Over the last eight years, we’ve presented a chance for young, up-and-coming amateur videographers to showcase their skills in our Racer X Amateur Film Festival. Many winners have gone on to have successful careers in the industry, and a few still do freelance work for us to this day.
This year, we received more than 70 entries from around the world that a panel of judges narrowed down to eight semifinalists. The semifinals pitted two videos against other each week, with fans determining the four finalists. This week, fans voted to determine the winner, with Katie Homewood of Australia beating out Damon Smith, Bryan Allie, and Griffin Denbesten to win the fan vote.
So what are some of the best aspiring moto videographers capable of doing? Below are the entries of all eight semifinalists. Put this List into your queue for weekend watching.
Katie Homewood – Fan Vote Winner
Australia's Katie Homewood showed the fun side of riding with some good friends Down Under.
Damon Smith – Fan Vote Runner-Up
Indiana's Damon Smith followed amateur racer Trevor Colip as he begins training for the 2018 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn's.
Bryan Allie – Fan Vote, Third Place
Canada's Bryan Allie enlisted the help of friends Elie Desroches, Jeremy Pronovost, Axel Lemair, and Yan Lecomte to get some great footage at a private track.
Griffin Denbesten – Fan Vote, Fourth Place
California's Griffin Denbesten followed amateur racer Willy Simons Jr. as he returns from a torn ACL and meniscus. He shines a light on the true thoughts of an upcoming rider and how much pressure they face.
Other Semifinalists
Adam Vidovics
Hungary's Adam Vidovics got some help from his friend, Jakob Krisof, and captured some clips of the racer blasting around a track.
Lauz Deen
Israel's Lauz Deen and a friend put together their "Dream" concept in a week and got some great footage.
Stephane Guido
Switzerland's Stephane Guido enlisted the help of his friend, Jo Burn, and grabbed some great footage from a track in the the Swiss mountains.
Mitch Goheen
After finishing fourth in the 2016 Racer X Amateur Film Festival, Mitch Goheen was back in the semifinals with this video.
Panel Judging
We added panel judging to the Racer X Amateur Film Festival this year. The panel featured well-known producers of high-quality motocross videos, and they judged each of the eight semifinalists’ entries on originality/uniqueness, pacing of edit, quality of shots, color grading, sound effect/audio mix, and creative concept/storytelling.
Members of the final judging panel included a who’s-who of the industry:
- Wes Williams: Vurb Moto Cofounder
- Luke Parmeter: Producer, Monster Energy Supercross Chasing the Dream
- Danny Stuart: In-house Videographer/Editor, Feld Entertainment
- Jason Crane: Freelance videographer/Former Director of the Racer X Motocross Show
- Simon Cudby: Racer X Videographer
- Ryan Walters: Producer, Golden Era, Stagnation, and Youthful Edge
The final panel judging wrapped up this week and the winner was Adam Vidovics of Hungary.
This year was truly a global affair, with five different countries represented between the eight semifinalists. We’d like to thank everyone for sending in their videos and congratulate all the finalists. See ya next year!
