In the age of YouTube and Vimeo, Hollywood’s filmmaking finesse is being outpaced by an armada of amateur pocket-sized productions. Now, the average Internet user has the chance to become an actor, director or producer. UW students, staff and faculty members will be able to showcase these acting and film-production skills at the 2009 UW Pocket Media Film Festival.

There are several rules for the festival. First, each entrant must use a pocket-sized media device to create a film 90 seconds or less. Each clip also needs to feature a purple “W” logo during the shoot, and entries must be submitted by May 13 to be eligible.

“The idea is just to get everyone excited on campus about telling their story,” said Hanson Hosein, the director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media at the UW.

UW pocketmedia is the host Web site where those interested can find the submission link to the competition site, Zooppa. Participation in the competition is free and open to all UW students, staff, faculty and alumni.

“Pocket media means everyone is a communicator, a filmmaker, a journalist, a content creator, a community organizer, a rabble rouser, a message disrupter, a salesperson, a marketer, a broadcaster, a narrowcaster,” Hosein on the UW pocketmedia Web site.

Themes can range from ducking the rain to filming the ducks, and even those who are camera-less in Seattle can borrow pocket-sized devices from the communication department at the UW.

However, before shooting something like Girls Gone Wild, filmmakers will have to be conscious of the fact that anyone within the online community can view the film.

“There is no censorship. It is self-judging, though we will screen for hate-type messages,” Hosein said.

There will be prizes in five categories, including an iPod nano for “People’s Choice Awards.” This award will be given for the film that gets the most votes on the Zooppa Web site. There are also three honorable mention awards, including a Flip MinoHD camera and an iPod touch, while the winner of the Grand Prize category will receive two full series passes to the Seattle International Film Festival.

The other categories will have a panel of judges who will judge the films based on production value, content, artistic content, originality and use of the purple “W.” The winning films will be screened in a celebration festival May 22 at the HUB.

Reach reporter Julian Estrada at arts@dailyuw.com.