MY MY MY

It is my opinion that the people running E4 (the TV channel) are geniuses. They have the most original and exciting stings out of all the hundreds of TV channels that now flood our screens, and they didn’t even have to empty out their wallets to get them. Instead of paying ‘professionals’ to come up with a series of stings, often with terrible end results (à la BBC2), E4 run an annual E-Stings competition, inviting their audience to create their own ten second sting and upload it to the E4 website. Of all the entries, the best 15 are chosen by a panel of judges, and are then broadcast on E4 on a regular basis (plus the overall winner gets a £5,000 commission). It works brilliantly, as no-one knows their audience better than the audience themselves, and the end result is that E4 end up with are set of stings that are all original and creative, and with a tone of voice which is spot on for their channel and brand.

I entered the competition myself this year, creating a stop-motion animated sting which I made in two days, using purple and white card and a selection of miniature people. This is my sting: (feedback appreciated!)

The competition deadline is now closed, and E4 have had around 800 entrants in total this year, a selection of which can be viewed on the E Stings website. Some of the entries are very amateur, as is to be expected, but a number of them are very impressive indeed. I’ve picked out some of the best ones I’ve seen so far: