CSAIL Olympics: The Movies

Every January, the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) holds a lab-wide olympics. During this time, the normally friendly lab divides into four factions, each seeking to best their competitors in games of skill, wit, strength, and above all participation. One popular event in recent years has been the movie making competition, where each team competes to produce a short video starring their team.

The videos are then judged according to a mostly arbitrary point system set up by the event commissioner. Teams are especially encouraged to get as many members into the video as possible. However, to make things more interesting, the teams are given various constraints, such as bizarre objects or spoken lines, that must appear in their movie. The rules for each year's competition are linked below.

2008: Cereal Showcase
Frosted Flakes: Almost Heaven Tony MPEG-4 (77 MB) MOV (32 MB)
Choose Trix Trix MPEG-4 (78 MB) MOV (32 MB)
The Taste Was Worth the Risk Lucky MPEG-4 (95 MB) MOV (38 MB)
Out with the Old, In with the New... Cocoa MPEG-4 (6.5 MB) MOV (11 MB)
2007: VH1: Behind the Food Trucks
Ultimate Power Jose's DIVX (32 MB) MPEG (18 MB)
Creatures of the Wild Jona's Subs DIVX (60 MB) MPEG (37 MB)
Behind the Food Trucks Goosebeary's DIVX (44 MB) MPEG (25 MB)
T + 1hr Jerusalem Cafe DIVX (43 MB) MPEG (18 MB)
2006: The Ultimate Sequel
Star Wars 3.5: A Lost Hope Star Wars MPEG-4 (63 MB) MPEG-1 (41 MB) (21 MB)
Backdoor Hackers Indiana Jones MPEG-4 (36 MB) MPEG-1 (34 MB) (18 MB)
The Ultimate Sequel Back to the Future MPEG-4 (50 MB) MPEG-1 (29 MB) (15 MB)
??? The Godfather MPEG-4 (36 MB) MPEG-1 (26 MB) (13 MB)
2005: Stata Dream Vacation
Ph. D. Land LogoLand MPEG-1 (19 MB)
Six Lakes Six Compiler Flags Over Cambridge MPEG-1 (23 MB)
Universal Turing Studios Universal Turing Studios MPEG-1 (22 MB)
CWorld CWorld MPEG-1 (18 MB)
2004: The Next Seinfeld
Mutant U The Simpsons MPEG-4 (17 MB) MPEG-1 (7 MB)
CSAIL Survivor I Love Lucy MPEG-4 (17 MB) MPEG-1 (8 MB)
Real World: CSAIL Olympics The Brady Bunch MPEG-4 (21 MB) MPEG-1 (9 MB)
Fisher Personals The Flintstones MPEG-4 (25 MB) MPEG-1 (11 MB)
2003: The Music Video
The AI Connection Ravenclaw MPEG (16 MB) (31 MB)
Syltherin Boi Syltherin MPEG (40 MB) (20 MB)
A.I.C.S. Hufflepuff MPEG (13 MB) (25 MB)
You've Got It Gryffindor MPEG (18 MB) (35 MB)
2002: The Propaganda Campaign
About Trucks and Nutrition Ministry of Love An educational short on the virtues of party-provided nutrition. MPEG (12 MB) (25 MB)
Proposition 77 Ministry of Peace Keep America Strong. Vote for Proposition 77! MPEG (12 MB) (25 MB)
The Stata Center: Gateway to the Future Ministry of Plenty The future of research, today. MPEG (11 MB) (23 MB)
The One True AI Ministry of Truth Finally, an answer. MPEG (17 MB) (34 MB)
2001: And Now, a Word from our Sponsors
The Potato Vibrator France Available at stores near you. MPEG (8 MB) (15 MB)
Laughing Carrot Sticks Japan Turn your frown upside down! MPEG (10 MB) (20 MB)
??? China Do you have this movie? Mail us!
Italy: The Movie Italy ... the mother of inspiration. MPEG (8 MB) (15 MB)

Missing Movies

This event was also run in 1997, 1998, and 1999. However, movies from those events have been lost. If you have a copy of one of those movies, please mail me. The higher quality the source, the better. Betacam is preferred, but VHS and digital formats are better than nothing.

DVD Release?

There has been talk of putting these movies onto a DVD. If there is sufficient interest in this, it may be a way to raise funds for new equipment in the video room, particularly a DVD burner. If you'd be interested in buying a DVD with these movies for under $10, please write your email address in the (non-commital) form below and submit it.