WikiWood

The Dramatic Prairie Dog

2007-06-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

This, again is a little bit of old news, but... There's a clip flying around the internet that is so brilliantly brief that I think it should be required watching for everyone working in online entertainment - no scratch that - everyone working in entertainment in general - no scratch that - everyone in the continental United States. C'mon America, it'll only take 5 seconds...

Some people are gonna wonder what the big deal is. It's not a big deal obviously, but it only takes five seconds so how can it? Like "Star Wars Kid", this video has spawned a number of remixes. Here's the short list, and I'm sure there's many more...

Embarrased Prairie Dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sswoxvcCM_4
Kill Bill Remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54vtXRI32MQ
O RLY Remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuZ1nvagxT8
DARTHmatic Prairie Dog: http://www.jibjab.com/view/163957
Curses!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APeidaacRyc
Zoolander: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RfdL2Vm2j8
Over the Top Prairie Dog Remix: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2WC97yveDxw
Prairie Dog "Du Hast" Remix: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pCpiHKadMtA
Star Trek Remix: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lVggNEztgT0
BONUS! Japanesse show that the clip was originally taken from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZjPvoYeZRI

PS. Hilary Clinton's Sopranos Spoof = about 1.2 million views
Dramatic Prairie Dog = over 2.3 million views, at least
Conclusion = Hillary got owned by a burrowing rodent

Billary Goes "Viral"

2007-06-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat old news now, but I don't think it got much attention so I'm posting it anyway. In an obvious effort to get some viral buzz, Hillary Clinton's got a spoof of the Soprano's series finale making the its way 'round the interweb. It stars her and Bill (together they are "Billary"), and its intention is to hype the contest she just had to pick her campaign song. Here's her foray into the world of viral video:

Hillary Clinton's Soprano Spoof
|Funny Jokes at JibJab

I work in online entertainment and spend a good deal of time on the web, but I still find this surprising. I mean, who would have thought 4 years ago that posting a video on YouTube was a campaign tactic? Well, no one really. Because it didn't exist. YouTube was created in February of 2005, and it's amazing how much it's changed the landscape since then. When former Presidents of the United States start competing for page space with Smosh, well, that's insane. A sign of the impending apocalypse? Ya, maybe.

ADDENDUM: Smosh's latest, "Transformers Rap": About 560,000 hits
Hillary's Video: About 600,000 hits
WAY too close.

Four Eyed Monsters and What We Can Learn From Failure

2007-06-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Recently two young film makers took a "gamble" and posted their entire film "Four Eyed Monsters" on YouTube. It's 70 minutes in length, which is alot to watch online. While I didn't watch the entire thing, I did sit throug the intro, which was the impetus to finally get this blog started in the first place. Watch, see, view:

See how one of them was wearing a scarf inside a recording booth? That's how you know they're real filmmakers. Or one of them has pneumonia. Fashion aside, this is a really interesting way to get the word out on Spout, the site sponsoring these two starving artists. It's well positioned - by painting the filmmakers as starving artists, they're not only playing the sympathy card but also appealing to the legions of Scorcese, Speilberg and Lonely Island wannabes that frequent YouTube. And after getting a place on the homepage, this puppy got over 500,000 views. Since they're target number was 100,000 new subscribers, they probably hit that, right?

Wrong. Absolutely wrong. I just went to the site and they're at 25,429 or something like that. Far, far from their goal. Their visibility was high, their sell was interesting, so what happened?
Firstly, the movie was just too damn long. At 70 minutes, nobody is going to watch the whole thing. It'd be interesting to see data on how many people actually watched all the way through. I'd be surprised if that number topped 5 percent. And that's optimistic. Additionally, the filmmakers themselves weren't they best salespeople for their own product. I don't know how they are behind the camera, but in front of it they had as much personality and likeability as an oven mit. And not even one of those fancy embroidered ones. We're talking a standard, grey oven mit, no frills.

And lastly, Spout doesn't do anything to sell it's service when you click through to contribute. It's all about the artists. You gotta keep people hooked, even after the cllick through. The lesson from all this? In one way or another, content is king. Yes, I know "content is king" is cliched by now, but I'm new at this blogging thing so give me a break. (insert lame winking emoticon here)