Flmmaking turns 2.0

Do you remember reading Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid? You know, the ones where you turn to page 48 if you want to jump out of the plane or turn to page 35 if you want to rush the cockpit? Well, Erik Luchauer and Kevin Antoine, creators of Rootclip.com, do. They drew upon their love of the popular user-guided storylines to come up with a new concept in film making and online media called Rootclip.

To quote the site:

Even though we think it's pretty cool we don't really expect you to care much about Rootclip out of the kindness of your heart. To that end, we thought we'd make it a little more interesting.

The Grand Prize Winner (that's you if you win the final chapter) gets an all expense paid trip to the Traverse City Film Festival on August 1-3, 2008 where you'll meet with award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore (yes, that Michael Moore) and see the debut of the full Rootclip film.

Even if you don't win the grand prize, you can still clean up nicely. Chapter winners (that's you if you get the most votes for your chapter submission) win a $500 VISA Gift Card.

Not too shabby, huh?

THE ROOTCLIP BASICS
We create a short video clip or "Rootclip" to start the story. You watch our video, then shoot your own rendition of what should happen in the next one minute. Once you've created your video, upload it to Rootclip.com during the submission period and compete for votes against the videos from other users. Gain the most "thumbs up" votes during the voting period and your video becomes the next chapter in the story.

CLIP NOTES
• Keep submissions close to 60 seconds.
• Maintain character consistency through wardrobe.
• End on a cliffhanger.
• Make it as funny or as serious as you want.
• Umm...Don't know what to put here, but 5 is a nice round number.

It's a pretty sweet concept when you think about it. It goes to show how far along Web 2.0 is invading all aspects of American life, from Democracy to filmmaking. I'm interested to see how their latest clip turns out.