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Best YouTube Video

Enter the name of what you thought was the best YouTube video of 2009.  Entries must be original videos posted on YouTube or a similar site and must have been either posted or at their peaks during 2009.

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Rick

Here is a new video that I prepared for my Practice project at the University. It is the first episode of a serial of online-micro-shows about Internet’s celebrities.

This is about Edgar, a Mexican boy who became famous on You Tube after his cousin uploaded a video of him falling on the river… Here is his story: The i True Internet Story of “Edgar falls”

Ok, I’m probably a bit late to the game in finding this site, but I just stumbled over the Viral Video Chart, and I love it.  It shows the top 20 viral videos on the internet at any given time.  Some of these are just pure genius.  The Muppets Bohemian Rap City and the LEGO Matrix video are purely entertainment, but others are very educational or are brilliant marketing schemes, like the IKEA Facebook video.

To me, videos like these are priceless for a business.  If you could hire a Portland film and video company to make a video for you to go viral, you could be golden.  It’s all about being creative and doing something that has potential to go viral.  I think these guys have that ability.  It’s a new world when it comes to marketing.  And if you can figure out how to crack the nut, it could mean a lot of $$$ for your biz.

Today I learned…

…that most Muppets are left handed. This apparently is because right handed puppeteers use their strong hand to control the muppet’s head, leaving their left hand to control the arms.
This viral version of Bohemian Rhapsody shows this perfectly with lots of left handed muppet rocking out.

Enjoy this cute parody of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”.  I’m having a horrible night, sniffle sniffle; so I hope this takes the tears away from your eyes too.

Embing is being a bitch, so click on this inconvenient convenient link–I don’t have the energy to f*** around with it!:

Bad Romance Parody

vesta

TWEET THIS Gaga’s Bad ROMANCE parody! @ pop prophecy

This music video is an electronic erotic rendition of an old Japanese folk song. It combines the horribly weird vocals of Japanese folk-singer, Akiko Kanazawa, with 8-Bit sounds, pop beats, and neon-psychedelic-3D art.

This would definatly be the covers to end all covers as far as Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody goes. I’m pretty sure that Jim Henson is on Heaven’s high speed internet watching and sharing this one on YouTube.

by Katie

… then let me be the first to introduce you to the Muppets version of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

As Mary Poppins would say, that’s hot.

Question: do children watch the Muppets (not the Sesame Street Muppets, but the ones in this video) any more, or do they exist solely to quench the nostalgic thirst of aging kids-at-heart? Part two: will Miss Piggy ever stop being fabulous?

Ok, today we got back into our groups for making a viral video. We spent the day literally throwing out ideas of the sort of video we want to make and the concepts behind them. The style of the video we all agreed on was to do it in a stop motion style. We looked at various videos on youtube for inspiration and we found that some stop motion videos looked really amazing… if it was done correctly.

Here are some of the videos we looked at:

This is again an excellent example of stop motion. The whole video seems to flow so smoothly, considering this was all done using a digital camera rather than a DV camera. The people who made this must have been so precise when putting this together.

This is the video that sealed the idea in our group. This is a well put together piece and what I like about it is that person playing the in the video doesn’t necessarily have to be good at playing the drums or piano because the music is put together through the editing of the video. For our project, we will use them same style as this video but add our own twist to it and hopefully use after effects to finish it off.  I’d also like to experiment with different camera angles for our video, as I feel just the same camera angle is not so adventurous in terms of filming style.

Aol’s traffic statistics above show the downward trend in number of page views throughout the past year.  The have recently prepared to split from Time Warner, added lowercase letters to their logo, and launched this new re-branding campaign:

With users increasingly switching to other internet providers and other search engines, Aol seems to be desperately rebuilding their brand.  When the internet first became popular, Aol was arguably one of the most popular internet providers and it seems they have failed to keep up with the times.  What do you think of their new campaign?  Do you think comparing themselves artsy images, skateboarders, and back flips will help drive consumer acquisition, OR is this tactic too little too late?

So I Heard You Posted On Moose Prints

S***, whats happen-in forum!? It’s your pal Opus here! I think you’ve all heard of Viral Videos, and maybe some of you made some. Like you could be this kid here:

Orrr maybe, this is you, forum:

(yes, forum he did in fact, try to stick a remote up his a**)

But, whether or not you were in the viral videos or not,  you have heard of them. My favorite Viral Video is this one:

KEYBOARD CAT PWNS ALL.

-Opus!

Trailerpilot posted this NY Times article to his blog this weekend and I’m so glad he did…it’s incredibly interesting to me. The article is about a fairly new dance craze that is spreading via the internet to teens all over the country-jerking. It’s not the dance style that interested me. Instead, what peaked my interest in this case can be summed up in this quote from the article:

They began dancing and posted videos on YouTube, and according the mysterious Web laws that can send a laughing baby video global, these unknowns quickly attracted thousands of viewers.

At this point in fact, the videos from the high school students from LA which this quote refers to have received millions of views….and consequently an article in the NY Times, sponsorship from clothing/footwear brands, and a documentary for MTV in the works.

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of watching some link we got in a forward (or saw in a tweet or on someone’s tumblr) and we OMGLOL at it (because that’s it’s purpose) and then we scroll down and see it’s had millions of views and countless comments….and we think “WTF?  Why?”

It seems to me that while there are unimaginable numbers of people using the internet to post, share, and spread information, there are only a few users who really have the power to make something become viral.  What is interesting to me in regards to this (and these kids who are now responsible for this next big dance movement) is that these gods of the internet are now the ones curating our cultural lives*.  They are the ones deciding that jerking is the next big thing and three wolf moon shirts are the new standard of irony based ROFL-ing and cats doing much of anything are the funnest thing ever.

Truthfully, I can’t decide how I feel about this.  Part of me loves the way we all watch the same ridiculous pixelated crap…it bonds us.  The other part of me wishes maybe we were all watching the same creative, groundbreaking or thoughtful stuff that’s out there.

But since I’m not one of those internet gods, it actually doesn’t really matter what I want us to watch.  So instead, I watch this.

*Note that I am officially waiting to see how long it will take before work at the MCA starts reflecting this cultural phenomenon.

AT&T uses Luke Wilson to combat the popular ‘There’s a Map for That’ ads Verizon has been promoting.  In the above commercials, they specifically target maps and are trying to prove that their coverage is in fact superior to Verizon’s.  Below, Wilson explains an AT&T feature that Verizon lacks:

From an advertising perspective, I think these are both good examples of specifically competing with Verizon’s current campaign.  I’m also impressed that they responded so quickly with these new advertisements (instead of waiting too long like PC did when Mac began its aggressive campaign).  However, from a personal perspective, just because many people use AT&T does not mean that it is the best service and I also can’t think of a time when I have ever needed to talk on the phone and surf the web simultaneously…. so I’m not sure how important that feature is to begin with.  What do you think of this new ads series?  Does this change your opinion of AT&T?  And is there anything you would change?

Youtube Direct has launched as a “new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.”  This new portal is allowing for ordinary citizens to become news reporters and making it easier to share news worthy stories with official broadcasters.  In my opinion, this is a much needed strategy move on Youtube’s part.  Everyone loves watching the latest funny clips, but this new tool increases legitimacy and has the potential to revolutionize broadcasting.  Are you interested in watching amateur clips?  How do you think Youtube Direct will affect the news?

The guys over at South Park have really outdone theirselves this time just like they do each and every episode. Cartman is truely their epitome of their whole creation.  Trey Parker and Matt Stone deserve nothing but praise for the type of boundry’s that they constantly push in today’s society.

Watch Cartman’s “Too Many Minorities”

The latest commercial for Band Hero features Taylor Swift singing and Travis Barker, Pete Wentz, and Rivers Cuomo on the instruments.  This clip follows in suit with the past theme of Tom Cruise’s Risky Business attire; however, instead of playing “Old Time Rock and Roll”, Taylor’s hit single “Love Story” was featured.  What do you think of this new installment?  Personally, I think it is a great combination of vocals, Blink 182 skills, and gaming theatrics!

This UK ad was produced by Leo Burnett in an effort to raise awareness for Shelter, a homeless and housing charity.  What I like about this ad is that it seems different compared to other non-profit advertising efforts.  Instead of showing the faces of those affected by homelessness, abandoned pets, or disadvantaged children, this campaign is focusing on the economy and non-human aspects.  By metaphorically collapsing buildings like a house of cards, Shelter is showing the audience that the housing system is fragile and capable of crumbling at any second. Personally, I think this tactic might make a bigger impact compared to an emotional approach.  How do you think this commercial compares to other non-profit marketing strategies?  Do you think it could be improved further?

In this clip, Volkswagen is sponsoring The Fun Theory based on the philosophy that “something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better”.  This initiative has been going on for the past couple of months and also includes ways to decrease littering and increase recycling efforts below:

Their site also promotes a contest until December 15th to enter your own idea of fun for a cash prize.  What do you think of this new social responsibility endeavor?  Will these acts really increase healthier and greener activities or will their initial attraction fade over time?

This new series of Verizon ads all follow the same theme as the ‘There’s a Map for That’ campaign.  Check them out below:

My personal favorite is the ‘misfit toys’ takeoff and I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.  Although AT&T is suing Verizon for misleading consumers in their advertisements, Verizon does not seem to be worried since they’ve kept the similar theme throughout.  The lawsuit refers to consumers thinking that the white space on AT&T maps means that there is no cell phone reception at all instead of just no 3G coverage.  Personally, since the ads specify 3G coverage, not coverage in general, I do not think these ads are misleading, and being a disgruntled AT&T customer, I’m more than happy to see similar ads come out.  How do you think this ad campaign will contribute to Verizon’s holiday sales?  And do you find the 3G maps to be misleading?

after forming a small group we started brainstorming ideas for a viral video, as of yet we have not selected one specific idea but have started to create a shortlist from these ideas.

*improvised dance / routine – men in black; where a group of people perform a dance in a public place much like the famed t-mobile adverts. i like the idea of lots of people in suits, then performing the men in black dance routine.

*dominos with a do not push button. i would like to set up a large domino trail in public place like the town square and then put a button saying do not push next to it. the button has no relevance to the dominos. when a memeber of the public pushes it something irrelevant happens o said memeber of the public.
alternatively a rube goldberg…

other ideas include
*public stunts
*world record attempt
*remake of existing viral
*air band – busking
*performance art – we would like to all dress in boiler suits and have a paint fight.
*american football in public places, very overdramatized full pading and war paint.
*scooby doo-eque door sequence.
*bouncy balls – like the sony advert
*literal version of the blue video. (the one where everything is blue)

Jon Gosselin is such a fame whore, he’s now resorted to mocking himself to drum up media attention. Teaming up with Funny Or Die, known for producing amusing videos featuring random celebrities, Jon Gosselin makes an ass of himself by making fun of… well, how much of an ass he is.

>> Read more at SnarkFood.com now…