Trip to Swiss

It's in my bucket list to travel abroad not as a tourist but as a delegate of a particular forum, or perhaps as a researcher, diplomat, journalist or a filmmaker. Anything except being a usual tourist capturing photos myself with a famous landmark behind me. I heard that International Labour Organization was sponsoring a video contest on Youth Employment. Just make a video on how you perceive the state of youth employment in your country and you may have the chance to win a trip to Switzerland to present your winning piece during the Youth Employment Forum. Quimn and I tried our luck in that contest so we conceptualized a storyboard. Unfortunately, our plan was not feasible as all of our talents backed out the day before our shooting. We almost gave up our chance to win and decided not to join the contest anymore. However, I offered myself some 'what-ifs' to bring our motivation back. 

What if no one joined the contest? The judges may have no choice but pick us. What if all of the entries are boring and judges will still have no choice but to pick us?  

Through these what-ifs, we made up our minds by scrapping our first storyboard and think of a new story. We even had some regrets for not coming up with a reality documentary-style type of video, but it's already too late for gathering research and execution of the video. But for the sake of luck and experience, we came up with a concept that can be achieved within the shortest period of time and a one-man-show, so we don't have to bother other people to act as talents. Since it was so easy to do, we decided to submit two entries for better winning chances. We never expected to win because of the rushed briefing and execution, however, I still used the law of attraction by thinking our entries will stand out despite the quality.

          Luckily, my law of attraction worked a little, as we received an email from ILO requesting for the HD copy of the video as it qualified in the top 15 out of 240 entries worldwide! It was a surreal feeling that I never thought there were a lot of youth who tried their luck in travelling to Swiss. Moreover, the most surreal feeling in this good news was our video will be presented in a video montage during the Youth Employment Forum in Switzerland!

Although it still saddens me for not bagging the main prize, but looking on the more positive side, we may not be the chosen delegates to Swiss, the videos we have shoot, the scenes we have edited, and the concepts and ideas we have thought will still travel and be featured in our dream place on our behalf. We may not be able to witness that moment, but having thought that our masterpiece will be seen by bigtime people already gives us the feeling of travelling to Switzerland.

Maybe I should use more law of attraction next time. But for now, lets just dream more about Switzerland while enjoying the famous White Toblerone here in Manila. Great experience still.

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News Article HERE!