Rootclip News

In case you haven’t heard, the Chapter 2 Submission Deadline has been extended due to a few, now resolved, technical problems.  There is still time to get your submission in if you are interested in helping us complete Chapter 2.

From the News Wire:

Collaborative filmmaking site, Rootclip.com, began its second contest with a host of high-profile filmmakers as new judges.

Through Rootclip, amateur and independent filmmakers, writers, actors, and film buffs from around the nation develop short films together. Located at http://www.rootclip.com , Rootclip encourages site visitors to create customized short film storylines.

Judges for Rootclip’s second competition, which runs July 14 through September 22, include five filmmakers with diverse backgrounds:

– Michael Samstag, director and producer for the DVD special features of the first three Harry Potter films

– Ya’Ke, director of Hope’s War

– David Meyers, director of photography for The Oasis and a film instructor at Full Sail Real World Education

– Jeremiah Birnbaum, executive producer of Presque Isle and co-founder and CEO of the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking

– Rich Cline, a film critic who covers film weekly for BBC Radio Five Live and the Web site “Shadows on the Wall”

“Our goal is to create connections between directors, writers and actors across the nation,” said Kevin Antoine, president and co-founder, Rootclip. “With their impressive filmmaking backgrounds, this panel of judges will draw more people into the collaboration — making the film an overall more creative, polished product.”

After the successful first contest, titled “Good Luck,” Antoine is eager to see what visitors will create with the new premise, “Chance Encounter.”

“Our new contest revolves around a mysterious event that seemingly panics an entire town,” Antoine said. “The storyline focuses on two friends, who walk the same route each day to catch the bus for work. Their lives are pretty mundane until they meet up with an unknown news reporter waiting at the bus stop. It’s up to our site visitors to show us how their
journey unfolds.”

    How it works

Like all Rootclip.com contests, the development of “Chance Encounter” will play out over a six-chapter cycle. The Rootclip in-house team develops an inaugural film chapter to jump-start the story. Participating filmmakers then view the root clip, a few minutes of content that begins the story but has a completely open-ended conclusion, and then shoot their own rendition of what should happen next. The users upload their one-minute chapters to Rootclip.com, where online viewers and the panel of judges judge the submissions and select the chapter winner. The judges’ scores count for 50 percent of an entry’s total score while votes from Web site visitors make up the remaining 50 percent. Once the winner for that chapter is announced, the open submission period begins again. This process repeats itself four times before culminating in a final chapter competition among all previous chapter winners.

Prizes for each “Chance Encounter” chapter winner include a $250 VISA gift card; a Balance Beam by Trig Industries, a tool designed to add stability and smooth video shots for smaller digital camcorders; and “Video for the Web” Video Training DVDs from Vasst.com. The grand prize is $2,000 in cash.

Participants are encouraged to keep entries between one and two minutes, and to maintain character consistency through wardrobe. Winners for the second, third, fourth, and fifth chapters will be eligible to submit the sixth chapter, and possibly win the grand prize.

About Rootclip.com

Rootclip.com was created to give filmmakers, writers, actors and anybody who just likes to watch movies the ability to collaborate on a video project. Rootclip’s goal is to be the catalyst that gets people thinking and being creative with video in such a way that it infects the masses and brings a new life to the art of filmmaking.

Rootclip.com is currently seeking filmmakers who can complete Chapter 2 of the film we’ve created called Chance Encounter. The last Rootclip film we produced is being shown at the Traverse City Film festival this August.

Check out our new project in the video below.

Every day, Ryan Brown and his friend KC walk the same path to the same bus stop on their way to the same job. Not today. An incredible event forever changes the mundane lives of Ryan, KC, and an unknown news reporter waiting at the bus stop. Where will their journey lead? Only you can determine their path.

We wouldn’t expect anybody to work for free, so for this film, Rootclip is giving away a $2,000.00 Cash Grand Prize, and each chapter winner will receive a $250 VISA Gift Card,Balance Beam from Trig Industries, Retail Value $249.50, a “Video for the Web” training DVD by VASST, Retail Value $80, and The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap by Stu Maschwitz, Retail Value of $44.99. (ARV: $615.49, subject to all contest rules)

If you are new to Rootclip, here’s the basic concept. We create a short video clip or “Rootclip” to start the story. You watch our video, then shoot your own rendition of what should happen next in less than 2 minutes. Once you’ve created your video, upload it to Rootclip.com during the submission period and compete for votes against the videos from other users. Gain the highest percentage of user and judge votes during the voting period and your video becomes the next chapter in the story.

It’s easy, and most importantly, it’s a lot of fun. Check out the Submission Guidelines and contest rules.

Enter the contest today at Rootclip.com