As branded venues try to wrap their heads around user-content - two major contests are taking very different approaches to user submitted content and filtering.

On one hand, you have Amazon/Tribeca Short Film Festival. This is a major experiment that has a lot of untested variables. Amazon has put up a $50,000 prize (a wildly signficant number for most independent film makers) and opened the entire judging and filterprocess to it's members.

"Starting April 18 Amazon customers are being invited to rate the films, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, to determine the five finalists.

At the end of May, the five highest-rated films will each be featured on the Amazon.com welcome page over five weeks. Amazon.com customers will again be invited to rate the five finalists to determine the winner" says the website.

This is a pure open source filter - and begs the question of how low quality films are being screened. But the overall spirit is that all submitters will get a spot in the rotating cue.

On the other hand is indyTV who's recived many submission to thier pilot program. They're web site says: "We have chosen the 10 finalists out of all of the entries we received for the contest. Here's how we got there: We watched every submission – we being myself (Anastasia), and other key members of the INdTV programming team (including four young people we feel are representative of our audience). We then had our president of programming and other executives screen the short list and decide on the final 10."

This is really interesting because it basically says they looked at a lot of submittions, and narrowed down the list to 10 they liked. The judges are anonymus. The purchase price is set at $250 flat - so the value of the submission is fixed. But the published 'finalists' are going to be of highter quility.

Somewhere between Amazon and INdTV there's a model taking shape. Amazon offers greater reward, but requires that the audience does all the work (the first line of review) hence lowering their costs of review/validate and publication.

INdTV is creating a grassroots tv 'movement' - including a public event called "Take Over TV" that will happen in San Fransisco on April 4th at 6:30pm. But the hard line low-cost model to pay creators suggests that content creators are making video as a hobby or a mission - but not as a profession.

The good news is that in between these two experiments there is a movement taking hold. Embracing content creators will work. People will make media. And embracing the audience will work as well. People will reivew, comment,, and engage in video. Somewhere between Amazon's open source (everyone can vote) model and INdTV's anonymus judgest (we'll tell you what works for us) there is a revolution.