I wonder if any one would like to participate in a 5 minute in 5 days with the 5D film contest.

Prize: I am willing to put up a prize of a Sony camera strap that I use for my camera, since I misplaced my Canon strap. Other dubious prize donations would be welcome.

We could assign some sort of theme.... and have at it...just for fun.

If it is a bad idea, I am sure it will be made known here, too.

I leave my home town for the next five days and I won't be able to follow you. But if you plan it for the next week I am in! Awesome idea!

Prize: I am willing to put up a prize of a Sony camera strap that I use for my camera, since I misplaced my Canon strap. Other dubious prize donations would be welcome.
I'll offer up a 8 MB compact flash card. Perfect for recording very short films! (http://5secondfilms.com/).

What sort of length target do you think the contest should have? If we extrapolate from 4-7 minutes / 48 hours, the proportional length is 9.9-17.5 minutes.

Those of us with real jobs might find it hard to dedicate five solid days to filming, so I would probably plan two days of principal photography over a weekend and then three nights of editing and post production. That would argue for a Friday night kick-off and a Wednesday night deadline.

Would submissions be via password protected uploads to vimeo / youtube / exposureroom / etc?

The way I was looking at it, the 555 stands for 5 minutes, 5 days with the 5 D. In DVC challenge we usually limit to 3 to 5, so I am thinking 5 is enough for an even shorter time period shoot, and to get maximum participation. Lets see what kind of interest we get...

To add to the fun and make it a learning experience, maybe add some required elements.... rack focus, super shall DOF, macro shot, time lapse... etc....etc.

I'm in, as long as it's not in the next couple weeks - just finished two back-to-back timed competitions and I need a break! I'd say shorter is better - 5 minutes is a good max limit.

I'm diggin' this idea. If it's any kind of enticement, I can offer some prize packages consisting of various Canon-branded giveaways that I've accumulated over the course of several years worth of working trade shows at Canon's invitation. It's fairly decent swag such as NFL-logo baseball caps, all kinds of pens, flashlights and whatnot. There's enough on hand to build up first, second and third place prize packages and stretch them out over a series of contest rounds.

I can't sell this stuff, and my friends and family already have it, and it's perfect for this concept since it's all Canon branded, which has kept me from handing it out for our DVC and UWOL contests because those are camera agnostic for the most part. I'll try to take some pictures of these trinkets and upload them for you, and then you tell me if it's enough of a carrot to go after.

To add to the fun and make it a learning experience, maybe add some required elements.... rack focus, super shall DOF, macro shot, time lapse... etc....etc.
Some of those could be fun to work into genre's that don't typically use them. Three other ideas for possible requirements to be tossed into the hat: at least one deep-focus scene (ala "Citizen Kane"), which would be a change from the super-shallow DOF that everyone loves; limit to one lens choice; and a tracking shot / dialog scene that is a continuous take over 1 minute.

What do you think of the idea of doing a random genre like the 48hfp, but instead of each team receiving their own genre, every team does the same one?

Another variable that I've been thinking about is to have a genre and a style selection. This would mean doing things like Sci-Fi, in the style of silent film, or Romance, in the style of documentary. Some work better together than others; Western/Noir or Mockumentary/Horror would both be fun. A Sci-Fi/Musical might be more challenging, although "Dr. Horrible" did Super hero/Musical really well.

May I suggest a possible base for a logo for the contest, the humble LM555 (http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM555.html):

Here are some swag pics. I would be happy to bundle these items as prizes.

1. Canon EOS metal body flashlight. Old school bulb, not LED. Batts included.
2. Shoot Digital / Print Direct 4" x 6" fridge magnet photo holder.
3. Plastic light-up yo-yo. Seriously.
4. PowerShot S400 deck of playing cards.
5. Canon Digital learning Center lens cleaning cloth.
6. PowerShot Pro1 plastic lanyard pen (goes back a ways).
7. PowerShot A400 metal light-up pen with two sets of batts.
8. Canon Digital Video metal multi-function pen (black, red, pencil, stylus).

And more...

1. Cheap plastic miniature EF 300mm f/2.8 flashlight keychain, LED w/ batts.
2. EOS Digital Rebel plastic multi-funtion carabiner (clock, timer, countdown, thermometer).
3. 4" x 4" x 4" cube of paper for notes... not sticky, no adhesives
4. Travel kit w/ mouse and USB hub. Too bad it's USB 1 and an old-school non-optical mouse.
5. Canon Rebel baseball cap. Blue and white. Size adjusts via friction buckle.
6. Canon Official NFL logo baseball cap. Red. Size adjusts via velcro strap.
7. Maria Sharapova can of three Prince Tour 1 tennis balls.