2013 July | Video Contest News - Featuring News about Video Contests!

Archive for July, 2013

Chevy and Mofilm want to air your work during the Oscars!

Posted by Dan L. on July 29th, 2013

Some video contests are so big that they deserve a post of their own. Earlier this month Mofilm announced that the ad that wins their new Chevy commercial contest will actually air during the 2014 Academy Awards. Having your work air on TV is the ultimate prize for any spec filmmaker but the fact this is going to happen in the middle of a commercial break during the Oscars makes this contest a must-enter. Just think about it….tens of thousands of the most important and influential people in the America film industry will be watching the Oscars next March. If you win the Chevy contest, maybe one of those agents, producers or investors will be so impressed with your work that they’ll want to sign you, hire your or dump some funding in your lap.

Of course, it’s important to note that if you win this contest you will technically earn “the chance” to see your work air during the 2014 Oscars. Mofilm has to phrase the prize that way for legal reasons. Even if the judges pick you as the winner, there’s always a chance that Chevy or CBS won’t be able to air the ad. I remember a few years ago a filmmaker won first place in a Mofilm-run Chevy contest but the actors in his video weren’t wearing seat belts. Legally, Chevy wasn’t allowed to exhibit that video anywhere, not even on Mofilm.com. In fact, that ad probably would have aired during the 2011 MLB All-Star game if the director had followed the safety guidelines listed in the contest brief. Because the winning ad didn’t conform to federal guidelines, Chevy aired the second place winner during the game and the actual first place winning ad has never seen the light of day. So if you’re going to enter the Oscar contest, be sure to read and follow the brief carefully!!

Aside from “the chance” to see your work air on TV, the grand prize winner will also take home $20,000. There are also a bunch of regional, runner-up prizes that range from $2,000 – $8,000. On top of that, Mofilm is also offering a ton of production grants to filmmakers who want to shoot submissions. (The deadline to apply for a grant is August 15th.) And here’s one more perk; if you apply for a production grant and Mofilm really likes your idea, you may receive notes and advice from a panel of notable mentors that include producer Jon Landau and one of my personal favorite directors, Spike Lee.

Like I’ve said, you still have about 2 weeks to work up a pitch for this contest. Follow this link to download and read the contest brief: http://www.mofilm.com/chevrolethollywood

GUEST POST: How to Create a Kick-Ass Music Video: Part Two

Posted by Dan L. on July 24th, 2013

Dan’s Note: Wednesday has arrived and so as promised, here’s the second half of director John Scalleta’s guide to creating a kick-ass music video. Here’s Part One in case you missed it. Let’s start things off with a music video that John’s company Motion Source produced for The Last Vegas track, Evil Eyes. Part Two begins below.

I’m back again and ready to take you through a whole new slew of details that you are going to need to consider when seeking to shoot a kickass music video. If you haven’t already read the first post in this series, I would urge you to do so now, as what you are about to read builds off of a foundation set there.

So what’s next? People, places, and things.

CREW

Before you have anything else, you are going to need a crew. If it’s a concept that is fairly simple to execute, you may only need an assistant of some sort; if your sights are set a little higher, there is a good chance that you are going to need a solid team to bring your vision to fruition. And, when no one is getting paid, it can be quite difficult to assemble said team; however, here are some suggestions:

• Work on other people’s projects. Scour Craigslist, talk to your friends in film school, and generally do whatever you need to do to locate a filmmaker in need of help. Indie filmmakers subscribe heavily to the philosophy that one hand washes the other; and if you help out a fellow brother in arms, there is a very, very good chance that they will help you out when the time comes.

• Use your friends. Your friends may not know anything about filmmaking, but they can sure as hell hold a reflector or lug gear around. Just make sure that you are fair to them, and don’t act like a ridiculous dictator. Additionally, you need to make sure that they understand you have a mission to accomplish, and that this isn’t just an extension of hanging-out. With this in mind, you’ll know the right friends to ask.

• Offer a cut of the take. If you are creating this video for a contest and there is money at stake, consider dividing up the pie. Offering major crew members a percentage of the winnings is often all that is needed to convince talented indie filmmakers to sign on. And, a lot of times the people that you invite to take part might have their own equipment that they would be willing to bring out for the video, as they now have a stake in the game.

And, one final note about crews. You may not have to pay them, but you sure as hell have to feed them. Pushing your crew to the limit and not tending to their basic animal needs does nothing but prove to them they are no more than a tool to you. Plus, hungry people are weak and grumpy–both bad things.

A word to the wise here: please avoid serving pizza or Jimmy John’s! These are too often the staple foods on set, and every filmmaker I have ever met is sick to death of them.

TALENT

Actors are a dime a dozen; good actors are like needles in a haystack; great actors are about as easy to locate as a unicorn. This being said, you are in luck! Your actors don’t need to memorize, and convincingly deliver, lines of dialogue; they simply need to emote. We all emote constantly, and most of us can be guided to emote in a particular style with a little bit of time and patience. The main criteria that I have when seeking talent for a music video is look: who can I find that has the appropriate look for the character that I envision? Remember, they don’t need to deliver dialogue like De Niro, they simply need to have the right look, and look the right way at the right moment.

Just as you dream of one day getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce music videos, actors fantasize about the day they will be cruising down the French Riviera in an electric yacht on the phone with Steven Spielberg. What I am trying to communicate here is that we all need to start somewhere–we all need to build a springboard to take us where we want to go. Actors, especially those starting out, will oftentimes agree to be a part of your project, because they understand the importance of building a portfolio. This being said, it is totally unacceptable to offer an actor a part in a project if you yourself are not 110% invested in it. If you are, in fact, 110% invested, actors will feel that and easily catch your passion.

So where can you find talent to fit the roles of your story?

• Craigslist. This is often the obvious first choice; however, I have to tell you that I have interacted with so many flakes via Craigslist that I have completely sworn it off at this point. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful with it, it simply means that you need to be careful. Before you commit to bring a Craigslister onto your project, ask to see some of their other work to validate that they are invested in their craft. Additionally, it helps to get on the phone with them and get a feel for whether they are a total weirdo flake or not.

• Model Mayhem. Having sworn off Craiglist, I tend to use Model Mayhem. If you have never visited Model Mayhem before, it is a site that seeks to facilitate collaborations between models, photographers, hair stylists and the like. The thing I’ve found is that most models are also aspiring actors; additionally, the users of Model Mayhem depend upon positive experiences and effective networking to build their career, and are therefore much more likely not to flake out on you.

• Anyone is game. Seriously, anyone. More often than not the talent in the videos that we produce is composed of friends, family, acquaintances, etc. Again, most people can be guided to emote, so you just need to make sure that you build enough time into your shoot day to successfully work with a non-professional. One word of warning here, as you probably already know, filmmaking saps massive amounts of time and energy, so it doesn’t pay to
bring out your high-maintenance sister who needs to be home by 8 to watch the Real Housewives. Find people that will not only be willing to go the distance, but will be excited to be running alongside you.

LOCATION

Alright, I know that I told you to go wild with the concepts you create–to get crazy artistic. But, if your vision dictates a location that is impossible for you to find, much less access, then your entire project is dead in the water. It is due to this that I oftentimes construct concepts around locations that I know I will be capable of accessing, or that I am fairly confident I can find and convince the owner to work with me on. I strongly, strongly, strongly suggest that you do the same. Sorry to come up a little hypocritical here, but location drives a video in my opinion.

Perhaps you find the perfect diner for your story, and convince the owner to let you shoot there after hours. Then, you show up the day of with equipment, crew, talent, and props, and the location owner gets cold feet. Well, that sucks! A situation like this isn’t isolated, it is the stuff of indie filmmaking nightmares. Therefore, if your initial interaction with a location owner feels a bit like pulling teeth, move on. You do not want to work with location owners who are anything but accepting or excited about your project. This may sound a bit improbable, but truth be told, there are a lot of wonderful people out there who would be extremely excited about their space being featured in a video.

Just remember to be respectful to, and upfront with, a location owner. If you are going to be shooting an orgy sequence, you need to let them know this, because sooner or later they are going to find out anyway. Plus, being less than transparent just makes you a jerk. You are asking for a major favor here, and owe it to the grantee of that favor to do whatever is in your power to make the process as easy and non-threatening as possible.

Another tactic that you can use to inspire excitement and acceptance in a location owner is to barter your services. You know how to shoot video right? Well, what about putting that skill into service for them in exchange for access? If you need to shoot a scene in a salon, perhaps the owner of said salon would be extremely interested in having a profile video for their website made in trade. This is, of course, quite a big commitment in terms of time and energy, but who ever said art came without suffering? Remember, one hand washes the other.

And, a final point about locations: make certain that they meet the technical requirements of your shoot. You may find the perfect motel for your horror themed video, but does this rickety old building have the power to accommodate the lights you will be using, or will you be blowing fuses left and right? These are the kinds of questions you need to answer before you ever consider a location a reality.

PROPS

So you’ve got your people and places, now you need your things.

Props work hand in hand with your location to conjure the world that your story takes place in. If said story takes place in a fairly mundane world, you may have every prop you will need scattered throughout your house. One the other hand, if you are telling a tale of Medieval intrigue, you are definitely going to need to go on a quest for props.

Recently, we completed a music video for the band The Last Vegas, which was predominantly a period piece. This meant that we needed to drum up a number of specific props, many of which weren’t readily available to us. Therefore, we had to get creative, and here is how we did that:

• Witchdoctor Hat: Where do you find one of these suckers? We called upon a particularly crafty friend of ours to take a party-store top hat and turn it into precisely what we needed. Not only did the prop turn our fantastic, but our friend had a great time creating it, and was super excited to see it featured in the video. We all have artsy friends, this is the time to call on their craft.

• Antique Slot Machines: In a desperate bid to find these ancient items we slapped a post up on Facebook looking for any friends that might be able to help us pull this off. Low and behold, the very creator of this site, Dan, has a close friend who collects these fossils. Not only were we able to score 2 period specific slot machines, but we also got 2 period specific extras in Dan and his friend Rod, who came out with the machines and gladly stepped in as
gambling den patrons.

• Showgirl Headdresses: Good old ebay for this one. Remember, you can find anything on ebay, and then you can find a cheaper knock-off that generally serves the purpose just as well.

• Voodoo Tabletop: This is a weird one, I know. All we did here was to ask around; not online, but in person. We asked friends and acquaintances if they had any idea of someone who might have an item like this. To our surprise, a friend of a friend of a friend threw an annual haunted house, and was more than happy to show-off the one-of-a-kind voodoo tabletop he had made as a prop.

This brings me to a very important tactic: one of the absolute best places to locate props are antique stores. Many of these places might as well have a sign hung out front that says “Prop House” rather than “Antique Market”, as they can be that valuable to the indie filmmaker. If you are polite and enthusiastic with the owners of one of these stores, they will often agree to rent or loan you pieces of their stock. However, this often takes developing a relationship. Let them know who you are, and why it is you do what you do. Show them some of your previous work, so that they can feel secure that you are legit. And, if need be employ the same trade suggested in the location section: produce a video for them.

People are often very excited about their things, especially when those things are unique. This means that they can be extremely protective of their possessions, but it also means that they can be surprisingly eager to have them showcased in a video. For instance, we have developed a number of contacts with collectors of antique and vintage cars, all for use within an upcoming project. These auto-lovers are totally into the idea that we are as excited about their darlings as they are. Show that excitement, and win over a potential donor.

That concludes our tour of what it takes to produce a kickass music video. There are so many other details that could be covered here, but if you adhere to the points covered in this post, and the previous, you will have a rock solid foundation to begin building off of. Beyond anything else, remember to use this as an opportunity to be fully creative; and have a flippin ball! Making music videos is a blast–now get out there and start shooting.

Good luck!

GUEST POST: How to Create a Kick-Ass Music Video: Part One

Posted by Dan L. on July 22nd, 2013

DAN’S NOTE: I’ve got a really great guest post for you guys today. Oh actually, I have half of a great guest post. This is Part One of director John Scaletta’s guide to creating a kick ass music video. John runs the production company Motion Source in the Chicago burbs and he’s created some really excellent video contest entries in the last two years. This Chevy ad that he shot for a Mofilm contest actually aired during the 2010 MLB AllStar game. John has also produced/directed a good number of music videos and his company’s latest creation is this video for the band The Last Vegas. I helped out as an extra for that shoot so watch for my cameo! (I’m drinking at the bar…as usual) A lot of bands are running music video contests these days so you should definitely read this tutorial before you try and enter one of those contests. Enjoy Part One and check back on Wednesday for Part Two.

There is no other form of video that I love making quite as much as music videos. There are two very simple reasons for this:

A.) Music videos are a short-term commitment. Yes, quite a bit of work goes into them; however, they are not the long-term, oftentimes grueling, marriage of a short film, documentary, or client project. Music videos are relatively quick to shoot, edit, and ship out into the world.

B.) There is no other form of video production that is as creatively freeing as music videos. Think about it, music videos are the most commercial of experimental art forms. People expect them to be innovative, avant-garde, and weird. Get excited, this is the one time that you are allowed to be pretentious!

Due to this love for music videos, my company, Motion Source, has produced quite a few over the last couple of years. It’s been a fun/stressful ride, and I want to share with you, brave VCN readers, the fruits of that journey.

So, without further ado, here are the ingredients for a kickass music video!

THE CONCEPT

The first thing that you will need to do is listen to song many, many, many times. Get a feeling for the emotions behind the music. Additionally, make sure that you have a copy of the lyrics on hand. If possible, try and discover what it was that motivated the songwriter to write this particular tune: not just what the lyrics are about, but what life forces shaped the track. All of this is your inspiration.

Now, with this inspiration coursing through your brain, it’s time to come up with a concept. There is no single method for concept generation, and everyone’s creative process tends to be slightly different; that being said, here are a few of the processes that I rely on:

• Dig into history. Retell a tale from the past, whether it be strange, uplifting, tragic, or beautiful. An example of this is the most recent video that we produced here at Motion Source, “She’s My Confusion”, which was based upon one of Chicago’s most famous ghost stories, that of Resurrection Mary.

• Create an homage. Turn to a film, book, or television series that you find intriguing or inspiring. You can make it a parody, or you can make it a tribute. I am still waiting to find a song and a budget to tap into for a Battle Royale concept that I’ve had for ages. My one suggestion here would be to not reference something particularly current, as it tends to feel a bit lazy. Shakespeare and Say Anything are good; the Walking Dead and Inception, not so good.

• Invert an existing concept. This is a tactic that constantly intrigues me. For instance, take something cliche and overdone, like vampires, and find a way to make it fresh through some sort of creative reversal: what about vampire’s that have to give their blood to survive, rather than drink it–maybe not the best example, but you get the idea. A better example would be an Asian film that I vaguely recall wherein the protagonist, rather than being able to read the thoughts of others, could have his thoughts read by anyone within a certain proximity to him. Remember, inversion is interesting.

• Go to extremes. Music videos are one of the last bastions of anything-goes filmmaking, which means you have a license to get pretty damn crazy. If you are creating a video for an aggressive song, and want to tap into that aggression, why not take it to the nth degree? Need an example, check out Biting Elbows’ uber creative .

There are so many different ways to generate concepts; however, the above list should get the ideas rolling.

Now, there is one point I want to make here that is so incredibly important: avoid over-visualization of the lyrics at all costs. This is the easy way out, and it doesn’t do justice to your contribution to this collaboration of music and filmmaking. Plus, it generally makes for a fairly boring, run-of-the-mill video. Let’s face it, how many more videos do we need to see of a guy getting broken up with? Remember, what you are doing here is trying to capture the essence of the song; and, it is your duty as a filmmaker to filter that essence through your unique vision. You may have some references to select lyrics, or to the general concept of the song (as we did for The Last Vegas’ “Evil Eyes”), however, don’t show them every word. Got it?

On the set of “She’s My Confusion”

STYLE

Once you have a concept, you will need to decide on a style.

There’s an excellent chance that your concept already strongly suggests a particular style. For instance, if you have dreamt up a post-apocalyptic tale, the style you opt for might involve harsh contrast, muted colors, and a general grittiness. I say “might”, as this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.

We addressed inversion above, and this can be an excellent tactic to apply to the stylistic approach to your video as well. Instead of selecting a muted grunginess for your post-apocalyptic concept, you could shoot for a totally unexpected, vivid, candy-coated treatment. This plays heavily on the fact that the human brain craves novelty. A video whose concept and style stand in harsh opposition can have an excellent chance of standing out from the pack. Additionally, this conflict can suggest deeper levels of meaning within your piece, if you so choose to venture down that path.

Another benefit of this opposition is that it challenges the audience, and, contrary to what Hollywood would try and convince you of, audiences can find this challenge quite fulfilling. One of my favorite filmmakers is the Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who always had a habit of choosing to keep music out of pivotal scenes, or to utilize a track that seemed diametrically opposed to the mood of the scene. Why? Well, he wasn’t interesting in telling audiences how they should feel; he either wanted them to figure that out for themselves, or to challenge the feelings that they were expected to have in certain situations. In short, don’t be afraid to channel some of that Kurosawa genius into your next music video project.

THE SCRIPT

“What! I need a script!”

Yes, you definitely need a script.

“But, this is a music video, won’t an outline cut it?”

Absolutely not.

In some sense it is even more important to have a tightly planned out script for a music video, than it is for a narrative project. This is because you have a very finite duration that you are working within: the song is as long as however the song is. You may come up with an incredible concept, say “screw the script”, shoot it, and then rudely awaken to the fact that you cannot possibly fit the entire story into the confines of the song. From personal experience I can assure you that this sucks, and is guaranteed to take your finished production from a 10 to a 7, or lower.

My personal technique for writing music video scripts is to create a spreadsheet of two columns. One column is reserved for song timings (e.g. :33 – :45), while the other is dedicated to the segments of the story. Painstakingly play the song over and over again, fill out and rewrite your spreadsheet until everything has it’s place. If you take the time to do this, you will end up with what you set out to accomplish.

Remember, there is nothing that will sink a project quite like a lack of pre-production, which leads me to the next topic…

Hey, there’s Dan standing behind the poker table!

THE SHOTLIST

If I am to be honest here, I really don’t have a strong passion for directing. My true passion is found in the role of the Director of Photography (the crew member responsible for making the vision of the project a reality, through lighting design, camera movement, etc.). Perhaps it is because of this that I am so intimately married to the idea of the shotlist. Either way, I would stress that a shotlist is just as important, if not more so, than the script.

Your shotlist should include a detailed breakdown of every single shot you hope to land in the course of filming your music video. Per shot, it should detail the shot type (wide, medium, close-up, etc.), the lens choice, any movement of the camera, and any other notes that would be helpful in facilitating that specific shot. This is the shotlist template that I use, as it is the best I have yet to come across. There is more detail here than is probably necessary, but never forget: too much is better than too little. And, if you aren’t willing to put in the proper time and energy to make a music video, then go back to sitting on the couch–no one said art was going to be easy.

Not only will the shotlist assist you in conjuring the initial vision within the heat and craziness of the shoot itself, but it will also communicate to your crew specifically what you are looking to accomplish. The line, “he runs out the door in a burst of fury” can be visualized countless ways; however, if you translate this into the language of a shotlist–protagonist moves through door, track him from behind with a dolly as he exits, use a 21mm lense to increase apparent speed and distance–the number of interpretations slim down exponentially.

A shotlist will also prove invaluable in keeping you on your shooting schedule. If you are halfway through your day, and have only completed ¼ of your shots, it is time to start doing something differently. Without fail, there is never enough time on a shoot. Without fail you will unequivocally need to cut shots. Without fail, a shotlist will ensure that you cut the right shots, and not the ones that are necessary in telling your story.

I really truly hope that the information above will contribute to you making a kickass music video. But, not so fast. We haven’t even begun to cover some of the most critical elements, like locations, crew, and cast. Stay tuned, as the second, and final post in this series will be up shortly.

And, please feel free to leave comments. I’d love to hear about any tactics, techniques, and little secrets that you have when it comes to producing music videos.

New changes to Youtube make it HARDER to spot fake views

Posted by Dan L. on July 17th, 2013

I used to absolutely love youtube. It was such a fun, simple, efficient, user-friendly website. But Google just couldn’t leave well enough alone and bit by bit they’ve turned the site into a cluttered, spam-filled clusterf*ck. It seems like youtube only exists so that Google can force people sign up for Google + pages that no one will actually use. Have you looked at a youtube channel page lately? The new designs are ugly, boring and confusing. I just don’t understand what that company is doing to that site. It seems like they take one step forward and then they take two steps back. Case in Point: Last year Google “confiscated” billions of fake views that big name media companies had purchased so that their videos and channels would seem more popular. I thought this was a great move since fake views, likes and comments have really ruined Youtube’s social credibility. But for some reason, Google just made some changes that will make it harder for users to spot fake youtube views.

In 2009, Youtube added “insight data” options to every video on the site. Unless you turned off the “statistics” option, viewers could see lots of information about where your views came from. Here’s a screen shot of what that used to look like.

Those stats came from a video that was created by a spammer who was trying to get people to sign up for some get-rich-quick scheme. Most of the views on his video were almost certainly purchased. If you buy phony youtube views, you’re not actually getting real “views.” Instead your paying for hits on your video that have been disguised as views. After Youtube started the Insight program, view-sellers had to start covering their tracks by routing those hits through plausible referral sites like facebook and Twitter. It seems that the easiest way to cover the source of fake views is to make it seem like the views came from a “mobile device.” According to these stats, more than 1.5 million people watched this spammer’s video from a mobile device. A ridiculously high number of views from a mobile device was a huge red flag and it almost always meant that all of those “mobile device” views were fake. As I said, you could turn these public stats off but if you did, that would also be a red flag since it meant you had something to hide.

So as I explained in my post, How to Spot Fake Youtube Views, it was sort of easy to tell which members were buying phony views. But for reasons that defy explanation, Google has removed some of the Insight Data options. The public no longer gets to see where a video’s views came from. Scroll up and look at that screen shot I posted. All that stuff about Views from a Mobile Device and Views from Facebook are gone.

The loss of this data sucks but it’s not all bad news. Google did enhance one aspect of the Insight reports. Users can now see WHEN a video got its views. Check this out:

That’s the Statistics Data for a video that was recently entered into Arpin Van Line’s “Movin’ With Arpin” video contest. The winner of that contest was determined by youtube views and likes. They guy who submitted this particular entry has (allegedly) won a small fortune by cheating in other online video contests. If you look at the “Daily” data for that video you can plainly see that it got a huge avalanche of views out of no where. Then after a second bump, the video’s view count totally flat-lined. That (probably) means this guy bought a bunch of fake views and likes and the spike and the bump represent the days his orders were filled.

Oh but you wanna hear something funny? This guy still lost even though he (allegedly) cheated his ass off! Another contestant (seems to have) bought twice as many “likes” and wound up winning. So there’s a lesson to be learned here. NEVER ENTER A VIDEO CONTEST IF YOUTUBE LIKES OR VIEWS HELP DETERMINE THE WINNERS. You can buy thousands of fake views and likes on sites like Fiverr for just a few bucks and it is simply impossible for a sponsor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a contestant’s views or likes are fake. So just do yourself a favor and stay out of those contests.

GUEST POST: How to run a successful video contest

Posted by Dan L. on July 15th, 2013

Dan’s Note: Today we’re featuring a guest post from a reader named Mike Gabel. Mike started entering video contests recently and he’s already got some nice wins under his belt. I don’t want to spoil his post with a big preamble so without further ado, here’s Mike….

This is my first guest post for VCN so Dan asked me to give you a bit of my background. It all started when I and won big in the first video contest I ever entered: Buitoni’s “Girls Love Guys Who Can Cook” competition. I’ve been HOOKED ever since. I’m a one-man operation (forgive my horrible acting) and I rely heavily on my wife and five (yes, five) young daughters to be my actresses, crew and film critics. I can just imagine that some of my daughters’ earliest memories will be holding a fill light as their to shoot a video. I’m not looking for a breakout film career- I’m just happy to have a creative outlet and win a contest every now and then. You can see a bit more of my work . Overall, I love the whole video contest realm but, like many of you,have been frustrated by contests that were mismanaged or badly run. I’ve found a lot of online articles which address the marketing angle of video contest (return on investment, driving word of mouth, etc) but none really explain the basics of holding one. So I decided to explain what an average contestant wants to see in a video contest. Hopefully some future contest organizer may see this and be inspired to run a better, fairer promotion.

First, define why you want to hold a video contest. This can roughly be split into three reasons:

1. Desire a Quality Video. Your company may want to hold a video contest because you want filmmakers to generate videos that you will eventually use on your for some end use (Facebook/YouTube/website content, TV commercial, etc.). Crowdsourcing is a great alternative to traditional ad agencies since it save moneys and generate new ideas. There are a slew of great companies to host your contest (Tongal, Mofilm, Poptent to name a few) that generate extremely professional work. Poke around their websites and see what you like. Their services aren’t necessarily cheap (think tens of thousands) but they have great resources, loyal contributors and will hold your hand through the whole process. A cheaper alternative is to host your own. It can be as simple as to asking your fans to upload their entries on YouTube and then you embed their videos on your contest webpage.

2. Create Buzz. Here you hold a contest so that the contest itself gets people excited about your product or service. You want a large number of people to enter, post, share, forward, tweet, retweet and just plain talk about your contest. These contests are often linked to social media sites and more often than not have a public vote as part of the contest. If you want to outsource the work, companies like Votigo can run these types of promotions for you.

3. Merit contest. Your purpose here is to find the most talented, biggest fan, greatest idea, most deserving and any other superlative you can name. (Example: whoever can get the most people to dance to our commercial’s theme song wins a year supply of our product!) These contests tend to be less video-centric (although a good quality produced video always helps) and more people/ idea- centric.

Next you’ll want to define your contest parameters. These include:

JUDGING TYPE:

This generally falls into three categories:

Judged. A judge or judging panel selects the winner(s). This is the preferred method for most regular entrants as they want to exhibit their ideas and skills and ultimately have their work declared to be “the best.” This also give you, the sponsor, the ability to choose what video you want.

Public Vote. Public Vote contest are the equivalent to choosing the homecoming queen in high school. It’s not about the best candidate but who has the most friends. Unless you publicize your contest like crazy (think American Idol scale) you will never truly have the general public choosing the winner. The quality of the videos are usually pretty awful because the entrant’s odds of winning don’t increase by producing a quality video. So, plain and simple they’re a bad idea. I could rant for a while but the UK site Super Lucky has already done a nice job summing up why public voting contests are a bad idea.

Mixed Judging. This comes in three forms: 1. Judges narrow down the finalists and public vote decides the winners. 2. A public vote narrows down the field then judges choose the winners. 3. A public vote and judging contribute to the selection of the winner. You can guess the pluses and minuses of each of these forms. Let me point out that I put the three options in increasing order of bringing traffic to your site. So option 3 (my personal preference of mixed judging) keeps all entrants engaged and promoting their entry for the whole competition. I’ll refer back to Super Lucky blog who make some excellent points in their post, making public vote contest better.

JUDGING CRITERIA:

You need to tell your entrants what type of videos you want. For example, maybe you want a high quality video that’s sentimental, appeals to 30-somethings and showcases your product. Well tell them exactly that and which of those points are most important to you by assigning percentage values to each point. Define a clear judging criteria and stick with it. If you’re asking for humorous entries and you end up choosing emotional ones that’s not good or fair. To determine the winner the simplest (and fairest) method may be to create a ballot indicating your judging criteria (for example 35% humor, 30% adhesion to concept, 20% production quality, 15% use of unicorns) and then rate each of these 1 to 10 by as many relevant people in your organization as possible. If you just have people in your organization choose the video they like the most then there is no reason to define a judging criteria.

PRIZE AMOUNT:

The number of entries you will receive is proportional to the prize amount. Bigger prize = more entries. So what’s the magic number? Generally speaking prizes from $5K to 15K get in the ballpark of 40 -100 entries. $1,000- $2,500 normally get 20-30 entries. Less than that and your results vary. I’ve been one of only two entrants for a contest of $250. Do these numbers seem low to you? Unfortunately, this is reality and I think many sponsors realize this too late.

What should your prize be? Cash is king. But Apple products also fair well. Filmmakers LOVE video equipment, trips are good too. Just be aware of specialized prize packages as they are not always popular. Also, offering multiples prizes, like cash prizes for 1st thru 10th place, increase the contest appeal . For example, a contest offering only one $10K prize may deter entrants with its 1 in say 60 chance. But if there are 10 prizes the odds instantly go to 1 in 5.

Also keep in mind that the number of entries is also highly dependent on how well you promote your contest. There was a recent contest that offered a measly $300 prize but was promoted in conjunction with a widely popular TV show. It managed to get 30+ entries (although, none of them were all that great). So what they lacked in prize amount they had to compensate with advertising dollars.

It’s almost too obvious to use Doritos Crash the Bowl contest as a model contest but you can’t scoff at the ~3,000 entries they receive. With potentially millions in prizes and loads of promotion it is the holy grail of video contests. But that kind of success comes at a high price. Doritos spends millions of dollars promoting The Crash so those low-budget commercials actually cost the company a lot of money.

LENGTH OF CONTEST?

How long should you have you contest open for entries? My personal take is that you treat it like a wedding invite. Too little notice (less than a month) and people already have commitments and not enough time to put together all the pieces. Too far out (6 months to a year) and it loses its hype. M y recommendation is 2-3 months. Actual filming for many entrants may not start until a few weeks out from the deadline but a lot of notice gives entrants time to gets all their ducks in a row. I recommend that you have the contest end on a Sunday at midnight Pacific time- this gives people the weekend to polish their videos. Should you extend the deadline? You’re usually contemplating this because of the pitiful number of entries you’ve received (which is likely a result of low prize amount, not enough promotion, or having too niche of a concept). If you’ve done your due diligence in these areas then hold tight- a majority (up to 80% I would wager) of the entries are submitted in the last two days of the contest. Additionally, you will only add a meager number of new entries if you extend your deadline shortly before or even after (super annoying) your original deadline. So, if you extend, do it early.

OFFICIAL RULES AND LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO:

I won’t get into the nitty gritty about how to write your official rules but my recommendations are to look at other contests’ rules and modify theirs according to your needs. If you have a legal department make sure they sign off on them. Another downside of public vote contests in that you need to cover more of what is or is not allowed, likevote farming.

Last step, promote your contest:

Step one, make a contest webpage and make it look polished and official- if your website looks sketchy I’m not entering and I’m guessing others aren’t either. Step two: send the info to OnlineVideoContest.com so they can post it. Final step: do you social media magic, reach out through email, make a flyer if you have a retail outlet, tell your friends and neighbors to enter (unless it’s prohibited in your rules) and have your coworkers tell their friends and neighbors, reach out to filmmakers- get creative.

FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM:

Have a contact email: A dedicated email or forum is critical because questions will arise. If entrants have no way to contact you they will feel isolated and frustrated and they might produce videos that are not what you are looking for.

Make the video time limit reasonable: This is more for your sanity because you’ll be pulling out your hair if you have to review a slew of 5 minute videos. Only put longer time limits (say 3 min plus) if it is an absolute necessity. The challenge that you pose to the entrants is to tell a story in a brief period. 1-2 min is my personal sweet spot.

Keep the contest page updated: If something changes (rules, deadline extension, general update) change it on the contest page and make it apparent. Don’t just posts it on Facebook because entrants are not always looking there.

Make good on your word: So your contest was a flop and you only received a handful of entries. Now you’re contemplating whether to pay out the prizes. Just do it! Be as loyal to the entrants as they were loyal to your contest.

Announce the winner: Some contests never actually post the video that won their contest. Think of how crummy it would be if they cut out the second half of the Miss America Pageant or the season finale of American Idol. It’s always nice to know who won so even if the winning video isn’t great (if it’s not, that probably means you let voters pick the winner) you need to post it.

Pringles’ “Force For Fun” winners

Posted by Dan L. on July 5th, 2013

Pringles’ Star Wars-themed “Force For Fun” commercial contest was one of Tongal’s biggest competitions ever. There was a $75,000 prize pool and Pringles even promised to use the winning videos in a new online ad campaign. The company wound up buying 7 videos and all of them are currently on Pringles’ youtube channel. Here’s the entry that came in first:

Pringles’ First Place Pick. Prize: $25,000:

That video was created by the two filmmakers who used to produce the web series BackYard FX, Justin Johnson and Erik Beck. Unfortunately BackYard FX is now defunct but Johnson moved on and created the Galaxy’s Best Video Contest site, onlinevideocontests.com. And it looks like Beck and Johnson have a new Youtube Channel under the name TheIndieMachines. It’s got some pretty ridiculous stuff on there including that’s gotten close to 2 Million views. If you only watch one funny cat video today, make it that one. And if you do only watch one cat video today, you need to get your priorities straight. It’s Friday and the day after the 4th of July. No one’s going to get any real work done today so you might as well kick back and watch some cat videos until 5PM.

Oh actually, If you like Star Wars and Pringles (I sure as hell do) then you’ll probably enjoy all the winning videos from the “Force For Fun” contest. Head here to check them out: http://tongal.com/project/TheForceForFun