Homo sapiens have always been suckers for good narrative. And it isn’t news that modern life has become increasingly visually oriented.
If a picture is worth a thousand words than each second of video is good for 30,000 (1 second of video is comprised of 30 individual frames … yay, math!). And video’s sensory encompassing experience across audio and visual has proven an effective way to get a point or story across.
That’s why I got into this business; a desire to affect the world around me, coupled with the vanity of a need to be recognized. It’s also why I often turn to videos for inspiration and information on issues of creativity and creation. When done right, they capture my attention, present me with new concepts and methods, and leave me feeling like a more informed and capable creator and consumer of media.
Over the past few years, I’ve come across several that challenged and enhanced the way I view the medium of video, the media marketplace, relationships with an audience, and the very nature of why I work in media in the first place.
Here are 12 videos; some long form, others short; some highly produced, others simple; some elegant, others grandiose; all of which aroused my creative spirit and advised my course of action.
1. ‘Everything Is A Remix’
‘Everything Is A Remix’ is required viewing for creators in the modern “digital” community, whether you produce music, video, literature, photography, art, or design. Kirby Ferguson takes us through humanity’s history of copying, transforming, and combining existing materials to create the products and media we know today, all in a four-part series using existing footage and graphical illustrations.
He makes a compelling case that NOTHING we do or see is original. It is all the product of that which came before. I quote this series practically on a daily basis. http://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/
2. ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action’
Simon Sinek’s, ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action’ is one of the most viewed TED Talks. Sinek argues that “inspired” people and organizations succeed not because of what they do, but why they do it. He cites examples like the Wright Brothers, Martin Luther King, Apple Computers, as well as those that tried to compete with them, but failed. http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
Sinek later expanded on this idea at other conferences with ‘Start with Why…’ http://vimeo.com/40979758
…and ‘If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.’
3. ‘Influencers’
‘Influencers’ is a short documentary about how different media and people become contagious trends and trend-setters. The film is a lesson in how to create media that connects with and influences modern culture. It mixes interviews with cutting edge moguls of advertising, design, fashion and entertainment, with images of these creatives, including what inspires them and a backdrop of the bustling big apple. http://www.influencersfilm.com/#/Home
4. ‘This American Life’
Ira Glass is one of today’s masters of story. His public radio program, “This American Life” has spent nearly two decades delving into the coolest, weirdest, and most overlooked tales this country has to offer.
In 2006, Current TV (back when they were still making cool, viewer-created programming) did a whole half hour sit down with Ira to impart his wisdom on the young story tellers coming up media’s ranks and creating video pods for Current.
It is definitely worth watching all 4 parts, but this 3rd part in particular addresses something that very few books or professors will tell you – In creative work, when you first get started, what you make will not be that good. It will be disappointing. This is normal. And the only way through this is to do a volume of work. And the work will catch up to your ambitions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY&feature=relmfu
5. ‘The Power of Words’
This short film by a British media firm shows simply, elegantly, and cinematically how the content of what we present has tremendous effects on the world around us and how we interact with it. (This is a TMG office favorite.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU
6. ‘Bubble Project’
As a video producer, I’ve produced for clients the world over. But, few have allowed me to make the cultural impact and resonance I achieved with some of my personal projects.
Ji Lee, was an ad-man, frustrated with how corporate language and egos got in the way of great ideas. Realizing he could no longer depend on clients and agencies to help create something of personal importance, he decided to start a campaign of his own in the form of street–art. His “Bubble Project”, with no client but the street-viewing masses, made such a cultural impact, it was later coopted and copied by corporate advertisers and his website crashed due to too much traffic.
‘The Transformative Power of Personal Projects’ lays out just how he did it. https://vimeo.com/8596045
7. ‘Words’
‘Words’ is a fun video produced for Radiolab, another great public radio program, by Everynone, an awesome little boutique production house. It plays with the relationship between words and images and in the end feels really inspiring.
But it exists as an addendum to the Radiolab episode of the same name, which explores the importance of words and communication, and presents language as the greatest invention of mankind.
See video here: https://vimeo.com/13768695
Listen to the Radiolab here: http://www.radiolab.org/2010/aug/09/
8. ’10 Minute Film School’
Although obviously dated with a mid-90’s-MTV feel, the fundamentals of this piece are timeless.
Robert Rodriguez sidestepped the Hollywood system to independently produce and direct ‘El Mariachi.’ In this video, he bombards his lessons on becoming a filmmaker on an anonymous classroom.
My favorite takeaway is this quote: “Too many creative people become dependent on technical people … Become Technical. If you’re creative and technical, you’re unstoppable.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-YpfievjSk
9. ‘ Use art to turn the world inside out’
JR is one of my favorite, current street-artists. He takes extreme-close-up, black-and-white pictures of peoples faces, blows them up large-scale, and pastes them on walls and surfaces across the world.
At his TED prize acceptance, he lays out an open resource for the world to help him “Use art to turn the world inside out”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAy1zBtTbw
10. ‘The School of Life’
‘The School of Life’ is a series of lectures on Vimeo from progressive thinkers in the UK. They cover what they call “good ideas for everyday life … from philosophy to literature, psychology to the visual arts – that tickle, exercise and expand your mind.”
In this lecture, famed American neuroscientist David Eagleman delves into just what is going on in our minds and how we can learn to manage it. http://vimeo.com/22287909
Also, check out Alain de Botton on ‘Pessimism’: https://vimeo.com/10601416
11. ‘The secret structure of great talks’
Some esteemed colleagues and I were recently asked to give a talk at the Association Media & Publishing Conference. I was confident in my abilities as an orator/occasional-stand-up-comic, but I really wanted to knock it out of the park, so I did a little research – which for a visual guy like myself, means I watched a bunch of videos online. Surprise, surprise; a TED Talk video rose to the top as a resource and guide.
In ‘The secret structure of great talks’, Nancy Duarte identifies what she believes is the common arc of great speeches. Citing Steve Jobs’ 2007 iPhone release presentation and MLK’s ‘I Have A Dream’, she makes a great case.
I don’t know if what she’s discovered really is the secret to success or just a coincidental correlation, but it was still enlightening for me.
12. ‘A Magazine Is Born – the making of Little White Lies’
Print isn’t dead by any means. The folks at ‘Little White Lies magazine’ in the UK take us on a 90 second ride through the creation of their “Black Swan” issue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe9AAfGgJuU
Did we miss any? If you know of any videos that should have made this list, but didn’t, please make your suggestions in the comment section for all to see.
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