Don't you love it when you start a post about one thing, then while searching for links/references/whatever, you get swept up by something completely different?
This video is so just so freaking cool! It's only just popped up on my radar (and you know I'm such a tastemaker...) despite being out for a good few months.
The level of creativity, and the concept of taking google earth creating a dramatic piece with it is just astounding. I've got no idea how he did it, and so well! The audio is linked brilliantly with each frame. I'm not sure why this is so awesome, I think I'm still getting past the fact that he used Google Earth! Whaaaat?!
Alright, I'll stop raving. Watch This. Seriously It's Cool.
Artist: Remo Raucher
Oh my gosh, what a hectic work week but despite that let's get to it. I took an extended weekend so don't hate me for that. Let's get into it shall we?
There's a video doing this rounds at the moment created by The Viral Factory for Diesel (that should be enough information for you to google it) that's piqued my interest in this company. They've touted themselves as a social video agency and on their wiki page a full service viral marketing agency. After clicking around I was surprised to learn that they were the geniuses behind this brilliant Westfield campaign, which I watched at least 5 times despite not living even remotely close to London.
As well as the HUGELY popular Skype Laughter Chain.
Now simply naming yourself The Viral Factory raises eyebrows. Obviously you'd want to be able to deliver on that promise and it seems that The Viral Factory have got a firm grip on the dynamic nature of what makes a video go viral, but what makes a video go viral? This is a fundamental question that not many can answer and that's probably because each viral video is so different.
In researching this little post, I came across thousands of articles and even research papers (I read the abstract and if you've got time definitely give the paper a once over) which makes it painfully clear that this concept has been done to death and there's still no definite answer. However this article by Stephanie Buck gets a pretty good run down from Beau Lewis of creative agency Seedwell. Lewise identifies three common factors among viral videos.
"Theme: Most “viral videos” fit into one of three thematic categories: 1) parody of something popular and timely, 2) cute as hell, and 3) did that just happen? (It usually didn’t.)
Structure: There’s a compelling case for a progression that starts by surprising the viewer, avoids interjecting much advertising, and takes the viewer on an emotional roller coaster. Viewers’ screen time may be going up, but attention span appears to be going down, which means that the video needs to repeatedly earn the viewer throughout its duration.
Tastemakers: Almost all viral videos get their legs after being discovered by tastemakers and digital influencers. These are celebrities with built-in audiences the size of cable channels. Kevin Allocca gives a good TED talk on the subject, and the Kony 2012 video was perhaps the best example of engineering it to date."
The aforementioned Kevin Allocca does indeed give a great TED talk on viral videos and the ingredients he defines of a viral video overlap with those of Lewis'. Allocca credits, tastemakers, communities of participation and unexpectedness. So let's takes Westfield's 100 years of style as a little case study shall we? And because we're all short on time let's dot point it. Theme/Uniqueness- Style Progression through Music and Dance. What a winning concept. The marjority of Youtube's Most Viewed videos are in fact Music Videos so we're off to a flying start here AND backtracking, the title itself is a drawcard. To see 100 years of style trends in 100 seconds? That's a challenge that people were intrigued to see. Need more proof? Evolution of Dance. Yep. Ya Burned! Structure/Communities of Participation- It's pretty damn cool to see the change in clothing style and dance. You could probably take it a step further and take a look at how the clothes affected the dance or vice versa. Either way the story has a beginning (The 1910's), a middle (...self explanatory), and an end (today! wee!). Ba-Da-Bing Ba-Da-Bum! Tastemakers- Youtube sites the Boing Boing as it's "As Seen On" but the video was also featured on Forbes resulting in 194 FB shares, 38 retweets, and 21 LinkedIn share (who shares on LI?). As well as The Guardian (188 FB shares and 117 retweets) and Buzzfeed (1000 FB shares, 184 retweets, 46 +1google), just to name a few.
All in all The Viral Factory are definitely doing something right. I think the most interesting thing for me is that, I've seen and shared so many of their videos and not realised that they were ads. In marketing terms, that's got to be a good thing. They've got a hold of my subconscious mind. In terms of being an active consumer... that's kind of scary... Keep an eye out for these guys cos they'll get you.
Oh and for the TL;DR crowd, here's Kevin Allocca's TED talk. You love a good TED Talk.
Our friends over at Bored Panda have compiled a list of Mac decals for your laptop. Unfortunately for my I own an iMac and not a macbook so this is kind of irrelevant to my interests. But how weird is this, seeing these actually makes me want to BUY a macbook. Man that branding is strong.
May the force be with you. [VIA]
It's that time of the year! Vivid Festival is back and it officially opens today! Huzzah! If you're in Sydney over the next two weeks, you'll definitely come across many of the public events on show but if you can grab a ticket and check out a show. If you're not in Sydney, fear not my child, because through the power of technology you can stream shows on YouTube. I for one will be tuning in to see Imogen Heap, Temper Trap and also check out Seekae's latest offering. In the lead up to the festival, the band has released this stunning sunrise session.
UUUGH! SO GOOD! CANT HANDLE!
But really now, head on over to Vivid's site to get the low down on events and what's on around you.
I found this little gem on Coudal's blog. This blog is a time warp so be prepared to find yourself in the wierd part of the internet after opening one or two of their links. It's a great resource of all their inspiration, and that as a consumer is interesting to see. I always wonder what the creatives do behind their desks and this blog ladies and gentlemen is the answer.
This short film Hobbies is something I could see being submitted for Pause. It has an interesting commentary on how attention span is constantly shrinking especially now where one minute you'll be reading an article about Siri sending all your requests to a black box and the next you'll be watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wondering how that happened. So I can understand this guy's frustration.
So incase you didn't know, Thom Yorke is a major modeselektor fan. He's pretty vocal about getting his public to listen to their stuff and finally he has joined forces with the neo electro untaggable band. Those lucky enough to attend Coachella got a preview of what this collab might sound like. UK Based agency Future Deluxe are the ones behind 'This'. The Making of "That" Promo
Future Deluxe have a pretty massive client reel as as far as digital creatives go, they know exactly where the gaps in the market lie and how to fill them. Check out their website here. They're based in Brighton so on a superficial note, not only are they intelligent and creative they are thuper thexy thurfer types with british accents. Get a google alert on happening on any positions going here because this a place you defs want to be. They worked with Thom Yorke, is there really a bigger selling point?
And I must apologise for the untimeliness of my blogging. I crashed my car... That's my excuse. Check back for daily updates!! I know I promise a lot of things, but I promise to keep this promise. Promise.
What's that? I can showcase my innovative work to an international crowd?, Hundreds of people will view my work? I could extend my creative network and make new contacts results in collaborations? HELLS YEAH!
That's right, we are calling all creative to get on board, making this year's festival our biggest and brightest yet. So if you are treading new ground with it comes to animation, motion graphics, stop-motion, robotics or anything digitally creative we would love to here from you.
Not sure if what you do counts? Hit up the Pause info line at info(at)pausefest(dot)com(dot)au
And those asking "Where do I sign up?" You can view sample submissions here, then go on and post your through at submissions(at)pausefest(dot)com(dot)au Done! Happy Brainstorming and Best of Luck! DB.
