same as last year) that means Crash the Superbowl entries will probably show up in the newsfeeds of about 4.5 million people!!! The amount of free advertising Doritos will get out of this move boggles the mind!

The official rules are now live and on facebook. Here are the key details you need to know:

1. The contest opens on OCTOBER 8th. The deadline for entries is NOVEMBER 16th.

2. There will be a star-rating system “for entertainment purposes only.”

3. A public vote will choose 1 of the 5 commercials that will air during the big game.

4. A panel of judges will choose a second commercial to air too.

5. The finalist prizes are the same as last year; $25,000 and a trip for 2 to the Super Bowl.

6. The USA Today ad meter prizes are back too. If your ad lands in the #1, #2 or #3 spot on the ad meter you’ll win a bonus of $1,000,000, $600,000, or $400,000.

7. There is NO million dollar bonus for an ad that is ranked #1 on the FACEBOOK ad meter poll. Doritos did this last year and the makers of the ad “Sling Baby” managed to win the online vote. But they won because they had a small army of fans give bad scores to the other ads in the competition. It was really uncool and I’m guessing that’s why the facebook vote got scrapped this year. It was just too easy to manipulate the results.

8. If you win and take the Transformers 4 gig you’ll get an extra $50,000.

You can read all the fine print for yourself here:

This year I’m going to attempt to watch as many CTSB entries as possible and then I’ll post my favorite entries. If you shoot an ad, be sure to send me a link. GOOD LUCK, EVERYBODY!!

Genie’s “Open Sesame” winner

Posted by Dan L. on September 14th, 2012

Any chucklehead can shoot a video contest entry for a “fun” product like Doritos or Legos or Butterfingers. But it takes more than a little bit of talent to create a video that demonstrates your deep and enthusiastic love for a garage door opener. I looked at the listing for Genie Garage Door’s “Open Seasame” video contest and for me this topic rated about a 1 on the excitement scale. But I guess it pays to be passionate about weird stuff! Here’s the video that wound up winning the grand prize:

Open Sesame Winner. Prize: $5,000 + a new Genie garage door opener:

Click to view

The guy who created that video is “Peter S. of Nashville, TN.” He’s a regular video contest filmmaker and it seems like I come across one of his winning entries once or twice a year. So Peter S, if you’re out there and reading this, congrats and keep up the good work.

2 weeks left to enter the Sikh Coalition’s video contest

Posted by Dan L. on September 13th, 2012

While you’re waiting to get the full details of the latest installment of the Crash the Super Bowl contest, I suggest you get a little practice in and enter a smaller contest first. Every year the Sikh Coalition runs a video competition about diversity and the Sikh religion. As we learned this summer, ignorance about different people and different religions can lead to terrible things. So not only can you win some money in this contest, maybe you’ll be able to spread some information and positive feelings with your entry. Here are the details:

The purpose of the Diversity Video Competition is to promote understanding and encourage dialogue on civil rights issues, stereotypes, and myths surrounding minority groups (with a particular anchor in the Sikh experience).

It is through this artistic dialogue between submitters and the viewing public that the Coalition hopes to combat ignorance, and encourage all to embrace their diversity.

Competition Topic: My Crown – My Faith: How does it feel to be a Sikh? Why don’t you try! Walk a mile in our shoes!

Film-makers are encouraged to create a 5 minute video (or less) which depicts a non-Sikh adorning/wearing a Sikh turban for a day, and presenting himself/herself as a Sikh. The turban is a Sikh article of faith, and should always be treated with respect. The film should capture the reactions of passersby, friends, and family members. Pre and post interviews with main characters are encouraged.

The top prize in this contest is $1,500 and second place is $750. The deadline for entries is September 3oth so you’ve still got three weekends to plan and shoot something cool for this one. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/our-programs/education/diversity-video-competition

Butterfinger’s “Last Spokesperson on Earth” winner!

Posted by Dan L. on September 10th, 2012

sweeeet.

Yesterday Butterfinger announced that a very nice young lady from Chicago named Anna H. was the winner of their Last Spokesperson on Earth video contest! I’m super psyched about this news because not only is Anna a friend of mine, I helped her create her entry. The prize in this contest is $15,000 and we’re splittin’ that sucker right down the middle! Actually, Anna gets a bonus prize all to herself; Butterfinger is sending her to Las Vegas for the Apocalypse!

I should probably explain what the hell that means. The Last Spokesperson on Earth competition was (sarcastically) based on the premise that the Mayans were right and that the world is going to end on December 21st, 2012. (Oh noes, my birthday!) So Butterfinger held video auditions for a new post-apocalyptic spokesperson. Basically you were supposed to demonstrate how you would sell Butterfingers during the end of the world. Butterfinger didn’t really give any other instructions but the website hinted that the world would end during an alien invasion. So Anna wrote a super cute song about how you can survive such an attack. Here’s her submission:

Last Spokesperson on Earth Winner. Prize: $15,000 + a trip for 2 to Las Vegas:

Click to Watch

Man, was that song perfect or what? It’s been stuck in my head all day. As for the video, I’ve found that it never hurts to feature a ridiculous amount of the sponsor’s product in your contest entries. So I bought about $60 worth of Butterfingers at Sam’s Club just for that one shot of Anna filling up back of survival supplies. Guess it was money well spent!

It’s back! The Crash The Super Bowl contest returns on September 19th!

Posted by Dan L. on September 6th, 2012

It’s on, mother f%&#er.

It’s official! On Wednesday night Doritos announced that The Crash the Super Bowl contest will indeed return for the 2012-2013 season. This will be the 6th time Fritolay has run this promotion (7 if you count the musical version from 2008) and it sounds like they’ve got some big changes in store this year. So far, no specific details have been released other than this brief announcement that was posted to Dortitos’ official facebook page:

“BIG NEWS! Crash the Super Bowl is BACK. This marks the 7th straight year of hilarious Super Bowl commercials created by you guys. It’s definitely our favorite part of the game. Check back here on September 19 for more details and some even bigger news.”

I don’t know what the “bigger news” can be but I do have one theory about how the CTSB contest might be different this year. Here’s a link to the Crash the Super Bowl website: www.crashthesuperbowl.com Click it and see what happens.

Did you click it? No? Good for you. Don’t ever let a blog tell you what to do. Anyways, the link sends you right to Dortios’ Facebook page and not to the Crash the Superbow website. This could mean one of two things:

1. The re-direct is temporary while the folks at Doritos get the CTSB website ready.

2. The entire Crash the Super Bowl contest is going to be run through facebook this year.

I can’t imagine how one facebook page could handle millions of views, thousands of video uploads and hundreds of thousands of votes but I’m sure an army of facebook geniuses could pull it off. Plus last year the CTSB contest did sort of have a facebook component to it since fans could vote for their favorite ads in USA Today’s online ad meter poll. It would be a big undertaking but the amount of free social media exposure Doritos would get would be mind-boggling.

Over the last month or so I’ve noticed that probably 500 people a week are visiting this website for the first time after googling phrases like “when will the Crash the Super Bowl contest be announced?” If you are new to VCN, be sure to bookmark us! We cover the Doritos contest like crazy every year and I even try and predict which ads will make the finals. (I’ve always managed to get a few right!) We’ll be posting more info about the 2013 contest as soon as we have it. So stay tuned…

UPDATE: According to Doritos: “Full details will be revealed during a not-to-be-missed announcement webcast taking place at www.crashthesuperbowl.com at 8 p.m. EDT / 5 p.m. PDT on Sept. 19, 2012. A recording of the event will be available on the Doritos Facebook page following the live announcement.”

VCN Sponsor Spotlight: 9/5/12

Posted by Dan L. on September 5th, 2012

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, once or twice a month I’m going to take some time to give a special shout-out to our sponsors. In this installment of the Sponsor Spotlight I thought I’d post some recent Poptent, Mofilm and Tongal winners from August.

Last month, the winners of Mofilm’s Lollapalooza competition gathered in Chicago for three days of music, parties and terrifying thunderstorms. During the Saturday afternoon concert the whole area was suddenly slammed by just a massive deluge of rain. The storm was so bad that everyone at the festival had to be evacuated so they wouldn’t get hit by lighting. So the Mofilm winners probably got a little wet but hey, at least they got a great story out of the experience! The top winner of the Lolla competition was an extremely well made ad for Sovereign by Raul B. Fernandez. For winning his category, Raul received a trip for 2 to Chicago and $8,000. And for winning the best of the fest award he received a statuette and a big bag of glory.

Click Abe’s face to watch

One of the biggest Poptent assignments of the summer turned out to be the Ahhmigo Drinks competition. Ahhmigo was only supposed to buy 4 videos for $7,500 each but they wound up buying 6 in total. I actually accepted this assignment and Ahhmigo even sent me a case of drinks that I could include in my video. I never shot anything for this one so right about now I’m feeling like a real idiot. (more so than usual.) Some pretty good videos wound up getting purchased but my favorite was created by friend of VCN and super-poptent champion Joe AKA Bisbinetts.

Tongal ran a bunch of big contests this summer but I think my favorite recent winner is the ad that took first place in Duck Tape’s Ship it in Style contest. It’s a cute little video that gets the message across nicely. It’s entitled Box Girl and was created MindFruit Studios. (love the name.) It’s got kind of a “Marcel the Shell with Shoes on” vibe. If you don’t know what that is, get your ass to youtube and prepare your mindfruit for a cuteness infusion. The prize for coming in first in the Duck Tape contest was $8,000.

Click Play to play (duh)

“I Need a New Appliance” video contest offers tons of prizes….literally

Posted by Dan L. on September 2nd, 2012

I could use a 2nd fridge just for ice cream and Diet Mountain Dew

I love video contests that offer multiple prizes. Winning one huge prize can be tough but it can be surprisingly easy to win runner-up prizes. And Every Appliance Part’s “I Need a New Appliance” video contest is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. They’re offering one huge prize package for the top winner but they’ve also got 10 other big prizes up for grabs. If you’re a video contest junkie it should be pretty easy for you to make one of the best 11 videos in this contest. For Glob’s sake, there are categories named “Best Superhero themed video” and “Best song and Dance video.” If half of these prizes aren’t won by Video Contest News readers I’m going to be severely disappointed. If I wasn’t currently running an ad for this contest I’d keep the details to myself and shoot entries for everyone in my family. Seriously…this is a very winnable contest. Here are the details;

Every Appliance Part, is a newly launched online appliance part store (www.everyappliancepart.com) which offers consumers one of the largest inventories of discounted appliance parts on the internet. Everyone could use at least one new appliance in their household, so in recognition of the grand opening, the company is offering a chance to win various new appliances by entering the I Need a New Appliance video contest.

The grand prize is a complete top of the line, luxurious stainless steel Whirlpool kitchen set (refrigerator, range and dishwasher) for the overall best video based on votes. All videos must be submitted by September 28, 2012, will be judged by the public and winners will be determined by the number of votes they receive for their submission on the www.everyappliancepart.com website.

So a pubic vote determines the grand prize winner. But judges will also pick 10 category winners and give them appliances too. The categories are….

-Most creative video/weirdest video;
-Most unique use for an appliance video;
-Best song and dance video;
-Best superhero themed video;
-Most creative way to keep an appliance working video; and
-Five of the best videos explaining why the contestant needs a new laundry appliance.

Entries must be 30 seconds to 3 minutes long and the deadline is October 12th. So if you need a new refrigerator or dishwasher or washing machine I suggest you try and win one before you go out and drop $1,200 at Sears. For more info about this contest, head here: contest.everyappliancepart.com