Student Filmmakers Join Us on the Jake and Yahweh Show - Vote for their film!

This Halloween the Jake and Yahweh show had as its guests a few filmmakers from a team of students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who prepared a movie for the Apple Insomnia Film Scramble ( http://www.apple.com/education/insomnia/ ).

I met Charlie Brown Sanders, a member of Team Vodka Chrome, at the Nada Surf/Sea Wolf concert at the Bottle Tree Cafe in Birmingham, and he told me about the film and introduced me to some of his team mates. Of course 90.7 The Capstone was excited to have them come on the Jake and Yahweh show to tell our listeners about their film.

Our guests Tollie Jones, Jaime Vance, and Charlie (in the form of a voice recording, as he unfortunately couldn't be physically present) enthusiastically discussed the film-making process and the contest itself, with intermittent comments from "Charlie." They're great guys, and I'm looking forward to hearing about their future projects and sharing them with you, the listener.

Here's their movie: http://edcommunity.apple.com/insomnia_fall07/item.php?itemID=1199

And here's a letter from Charlie to everybody:

Hey everyone,

So me and a group of budding 'film dudes' have entered into the Apple Insomnia Film Contest. What is that? It's an insane-o competition where you've got to make a 3 minute film in 24 hours. You also have to include at least 3 of their 7 specified items in your film. This may not sound that tough, but working with a single camera (probably 99% of the teams) this is really hard! Myself and a few other members of our team (Team Vodka Chrome) worked, literally, for 24 hours straight.

Our film, Panic'd, is a comedy about a guy who drops his wallet while running at a track. He runs with giant headphones on, listening to suspenseful music akin to the soundtrack to 'The Terminator' (who does that?...) and cannot hear the calls of people trying to return his wallet. He believes he's being chased, and runs- causing a chain reaction of ridiculousness of which you'll see when you watch it. I'll say this though, someone gets beat down with a laptop computer.

Being a bunch of young guys just getting started, we need everyone's help! The first part of this competition is essentially a popularity contest. Over 1700 films made it into the contest, and only twenty five teams will reach a finalist group. How do you become part of that 25 group? Votes. That's what we need your help with, voting for our film!!

If you are familiar with Apple, iTunes, and have an Apple ID, the process of voting will be pretty straight forward for you. Simply go http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZWRjb21tdW5pdHkuYXBwbGUuY29tL2luc29tbmlhX2ZhbGwwNy9pdGVtLnBocD9pdGVtSUQ9MTE5OQ== to find our film at Apple's Insomnia Film Gallery, and look to the right hand side for "Rate This Film". Follow all necessary steps and you should be good to go. We cannot thank you enough!!

Oh.. I forgot to mention what the 2 winning groups are awarded. Each group will get FIVE MACBOOK PRO LAPTOPS full of software!!! This is an absolute dream prize for any ambitious youngster trying to work in the visual creative field. Again, this is why we're on our knees, practically begging for time and your votes!

Myself, and everyone else on our D.I.Y. Team Vodka Chrome are graciously indebted to anyone who takes the time to check our stuff out and vote. THANKS SO MUCH.

If you do not have an Apple ID, you will need one to vote for the film. Below, I've created explicit instructions on how to obtain one and route your way back to our film to vote for it. It may seem confusing, but this is as simple as we could get it, believe it or not! If anyone' is confused, email me at sensleman@gmail.com or call me at 205.218.7618 and I'll try to help as best I can.

Again... thank you, everyone.


1. Click http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwczovL215aW5mby5hcHBsZS5jb20vY2dpLWJpbi9XZWJPYmplY3RzL015SW5mby53b2E= this link. Beneath "Don't Have and Apple ID?" there is a 'Click Here'. Click it.

2. This brings you to the Apple ID creation form. Once you've completed it, go to http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZWRjb21tdW5pdHkuYXBwbGUuY29tL2luc29tbmlhX2ZhbGwwNy9pdGVtLnBocD9pdGVtSUQ9MTE5OQ== this page to view our film.

3. On the right hand side, click (login required).

4. You will be prompted to 'Agree to Terms' to vote for the Insomnia films. Complete the form. Don't be confused by the term "Captain Information", that's you. For 'School/University' simply enter the college or high school you currently attend or attended.

5. After completing the form, if you have any trouble being re-directed to our film page, simply click http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZWRjb21tdW5pdHkuYXBwbGUuY29tL2luc29tbmlhX2ZhbGwwNy9pdGVtLnBocD9pdGVtSUQ9MTE5OQ== here to return to it.

6. See "Choose your rating" on the right hand side, and select your rating (4 stars being the highest).

Thanks! If you couldn't view our movie on the apple site (it's a slow loader), just click http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3dhdGNoP3Y9M09wVy1mR1RjU28= here to see it on youtube. However, it's critical to note that the voting must take place on the Apple Insomnia Films page mentioned above, even though a similar voting system exists on youtube.

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