Quick Focus

Alrighty, everybody, here's your first shout out! It's CALL FOR ENTRIES time for the long-awaited 21st Annual Videomaker/Canon Short Video Contest.

Companies are lining up to give away prizes, but YOU need to get your edit on and start putting those videos together! The entry deadline is October 31, 2008, and the rules and downloadable entry forms can be found on our website.

This year's Grand Prize is the XH-A1 camcorder from Canon and 1st Prize is a DVFlurry EDIUS NX Turnkey editing system from DV Gear and Grass Valley. Plus more from Canon, as well as Adobe Systems Inc., Bechtek, Blackmagic, Boris FX, Final Draft, Grass Valley, Hitachi, Pelican Products, Pinnacle Systems, proDAD GmbH, Sony Creative Software, Video Guys and Videssence, among others.

Along with the entry forms, you can find full contest prize list and complete rules, policies and caveats here.

Full details along with entry forms will be also available in the September issue, which will be on the news stands August 12th.

If you want to really hone your skills and fine-tune your chances, read our Tips to Entering Contests in the April 2006 issue of Videomaker or on our website here or watch me - and Charlie - give you the scoop on our vidcast number 29 Tips & Tricks segment. You've been warned... Now get editing.

Independent filmmaker John Romeo has created Romeo Theater to encourage other filmmakers to showcase and talk about their filmmaking passion. He invites the public to join in, either to see short films you can't find anywhere else or to submit their own films.

Each Romeo Theater show presents a short movie, followed by a discussion segment from the director. Romeo adds, "Filmmakers from all over the country have presented their work on the show; it's a great promotional tool, because it introduces their films to a whole new audience online."

Romeo says he is always looking for new directors and films for the show, but they have to meet the show's requirements: under 5 minutes, no copyright infringements, and in the general PG range. The director can put together a 1-2 minute "making of" segment with behind-the-scenes information that will show after the movie. Submission is free, and the directors do not get paid. It's simply a promotional opportunity. Details can be found on the site, www.romeo-theater.com.

Shirley Bard, a proud member of AARP with little video experience, has taken on a big project that has taken on legs... in a big way.

Shirley wanted to help returning U.S. troops who may suffer from post-traumatic problems by encouraging them to tell their stories and learn from others. Vets from World War II, Vietnam and other battles have told Shirley their stories, no holds barred, and she's taken these oral histories to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Passionate to get these vets' stories recorded, Shirley bought a small camcorder and taught herself how to run it. After recording a few interviews, she realized she needed to edit the video, so she had to teach herself computer skills, then, going a bit further, she bought Studio Pinnacle 8 and taught herself to edit. Now, using Studio 11, she's created video memoirs that reveal a history of the personal experiences of several generations of wartime veterans. The veterans talk about the day-to-day routine on ships, in barracks and on the front lines, along with some candid memories of the horrors of battle that many of them have never talked about before. These aren't videos enhanced with effects, music and tons of newspaper clippings. They're raw in-your-face commentary about life in the military during wartime.

"Some of these vets were so young to have experienced so much horror," writes Shirley. "These videos let people see for themselves the vivid memories of 17-, 18- and 19-year-old kids who have been thrown into hell and survived...not just physically, but emotionally. Vets are dying every day with their stories never documented."

Each veteran Shirley focuses on gets a copy of the DVD that is sent to live in the annals of the Library of Congress. You can contribute your own producing skills through the Veteran's History Project here. You can see a sampling of some of Shirley's interviews here.