Film and Photography Society to hold second annual music video contest

The Film and Photography Society at UCLA will be entering the world of music, cameras in hand. FPS has set out to test out the possibilities of music video making with its second annual music video contest.

This winter quarter, FPS will be hosting the music video contest ending on March 6. The goal of the quarter-long contest and the group is to expose students to the filmmaking process. Those who are interested in entering can register on the FPS website by Tuesday.

FPS is a student-run organization that is built on professional, industry-standard practices pertaining to film and photography said Daichi Hirabayashi, a third-year Design | Media Arts student.

Hirabayashi first started the contest last winter and is currently the group’s film production director. He said he wanted to create an event that would give any student the opportunity to learn about the processes of filmmaking. Through collaboration with FPS, students who enter the contest have the opportunity to direct and produce their own music videos. Hirabayshi said that students who enter the contest are given complete creative control over the production of their music videos.

The contest will be scored by a panel of judges, consisting of people who have experience in the music and film industries as well as UCLA professors from the Film and Television department, Hirabayashi said.

When scoring the videos, Hirabayashi said the judges are going to adhere to criteria such as originality, creativity, production value and entertainment value. There will also be an audience award, which Hirabayashi said encourages the participation of students and club members who wish to view the entries.

“It was amazing … The group helps you find more people who can help with the production value,” said Cassie Moore, a fourth-year anthropology student.

Moore entered last year’s contest and placed second with her dance routine music video to Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends.” She said that she plans to enter again this year.

“We only had two weeks to put it together,” Moore said. “It was one of the most fun times I’ve had at UCLA.”

Margaux Moores-Tanvier, a fourth-year political science student, former Daily Bruin news contributor and FPS’s previous president, said one of the greater challenges facing the music video makers was a low budget. She said that lower budgets of production, however, do not compromise the quality or variety of the music video entries.

The accrued experience and openness of FPS club members ensure a diversity of interesting and quality videos, Hirabayashi said. Last year, students created videos to original songs as well as to popular music.

“(The music video contest) gives us the opportunity to express our own creativity with the means that we have,” Moores-Tanvier said. “It’s student-based versus studio-based.”

When considering what makes a good music video, Moores-Tanvier said that students should focus on the production quality of the videos but not lose sight of the importance of creativity and bringing new perspectives. Moores-Tanvier also said the video should comply with the music.

“Anyone should enter who’s interested in film,” Moore said. “Even if you’re not interested in doing your own project, (you can) help them make a video.”

The FPS group and music video contest provides a immersive and hands-on opportunity for students, who may not be film or photography students, to get experience working on any aspect of filmmaking that interests them, Hirabayashi said.

“It comes down to the amount of determination you have,” Hirabayashi said. “Bringing something creative, for any project, makes a great video.”