A new short film from photographer Vincent Laforet kicked off the "Beyond the Still" video contest today. Laforet's video, entitled "Cabbie," sets the stage for the "7-chapter communal story contest," which is being co-sponsored by Vimeo and Canon.

Canon gave Laforet a still image of a cab and then asked him to interpret it into a 2-3 minute short film. Laforet's film, which was shot with a Canon EOS 7D digital SLR, ends on a still image.

Contestants are then asked to take that image and interpret it into their own 2-3 minute film to create a continuation of Laforet's story. The contest officially began on January 15th. To find out more details, see this post on Vincent Laforet's blog.

Though the contest may sound a bit more complicated than it actually is -- think of it as a video "exquisite corpse" -- what's not complicated are the potential prizes.

Each month, Vimeo users will vote on finalists to select a winner who will receive either a Canon EOS 7D or 5D Mark II, along with a Canon lens of their choice. (That lens prize could get interesting if the winner really has a pick of all of Canon's best glass.)

The winner is also slated to receive an all-expenses paid trip to shoot a short film with Laforet. (We hope it's some place warm.) The list of judges, which includes Laforet himself, is impressive.

• Phillip Bloom
• Shane Hurlbutt
• Rodney Charters
• Russell Carpenter
• Nick Childs
• Stu Maschwitz
• Rick McCallum
• Blake Whitman

Check out Laforet's "Cabbie" film below. More info at Laforet's blog. More details on the contest coming soon at Vimeo.

The Cabbie from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.