What's really funny, though, is the mild "uh, whatever" expressed by the BBC newscaster in the video --- click the link marked "WATCH The Star Wars Kid" to see for yourself. It's not so much the clip itself that's so hilarious, as what other people have done with it. Like this, for example.
Viral videos are huge right now. They're free advertising for the company whose product strikes viral gold. These little videos reverberate throughout the blogosphere and the world of forwarded email, launching careers or just killing their subjects. The Star Wars Kid (real name Ghyslain Raza) may have had a tough time finding a prom date before this video hit the web, but now? According to the article,
Mr Raza never intended the video to be made public, and later took legal action against the classmates he claimed had posted it on the internet.
People are breaking their necks to understand the weird alchemy that happens when you mash boredom, humor and titanic amounts of schadenfreude. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if more schools like this one started popping up:
I mean, yeah, this is a joke. A good one. Look at the shelf over the blond guy's shoulder at 2:00 for a nice little Easter Egg. They're brilliantly satirizing how badly advertisers, artists and major media companies want to cash in on the viral craze.
We talk a lot here at AOL about creating viral content, asking if things are viral or not. What we are basically saying is: "Have we made something that's gonna hit like caffeinated pixie sticks or not?" Usually, the answer is no.
True viral stuff is almost impossible to manufacture. Its authenticity is what makes it so forwardable, and what makes it so funny. The best thing the Star Wars Kid could have done for himself would have been to say that he'd trained for six months to make that clip and this Web fame was all part of his audition reel.
But you better believe that advertising schools are going to offer classes like this one soon -- if they don't already. Do you think that a school like this would be worth the tuition?
What makes a video -- or web page -- forwardable for you? You all see plenty of stuff online that makes you smile and snort, sure. But what makes you copy a link and send something to all your friends?
3 comments:
I don't know what really makes a video appealing to me. I suppose it's got to contain equal parts of humor and a certain "organic" and unscripted quality. It's got to have a spontaneous feel to it.
Then again, I've also sent things like hilarious beer commercials to my friends, so who knows?
-Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/
I only fwd or send a link to friends when it's really and I mean something really new and different.. and it has to be a real laugh or real amazing thing that you just don't see everyday. There are sooo many videos that are the all kind of along the same lines of each other but once in awhile you come across one or two that is just worth the pass. Wonderif that would that make me a good quarterback or not if I was a guy? Hmm.. Yep , football season on the brain I guess. :)
http://journals.aol.com/theauthorisme/from-my-perspective/
Very clever video...brings back old memories of the ad it's spoofing.
The way videos get passed around now though, you could almost see this becoming a job.
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