Welcome to the AP Creative Community Newsletter!
Every other week, I share actionable tips, honest answers, and valuable insights to help you on your creative journey—no fluff, just real talk. This newsletter is here to support your journey, spark ideas, and build a community of creatives. 🗺 When I’m not sharing tips, I feature creatives from the community through the Creator Spotlight.
New issues hit your inbox every Sunday. Glad you’re here. 🤝
This is the APCC Short Film Contest, where creators from anywhere in the world can submit a short film about a local business that matters to them. 📣
The goal isn’t perfect gear or production value. It’s storytelling.
Four winners will be selected across mobile and camera filmmaking, with prizes including two of my favorite cameras, 2 $500 FilmTools gift cards, 2 one year Adobe Creative Cloud memberships, and pro audio gear from RØDE. 📸🎙
If you’ve ever wanted a reason to tell a meaningful story, this is your chance! 🙌
RULES
To keep the contest fair and accessible, submissions are divided into 2 categories:
Mobile Filmmaking and Camera Filmmaking
Both categories are judged using the same storytelling standards, where story, creativity, and emotional impact matter more than gear or production scale.
FILM REQUIREMENTS
• Film must be shot horizontally (16:9 format)
• Film must be 90 seconds or less
• Submissions longer than 90 seconds will be disqualified
• Submission deadline: March 14 at 11:59 PM PST
SUBMISSIONS
All contest submissions are hosted inside the APCC Discord community.
To submit your film, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Join the APCC Discord
All submissions must be posted in the Short Film Contest channel inside the APCC Discord.
Step 2: Upload Your Film
Post your submission inside the #shortfilmcontest channel and include:
• Film Title
• Your Name / Social Handle
• Category (Mobile Filmmaking or Camera Filmmaking)
• Film Viewing Link
• Film Download Link
• Name of the Business Featured & Country/City
Here's All the Creator Tools I'm Giving Away (and it's all for free) 🎥 Yup. You heard me right. And all you have to do is make a short film. Just watch the video HERE to see how you can enter to win!
Why Your Videos Aren't Getting Any Views 👀 And no, it's not because of the algorithm. Let me explain. Check it out HERE
Have a question about cameras/editing/technical skills? Ask me anonymously HERE!
Question of the Week:
I didn't see one posted and I'll keep looking but will you go in depth on how you create your titles and position them behind objects. And perhaps a follow up on planning and formatting your supporting text throughout the video.
Submitted by: Scott
From Adrian 💬
Great question. I actually haven’t made a full video breaking this down yet.
The short answer is that the process has gotten way easier than it used to be. Back in the day, creating text that sits behind objects meant manually rotoscoping your subject frame by frame, which was incredibly time consuming. Now both Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects have AI-powered masking tools that do most of the heavy lifting for you.
In Premiere, I’ll usually use the object selection tool to isolate the subject in the shot. Once that mask is created, I add my text layer, then duplicate the cutout layer of the subject and place it above the text. That way the text sits behind the person or object naturally. It’s basically like having Photoshop-style layering directly inside your video timeline.
What used to take a lot of manual rotoscoping can now be done in a few clicks.
As for planning the supporting text throughout a video, I usually think of it as visual punctuation. I’m not adding text just to decorate the frame. I’m using it to emphasize the key idea the viewer should remember in that moment. That’s why I keep it simple, large, and positioned intentionally within the frame.
Thanks for the question. I’ll probably make a quick Premiere tutorial on this soon because once you see it done, it’s actually really simple.
I told you I've had something cooking for you! Don't forget the deadline to submit for the short film contest is just a little under a week from today. 🗓 I can't wait to see what you cook up and remember, have fun with it and tell your story the best way you can!
Happy creating and I'll see you next week.✌️
