—————- The winners of the FinalCutKing 48 Film Challenge 2011 —————-
1st Place – Sketchbook (USA) [collaboration w/ finalcutking and $1000]
2nd Place – Modo Unum (Norway) [Go Pro Camera]
—————- 3rd – 10th place —————-
Happy Destination (Netherlands)
Twisted American Girl (USA)
Worthy (Serbia)
Sleepless Art (USA)
True Story of Dutch Angle (USA)
Butterfly (USA)
Dorm Room Drill Seargant (USA)
Live Free Toy Hard (USA)
—————- Honorable Mention —————-
Without a Page (England)
Out of Time (USA)
The 48 Hour Film Challenge 
Congrats to all the winners and of course one with guns and killing one but good job.
Hey Zach, our teams is not listed here but you did call me and tell me we made the top ten. So I was just confused as to if there was some kind of mistake. My name is Jonathan Quigg and our video was “Chapstick”.
Thanks man
I dont agree with the winner. Im sorry it was good but not first place worthy. There really was no plot, it was cool, but first place.
I would have to agree, first didnt have much of a story, but thats just my 2 cents.
I am very disappointing in King’s communication with the public. The purpose of the contest was portrayed as having a good plot or story line. While the winning video incorporated the elements into the story, it’s purpose was limited by the mere fact that it was simulating a video game, which was all covered up with poorly executed visual effects, and horrible cinematography.
I would have to say that all nine of the other films in the top ten were unquestionably better than the first place winner, not the mention the dozens of well done films that did not even get into the top ten.
well, while the other videos may have been more cinematic, the 1st place video really used the pencil well and the other requirements. Cinematography was great in some of the other videos but there wasn’t much story to those either.
I agree with all of you, the first place winner was badly chosen. and also i think many of the other videos werent fair either. alomst non of them have any story at all and if they have it is really badly shown. I put all of my energy in to coming up with a story and nice angles of showing it, but when i see the winners i see that i should have just scraped the idê of a story and nice camera angles, and insted just worked on being a hell of alot more creative with the 3 elements, im not saying that the videos is bad because i loved the idê of using a book to draw levles, im just saying it was badly shown in a story format.
Congratulations to all the winners, There is one (not mine or anybody I know) that I found called The Perfect Girlfriend. I thought it was fairly well made and had a very good story. Pity coz I enjoyed it more than a few of these ones….
Anyway here is my film for anyone interested 🙂
I thought on the phone you said I got honorable mention 😦 Doesnt matter though, congratulations to all the winners, I already have a short idea growing in my head if theres another contest
This was one of the best that I saw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhrEReslWtA
I saw this one too and, although didn’t expect it to win, thought it was good in a very simple way. One of my other favorites from the list of entries was “Sugar-Free.”
Awww…bummer to see I didn’t make it. Then again, I made mine by myself in less than 36 hours. So…less deposit, less return. I had actually picked out Butterfly, Sketchbook, and Dorm Room Drill Sergeant as the best ones from the previous entry of videos. So, guess I have a good eye.
Thanks Zach for doing this and hope to blow your mind with a better entry next year!
I have to disagree with you on The Dorm Room Drill Sergeant. It was not as good as it could of been but I am happy for everyone. And also can’t wait for next year hope he does one again.
I was the maker of The Dorm Room Drill Sergeant. What could I improve on in future videos? I love constructive criticism 🙂
@zach Well, I’m not gonna lie. Dorm Room Drill Sergeant was THE BEST but I thought it was clever enough to make it through and place.
@Zane R. I loved the mockumentary style but you did sorta fall into the typical mockumentary joke which is, lets cut to a person pouting, or lets give exposition as an interview…not that this is bad for a 48 hour contest, but just throwing that out there.
My main beef with the video and why I didn’t think it was FANTASTIC but just GOOD was actually the guy who played the Drill Sergeant, his interviews should have been cut, or you should have just left the audio and cut the visuals. He was clearly on the verge of laughing and it kinda seemed wannabe Major Payne instead of actually being Major Payne. But once again, casting the perfect person to play your characters never happens especially for quick videos like this, so I have to give you props anyway. (Heck, Zach King thought your video was better than mine so that leaves me little room to talk.) And if this can give you a sign as to what people find funny, my favorite moments were when the Drill Sergeant is screaming in their faces and by the final shot, the main character is just staring at the camera like “Help me…” Another good moment is the SpongeBob reference during the pushups. And the part when he comes up from under the bed sheets. (Although the Sergeant looks like he is about to laugh there also.)
Anyway, that’s my rambling thoughts on your video. Hope it helps. And I’ll be sure to check out your channel.
*Sorry, @zach I mean’t, “wasn’t the best.” That must be confusing.
Thanks Manny! Ya that coming up from the sheet scene literally took twenty minutes to film because the actors could not stop laughing! I would have liked to make it look a little more angry but by the time we got that take I was just gonna take anything that could have worked. And with the mockumentary we modeled it after ‘The Office’. Thank you so much for the critique! I really appreciate you taking the time to write me back and help me improve my future videos!
@Zane R. yeah I got that it was in the mockumentary vein (I love The Office before Carell left), it just seemed like you cut to a frown every 20 seconds. Still funny though.
Since we’re plugging our entries that didn’t get posted…here’s mine:
@manny. Haha I was like really but then I scrolled down and seen what you meant. Lol.
i agree, i thought that sketchbook was pretty good along with the butterfly video.
So after all was more about quality than how you incorporate things. The first one was cool the way they use it but the others i don’t know, there where others that use the 3 items more in their stories.
when he said in an earlier post that quality wouldn’t be counted against he ment posting in HD wouldnt automatically get u extra points but getting high quality footage, using different and unique camera angles, a widescreen layout, using manual focus are all things that you can only do with a high quality camera and they make your videos look much more professional. Most of these videos use those things because the directors knew that and used them to their advantage.
I know but some kids asked about cheap cameras that don’t have all those features, how can they compete against all those cameras even if they have a good story?
@Dude, most of the videos I saw that were made with cheap cameras weren’t really worthy of placing anyway…not to offend anyone. So, I guess a better camera not only speaks of higher quality visuals but higher quality creators.
personally i think the second place video was better than the first place one but thats just me
I agree completely and same does my friend
I agree with you both. But it’s ok.
Without a page deserved much higher than it got. Sketchbook was cool, but not first place worthy. The second place winner was better. Congrats to all the winners.
Dont think Ill enter a Zach King contest again. I dont feel he has a good sense of judging and dont want to waste my time.
To the maker’s of “Sketchbook”– You should’ve used that sketchbook to jot down a cohesive plot and film a real movie. There were some great cinematic gems in here that deserved that spot, like “Modo Unum Speculum” or “Happy Destination” or “Butterfly.”
To the maker’s of “Sketchbook”– You should’ve used that sketchbook to jot down a cohesive plot and film a real movie. There were some great cinematic gems in here that deserved that spot, like “Modo Unum Speculum” or “Happy Destination” or “Butterfly.”
“Neurosis,” was definitively much more worthy of placing than some of these.
i personally will never do another competition organized by Zach King again. The execution of this competition was extremely disorganized and poorly executed. He put up a video explaining last minute details and rules after the challenge had already begun.
Also, he stressed the fact that he was picking winners based on a good storyline, but most of those in the top 12 hardly even had a storyline at all! Why did we work so hard on creating good story lines if he wasnt even going to bother considering them? the winner of this competition barely had a storyline at all! they did a great job, yes, but no offense, that WAS NOT worthy of number one. And what the hell was with ‘Twisted American Girl?!?!?!?’ That was just moderately done music video! Anyways, not here to trash everyone else’s work..
Sorry about the rant but i think this was a terrible first attempt at a 48 hour film challenge and will most certainly never enter anything Zach King is involved in ever again. I guess it’s a good thing my team didnt win because then i’d have to work with Zack King.
P.S. You want to see a good mugging scene (ah-HEM BUTTERFLY), watch ‘Lucky.’
Merry Christmas
I totally agree with you, a bunch of people work their a$$es to create a good story, and a guy with no story wins first place. The winner was supposed to be announced the 20th and was announced 2 days later. I think next time Mr. King should consider selecting a theme for the competition so a well done drama doesn’t compete with a shooter. Its not fair that people worked their asses to create a story didn’t win… and one that just did a “capture the pencil sharpener” thing won.
I’m totally standing with Zach on this one even though my video didn’t win. I’m not bitter about the contest and I know he is extremely busy so i think it was awesome of him to put on this competition for everybody. Anna can i ask what your video was? post the link here so i can see.
It looks like none of the videos submitted had good story lines, the judging was done on how the videos incorporated the elements, not just story.
btw – the last minute details and rules were not added at all, they were explained before hand in the competition rules – zach was just reiterating them.
keep up the good work Zach and hope you do another contest someday soon!!
I understand him being late because he is busy, but not why the vid 2 lost to the video 1. I will participate again but now i know how this works. This is my vid and i know its not worthy of being top 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7nF22sg8Wg
@winterwonderland12
hey, this is the team leader for Anna Canna’s team. And although I may agree with certain things anna and you are saying. The point stands that story was not factored into this decision. The evidence is posted above. Although, good ideas were Happy Destination, Dorm Room Drill Seargant (although the acting needed work, the drill seargant appeared to be on the verge of laughter every second), and Without a Page. Terrible Film ideas were the rest of them, except, Out of time, what the fuck? Maybe some, acting lessons, or study other films and understand the crafted act. “Modo Unum”, not really to sure what was going on. But amazing cinematography!! Good Job. The winner, Great use of the element, that’s all. And the music video? Story? Nope.
Either way, here is the link to my film.
Enjoy! and if not, let me know what I can improve on please.
Thank you very much!! and I will be participating next time.
But let’s just do a little bit more planning….eh?
@ Joe Blogdett, I had seen your video a while ago on the first post and liked it. The whole idea was super neat-o. A gold penny and the luck thing. But honestly, you could’ve done without the swearing, you were gonna have to bleep it anyway and it just felt artificial. Also, I really liked the humor up until the end. What was the deal with the blob falling on the main character. I could’ve seen a car hitting him, but what was it that fell on the dude. Overall, great 48 hour video, but I had a couple of beefs with it. So, there’s my feedback. Anyway, I thought you would’ve placed.
Thanks for the compliment on Dorm Room Drill Sergeant Joe! Acting undoubtably needs work and we will definitely make that a focus of our preparation next time 🙂
puerile video plug 😀
Hey, your video was kinda funny in a strange, dark kinda way. (I assume that’s what you were going for.) Except the music didn’t really fit the video and I’m pretty sure that isn’t public domain as I think Pinnacle Studio comes with that as default music. (That may have disqualified you.) Also, the whole dubbing over the mumbling thing kinda got ridiculous after a minute. But I suppose that was just the style you were going for. My main beef with this was the ending. I mean, someone would obviously find the body eventually…Sorry if I’m taking comedy to seriously, but figured we could turn our puerile self-promotion into helping others through critique.
holy crap someone watched it…. ok first … yes … the dark humor was what i was going for … and of all the things wrong with this video you pick those bad points? either you are unobservant or you were trying not to completely poo poo on the crap fest that i made up there and spare my feelings (if that’s the case, spare on, i don’t mind) … ok this video was shot over two different days with one hour of filming each day, cuz the guy with the mustache had a job and his priority’s were elsewhere … the voice overs and music were a result of half hour to go before deadline the music was close to what i was looking for but you are right it is off (no idea if its ok to use either its some German folk song).. and the voices (did all the voices myself) were to fill in the empty void left after cutting the audio cuz the kid wouldn’t shut the hell up when we were dragging him (in the original audio you can hear him talking through the entire thing, but time crunch meant no time to re-shoot) if you look closely you can see him talking laughing and blinking.. the trash can thing no doubt someone would eventually find the kid …but it isn’t specified in the video whether the kid actually dies so we don’t know (hooray for mysteries!!). the video is a lot worse than you make it out to be seeing how the trash can bit was your big beef with it … just wondering how were the effects though? editing and what not?,
Haha. Yeah, some people get angry if I lay all of the critique on at one time. But it sounds like you are pretty self-aware about your problems. And hey, maybe you should get some more dedicated actors next time!
i’d love to get dedicated actors … but those only come once in a blue moon ….
Yeah, I get what you mean.
thanks Zach for doing the competition. I know it’s a bummer for me and everyone else that didn’t win or place top 10 but i will enter again if you do another one. thanks and congrats to the winners!
Awesome, Great winners! A finished project is always better than your three best ideas! Here was ours
Hey guys, Tom here. Creator of the Sketchbook.
I feel that there were a lot of good entries into the contest and it was a lot of fun. Wish I could have done more of a story in my film but we had some issues with the police that cut our shoot short. Anyways, there was some great content that came out of the competition.
Congrats to all the other winners and great job to everyone that toughed out the 48 hours and had a great time.
Cheers.
Great job! Loved Sketchbook!
Here was my entry. Congrats to the winners. Granted the contest could definitely use some improving next time Zach decides to run it. Regardless of how busy someone might be, when you create a deadline, you generally plan around it…
I’m not gonna lie, sketchbook was really average. It didn’t deserve 1st place. Or a place in the top ten.
I can’t believe Sketchbook won and Modo Unum Speculum got 2nd, if anything they should’ve won, and Sketchbook, I dunno, nice idea with the pencil and cool vfx but that’s about it. This was my video that didn’t even make it to the video library: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6RWsnXVr4A I’m full aware that this one isn’t ‘winning’ material, some shots could’ve been cut down, I forgot to properly frame 1 or 2, acting isn’t very good, but at least we had a working storyline that we worked hard on to have it make sense, also had some fairly cool uses for both props… But I guess we should’ve just focused on making some meaningless action scene
Yeah i agree with you, your storyline was much better then the winning video (because that one didnt make any sense). I also think you used the props in a nice way, so defnetly worthy contest material, just to bad Zach was judging on creative use of the props instead of a good storyline
Honestly after seeing that 2nd place one above, I felt they should have won, that wassss mad DOPE! Loved the cinematography, but if you’re looking for collabing for a video and for a new youtube artist out there with a different video style, Interllergence would be it xP
Btw Here’s my video, I don’t see the harm in posting it again. http://youtu.be/QuPJ8Cufa3Y
Critiques anyone, though I know it’s a pretty rough, not too good cut.
Here’s my entry, in my mind i think i should at least have placed. But that just may be because its my entry. does anyone else agree?
Your video should have placed it was in fact very good 😀 at least it had a story and it stuck to that story. not like most of the top 10, where it was just about some random plot nobody undrestod. well well there is always a next time 🙂 BTW check out my video see what you think 😀
Yours was good too dude i liked when you said the “F” word. It made me feel horny
Thanks dude 😀
@Roman Manuel Gonzales…First off, my name is Manuel so (high five). Second, I really thought your video was gonna place too. Although you leave the actual details of Pendulum as an enigma, your video was pretty great. The fx looked sweet, especially when the guy throws the bad guy against the wall. Thought that was cool. Really the only that somewhat lacked in yours was the acting, the leader of Pendulum was a bit dry and the immediate face covering reaction when the girl died was kinda cheesy but overall, not bad. In fact, great. The only other thing I saw a bit off with yours was the ending, although AWESOME, it was a bit stereotypical. So, those are my thoughts, hope they help in some way.
Thank you for the input!
also here is my video that i know not alot of people seen. I did not see it placing at all but hey it was fun to make. Here my video, its called Departed
http://bit.ly/departed_48film
I personally will never enter another FinalCutKing contest again. The judging was poorly done, and many great films went completely unrecognized.
Here is our entry (with a minute of extra footage)
We all had tons of fun making it, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we deserve a re-judging.
really a beautiful job. Acting was spot on and cuts were lovely and im really impressed. Winner that didn’t get watched in my opinion. doesn’t have to be an action to win! was sooo good!
NOW THATS A GREAT VIDEO! Wow, goes to show it doesn’t have to be an action to win. Comedy for the ages! LOVED IT!
Bummer you won’t enter again, I actually thought your video was gonna place. I commented and (I think) subscribed on YouTube (my account is TheBrainpanChannel). Anyway, good work and don’t get discouraged. Thanks for keeping the comedy clean, too.
ERRBODY UNSUBSCRIBE FROM ZACH FOR A FILMMAKERS STRIKE!
Dang! So many complainers entered this contest!
Terrible judging tho cmon….
Nah, I think it was okay. They chose what they liked. It wasn’t like American Idol where the opinions of thousands matter, it was just the opinions of a few so they chose what they liked. Just because it differs from what other people think doesn’t make their choice wrong
would have been cool to see my film up there 😦
but it seems alot of the winners were just shooting and killing videos…
Everybody hate on me for this, but I thought Sketchbook was pretty solid. I can’t necessarily agree with every choice. But hey, I rarely do. I actually didn’t really get the second place winner. Well made and intense yes, but the story really didn’t come through. (If someone gets it and would like to explain, please do.) Twisted American Girl was kinda cool and artsy but the thing was the music made during the 48 hours? Did those people just make the video and use a pre-recorded song, cuz unless you didn’t have a composer, I thought you weren’t supposed to use pre-made music? Anyway, I will be entering again, because I like a chance at free money and prizes and I love filmmaking. I hope others agree. (But hey, all of us losers should use this opportunity to critique our losing videos.)
I’m with Manny! Well put sir!
You got a point, but i feel like the next competition really need a theme… then this kind of things wouldn’t happen. Something like “48 action film challenge” or “48 thriller film challenge”. I agree i will be participating, free money and prized by doing what you love is awesome.
Yeah, well either a theme or maybe some categories. Although they only got 300 submissions, next year will probably be even bigger and it felt like they chose Happy Destination and Twisted American Girl just to show range of genres in their submissions. So yeah, either a theme like a phrase that your video must follow or categories. That’s what I personally think would help.
@ MANNY i didnt relly like skechbook either…it had no story
Our video never got posted either. It’s somewhat similar to “Happy Destination” above.
Let’s try that again:
hi wasup hiram i really angry for who WON
hey @ zach the 1st place winner… it alright but the rules were to have a story this short had no plot to it
we worked really hard on our film and it wasnt even listed!!! witch isnt even fair