Archive for May, 2011:

Let’s Make a Cat Video!

Thank god somebody finally made this. Comedy writers have a love-hate with cats from what I’m told (by comedy writers). They are after all the cheap joke, the Whoopee Cushion of online video—always good for an easy laugh and gaggle of casual views.

Comedians Ariana Seigel and Emma Tattenbaum-Fine decided to speak out about the susceptible masses that devour anything CAT—by making well, a cat video. You know, with The video is one of the flurry of refreshingly unashamed female-driven comedy at new comedy hub Comediva. (We have to admit, at Tubefilter, we kind of have a crush on this site.) There’s also a number of original web series on the site so far, like Guy Time, Assassins and The Divas.

In other words, we seek COMEDIC WORLD DOMINATION. We’re like Dr. Evil with boobs. Except hot. With nice hair. And allergic to cats. Actually, we just want to take over the comedy world. So please give us 1 million dollars.

The Comediva ladies do have a YouTube channel, but it doesn’t appear to be their top date as the site is all about the Brightcove.

And for our likes, if we’re going to watch cat videos, we like them to be big cats, like Ligers. Hungry, ornery ones:

‘Simple Pickup’ Bags 30k Subs in Under 3 Months

simple pickupSummer is right around the corner—and as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince explain in their anthem dedicated to summer madness, “the weather is hot and girls are dressing less.” So fellas, it’s time to dust off your game and get to work. But if you’re feeling a bit rusty, don’t worry, Simple Pickup has got your back.

The new series on YouTube, reminiscent of DiGiTs (now trying out a ‘softer side’ since the departure of the series former host Italian male model Fabrizio Brienza) features a charming trio—Jason, Jesse, and Kong—as they shamelessly (and most of the time unsuccessfully) hit on girls and catch the rejections on camera.

Each episode, released every other Wednesday, is based on some particular parameter or premise: “Clowns Pick Up Girls,” which features the boys dressed up in ridiculous outfits, “Guys in Wheelchairs,”which is pretty self-explanatory, and “Asian Penis Pickup,” which you’ll just have to watch. The series features some classic pickup lines, such as “I like your whistle. Is that your rape whistle?”

Since its debut in February of this year, the Simple Pickup channel from trio Jason, Jesse and Kong has garnered over 30,000 subscribers and 1.8 million total upload views over only six videos so far.

Karmin’s NBA Finals Song, Big Week for YouTube Duo

karminYouTube’s musical darling couple Karmin has been on a bit of a hot streak lately. After a few of their charismatic cover songs, like Chris Brown’s ‘Look at Me Now‘ or Lil Wayne’s “6 foot 7 foot.“, vaulted their growing YouTube channel into the top 60 most subscribed musicians list with over 287,000 of them, the couple was tapped by ABC and the NBA to write and perform an original theme song for the NBA Finals which tip off tomorrow night in Miami.

Oh, and they signed a major record deal. Not a bad week for Amy Hiedemann and Nick Noonan. Now their “Take It Away” theme song video is out as buzz builds for the Mavericks-Heat finals that should draw record numbers as Lebron James chases his first NBA title. The duo will be at the opening game of the Finals tomorrow in Miami live tweeting their night, naturally, on @KarminMusic.

The Berklee College of Music grads were on to something when they branched out on their own and post their first video on YouTube back in late 2010. And people are taking notice.

“The NBA sent us an email invitation to come ‘brainstorm’ ideas for the Finals,” Amy and Nick told us about the new gig. “We immediately played them the ‘Take It Away’ song and they fell in love! It was a pretty short meeting haha! We re-produced it and sent it over a week later and the rest is history.”

For more about how they are taking the surge in popularity all in stride, check out our recent Tubefilter video interview with the duo. And if you’re like me and keep re-watching the Chris Brown cover just for kicks, the whole 27 covers are available on iTunes for just $9.99, which was low enough for me to pull the trigger and get these super-addictive tracks on my iPod.

A few more weeks of this kind of heat, and Karmin just might be writing lyrics like the ones the are covering.

Look at me now, look at me now
Oh, I’m getting paper
Look at me now
Oh, look at me now
Yeah, fresh than a muthaf-cker

Watch Pitchfork’s 3D Music Videos

Indie music hub Pitchfork, who in 2008 launched online channel PitchforkTV filled with mini-documentaries, curated music videos, and the original series Beardo featuring Les Savy Fav‘s Tim Harrington, has unleashed another original series Pitchfork 3D, which (as the name suggests), plays off of all the 3D hype led by James Cameron and his fellow Hollywood legionnaires in an attempt to get you and your money back in theaters.

“Order your glasses now!” reads a promotion on the site, which links to a pair of 3D red and blue anaglyph glasses for one cent on Amazon.com. The series features original music videos in old school style 3D: Deerhunter performing “Primitive 3D,” Wavves “Post-Acid,” Delorean “Real Love,” and Neon Indian “Mind Drips.”

The videos are all very psychadelic and trippy and posesses all the gimmicky 3D shtick that you’ve learned to expect, of course here it is presented ironically—though I can’t tell if the hyperspace-esque Intel logo is actually cool on the brand’s part or comes across as co-opting cool (like a grandpa breakdancing). Either way, the videos appropriately capture the mood of the music: weird and awesome.

Remember When TheWB.com Actually Had Web Series?

theWBWarner Bros. had high hopes for original web series when it launched its own online network back in 2008. TheWB.com came out with guns blazing, part of a re-launch of the defunct former TV channel TheWB, signing big productions from the likes of McG (Sorority Forever) and Gary Auerbach (Rich Girl, Poor Girl).

Now there are just 10 web original series still available on TheWB.com, and all of them are mid-2010 releases or earlier. The summer 2010 release of a flurry of series like Downer’s Grove and Exposed was thought to be the return to original web series on the network, but turned out to be its final bow.

This week’s email newsletter (below) from the network plugged full episodes of aging (and off-air) TV series like The O.C., One Tree Hill and Friends and movie trailers for the The Hangover Part II:

newsletter

Somewhere along the line, Warner got cold feet about financing originals made for its network as it presumably realized ad revenues and DVD sales weren’t adding up to a profitable business. Better to release known library properties—where production costs were already fully recovered—and which required far fewer marketing dollars to get viewers interested. This realization also hit Sony with its Crackle network, as it regrouped (and pivoted) after mixed attempts at finding a profitable business model in short-form web originals.

We contacted Warner Bros. to find out their plans for more original web series on their three year-old online network, and they were unable to comment. They are however continuing to herald Childrens Hospital, which stands out as the success model for launching a web series on TheWB.com then taking it up to Adult Swim as full blown TV series—it was even renewed by Cartoon Network for more.

And that’s the real puzzler here. With Childrens Hospital, It’s sitting on a case study of success of launching a property as a web series and taking it up the value chain to TV. To be fair, it isn’t every day a web series starring Rob Corddry, Megan Mullally, Lake Bell, Ed Helms and Rob Huebel just fall in your lap. But the model was worth trying again.

For the studio itself, Warner Bros. hasn’t given up on web originals, it’s just not bullish on its own network as a place to release them. Take for example, Kevin Tancharoen’s live action Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, which opened with a bang on Machinima.com and hasn’t let up.

‘Rigamortis’, or, If ‘Dr. Horrible’ Were a Zombie Musical Love Story

RigamortisZombies have been done. A lot. So have online musicals. But to our knowledge, no one has combined the two until now. Yesterday Rigamortis launched on YouTube with a three-parter almost tailor made for Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog fans. (Which, incidentally is still holding strong on iTunes.)

It’s a pure indie project, without of course Dr. H’s star power or Whedonverse, but there are some seriously ample musical chops here. Maxwell Glick (lonelygirl15, GOLD: Night of the Zombie King) stars opposite Lisa Musser as two of the last remaining zombies after a failed zombiepocalypse. Their nemesis is a spot-on Nathan Fillion type, Boston Stergis, who is essentially humanity’s hotdogging hero zombie killer, belting his greatness in a walk-and-sing that would make Captain Hammer proud.

Creators Jenny Stolte and Dave Dewes, both from the Chicago area, are taking their first stab at an original web series with Rigamortis, which they shot up in Wisconsin last November. The story itself is a rather simple love triangle, but the highlight are the original songs, with sharply written lyrics that had me watching twice just to take them all in.

I’m sick and tired of running, being hunted,
chased by angry mobs with objects blunted.
Just take a look at what’s the world has done to you
Your skin’s rotting away…
…but I look thinner…
A victim of decay…
…no need for dinner…
How can you feel with no heart beating, haven’t got a soul is it death who’s cheating?
You must have misgivings about unliving too…

All three parts were released simultaneously, and the team plans to screen it live as well next week in Los Angeles. Original songs still tend to perform better in online video, and come with an added re-watchability, but this musical faces a much more crowded playing field than 2008 when Dr. Horrible popped on to the web scene. It had a magical concoction of timing, star power and novelty that still no other web series has quite been able to capture.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Will Ferrell Finally Shows Up

will ferrellZach Galifianakis has tangoed with a dozen A-listers over the past few years—Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, Jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel, Michael Cera, Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Bradley Cooper and of course Steve Carrell. But one name was oddly missing: Will Ferrell. The series after all is Funny or Die’s most popular web series to date, getting generous front page placement and multiple sponsorship deals at this point. So it seemed strange that Ferrell wouldn’t grace his comedic ‘nephew’ with a pop in.

Finally the Ferrell-snubbing is over as today he goes tete-a-tete with the Streamy-winning comedian in the 13th installment of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis (below). Ferrell classes it up, donning some homer love for the Lakers in a throwback Adidas shirt with a sunshield fishing cap. While mostly civil, the interview inevitably implodes when comments of Galifianakis’ sensitive weight issues creep back in. Oh, and Jon Hamm stops by (again).

Branded Entertainment

What started as a side project for Galifianakis, something of a workshop for his offbeat non sequitur act while his film career was just starting to heat up, is now the comedy network’s A-listing breadwinner. Speed Stick jumped on board for an exclusive sponsorship, complete with wrap-around display ads and generous product integration. The deal is rumored to be in the low sig-figure range according to sources.

And then there’s Zach’s big budget comedies. Movie marketers have often turned to web video to spend those 8-figure P/A budgets, and Warner Bros. is spending heavily on Funny or Die with site takeovers this weekend for the Galifianakis-led The Hangover Part II. So far so good for Warner, as the film already netted $10.4 million in last night’s midnight screenings on track to take home the holiday weekend with estimates of $125 million and $160 million by Monday, making it a record-breaking figure for an R-rated comedy.

As for Funny or Die, they may have stumbled upon a new model for branded celebrity web series—casting stars of studio comedies in ongoing original series then turning around and selling those studios to hock their films. Rifling with Ryan Reynolds?

YouTube NextUp Winners Sing Backup for Jimmy Wong

YouTube announced the winners of its NextUp Creators Contest early last month. A cross-section of 25 Youtubers – ranging in age from 18 to what 18-year-olds consider old (I think that means 40-something), areas of expertise from sewing gurus to Final Cut pros, and subscriber counts from 300 to just shy of 300,000 – won $35,000 each and an-all-expenses paid, week-long, online video bootcamp at the YouTube HQ in New York City.

The NextUp Class of 2011 started its education on Sunday and will graduate on Friday after attending and participating in lectures, seminars, and study groups from some of the biggest names in the online video and YouTube business (including Gary Vaynerchuk, The Fine Bros., Tony Valenzuela, and more). Class starts at 8AM sharp every day and lasts until 2PM, at which time the students break to collaboratively work on creating new videos.

Last night, the NextUp Creators took time off from their regularly scheduled studies to meet and greet with friends and fans on the Hudson River in New York City. A small crowd of enthusiasm, peer pressure, and someone who just so happened to bring an acoustic guitar forced Jimmy Wong (who is one of the NextUp winners) to perform an impromptu concert. I was there to get the action on camera:

Looks like fun, right?!? That’s because it was. Talking shop with established and up and coming YouTubers amongst their subscribers and fans was certainly an experience. We’ll have more coverage on that aspect of the night coming soon. But for now, please enjoy Wong and company’s ode to Alexandra Wallace.

(Photo of Metro236‘s Joel Jutagir looking awesome by Josh Cohen.)

A Crowd Funding Campaign We Can All Get Behind

Since 2009, crowd funding site Kickstarter has funneled a total of $60 million to over 24,000 projects high on creativity but low on cash. Since 2008, crowd funding site Indiegogo has helped raise awareness and millions of dollars to over 24,000 campaigns in 159 countries.

With thousands seeking funding and thousands of thousands of dollars exchanging hands in exchange for credits, cameos, and signed copies of DVDs, it’s time for some savvy comedy troupe to spoof the whole crowd funding phenomena. And the The Vactioneers recently did just that.

You may know the crew comprised of Todd Berger, Kevin Brennan, Jeff Grace, and Blaise Miller from their work on the original web series The Googling (where the search, cloud computing, and internet technology giant actually does do some evil), their indie flick The Scenesters, or that time when they rejected Julia Stiles’ autograph.

But now you’ll also know The Vacationeers from when they asked for your investment donations with a straight face for their feature film about four post-college burnouts who start a surf school in Hawaii (which I think was basically the premise for Season 8 of Real World).

Make sure you watch all the way through and have your checkbooks and applause for The Vacationeers handy.

(And thanks for the tip Lizlet via MrMattEnlow!)

Will BrettTheIntern Be Charlie Sheen’s New Intern?

brettIt just might happen. Technically speaking, YouTube funny man BrettTheIntern is not an intern any more. But he is willing to take the demotion to official morning-after taxi wrangler for one man in search of an intern—Charlie Sheen. And he’s serious.

Back in March he kicked off his #PropBrett campaign with a video that broke 120,000 views on the platform that Brett, unlike the thousands of other entrants, actually understands the social media and video world far better than any of those other chumps. Now that he’s made it to the final 50 contestants for the intern gig—there can only be one—Brett stepped up his game today with the release of a PSA video (below) that is a the kind of collaboration of YouTube talent brands throw around serious loot for. (We hear he promised 30-minute massages.)

In the video are: KassemG, DeStorm, MysteryGuitarMan, ShayCarl, iJustine, DaveDays, NicePeter, TimothydelaGhetto2, TotallySketch, Ceciley, GoodNeighborStuff, hiimrawn, LisaNova, and CourtneyPants. LisaNova even offered up herself to join Mr. Sheen’s crop of goddesses—”except no touching, or sex… or looking at me funny.”

“The moment I heard about Charlie Sheen’s internship I knew I had to apply,” Brett told us about his growing campaign. “Besides ‘intern’ being in my name, it’s also my way of life. I like to surround myself with creative people who I can learn from and Charlie has had MANY life experiences to give advice from; to be his intern would be an honor.”

But seriously Charlie, why Brett? “Charlie needs an intern who can do more than just follow orders,” added Brett, who incidentally isn’t afraid to make his case. “He needs an intern who has initiative. Sure, good interns can get a hot cup of coffee. But I pride myself in being more than just a “good” intern; I can be an asset to my employer. Since I am so connected in the online world, especially YouTube, I can boost Charlie Sheen’s level of online interactions with more than just tweets. I can introduce an entire community of online innovators to Team Sheen. If Social Media were a high school, I could make Charlie Sheen the Homecoming King.”

“As of now, I am not an intern,” admitted Brett, who’s actual full name is Brett Lemick. “In the past few years, I have been grateful enough to have interned for shows like The Jerry Springer Show and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, but today, I am proud to be working with the fine people over at Maker Studios. Dan Zappin is a genius.”


3 Billion Views a Day, 48 Hours of Video a Minute on YouTube

YouTube celebrates its sixth anniversary of the launch of YouTube.com this month. The video sharing site with 142 million unique monthly viewers is celebrating a few metrics landmarks along with it.

Over 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. According to the YouTube blog, “that’s a “37% increase over the last six months and a 100% over the last year” (which is probably around the last time YouTube updated its FAQ, considering the page still reads “24 hours of video are uploaded every minute”). To give that stat a little more context, two days worth of video every minute is equivalent to 120 days worth of video every hour and a year’s worth of video every 3 hours, 2 minutes, and 30 seconds.

That’s a lot of content! Which a lot of people are watching!

YouTube also announced it now serves over 3 billion (with a “b”) views a day. That’s a 50% increase over last year and equivalent to roughly 44% of the world’s population or .02% of the US National Debt watching a YouTube video every 24 hours.

Happy anniversary YouTube and happy viewing!

Let’s Talk About These ‘Trending’ Web Shows (It’s Getting Out of Hand)

trending nowStop this crap. Is that really what we’ve become in the online video world, a vapid me-too recycling of web show concepts that are so bad my faith in the medium is in question? Stop this crap, seriously. It’s to the point I felt compelled to dust off Barrett Garese’s 2000 Words on Derivative Bullshit rant just so I don’t break something.

A few months ago, at some point, every digital exec in this town got the same idea at the same moment of delusional laziness and thunk up the idea of a web show all about trending topics in social media. “Everyone on Twitter is talking about Pirates today, so let’s talk about Pirates!” We’ll hire some attractive girl who can read a hashtag and say the really big words like Abbottabad.

A flurry of pitches came through our inbox this week, like this one from Dailymotion, who greenlit a 60-second trending topics gagfest called Buzz 60.

“DAILYMOTION LAUNCHES ONLINE NEWS SHOW REPORTING UP-TO-THE-MINUTE TRENDING TOPICS IN 60-SECONDS”

The first of its kind, ‘Buzz 60’ will air three times daily offering viewers a quick 60-second download of the day’s trending topics from around the world and on the web, delivered with quirky and fun commentary. Unlike other news web series, ‘Buzz 60’ will be a fast breaking, rapid fire format with a turnaround time of roughly 2 hours.

 

Then there’s Yahoo’s latest, Trending Now. “YAHOO! LAUNCHES ‘TRENDING NOW’ – A DAILY VIDEO NEWS PROGRAM OFFERING A FAST-PACED GLIMPSE AT THE MOST BUZZED ABOUT NEWS OF THE DAY”

Worse yet, they somehow coerced Dodge into sponsoring this nonsense. And that’s where it really irks those of us who try to preach that online video is a viable premium medium on its own, not third rate behind TV and Film. And they are out there selling video ad impressions based on an 88-million-user front page placement on Yahoo of mediocre filler video. One recent headline they ran: “Botox Hoax, Kirsten Dunst’s Face Goes Viral, and a Pop Star’s B-Day”

Hosted by Adriana Diaz of Channel One, Trending Now is a 2-3 minute newscast combining the day’s news headlines with Yahoo! Search data and social media trends, offering a fast-paced glimpse into the top news and buzziest stories of the day. The program will feature topics based on the hottest search trends, most-shared stories on Facebook, and trending topics on Twitter and other social platforms.

A bright spot in this—dare I say—trend, is last week’s official launch of What’s Trending, CBS News’ horse in this race, and today came the second weekly live ep of the show. Despite falling for some of the same trending topic traps like an over-attention to the weekend box office and Lady Gaga, there’s some real meat on this bone.

Host and co-creator Shira Lazar actually fills her colorful couch set with some real thinkers, drumming up some conversation around these topics, like Chris Hardwick (@nerdist), George Takei, and Devon Hicks (the guy who started the #itsokaytosaygay hashtag) pondering “Is it okay to say Gay?” That is actual reporting and actual value.

We at Tubefilter are generally evangelists for the evolution of online video, but this past week has put a serious dent in our optimism for the future of originality online. Dare we even go as far as to call a bubble in web shows. The tail-chasing of trending topics is only a race to the bottom, won by clever SEO, salacious headlines and mindless rehashing of things that at one point may have been original.

Somebody draw up something original and shoot it our way, we’re hungry for better.