Archive for May, 2008:

Trouble Selling Sex

Sex sells.  It’s a tired little bromide that the ad industry has been leaning on for a while now.  Sex compels people to buy.  But does that same proven logic hold true when your customers are advertisers?  Apparently not.

The Midwest Teen Sex Show, a monthly program that uses irreverent humor to teach kids about responsible sexual practices, has been around for almost a year.  The show is consistently ranked in the the top 10 in iTunes’ “Health” category with about 150,000 subscribers and another 250,000 viewers that tune in for every episode on their website. The show’s producer/star/muse, Nikol Hasler, and her partners in crime have recently been making the rounds in the mainstream media.

All this popularity must have lead to some serious dough, right?  Nope.  Not at all.  Nary a nickel.  Well, perhaps a nickel or two but not a whole bunch more.

Read On…

A Festival That Matters

Arts Engine recognized the promise of online-video when the internet was still in its infancy. The organization “supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public.”  In 2001 it set out to create a new kind of film festival that drew on the unique capabilities of the internet.

Media That Matters does just that.  It’s “inspired by the possibility of what we thought the web could do for documentary films,” said Katy Chevigny, Arts Engine co-founder and Executive Director.  It features thoughtful films from an ever-eclectic group of often young filmmakers, for an entire year, in a virtual setting that enables immediate response.

So, for instance, website viewers can “take action” immediately by clicking on a related link below a featured film.  Media That Matters has also discovered, as many new media creators have, that the project should not be confined to one medium, so the films are not only viewable on the festival website, but on DVDs, television broadcast and in theatrical screenings. 

Of this year’s selections, I’m struck by a 12-year-old Lebanese boy named Hammoudi. He lost both legs from a cluster bomb explosion during the war with Israel in August 2006.  He reflects on this life-altering tragedy with a maturity and candor that is at once horrifying and uplifting. 

Hammoudi’s is one of countless stories like it, but it’s just one of twelve films that the festival has selected. The other pieces, which range from a community leader’s personal story of Hurricane Katrina’s impact  to a lighthearted commentary on the apathy of young Americans to catchy and informative exploration of e-waste, were all selected by a panel for the earnestness of their messages. 

I sat down with the Executive Director of Arts Engine, Katy Chevigny, to discuss the festival, its evolution, its mission and a bit about this year’s films.

As I mentioned when Katy and I met, the website leaves a bit to be desired.  The ability to toggle videos to full screen would add a lot to the viewing experience, and the ability to embed would add a lot to the surrounding discussion.

Media That Matters is an inspired festival with inspired and inspiring films.  I applaud the efforts of Arts Engine, and I encourage all to watch and “take action.”

YouTube Pushes its Partner Program

Go to YouTube, run one of your usual searches, and notice atop the videos you’re presented with a box to check that will filter your results. “Only show partner videos” has been around for about a week and is just a little feature, but one that shows YouTube is taking its Partner Program and original content creation a lot more seriously.

 

Originally only open to 40 or so of the video sharing site’s elite, in December 2007 the Partner Program expanded, soliciting applications from all American and Canadian YouTube users.

What is it? To be a Partner you must “create original videos suitable for online streaming,” own the copy and distribution rights for all the content that you upload, and “regularly upload videos that are viewed by thousands of YouTube users.” If accepted, YouTube places ads against your videos and you get a cut of the profits.

The opportunity to see only partner videos is a sly way to market the program and also makes it an elite status symbol. You see it, you want to get involved, you create more original videos, YouTube sells ads alongside and on top of those videos, YouTube makes money, you make fractions of percentages of cents money, there are no pesky billion dollar infringement lawsuits, and everybody wins.

###Everyone except your average YouTube users. This feature doesn’t much affect them.  They won’t use it.

Ad buyers responsible for purchasing placements might find the filter useful, but one of the beauties of the site is that it gets hundreds of thousands of uploads a day, and any one of those could become internet gold.  The Partner Program awards originality and consistency, but doesn’t guarantee entertainment value. When surfing on a site famous for facilitating one-off viral videos, I want to search as far and wide as I can.

iJustine Tours the Internet

iJustine, the internet sensation that rose to fame with the advent of lifecasting, and who built on her notoriety with a video of an outrageous iphone bill, continues to hone her status as the internet’s prettiest geek. Her popularity of late is emphasized by Carson Daly’s decision to tap the i-celebrity for an internet-themed internet show to launch sometime in June. It appears she’s visiting all corners of the internet to drum up some excitement for the shiny new show with a stale old theme, but we’ll cross that much-traveled bridge when we come to it…



In the meantime, stay tuned for a future episode of the Internet Superstar featuring iJustine and check out her interview with TV Week‘s Daisy Whitney:





Daisy raises an interesting question.  How does one monetize internet fame?  How does the "economy of reputation" eventually convert into dollars?  In iJustine’s case, it’s been a combination of consulting and marketing services, and some blurry in-video advertising.  Presumably, Mr. Daly’s show will help too, but in a business driven by hard metrics, how do we assign value to the economy of i-celebrity?

Wankstas and Bay Area Subculture in 'Bay Life'

If you search "thizz dance" on YouTube, the first hit is a video by Rene Wachner-Solomon and Sam Fuller, a clip from the series Bay Life.  Google it and you get the same result.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Bay Area dance phenomenon, "thizz dancing" was invented by the gangster rapper Mac Dre in 2002. 

Originally associated with the drug ecstasy, thizzing has become more broadly defined, grouped together with the "hyphy" dance and music style popular in the Bay since the early 90s.  Not nearly as intricate as Soulja Boy’s Crank That, Mac Dre describes how it’s done:

I put a look on my face like I smell some piss

Bounce to the beat till it starts to hurt

Then I dust all the smirk off me shirt





This San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland area subculture serve as the setting for Bay Life and if you know the scene, this is one web show you gotta watch.  The first thing that may strike you is the young, white protagonist, "Tre," takes the demeanor and dress of a stereotypical black gangster rapper.  The central trope and comedic device of the series is Tre’s efforts to redefine his identity, including changing his name from Saul Cohen to something more gentile.   


The first Bay Life video appeared more than two years ago, as a trailer for the show, and depicts Tre standing outside his parents’ restaurant, "Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen," explaining his name change.  He claims to have gotten food poisoning, which is our first hint that, for Tre, there is little distinction between imagination and reality. 



###


Following six more trailers, the first few "episodes" were released this year, but they’re short as the trailer clips, and have no unifying titles or logo.  The show, which is only available on YouTube, offers no framework from which to understand it.  It is simply a collection of short clips featuring Tre in different aspects of his life and, given his contrived "I don’t give a $%@&" persona, the absence of an overarching brand makes sense. 

The chronology and narrative are subjective to the viewer’s experience.  Some of the clips contain interviews with Tre, while others follow him during his daily life.  An Office-esque gimmick, the viewer is lead to believe that Tre is the subject of a documentary, the maker of which is anonymous.  Further blurring the lines of fiction and reality, Tre has a myspace page with more that 1500 friends. 



I spoke with Rene, who told me that Tre has been asked on dates.  "This summer, a young lady was aggressively pursuing Tre on Myspace.  I considered inviting her to my house and filming a sex video in character as Tre.  In the end, I realized there was an element of sexual attraction missing from the equation although I think seeing Tre’s camera technique might have been worth the discomfort."


It can be difficult to distinguish Bay Life from other YouTube videos which feature kids "thizzing."  Despite the Bay Life credits at the end of "Thizz Dance," this local news station used the video in a segment on ecstasy use (look for Tre at 2:10).




Rene and Tre do share autobiographical similarities.  Both went to Berkeley High and grew up in the bay.  Tre’s wardrobe and Rene’s are the same.  "Many of Tre’s stories are my own: my parents really do own a restaurant (not named Saul’s), and I really did rear-end a woman while I was eating a burrito and then offer her what remained of it."   And some stories are exaggerated or completely fabricated. 



As we are drawn deeper into Tre’s world, we realize that he’s a desperate person, struggling with his identity and acceptance in a culture that glorifies gangster rap and violent masculinity.  Is this development an elaboration of the creator’s real insecurities, or is he exploiting his experience for narrative effect?  "Obviously, Tre is a lot dumber than most individuals, so the element of autobiography only goes so far," said Solomon.


"Thizz Dance" is the most popular video in the Bay Life series, with almost half a million views on YouTube.  Even "Thug Life" which has it’s own imitator (see above) has only 100k.  It’s hard to gauge what that means to a YouTube audience, but it seems that the show could benefit from more identifiable characteristics, like a theme song or consistent credits.  But that’s a product of Tre’s search for authenticity, one which becomes more futile as the show develops. 



Will there be a dramatic resolution, or a realist denouement?  We will have to see.  Said Solomon, "There are at least three more installments of Bay Life yet to be released as well as some other smaller clips.  I think the most interesting developments in the story are yet to come."


My Uncensored Interview

Uncensored Interview is a platform designed to find out what happens when indie musicians stop being polite….and start being real. In relaxed environments, away from any fan, pre, or post-performance-induced hysteria, artists unassociated with major labels (The Kills, The Whigs, Hopewell, hundreds more) casually discuss whatever the hell they want to casually discuss (fickle American fame, influences, censorship, sex).

No bleeps. No edits. Just raw access to a section of the music biz neglected by mainstream media coverage.

It provides a way for fans to see their favorites outside the limelight, but Uncensored Interview also plays the part of new media sociologist. The site is a video catalog of findings in an ongoing investigation to figure out exactly wtf is this ambiguous entity called “indie music.”

To aid their inquiry, Uncensored Interview has solicited those outside of music and inside the internet to offer perspective. A couple weeks ago I met up with a camera crew to give my take on web video, pornography, history, and how being Jewish is a lot like playing a gig at Pete’s Candy Store.

Selling Books and Internal Organs on 'Foreign Body'

Foreign Body is the 50-part online video prequel to the eponymous upcoming novel by bestselling author Robin Cook – a doctor, who, like John Grisham and his legal dramas, has combined penning thrillers with his medical profession to great success.
 

The show was produced at a breakneck pace by the Michael-Eisner-backed new media studio, Vuguru and web video auteurs, Big Fantastic, who are no strangers to bloodstained dramatic series (the two created Prom Queen and Big Fantastic got internet notoriety after making Sam Has 7 Friends). The first episode premiered today:

 

This is no home set operation. In 24 days of shooting, the crew jetted from Delhi to LA to Malibu, using the big studio resources to put together a sleek, hard-hitting artillery of two-minute webisodes designed to leave viewers in suspense. Presumably, a true mark of the show’s success will be whether it hooks its audience enough into the world of “medical tourism” – seeking discounted surgery and body parts in high risk locations abroad – that they’ll pick up Cook’s book to explore it further.

Vuguru has also developed an interesting business model.  They created an elongated advertisement for a novel that, in turn., is sponsored by a car company.  Honda Ads can be seen across foreignbody.tv‘s header and drive the message that niche entertainment brands, not shows or books or print alone, are the next-generation entertainment product.

###The initial episode certainly hits the right notes – the production values of a reported  $10,000 per minute, beautiful women, bathing suits, and fantastic landscapes provide enough eye candy to satiate the audience through a tightly-spun, and so far elusive, storyline.  It’s consistent with Big Fantastic’s MO.  Throw some sexy into a complex story where murder is no stranger, and then slowly feed the audience intrigue, a minute or two at a time.

But are online video junkies the target here? Will the series be judged by how many of us peel our eyes away from the video screen to preorder on Amazon after watching, or will the series make rabid Robin Cook readers flock to the web?  And if the series does sell more books or bring more readers online, will publishing houses soon need to employ video production teams?  Will we start to see books that promote a web series?

We’ll find out some answers to our questions on August 5th when the series concludes and ‘Foreign Body’ the book hits the shelves.  

IFC and Nerve Present 'Young American Bodies'

Young American Bodies is like that MTV series Undressed, except young adults replace the college kids, varying degrees of hipster replace more obvious archetypal characters, and actual nudity replaces tight clothes. The soft-core soap opera bubbling with self-indulgence is the product of independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg and sexy online magazine Nerve.com.

Alongside Sex Advice From… and other Nerve originals, Young American Bodies debuted in the Summer of 2006. In the past two years, the series has gone through two 10-episode “seasons,” been downloaded millions of times, and attracted cable one cable network to produce 12 more episodes.

Following Wilfred the Pot Smoking Dog as the second series in its The Internet! is Always On! campaign, IFC released the Young America Bodies season 3 premiere. (Warning: There’s some guy/girl action.  Light petting.  Sans shirts.)

###Swanberg told Fleshbot that he found a lot of the Chicago-based cast on MySpace and then developed the show around their lives and stories. The real-people premise coupled with long takes and awkward silences creates a series where the interactions within this web of 20-somethings feel uncomfortably natural.

Maybe that’s why I don’t love it. The series watches too much like actual Williamsburg, Brooklyn relationships I try to distance myself from. When it comes to seeking entertainment based on the type of culture I live in, I much prefer parody.

Al Jazeera Battles for the Hearts and Minds of Americans

Like many Americans, I suffered for weeks following election night 2000. Throughout the recount, I watched the news with an unflinching devotion; the major networks – NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, CNN – pulled on my heartstrings with reports of errors concerning exit polls, butterfly ballots, punch cards, old people, etc.  I feared not only for the future of our political system, but also for my health, which had been ravaged by insomnia, anxiety and the wound in my back where American democracy had stabbed me with an ice pick. 

All these symptoms pointed to one diagnosis: I had become a news junkie. I thought only of politics, and the news dictated my every move; I woke to news radio; I worked with CNN/ BBC/ C-SPAN blaring in the background; I read newspapers with meals, and I talked electoral politics with anyone who was kind enough to indulge me.

Some eight years later, I’m disappointed to report that I have not overcome my addiction. In fact, I’m much worse off; with the advent web 2.0 and web TV, it’s easier than ever to get a quick fix. Like any junkie, I’m always game for new suppliers entering the market. Recently, I was introduced to a foreign dealer, who is relatively new to the English-language market, but offers an unparalleled product, i.e. Al Jazeera English (AJE).

The channel stays true to its motto, “the opinion and the other opinion.” For those who are new to viewing (or using) foreign news, I offer a warning; even if you put your political beliefs aside, this is potent stuff:

###Al Jazeera, which means “the Peninsula” in Arabic, seeks “to be the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the West and from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The channel gives voice to untold stories, promotes debate, and challenges established perceptions.” 

With headquarters in Doha, the channel has broadcast centers in Kuala Lumpur, London, Washington DC and is distributed to more than 100 million people worldwide. However, if you live in the United States, AJE is most likely not offered on your cable plan.

As discussed in a recent a New York Times article, “the reputation of its Arabic sibling as the preferred outlet for videos from Osama bin Laden has made the English-language version too hot to handle for some cable operators. A lack of space on crowded cable systems has also made it difficult for operators to offer Al Jazeera English.”

Indeed, Al Jazeera has encountered its fair share of disputes with the U.S.  During the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. bombed Al Jazeera’s bureau in Kabul (an unfortunate accident, claimed American officials). Two years later, the channel’s Baghdad office was hit during a U.S. missile strike (again, a tragic mistake). In 2004, the British press reported that President George W. Bush expressed his intention to bomb Al Jazeera in a memo addressed to Prime Minister Tony Blair (clearly, officials said, Bush was joking). And recently in May 2008, Sami Al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera, was released from Guantanamo, where he had been held as an enemy combatant since 2001 (again, just a mix-up).

While AJE struggles for acceptance among American cable providers, it currently offers a huge portion of its material on YouTube. The channel has been viewed over a million times and offers its web audience over 40 different programs, ranging from political reporting to sports coverage:

AJE provides viewers with a combination of high-quality journalism and an unfamiliar perspective. Even as a long-time news junkie, I still found a large portion of AJE’s content to be disturbing and incendiary. It’s power to evoke discussion and controversy is married to its success as an up-and-coming news provider.

This junkie recommends AJE for the experienced user, or those who are looking for a shocking and demanding challenge.

 

Network Inflection

Hear that thud?  It’s the sound of network TV finally hitting the ground in defeat.  The Los Angeles Times reports on the "painful meltdown of the broadcast-TV industry" which, since it’s inception almost seventy years ago, has seen a rapid rise in competitors from three networks to thirty cable channels to hundreds of digital cable channels to, now, countless and exponentially growing internet offerings.



So how will the time-tested broadcast networks shift their resources to compete in the new TV paradigm, and how quickly should they do it?



Let’s be clear. Independent internet-TV does not yet pose a threat to the likes of a hulking NBC, but cable networks, which can count on subscription fees in addition to advertising, are cutting into the big boys’ audience and profit margin.  An onslaught of accessible, professionally produced content on the internet will certainly impact the big TV networks in a major way.  But keep this in mind: production and distribution have been democratized.  Marketing is still a valuable component of the equation.



Instead of creating yet another of countless outlets on the web, TV Networks should focus on their distinctive competencies by devoting robust programming, marketing, scouting and creative infrastructure to the development of cross-network niche-content.  Jeff Zucker, head of NBC-Universal, who recently spoke of the network’s future on Charlie Rose, seems to agree…




But how quickly, and to what degree, cross-distribution continues to support (as opposed to cannibalize) network broadcasts, is anyone’s guess. There’s big business in small(er) TV. Companies like NextNewNetworks, Revision3, 60Frames, OnNetworks, Deca, ForYourImagination and Vuguru are developing the new marketplace of infinite channels, but established networks walk a fine line between embracing this market and continuing to profit from the older (dying) one.

Topps Baseball Card Company to Star in Vuguru Web Series

A 1979 Ozzie Smith rookie – with The Wizard sporting some sick sideburns leftover from the middle of the decade and a Padres jersey that looks so retro cool – was my first introduction to baseball cards. Forgotten by my big brother, I found it a corner of his closet, tucked away from possible admiration with a mess of other cracked and creased pieces of cardboard picturing the visages of prepubescent fantasies.

My exit occurred with thousands of others like me. In the early ‘90s a teeming children’s pastime grew into an adult industry, fat with new products, bloated with frustratingly exclusive price points, and swollen beyond appeal.

But between those moments and, really, until I started caring more about girls than Ryne Sandberg (a relationship litmus test I still refer to from time to time), my dreams were made of wax packs, stale, powdery bubble gum, and baseball cards.  Topps TV looks terrifying to me now, but that freakish delight at ripping open foil wrappers resonates with my 12-year-old self.

Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner knows my passion well and was shrewd to recognize its potential. Last March, he bought the Bazooka bubble gum and baseball card company that manufactured my nostalgia for $385 million. When the New York Times asked him why, Eisner answered:

“Topps is a brand that’s in the brain-waves of about 70 years of the American male. I can take that affinity and turn it into a sports-media company. Topps has many assets, and Bazooka has Bazooka Joe, and I could have fun making a Bazooka Joe movie.”

Now he’s starting to make moves with the acquisition. Read On…

Workflow with Rox

Roxanne Darling, creator and star of Beachwalks with Rox, and her partner/former-secret-cameraman, Shane, have been creating video for the internet since before the medium had a recognizable name, community or industry. 

Their ingenuity has been prolific – to date, the duo has created a whopping 627 episodes of Beachwalks – and they’ve become leaders in the community, always sharing interesting insights and initiatives. 



On April 22nd, Rox posted a video of the question that faces most internet-video entrepreneurs: What’s more important, production value or creativity (she posed it as “people or gear”)?   Of course, the unanimous answer from her esteemed Internet-video interviewees was…PEOPLE!




###High production value can be an important story-driver in some situations, but as we’ve seen time and again with successful internet-video enterprises, story drives craft, not the other way around.  A skillful application of a simple technology (i.e. text) is more moving than haphazard application of state-of-the-art effects (i.e. insert grossly overbudgeted, terrible Hollywood movie here). 

Story should drive production value.  If you can’t afford high production value, find a concept that can move without it. 



I recently had the pleasure of attending Rox’s Video Podcast Workflow Tips at PodCamp NYC, which she’s been kind enough to post in text form on Barefeet Studios’ website.  They’re simple tips for organization and productivity, and they’ve honestly cut about ten minutes from my video editing process.



Mahalo, Rox! Thanks for the great info!