Microchip Clips Video Contest

 San Jose, CA - July 16, 2010

The Tech Museum is looking for a few great video clips to run inside a brand new gallery dedicated to microchips - the hearts of the machines that magnify our thinking abilities.

http://thetechvirtual.org/projects/microchip-clips

Microchips are part of our everyday lives - embedded in everything from toasters to the fastest computers. This competition is a unique opportunity to get creative, visualize some new ideas, and have them seen by thousands of museum and online visitors.

* One best overall video will receive a Grand Prize of $1,000.

* Three videos will receive Best in Category prizes of $500 each for A World Without Chips, Inside the Chip, and The Future of Thinking Machines categories.


* Four honorable mentions will each receive $100.

* One or more of the best videos will be selected for inclusion in The Tech Museum's new space dedicated to microchips gallery.

* Download the poster and help spread the word.


Categories

Using your video skills, make a creative and fun short video (2 minutes or less)
about:

A World Without Chips
What would the world be like without microchips? Would we have found other ways
to do things computers do now? How would things be different? Easier? Slower?
Faster? Would there be different inventions to achieve the same things? Use your
imagination to show us the modern world without microchips.

Inside the Chip
What goes on inside a chip? Inside each microchip a massive collection of tiny
switches called transistors turn on and off at incredible speeds. Computers work
by changing all their data into a high-speed sets of on/off instructions called
binary code. What would it be like if you pulled off the top of a computer chip?
What would it look like to see the billions of interactions?

The Future of Thinking Machines
What kind of things will become possible as computers become even faster and
smaller than they are now? How will the world change in ways no one has thought
of yet? Stretch your mind and show us the future you see when computers have
gone beyond all our expectations.


Selection Criteria

1. Videos must be on topic, clearly aligning with the World Without Chips, Inside the Chip, or The Future of Thinking Machines categories.
2. Videos must not exceed 2 minutes in length.

How to Enter

Step 1. Upload your video submission to Youtube.com (YouTube.com accepts
QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, or .MPG files)

Step 2. Go to http://thetechvirtual.org/projects/chip-clips/vide...

Step 3. Click on "Create Project"

Step 4. Enter your video title, description and the YouTube.com web address
(URL) where your video can be viewed.



Format your video

Formats: QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, .MPG files
Length: 2 minutes maximum
Resolution: High Definition (HD) is preferred
Ratio: 16x9 (standard for YouTube) is preferred (landscape)

Dates, deadlines and other details

* Start date: Thursday, July 1, 2010
* End date: Wednesday, September 1, 2010
* Prizes:
1 Grand Prize: $1,000
3 Best in Category: $500 each for A World Without Chips, Inside the Chip, The Future of Thinking Machines
4 Honorable Mentions: $100 each
1 or more winning videos will be displayed at The Tech Museum.

* You must be at least 13 years of age to enter.

* The video and audio content must be your own.

* You may enter as many videos as you wish.

* If we accept your submission we will list it at http://thetechvirtual.org/projects/microchip-clips...

* If we select your video for a prize, you will need to upload your original
file to http://thetechvirtual.org/projects/microchip-clips... in MPEG2 format.

* Winning videos uploaded to the site will be covered under Creative Commons
Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) for use at The Tech Museum
and by other member museums in The Tech Virtual program.

* The Tech Museum will add text credit captions to prize winning videos.

* Videos will be featured on a looping reel of films displayed inside the
"microchip" area of the Silicon Valley
Innovation Gallery. Other videos featuring children explaining the science
behind chips in everyday objects
will be displayed in this space as well.

* Judges: To be announced at http://thetechvirtual.org/projects/microchip-clips

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