I'm rolling back the counter a bit here to highlight the passing of another significant milestone. On May 8, 2009, less than 7 months after hitting 100,000 video views, my online uploads surged passed the 200,000 mark. The relatively quick increase has been a direct result of uploading my work onto the Yobi.tv Film site - where my short, The Gizmo Tree has been viewed over 40,000 times alone, easily making it my most popular upload.
I have to say that it's nice seeing some of my uploads take off on their own at last. It's now only several days away before Editing Luke celebrates 2 years, and it's certainly more of a celebration seeing just how beneficial and rewarding this blog has continued to be.
The biggest eye-opener as of late has been the benefit of uploading my work to a new site. I've been drumming away at YouTube for a long time and have never really seen any personal overnight successes, but new venues, with Editing Luke as the central hub, show a lot of promise. Onwards and upwards!
My short film, the Gizmo Tree has just reached the Top 10 of the Yobi Film Contest! We started out with 30 movies/semi-finalists and after a month of voting I now find myself only a single round away from reaching the Top 5 - the ultimate round - the Finals!
To skip ahead and cast a much appreciated vote for my movie, click here.
Ever since uploading my work to the Yobi Contest site back in December, my focus has been making it to the finals in the film category. Win or lose, I really just want to feel satisfied that I pushed as hard as I could, promoted as hard as I could, and even if it's just for a week, feel like I had a shot at the top title. Opportunities like this are obviously few and far between.
While I can't deny how helpful the $10,000+ grand prize would be in helping me advance my own career and facilitate a desired move to Vancouver, what's actually fuelling my campaign for votes is the exposure that a contest like this gives my work and myself (which it already has). If I can gain even a couple new contacts to improve my network, the reward can be far more significant and long lasting - being featured as a finalist is a great start!
It's funny to be talking about my serious outlook in relation to a short like, the Gizmo Tree. It's a clean cut, quirky little comedy that seems to serve its purpose and encourage a few laughs - but the positive response and feedback has been incredibly humbling. I've watched it and critiqued it more times than I'd care to remember, and yet it's this easy going flick that has the potential to influence some fairly dramatic personal and professional upgrades.
Your votes, attention, time, support, viewership, feedback, and even your ability to put up with my self campaigning, speaks to the fact that many of you are willing to help me achieve something that I can't possibly succeed at alone. In this case it's a single weekly vote and telling others about my short, which in turn is helping me reach new viewers and grow in popularity. In the last round alone, the Gizmo Tree shot up over 9,000 views.
To cast a vote for the Gizmo Tree: 1. Visit Yobi.tv and use your email address to join the site. 2. Once logged in, simply visit my Gizmo Tree Contest Profile. 3. Click the THUMBS UP under my movie. That's it!
I want to thank you all for your help and support - whether this is the first time you've voted or the 5th, the rounds are only getting more competitive and intense. That said, I'm going to give my weekly pitch again and ask if any of you can mention my short to a co-worker, friend, spouse, family member, etc. it would be greatly appreciated! This is the last round of the semi-finals, and the Top 5 is almost close enough to touch.
Story: It was this random Christmas tree ornament that became the elaborate treasure and reward in my short the Gizmo Tree. Just a piece of plastic that hung heavy side down on a cheap holiday display . . . I saw it and instantly thought that it would make a perfect prop for some future project. It didn't inspire the Gizmo Tree, but it seemed fitting for the fantasy element of the movie and made up for the faulty gift plot line - somewhere in the rush of writing the project it was included for the extra novelty and punchline. To this day, the 'jumbo diamond' as I excitedly referred to it in Gizmo, still sits on my desk as a reminder of the project.
