"Online video is driving astonishing innovation in thousands of different fields ranging from the ultra-niche to the sharing of truly world-changing ideas" – Chris Anderson, TED
Corey Vidal has been serious about video for years, but his occasional video blogs posted on Youtube prior to 2007 received little attention. A fight with his family left him homeless. As Vidal searched for work and slept on the couches of friends, he took some time to record a Star Wars themed acapella performance. That short clip changed his life completely.
It didn’t take long for the video to garner millions of views, especially after numerous television networks shared the clip and Lucas Films even gave it a nod. That single viral hit was enough to take jobless Vidal out of his friends’ houses and into his own place. He says that he went from nearly penniless to having $50,000 heading his way in less than a month from the Youtube Partner programme.
Corey is still working hard today to keep vlogging. He has also started a video company, ApprenticeA Productions, in his hometown of Niagara Falls. It took dedication and inspiration for this hard working young man to hit it big with an Internet viral sensation. Trying new combinations of style and substance are the best way to find the perfect mixture that brings in massive amounts of attention.
Youtube’s channels range in size from libraries of a few clips and a dozen or so fans to the giants with millions of weekly viewers. SMOSH first rose to the peak of the popularity contest this January when they took the coveted “Most Subscribers” title at Youtube. Just two months later, this thriving channel has become the first to hit the 8 million subscriber mark. Examining the style and format of the content released by these prolific producers can help you create a video campaign that draws plenty of interest for a broad section of viewers.
Dedication
The main producers behind the SMOSH brand aren’t newcomers to Internet content creation or comedy. Co-founder, Anthony Padilla started the whole phenomenon by uploading a few short Flash animations to the Newgrounds website in 2003. His friend, Ian Hecox started helping him a few months later and the two still work together on each release. They made the move to Youtube production in 2005, giving them seven years of back content to rely on. Their dedication to high quality clips has helped them win the attention of more than 8 million people from around the world.
Know Your Audience
If you want customers or organisation members to keep returning to watch everything you produce, learn who they are and what they really want. You can ask them directly through some kind of survey, or invest in professional market analysis. Even the smallest businesses can gain valuable information from using Google Analytics for Youtube. SMOSH knows that the teens and young adults that form the basis of their fan population love video games, silly mockeries and lively cartoons. If they started posting serious or trite clips, the 8 million subscriber toll would quickly plummet.
Stick To a Few
Many Youtube producers run well over a hundred different channels to pump their content out as much as possible. However, it’s hard for anyone to focus enough attention on this many channels. SMOSH keeps it simple with just seven channels, with only four regularly updated during the week. Multiple channels allow the producers to keep gaming related content separate from the clips that feature their associate producer, Mari or short-term projects like Shut Up! Cartoons. Don’t unnecessarily split your library of clips into dozens of separate channels if they are all on the same basic topic. Your viewers will have an easier time viewing the rest of your releases.
We found that it was very well done and was both creative and referenced the Ray Harryhausen legacy.
As a result, Bruno will now win an awesome Ray Harryhausen armature kit, which is exclusively sold on Animation Toolkit.
Although there can only be one winner, the jury was also impressed with the overall quality and creativity of the videos that entered and would like to thank them for thei time and effort.
Keep your eyes and hears open for upcoming competitions!
Yesterday we got to know the Oscar nominations and once again we’re going to shine the light towards categories that are not usually given much attention, the shorts!
Particularly, we’re going to show you bits and pieces of the nominees in the animated short category. So here we go:
Adam and Dog – Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole – PES
Head over Heels – Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare” – David Silverman
Paperman – John Kahrs
While we’re at it, check out this amazing video about Paperman’s animation technology:
Hugh Kieu wanted an informative video on scoliosis and the different types of scoliosis treatment option. It should also show the viewer what the spine looks like when you walk and stand. So he posted the project on Wooshii and after a pitching phase, chose Ace Light to make it.
The final result, mixing motion graphics, 2d, and 3d animation, turned out great – and without further ado, here it is:
Mr. Hugh Kieu was quite happy with the result, writing this great recommendation on Ace’s profile on Wooshii:
Ace did what was ask of him and more. My video look exactly as how I described to him. Would recommend ACE to anyone who may want to make a cool video for your work or personal.
In this latest completed Wooshii project, flexible spending e-commerce site FSAstore.com wanted an animation to explain how to use their website to new visitors, with a prospect to launch with the new site re-design.
So they came to Wooshii to set up their project, and after a pitching phase chose Simon Spencer-Harvey for his first Wooshii project!
This great motion graphics animation is the final result:
We’ve been seeing this video everywhere in the past 24 hours and it’s spreading fast on the web.
It’s an amazing looking spec ad for Coca Cola by Alvise Avati (meaning it was not solicited by the brand and not paid for by anyone) and has many have said, could very well be one of the ads you see on TV or elsewhere.
We reach to him today for an interview, but before, see the incredible video:
What is your creative background (how did you get started on all things creative)?
I did study at school of art in Rome ( italy ) for the High School period, afterwards i’ve enrolled at the University of Architecture of Rome but i left after only few years.
Then i’ve followed some life drawing courses at the Accademy of fine arts. That’s all my “Creative” background i guess,
My father is an italian movie director ( quite famous in italy ) so i’m born and raised watching him bowed down on his typewriter writing screenplays, so i guess i’ve somehow inherited this passion for storytelling.
How did you have the idea for this?
It all started while i was living and working in San Francisco. At that time i was working as an animator for the movie Transformers2 ( Industrial Light + Magic ) and i was animating some shots involving an epic fight with Optimus Prime and Megatron. Since epic fighting sequences have always been my passion, i decided to do something like that but at home, by myself, so i’ve tried to think about a short story, the shorter the better, and what’s shorter than a commercial?
So i went for the commercial format and to keep everything as simple as possible, i’ve picked the most simple object a 3d computer software can render, an alluminum can as the main character of my animated short.
Idea is one thing, getting it together is another! How was the process from idea to completion?
Right after i’ve had the idea clear in my mind i started with the previsualization. When the previz was done i started asking an hand to a few good friends spread around europe. A guy ( Andrea De Martis ) has modeled and textured pretty much everything you see in the short movie. Giovanni De Francesco has rendered the most of the shots and he has been involved in compositing and other stuff as well. Giuseppe Chisari has develope a fast and good crowd system and he gave an hand also for the rigging.
Mario Aquaro has rigged everything you see in the short film. Mirco Paolini has created a few particle simulations and Maurizio Giglioli has created the one in the last shot.
Stephen Holbrook has comped a few good shots and a few other guys ( which the credits are showed in the youtube page ) have been briefly involved in the production.
I did a bit of everything, expecially animation, some render, some fx, some compositing, some audio stuff, editing, ecc…
So the hardest thing to get something like this done without dying before, is to keep focus and keep working on it every single day, even if it’s just for half an hour, you must keep working on it otherwise you gonna drop it.
So even when the other guys were busy with their work, i kept working on it, night by night, till i get it done.
For this kind of projects, part-time, zero money, it’s hard to say enough, because you dont have a deadline so you tend to keep working on it, but at a certain point you must say enough, even if the quality is far from being perfect, otherwise you’ll never take it to the end.
So, considering that it’s a zero budget project, made at night, i’m pretty proud of it!
What was the software used?
Maya (of course!!!! )
Nuke for comp
Mentalray for Render
I’ve seen this in a lot of places in the past 24 hours, I can imagine the feedback has been very good?
Yes the video is up online since a couple of weeks but i think the big kick started since yesterday when the cool guys from
www.viralblog.com featured my work on their website. Now the video is spreading around pretty fast and i’m so glad of it!!
It makes you feel so good to know that the work you made in your small bedroom, at late night, now is being seen by so many people.
I’m really glad of it!
aAve you heard from anyone either in Coca-Cola or Pepsi?
No and i hope they liked my work. I think they should start thinking about making some different kind of commercials in the future, expecially the Computer graphic ones.
Something different, like my spoof commercial for example!
What are you working on right now?
At the moment i’m very busy working ( i’m an animator at Moving Picture Company, London ) working on a fantasy movie with Jeff Bridges, cool stuff!
Where do you see yourself in say 5 years time?
I want to make another spoof ( or spec ) commercial as soon as i can, because i want to put togheter a reel as director or creative director…so in 5 years..i hope to see myself directing something cool and written by myself.
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Alright, awesome stuff by Alvise! On behalf of Wooshii we’d like to thank him for his time in answering these and best of luck with future projects, we’re sure we’ll be hearing his name a lot in coming years
After the success of the first Ph.Diddy video and its sequel (Ph.Diva), Wooshii brought members MoreFrames once again for the third animation (threequel?!) for Life Technologies.
It is titled “Ph.Diddy at the Conference – Animation of Life out of the Biotech lab”, and, once again, the music is spot-on, the animation and character design are brilliant, and all in all it’s a really fun animated music video.
No point saying science is ont fun anymore! Check it out:
