Ikan International is pleased to announce the winners of the Ikan Fly Smartphone Film Contest. The competition opened in March of this year in celebration of the release of the FLY-X3-PLUS, Ikan’s handheld gimbal stabilizer designed to take mobile moviemaking to the next level using smartphones and GoPro cameras.
Contest entrants were tasked with creating a video of less than three minutes using their smartphone and, if an iPhone was employed, Adobe’s editing app called Premiere Clip. They were also given a set of content parameters within which their story must be told.
Entries were submitted from around the globe, and out of those, eleven were selected as finalists. A panel of five industry experts rated each of the finalists, yielding the results described below.
Grand Prize Winner – Balloon
Taking the Grand Prize of $5,000 of Ikan equipment, plus a one-year membership to Adobe Creative Cloud, is Jacqueline Passos of Switzerland. Her short, called Balloon, captured the inspiring reflections of a young woman about how her mother imbued her with a sense that she could accomplish whatever she wanted to – even fly.
Second Prize Winner – History Lesson
Second Place is awarded to Giacomo Mantovani of Great Britain. Mantovani’s video, History Lesson, is an imaginative and humorous look at how a time traveler from the future might view our world today. The second-place award carries with it $3,000 of Ikan equipment and a one-year membership to Adobe Creative Cloud.
Third Prize Winner – IKAN FLY
Joshua Bowden of Tennessee receives the Third Place prize, which consists of $1,000 of Ikan equipment and a one-year membership to Adobe Creative Cloud. Bowden’s Ikan Fly video, is an action fantasy about the “super-creative” possibilities that come with using Ikan equipment.
Honorable Mention
The following five individuals and their videos are recognized with Honorable Mention, and each will receive a FLY-X3-PLUS to continue their mobile moviemaking endeavors.
| Entrant | Title |
| Gavin Bates (Michigan) | Undecided |
| Barry Littlefield (Massachusetts) | H.A.L.I. |
| Alan Bacchelli (Australia) | Ikan Fly |
| Kurt Neale (Texas) | Scout |
| Nikolay & Bryan Ortiz (New Jersey) | The Formula |
Rounding out the finalist field were Elayne Bouffler (Australia) with Flyx Learns to Fly, Ryan Monroe (Oklahoma) with A Little Help, and Matthew Jendrasiak (South Carolina) with Kidnapped.