Youtube, Half A Million Dollars And A Global Search For The World's Best Video Storytellers

Youtube & Emirates Airlines recently launched Your Film Festival, 'a global search for the world's best storytellers.' The idea is very simple. Fifteen minutes to tell a story. Millions of people to watch it. $500,000 to make a new one for the world to see. From Youtube:

This is Your Film Festival. You have until March 31st to submit a short, story-driven video. There's no entry fee. It can be any format - short film, web-series episode, TV pilot - and any genre. In June, audiences around the world will vote, sending 10 deserving storytellers to open the 2012 Venice Film Festival where a Grand Prize Winner will be be rewarded with a $500,000 grant to create a new work, produced by Ridley Scott and his world class team.

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The same guys (Ridley Scott's team) behind the brilliant Youtube Life In A Day initiative, are also behind the world's largest online film festival.

Along with the topic of the Internet meeting TV and the future democratization of content in the living room we often muse over here at appmarket.tv - there's also the lowering of the barrier to entry for filmmakers getting lower and lower with video and editing equipment that used to cost thousands of dollars can now be purchased for an almost inconsequential amount of money, allowing amazing and incredible work to be produced at a fraction of the price - with kids (as well as adults) around the world in basements and attics editing video on laptops and shooting HD on smart phones.

The barrier of distribution is coming down not only with contests like this being made available, but also the fact that Youtube is the most widely used and disseminated TV app on Connected TV platforms (Smart TV, Game Consoles, Blurays, STBs) around the world.

From the FiveCoolThings blog:

There's no entry fee, literally $0. Additionally, it takes the idea of global distribution and accessibility to an entirely new level. The top 50 semifinalists will have their film translated/subtitled into more than 50+ languages where Youtube is localized. Additionally, any entries submitted with a script will then be machine transcribed into any of the localized languages. Pretty amazing if you think about...
In another cool twist, all of the semi-finalist entry films will be shown on the in-flight entertainment systems of Emirates flights for an extended period of time.

For all the rules and regulations, visit Your Film Festival's FAQ page.

 

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