Online video is very relevant to modern culture; people have short attention spans that demand media that is tailored to their specific needs. As marketers, we are always trying to find the balance between entertainment and message. Because of online video’s relatable and casual style, it’s an easy medium with which to fuse the two. Here, we explore pure entertainment with Benjamin Watts, the creator of web series Matchstick McCoy, to see what elements go into making good video content.
Innovative, amusing, and unforgettable, Matchstick McCoy is a 70’s parody web series that capitalizes on the absurdity and outrageousness of the decade. It exploits every 70’s stereotype to its fullest, and does a great job with consistency of characters and comedic writing.
Matchstick McCoy has two major components that are characteristic of a successful online video: a niche audience and a healthy dose of personality.
Last night Katie, Kirstie, and I attended the 2011 iTVfest Official Selections Announcement Party at Busby's East in Hollywood. Bad Love Season 2 premiered, and it was a fun evening.
The comedic style of Bad Love is similar to The Office, in that it possesses a raw, natural quality. The writing is excellent & paced well, and I very much enjoyed the witty episodes shown yesterday. Watch out for these guys, Bad Love is definitely going to be up there.
Below is the Season 2 trailer:
Check out Bad Love's website for more information.
“My thought was, ‘This is my Twitter. I can do whatever I want,’” Franco said. “But certain companies I work with contacted me about what I was saying.”
This was Franco’s statement to the press in response to the deletion of his Twitter account on April 1, 2011.
It makes sense that Franco, forever in the spotlight and under the microscope, was not allowed to express himself any which way he wanted, but who’s to say that we can’t learn from his brilliant and captivating use of social media?
Adding over 10,000 new Twitter followers every day, James Franco had his audience enchanted.
This is a concept that Guy Kawasaki explores in his novel, Enchantment. To ‘enchant’ someone is to “delight [them] with a product, service, organization, or idea;” therefore, acquiring “voluntary and long-lasting support.”
Franco’s raw and natural updates were what kept his followers intrigued. There were no attempts to filter the material he was outputting, something that we have grown so accustomed to seeing.
The "GHS Professional Mixer Series is a technology based networking event that is focused on bringing entertainment professionals together along with presenting cutting edge technology. For the June event, GHS will be presenting 3D acquisition. With the strong push for 3D content, along with closing gap in technology, acquiring in 3D as an independent is becoming a tangible reality. In association with the Digital Cinema Society, we will hear from some leading professionals on 3D Capture, both from the technology side and production."
According to HubSpot, inbound marketing breaks down to the following categories: Blogging, SEO, and Social Media. Below, I have broken down these terms so that the everyday reader can understand them.
Blogging: Writing posts about thoughts, ideas, attitudes, sentiment—and publishing said posts.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Making your website or web content more visible on different search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.)
Social Media: Media used for social interaction (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.)
In order to be successful at inbound marketing, you must integrate all three of these tools.
The other day, I was traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and I finally understood the amazing impact of social media.
I find that I meet so many business contacts on airplanes, at bus stops, on trains, etc. How do you maximize your interactions within such a short window of time?
Let’s use the analogy of a five-course meal, because let’s face it: it’s the only kind worth having.
1st Course—Soup: This is that awkward moment when you’re sitting before the airplane takes off. You’re surveying the landscape. You look at who is sitting around you and scope out potential connections. If there’s a baby nearby, you know you’re in for a fun flight…
2nd Course—Salad: Here’s where you smile at the person next to you. If they smile back, you introduce yourself, “Hi, my name is Jessica. What’s yours?” Simple. Casual. At least you’re not complete strangers now. There’s a flight announcement letting you know it’s safe to turn on your electronic devices. Two hours until landing.
3rd Course—Appetizer: If you’re going to get to know anyone, here’s where you’ll start. You glance over and notice the person next to you typing up some kind of agenda. You nod in the direction of the screen and say, “—That for work?” One hour until landing.
The Shorts ‘N Spirits Showcase LA was held at On the Rox in West Hollywood yesterday night. It was a great networking event—filmmakers, marketers, and movie buffs alike came to mingle and meet.
Three shorts screened: Manipulation by Frank Zanca (Co-Founder of Visions Media, LLC which manages the ITV Fest), Supa Pirate Booty Hunt by Dahveed Kolodny-Nagy (Creative Director of Smorgasbord Productions), and The Dungeon Master by Shiloh & Rider Strong (Founders of The Strong Brothers Magic Show).
The headlining short was the Strong Brothers’ The Dungeon Master, a quirky, laugh-out-loud comedy about men who revisit their nerdy childhood days by striking up a game of Dungeons & Dragons with an eccentric Dungeon Master. But the game soon leads them down a path they would have never expected. It’s a must-see for lovers of Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy, and nerd culture–and general audiences will be equally enthralled. The film very deservedly won Best (Online) Short at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and Best Comedic Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival 2011, and we’re sure it will continue winning over audiences everywhere.
This is an article I wrote for Supercool Creative (a creative agency that specializes in online video and social media campaigns):
In the marketing industry, we are always curious about our consumers. With just a little bit of in-between-the-lines thinking, we can decipher Facebook’s most infamous profile pictures. Think of it as client research.
1. Flying Solo: The person that is always in the picture alone. Could it be that they derive pleasure from being narcissistic? The only time you see them in a picture with anyone other than themselves, is when they are holding a puppy up to their face and smiling oh-so-brightly. Isn’t that cute?
2. Two Peas in a Pod: The person that is always seen with a significant other. You feel like you have lived their entire relationship inside and out. You went on their first date together. You were there on their anniversary. When they bought a puppy. When they moved in together. Are you ready for the wedding?
3. Lost in the Crowd: The person that you can barely see in the profile picture. You could swear that the girl on the far right-hand corner is the girl you met in the bar yesterday night, but then again, could it be the girl in the middle?
I was perusing through FaceBook the other day, when I came across an interesting status update from a friend of mine. It read, “All I had to know what my dad was like in college was a few Polaroid pictures… My kids are going to have way too many videos of their old man.”
Such is the age we live in—where our lives are cataloged daily into neatly packaged posts online.
Our personalities are vacuum-sealed throughout time; we can look back at ourselves when we were in high school, middle school, heck, even elementary school.
The information that can be stored online is limitless.
When asked what someone would take from a burning house, the most common response is photo albums or memorabilia.
What happens when all of that information is stored safely online in a bubble that cannot be touched?
How valuable do those posts and content become then?
Social media platforms, such as Twitter and FaceBook, are our journals: our expression of our identities and ourselves.
Darci Wong grew up in Irvine, CA where she discovered her passion for acting at an early age. She starred in her first role at 8 years old, where she played in The Jungle Book for Broadway on Tour. Since then, she has acted in countless plays.
When she lived in San Francisco, Darci was a member of a nine-man improvisational troupe, Narcissists Anonymous, that performed in bars/lounges and black box theaters throughout the city.
She also has a passion for singing. She has sung at weddings, anniversaries, sporting events, and in musical theater.
Darci Wong grew up in Irvine, CA where she discovered her passion for acting at an early age. She starred in her first role at 8 years old, where she played in The Jungle Book for Broadway on Tour. Since then, she has acted in countless plays.