The possibilities that are available for integrating video into online experiences, social media marketing campaigns, and even guerilla marketing strategies are far more exciting than the one way monologues of the television era.  So I created this little promo piece to give a voice to our new directions.

Some times I surprise myself by how quickly I can create a video that I’m really excited about.  This particular video took, oh, roughly 6 hours to animate.  I developed the idea in my head over the course of a couple of days, but the animation itself took one afternoon.  No better motivation than enthusiasm about your project.  I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

In an ideal world, the best work I’ve ever done should be the last project that I did.  Each new project trumping the one before it in skill and artistry and execution.  That’s not always true, especially when you are doing work for hire and you don’t always get a project that challenges you after completing a project that you were really passionate about.  But there is definitely a distinct pattern of constant growth throughout the history of my work.  So, I suppose in general I am heading in the right direction.

The work that I create is constantly evolving.  New styles, new techniques, new tools that make new things possible.  And to a certain degree your clients evolve with you.  It’s easy to become defined by the last project you did.  The work that we show to the world is the work that people associate with us.  So the frame of reference that new clients have for you is shaped by the work that you have done, not the work that you will do or can do.

It’s an interesting conundrum.  How do you help potential clients see the possibilities for the work that you will do in the work that you have done?  Doing your own work outside of the confines of a client project can really help.

I created a series of four animations for the launch of Microsoft’s Lync Mobile clients and if I do say so myself, I think they turned out really beautifully.  So, I thought I’d share.

But the one sure fire way to get me to look over at the TV was those rare moments when it went quite.  We’re so accustomed to TV creating sound that a lot of people leave it on while they do other things just for the noise.  But the second it goes quiet, I notice immediately and turn my attention to the screen to see what is going.  Something different was happening and I wanted to know it was.  I was intrigued and attentive just for that moment of silence.  Then the sound returned and I would lose interest again.

I made a documentary on women performance poets when I was in college which involved traveling around the country for months over the summer filming over 100 women performing at open mics, slams, and various other events.  During the performances, the poets would often raise their voices, shouting into the mic with all of the passion they could muster to try make the audience feel their words all the way down to their core.  All of them would do this, in every city all across the country, men and women alike.

And then I went to an after party where the poets gathered in hotel rooms and shared their poems all through the night.  But there was no passionate yelling, no screaming.  Just soft voices trying not to disturb the other hotel guests in the neighboring rooms.  Whispered confessions barely heard in the small hours just before the sun slipped over the horizon to creep through the hotel windows.  And the emotional intensity of those poems was so much more palpable.  Even when I had heard the same exact poem performed the previous day being belted out from a stage, the whispered words carried so much more intensity.

Quiet sincerity stood out so much in the midst of all of those shouting performances.  Just like the commercial without sound grabs your attention.  Just like the intense moment in the movie where all the sound drops out carries so much more genuine suspense than the gimmicky music cues that warn you that something scary is about to happen.

When everyone else is shouting and it doesn’t feel like anyone can hear you, your story, your message, maybe it’s time to turn down the volume and whisper.

The TV isn’t the only screen any more.  In fact, in isn’t even the screen people are paying the most attention to any more.  Computers, laptops, phones, tablets, mobile devices.  There are screens every where.

And there are videos on all of those screens.  But different screens need their own kinds of videos.  People don’t use a tablet the same way they use a TV.  They don’t use a laptop the way they use a smart phone.  Different behaviors, different environmental situations, different attention spans.  Shouldn’t that mean different kinds of videos?

People interact with media on different screens differently.    When people are interacting with a laptop or a mobile device they are actively interacting with it.  They aren’t passively watching like the TV.  And they are frequently out in public, rather than in their living room, with the various distractions of the real world begging for their attention as well.  The attention span is so stunningly short and the amount of options of other things to pay attention to are mind numbingly vast.

The :30 & :60 broadcast formats just don’t work online.  Studies show the most effective length for a video online is 15 seconds.  15 seconds.  And yet only 10% of online videos are that short.  Most still follow the broadcast limits of 30 and 60 seconds even though 15 second videos are 150% more effective.  Even videos that are between 61 seconds and 2 minutes are more effective than the traditional 30 and 60 second formats.  But almost no one will finish watching a video that is longer than 2 minutes.  And some won’t even hit play if it’s over 3 minutes (I know I don’t).

Video content on the web is rapidly increasing and so is the audience.  71% of Americans are watching video online.  92% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 and 80% between the ages of 30 and 49 watch video online.  The rate of growth for video online is staggering and projected to continue to grow over the coming years across almost all demographics.

According to a report from Cisco, by 2013, video will be 90% of Internet traffic.   But how much of this content will be made with the specific behaviors of people who aren’t in their living rooms in mind?

*Statistics from PEW Internet & American Life Project | Wired.com

Although there were a lot of fascinating things about Greece, one of the things that left a huge impression was the massive amounts of really amazing graffiti.  Athens in particular has a huge wealth of outstanding pieces.  I was only able to capture a small fraction of the work that we saw as we wandered around the streets of Athens, but I thought I should share a few of my favorites.

If you are interested in street art I would highly recommend checking out the Wooster Collective.  They’ve even written about street art from right here in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, Subversionz current stomping grounds.

I have added a selection of those articles to the Subversionz Media website to give you easier access to my rambling about the power of video, the human connection video can facilitate, and the zen of motion graphics.

Check out our brand new ARTICLES section if you’re looking to learn a little bit more about video production and animation.

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We tracked down an origami artist from Bellingham who created some original designs for us for the origami stop motion.  And Vanessa Eng was kind enough to be my onscreen talent yet again.

I had a lot of fun working on the project, learning more about origami, and getting a chance to incorporate stop motion with live footage.

But, once again, I have lost out to white guys rapping.  My video didn’t even place in the top 8.  Sigh.

You can check out the videos that won at Zooppa.com – Celebrate the Art of Gifting.

Clearly I just need to find a white guy that raps.

Below are a few stills from the footage that we’ve already shot.

These videos should start rolling out pretty soon and I’m getting pretty excited about it.  So stay tuned!

Episode #6

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