Amateur and independent filmmakers, writers, actors and film buffs from around the nation can develop short films together, thanks to a new interactive online destination. Rootclip, located at http://www.rootclip.com , encourages site visitors to create customized short film storylines.
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore says, “When I first heard the idea of Rootclip I was very impressed. It’s the ideal venue for established and up-and-coming filmmakers to interact and express their creative talents on the world stage. We’ve entered a new era of filmmaking and I believe that our next great generation of filmmakers might be inspired by places like Rootclip.”
To engage site visitors, Rootclip holds contests for filmmakers. The first Rootclip.com competition, entitled “Good Luck,” runs from April 28 to July 7. The winner and a guest will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Mich. from August 1-3, where they will meet with Michael Moore and screen the completed short film in front of a live audience.
“Rootclip was conceived as a catalyst to get people thinking about and being creative with short films in such a way that it radiates out to the masses and brings new life to the art form,” said Erik Luchauer, co-founder of Rootclip, about Rootclip’s development into a national destination for independent filmmakers. “Our goal is to create connections between directors, writers and actors across the country.”
How It Works: Each Rootclip process plays out over a six chapter cycle, beginning with the Rootclip in-house team developing an inaugural film chapter to jump-start the story. Participating filmmakers then view the root clip, a few minutes of content that begins the story but has a completely open-ended conclusion, and then shoot their own rendition of what should happen next. The users’ upload their one-minute chapters to Rootclip.com, where online viewers then judge the submissions and select the chapter winner. Once the winner for that “chapter” is announced, the open submission period begins again. This process repeats itself four times before culminating in a final chapter competition between all previous chapter winners.
Rootclip began as a social networking tool supported by the Scripps Newspapers Entrepreneur Fund, whose primary goal is developing brands that increase the reach and audience for local media.
