BPM: The DFEST Edition. 1 song. 48 hours. 223 Red Bulls. It's on.

Sure, we love the movies that "professionals" make, what with their infinite budgets, indefinite production schedules and legions of interns and craft services people, but nothing beats the rare and frenetic fervor of the so-called amateurs.

This is why we love Filmmaking Frenzy. It offers up a chance for any Tom, Dick or Harriett with access to a video camera, an email address and the slightest shred of determination the opportunity to present their personal pygmy-opus to a supportive audience of like-minded folks. And usually big big prizes are waiting at the end, which helps to flame the fervor into a full-on fever. The kind of fever you can only feed with healthy doses of caffeine and blind optimism. Sometimes it falls flat, sure, but more often than not it's genuinely impressive stuff and always entertaining. And it's filled to the brim with ideas, performances and techniques you will not find floating in ANY studio jello-mold.

We are proud to announce the DFEST edition of BPM (Beats per minute), a 48 hour filmmaking competition. At 7:00 PM on July 11, teams will be given MP3s of two songs from artists performing at DFEST. This signals the beginning of the competition. Immediately, you and your team start scrambling: listening to the song, decoding the lyrics, making the shot list, borrowing and stealing guitars, wigs - whatever it takes to make the most entertaining video of them all. Teams have 48 hours to complete a music video and upload it to www.filmmakingfrenzy.com. The top 40 videos will be shown in the Red Bull Beats Per Minute tent inside Main Stage grounds at DFest throughout the weekend.

The winning video will be premiered at the Main Stage during DFEST weekend, plus four members of the winning team will be sent to Red Bull Soap Box on Oct. 25th in Denver (!) at Red Rocks!! The prize includes flight for four and hotel for four (Oct. 24 & 25). Team members will get full media access to Red Bull Soap Box AND rights to film the event!

By the way, I'm from Denver. It's great. Red Rocks is spectacular. If you've never been then dust off your over-sized novelty directors' megaphones and do a little research on gold prospecting and micro-brewing and get ready to have a good time.

I hope every single one of you who reads this will sign up to compete, and I hope 85% of you win. To the other 15%, maybe you should have spent more time caring about fun and filmmaking and less time at the craft services table.

TROLL 2 FAN FILMMAKING FRENZY WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

First off, we salute all those fearless goblin warriors who submitted their works! The TROLL 2 cast member judges have reviewed the films and made a final decision, and the winning film is.....

OGRE by Team Orgasmic Apocalypse!!!

Sure, it may not be the most polished film ever made...but neither is TROLL 2! The judges saw a level of innovation and goblin pride that impressed them to no end, and decided to make this maverick short the winner of the competition, despite some very sharp competition.

The two runners-up are:

SETH HAPPENS by Team Seth Happens

and

MEAT NOAM TELL NOBODY by Black Magic Rollercoaster!

So congratulations to the winners! Of course, these and the other fan films will be screened at NILBOG INVASION too, and will certainly inspire a goblin uprising against all mankind!

SON OF RAMBOW Contest Winners Announced!

The SON OF RAMBOW competition has come to a close, and the filmmakers have had a chance to review the entries and choose a winner. Paramount Vantage got in touch with us recently to let us know that the winning Filmmaking Frenzy video for this contest is... Mission Improbable submitted by The Dunn family!

As of this posting, that's all the information I have, so I can't say what films came in second according to their judging or any of that. I can, however, say congratulations to the Dunn family, and I'm looking forward to watching your movie on the official DVD release for SON OF RAMBOW.

We're finalizing dates and details for this year's UNNECESSARY SEQUELS competition right now as well, so check back soon for a full update of those pages.