Vermonters Len Britton and Bradford Broyles (pictured) are using an online contest to find a logo for their planned ski movie. This is the movie project we reported on back in March — not one of those “ski movies” that’s basically just cool skiing footage, but a “comedy-drama” type of thing that happens to be set at a ski resort. Tremors director Ron Underwood is helming the production.
Broyles says the production will get ski footage at Sugarbush and visit “selected Vermont towns for the off-mountain portions.” In keeping with the general Vermontiness of the project, its original working title was Woodchucks, but that’s since been changed to Down Hill: The Movie.
From now through Monday, August 29, the filmmakers are inviting designers to submit logos incorporating that title at the crowdsourcing site 99designs.com. They’d love to see some Vermont participation, says Broyles. Enter the contest here, or check out the 93 designs (and counting) entered so far. The ski-goggle-shaped logo seems to be doing well…
This article appears in Aug 24-30, 2011.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Yes, they have to choose a design no matter what, but do they have to use it for the movie? No.And if they don’t, then it’s their loss. If they find one they like, good on them and congratulations to the designer who stepped it up.
“You’re allowing someone else, someone with no connection to you or your film to make a statement about your film.”They’re under no obligation to actually use the logo. Read the rules.Thanks for letting us know about 99designs, Margot!
Here’s the other thing: if it’s a contest, you are obligated to choose one of the designs submitted, whether you like any of them or not. You’re allowing someone else, someone with no connection to you or your film to make a statement about your film. You really believe that’s the best way to go about this?
Crowdsourcing exacerbates the problem I see time and time again with clients. They ‘don’t know what they like till they see it’ okay fine, but they usually also don’t understand that they are not their target audience, they are already emotionally invested in their project/product. Its sad to see design devalued this way time and time again.
A ski team that “tries to prevent a corporate resort developer from wrecking their local mountain.” Graphic design debate aside, I’m more concerned with why this movie isn’t titled Ski Patrol 2? Please tell me you at least cast George Lopez in a cameo. I hear he’s free these days.
I understand everybody’s concern about crowdsourcing, but Bradford gave Vermont designers an honest chance and they didn’t pull through. Give him credit for that. I would do the same exact thing after so many trials. I read the brief, and to me it seems like they’re doing a good job of communicating what they want, and by leaving things open for interpretation in 2 days they now have over 125 designs to choose from or use as a starting point (yeah, several are terrible, but several are decent too).It looks like there’s no getting rid of crowdsourcing, unfortunately, so instead of complaining about it and ganging up on individuals who utilize it you could either go to the source, or take advantage of it and win some contests on your own. If your design skills are good enough you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, right? I’m a designer myself and I worry about satisfying the clients I do have and the ones that they refer me to. How everyone else does their business is, well…not my business.
Bradford – I’m certainly saddened to hear you didn’t get what you were looking for in an honest take on your logo. And I can’t be too harsh with you for taking a new approach, it’s just that crowdsourcing approach to design, while it may be inexpensive in the short term, will be less effective in helping you communicate over time. You make a film and you care about its quality, you should care more about how you want people to relate to it. It’s certainly not the end of the world, but there are so many quality firms around that could really add value to your project in a way crowdsourcing can’t touch.
To Bradford: Please remember people have paid good money to go to school for design. It is an art that is practiced and trained for many years. If you hired several designers and did not get the design you were looking for, perhaps you should look at bettering your communication skills OR hiring the right designer?It is so frustrating to see competitions like these. Sure, you are getting 100 designs, but is it quantity you are looking for, or QUALITY?
Taylor, last time I checked, multiple people competing for a prize (over $400 here) qualifies as a “competition”. I encourage Vermonters to submit. We’d love to see a local artist submit win the contest. Afterall, our goal of making the movie here is the ultimate form of “buy local” now isn’t it?
To use your analogy, you would be asking each actor to prepare, rehearse, and perform the entire role in front of a full audience, and then choose which one you would pay afterward.The best, and certainly the ethical designers will not participate. This is not good practice for your project or for Vermont businesses. Please reconsider.