def. Combining media memes together to form a new memetic piece of media
This is an experimental work where I combine three versions of the song Heartbeats by Jose Gonzales with the advertising meme of the bouncing Sony balls intercut with characters from Halo 3 repeating the same movements.
Will we ever get to a point where we’ll be used to reading media this way?
This EA video is a great example of a mass-media company responding to a User-Generated piece of content in a really smart way. Instead of sweeping this video game glitch under the table they opted to created a whole spot around it. Well done EA and well done Tiger Woods, or should I say Jesus.
This interaction of orator and audience that is essential to oral storytelling is again resurfacing in the participatory nature of social media. The ability to chat online through forums and message boards was one of the founding functionalities of the Internet long before Web 2.0 was coined, but this was reserved for serious computer users and early adopters. It has not been until recently that the net of social participatory engagement has widened. This is best seen on customer review sites. Brand are used to telling their story or their product messaging through print ads, radio spots, television commercials and website homepages, but as more communities grow online the trust is put into the audience or consumer not the orator or brand. In this case the story has to change and adapt to audience participation. However, this new form of audience participation in brand storytelling has not been without its learning curve. Chevrolet introduced a viral campaign effort that asked consumers to insert their own slogan for the next Chevy Tahoe campaign. Copy that read, “our planet’s oil is almost gone, you don’t need GPS to see where this road leads,” and “like this snowy wilderness? Better get your fill of it now, then say hello to global warming,” was not Chevy’s ideal brand story but it did give them an insight into how consumers saw their brand.
Brands now have to been empathetic and participatory with their consumers, gone are the days of being objectively distant and telling consumers what they want. The whole nature of social based media is an interactive participatory conversation, a sharp departure for traditional media storytellers.
As a content producer and advertiser I’m keenly aware of how all ideas are judged on their ability to be cross platformed. The questions I hear are: can it be reduced down to emailable file, can it be represented by a url link, can I watch it on my phone, iPod, and HD monitor?
In order for an idea to grow beyond it’s initial conception it has to grow virally. In order for it to grow virally it must be easily spreadable across all media platforms.
So where does this leave the art or the aesthetics of the idea. I’m thinking of artists like Chuck Close and Edward Burtynsky whose work relies and comments on scale. Do the ideas for these works die once they are cross platformed. If I’m picture messaged a Burtnsky photo does it cease to be a Burtynsky? With Manufactured Landscapes director Jennifer Baichwal shows us that Burtynsky’s work can be repurposed to a feature film, so why not an online game, a cell phone screensaver, a ringtone?
Is this type of cross platforming going to be the norm in art? I’ll use one of the most celebrated contemporary artist working today, Mathew Barney as an example. Barney’s films are sliced, and diced, repackaged and sold in bits. His elaborate sets, costumes, and soundtracks are repurposed for an art gallery setting. The film can be viewed in the theatre, on DVD or streamed online. Dealers and patrons, well being art lovers, are also business people and they understand the value of an art piece adding value to this emerging digital economy. It’s no wonder that one of the biggest art buyers, also own one of the biggest advertising agencies.
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