MPB Filmmaker of the Year 2025
Posted on Mar 30, 2025 by Pro Moviemaker
The spotlight is yours!
Enter our third annual creator contest to put your name in lights
Entries are flooding in for MPB Filmmaker of the Year, which celebrates individuals and independent filmmaking companies who create stunning documentaries, marvellous marketing films, wild music videos, enthralling event coverage, stupendous social media, far-reaching YouTube content and lots more.
Pro Moviemaker’s annual awards are made for the commercial and next-gen filmmakers behind the explosion in professionally produced content watched by millions around the globe – whether it’s via websites, YouTube, Vimeo, social media platforms or otherwise. Video dominates every platform so we seek out the creative filmmakers behind this content. We aim to celebrate original, innovative work that often pushes the boundaries of creativity.
Now in their third year, the MPB-backed awards are all about unique long- or short-form content in lots of classes, with categories to recognise editing, lighting, audio, cinematography and visual effects.
There are classes for established filmmakers or those just starting out, as well as students. Entrants can be individuals or part of a team and simply have to link to their chosen entry if it’s online, or submit the finished work directly.
The contest is open for entries until 30 May 2025, when entrants will be judged by a panel of experts. We are looking for originality, creativity and excellence of execution.
Entering is easy: choose a category or categories from the following pages, and let the world see you at your best. There’s no lengthy process and you don’t need a bespoke showreel or new film.
We either want to see content you’ve created for clients, volunteer work for a charity or sports team, personal projects or anything else at all.
Visit the competition page and follow the links for Filmmaker of the Year. All we need is a link to watch the video online, such as on YouTube or Vimeo, plus the password if it’s protected – or send a link to a file-sharing service like We Transfer. Let us know if we have permission to promote the film on our website or social media, and supply any credits.
In the entry form, you’ll be asked to tell us the category or categories you want to enter, your role on the film and who the client was, if applicable.
Please write a paragraph or two, giving context to the shoot, including challenges you faced and success your film has had. Email any questions to [email protected] with the subject line Filmmaker of the Year.
MPB goes all in for 2025 awards
Used equipment retailer MPB is the official title sponsor of Filmmaker of the Year 2025. As a brand at the cutting edge of the latest trends in filmmaking and sustainability, it is a perfect match.
The number one used camera specialist – with bases in the UK, Europe and the US – the award-winning MPB has vast stocks of the latest cinema cameras, camcorders, mirrorless and DSLR, as well as lots of choices when it comes to lenses and accessories. Everything is individually photographed and graded on MPB’s site, where you can buy or sell in confidence.
MPB saves customers money, but is at the leading edge of helping the planet thanks to its circular business model. By encouraging the recycling of equipment instead of leaving it in a cupboard, the company helps next-generation talent make sustainable choices, get hold of great kit and be more eco-friendly. It’s recommerce at its finest and helps to lower carbon emissions.
MPB’s growth rate is a staggering 40%, proving what it is doing is perfect for our times. The brand supports creative causes such as the 70:15:40 Project initiated by MPB in 2023, aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of women, trans and non-binary people in imaging.
For all types of filmmaker, MPB is the premier option when it comes time to upgrade your kit and is a worthy title sponsor of the Filmmaker of the Year Awards 2025.
Livestreamed event
For right-here, right-now films
Livestreamed video is booming in everything from product launches to events and houses of worship. It’s a high-pressure world that demands a different way of working to any filmmaking crew more used to documentaries, more in line with live TV production.
News and live TV is where the crew from Bubble Production cut their teeth. Based at Hereford in the Midlands, the Bubble boys work all over the country producing big, multicamera outside broadcasts and conferences, through to classical music, pop music and even the live TV coverage for the annual Remembrance Day on 11 November, from the Western Front or Whitehall in London for the BBC.
But they love the thrills of action sports and have entered their incredible, adrenalin-fuelled live coverage from the Arenacross World Tour in this year’s awards. Starting in Birmingham but ending in Abu Dhabi, these cover live off-road motorcycle racing and freestyle competition with a show including dancers, pyrotechnics, presenters and commentators.
“Typically most of our productions are between four to six cameras, but this is nine, including a pole cam and a camera linked by wireless radio. So eight cameras on the track and one that’s moving around, all put together by a crew of eight,” director Graham Essenhigh tells us, about his production at the Wembley round in London. “There are two of us in here in the main production centre, as I’m joined by George Tarplee who is my senior vision tech. So he’s looking after all the cameras and switching. Behind us we’ve got an engineer who is looking after all the exposure and colour, making sure all the cameras look the same.
“Out on the ground we’ve got three cameras in main positions, four other fixed cameras, plus the pole cam and roving cam. We didn’t use any PTZs as it’s all really fast action. Each lap is only 20 seconds long, so switching lap to lap to keep up with the leaders takes some doing. But we’ve been doing this series now since 2016 and the video is streamed on a pay-per-view channel as it has a growing fanbase.”
The entirety of the production chain incorporates Blackmagic cameras: the Ursa Broadcast G2, Micro Studio G2 and Blackmagic 8K vision mixers. “As well as various switching devices, recorders and everything else to stick it all together.”
Two expert pundit presenters are on site for the event, plus TV personality Matt Crowhurst up on the podium entertaining the crowd in the stadium. So it’s a true challenge, especially as the team are vision mixing for two different outputs – one to the screens in the arena for the crowd to watch, and another separate one that goes to the live stream.
“When we go into the start of the show, a half-hour prerecorded loop goes out to the live stream. Then everyone sees the same thing until the interval, when we play adverts in the main hall before cutting to a few cameras focusing on the T-shirt cannon and bits of fun camera stuff. And while that’s going on, we’ve also got a pundit show going on where we can switch to two live cameras.”
Apart from the radio camera, all the signals come back to the mixing truck via fibre cable. It’s then converted back into a digital signal and vision mixed. So to get the arena fully cabled up, camera podiums in position and everything tested, the crew came in at noon on the Thursday, two full days before the Saturday night show, to allow for rehearsals and dry runs.
To get the signal out to the world, it goes out over the internet via a bonded system that connects to the venue’s own internet, with Bubble’s own 4G bonded system as a backup. With punters paying £35 to watch the racing, there’s a lot of money to lose if things go awry.
“One of the toughest things is the long days, but luckily most of us go back 20 or 30 years. We’ve all become really good mates and work so well as a team. Things going wrong is where we earn our money, so the audience doesn’t notice anything has changed,” says Essenhigh.
It’s a big, complex operation performed under a lot of pressure, but the results speak for themselves. The production is slick, action-packed and professional enough that people keep coming back for more.
If you produce live event coverage, make sure you enter the awards for your chance to be recognised and honoured.
Lighting
Creating drama through light and shade
This special award recognises mastery of light that’s really paid off in the look of a film. It doesn’t matter if the project uses rented artificial lights or carefully combines ambient and practical. We want careful use and control of lighting that creates just the right feel, and hangs together through a film for a cohesive look.
Last year, Warren Eig won for his film A Family X-Mas, a short about a mob boss who discovers the real Santa Claus in his house. It was a two-day shoot on a small budget after Eig spent a week decorating the house to look like an early-morning afterparty.
The nighttime exterior filming took place in LA, but a rare rainstorm rolled in and a deluge came down. The team still got enough footage to make it work.
It was the lighting of the interiors as well as those tricky outside scenes in the rain that brought a high-end look to the short. Let’s see your light work!
Sponsored by Godox
Professional production values often lie in the critical area of lighting, and you can’t always rely on natural light to play ball. So turning your project into something exceptional shouldn’t be left to chance. You’ll be needing reliable equipment that doesn’t blow the budget.
For professional-level lighting that’s affordable, Godox has a wide range of LEDs to suit all needs and pockets. The brand offers powerful COB lights, fresnel lights and modifiers, LED panels in large and small sizes, plus practicals such as tube lights.
To dial in the light to perfection, find a range of modifiers including large parabolic softboxes, gels, diffusion, scrims, stands and everything else you could need. There are even hybrids, either powerful COBs or large LED panels that flash, suitable for stills as well as movies.
The most popular for filmmaking are the wide range of COB lights, which come with a Bowens mount to take a variety of modifiers that will boost the quality of your films.
Cinematography
The vision to create magic
You don’t need an Arri and a quiver of Cooke lenses to display cinematography that stands out. Think of creative angles, complex camera moves and clever cuts. Thanks to the latest equipment and post work, even small companies and indie filmmakers can make impressive work to rival Hollywood.
This award recognises cinematography in smaller-budget productions that may look like they required large teams but are cost-effective, driven by creativity rather than cash. Last year’s winner was DK Greenley, who made a classy short that shines as it’s stylishly lit, professionally acted to a great script produced well – a polished piece of work in a tough category.
So show us your best work and impress the judges, as this year the winner could be you!
Editing
Are you our post master general?
Incredible visuals and audio are part of what’s needed to create great work, but it’s in the edit where a film is truly crafted. Grading, the cuts, sound design, graphics and more are all important too.
The edit is where the final story and audio come together to create something very special.
For this category, any genre of film will be welcomed, just as long as it highlights editing skills. So that could be exceptional work in editing, grading, motion graphics or more. It can be your own, one you helped shoot or where you just worked as an editor.
Documentary
Compelling storytelling with a social edge
The documentary class is forever one of the most popular classes in the awards. It’s where a great story told in a compelling way will always win out. Storytelling with awesome audio and visuals combine to make something special.
It could be a global situation or a local tale of social importance – the best documentaries entertain, raise awareness and make real change.
Last year’s winner showed how hip-hop saved the lives of six young men from the streets of Dallas, who formed a group called The Rockets back in the eighties.
This included four young dance music fans and a rapper named Trey or The DOC, who went on to launch Death Row Records with Dr Dre and was awarded a Grammy lifetime achievement award as a member of NWA. That’s a story worth telling!
Visual Effects
Make the impossible possible
Visual effects have largely moved from practical effects or green screen to the full suite of virtual production tech, as lots of computer trickery can aid in the creation of something stunning.
But this category is open to anything from old-school in-camera and practical effects to green screen, VFX, virtual production or any other techniques. We are recognising the most creative effects we can find.
Social media
The art of the short form
Social media video is a massive, ever-growing part of the marketing mix for commercial clients who want to stand out. Creating short-form clips for social platforms – with branded content, virals and more – helps build an audience and grow engagement in a product or service.
From short vertical videos shot for Instagram Reels, Facebook, YouTube Shorts or TikTok to longer-length films for other platforms, this is the place where great work is going viral. We want to see what you’ve been creating.
Sponsored by Amaran
In the ever-evolving world of content creation, good gear is the secret sauce. Social media is a serious business for professional filmmakers, creating great content for clients who now realise audiences will not accept shoddy quality.
To up your production values, investing in some seriously good lighting and modifiers to go with it is the best way to go. That’s where Amaran steps in to steal the spotlight with a range of great-value LED lights with pro-level performance.
Whether you’re shooting cinematic YouTube content, a viral TikTok, snapping jaw-dropping Instagram shots or streaming live on Twitch or Kick, Amaran’s got the perfect tools and doesn’t have to break the bank.
The sister brand of Aputure, Amaran uses lots of the same technology but often in smaller and more compact units that remain just as good at producing professional results.
Amaran continues to expand its range of sleek panels, versatile tubes and on-camera options, even offering a Magsafe-compatible smartphone light. Amaran makes it easy to take your content from basic to the next level.
The Amaran app makes the experience even better. It’s an all-in-one control centre, letting you adjust brightness, tweak colours and fine-tune your set-up directly from your device.
If you’re just starting out or are already a content pro, Amaran helps you unleash your creative potential. And the winner will score the epic Amaran Ace 25c Kit, Amaran Go and Amaran Tag. Time to shine brighter!
Commercial & corporate
The pinnacle of professional work
Work commissioned by clients is ideal for our flagship class. If you shoot brand video, commercials, sales films or a package of video-led media for a customer or campaign, this is for you. It could be for a paying client or charity, just show us your best work.
Last year’s winner was Jonny Lewis, who also claimed the overall Filmmaker of the Year title with his series of documentary shorts for an art gallery. His work features interviews with the artists themselves. You don’t have to be an art expert to see these films are stylish, engaging and made with a real love for storytelling. They entertain, inspire and engage with the audience. Let’s see what you have!
Event
Edited highlights of live shows
Whether it’s a show, product launch, sports event, competition or road trip, we want to see great-looking coverage that engages the audience. This is for polished edits of any sort of event that use editing to tell a wider picture.
There might be interviews, graphics, a presenter and behind-the-scenes insight. If you shoot events and make edited highlight films, this is for you.
Action & sports
For the real fast movers
Although fast-moving subjects bring incredible footage, often stories which show more really captivate an audience. The rivalries, competition and pressure… the equipment, organisers and thrills… it can all be gripping. This category focuses on attention-grabbing footage including action used to tell incredible stories.
Last year, Brian Barnes won with a film of the British Fell and Hill Relays in Ambleside, with hundreds of competitors going through the pain barrier in an amazing location.
YouTuber
The dominant video platform
YouTube rules the roost when it comes to delivering video content. The best YouTubers produce engaging, well-made content for their own or a client’s channels. Other platforms like Vimeo are eligible too.
The awards aren’t about the numbers of views or subscribers, but creative work that’s right for the intended market and looks professionally produced. But in the case of an entry from Ashley Hine this year on behalf of his employer Awesome Earthmovers, there certainly is a huge following! The YouTube channel has 1.1 million subscribers with some of the most popular films having 13 million views. It seems there’s a massive audience for films of heavy equipment, all shot on 4K or 8K for the ultimate in quality.
“It’s all about earthmoving, demolition, crushing, screening and mining,” Hine tells Pro Moviemaker. “Our collection also features coverage of some key industry events, providing insights and updates on the latest trends and innovations in construction machinery and heavy equipment.”
Hine is kept busy shooting videos and stills for his company’s magazine, podcast, website and socials.
After starting four years ago, he’s focused on raising the production values of the work and uses all the latest tricks like drones, gimbals, POV action cams and high-resolution Sony cameras to capture supreme quality. That’s important when some of these machines cost millions to buy and the audience expects the best.
The job takes him all around the globe to various incredible locations, where he captures these behemoths in action. The YouTube channel is packed full of stylish, well-shot films that show off these massive machines and the people that use them.
If you’re an expert at YouTube content, share it with fellow professionals and enter your work – and even your channel – into the awards now!
This article was first published in the March/April 2025 issue of Pro Moviemaker
