Lodge McCammon, Curriculum and Contemporary Media Specialist at The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, won the VMware video competition with two colleagues. The video was played for 10,000+ at the VMWorld General Session, and the winners were awarded a check for $15,000 which they gave to the Friday Institute to improve education in North Carolina. VidOpp interviewed Lodge to see what other filmmakers could learn from his experience.
Q. How many contests have you entered in the past? How many won?
The VMware Virtually Famous Contest was the first one I had ever entered, however I have since entered 2 more in the wake of our win. I was a finalist for one of the two…but did not win either of them.
Q. Why did you decide to enter this video contest?
We are extremely excited about the efficiencies that virtualization can create for education and had the skill set necessary to create a high quality video to compete. Plus, we figured it would be a fun experience.
Q. How did you learn about this contest?
Sammie Carter, IT Operations and Systems Specialist and Brian Bouterse, Network and Systems Specialist (both extreme gurus in the virtualization technologies) heard about the contest because they were planning on attending the VMworld trade show in San Fransisco, September, 2007. At VMworld they premiered the video in front of an audience of 10,000 + attendees.
Q. Were you a user of the product before you entered?
Yes, in fact we were the first department on NC State’s campus to be 100% virtualized.
Q. What were your goals for the contest?
Frankly, to win. We knew that we could have the most fun creating a youtube looking video that would appeal to many people in the industry. We also wanted to use our skill set to create a video that would illustrate the innovative nature of the work we do at The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.
Q. How long did you spend on your entry in the contest?
We created a 2 minute jingle for VMware which took about 5 hours to write and record. The filming, editing, and uploading took an additional 3 hours…so, 8 hours total.
Q. To what degree did you script or improvise?
The “acting” in the video was almost entirely improvised…save for the beginning and ending statements by Sammie Carter. Brian Bouterse simply lip-synced to the music and walked around the halls…we had a walking path, but not a script for what he would do.
Q. What are your favorite techniques for shooting? Editing? Sound?
One of my favorite techniques for shooting, especially when a video will be put to a particular song, is to slow the music down to ½ speed. Then do the filming to the soundtrack, speed it back up, and there are some body motions that become very interesting and engaging if done properly.
Q. What did you think was the most difficult aspect?
The most difficult aspect was to ensure that the language of the song was directly aligned with the message we were trying to express. Each line of the song needed to both fit with the music and inform the listener about how we use VMware and why it’s great. This is no small task. It’s rather easy to write a song singing “VMware is great!”…but much more difficult to write about specific content such as “What if the server goes down, we can reload all the settings like instantly, and offer high availability, fail over, over working so well.”
Q. Where did you get your inspiration for your entry?
I got my inspiration for our entry by the efficiencies that VMware and virtualization has created for The Friday Institute. I also got my inspiration from talking to Brian and Sammie about how and why we use VMware…their excitement about it inspired me to create the winning entry.
Q. How much do you estimate entering the contest cost (total budget)?
We used all digital formats, so there were no media or material costs. Also, we did not need to purchase any additional equipment, so there were not costs there. The main cost was time. It cost me 8 hours (a full day of work), Brian 3 hours, and Sammie 1 hour.
Q. If there was a public viewing/voting process, how many views/votes did you receive?
There was a loose “rating” process…but that only determined “highest rated” or “most viewed.” However, there were no prizes for these categories. Our video did not win any of these other categories.
Q. How did you promote your entry in the contest to get votes/views? What was/wasn’t effective?
We did not do any promotion other than sending it around to friends and colleagues.
Q. What did you learn in the process? What surprised you?
I learned that there has truly been a paradigm shift in the aesthetic of videos that are now being accepted as “professional.” Ten years ago you would have had to have a green screen with a million transitions and cheesy effects to compete in this type of contest. However, with the popularity of sites like Youtube, it is much more important to concentrate on your message and not on the aesthetic of the video. This is an exciting change as it has incredible possibilities for the classroom.
Q. What would you do differently next time?
Nothing. We love the 80/20 approach to projects…and this is a testament to its validity as a process for creating valuable media outcomes.
Q. What advice do you have for future video contest entrants?
Concentrate on your message and not the aesthetic. Keep your video simple so as not to cloud the message. Have fun with thinking it up, filming, editing, and sharing your result. If you don’t have fun creating it, no one will enjoy watching it.
Watch the winning video here for inspiration on your next project:
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