Two Weeks to Become a Star

It took Peter Jackson 438 days to shoot The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, you only have another 14 days to create your own masterpiece.



On Monday, December 14, submissions close for Project: Direct, YouTube's annual short film competition. If you miss the deadline, you could also miss your chance to attend the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and to meet with the festival's Director of Programming, as well as to see your film screened at a festival event and distributed on DVD to hundreds of industry executives.



Don't let this happen! Make a short film, no more than five minutes long, creatively incorporating three props: choose two of those props from a list of 25 made famous by films from the Sundance Film Festival, and your third prop must be a red phone. To see the list of 25 props, visit youtube.com/projectdirect and select "Choose Props."



Remember that this contest is only open to users in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy and France, however we encourage users outside those regions to send films to filmz@youtube.com for a chance to be featured on the site.



Good luck!



Sara P.

YouTube Film

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Welcome New FANalysts

We recently added two new football FANalysts to our roster off the waiver wire, and they've hit the ground running. Meet your new pigskin prognosticators:



The Young Turks: Known more for their no-nonsense political analysis, TYT are also avid (rabid?) football fans and bring that same keen eye to the gridiron.


CowboyTD: Vlogging from his dorm room at the University of Texas, CowboyTD makes no bones about where his loyalties lie but nonetheless has a clear grasp of what's going on league-wide and offers solid advice for these critical remaining weeks.



At this point in the season, a smart roster move or pick-up can make all the difference, so check back to the FANalysts channel every week for fantasy tips and more football talk. While you're there, check out the Take My TV Contest: upload a video showing your crummy TV before December 7, and you could win all the gear you need for a state-of-the-art entertainment room from Circuit City.



Thanks!


Andrew B.


YouTube Sports

More about → Welcome New FANalysts

Guru Challenge: Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving is about many things: expressing gratitude for the good things in life, being with family and – let's be frank – eating. Turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie: you know the drill. But, sadly, these things don't cook themselves, which is why we geared the latest Guru Challenge towards finding the finest Thanksgiving recipes that YouTube has to offer.




Operating as an element of the Holiday Solutions Center, designed to guide you through Thanksgiving troubles, Hannukah hitches and the cold chill of Christmas, we have brought together videos that we believe will help smooth your path towards a memorable holiday dinner.









The thorny issue of Thanksgiving dinner hopefully addressed, remember that the Holiday Solutions Center isn't all about cooking tips. We've got decorating masterclasses, advice on plotting a pain-free path through the gift giving process, and bright ideas galore across the board. It's a digital database of smart solutions.




So, thanks to everyone who submitted a video to the challenge and congratulations to the garlanded Gurus. Here's to an unforgettable Thanksgiving – and one that the Holiday Solutions Center has hopefully made a tiny bit tastier thanks to our creative cooks.




Happy Holidays,


Sadia H.


YouTube HowTo & Style

More about → Guru Challenge: Thanksgiving Recipes

Bigger Isn't Always Better... But in This Case, We Believe It Is

Over the years we've heard a lot of feedback from you about what you'd like to change about YouTube, and the size of our video player is always top of mind. That's why today we're excited to announce a bigger YouTube player.



We're expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don't worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player.



As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to share your thoughts with us on this exciting, new change happening for all videos on YouTube.



Have fun watching!

The YouTube Team

More about → Bigger Isn't Always Better... But in This Case, We Believe It Is