Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Commercialization of Viral Web Videos

Can you imagine if the world of stupid web videos suddenly had studio or corporate backing? Can you imagine if some of the videomakers were able to get funding or even "distribution deals"? Well it's begun. For the first time ever, a specific viral web video has been paired with specific sponsors and money is being exchanged. Who knew this day would come? And who knew the words "elite amateur video producers" would ever appear in the same sentence?

So what does this mean? Well, what you have now is the beginnings of a system that may begin to work like Hollywood does for feature length films. Some videomakers will get monetary backing, and some will not. So you will begin to see some very commercial looking "amateur" videos as you do with this new Mentos & Coke video, with multi-camera views and editing. Presumably sometime very soon, semi-pros and pros will also want a piece of the action and bigger deals will start to be made. Those videos will start looking less and less like the charming, home-made crap they are today. Meanwhile, genuinely home-made little wonders will be pushed aside as they cannot find sponsorship to be produced or distributed and the world of internet video may start to look a lot more like the worlds of film and television.

Cheaper, better cameras, home editing systems, and the internet has democratized the process of filmmaking and brought us a generation of folk filmmakers. This brings us both good and bad. Lots of bad to sift through, and opportunities for people to find talent and beauty where they didn't know it existed. It's not unlike the way that any old schmo can go down to Michael's or Hobby Lobby and pick up some cheap paints and a canvas. Anyone who wants to try it can. And yes, that part is not changing. Not yet. But what may be changing now is how easy it is for that schmo to get his "work" seen.

The real question is now, how much can I get the Bellagio to pay for my fountain video?


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