In the past couple of months, I have become interested in a certain type of video remixing. To be completely honest, I don’t know exactly what this certain type of video remixing is called so hopefully one of my readers can help me out as my hasty Google search did not yield me a concrete answer (they might be called video mash ups, but I am not sure).
Anyway, I really enjoy the video remixes where a certain pop culture theme or phenomenon is taken and thrown in with a beat. The pop culture component is chopped into a bunch of different short clips that spans a period of time and mixed together throughout the whole video. Although the clips are usually very random, short, and maybe even meaningless, the creators of these videos put them together with the beat in a way that is very entertaining and creative. Repetition and lively expressions/motions from the people included in the video are key.
Really confused on my explanation of something that I don’t even know the name of? I pretty much confused myself. Let’s just go right to an example so everyone knows what I am talking about.
In early December, ESPN debuted the “All He Does Is Win” Tim Tebow video by DJ Steve Porter. In the video, clips and soundbites of/from ESPN talking head Skip Bayless are pieced together to create an homage of sorts to Tebow. The phrase “all he does is win” provides the chorus while the famous lines from Bayless of “He’s a gamer….he’s a baller…he’s a playmaker….and a shot caller” make up the backbone of the video. Besides Bayless providing the main parts, you got cut up clips of Tebow and John Elway also providing key parts of the song. After them, there are a bunch of fast, funny clips from people like Lil’ Wayne, Nelly, Hulk Hogan, Steven A. Smith, John Fox, and more. Although so much of it is random, it all fits together.
DJ Porter has been with ESPN for a few years now. They hired him exclusively to produce these types of remixes for the network. As I get introduced to a lot of things in life through sports, I became introduced to these types of videos through ESPN. In fact, I initially naively thought that these videos were unique to ESPN (more on this later). Anyway, if you ever have time to youtube some of Porter’s sports remixes you must do it. For any sports fan who loves the media and marketing aspect of the industry, the videos are genius. By far my favorite video by Porter is “All He Does Is Win” but my next two favorites are his NFL Draft remix and his Randy Moss “One Clap” montage. Honestly, check these out. The ridiculousness and randomness of the quotes and clips provide for some great entertainment.
Last night my friends and I were at a local bar watching people do karaoke. In the transition between singers, the DJ played on the screen a video remix sampled from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory titled “You Lose.” Even though I am not a big fan of the movie, I was laughing along with the whole bar as the video played. Again, everything just flowed so smoothly together and watching Gene Wilder have his freak out session over and over was priceless. Watching that last night really made me want to write this post as it demonstrated to me how creative and catchy these videos are.
Not a sports fan or Willy Wonka fan? Don’t worry, there are several of these video remixes that cover all types of subjects. For example, I have seen a video that samples a bunch of different reality tv shows and meshes them together. I have seen a great video done on the “hide yo kids” news report. There are numerous Charlie Sheen ones out there (guess what key word those are usually sampled around?). With it being an election year, I expect to see many mash ups dealing with Obama and the Republican candidate. The news media will also become a more common target of these compilations.
Although I have mentioned the appeal of these videos a couple times now, I want to focus one more time on why they work. Basically, what makes these sketches so good is that they combine both structure and chaos with great visual and audio elements. Although there are a bunch of seemingly random, weird clips strewn in, they all make sense and help tell the story. The first time you watch a mash up you will find it hard to follow everything but you will have a smile on your face throughout the whole duration. You will then go back and watch again to catch what you missed from your initial viewing. The visual and audio of these videos are so good that they could stand alone. If you muted the audio you would simply get a kick out of all the sharp movements, emotion packed faces, and split second sequences. If you just gave me a CD of the audio then I would play it at a party, they are that good. I watch/listen to these videos and they really do get stuck in my head and that is just not because most of them say the same thing over and over. They are just catchy songs with fun lyrics and a good beat.
My dream would be to create a few of these mash ups for the athletic department I work at. I think it would be fun to have our coaches and players featured in this type of way. These videos are all about the viral aspect and I would be willing to wager that It would get some serious views. Again, with the elections coming up and with the success that “All He Does Is Win” enjoyed, I think we are going to see much more of this type of multimedia. If you have not already, take some time to watch a few of these videos. I do have to give you some advice though, if you want to catch everything just remember…Don’t Blink..
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