Sony Announces Contest Finalists
Sony Creative Software announced the finalists of its Technology in Motion: Vision of the Future student film contest.
Sony Creative Software, a provider of consumer and professional video and audio editing software applications, announced the finalists of its Technology in Motion: Vision of the Future student film contest. The contest, initiated in February, provided the tools necessary for high school students to develop production skills while predicting the future of technology through short films. Hundreds of schools participated in the program, but only three finalists were chosen.
Alpha School, submitted by students from Lisbon High School in Iowa, is a black-and-white, 2D animated film that, according to Sony, depicts the bleak consequences humans may face if we make ourselves tools of technology instead of making technology “an aid to man.” Contact, by students from Ashland High School in Ohio, has a similar theme; the live-action film shows a group of teenagers trying to free their community from an existence where human contact is forbidden in favor of computer-only methods of communicating. TECH 178, from students of Tandem Friends High School in Virginia, features two friends discussing their different views of the future through paper puppetry and live-action sequences.
“Through the Technology in Motion contest, Sony Creative Software and our partners sought to expose students to the technical fundamentals of film production as well as nurture creativity, innovation, and leadership skills,” said Dave Chaimson, vice president of global marketing for Sony Creative Software.
Presented by Sony Creative Software and Intel, with the support of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and Edutopia magazine, the contest used the Sony Vegas Pro 8 video and audio production platform to provide participating students an opportunity to produce a professional project from start to finish. An expert panel judged the submissions on creativity and originality, said Sony. The three finalists’ videos are posted online at, where public voting will determine the final ranking. All finalists receive prize packages from Sony at the National Educational Computing Conference in San Antonio June 29 – July2; the Grand Prize winner will win two Sony VAIO laptop computers, a video camera, software, and accessories worth more than $25,000.
