51 Cinema and Media Arts sophomores Jed Saba and Zach King are jetting off to London on Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 as the Hewlett-Packard brand winners in a contest by Mofilm.

Mofilm, a privately held company that emphasizes mobile media and connecting the world’s filmmaking community, sponsored the competition. Thirteen major brand names including HP, VISA, McDonald’s and Haagen Daas asked people with a love for film to create 90-second ads featuring company’s products.

King and Saba created an ad that showed how a man used HP products to be a creative filmmaker. Saba played the man in the ad and Zach operated the camera.

The team was notified via a call from the Mofilm CEO on Tuesday night that the ad they created was chosen as the HP brand winner.

“Zach and I along with ten other guys were squished around the computer listening to the Skype call,” Saba recalled. “After the phone call was over, Zach and I ran across campus screaming ‘We’re going to London!’”

“I was so happy I was on the verge of bursting into tears,” said King.

As the first place winners for HP, Saba and King won a trip for two to the Times British Film Institute 53rd London Film Festival, $3,000 in spending money, $5,000 in HP products and a $250 snapfish.com gift certificate.

Saba and King will be splitting the prize money. Saba plans to put part of his share of the cash into a savings account and the rest into his ‘movie fund’ to use on other film projects. King plans to put his share towards tuition. As for the HP products both plan to buy new monitors and Saba plans to gift his sister with a new laptop while King plans to give a monitor to his roommate.

The two will leave for London on Monday, October 19 and return Sunday, October 25.

“It hasn’t hit us yet,” King said. “We are actually going to London!”

Saba and King, both 19, are the youngest brand division winners.

“I am just a sophomore film student who really has not had that much experience,” Saba said. “Other winners include professional advertising agencies and film school graduates.”

Gerald Fisher, associate professor of Cinema and Media Arts, believes that Saba and King did an excellent job of putting what they are learning into practice.

“The ad demonstrates their ability to work in media while also communicating through it,” Fisher said. “We hope all our students quickly move beyond buttons and software to become effective media communicators.”

The top three Mofilm finalists will be announced on Oct. 20, 2009 and the grand prize winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Oct. 21.

The grand prize winner announced in London will receive an additional $10,000, a walk down the red carpet and the winners’ ad will be shown at the festival as well as on the YouTube home page.

Written by Katherine Smith, Media Relations Intern. Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Coordinator, can be reached at (562) 777-4061 or through email at jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu