Last month at the DLD con­fer­ence I had the oppor­tu­nity to speak to Con­stan­tin Bjerke, founder of TheCrane.tv.  TheCrane.tv is a new online video mag­a­zine all about con­tem­po­rary cul­ture that is set to launch in March and plans to fea­ture high cal­iber con­tent on the top­ics of Cul­ture, Art & Design, Fash­ion, Lifestyle, Travel, Ideas and “Green”/Ecology around the globe.  TheCrane.tv hopes to raise the bar for supe­rior video con­tent on the Web with what they are refer­ring to as ”Tal­ent Gen­er­ated Con­tent.”  Con­stan­tin describes Tal­ent Gen­er­ated Con­tent by say­ing that all of the site’s con­tent ”is pro­duced by peo­ple that actu­ally know what they’re doing, both in terms of qual­ity of the film and in terms of the con­tent.”  Cre­atives from around the world are invited to share their films, videos and ani­ma­tions on any of the fore­men­tioned top­ics.  TheCrane.tv is a unique mag­a­zine because it is com­pletely video based.  You don’t have to read arti­cles but can sim­ply “sit back and enjoy the ride” as Con­stan­tin puts it.

Aside from offer­ing high qual­ity, high cal­iber con­tent, TheCrane.tv will also serve as a plat­form for tal­ented video and film­mak­ers to show­case their tal­ent and advance their careers.  Con­trib­u­tors can use the site to find an audi­ence, net­work with like-minded cre­atives from around the world, share ideas, col­lab­o­rate and inspire one another.  Addi­tion­ally, the site is cur­rently in nego­ti­a­tions for a mobile video dis­tri­b­u­tion deal via 3G net­works and has sev­eral TV and other dis­tri­b­u­tion deals in the works as well.  TheCrane.tv also offers con­trib­u­tors the oppor­tu­nity to make money through rev­enue share.

In prepa­ra­tion for their launch in March, TheCrane.tv is host­ing a film com­pe­ti­tion along with Dis­cov­ery Cam­pus and reel­isor.  Every­one is wel­come to enter short videos (1 to 5 min­utes) on any of TheCrane.tv top­ics listed above.  Non-fiction, fiction, documentary, jour­nal­is­tic pieces, video art and ani­ma­tion are all accepted.  The­Crane team allows and even encour­ages you to run wild with your imag­i­na­tion and expand your hori­zons.  All sub­mis­sions can be sub­mit­ted, in any video file for­mat, to TheCrane.tv.  Con­stan­tin asks con­tributers to “just think about…what would be inter­est­ing in your favorite mag­a­zine?  Just make a video about it!”

The con­test, which ends on Feb­ru­ary 28, will be judged by a team of high pro­file cre­atives includ­ing Ora Ïto, Karl Lager­feld, Flavio Albanese, Fer­nando Sulichin, Kir­ill Razl­o­gov and Lau­rent Claquin.  Win­ning films will be selected and announced when TheCrane.tv launches inter­na­tion­ally in March.  Rewards for the win­ners include cash, equip­ment and Tele­vi­sion broad­cast.  Addi­tion­ally, all of the entries will be avail­able for view­ing on TheCrane.tv once the com­pe­ti­tion ends and the site is launched.  I am excited to see what cre­atives from around the world will con­tribute to this new online video mag­a­zine. I view it as an amaz­ing col­lab­o­ra­tive art piece. I also admire the cre­ative think­ing that went into the whole con­cept of cre­at­ing this com­pe­ti­tion right before the site’s launch. This is a great way to increase buzz and inter­est in a cre­ative man­ner. I think the biggest chal­lenge for TheCrane.tv will be to keep its con­tent as high cal­iber as pos­si­ble and not allow it to turn into another YouTube, as this is its edge over the competition.

For my full inter­view with Con­stan­tin, as well as a taste of what TheCrane.tv will have to offer, watch the videos above and below.

Ayelet Noff is founder and CEO of Blonde 2.0, a con­sul­tancy spe­cial­iz­ing in help­ing brands use social media tools such as social net­works, the blo­gos­phere and social soft­ware to cre­ate brand aware­ness, recruit employ­ees or achieve any other goal. See her busi­ness pro­file, con­tact Ayelet, fol­low her on Twit­ter or leave a com­ment below.