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The Adventures in Videography ACE digital event on January 15 was hosted by the Coaster Con Video Contest Coordinator Luke Fillion, who has been a member of ACE for 18 years and has been coordinator of the contest beginning with Coaster Con 47 in 2025.
The presentation started with social interaction, as members shared their involvement in the contest in the past, and then moved into a brief history of the Coaster Con Video Contest. The contest was founded in 2000 by the late Alan Jay Glueckman, an enthusiastic volunteer who also served as an assistant regional rep and worked in the television and film industry in addition to hosting the contest and running the audio-visual and staging for the ACE annual banquets. His creative mind inspired ACE videographers, who now had a forum for their contributions in what became ACE’s annual Coaster Con Video Contest. The contest has been coordinated by four ACE members, who have each brought their own flair to the time-honored Coaster Con tradition, guiding its evolution over the course of the past 25 years.
Fillion explained the different video categories in the contest and provided examples of the differing styles of videos, such as documentaries, mockumentaries, parodies, original stories and skits, poetry and spoken word and video montages set to music. Creativity and contest rules are the only limitations for creating some great videos.
Tips for video making (including filming formats and layouts, tools, storyboarding and other elements of video creation) were shared. There were also discussions about on-ride footage, use of artificial intelligence and other restrictions to keep in mind during video creation. Afterward, some fun facts about the contest were included, as participants learned about past winners, along with some discussion on the way trends have changed over the years.
Members are encouraged to start thinking about their videos for this year’s contest since 2026 will see the return of the third-place category for the first time since 2018. There are both short-form (60 seconds or less) and standard categories, and members can enter up to two videos in each category each year! Members can find the rules and how to submit their entries on the Coaster Con event page.
— Jes Niemiec, Digital Events Coordinator
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