Last year’s winners look back
When Alex Keen and Matt Lanning entered Artlist’s $100K Fund competition last year, they weren’t necessarily expecting to win. For years, their project had seemed like a far-off dream. So when they sat in a meeting room with the budget to execute it, they felt a bit overwhelmed.
“You dream as big as you can and then you realize: oh god, now we have to start working on this,” Matt laughs.
That’s exactly what the $100K Fund is all about. The aim is to empower the Artlist community of creators to pitch their most mind-blowing video project. The most impressive, exciting, and unique concept receives $100,000 from Artlist to bring it to life.
The idea behind the fund is to encourage the Artlist community to create without limits, and to give you the chance to work on an outlandish passion project. Often, creatives have to work according to a brief, so this is an opportunity to create something on your own terms, and grow as a creator while you do it.
We caught up with Sent Into Space, the winner of last year’s $100K Fund, to find out how their creativity and workflow has been impacted by the opportunity to work on the project of their dreams.
We also checked in with Josh Guvi, the runner-up of last year’s competition. He’s been working with Artlist as an ambassador, and shares how this has benefited his creative output and his ability to dream bigger than ever before.
What happened after winning?
It’s been close to a year since Sent Into Space was announced the 2023 $100K Fund winner, and when we talk, they’re about to head off into the wilderness of Northern Sweden to capture the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) on film from 100,000 feet (30,480m) above Earth.
Matt, the Head of Creative Services, Alex, the Communications and Marketing Manager, and eight other team members will travel to a remote part of the Arctic Circle with custom-designed cameras they’ve spent close to a year engineering. They’ll launch into space from the Swedish Space Agency, and the team will film their journey from start to finish to produce a documentary called Reaching for Light.
“I’m a camera operator and a protagonist in the film,” Matt says. “So we’re all wearing multiple hats.”
Preparing for this project has pushed the team to their limits as they’ve had to do it alongside their usual client projects. “We’ve got some pretty technically complex rigs,” Matt says. “The main camera system is an amalgamation of 12 different Insta360 Ace Pro cameras that all have to turn on and start recording at the right time, in the right position, so that we can stitch everything together in 360.”
Although it’s been a huge amount of work, the team is already feeling the creative benefits in many ways. “It’s great that our team can be themselves on camera,” Matt says. “For this documentary, we’re getting to know the person, who they are, and what they do for the company, and it’s really refreshing being able to shoot that content rather than having a script and a teleprompter.”
Matt says another benefit is simply being able to afford brand-new equipment. “We’ve got new, professional lighting, and the extra kit we’ve been able to buy is helping develop our skills,” he says. “We’re learning how long each shot takes, how we can light it better, and then we can transfer those skills to the next project. So everything we’re learning in this campaign will help future client projects.”
Once they return from Sweden, they hope to finish all three films by the end of the year. That includes the 15-minute documentary, a behind-the-scenes version, and, of course, the 360-degree visual of Aurora Borealis. They’re hoping to work with planetariums to share their Aurora visuals, and plan to submit their documentary to film festivals.
Alex and Matt say this project has boosted excitement and morale within the entire company. “We all have our set ways, and often we can be split up, especially as we grow as a company,” Matt says. “It’s easy for things to get siloed, so this has been a great team-building exercise as well.”
“And having a shared vision for ourselves, and not anybody else, is really motivating,” Alex adds.
More on the Artlist $100K Fund
Josh Guvi’s stand-out submission
Josh Guvi is a content creator and filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. He was working as a filmmaker for corporate clients before he decided to quit everything, sell everything, and travel the world. A few months into his adventure, he picked up his camera and started sharing his unique insights and perspectives alongside the jaw-dropping scenery he caught on film. His network grew exponentially, and soon he was living out his dreams in real time, motorbiking across Vietnam, scaling mountains in Nepal, and exploring the tropical rainforests of Madagascar.
As a content creator, he’d been following Artlist for a while, so when he saw the opportunity to enter the $100K Fund, he pitched his most ambitious project to date. “My goal has always been to help tell stories of voices that haven’t been heard, or humanize people around the world who haven’t yet told their stories,” Josh says. “When you travel a lot, you come across incredible people who never had a stage to share their experiences, and I want to help become a platform for that.”
And that’s what he pitched. He planned to travel to every continent within 60 days, and tell one story from each continent within that time.
“I always felt like a lot of travel content focuses on where to find the most empty beach,” he says. “Obviously, when you travel, you don’t have much time to actually get to know locals, but for me that’s the part that really shines.”
Although he didn’t win the $100K Fund, Artlist was so impressed with this unique perspective that they asked Josh to join the team as an ambassador and brand partner. “It’s been awesome,” he says. “It’s really helped me grow as a creator in a lot of ways. When you have a company that backs you creating whatever you want to create, and funding you, it’s really cool and really inspiring. It gives me total creative freedom.”
Not long ago, Josh rode a motorcycle across Nepal, and shared a video blog on YouTube which included a breakdown on how to make the video, and the ways in which he used Artlist to execute his creative vision.
Josh also played an important role in Artlist’s biggest product release this year: the new AI voiceover generator. His video showing how he used the feature played an important role in the launch campaign, and was also the subject of a dedicated blog article to explain the voiceover feature.
In the future, Josh plans to continue pushing the boundaries of his creativity and to move into the cinematography, documentary and filmmaking space. “I want to be telling stories on an even bigger scale, and move away from being in front of the camera,” he says. “I want to focus on other people’s stories and experiences more than my own.”
Lessons learned
If you’re thinking of applying for this year’s $100K Fund, Sent Into Space recommends you think big, but try to keep those ideas rooted in reality, because you might actually win. “It sounds corny, but dare to dream,” says Matt. “There’s no limits. Put forward your most creative, wacky idea, but obviously, it needs to be well thought out, so definitely research. Planning, research, creativity – all of those things combined.”
Josh adds, “Don’t hold back, and do something that is unique to you, not something you think will win. Do something that shows your authenticity and your passion.”
Both Sent Into Space and Josh caught the attention of Artlist’s panel of judges because their ideas were ambitious yet authentic to the creators.
How to apply for the 2024 Artlist $100K Fund
Thinking of throwing your hat in the ring? You can apply to the $100K Fund by visiting this link and following these instructions:
1. Show us your $100,000 idea
Post a video on your socials (90 seconds max) showcasing your concept. Tag @artlist.io and use the hashtag #Artlist100KFund.
2. Fill out the application
Tell us more about yourself and your vision.
3. Submit to win
Get in on your chance to win $100,000 and make your wildest creative dream come true.
The deadline for submissions is October 24, 2024, at 11:59PM ET.
This year, could it be you?
Whether breaking records with a 360° shot of the Northern Lights, or sharing untold stories of hidden heroes around the world, Sent Into Space and Josh Guvi are living, breathing examples of the prize for dreaming big.
Artlist invites you to pitch the projects you’ve always dreamed of, and to experience the freedom of creating without limits – because who knows where this journey might take you?
“Don’t be scared to dream,” Josh says.
Get all the information about the 2024 Artlist $100K Fund right here.
Did you find this article useful?
