The Minute - LV8 Tech Video Editor Hackathon

About this competition lv8 Tech builds AI products for companies in tech and healthcare. Alongside that, we run a health content channel on Instagram where we explain medicine to people who never studied it, usually in under a minute. We're taking on a Video Editor intern to work on that channel, and this is how we're finding them. Worth saying upfront: you're making something for a real profile, not a hypothetical one. We'll give you a topic, you make the reel, and if it's good enough, it goes up on the channel with credit to you. What you have to make One 60-second Instagram reel, made from scratch. We're giving you a topic and a script outline. Everything else is on you: the visuals, the pacing, the sound, the captions, all of it. Generate footage, use stock, shoot something yourself, animate it, whatever gets you there. Pick one of the two topics below. Don't do both; we'll only look at the first one that comes in. Topic 1: Lipoprotein(a) Lp(a) is a genetic marker for heart disease risk. Most people have never heard of it and most doctors don't test for it as standard. You'll get a script outline covering what it is, who should care, and what to do about it. Your job is to make someone scrolling past stop, watch the whole thing, and go ask their doctor about a test they'd never heard of two minutes earlier. Topic 2: Sleep Everyone thinks they understand sleep. Most people don't. You'll get a script outline on why it matters, what poor sleep actually does to you, and what a sleep study picks up. Take a topic people think they've already figured out and make them reconsider it. Spend ten minutes on it before you open your editor. We're not asking anyone to reinvent the channel. We're looking for someone who can look at what's there, work out what's working and what isn't, and make the next one land harder. The visuals are the video There's nobody on camera in this one, which means your graphics, illustrations and B roll are carrying the whole thing. This is the part we'll look at hardest. What we want to see: Proper illustrations, not clip art. If you're showing an artery filling with plaque or what happens to the brain across a sleep cycle, it should look like something a medical channel would publish. Clean, accurate, considered. Animated if you can. B-roll that earns its place. Every shot should be doing a job. Generic stock of a stethoscope on a desk or someone typing on a laptop tells the viewer nothing, and we've all seen it a thousand times. If you can't justify a shot, cut it. Motion graphics for anything with a number in it. Percentages, risk figures, comparisons, timelines. Text sitting flat on screen is a wasted opportunity, and numbers are usually the most shareable part of a health reel. Captions that look designed. Not auto-generated subtitles dumped on top. Typography, timing and emphasis are part of the edit, not an afterthought. A consistent visual language. Pick a palette and a type treatment and hold it for sixty seconds. Reels that change style halfway through look like they were assembled rather than made. Everything should be sharp at 1080x1920. No upscaled low-resolution stock, no watermarks, no visible AI artefacts on faces or text. If a generated shot looks wrong, it's better to cut it than to leave it in and hope nobody notices. What we're actually judging This is a reel, not a short film, and the rules are different. The first three seconds decide everything. If people scroll past, whatever you did at the forty-second mark doesn't matter. It has to work on mute, because most people won't turn the sound on. Captions and on-screen text carry more weight than the audio does. We'd take a rough reel that holds attention to the end over a polished one that loses people at fifteen seconds. And we care what it cost you to make. Not because we're cheap, but because we're going to need a lot of these. Someone who can make one great reel expensively is less useful to us than someone who can make ten good ones cheaply. Tell us how you kept the cost down. Everything after the submission deadline gets confirmed on Unstop once entries are in. Keep an eye on your notifications and registered email. Format and process Round 1: Registration and submission Registration opens 23 August and closes 28 August at 11:59 PM IST. You get the topic and script pack the moment you register, so the earlier you sign up, the more time you have. Register on the 23rd, and you've got a week. Register on the 28th, and you've got two days. Your call, but we'd register early. Submissions open 29 August at 12:00 AM IST and close 30 August at 11:59 PM IST. Nothing gets accepted after that. The round is online and asynchronous, so work whenever suits you. Video specs: 60 seconds, give or take 5 9:16 vertical, 1080x1920 MP4, H.264 Audio required, whether that's music, voiceover, or sound design Captions required. If it doesn't make sense on mute, it doesn't work. Submit an unlisted link (Drive, Dropbox or unlisted YouTube). Check the sharing permissions first, because we can't chase entries we can't open. You also need to send a short process note. Keep it to half a page; we're not after an essay. What was your hook and why that one? What did you make it with? List the tools, including anything AI. Roughly what did it cost you in rupees, and how many hours did it take? If we needed twenty of these a month, what would you change about how you made it? Round 2: Live brief (shortlisted only) Shortlist dates get announced on Unstop after submissions close. If you're on it, we'll reach you through Unstop and email, and you'll need to reply within 48 hours, or we'll move on. The live brief gives you 24 hours. New topic, same idea, quick turnaround. After that, there's a 20 to 30 minute call to talk through how you work and look at your other stuff. Results Winner announcement date to be confirmed on Unstop. Eligibility Open to students, working professionals, and freelancers. Any college, any university, any institution. Any specialisation, any year of study. You don't need a design or film degree, and plenty of good editors don't have one. No medical or healthcare background needed, and we're not looking for one. The script pack covers everything you need to know about the topic. You need to be based in India and available for an in-house internship if you're selected. lv8 Tech employees and their immediate family can't enter. Team composition Individual competition. Teams aren't allowed. Since everyone enters on their own, the questions about inter-college and inter-specialisation teams don't apply here. One entry per person, under your own name. Don't submit someone else's work and don't submit jointly through one account. How we'll judge it What we're looking at Weight Notes Visuals 30% Graphics, illustrations, B roll, motion, caption design. Does it look like something worth watching Hook and retention 25% Do the first three seconds stop the scroll, and does it hold to the end Editing craft 20% Pacing, cuts, sound, colour, knowing when to leave things alone Cost and speed 15% Output quality against what it cost in money and hours, and whether you could repeat it twenty times a month Channel fit 10% Does this belong on the profile, and does it sharpen what's already there The lv8 Tech leadership team judges the entries, and the decision is final. What you get Winner takes ₹10,000 and may get an internship with lv8 Tech as a Video Editor. The winning reel goes up on the channel with credit to you. We'll go through the internship details, including duration and stipend, directly with shortlisted candidates. Rules Individual entries only. Team entries get disqualified. One submission per person. Send more than one, and we void all of them. Pick one topic. Entries covering both won't be judged. Everything has to be made during the competition window. Old portfolio work doesn't count. Vertical 9:16 with captions. Horizontal entries and entries without captions won't be judged. Everything on screen has to be sharp at 1080x1920. Upscaled low-resolution footage, watermarked stock and obvious AI artefacts will count against you. Any software, any tools, including AI. No restrictions. Music, stock, and any third-party assets have to be licensed or royalty-free. Using copyrighted material without rights means disqualification. Don't use anyone's likeness without permission. That includes AI-generated faces of real people, doctors, or public figures. Make sure your submission link opens for anyone with it. We won't follow up on entries we can't access. Stick to the supplied script outline. Don't add medical claims, statistics or advice that aren't in it. Anything with invented health claims gets disqualified, so please read the script notes properly. Don't post your entry anywhere until the winner is announced, including your own social accounts. Late entries won't be accepted. Unstop enforces the deadline and we don't grant extensions. Plagiarism, reused work or work someone else made for you means immediate disqualification. We may publish and use submitted work across our channels and marketing, with credit to whoever made it. If you're shortlisted, reply within 48 hours or we'll move on. Our decisions are final and we won't review them on appeal. We may change the timeline or rules, and we'll post any changes on Unstop. If nothing meets the standard we're after, we may not award the prize or make an offer. Questions people usually ask Do I need a design or film background? No. We're looking at the work, not the qualification. Do I need to know anything about medicine? No. The script pack covers the topic. Just don't add claims of your own, see rule 11. Do you supply footage? No. You get a topic and a script outline, and you build the visuals yourself. Generate them, use stock, shoot something, animate it, whatever suits how you work. Can I enter as a team? No, individual entries only. What software do I need? Whatever you already use. Do I have to use AI tools? No. Use them if they help you work faster or cheaper; skip them if they don't. We're judging the reel and the cost, not the method. Why do you want to know what it cost? Because we'll need a lot of these. Someone who can make one great reel expensively is less useful to us than someone who can make ten good ones cheaply. Does the winning reel actually get posted? Yes, on the channel with credit to you. Strong runner-up entries might get published too, with credit and payment. Can I post my entry on my own Instagram? Not until the winner is announced. Rule 12 covers this. When do I hear about the shortlist? We'll announce that on Unstop once submissions close, and it comes through Unstop and your registered email.