YouTube Australia Blog

Two Aussies Go to Venice: Top 10 Films Selected for Your Film Festival

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Cross-posted from the Google Australia Blog
Today, we are one step closer to finding the world’s next great storyteller. Over 15,000 filmmakers entered Your Film Festival but only ten finalists remain, each with the hope of winning $500,000 to produce new content with actor Michael Fassbender, director Ridley Scott and his world class team.
During the past month, 3 million people got involved with Your Film Festival by watching, sharing, and voting for their favorite films. So here in the Google Australia office, we are very proud to announce that two of the finalists are Aussies — Damien Power and Adrian Powers!

Here is the full list of ten finalists:

88:88, Joey Ciccoline & Sean Wilson (USA)
Bat Eyes, Damien Power (Australia)
Cine Rincao, Fernando Grostein Andrade & Fernanda Fernandes (Brazil)
The Drought, Kevin Slack (USA)
El General, Diego Pino Zamora (Bolivia)
The Guilt, David Victori Blaya (Spain)
North Atlantic, Bernardo Nascimento (United Kingdom)
Super.Full., Niam Itani (Lebanon)
Scruples, Adrian Powers (Australia)
This Time, Ramy EL-Gabry (Egypt)

The finalists will soon travel to Italy where they will have their short films screened at the historic Venice Film Festival. They will also pitch a new project idea to Ridley Scott’s production team who, along with the jury including Michael Fassbender, will ultimately name the grand prize winner at a special ceremony on September 2, 2012, in Venice. As part of their journey to Venice, Emirates has invited the filmmakers to stopover in Dubai for a series of events celebrating their achievement.

Join these filmmakers as they travel to Venice and stay tuned to the Your Film Festival channel where we’ll take you behind the scenes, tell you more about the finalists, provide special edition movie posters, and of course, unveil the winner.

Posted by Lucinda Barlow, Head of marketing, Australia, who recently watched Mens 4x100m Olympic final Sydney 2000

Watch Splendour In The Grass live on YouTube this Saturday

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Tickets for this year’s Splendour In The Grass festival sold out in record time, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun. Thanks to Virgin Mobile, a full eight hours of music will be coming to you live as Splendour returns to Byron Bay — and returns to YouTube for the second year in a row.

So for the festival goer in you that just can’t get enough, put on your gumboots, get our your festival gear and enjoy some live tunes from the comfort of your own home.

What can you expect?

We kick off at the Supertop stage with Gold Coast’s Bleeding Knees Club at 3:00pm, followed by The Cast of Cheers and Last Dinosaurs at 4:30pm.

And the beauty of watching on YouTube means no crowds to fight with! Pop over to the Mix Up stage and catch Friends at 5:25pm before cruising back to the Supertop for a little action from across the two ponds — British Sensations Band of Skulls, back to back Kiwi female vocalists Ladyhawke and Kimbra, and Swedish Sensation Miike Snow closing out the night at 9:50pm.

We’ll also be featuring interviews and highlights from a number of other acts, will be streaming all the live acts to mobile, and will be putting out video highlights in the days following the close of the festival so you can relive the action wherever and whenever you fancy.

Be sure to check out all the action from 3:00pm until 11:00pm AEST this Saturday, July 28 at youtube.com/virginmobileaus. (all times in AEST and subject to change)

See you out there. Stay dry and enjoy the show!

Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, just watched Friends - Mind Control

Aussie Filmmakers Among the 50 Semi-Finalists for Your Film Festival

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

As you may have seen, voting is open for Your Film Festival, the global competition that unites the Venice Film Festival, Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Emirates and YouTube’s community of film fans, in a quest to discover the next great storyteller.

The Scott Free team selected 50 semi-finalists from more than 15,000 short films submitted by creators worldwide. Now, it’s up to you, the fans, to vote for your favorites, and ultimately send 10 finalists to the Venice Film Festival.

Here in the Google Sydney office, we are excited that Australians and Australian residents are behind many of the entries. Take a look at a few below:
Scruples, Director: Adrian Powers - A young double agent struggles to keep his cover when he witnesses a horrifying crime. Are a few innocent lives worth sacrificing for the greater good?

Bat Eyes, Director: Damien Power - Sixteen year old Adam teases a classmate. When he tries to apologise, she has quite different plans for him.

Boot, Director: Damien Power - A night out with best friends ends in tragedy and a terrible secret. Can you save a friendship with a lie?

Good Pretender, Director: Maziar Lahooti - After trying to convince some local bullies that her father is a robot, 11-year-old Ally is dared to shoot him with a spear gun to prove it.

Kiss, Director: Alex Murawski - Tom has never been kissed. His best friend offers his girlfriend to practice with, awakening Tom’s desire and changing the trio’s friendship forever.

The Telegram Man, Director: James Frances Khehtie - During the long years of World War II, Australia's small farming communities paid a terrible price. In the rural towns of New South Wales, one family each week discovered that their son or husband or brother or father would not be coming home. In the throes of such grief, one seldom considers the man who delivers the news.

At the Venice Film Festival, the 10 finalist filmmakers will have their work screened as part of the opening days of the festival and judged by a grand prize jury of industry professionals, including Ridley Scott and actor Michael Fassbender. The finalists will then pitch their next film project to the Ridley Scott team, all for the chance to win a $500,000 production grant to work with Ridley Scott’s award-winning team to create a new original work for YouTube.

So what are you waiting for? Watch the entries, vote for your favourite films on the Your Film Festival channel, and be part of the largest online film festival ever. Voting ends 13th July, so cast your votes now!

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Marketing Manager, recently watched The Telegram Man.

Vivid Live: Wrap-up and re-live

Monday, 25 June 2012

Earlier this month, Sydney Opera House celebrated Vivid LIVE, with amazing gigs from world-renowned musicians, and a very special pre-show hangout with the Temper Trap. And in a festival-first, four concerts were live streamed on YouTube with FRONTROW, a custom photo sharing app, which let audiences around the world capture priceless moments, like this streaker at The Temper Trap concert, and share them with friends.

There were over 900k views across the four concerts, with over half a million watching the final eye blasting concert from Amon Tobin, making his show the second largest streaming event in Australia since YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Here’s what he had to say about his latest creation, ISAM:

Back by popular demand, you can now replay and relive some of the best moments of Vivid LIVE on the Sydney Opera House Channel, with two special performances available in their entirety: The Lighting of the Sails by German design collective URBANSCREEN, and The Temper Trap’s live performance from their brand new chart-topping album. As you watch, you can lean forward and relive FRONTROW by zooming and panning within the viewer, taking photos, editing and applying filters and sharing your Vivid Live moments on your social networks.

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, just watched URBANSCREEN: behind the scenes.

Get More Into: Sport

Thursday, 7 June 2012

From trick shots and game clips to commentary and live events, sport has always been one of the most popular categories on YouTube. And we recently kicked off a new lineup of action sports channels to bring even more great content to you.

To help you Get More Into Sport, we asked three legendary Aussie surfers to line up their favourite sport videos on YouTube, and are featuring them this week on our homepage. Here’s what they came up with:

See how Australian Surf Hall of Famer Taj Burrow stays stoked on the road:

Push the Limits with Josh “Kerrazy” Kerr, known worldwide for big air and crazy moves:

Claiming back to back victories at the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach, Sally Fitzgibbons remembers the unforgettable:

It’s easy to create your own playlists too – just log in to your YouTube account, and hit ‘add to playlist’ from any video on YouTube. We hope you’ll enjoy the playlists from these surf legends as much as we have, and keep an eye out for more from athletes around Australia & the World.

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, just watched Wizard of Aus: BMX and Hard Knocks Premier

Vivid LIVE from Sydney Opera House puts you in the FRONTROW

Friday, 25 May 2012

Some of the biggest musicians from around the world will gather over the coming week as part of Vivid LIVE, the annual music event held at Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Sydney, the city’s annual festival of light, music and ideas.

For the first time, audiences around the globe will be able to watch select performances live on YouTube, and share the experience through a custom camera application called FRONTROW.

During the livestream, not only can you sit back and enjoy the tunes of some renowned musicians, you can also participate right from your desktop! In a world first, you can take photos of the event through the FRONTROW camera app: zoom in and out to change your view, take photos during the live stream, apply filters and immediately share on your social networks.

Oh, and what will you be watching? The line-up of performances includes:

Friday 25 May, from 6:30pm AEST (1:30am PST/9:30am BST): Multi award-winning German design collective URBANSCREEN lighting the sails of Sydney Opera House.
Tuesday 29 May, from 6:00pm AEST (1:00am PST/9:00am BST): Grammy award-winning English singer Imogen Heap, in an intimate recital with a spectacular Sydney Harbour backdrop.

Thursday, 31 May, from 9:50pm AEST (4:50am PST/12:50pm BST): Our very own The Temper Trap, debuting their new album in the Concert Hall, with footage from the event available on YouTube following the performance

Saturday, 2 June, from 9:00pm AEST (4:00am PST/12:00pm BST): Brazilian electronica mastermind Amon Tobin in an audiovisual spectacle taking projection mapping and electronic performance to new heights.

For the full schedule of events and to experience Vivid LIVE on YouTube, visit youtube.com/sohfestival.

Posted by Ernesto Soriano, YouTube Australia, recently watched “Seekae 3.”

It's YouTube's 7th birthday... and you’ve outdone yourselves, again

Monday, 21 May 2012

This is a cross-post from the Official YouTube blog
In May 2005 we first shared YouTube with the world. Seven years later, you’re the ones doing the sharing! We’re so honored that you’ve used YouTube to share how-to tips, political moments, home videos, comedy, music, and so much more.

Last year to celebrate our birthday, we wrote you, the YouTube Community, a thank you note for making our first 6 years so special. And on that birthday you gave us a great present by reaching a record rate of 48 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute. Well Community, this year, on our 7th birthday, you’ve outdone yourselves once again.

Today 72 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. Like many 7 year olds around the world, we’re growing up so fast! In other words, every single minute you now upload three whole days worth of video instead of two. That's 61 Royal Wedding Ceremonies, 841 Bad Romances, and 1,194 Nyan Cats.

We’ve come along way in the past 7 years. What started as a handful of videos shared among friends has transformed into a global platform delivering the next generation of channels to anyone, anywhere, and on any device. This last year was especially big for us. We helped bring more great channels to YouTube and weredesigned the site, making it easier for you to discover, watch and subscribe to the videos you love. And all 800 million of you all over the world have shown us we’re on the right track by increasing subscriptions 50% and watching over 3 billion hours a month.

Behind the tens of millions of channels on YouTube featuring talented filmmakers, home videos, skateboarding tricks, music, and car enthusiasts there has always been one consistent voice: you. Throughout our seven years you’ve made the YouTube community what it is. Thank you!

Posted by The YouTube Team, recently watched “"How to" throw the PERFECT *Princess Birthday Party*”

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