Firefox film contest heats up the Web

Photo courtesy of Jeff Gill
Using their faces as their canvas, Savannah College of Art and Design students (left to right) Will Patrick, Andrew Marshall, Jeff Gill and Stuart Keenan created a humorous short-film entry for the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest.

By: Jennifer Long

Published: Friday, April 7, 2006

For one group of Savannah College of Art and Design students, a spur-of-the-moment spring break film project may turn into significant exposure to entertainment industry professionals, Internet executives and, ultimately, the world.

Last month, animation juniors Jeff Gill, Will Patrick and Stuart Keenan and film and television junior Andrew Marshall sent a short-film entry to the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest, a competition that asks entrants to create a 30-second live-action or animated advertisement promoting Mozilla’s Firefox brand to Web users.

The students, roommates in Boundary Village, worked on the project under the auspices of 2205 Productions, a name that makes reference to their residence hall room number. The four met in the residence halls their first year at SCAD and have been friends ever since.

“We came up with an idea for the commercial and during spring break we produced the film,” said Gill. Each student took a role in the film’s production, which pokes fun at other popular Web browsers while making Firefox come across as the sophisticated and intelligent choice. The students did this by superimposing eyes and mouths onto the competitors’ logos and having the logos act juvenile and make funny sounds. After 20 seconds of these antics, Firefox’s logo asserts itself and puts an end to their annoying behavior.

Released in 2004, Firefox is an open-source Web browser that has been downloaded by more than 150 million people and boasts more than 50 million users. Blake Ross, co-founder of Firefox and author of “Firefox for Dummies,” said that Firefox is used by more than 90 percent of college students, and he hopes that these same students may be the key to developing a creative and cutting-edge advertising tool. “In general, we’ve found that our fans tend to produce more effective, passionate and genuine ads than anything a paid firm would design,” he said.

As part of the deal, Firefox seeks to reward competition entrants for their hard work and dedication. One benefit of entering is exposure to a number of highly visible film, television and music professionals. The contest’s judges include cinematographer Jim Denault, StrawberryFrog founder Scott Goodson, producer and director McG, actor Freddy Rodriguez, music video director Geo Santini, writer and director Ben Younger, and producer Warren Zide. “We are going to put this work in front of top Hollywood talent,” said Ross. “This is not a sweepstakes or a one-in-a-million chance; this is a real shot at impressing someone who can launch careers.”

For those interested in tangible rewards, the competition offers three grand-prize packages, including a $5,000 gift certificate to the video, audio and photo store B&H; a 9X Media multiscreen display; and an Alienware media center PC.

The winning commercial also will be incorporated into Firefox’s marketing efforts, which reach millions of people around the world. “The best submissions will enjoy massive public exposure,” said Ross. “They’ll be integrated into our worldwide marketing campaigns, which reach tens of millions of people, and we’ll be screening them to industry influentials at a handful of film festivals worldwide.”

Ross said that the 2205 Productions entry has won rave reviews by the competition organizers, and has the potential to be popular with the judges as well. “We like their ad because it’s very funny and it’s just the kind of clip that will spread on the Web,” he said.

In fact, SCAD’s reputation as one of the best art and design colleges in the country has Firefox Flicks organizers excited about receiving more competition entries from the college. “We have high hopes for SCAD,” said Ross. “[2205 Productions’] ad was a big hit. Also, Firefox employee Asa Dotzler attended film and television classes at SCAD and found them to be top-notch.”

For students who are still interested in entering the competition, Ross advised that the best contest entries should convey a simple and straightforward message to viewers. “We created Firefox to make the Web easier and more enjoyable to use, and we suspect the best ads will convey that to a general audience,” said Ross. “I personally find humor to be the most effective tool in marketing, though we’ve already had some very strong dramatic entries. I encourage filmmakers to use language that appeals to all audiences.”

The Firefox Flicks competition is open to industry professionals as well as students. Entries must be submitted online and must be received by April 14 at midnight. Firefox expects to announce the competition winners by the end of April. To learn more about the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest, read the competition guidelines or send in an entry, visit www.firefoxflicks.com/adcontest.


Long is a publications editor.