TAZM PICTURES

For those of you who haven’t noticed the odd redesign of the YouTube logo, Ridley Scott and Kevin MacDonald are running a one-day, global experiment that asks YOU to tell them about your day on July 24, 2010.  This is an opportunity to be a part of what will be the best documented day in history!  They ask that you show them some aspect of your day and answer a few questions (what do you fear?  what do you love?  um…what’s in your pocket?), and the most compelling content will be included in a documentary that will appear at Sundance and include a movie credit for YOU!  (I’m thinking it will be REALLY fast rolling credits, but we’ll see)

I’m thinking if most submissions come from people with lives like mine, this is going to be one boring documentary…but, hey!  It’s a documentary – what do you expect?

Here’s the promo video.  Check out http://www.youtube.com/lifeinaday for the details!   And don’t forget to charge that camera!!

These days anyone – even I – can put up a website (there oughta be a law…!), which occasionally leads to some strange finds.  If you want to experience your YouTube (or other video sharing site) videos in a new way, check out YooouuuTuuube. There, you can input a link to an online video, set a few parameters, and instantly, the frames of your video will start replicating across your screen in kaleidoscopic fashion.  I have no idea what the point is, but ya gotta admit, it’s different and creative.  I tried out a couple of my own vids, and this one in particular was kind of fun: (click link).  Happy YooouuuTuuubing!

TAZM Pictures is back in the video contest business – double trouble, hopefully!

I’ve re-tooled an old video from Washington DC – in fact, this is the video that inspired me to start this site (with some friendly encouragement) – and entered it into Lonely Planet’s video contest.  Check out that one by clicking on the link for “gallery” on their YouTube channel (previous link) and selecting “cities” and “go.”  The contest is being administered by the same company that sponsored the Lowe’s contest I sent 3 videos for, but they’ve noticeably relaxed their standards.  In spite of the fact that copyright music are forbidden, and professional film companies are barred from competition, quite of the videos entered break both rules.  After the Lowe’s competition I sent them some “free” feedback (no response) about their refusal to entertain some entries while at the same time refusing to respond to queries from entrants, and it seems they are now leaning the other way – accepting any and all entries in the initial phase, and probably planning to shorten the list in the future.  Contrast this with the contest sponsored by The Learning Games Network (where my daughter won a SWEET laptop and iPod), where the sponsors went out of their way to give feedback throughout the contest, and even included a nice card with each prize.  Anyway, I’m glad to see they’ve taken a different approach and am interested to see who will be chosen as finalists (the judges will do that) on November 1.  Amazing prize package for that one, especially for aspiring filmmakers like me!  I can use your votes for the video (if nothing else, to make a good impression on the judges).

Second contest is Reel Insights’ monthly contest – this one is “A Family Struggles with Going Green.”  They have had a fairly forward-leaning publicity stance, seeking me out on Twitter (they are @reel_insights) and encouraging me to join.  The deadline was extended to Sunday night (as I write) and my video will join at least two others in the quest for a $1500 prize.  This is an interesting contest, where they give you detailed instructions and suggestions – very helpful if you’re not that experienced in documentary.  The idea is you produce a 3-5 minute video along the lines of their theme, and if you win, they ask for 30 minutes of raw video footage – basically this amounts to a purchase of raw footage from your 3-5 minute highlights.  Pretty stringent requirements for individual and property releases, really forcing you to think about every frame and giving an appreciation of what is required to produce a professional documentary piece.  Check them out – maybe we’ll see a video from YOU in an upcoming contest!

Both videos and contests also represent a new partnership with a musician who has agreed to team up from time to time in producing soundtracks.  See what you think!

While eagerly awaiting results of the $25,000 prize for TaxSlayer.com’s video contest (I’m not holding my breath) I entered 3 videos in the Lowe’s Spring Dream video contest. Sadly, they only accepted 2. Check out the site at http://www.youtube.com/lowes, and select “gallery.” There are 5 categories and 6 available themes, and each category will be awarded an awesome prize package from Lowe’s. Voting starts May 16, not clear on exactly how this is going to work. But every YouTube user can vote once a day!

The TAZM entries are below – the first two were accepted by Lowe’s, the third not. No idea why not – I think it’s kind of lame that they don’t tell you, too!

Whether you want to use our services or not, we can sure use your support in a YouTube video contest!  TAZM Pictures has entered two videos in a contest for Taxslayer.com that carry a grand prize of $25,000.  Winning this contest will help us improve the kinds of services we can offer with our young business!  The top twenty videos, as determined by RATINGS, will go into a pool from which TaxSlayer will select a final winner.  If you have a YouTube account, be sure and rate our videos!

Our entries are:

Entry #1

Entry #2

Thanks for your support!