{"id":1575,"date":"2010-01-22T16:51:44","date_gmt":"2010-01-22T22:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:56:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:56:28","slug":"snickers-spot-pockets-5000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=1575","title":{"rendered":"Snickers spot pockets $5,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a reversal of fortune from what befell the local entrants<\/a> in Nikon<\/strong>\u2019s recent contest, area video makers Joe Taylor, Bill Kephart<\/strong>, and Thomas Nicol<\/strong> found their golden ticket metaphorically wrapped around a Snickers <\/strong>last week when manufacturer M&M Mars<\/strong> selected their spec spot, \u201cShare the Love<\/strong>,\u201d as one of three $5,000 winners through a PopTent.net<\/strong> competition. In the scenario, Nicol attends a support group led by Kephart, who dutifully clarifies for the new arrival that the meeting is intended to help sexual (not Snickers) addicts. Nicol elects to stay, given the primarily female make-up of the group, and the spot ends with some round-robin Snickers savoring:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI thought [the contest] would be a good one to enter for a few reasons,\u201d C-U Blogfidential<\/strong> learns from Taylor, who discovered PopTent\u2019s \u201cTell the Snickers Story\u201d assignment<\/a> listed on a video contest clearinghouse called VidOpp.com<\/strong>. \u201cThey seemed open to any creative concept, the $5,000 prize amount was higher than most [other \u201cassignments\u201d offered to members], they guaranteed at least three winners, and we could submit more than one . And, I do <\/em>like me a good Snickers.\u201d Having cut his teeth on previous comedic shorts and one long-form drama, CONNOR\u2019S WOODS<\/strong>, Taylor decided to trade ideas with creative confidant Kephart.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew we could collaborate well on a project like this; that Bill has a strange sense of humor,\u201d jokes Taylor, who first collaborated with Kephart last Halloween on an original play, Coyote<\/em><\/strong>, performed at Taylor\u2019s business, Sleepy Creek Vineyards<\/strong><\/a> in Fairmount<\/strong>. After tossing about ideas and sacrificial Snickers bars, the pair produced and entered \u201cBrokenback Snickers<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cSnickerbillies<\/strong>,\u201d the former treading where one would expect and the latter featuring Nicol as a camper befriended by Kephart and Taylor as creepy backwoods farmers, complete with ill-fitting plaid and crooked teeth. \u201cWe thought they were good but, since we could enter as many as we wanted, we decided to do more and up our chances of winning,\u201d Taylor reasons.<\/p>\n

The eventual winner, \u201cShare the Love,\u201d came out of this second effort along with \u201cSnicker Donor<\/strong>,\u201d starring Kephart and Nicol as fellow office workers who argue over a solitary Snickers bar. \u201cI think we had the ideas [for the next two] on a Monday, shot them on a Thursday, edited them together on a Friday, and submitted them on a Saturday which was the deadline,\u201d recalls Taylor. More than 300 entries were uploaded to the PopTent site by the time the contest closed.<\/p>\n

Taylor, Kephart, and Nicol plan to split the money prize once it arrives; some of Taylor\u2019s share may go towards a new camera and equipment as well as a budget for future projects. \u201cThese contests are a great way to learn,\u201d offers Taylor. \u201cDoing a 30-second spot doesn\u2019t take the time many other projects would, but still involves all the aspects that a larger project would. A site like PopTent lets you see how you stack up against creators all over the country, and there is a chance that you just might win a little money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other two Snickers winners<\/a> are Dave Kennedy<\/strong> and Corodale Productions<\/strong> for \u201cSurvive Hunger<\/strong>,\u201d featuring two men in a life raft hording their sugary sustenance, and Jake <\/strong>and Adam Huber<\/strong> for \u201cShoulda had a Snickers<\/strong>,\u201d set in a bowling alley. Other recent assignment sponsors include Procter & Gamble<\/strong> (Bounce <\/strong>dryer bars, Old Spice<\/strong> deodorant), Capella University, Vita-Mix, Coors Light<\/strong>, the New York Film Festival<\/strong>, and the Harley-Davidson Museum<\/strong> in Milwaukee, Wisconsin<\/strong>. You can watch all of Taylor\u2019s Snickers entries at his PopTent profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PopTent.net and M&M Mars decided to share the wealth with Joe Taylor of Fairmount, Bill Kephart of Tolono, and Thomas Nicol of Urbana, who won $5,000 for their Snickers spec spot, “Share the Love.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[314,114,20],"tags":[361,360,363,359,362],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-competition-du-c-u","category-happy-places","category-videos-du-c-u","tag-bill-kephart","tag-joe-taylor","tag-poptent","tag-snickers","tag-thomas-nicol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}