This year's My RØDE Reel International Short Film Competition was a huge success! With over 1,100 entrants vying for the chance to win over $70K in gear, it's safe to say that stakes that high made for some stiff competition. Filmmakers from all over the world brought forth some truly great and inspiring pieces of cinema, and now that the contest has come to a close and the victors have been named, we can share a few of the winning short films with you. And if you just so happened to enter a film this year, RØDE has also decided to give away a last-minute prize to you and all entrants.
Like I said, there were some truly well-done, inspiring, and entertaining short films that made their way into the My RØDE Reel Competition. (I highly suggest that you carve out a chunk of time to take a gander at each one.) 1,120 entries were sent in from 76 countries, but only 9 shorts received those $70K+ grand prizes full of crazy amounts of filmmaking gear, which included a Blackmagic Cinema Camera, RØDE goodies (naturally), and pretty much everything you could ever need to make a film.
And RØDE's prize-giving isn't done, either. Because of the "number of high-quality entries" submitted to the competition, RØDE has decided to give away their brand new $79 smartLav+ microphone to every single entrant. If you're not familiar with the smartLav+, it's a broadcast-grade, omni-directional lavaliere mic that is aimed at simplifying the recording process by allowing you to record, control, and edit sound from your Apple iOS devices via the RØDE Rec app. (The smartLav+ is also compatible with Android, but it doesn't look like they have a special app for it yet -- though you can still use the smartLav+ through Android's Sound Recorder app.)
Check out the video below to learn more about the smartLav+.
So, everybody won something in this thing, but some of the top prize winners received more than just -- stuff -- though got some pretty substantial internet exposure. While many films got a substantial 10,000, 20,000 views on YouTube, the winner of the People's Choice Prize, Douglas Gautraud's My Mom’s Motorcycle received over 1.5 million views (as well as some major Vimeo love). That's some serious exposure, yeah?
Here are a handful of winning films, along with their BTS videos, from some of the top categories. (Click on the links to learn more about the projects.)
Judges’ Film Prize
The Tale of Benjamin Sawyer, by Ronnie Bingaman
Peoples’ Choice Prize
My Mom’s Motorcycle by Douglas Gautraud
Judge's BTS Prize
Thin Ribbon by Julius Koivistoinen
Best Sound Design
Boom by LFD Collective
Best Cinematography
A Gift Horse by Gareth Openshaw, Jacob Mathews & Francisco Gozon
To watch, learn more about the rest of the My RØDE Reel films, be sure to check out the competition's website here.
Link: My RØDE Reel
