Today is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year,  so we thought it’d be cool to show everyone how to blow a shofar. The blowing of the shofar, which is a ram’s horn, is an ancient tradition in Judaism that signifies the new year. It’s an interesting sound, and it takes quite a pair of lungs to make it! Check out the video to learn more about it!

Howcast teamed up with Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) to deliver this informative video, “How To Help A Child With Autism.”

The video teaches viewers how early intervention is the key to improving the outlook for a child with autism, a neurological disorder that impairs communication and social skills.

TACA provides information, resources, and support to families affected by autism, thus strengthening the autism community in the U.S. We’re very pleased to have worked with TACA on their cause. Check out the video below!

Jack Mullan here, providing a few last musings on my time as a Howcast summer intern. Let me start by saying — it was a busy one! I sent tons of e-mails, wrote blog posts, watched and commented on dozens of videos, and completed any office task that came my way. And through all that hard work, I now have irrefutable evidence for any skeptics that I did do something while at Howcast. I’m talking, of course, about the intern video: How To Stand Up for Yourself.

That’s me, as the protagonist/confidence-builder. If you dare doubt my abilities as an actor, I’ll have to stand up for myself in person and exhibit my true bullying qualities. Seriously, I had a great time shooting the video. We encountered numerous obstacles along the way, but we managed to deal with every ordeal we faced (including keeping ice cream cold on a hot summer day in Washington Square Park). Acting without words was a personal challenge, especially when you’re playing a character undergoing a transformation. I definitely have more respect for the robots in Transformers now.

The votes are in, the jury has spoken, and filmmaker Keith Heyward, with the help of his star, Oliver de Loaf, scored first place in the Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Program contest, the How-To Video Challenge. The contest was a call for filmmakers, DIYers and experts to reinvent the how-to video format, and Keith’s unique take on the traditional cooking spot did just that. Using top-notch stop-motion animation skills, Keith’s video, How To Make Olive Bread, features Oliver, a talking loaf of olive bread, narrating the recipe for homemade olive bread (what else?). Dancing Kalamata olives, a “lovely” sourdough starter, and “dashing” salt round out the charming cast in a stellar video that made us smile and salivate at the same time. Kudos to Keith for a well-earned win!

Scoring second and third place in the How-To Video Challenge were Anthony Redendo and Meghan Mathes. Anthony’s video teaches audiences a unique lesson, How To Stage a Hit-And-Run Using Special Effects. Anthony is such a pro at the editing effect, we dare you not to cringe when you see the car “collide” with his actor! Meghan’s video teaches audiences a technique also rarely mastered, How To Spoon, as in how to cozy up to a partner in bed. Accompanied by a sweet song written especially for the spot, Meghan’s video covers all the spooning basics, including what to do with that other arm and no-nos like snoring.

Congratulations to these talented filmmakers! And, again, big props to all the contestants who impressed us with their creativity, style, and skill! We‘re looking forward to continuing to work with these talented filmmakers. Coming soon: a showcase of some more entries that captured the attention of voters and judges!

School is back–and so are all the social ambiguities that come with it. Have no fear, young scholars, as Howcast has a video playlist that is sure to help you navigate some of the more bewildering aspects of your school’s social scene.

For you gals out there who crave popularity (but also have a moral compass) How To Become More Popular Without Turning Mean and How To Neutralize Mean Girls will show the path to status without turning you into a total… well, you get the idea. But if you want to forgo tact, we’ve got you covered, too. How To Start a Rumor will spread any legendary tales that you can dream up. If you’re on the short end of that stick, we have your retaliatory videos, too. Click on How To Cope with Being Teased for some ideas.

Need a back-to-school look? Checking out How To Accessorize Your School Uniform, How To Be Goth, and How To Be A Punk should get your started with some tips, whether you’re want to spice up your current look or surprise everyone with a radical transformation.

Check out the entire playlist and let Howcast school ya!

The votes are in and the How-To Video Challenge finalists have been chosen. Check out who made the top 10 in the playlist below — they definitely haven’t made it easy for our jury to pick the top three. Congratulations and good luck to the fantastic finalists!

We also want to give big Howcast kudos to all the contestants. We asked filmmakers, DIYers and web video artists to get creative with the how-to format, and they didn’t let us down. We asked to have our socks knocked off, and I can tell you, we are sockless! As the manager of Howcast’s Emerging Filmmakers Program, I review more than 100 how-to videos every month, and I was incredibly impressed with the creativity of the concepts, the quality of the productions, and the unique styles and approaches we were treated to. Big props to everyone who entered! I’m really looking forward to working with all of you in the future.

Please stay tuned for the announcement of the winners on September 9 (there’s $2,000 at stake!), and keep an eye out for a showcase of all the awesome entries!

-HeatherM

After receiving 150 amazing entries to the How-to Video Challenge, we opened the official voting period yesterday to help us determine the top 10 finalists that will be judged by our stellar jury. Within a few hours of the voting period opening, we noticed certain irregularities in the voting process that could impact the fairness of the voting for all entrants. We have researched the irregularities and are working on the necessary corrections to prevent them from recurring.

In the interest of fairness, we’ve paused the voting period and will be restarting it as soon as possible, with all vote counts set to zero. None of the contest dates, including the end of the voting period, will be affected by this change. We apologize sincerely for having to restart the voting period but our top priority is to ensure that the contest is 100% fair to all the filmmakers and video artists who worked so hard on their entries. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at videochallenge@howcast.com. 

Good luck to all the awesome entrants!

Howcast’s summer-long How-To Video Challenge is coming to a close…but that opens the door for viewers to finally have their say! Voting opens tonight at midnight (EDT) and runs all the way up to August 24th.

That’s twelve days to vote for the videos you think are the most creative and most original, or as we like to put it, the “coolest, baddest and flat-out flyest!” You can vote as many times as you like and for the same video once per day. That means if you’ve entered, make sure to tell all your friends and family to visit and vote. (Try using Howcast’s sharing tools for Facebook, Twitter, Digg and MySpace on the contest page to make it super simple.)

There are more than a hundred awesome videos competing to be in the pool of top ten finalists. Getting into that exclusive top ten means that our stellar jury panel including Peter Baxter, Slamdance Film Festival; Jeff Cooperman, The Colbert Report; Katherine Sharpe, ReadyMade Magazine; Tim Sullivan, Magical Elves (Project Runway, Top Chef) will decide who is first, second, and third for the entire Challenge.

Remember: $2000, a Sony Webbie HD camera package, and a Nano and Apple Store gift certificate are at stake — make sure you cast your votes and have your say in who takes home the loot!

-HeatherM