BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Debuts First Video With President Obama

The recently-launched BuzzFeed Motion Pictures is trending upward thanks to a video that takes viewers inside the White House. The studio formed from BuzzFeed Video’s pre-existing assets back in August 2014 has just released a clip called “Things Everybody Does But Doesn’t Talk About,” featuring President Obama in his first-ever BuzzFeed video appearance.

Viewers of the “Things Everybody Does” short are introduced to two different men, Obama and a seemingly regular citizen (played by BuzzFeed producer Andrew Ilnyckyj). Both proceed to embody the video’s title by pulling faces in the mirror, practicing awkward phrases for upcoming speeches, taking selfies (with the President employing a selfie stick), saying “Thanks, Obama” after frustrating occurrences, and performing fake basketball jump shots. At the end of the video, the regular citizen turns out to be a White House aide, who catches Obama in the act of a jump shot. The President’s response: “Can I live?”

A BuzzFeed rep told us how the “Things Everybody Does” video partnered well with the media company’s recent interview with Obama:

Doing a BuzzFeed News sit-down interview and a BuzzFeed Motion Pictures video was the best of both worlds. We broke some news, and got to have fun with the President of the United States. It’s also safe to say his participation helped resolve a longstanding internal debate on why the selfie stick is here to stay.

The BuzzFeed Motion Pictures video is part of the U.S. Commander-in-Chief’s initiative to get American citizens signed up for health insurance by February 15, 2015. He has previously been involved in other video initiatives which address his health insurance policies, including meeting with several YouTubers like Hannah Hart and Tyler Oakley to figure out how to better reach online audiences. Obama also made an appearance on Funny or Die’s Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis. That interview made FunnyorDie.com the top referral source for healthcare.gov back in March 2014.

BuzzFeed’s “Things Everybody Does” video already has over 4 million views on Facebook, giving the social site a good chance to become 2015’s top referrer to President Obama’s health care website.