Staff Blog / Vimeo Weekend Project: The Way Things Are 5x5

Happy New Year, Vimeo!

Can you believe that yet another year has passed? I don't know about you, but for me 2011 flew by and was a year full of change. We've designed a weekend project to help you slow down and enjoy the little details of everyday life while preserving them for the future. We want you to make a 5x5 of your daily activities!

A 5x5 is a classic Vimeo video project. It's a 25-second video composed of five 5-second clips, using only natural sound.

The challenge here is to find beauty in the mundane. Your day-to-day might seem boring to you, but I can assure you there is beauty in it in your breakfast routine, commute to work, 8am biology class, lunch hour, trip to the gym, or bedtime ritual. Capture the fascinating tiny details you always notice, or the special things that make you smile. You might take these quotidian moments for granted, but sooner or later they'll change and you'll have a new daily grind. Wouldn't it be nice to remember today's grind later on?

The following is a lovely example from Vimean Thomas Riggs. It looks like this was a less-than-typical day in the life, but he did a great job of capturing beauty in the details:

For more inspiration, watch this 5x5 I made of my morning commute the other day. As I have lived and worked in several places since moving to NYC a year ago, I thought it would be nice to preserve my favorite details of the various morning commutes I've had.

Also, check out Vimean Simon Edwards he's been making a 5x5 every day for the past few months!

The rules are oh so simple:

+ Your video must be a 5x5, made of five 5-second clips, using only original sound

+ Upload your video to the Weekend Project Group and the 5x5 Group

Please remember that only videos made specifically for this project will be considered. All submitted videos must be approved by the Vimeo Staff before appearing in the Group, so don't worry if your video doesn't show up at first. We'll get to it promise!

All submissions are due by Tuesday, January 10th at 11:59 PM (EST).

The winner of this contest will receive a free Plus account! If you're already a Plus member, you can gift the Plus account to whomever you choose, and we'll give you an extra 2.5 GB of upload space for your account! The runner-up will receive an extra 2.5 GB of upload capacity, Plus account or not.

***UPDATE: We had a whopping 194 lovely submissions to this weekend project! Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your daily lives! Watching all 194 submissions is a neat experience, as you get to see all the similarities and differences between the day to day activities of people from all around the world. A special thanks to everyone who participated! Without further ado, we are pleased to announce that the winner of this weekend project is Honeydew Media, whose 5x5 captured a very special moment on an otherwise normal day. Our runner up is Jules Desmond, who managed to turn his morning coffee ritual into an abstract video masterpiece.