Two locally made videos named semi-finalists in Super Bowl contest

Maple Ridge filmmaker Nelson Talbot has a recipe for a viral video.

“You try to do something a little bit outside the box,” says Talbot. “You have to make people talk.”

Creating a buzz is what Talbot is hoping to do after his video made the shortlist of semi-finalists of “Crash the Super Bowl” contest sponsored by Doritos.

The company encourages fans to make home-made commercials and enter for a chance to win $1 million in prize money and air time during the Super Bowl in February.

Once the final five entries are chosen, the public will vote for the winner.

Another commercial will be selected by the company and will receive $50,000 in prize money.

Twenty-four-year-old Talbot says they found out about the contest through Facebook and decided to give it a shot.

Their video titled “Mermaid” took a week of planning to make and was shot in one day at a lake in Maple Ridge.

Forty-year-old Bradley Friesen from Vancouver is another semi-finalist.

Friesen is behind another viral hit, involving an extravagant mountaintop marriage proposal.

But, Friesen says he is not a filmmaker and had to learn many tricks of the trade on the fly.

“It was always something that I’ve been excited about and wanted to do, but it was only open to Americans. This is the first year that they have opened it to the world.”

Friesen’s video titled “Chips before chicks” is set on a boat in what is supposed to be summer time.

He says the shoot, involving girls in bikinis, took place on Pitt River in October.

Despite filming on a sunny day, Friesen’s crew had to brave the cold weather and wind to complete the shoot.

Friesen says he has learned a lot through the process and will enter again next year, no matter what.

“There are 32 teams in the NFL. Currently, I have a 2 in 24 chance of being in the Super Bowl,” says Friesen. “I actually have a better chance than some of the players of being in the Super Bowl at the start of each NFL season.”

Both videos were selected from thousands of entries.

The finalists will be announced in 19 days.

To watch all of the entries, click here