I think the time pressure of creating all this stuff in a month is big factor in not completing; I know people say it's all very easy and you should do it in 10 minutes etc etc but if you are working and have other commitments it isn't actually easy to fit a lot of work in in Maya, particularly if you are learning something new. When the challenges are extended, then I think more people would finish something like the animation challenge.

On film composition I don't think everyone would have the software to do it all to the same standard and that would not be terribly fair. Given it's a Maya challenge it seems unfair to favour people with access to production software etc. Same with Photoshop and things, you do have to bear in mind that not everyone has access to all that sort of stuff, whether legal or not.

I think it would be nice to have a challenge that had a number of parts in it, working towards a final end, given the two month period. That could be modelling combined with a short animation, or character combined with small scene, game level or scene with flyby or dynamics etc. That would give people some milestones to map things out against. I enjoyed the game art challenge a lot as it was specific enough to be demanding, while not being out of this world, plus everyone has set things to work to - same with the short animation - while having lots of room for their own ideas. Maybe something where a short film precis or game concept summary is given to everyone and we create a trailer or promotional piece of 3d art for it etc etc.