OT: YouTube and "user-generated" (amateur) content

Here's something that should curb the whole "YouTube takes over" concept.

[www.nytimes.com]

We still gotta remember that

1. Just because they watch it doesn't mean they like it;
2. Just because they watch it doesn't mean they get the message you want them to;
3. Amateur filmmakers tend to suck. We've all been there.


www.derekmok.com

those videos do suck. i will say that the one with teeth brushing is pretty good but incredibly misguided. to many examples of use, not focused. the text sucked booty.

the one with the redneck voice over could have been something but the voice over is extra un-good.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

I dont hv a subscription to the NY times so I can't read the article.

Since filmmaking is still my "hobby" my obsession with getting better is as good as when I started playing golf...always learning something new, never satisfied, always wanting to do more...I figure once it starts feeling like a "job" it's time to step back and remember why we do what we do...

I dunno though Derek - there is some really clever, if inexpertly wrought, stuff on the 'Tube. A lot of those great ideas can now get past the drunken party conversation level where they can inspire others to go down different paths.

And there is also a lot of crap.

A friend of mine floated the idea with me recently that the Net is becoming like the mythical 'collective conciousness' - like a giant repository for everything we know.

I can see this, because useful and popular things float to the top of Google, and these become the wide an fast synapses of the 'world brain'. Boring, useless and crappy stuff gets less attention and has only slim, hard to follow connections, kind of like trying to remember your Aunt Mary's birthdate.

Interesting times.

It's the "Pro-Am" issue.

Can amateurs come up with great content? Of course.

Can amateurs come up with content that is "better" than pros? Certainly. Especially in fields that require less collaboration -- animation and music would be easy, dramatic narrative would be the hardest for amateurs.

The question is, how much crap do you wade through to find the good ones? I swear, if I saw another "tribute" video set to music on YouTube, I'm gonna throw up.


www.derekmok.com

>>I swear, if I saw another "tribute" video set to music on YouTube, I'm gonna throw up.<<

You know, you should film that. Put it on You Tube. It'll totally go off dude!

Here you go Derek. There is some life out there. Shallow, vacuous, voliently narccasistic, life. Brilliant.

"The client wants a meat puppet to react to the product in the most stereotyped, trite, overacted way possible".

Boy, is that one sad but true.

Can't tell you how many times I've seen a perfectly okay amateur actors, a little shy but natural, get turned into a bad cartoon because the agency/director said, "She's got to cross her arms here!" or "Give a big smile and thumbs up right after that line!" And then they turn around and criticize the hell out of the poor actor for being bad. And then they pick the phoniest takes just because they contain the gesture.

I really wonder what makes ad people think they can act better than actors? Even actors with just a week or two of acting class?

If there was one thing film school taught that's valuable to all startup filmmakers: Give the actors beats and actions, not emotions and results. It'd be like a director telling a Final Cut whiz, "Okay, use the blade here and then drag the edge to here, then switch to the arrow, click on the gap..."


www.derekmok.com

I've ranted a lot about "tribute" videos so now I'm going to remind myself that I did some way back in the day. These are two ditties I did waaaay back in film school, edited on Premiere 4, captured from third-generation SVHS tape, spat back out onto SVHS, then transferred to Mini-DV for long-term storage. Flash frames, VHS tracking issues, the works. I was on a Ballet Mécanique kick.

[www.derekmok.com]
[www.derekmok.com]

Warning: Lots of violence and bad language.


www.derekmok.com

You have to admit though..the Shawn Bradley tributes are hilarious....

What a waste of ketchup!

The U'TUBE generation.

Rui Barros
Editor Colorist Trainer
Lisbon, Portugal
RTP Post-Production
Apple Certified Trainer FCP 7
Apple Certified Pro FCP 7

Mok, those were definitely horrible. LOL

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Ah, I remember the Reel Truth. Been around for awhile. One of the oldies but goodies and among the first to go really viral. Having done over 1500 commercials in my career as an actor and hanging with not only the major creatives in the advertising world (in the 80s and 90s) but many A-List directors and DPs in between their film gigs, I can tell you it's spot on. Can't tell you how many times the line "Thank you for humiliating me in front of everyone" was used. It became a catch phrase. The term bitch slap was not used back then but it would of been.

Forgot

The Reel Truth came out of this short parody called The Truth in Advertising.





Michael Horton
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Heh - I love that line ' Thanks, but I'd rather be burned alive.' So gotta use that next time I'm pressed to go schmoozing.

Belly Laff -- Thanks