Enter Siemens video contest, win US$15 000

Electronics and electrical engineering giant Siemens is calling on all filmmakers worldwide to enter a video contest on Zooppa by submitting an HD short film of between 120 and 300 seconds by 30 September 2011 to stand a chance of winning US$15 000 (about R111 000). [video]

By Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia

13 Sep 2011

The Changing Your City for the Better global competition is set to award a total of US$40 000 (about R296 000), Siemens Southern Africa spokesperson Sithembile Mokaeane told Bizcommunity.com yesterday, Monday, 12 September 2011.

'Sustainable Cities'

'Sustainable Cities' is the topic of the contest, and all contestants are urged to prove that they can use technology to overcome humanity's challenges.

"This is the topic many people can relate to," she explained, adding that contestants can either focus on energy supply (power generation, power transmission and distribution, smart grids, electro-mobility), urban infrastructure and mobility, or efficient and intelligent buildings.

The video format should be one of these: wmv, asf, avi, dvd, flv, mp4, psp, mjpeg, mov, mpeg, mpegts, mpeg2video, rm, svcd, vcd, vob, 3gp or 3g2.

"The contest is premised on the idea that the world is becoming an increasingly complicated place due to population growth, urbanisation and climate change," Mokaeane said.

"Humanity has a powerful ally in technology"

"In our battle to win the future and change the world for the better, humanity has a powerful ally in technology. As sprawl and climate change continue to advance, technology can be used to improve our quality of life and lessen the negative impact in our environment.

"HD is the best way to ensure a consistent quality standard amongst all entries.

"The video format was selected because it is the most engaging and is the most suitable, a format most easily shared by people and also easily understood by a global audience, especially when it comes to communicating a topic of this nature in a short amount of time."

Only Zoopa members are able to enter the competition. To sign up and become a member, go to zooppa.com/contests/changing-your-city-for-the-better.

All videos should be sent to moc.appooz@asu.appooz, with your surname and title of the video.

Do's and Don'ts

Siemens warned about the following:

Videos should be human, journalistic, authentic stories instead of commercials or industrial films.
They should be about everyday challenges in urban life regarding these topics and a personal vision of how and by what means urban life should or could be better in the future.
The video can be based in the present, showing how technology already does improve urban life for the better in one or other area.
The video must be shot in HD and in any language but must be accompanied by an English language text script. No Siemens branding is to be included.
Videos must be closed with an end slate, which either summarises the main aspects of the story, provides an outlook, or offers some surprising information, and possibly even some related links to interesting websites or blogs, for example.
Any music, images, video footage and other content must be either originally produced by the filmmaker submitting the video, or proper permissions must be authorised by the copyright owner.

About Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia

Issa Sikiti da Silva is a winner of the 2010 SADC Media Awards (print category). He freelances for various media outlets, local and foreign, and has travelled extensively across Africa. His work has been published both in French and English. He used to contribute to Bizcommunity.com as a senior news writer.
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