The Woodward News

Local News

September 10, 2009

Woodward grad finalist in video contest

The saying, “Do what you love and the rest will fall into place,” is proven true by Woodward High School graduate Chris Castor.

Castor has followed his passion for the arts and is one of 24 finalists in a national video contest sponsored by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and YouTube called “The HP You on You Project.”

His fate in the contest will be decided by people who visit the contest website and vote for his video, the YouTube community and partly on the judges.

According to the official website for the contest, contestants were challenged to create a short video expressing who they are.

The catch, is that HP wanted to see people tell their story in a unique way, and contestants couldn’t show their faces.

Castor said he thought about HP commercials he had seen done before and didn’t want to go in that direction. He decided to do a hand drawn animation.

“I used a pen and tablet to draw about 275 images in Photoshop to create a 45 second video,” said Castor. Using After Effects he compiled his drawings to flash eight images per second. He later recorded his voice over the video.

A total of $300,000 in total prizes will be awarded for the contest.

Castor has already won $2500 and a HP computer by becoming a semi-finalist and then a finalist.

The first place winner will receive $40,000. When asked what he will do with the money if he wins Castor said, “I just bought a house so I will use the money to put toward it and save it. I will also probably upgrade my computer.”

Castor said he couldn’t see himself doing anything else than what he loves. “Art is one of the things I love to do. My job is fun because I can be creative and use the talents I’ve been blessed with. I love it because it’s not really a job to me it’s something I really enjoy.”

Castor came to Woodward schools from Sharon because of the art department. He graduated in 2003 and then attended college at the University of Science and Arts in Chickasha where he majored in fine arts with an emphasis in painting.

After receiving his degree he moved to Mustang where he lives with his wife Callie and works for a publishing company in their multimedia and design department.

To view his video and vote go to www.youtube.com/user/HP this will take you to the “view and vote page.” Castor’s video will be right there in the final round section. The icon for his video is a sketch of two hands writing on a piece of paper. It’s titled “Chris Hand Drawn.” During play, a thumbs up and thumbs down will appear on the right hand side that you can click on to vote.

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