Yesterday on Twitter I received a tweet from crushlovely saying that they were “Enjoying the mix at http://thru-you.com.” Well, Thru You is the most fantastic and talented example of remixing I’ve come across online. The artist, Kutiman, has taken a variety of YouTube video clips and pieced them together to create original music that is, frankly, incredible. Now, the style might not suit everyone–I personally love it–but the effort and talent is unmistakable.
What’s wonderful about this effort is how it illustrates what’s possible today. The web becomes this massive repository of user-generated content–which is itself a huge shift from previous modes of mass communication–and then artists take this a step further, remixing and reinventing, along the way creating original content that, in this case in particular, far exceeds the quality of any one individual piece.
Thru You is inspiring. I can’t remember that last time I was so blown away by something I experienced online, so taken aback that I could feel my pulse quicken and excitement and wonder flow throughout my being. This is creativity, vision and execution perfected. Riveting. Beautiful. Genius.
Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, was on the TED stage talking up his booming business. He’s a little nervous, but overall the presentation is decent and informative–not exactly one of those stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks TED talks, but interesting nonetheless. I really liked how he used great visuals to support sample tweets; would make Garr Reynolds proud.
So here is my winning video for the 2009 Victoria Film Festival’s MyVictoria competition. Below the video is a clip from the A Morning news program where they aired the clip on Tuesday. As you’ll see at the end of the news clip, my video had a pretty profound impact on host Astrid Braunschmidt!
And now the A News clip. Unfortunately they had some audio problems at the beginning–and even throughout the entire video.
The Victoria Film Festival just wrapped, and I was notified yesterday that my submission to their MyVictoria competition was selected as the winner for the “best family” category!
My short–which will be available online soon–tells the story of my daughter and the support she receives from the Queen Alexandra Foundation for Children (QA). My daughter was born without a right hand and forearm, and has been getting help from Queen Alexandra from an early age. They’ve been helping her at every stage of development with things like crawling, balance and muscle development and, more specifically, with her prosthetic arms. The arms are surprisingly heavy for a baby/toddler, and she recently received a myoelectric arm, which requires a lot of training and support. Through it all she’s been fantastic.
So this year, I committed to myself to produce an entry for the film fest’s video competition and my wife proposed I do something about QA. After some brainstorming and some sketches and simple storyboards, I finally settled on my approach: I figured since it was going to be mostly about a 2-year-old, then the video should feel like a children’s story. So I wrote a poem, which became my script, and started shooting. I then arranged with two of my daughter’s therapists from QA to let me video them working with her. Finally, my wife agreed to read the poem that would become the voice over and she also played an old children’s song on the piano, which I recorded and used as my soundtrack.
Being my first entry into a video competition, I have to say I’m quite happy to have won. It was a gratifying little project regardless, but it’s always nice to be recognized.
Check out Whopper Freakout. Funny stuff! I noticed the TV commercials recently and decided to check it out, especially since it’s from Burger King and I still remember the great Subservient Chicken campaign of a few years ago. It’s a great short doc about spoofing customers by telling them they no longer serve the Whopper. I have no emotional connection whatsoever to Burger King–or any fast-food outlet, come to think of it–but for the people they managed to catch of video, this news really hit home. It’s interesting how Burger King has used rude chickens and a low-quality video spoof to differentiate itself from McDonald’s. When I think McD’s I think family, cartoon characters, the Happy Meal! I don’t think they would try something quite like what BK has done since it doesn’t fit their brand. But for BK, they can take more risks. Though interestingly, as a couple of the guys in the video point out, BK may have the elements of a more down-home marketing approach if they wanted to explore that. One guy talks about the right of passage eating a Whopper was growing up–when he was finally able to finish one, that’s when he knew he was a man (seriously)–while another started waxing poetic about driving to another state 30 years ago just to get a Whopper. Classic.
Well, the videos are now online! Just before I left on holidays the videos were on the verge of being posted and I’ve noticed they are now live. We’re in the process of developing a marketing strategy for the board to get these videos even greater exposure–I’ll be jumping right back into that when I return from my break.
I’ve seen the future of online video, and it’s gorgeous. Vimeo hosts HD video, which looks fantastic and streams smoothly. Never mind poking around YouTube watching grainy, pixelated teens falling off rooftops. On Vimeo you can see detailed, crisp images, in full-screen HD.
Now, so far there’s nothing like the selection on YouTube, but what’s fascinating about Vimeo and its HD fans is the passion for video and for wringing the most out of the cameras. Canon’s HV20 has a loyal following on this site and it’s great to see not only what the camera is capable of out of the box, but also what creative DIYers are able to achieve with some add-ons. The current item of technolust is the 35mm adapter that allows you to take your 35mm lens from your still camera and connect to your camcorder. The idea is simple enough–and for the handy, tutorials for creating your own are posted and freely available–but the results are stunning.
For a great example of what people are doing, check out this video by a user named twoneil. Watching his samples I was truly blown away by the quality of the video. It’s the closest I’ve ever seen video come to film, and in fact, I think it would be tough for a casual viewer to really tell the difference, at least online.
What this does, of course, is completely open the realm of high-quality movie-making to almost anyone. The look of video, while becoming more accepted every day, still represents a barrier to an independent filmmaker. Film is obviously the gold standard and if it looks like video your work is immediately–if not consciously–taken a little less seriously. Video folks are always looking for ways to make their video appear more like film. And now, with the advent of reasonably affordable HD equipment and a little ingenuity, this goal is within reach.
Of course, just having the “look” of film doesn’t make someone’s short- or feature-film great. But if the raw materials are worthy–script, cast, director, etc.–there’s one less hurdle to clear towards the goal of making something great.
Some catching up here, but the video project I produced debuted a couple of weeks ago and was a big hit. As part of the Municipal Pension Plan’s annual general meeting, my team and I created three short, commercial-style videos for the pension plan’s board of trustees. The videos are meant to inform members of the pension plan about its value. Each video takes on a different angle and audience and in 2.5 minutes–and with simple, plain language–explains why being a member of the Municipal Pension Plan is a good thing.
Anyway, as I say, the videos are a big hit, and not just for our clients. They were recently showcased as part of a presentation given at a pensions conference in eastern Canada and the feedback was extremely positive. We’ve had requests for DVD copies and people wondering when they’ll be posted to our website.
It’s no wonder to me that these videos are popular. They are unique and completely atypical for the industry. This is pensions we’re talking about. To get people to watch–much less click away having absorbed some key messages–we couldn’t just produce the usual talking-head piece. And believe me, in our research, other pension administrators have posted classic talking-head videos that run up to 45 minutes! People simply won’t spend long stretches at their monitor squinting at another boring video about a topic that, unless they are in their fifties, they likely don’t spend much time thinking about anyway.
We wanted our videos to move, to by dynamic and engaging, keeping our primary delivery method–the web–in mind as we planned and shot. We kept our shots tight, the language simple and quick and the scenery changing. We also took into account the various visual cues that would help support our message. For example, we used, as much as possible, real locations. We wanted to reinforce through our choice of background that these were authentic Municipal Pension Plan locations. Our goal was that when pension plan members watched they would intuitively recognize the locations as “belonging” to them, thereby strengthening the video’s value message since they not only hear the actor’s words but also see their own world reflected back. Another small, but meaningful, touch was with the use of colour. The plan’s official colour is green (the actual Pantone number escapes me), so we made sure that our actor wore a green blouse beneath her sweater. Not a big deal, but often it’s the details that make something truly stand out.
It’s also been gratifying to watch the videos catch on throughout our organization. They are being requested for branch staff meetings and as supporting material for meetings with employers who are considering joining the plan. They are beginning to have a life of their own, which is exactly what we had planned for. It’s exciting to see others begin to recognize the possibilities of this medium.
The videos are not yet online, but will be soon. When they are I’ll be sure to link to them.
Eddy Piasentin is a communications professional specializing in the exploration and understanding of online communication and how it is changing the way we interact with one another. He is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).
Posted by Eddy 
Posted by Eddy 
Posted by Eddy 
