Why I’m Tired of Viral

City 17

I apologize in advance about the rant-y nature of this post.

I’ll go ahead and say it: I’m tired of viral videos. I really am. Not viral videos in general, though. I’m tired of the weekly recycled “awesome fan made x trailer/short film” (x being some property like Doom, Batman, AntMan or what have you). This is a conclusion I’ve reached recently, and it’s caused me to look at online video in an entirely new light, like getting a bucket of cold Fortress of Solitude ice water thrown on my face: for the most part, viral videos have turned into a derivative pile of predictable drivel.

For years now, the Web has been heralded as some kind of wide open landscape ripe with potential for creative types to find a home for their exciting and original content. At times, we’ve seen just that: people that become a unique force in a way they might not have outside the tubes, whether they are comic artists, Web show creators or video game reviewers. But is the Web actually living up to this promise, or are we making backwards progress? Continue reading →

Latepass On the Double Rainbow

OK, I know I’m going to get called for a serious latepass on this, but I thought I might as well post the glorious Double Rainbow meme that’s been circling the Web like a satellite recently. This particular set of videos falls under the category of stuff that gets increasingly funnier every single time I watch it.

It really must be experienced in both respective parts: the original, in which a hiker freaks out about a double rainbow. Then, the remix, in which the audio from the first clip is auto-tuned. They produce in me a feeling that can only be called pure and unadulterated joy. Continue reading →

Back to Zero

Mount DoomWell, tomorrow marks the end of a year of hard work for me and two of my best friends: Web Zeroes draws to a close with its final episode. I’ve got some mixed feelings on this, some of which I can share at the moment and a few that will need some time to sort out and file in the appropriate boxes for later use.

I think the thing that I’m feeling most of all is relief. We’ve had a fairly brutal schedule over the last ten months or so, one that is finally letting up and giving us a chance to get our heads out of the production hole. The most analogous thing I can conjure up when it comes to producing a series is that it is like throwing the ring into Mt. Doom at the end of Lord of the Rings, but not as cool or dramatic. Also I don’t really look like a Hobbit, and I hope that nobody shows up to bite my finger off once the show’s over. Continue reading →

Comment-Fu

To me there is nothing in this world that is simultaneously more sad and more funny than Internet comments. Often, I find myself discussing the comment thread to an article or link just as much as I discuss the content itself. I’m not sure what it says about my personality that I find this kind of character vomit somewhat fascinating, but I’m certain it’s probably not healthy. I can’t even think of what the real world equivalent would be without getting completely grotesque, so choose your own abhorrent adventure, I guess.

When we first started posting stuff online for SmoothFewFilms, I wasn’t always the best at reacting to comments. OK, that’s a massive understatement. Probably more truthful to say that comments used to send me into an epileptic rage. Continue reading →

The Art of Making Your Own Crap

If there’s anything I’ve learned over the last 3 years of making Web content, it’s the following two principles:

1. Make your own crap
2. Stop giving your crap away for free

Really, everything else you wanted to know about the Intertubes stems down from those two ideas (and I’ll discuss the 2nd in a future post). So why don’t more content creators do this? Half of what we see linked around online is something that derives its source material from something else, whether it’s a mash-up of two movies, a spoof of a video game, or a special effects short about video game characters infiltrating our world. There’s a reason for this precedent, and I think all of us content devourers are partly to blame. Continue reading →

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