“The end is nigh” Rapture Weekend Challenge

Challenges

EDIT: The end of the world did not happen so good news. No excuses for not taking part!

Well tomorrow at 6pm the world will end according to the man who clearly has not lost his marbles, radio evangelist Harold Camping…is that Eastern? GMT? Australian? If it’s Australian isn’t that like really soon?!

That kind of sucks as I was going to get to shoot with an Arri Alexa next weekend. Dammit! Oh well…I did turn 40 today so it kind of feels like it anyway 😉

To mark the apocalypse I am resurrecting the long dead weekend challenge on my website. It didn’t end particularly well last time I am ashamed to say. I foolishly had a couple of giveaways to entrants to the last one but it was perceived as a competition because of this not a challenge and I got a lot of grief from a couple of people in particular for not watching all 60+ films. I apologise I wish I could have but it was too many to watch and because of that I got blitzed by some shocking personal abusive messages which wasn’t nice! I all wanted to do was to get people to go out and shoot! I reacted to this abuse instead of ignoring the troll messages which was a mistake which I have fallen into a few times. I won’t let it happen again.

So the first challenge of 2011 is this one. No prizes. I can’t promise to watch them all. I will try to watch as many as possible!

Your film is simply about the end of the world…do what you want! Make it fun, scary, silly, epic…It’s up to you…this should be a blast to make…I am going to try to make one too!!

Basic guidelines:

Keep it short and punchy…no more than 3-5 minutes, less is fine!

Got to have a story!

Must stick to end of the world topic

Must have at least ONE bit of sync sound.

I don’t care what camera you use. iphone or Alexa and anything in between…up to you!

Have fun making it!

The end of the world is one of my favourite genres of TV and movies. So many great films have been made about it (and some bloody awful ones too…2012 anyone?) Let me know what are your favourite ones in comments below too!

Mine are in no particular order: Planet of the Apes, The Walking Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The World, The Flesh and The Devil, The Quiet Earth, The Omega Man, The Stand, 28 days later, Miracle Mile, Dr Strangelove, On the Beach, Logan’s Run, The Time Machine, 12 Monkeys and LOADS more!

So make a film, stick it on this group. Don’t just upload an old film. No challenge in that.

As the world ends of May 21st at 6pm it should be by then but I am informed that the Rapture will last a while and won’t be instantaneous so you have a week and a bit to do this…more than enough time to be creative…get them in by May 31st 2359!

Please add your videos here!!!


33 comments

  1. Happy Birthday! yay! More support rigs for you!

    Its great to know that the world will cave in after your birthday, that would be a good ice breaking session over in heaven (or hell,which some lawyers prefer to be)… “lucifer’s knob! it is sooo hot in ere!.. oh wait a minute,Philip Bloom’s party was even hotter, what say u congressman?”

    Have a blast mate. Cheers!

  7. My top 3 apocalyptic films are in these order:

    1. Magnolia (what a drama!)
    2. Escape From New York (Snake Plissken Rulez!)
    3. Event Horizon (it could only end with fear)

    Honorable mention: Melancholia (not out yet, Von Tier is a herpes bunghole, but not his works. Something nice to watch to this year)

  8. uhh 🙂

    its also my fav. genre + sci-fi + fantasy
    and the time mashine is great (1960´s one) -> HJ Wells for president 🙂

    no time for this challange but i cant wait to see the results 😉

    greets from austria

  10. TERMINATOR
    Basically.
    (starting the engine, backing
    out)
    The Skynet funding bill is passed. The system
    goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions
    are removed from strategic defense. Skynet
    begins to learn, at a geometric rate. It becomes
    self-aware at 2:14 a.m. eastern time, August 29.
    In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

    SARAH
    And Skynet fights back.

    They accelerate back onto the highway.

    TERMINATOR
    Yes. It launches its ICBMs against their
    targets in Russia.

    SARAH
    Why attack Russia?

    TERMINATOR
    Because Skynet knows the Russian counter-strike
    will remove its enemies here.

    SARAH
    Jesus.
    (beat, then)
    How much do you know about Dyson?

    TERMINATOR
    I have detailed files.

    SARAH
    I want to know everything. What he looks like.
    Where he lives. Everything.

    99 INT. DYSON HOUSE – DAY

    LOL

  12. Cool idea Phillip. Hope you are having a great birthday. I am not looking forward to the big 4.0 at all but I guess it wont matter with the end of the world anyway.

    I like these challenges and seeing what people come up with. Prize or not, the spirit of it is whats great. Its too bad people demand attention and rewards for doing something that they should be doing anyway to better their craft. The only incentive they should need is the satisfaction of rendering out their final product and smiling as they watch it play out….oh well. Welcome to the internet I suppose.

  14. WOAH!! Phil you list the kiwi movie The quiet Earth . One of my favorites and starring The late great Bruno !!. Please check out “smash palace” another great Bruno Lawrence and kiwi movie.

    2. Fair enough.

      As for favorite end-of-the-world films, I must confess to enjoying “The Core” at least once a year. A classic? Probably not. But it’s a great popcorn flick.

      One final question Philip – Do you think God’s camera has rapeture priority?

      🙂

  17. The rapture will happen in a blink of an eye(1 Corinthians 15:52)
    But their will be years of tribulation that will follow (Revelation 7:14) But the bible says know one will know the day or hour that this will happen. Not even the angles or Jesus (Matthew 24:36) . We won’t know the day or hour but we do know we are living in the last days due to the Biblical prophecies, that up to this point, all have been fullfiled. 
    Any way I love this topic too and sounds like a cool project. Here at TrinityFXmg.com we just started to film a short film based on this topic. Check out a very small sneak peak on our web site. I wish we were done to enter it in the contest but we have lots more to go before finishing. Can’t wait to see what people come up with. Good luck to all.

  22. blurg 🙂 it was graduation weekend here in good ole’ New Hampshire so i’ve spent the weekend shooting graduation photos and videos so i’ve missed yet another weekend challenge…but on a plus note, this is the first graduation i’ve worked for the local college were they wanted me to do as much HD DSLR video as photos, and thats all thanks to your help, tutaliage and one day class from Boston… so bring on the next weekend challenge! 🙂

  23. Amazing challenge Philip! I’m glad you’re back to the challenges, and call it synchronicity, I was about to make a short video for a kite surfer friend of mine, she needs sponsors, so I’m already writing something to do with the end of the World, with a green, ecologic twist. Hola from Mexico!

  24. Hello Philip,
    Sorry this is a bit off topic but couldn’t post on the Zacuto EVF blog. I want to buy the EVF and support you at the same time but ordering from the USA for us that live in UK is really prohibitive once the customs tax is applied on top it really is a killer.
    I was wondering if you had hooked up with a UK supplier by sending sales to their site and getting a percentage of the sale like you do with Zacuto.
    That way I’d order through your link and pay in pounds and not have to pay the quite large import tax.
    Let me know if you have a solution to this.
    Carl
    http://www.digitalslrshooter.com
    p.s. I know creativevideo and flashcentre are currently importing them into the uk.

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