I think that either way will work fine with me... Possibly after the holiday might work better due to like what you said. More gear to learn how to use...

As for the time. I think that 3 weeks is good. Esp, if we only do one "about" every other month. It might be a little long, but I think it would do nicely.

~Gabriel

"for something like this, it may even be advantageous to run it over the holiday break, when many of us get new gear and want an excuse to test-drive it....

we can certainly put it together before the holiday week, or we can kick it off for the new year.

thoughts? opinions?

if anyone wants to serve as judge and jury with me, shoot me an e-mail...."


Judging: One guy to talk to about judging, is Steven Dempsey, a DVinfo.net member, at www.pinelakefilms.com His stuff is tremendous, and in my eyes, his work gives us something for the rest of us to shoot for. I don't know him, but if someone here does, maybe he could be persuaded...

Scheduling: As far as time, I'd like to see a monthly contest, with announcement lets say the first Monday of the month, with the film to be posted by fourth Monday of Monday of the month. That way, everyone could be planning to work on entries. That is one of the problems with the DVChallenge, we never know when it is going to happen.....

Meryen,

Jim beat me to my first thought, no peaks and valleys here Flatorida! :) Also, there may be other places that could suffer the same type of short commings for other subjects. So I would like to see the subjects as broad as possible.

I personally love to see a person or panel to judge and not the participants. I think it is more objective.

But, I'm in!

Mike

but mike, with three weeks that gives you a chance to drag your camera on that dream trip to indonesia. or peru. or cleveland.

or the humorous approach of taking your camera to the highest point in florida. wherever that is....

or underwater. there's some valleys to be explored.

you could shoot a macro view of unexplored "peaks and valleys" of plant life...

gotta be creative with some of these...

this is adventure video folks! and there's adventure in my own back yard when a camera is involved....

but then again, i must also expect a certain amount of whining and discontent on the part of participants! that is part of the fun as well! dylan is very good at laughing in the face of the malcontents!

soliciting one of our most talented members as a judge is a good idea. i'd prefer if someone enthusiastically jumped in, so i'll wait a bit before i start pleading with individuals....

it may be nice to be on a regular schedule, as chris suggests, but there is also something to be said for having the participants begging and pleading for the contest. i think therapy type people call that "variable schedule reinforcement." it's why we like to play slot machines...keeps the juices flowing....

That would be the landfills! :)

Mike

Meryem,

Every environment has some majic moments throughout the year. A genral type topic like that would be all inclusive to everyone.

The UWOL Competition is (kind of reminds me of being awol) just dandy.

good point, dale. we could add also add a "magic hour" topic to our list of prompts--that would produce some beautiful, diverse stuff....

except now we'll have to hear the boos from our friends in the arctic circle who don't have a sunrise or sunset to shoot...it's always something, isn't it??....

one other thought i have regarding judging, based on chris' suggestion of asking steven dempsey to judge: we could also invite a guest judge for each competition. wouldn't it be cool to have our emmy award winning UWOL member jacques mesereau judge one, steven dempsey judge one. etc., etc. we could have a different guest celebrity for each challenge--spread it around a bit. there's so much talent on these boards surely we could enlist some to play a role in our modest contest....

keep those ideas rolling in....i'm getting a good list!

Hi Meryem

How about a 30 second Public Service Announcement about a local environmental issue? If they're good enough they might be broadcast by our local tv stations.

Grant

that's a most excellent suggestion, grant. we could also consider a "non-profit" prompt, where the shooter accosts their local charity/non-profit of choice (wildlife rescue, recycler, conservationist, etc.) and does a 2-minute web video that they can then donate to the charity. the shooter gets great footage and a portfolio piece/resume credit. the charity gets a freebie. the planet gets free pub. everyone wins. nice!

This is a great idea to promote people to try different things in there film making. You can't please everyone with something like this, and I agree very much in taking a topic and making the most of it 'whatever' your personal living circumstance.

Gets that creativity flowing!! .....so come on announce a subject and lets get shooting:)

I would definitely be interested. I shoot 99% underwater right now.

...then this would be a good chance to dry you off and try something new. welcome aboard, nick.

the one thing i do not want to do is run this contest while DVC7 is going on (especially because i want to sign up for DVC7, if it falls in the post-Christmas time slot...). people should be able to do both...i'll defer to dylan's scheduling...

one charitable cause that i contribute regularly to here in boulder runs an annual film festival that focuses on these types of films. i may look into getting a slot for our winners...so one other pay-off may potentially be a film festival credit. that would be a nice motivator....

So how would that work?

Mike

i have no idea, mike. i'm brainstorming, dammit!

actually, i was thinking it would be the type of thing where we would gather a year's worth of winners into a package of shorts and see if they would screen it at their festival...for interested winners, of course. you are your own copyright holder....

A 30 sec. PSA, I like this plan. It could also show the ugly such as environmental degragation. I also agree that we need to push it back till after the holidays. Any you cut it, COUNT ME IN. Bob