DAY 9 - The Competition Pt. 2

The Internet is a crazy thing. Answers come within seconds of posing them. Help is around every corner and if not immediately presented with it, a directional arrow (or twelve) usually steer you down the correct path.

I played the role of immediate answers on Monday. Noticing a lack of submissions for their 60 Second Horror Video Contest, Indy Mogul posted a video online with details about the contest, acting as an additional reminder to the various mentions that had already taken place throughout October. Aside form the bone-headed comments from people pointing the finger at us for "advertising late" and from people who claim to have never heard of the contest until after watching the video, a slew of inquisitions sprouted up all over the video's YouTube page. "How do I submit my video?", "What if I'm only 18?", "Can it be animated?", "Can I re-cut a past film?", etc, etc. Being the able and willing intern that I am, I charged forward, answering as many as I possibly could. As I did, I couldn't help but realize a few things...

There is a lower third in the video with the website detailing all the contest rules and instructions. Plain as day, it says where to submit the video and that all videos should be submitted with "Mogulween Film Fest" in the title, along with title of the submission itself. PLAIN AS DAY. And yet, the majority of questions received ask where to submit the video. Half of the submissions that could be downloaded properly do not have the preferred file name. How do people miss these details? Can they not merely scroll down on the page to see the Official Rules and the answers to all their questions?

Granted, a large portion of the audience is much younger, still in middle school and granted, where to submit the videos should be highlighted "above the fold" not near the bottom of the page. (The "18 and over" rule is foggy, since it goes unmentioned that with a parent's permission, anyone underage is eligible. Those questions I take with satisfaction and diligence.) But the rest create confusion in me, bringing to mind stories and theories about how impatient we are as a people. Answers not in front of us are demanded without attempts to find them ourselves. But the frustrating part is the answers are there!  Scroll down once or twice and it plainly says where to submit the video.  Are people just that lazy?  Do they skim that fast, missing crucial details and only seeing half the story?  Jumping to conclusions and into a blind panic have become our forte.

Not to say that people panicked.  Not to say all these questions were posed with innocent intentions.  The world won't end because of this, but I'm unsettled by other's impatience, whether they mean to showcase it or not.  One to talk, I am not.  I'm guilty of the same crime!  But why is the ever ominous question.  There is definitely more that can be said on this topic, but for now the well of creative thought has run dry. (I may go back and edit later.)

Beyond the Trailer called upon my help once again. Shooting for that was a little rough. Grace didn't get a suitable amount of sleep, so usable takes came after countless tries and Spencer was late coming back from an interview so I had to monitor camera, sound, and run the tele-prompter. Personally, I didn't mind doing all three. Eventually he did come back, though, and we plowed through the material as best we could.  (And Grace let it slip that Ryan told her I'm the "star intern".  Hello confidence!)

And so was Day 9 at Next New...