Wooshii Developer Blog

New Wooshii Blog

Wooshii — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:48:19 +0100

We've moved to an all new area

Check

http://blog.wooshii.com

PROJECT WINNER - Ben Luce

Ricardo Fonseca — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:24:55 +0100

If you remember, we had a project a few weeks ago for a company named Spring Leads, who wanted a 30-60 sec animated introduction to their business. Some of you pitched, and the winner was Ben Luce, aka magneticgoat. In this post we'll have a bit of a Q&A with him about the project and show you the finished video.

Here we go:

1. First of all, can you tell us a bit about your creative background? I've been making animated movies since elementary school, starting with simple clay animation and moving into flash, after effects, and 3d. This includes special effects for my own low-budget films. I've worked for a toy designer in Connecticut and interned at 1st Avenue Machine in NYC. I'm going into my senior year at the Maryland Institute College of Art, majoring in animation. Video and Rich Media powered by Wooshii.com 2. Have you pitched on Wooshii before? This was my first pitch

3. Can we see your original pitch? Why do you think you won it? Here's my pitch: Once I have access to your script, I'd be more than happy to adjust the concept as necessary. That being said, here is what I have in mind: The job market is represented by a central bee hive. The agents are worker bees, and the flowers/pollen are leads, which could eventually turn into honey ($$). Scenario 1 (bad): one bee going to many flowers, getting tired, and not producing as much honey. Scenario 2 (good - Spring Leads' approach): many bees reaching more flowers, producing more honey. Perhaps it could be narrated like a nature documentary. It all depends on the vision that you have. Thank you for your consideration. I think I won it because as far as I know, I was the only one who gave a concept. That immediately made my pitch stand out, and it appears they liked the idea as well. Video and Rich Media powered by Wooshii.com 4. What was the process like of working with the client? I was lucky to be given free reign over a large portion of the process. They gave me a lot of creative control and seemed to approve of nearly everything I sent them. Although it took a little while to receive a script, the majority of client communication went very smoothly. The only other quirk was the 5-hour time difference.

5. Can we get some specifics also, for example on working with the voice over? And was there a script in place? There was a script in place. I have my own set of audio equipment (a mixer, a mic, and cables). I did a lot of different takes for each line of the script. Then I spliced them together to make it fit within the time line. Although I was not asked to, I decided to make the music as well because I had a tune in mind and it helped me pace the animation.

6. What was the most difficult thing in making this project? Making it coherent and professional. I put in a lot of effort to make sure that the color scheme was solid, the actionscript worked, and the audio levels were stable (Ultimately the actionscript didn't matter because of the version they used).

7. What was the thing your most proud of about this project? My ability to exercise restraint. Whenever I begin a project, I always have very ambitious ideas and I often need to trim them down. In this case, the philosophy "less is more" really shined through. Whenever I wanted to use lots of shading, add more colors, or go crazy with effects, I held back. I think the simplicity speaks for itself.

8. Have you pitched more projects since winning the Spring Leads one? Not just yet. I'm preparing for the new semester and don't want to commit to anything until I know I have time for it. Still, Wooshii is a great resource and I'll certainly use it in the future.

Video and Rich Media powered by Wooshii.com

9. What are your plans for the future? With the economy like it is, I plan to be flexible. There are a lot of great opportunities for artists in places you wouldn't expect. For now, my priorities are freelancing, commercial animation, and possibly VFX. --

Alright, that's it! Great answers from Ben and great insight into how this process went along. I'd like to thank Ben for his time in answering these questions, and wish him good luck with the semester in school and wherever his future takes him.

Link Roundup 7 - Online VIdeo // Crowdsourcing // Entrepreneurship //

Fergus — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:33:37 +0100

A ton of stuff that i've read and linked to over the past month or so.
Finally got round to updating my latest list of links. There is some awesome stuff in here so hope you enjoy.
If you want to follow these as i find them then catch me on @fergus on twitter
Enjoy

Video // Online VIdeo // Video Production

The Growth and Future of Video in E-Commerce: Creativity Versus Psychology
The best Lego movie remakes on the web
Four Benefits of Adding Video to Your Website
Business video: Make mine searchable - Computerworld
Shooting for the Small Screen: Do the Old Rules Apply?
Using Online Video to Generate Leads and Improve SEO
The Hardest Jigsaw on Vimeo << real nice bit of anim -
4 Tips for Producing Quality Web Videos
We Might All Be Watching Online Videos by 2015 [STATS]
HTML5 And Flash: Why It’s Not A War, And Why Flash Won’t Die - Smashing Magazine
7 things you won’t hear from your video production company (even if you should).
5 Reasons You Should Post Your Marketing Video on YouTube
YouTube Is Huge: 24 Hours of Video Now Uploaded Every Minute - whoa -
The most disturbing YouTube videos of all time << Always knew Ronald McDonald was not to be trusted -

Creaticity // Advertising // Innovation

The Future of Advertising - BusinessWeek
Work Begins on the UK’s Largest Prefabricated Strawbale Building
Democratizing Talent: Guy Oseary, Greyson Chance, NowMov, IndieGoGo and the Future of Talent
New Animated Film Takes Design to the Next Level <<
Aggressive, spiky button vs. rounded corner button << simple genius

Crowdsourcing

Videos explaining crowdfunding & crowdsourcing
Myoo Uses Crowdsourcing for Sustainability Solutions
Does Crowdsourcing Threaten Your Job (or Offer New Opportunity)?
Crowdsourcing Gains Momentum
A crowdsourcing story (sort of) that helped launch Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1985. << love this -
The lazy CEO’s 10-step guide to crowdsourcing every business task
5 Creative Uses for Crowdsourcing << loving @waze -
Crowdsourcing and the challenge of payment -
The new face of venture capital: The rise of crowdfunding | VentureBeat
InnoCentive Issues Call To Action For Innovative Solutions To Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill
Crowdsourcing: Not just a cost saver << plenty of other benefits too -
oldish but interesting -> An economists view of crowdsourcing -
World Bank posts data for crowdsourcing solutions << solutions for entrepreneurs amongst otehrs
Transforming Filmmaking Through Crowdsourcing
An entrepreneur's guide to crowdsourcing <-
Crowdsourcing creativity: could this actually happen? << @edwardboches -
White House Launches Crowdsourcing Site For Manufacturing <<
Crowdsourcing: Opportunity or Time Suck? -
Crowdsourcing education with Social Media << nice post on new routes to learning -
ModCloth crowdsources vintage fashion << crowdsourcing fashion -
Crowdsourcing in the Enterprise With Gambling In Mind -
Profiting in the Idea Economy << the no spce / spec argument blazes on -

Start-Ups // Entrepreneurship // Business

6 Ways to Recruit Talent for Startups
Kaltura CEO on Entrepreneurship - (and open source online video platform) -
Advice From Founders Who Bootstrapped Their Way to Success
Venture Capital Danger << Awesome post - are the things VC's bring to entrepreneurs, important now? -
Why Am I Late? They Put A Mountain In The Way!
The 40-30-30 Rule: Why Risk Is Worth It <-
Six Tips for Forcing Yourself to Tackle a Dreaded Task << i suspect easier said than done -
Which is smart a lean or fat start-up? <<
Business Advice for New Entrepreneurs
Creating Products That Sell!
New startups aim to help budding researchers with the click of a mouse <<
Great post on six shocks of entrepreneurship << could name a few more -
Arts Entrepreneurship: The Student Perspective
Guru, Deewar and My Lessons from Bollywood << entrepreneurial lessons from bollywood, I love this -

Other bits n bobs

DESIGN 21: Challenges Vote >> polution sucks @bogusky -
Film company explains Hitler meme takedown
Classroom Creativity

Is 3D here to stay?

Ricardo Fonseca — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:30:48 +0100

This post was fueled by some hardware coming out of Panasonic, but also to discuss the 3D trend of recent years. You all know 3D was a gimmick in the 50s and 60s that died off, cameback slightlyin the 80s, died off, and now in the last 3 years has had a big comeback.

The technology got better (if not perfect, of course), movies began shooting (or rather rendering) in 3D, and cinemas started converting their equipment to be able to project it. Plus, everybody got in the 3D wave and TV manufacturers also started making 3D TVs, broadcasting networks started 3D channels (the recent World Cup was an excuse to give this big push by them). The thing is, in cinema where this new age of 3D started, the percentage of 3D when 2D is available has been coming down ever since Avatar in December of last year - having horrible and rushed 2D to 3D conversions in the likes of Clash of the Titans and recently The Last Airbender doesn't help, at all. So what does this mean for 3D video? We don't know yet, but there has been some movement this week in the area. Yesterday, Panasonic announced the price for is 3D camera, the first one in the prosumer market. It will cost $1.400 and be available in October.

On the same note, the company announced today a 3D lens that will be able to work with still cameras, particularly micro four thirds (no price or availability yet).

What this really means is for the first time, this technology will be available to a wider audience of filmmakers.I mean, not particularly cheap (but cheaper) and not exactly the same kind of 3D you see in movies, but still.

And whether it's a trend or not, it's something we in the creative field should have a close eye on.

Vimeo users have a channel with plenty of examples. Youtube got to the point of having a dedicated section: Youtube 3D.

If you have one of those red-cyan glasses lying around, check out this video of viral hit makers Eepybird:

So what you think, as a creative?

Is this "cheapening" of tools something you look forward to experiment with 3D or dismiss it as a trend that will go away in a few years, just like before?

Is this something you'd like to use in one of your future projects even?

To finalize, and specially if you're a 3D hater, check out this awesome t-shirt from Threadless:

iPhone 4 HD - Shooting Revolution

Ricardo Fonseca — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:48:58 +0100

DSLRs brought a small revolution to filmmaking in bringing great HD video shooting capabilities for very reasonable prices to anyone wanting to make videos.

Now, a new "toy" in the hands of millions of people could make it go further: the iPhone 4.

Capable of shooting HD video (720p) and also of editing it in the device, there are already people out there using it in very creative ways.

One of the best examples and also one of the most shared videos this past week is a short by Michael Koerbel.

Just look at the picture quality, the dolly shots... amazing!

It had 486.000 views in one week, and got everyone talking about it.

But it's not the only this one that is making the rounds. Gizmodo had a post out today with several music videos also shot with the iPhone 4 (and both claiming to be the world's first).

This one, by band "flakjakt" also looks amazing.

Anothe one noteworthy and also claming to the be the world's first music video shot on an iPhone 4 is by The Anix.

Granted an iPhone 4 is not exactly what you'd call cheap and there are much more inexpensive HD capable cameras out there, but it's probably smaller and more ubiquitous than most gadgest, and it sold 1.7 million units in a few days, imagine if even a small percentage of those people would unleash some creativity!

It's certainly one more tool that people can use to make great videos. Can't wait to see more of these. Do you know any other? If so, let us know.

5 Great Tilt Shift Videos

Ricardo Fonseca — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:49:09 +0100

By now you've seen a tilt shift video somewhere online. You know, those kind of videos where real life locations and people seem like miniatures, usually amazing videos (which also attracts a lot of views).

Now there's a new project at Wooshii (worth $40.000) and we thought we'd put here a top 5 tilt shift videos list so you can get some inspiration.

First off, take a look at Bathtub. Done by Australian tilt shift maestro Keith Louti.

Awesome stuff right? Be sure to check out his page on Vimeo, a lot of other really cool tilt shift videos there.

Next up is a video by Sam O'Hare, with The Sandpit. It had 1.4 million views on Vimeo in 4 months, which is a lot in there.

The third example on our top 5 comes from Alta Media Productions in Paris, France: Toy Soldiers.

Next is the result of a Disney Parks effort, showcasing Walt Disney World in Florida "from another perspective" as they say on their description of the video.

So you see this type of technique isn't just being used for personal projects, commercial ones also.

Great title on this one also: A Model Day at Magic Kingdom.

Finally, our last but not least on the top 5 tilt shift videos, comes from a music video for Thom Yorke, Radiohead's frontman, done by Bent Image Lab.

It's another take on tilt-shift, using innovative methods (check the Vimeo page for the video for the description of the process), although mostly present on the first part of the video.

For the song "Harrowdown Hill", here's the music video:

So you see the use of tilt-shift has been from personal projects, to ads, passing by music videos, a lot of potential on this technique.

I hope this brought you some inspiration and and if you want to know more about it, check out the great discussion going on at our forum.

Q&A with Victor Navone (Pixar)

Ricardo Fonseca — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:14:34 +0100

This is already the 3rd round of PRO interviews, where you guys can submit questions to established professionals in the creative industry. For this round, we an animator from one of the most creative and successful studios in the world answer your questions: Victor Navone from Pixar, with credits extending several of their movies, including oscar winning Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Wall-E.

William Rockwell: How important was education in your resume? Not very, I'd say. In animation (and most creative fields) it's your portfolio or reel that counts most, and then your interview skills are the second most important. If you're work is great and you seem like a team player, an animation studio could really care less about where you got your degree from, or if you did at all. I have a degree in Fine Art, not in animation, and I've never received formal animation training.

William Rockwell: How long were you animating before getting a job at pixar? Was it hard to get accepted, and get a job? I started teaching myself animation on my spare time in 1998, and I was hired by Pixar in 2000. It was my first animation job, and prior to that I had never considered it as a career. Of course, this is an exceptional case, and I don't think any one could follow in my footsteps - not even me. There is a lot more competition out there for animation jobs now!

Nath: Whats your favorite software of choice? I really like Pixar's proprietary animation software. It's what I use 99% of the time, so I'm very comfortable with it. I use Maya for teaching, and I don't care for it very much. The graph editor drives me crazy! Back when I was starting out I used Animation: Master and I loved it. I haven't touched it in years, though, so I can't really say how much I would like it now.

Eammy: Can you mention any details about that super secret pixar animation software called Marionette? ;) Not really, but it's not much different from any other animation software. Same buttons, different places. The advantage is that we have a team of programmers dedicated to building the tools we need, and bug fixes get turned around pretty quickly. Also, we don't call it Marionette - I think that's just what PR calls it. We call it "menv" (pronounced "men-vee").

Nath: Do you stick with mainly 3d or 2d? All my work at Pixar is 3D, and I don't really have time (or desire) to do animation at home. I have very little 2D animation experience, but I do draw a lot, and I do lots of planning thumbnails for my 3D animation.

JoaoNeto: Would you like at some point in your career to work again in videogames design? No.

JoaoNeto: What is the your favorite character you've worked so far? Probably WALL-E. I like working with limited characters, and I think I had a good understanding of him.

MonikaEmkey: Who is the best: Woody or Buzz Lightyear? :) That depends what you mean by "best". I think we both know who would win in a fight! But as for my favorite, I prefer working with Woody. I think he has a more complex and nuanced personality, and I'm a fan of Tom Hanks.

Nath: Do you still do animations as a hobby outside of work just for fun? Not really. Between teaching and family life, I don't have a lot of time or energy left for side projects. I have some ideas, but I haven't worked on them seriously. Usually I prefer to play guitar or work on my digital photography - things that are still creative, but offer instant gratification.

Nath: Do you still freelance even though you have a job? The only kind of freelance I do is teaching-related. I mentor at AnimationMentor.com, and I sometimes travel and lecture at different schools and animation events.

Nath: What other skills do you have or want to pick up in the future? There are plenty of things I haven't animated yet, like animals. Outside of animation, I'd like to develop my photography and guitar skills. I also enjoy acting and singing, thought I don't have a lot of opportunities to do those.

Ricardo: Pixar is one of the most creative companies out there, if not the most, so being you there for several years now, what do you think are the key points in fuelling all this creativity (and for so many years straight). The company is run by creative people - John Lasseter and Ed Catmull - and not by business executives. They know how to make movies and how to support artists, and they're not willing to release mediocre films just for money. We have a very collaborative culture, a spirit of openness and communication between artists and departments. There's not as much politics and maneuvering as you will find in a typical Hollywood studio.

JoaoNeto: What 3 movies would you take to a desert island, in the following categories: a 2d animation movie, 3d animation movie, and live action movie? That's a nearly impossible question, so here are some random choices: The Iron Giant Toy Story Dr. Strangelove

RodrigoAbad: How should we animators deal with the improvements on mo-cap and "digital prosthetics" that are removing barriers between good performance and creative character designs? We all know that animation is a world on it's own, and shouldn't be replaced by motion capture, but knowing that many animators act first and animate on top of the performance, or even the realistic style of animation... how do you see all that, and how should we animators position our selves in order to keep our singularity? What kinds of learning, training and etc? Maybe I'm naive, but I'm not worried about the issues presented in these two questions. There will always be different styles of animation and production, and characters that simply can't be motion-captured. There will always be trends, and pure keyframe animation will move in and out of favor. The important things are to be adaptable, be a good actor, and challenge yourself. -

Great stuff! On Wooshii's behalf I'd like to thank Victor for his time for answering these and keep inspiring all of us with his work. Check his blog for some more cool stuff. Also, don't forget also to check out Pixar's latest "Toy Story 3", opening tomorrow, June 18th, in the US and soon on other countries. That's it for this round, check back our forum soon for the 4th round of PRO interview by Wooshii creatives.

Wooshii wins an award - woohoo

James Black — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:17:08 +0100

Wooshii were honoured to be awarded “Best Newcomer” at the Big Chip Digital Industry Awards 2010.

Wooshii fought off competition from an impressive shortlist of candidates to be named as the winner at the ceremony in Manchester on Thursday night.

The website, which only launched last October, has already built a thriving community of over 2500 of the world’s top rich media creatives.

The judging panel, made up of industry experts, described Wooshii’s success to date as “hitting the ground running, with world-class campaigns delivered straight out of the blocks.”

They were also impressed with the way that Wooshii “took a new approach to an old problem, using the unique properties of the internet to bring what was once only available to big companies with reach of any small or medium-sized business.”

After collecting the award, Wooshii’s three founders James Black, Sean Wilson and Fergus Dyer-Smith were all quick to dedicate the achievement to the members of the Wooshii community.

“We’re delighted to have won our first ever award, but we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the incredibly talented people who have joined the site since we launched”, Fergus explained.

“We’re very proud of our creative community and that’s why we want to dedicate the award to them. Hopefully it will be the first of many!”

HELP - Richard Williams - The Thief and the Cobbler

Fergus — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:00:28 +0100

So this grabbed my attention. Kickstarter is a pretty awesome site for all sorts of reasons. First off it reminds me very much of a site both co-founders at Wooshii tried a few years back called Wooshare. Wooshare became Wooshii in the end as Wooshare never quite knew what it was about.
Kickstarter on the other hand has nailed it. I thought in particlular the Wooshii community could help out with Documentary on Lost Animated Masterpiece "The Thief and the Cobbler"
This documentary aims to tell the story of the thirty-year-long production and tragic destruction of what was intended to be one of the greatest animated feature films of all time, Richard Williams' "The Thief and the Cobbler." Richard Williams is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most influential animators of all time. He is best known for being the director of animation on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," but he spent three decades of his life to create his magnum opus. Sadly, "The Thief" was never finished as its creator intended.

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Jonathan Winbush Wooshii Profile

Ricardo Fonseca — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:33:32 +0100

Hi everyone!
We recently had a new member join - Jonathan Winbush - with a particular set of skills and experience that we found extremely interesting and thought you guys would want some insight into this form of art that is making graphics for movie trailers. We also talk about movie titles, etc, so stick around.
Let's get it started, shall we?
How you got started in the business and all creative things? Originally I wanted to go to school to be a video game artist but since I lacked the drawing skills needed to be accepted in the school program I enrolled in the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s Motion Graphics / VFX B.A. program. When I graduated I was given an internship at Framework LA and stayed with them for about 3 years doing everything from broadcast packages, movie main titles, trailers, and even Blu-ray design.
What's the process like to create a motion picture trailer? You have storyboards on your portfolio, what part do they take on this process? Before you do anything in our business 98% of the time you need to present your ideas to be bought by the client. Storyboards and style frames are how you explain to the client what exactly you’re envisioning for their product. As you can see in this storyboard I did for Ironman (http://wooshi.com/v/3736) I show how my graphics would interact with the trailer and how I would set the tone for the spot.

What are the main challenges to create trailers? The biggest challenge is the hierarchy your stuff has to go through for approval and sometime with so many chiefs it can get pretty hectic. I’ve been in situations where the client picks one look and then I’m in the middle of animating that look and then someone in the chain puts a holt on it because they changed their mind and want to do a different look. It’s a part of the business and it’s what I get paid to do so I don’t mind but it can be hard sometimes because you’re always up against tight deadlines.

What are the different approaches form the creator's perspective to teaser trailers vs. full length trailers vs. TV spots? A teaser can vary. Most of the ones I’ve worked on like Ironman or Watchmen (http://wooshi.com/v/3759) the teaser are supposed to just hint at what the movie is about without revealing too much at that moment so it can be more graphically driven. A full length trailer you usually present style frames for the movie title of what it would look like then the rest of the trailer cards reflect that look. A lot of times for TV spots for movie they are just recycled graphics from the teaser or trailer. Sometimes they have new looks for TV spots but in my experience not a lot.

Can you talk us though a bit about a particular one you worked on, what the intentions were, the brief, etc.? Recently over the holidays while working with the Ether Design we did the trailer for the holiday film “It’s Complicated”. Since it was coming out on Christmas they wanted the TV spots to reflect the holiday season. The client wanted to somehow incorporate a present box with a bow untying into the promo spots. So we storyboarded several looks of how we could open up a present and use it to transition into footage. Once they picked a look we got cranking on animating and in the end everyone loved it except one person in the chain thought it looked too much like something the store Target would do in their commercials. So we worked on making everything more photo real and eventually the client bought off on everything. On top of that we had to also build all the title cards for all the actors, dates, etc…
How about titles, you have on your portfolio the Fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver Surfer titles, what was that about to work on? That was actually my very first professional project I’ve done. I was a recent graduate out of school and was working as an intern at Framework. They encouraged me to watch over the designers and animators shoulders to learn the business but I was too eager to jump in and bugged them every day to let me get my hands dirty. Eventually they said fine you want your chance here work on this and I ended up doing my first ever movie main title and it was a big one. I learned a lot working on this because I’ve never worked in 2k resolution before and coming from a pc background I always used 3d Studio max and since they was all mac they only used cinema 4d so I had to learn a whole new package on the fly which was very valuable to me. I worked a lot side some awesome animators and got my very first movie credit all as an intern. Soon after that they kept me on staff so I guess I did a good job lol.
Video and Rich Media powered by Wooshii.com
What movie in all movie history had you liked to cut a trailer for? I don’t do the editing I do all of the graphics and I integrate the footage from the cuts into the graphical world but anything comic book related always looks cool. If they ever made another Spawn movie I would love to work on that but more so doing the main and end title sequence.
We've focused on movies, but you've done a lot of work in TV and DVD/Blu-Ray. What are the particular challenges in that medium (and most fun parts also)? TV is always fun because a lot of networks allow you to be really creative so your allowed to truly be and artist and get pretty wild. TV show deadlines are way shorter than movie deadlines so you’re always on to the next show it seems like but it’s fun because you’re never really stuck on the same project for too long so it never gets old. Blu-ray was a cool experience because I got to work directly with Sony on all the titles I’ve been a part of and since it’s their technology and it was really new at the time I was told push the limits to see exactly how far they can push the Blu-ray technology. Since its all Java based we did a lot of trial and error with their engineers to figure out what can be done and what can’t be done for the menu animations.

Can you tell us what you are currently working on now? Right now I’m working directly with Warner Bros. Just last week my storyboard was picked to be the design for this big international project they are doing so I’m in the middle of animating that right now with another animator. So far it’s looking pretty dope some of my best work so I’ll definitely be posting it on Wooshi.com when it’s completed and cleared.
Got any dream projects? Yes I do actually; I really want to do the movie title sequences for the next Fast n Furious movie and the next Highlander movie. (Hint hint lol)
What would be your tips for people starting out? If you’re in school colab with other students since in the real world you will collaborate on bigger projects a lot so it’s good to learn how to work with others. Don’t be cocky or have an ego because the industry is smaller than you think and everyone is connected somehow and word gets around very fast. Be active on the design and animation sites because feedback is very valuable to becoming better in this field. Also don’t be offended when people say stuff about your work because some clients can tear you a new one and you kind of just need to take it and stride in order to get the job done.
Where do you see yourself in a few years’ time? The goal is to eventually have my own shop but for now I’m enjoying freelancing and meeting new artist all the time because it’s helped me grow as an artist. Visit my site for updates www.jonathanwinbush.com
I would like to say thanks to a few people/places also. NitrousVFX, HDRI 3D Magazine, The Ether Design, Dojo Motion, Buster Design, Arowana Films, Far East Movement, Warner bros, Sony, Framework, Happy Madison, Creative Asylum, Chad Bonano, Porter John, Chico Munson, Nate Howe, Harvest Films, My Ninja Clothing, Shinobi studios, Transparent Agency, Social Trust, my wife and kids. Sorry for the laundry list
Thanks again to Wooshi for this interview its greatly appreciated.
- Ha, great answers Jonathan! We'd like to thank you for your time and good luck with you projects, we're looking forward to see them.
Oh, and welcome to Wooshii!

Completed Project - Angels Den

Fergus — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:17:33 +0100

Thought I might start giving you some feedback on pitches that had completed. So first one is an old one
AngelsDen you may recall were looking for a short humorous promo video for their investors service. Well they got one in the form a TreyCook production
He’s a bit of a regular on Wooshii
Take a look see what you think. I love it. Nice work Trey

Oh and of course if you are a business looking to rais capital then be sure to head over to AngelsDen.co.uk

Fede Alvarez - From YouTube to Hollywood

Ricardo Fonseca — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:02:23 +0100

Recently you guys had the opportunity to ask some questions to Fede Alvarez, a filmmaker from Uruguay who is soon making is feature film debut after having a short film of his become a viral hit (a career of making commercials). Many of you did, and like last time, we were also supposed to submit only 10 but couldn't really turn you down! So here we go for some answers:

Fergus: Are you self taught? If so where does one start? 100% self taught in everything related to computers and animation. But I went to the Communications university in Uruguay, that its like a film school but more theoretical than practical...

JoaoNeto: What commercial did you enjoyed the most doing, and why? And also (you prolly can't anwser) would you prefer your upcoming movie with Sam Raimi to be spoken in spanish or english? Some times, the ones I enjoyed the most, are the ones with no SFX on them! ;) Because its always great to do something different to usual for a change... The project its gonna be spoken in both languages.

Chris Lee: I'd like to know a little more about the giant robot vid that launched your career... what was your motivation? Inspiration? Who did you work with? How long did it take? We where inspired by dutch short "Tyrants from Afar". It took me and Mauro Rondan, about 6 months of 8hours a day work. But that time wasn't a continuous plan. We start in 2006, we abandoned the project during 2007, and almost restarted from scratch in 2008. We got the final version by november last year... We couldn't have done it the way we did back in 2006, the software wasn't there yet. New and updated stuff like FumeFx and RayFire made it possible.

Nath: What are some of your influences? 90ties fanzines, Spielberg, Terry Gilliam, early David Fincher stuff, Anime and StarWars.

Nath: What kind of things were you into as a child, like did any of your hobbies then effect what you do now? Since Im 7, and I got my first camera, my hobbie is to shoot stuff. I did stop motion short movies with my playmobils, and starwars shorts with my action figures collection. That probably had a huge impact on what I do...

Nath: When did you realize you wanted to get into this type of industry? 6 months ago maybe..... Before that, I use to fantasize with the idea but it wasn't something that I was aiming to, or having plans to get in... If you live in Uruguay, you consider getting in to hollywood industry as much as you consider joining the nasa.... Its seems like its not gonna happened tomorrow...

Nath: How did you get started in the industry? Did you just get discovered or did you have internships, preexisting jobs, etc. Not at all. It was friday, I posted the short video on youtube the day before, I was thinking about selling my car... And, out of nowhere, Hollywood start calling... That was pretty much it. Less than two weeks after that, I was signing a 30 million dollar contract here in hollywood. Amen... [ed. note: the following is a video Youtube launched a few days ago to celebrate its 5th year anniversary and to show lifes that were changed by it, and explains in further detail the previous answer]

Nath: What other skills do you have that others may not know about? For example do you paint or play an instrument. I studied 13 years of classic piano. That was meant to be my career until I turned 19 and my piano teacher kicked me out of the class... Now I'm learning some jazz too. I also fly an RC plane. FPV mode, where you put a small camera inside the plane, so you fly whatching a screen in your laptop... Kickass hobbie let me tell you. (rangevideo and hobbyking its all you need to build your own)

William Rockwell: How did your video get 6 million views? Did you promote it, or did it just go "naturally viral?" What is your favorite method for promoting a video, and getting it seen? I started by sending it to motionographer.net, and they posted it. It went naturally viral from there, Of course the deal news helped a lot. But the video got 200.000 views in the first 5 days anyway. Major factor, half of the views are posts in Facebook...

Ricardo: If you were stranted on a desert island and could only have 3 films with you, which would they be... in the following categories: * a sci-fi movie: Back To the Future 2 * a Sam Raimi movie: Spiderman 2 * a spanish language movie: Muertos de Risa (Alex de la Iglesia)

Gary Cutter: Do you think its better to have broad skills when starting out, a kind of jack of all trades, that way keeping everything fresh new and exciting and a larger potential client list, or do you think its more imprortant to specialise in one area as soon as possible and create a distincive style that you become known for? What worked for me at least, was starting like a Jack of all trades (trades related to music, video, graphic design, animation) and then eventually, specialise in one area, so people can understend what you are.

Gary Cutter: Do you still activly seek work and promote youself with webfolios and social networks or do you find that the work now finds you? I was trying to "promote" my short videos and music videos before starting working in this movie, sure.

Gary Cutter: Through the experience you have gained and the huge sucess you have had, if you could offer one single piece of advice to somebody new trying to get noticed in the industry what would it be? Come up with a unique idea, or do a short movie that you think its unique... I mean, thats whats hollywood its seeking now all the time... Video and Rich Media powered by Wooshii.com
Ricardo: Given you background in being hands-on with animation, and guessing in the feature yo won't be doing much of that, will it be hard for you not to do so? Great question... It is hard yes, I really enjoy doing sfx and stuff... But well, I dont know, I think that if I have the time, I can always do some stuff in my spare time... I hope I'll keep doing it. -

Great answers!

So there you have it for one more Pro Interview series! We'd like to thank Fede for his time off his busy schedule for answering these questions, and of course wish him the best of luck with his feature film and future projects.

Thanks also for all the creatives who submitted questions.

Music Videos on Wooshii - Deadmau5

Fergus — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:39:07 +0100

I am really excited about this. A music project that looks to be really exciting just gone live on Wooshii.

Deadmau5 recently sold out 3 nights at Brixton academy and getting is getting some serious exposure at the moment. (Check him in Wired and a ton of music mags.) Any way EMI have put his next music video on Wooshii.

It s a short turn around but should to prove to be exciting. Deadmau5 is following is growing all the time (400 000 followers on Facebook alone at last look) The winner who gets to make the video is going to get some serious exposure.

So go take a look here - http://wooshii.com/projects/113/create-the-official-some-chords-video/

In the meantime we have some projects closing in real soon. Would be great to see our regulars stomping up pitches for these guys... http://wooshii.com/projects/

From Short Movie to Feature Film

Ricardo Fonseca — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:42:30 +0100

Over the years there have been many short films and even commercials that have jumped their lengh and either became features films, or the vehicle to their directors to direct a feature film. In this post, we'll see some noteworth ones in the recent past, and some video of the features films inspired by them.

First, a south-african director by the name of Neill Blomkamp, with some very cool commercials work and short films, being the most know one "Alive in Joberg". Due to this, he was chosen by Peter Jackson to helm the Halo movie adaptation, which fell apart but gave him the opportunity to adapt his own short for a feature film. This became the very much praised District 9. Let's first have a look at the short film
.
And now, the trailer for District 9.

Next, another one with the 9 at the title. Directed and animated by Shane Ackerman (who also has a credit on the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie), this 10 minute short movie (which follows) was the basis for the feature film of the same name "9", also directed by him and produced by Tim Burton.

The trailer for the animated feature film:

While we're talking about Tim Burton, while he was at Disney as an animator, he was given the opportunity to direct two short films to prove his skills has a director. One was the stop-motion animation "Vincent". The other, "Frankenweenie", which is also in the works to become a feature film. Here's the whole short:

This next example is of a different kind. It's a series of commercials from insurance brand Geico in the US, wich featured cavemen characters in our world and were rather successful. So TV exec had the idea to adapt it to a TV show, which both short-lived and troubled TV show

.

Here's a clip from the pilot of the TV show.

Last, bur certainly not least, we have Fede Alvarez. This director from Uruguay with also an extensive commercials work, made a short movie that went viral, and a few weeks later the word got out that he had landed a deal with Sam Raimi's production company for a feature film. The movie won't be based on the short, but was probably the basis to get the deal, so let's have a look
: Video and Rich Media powered by Wooshii.com
The trailer for the feature film should be coming maybe next year or 2012! And remember, we have an interview with Fede coming up soon, with questions submitted by you guys, so keep your eyes open for it.

Have Faith: 10 tips for getting the most from Crowdsourcing sites

Fergus — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:03:58 +0100

Crowdsourcing sounds like a great idea but venturing in to the world can be a little daunting. Having used sites like crowdSpring and elance for many years and now sitting on the other side at Wooshii I thought I would post some of the things I have learned that should help you make the most of them.

1. It is all in the brief – What do you really want? This is the classic GIGO. The better your brief the better the end result, especially in creative projects. As a good friend of mine put it… “Creatives solve problems. Unless you can define the problem then they are just trying to solve a mess”

From my own experience it doesn’t matter whether you are sourcing a coder or a graphic designer the issue is the same. Provide them with as much info (but it keep it to the point) as you can and concentrate on your outcomes not the process. What you really want is the solution to a problem. Accurately describe that and you can’t go far wrong.

2. Leap of Faith Taking the plunge into Crowdsourcing can be a little daunting first time round. It feels a little foreign sending your work off into the webosphere. Believe me though you will get used to it. The trick is to remind yourself of the actual low risks at play. What is the worse that could happen? Take $300 logo project if it all went horribly wrong, (and it won’t) what do you loose? $300 at the most.

3. Give new members a chance If you have small non critical projects that you are prepared to crowdsource then try working with new members of a platform. What do I mean? Every platform will have established users with track records that you can check. These are great for projects that you need an air of certainty too BUT they will generally cost you more or won’t pitch on smaller projects. You will often find that new users with no track record will go the extra mile and charge you less just to get off the starting blocks on a system.

4. Consider language In a good deal of cases language is not a problem. In others such as complex website functions, being able to communicate point can become extremely frustrating if there is a language a barrier that you have to jump first. My tips
a. Is your project language dependant, visual projects often are not but complex functions or writing projects could well be
b. Use the evidence before you to determine a user’s language capabilities. What was their pitch like?

5. Ask for specific responses in your brief. Some of the larger sites unfortunately have users that will just pitch on anything blind, taking no time to read your brief. You need to weed these out. In some cases it is possible to ask for a specific response. For example the way I manage this is to ask all submissions to include the word “Banana” in their pitch. Simple but effective

... Points 6 -10 to follow

Profile of the week - JR Canest

Ricardo Fonseca — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:48:30 +0100

This week's creative we're learning more about is JR Canest aka Jorge R. Canedo Estrada (http://wooshii.com/Jrcanest). Originally from Boligia, JR is now based in Canada and is mostly a motion designer, having had a video made for Google gone viral a few weeks ago. More on that later. Let's get things started then.

How did you get started with creative things? I think we all have this capacity to "create" things, although it would me more like "produce" with the resources and talents we have, some people are creative in their way of writing, some in the way they talk, home made postcards, decorating a cake or a bedroom, drawings in their math notebook... for me to create things was something i needed and still need to do constantly, i think this started when i was a kid when i used to ask just for legos for christmas to build something new or to destroy my remote control cars to take the "engine" out and do something new with it... i always wondered the "why" and "how" of things and this curiosity made me want to "create" things and it's something that i love doing.

What's the video you created that you're most proud of? In terms of design wise and hard work, I would say my title sequence "Crazy Enough"... but in terms of the video that pretty much changed my life, even though i didn't know anything abut design it's the one that i made for the scholarship "VFS - What Matters To You/Me", all the things that happened because of that video is just something that i would undoubtedly describe as blessing.

What Matters to You // Me? from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

What video you wish you had made? LOTS, I love to see the best of the best to really humble myself and realize how far i am from the big ones, it's really weird the day i don't see a video that takes my breath away... i don't really think "I wish i made that"... i refer to think "Can't wait to do something like that"

What's your creative process? Hardest question always... it's always different, I mean, the "classic" method is always there, brief, concept, research, storyboards, look frames, animation and so on... but really the ideas always comes from different places, it's a different process every time.

What is your dream project? A project that more than selling something it's trying to make people act, one that pushes yourself to create the most amazing thing ever to solve a problem that will help people. in a team that is passionate about their work and willing to give their best no matter what.

What's your favourite software or hardware for your work? I enjoy After Effects so much although i want to explore more the analog world, let the computer rest for a bit.

Which software or hardware doesn't exist, but you wish it would? I think most of motion designers will agree with me in this, a software that render times are insanely fast and doesn't crash so much.

Tips for making good pitches (and winning them)? Ii actually need advice on this but i think is very important to show that you really love what you're doing and you'll take the next project as the best project you ever had.

Tips for getting views? be part of the community, don't expect to receive if you don't give anything to it.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? geographically, i have no idea, but i would really like to be involved in a high leve design company (if not my own) doing what i love and at the same time helping out some kind of NGO. Ok, great answers. But now, let's delve deeper into the Google Voice video (now with 150.000 views), IF you can actually talk about it! Let's take a look at the video first

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

How was the process? Was it a pitch-like competition or were you approached by Google directly? It was quite unexpected, one day i just got an email from Google asking me if i was to make a video for them... just like that. Just a side note: on a link Jorge sent me of another interview of him and Kasey Lum, the other creative behind the Google voice, they say this one video they made was what made Google call them. Take a look:

Growing Up from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

Was there a very precise brief or you had freedom to do what you wanted? The concept was already established and a rough script as well, we pretty much started from there developing the whole feeling of it and the visuals, I was working with my friend Kasey Lum in this video, he is Canada and I am in Mexico right now so it was all via webcam and all that, we had various "meetings" to see how the process was going on and to have some brainstorms.

How long did it take to make? The first part, just the storyboards took like 2 1/2 weeks, after that all the animation in total was like 3 1/2 weeks.

What were the most dificult aspects to make/shoot? There were no really hard parts of it, we knew it was going to be quite simple and we worked like that, maybe the last days with a lot of render problems was the hardest part, bad projection of render times. most of it was animated inside After Effects and Cinema 4D so we had a lot of control of it, a lot of it was also animated frame by frame and some green screen footage but nothing too complex.

Were you aware many google videos had gone viral before and were you expecting this one too? It's Google, everything they do is viral and we had a small idea of what this video would bring but i think we had more projection than expected.

Alright, that's it. Like always, I'd like to thank Jorge for the time to answer these. You can check out his Wooshii profile at http://wooshii.com/Jrcanest and his blog at http://jrcanest.tumblr.com/

Freelancer survival tips

Fergus — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:42:16 +0100

Long time no post! I know I know… no excuses but the truth is the Wooshii community and projects have been growing so fast we are running at 100 mph just to stand still.

So here ya go a quick post to start us off again

Fast company, (possibly the best business magazine with the exception of Wired) have a great little post on Freelancer survival tips.

Our business is run from a whole bunch of remote workers, (in fact our whole model is based on freelance and remote workers). We (the Wooshii team) really live it. We work from 4 different countries 1000’s of miles apart and so far it works really well.

We are all based in Europe so meeting up is a doddle and each person has their own little support network wherever they are based. Plenty of other really great companies work similarly, (37 Signals springs to mind, more on them in another post) but for us not only do we benefit from many of the attributes of remote working but we also get to feel the pain and pleasure that our community of buyers and creatives feel which makes for a better product.

“The first question every employee asks when they find out you work from home is: How do you avoid the distractions of being at home? If no one's stopping you from wandering into the living room midday to watch Days of Our Lives, what motivates you to work instead?”

I love this question and hear it all the time. You know what… I love what I do more than Days of Our Lives…. a lot more. If TV is a distraction then either you’re doing the wrong thing or get rid of the TV….

Anyway here is the full post http://www.fastcompany.com/article/work-smart-freelance-survival-skills

Read today: http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/01/23/beyond-passion-the-science-of-loving-what-you-do/#more-705

18 of the Top 20 viral videos are Music Videos

Ricardo Fonseca — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:47:19 +0100

This is not a recent trend. In fact, most of the top most seen videos on Youtube in 2009 were also music videos. But I've never seen such a big predominace of this types of videos over other types. So, in the past 24 hours, we have:

1 - Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris - Baby (Vidéo Promo) - 62,130,068 views
2 - Lady Gaga - Telephone (Official Explicit Version) ft. Beyoncé - 39,888,912 views
3 - Rihanna : Rude Boy (Official Video) - 33,350,065 views
4 - Justin Bieber - Never Let You Go - 8,931,639 views
5 - Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (Official Music Video) - 238,127,269 views
6 - Timbaland - If We Ever Meet Again ft. Katy Perry - 8,335,008 views
7 - Justin Bieber - One Time - 66,171,000 views
8 - B.o.B - Nothin' On You ft. Bruno Mars [Official Video] - 3,673,224 views
9 - Owl City - Fireflies - 13,435,393 views
10 - We Are The World 25 For Haiti - Official Video - 37,379,683 views
11 - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind (Official Music Video) - 41,946,259 views
12 - Timbaland - Carry Out ft. Justin Timberlake - 6,515,376 views
13 - Old Spice | Flex - 410,567 views This is one of the non-music video virals, an Ad by Old Spice being shared a lot since yesterday:

But let's continue with the list, shall we?

14 - Aerosmith - I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing - 57,620,193 views
15 - Iyaz "Replay" Prequel Music Video - 21,586,503 views
16 - Miley Cyrus - When I Look At You - 3,735,728 views
17 - Owl City - Vanilla Twilight - 2,568,100 views
18 - Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway - 13,416,689 views
19 - Jason Derulo - Whatcha Say - Official Video - 52,891,691 views
20 - He Lives: Testimonies of Jesus Christ - 88,059 views So what to make of this?

It's pretty clear that music videos have a lot of viral potential, particularly when it's from an already big name in the music industry. Although it doens't have to be when the video has creativity, originality, and artistry above average. Sometimes, the two go together, like in the amazing OK Go video we already featured here but will show one more time:

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Interview with Keith Sintay - (Animator - Tron Legacy)

Ricardo Fonseca — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:20:23 +0100

Hello creatives! You might have noticed a few weeks ago we posted on our forum the amazing opportunity to ask some questions to Keith Sintay, a professional animator who has worked in such movies as Pocahontas, Surf's up, and now working on TRON: Legacy just to name a few. To refresh your memory, here's his impressive showreel:

Keith Sintay Animation Showreel from Keith Sintay on Vimeo. Some of you have taken up this challenge and gave it a try with some questions and the deal was the 10 most voted ones would be submitted. But, since there were 13 submitted questions, and the last ones were tied up, all of them were submitted as a bonus for those who made them. So here are the answers:
Question 1 (submitted by Nath): How did you break into the animation business when you were first starting out? When I was a young kid, I saw on tv a pencil test that Richard Williams was doing for a movie called Raggedy Anne and Andy. That pencil test showed drawings, DRAWINGS moving, one after the other creating MAGICal movement across another drawing of the background. I was amazed. I fell in love with the look of a pencil test. So I started to make flip books and tried to find out everything I could about making an animated cartoon of my own. Back then, in the 70s of course there was no internet or anything, so I kept drawing, but never got to make my own animation film- the closest were the flip books.
Many years later, after highschool, my first year in college (Central Michigan University) several things happened that ignited that dream again in me. My sister Laurie happened to be working at Walt Disney World in Florida, she sent me the Illusion of Life (the animator's bible!) and told me that her hairdresser's husband was an animator there at the studio in Florida. At the same time, I had been drawing again, doing designs for campus events and tshirt logos, sorority images for fliers etc. I realized I should be drawing for a living instead of studying (HAH!) international marketing. So, I loaded up on figure drawing classes, and I drew and I learned and I studied anatomy and developed tunnel vision: I wanted to be in the internship at Walt Disney Feature animation.
I drew and drew and finally got the nerve to send in a portfolio. I was rejected 3 times (each time receiving great critiques) and worked on my line quality and structure and anatomy. So, approx 3 years after sending my first portfolio I was selected out of thousands for one of 14 spaces in the internship. I was, needless to say, over the moon. I moved to Florida, and started my career.
Even after getting the internship, there was still no guarantee of getting a job there. Fortunately everything worked out and I was offered a position on Pocahontas. Awesome!
(ED. NOTE: don't know if this is the pencil test Keith was talking about but we found this from Cartoon Brew on Youtube, seems like it is)
Question 2 (submitted by Paddy): Have you turned down any jobs on creative grounds? How do you make those decisions?
No. I know people who won't work on "R" rated movies or may disagree with something that might oppose their morals, but for me, I love it all. In films, particularly the films I have worked on, there are so many different parts; story, lighting, live action, storyboarding, layout, backgrounds etc etc that you get wrapped up in the whole process and just have a blast with every shot you get.
Question 3 (submitted by Nath): Is it tough to have to animate in different styles and getting it to look as it should and not as your own personal style?
Sometimes it is difficult to go from "cartoony" to "realistic", you have a tendency to make the realistic too cartoony and vise versa in the beginning, but eventually you find your pace and you are able to do the job to the best of your ability. As far as personal style, as an animator, if you are working on Features, you leave your personal style at the door. Personal touches or movements might creep in of course- I never feel restricted by style- but there is no room for personal style in Features. It has to look like it was drawn (animated) by one person. Part of my job is to make the characters look like the "model sheets" and keep them on "model".
Question 4 (submitted by Eammy): What do you find to be the most effective way to animate?
I will address this as a CG animator. A short while back, I did a webinar for Animation Mentor on my workflow. This outlines how I use Linear to animate and how I treat the images as drawings and I how I try to create the poses, timing and movement with as little graph editor use as possible. Have a look: http://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/replay/20090422workflow/workflow1.html
Question 5 (submitted by Chris Lee) - How strict is the script from the time the film is written to the time you are animating it? can it change dramatically? and also how closely do you work alongside the director, editor, writer, storyboard artist, character designers etc. How does the team work efficiently?
The script is usually locked by the time we are animating our shots, but there are ALWAYS changes. So, depending on the changes, your shot may change or be cut from the movie completely; its a shame, but part of the process. You have to remember the big picture do what you can to make the film the best it can be, and sometimes that involves sacrifice. On an "all animated" feature, you work directly with the director; they launch you on your shots and you get notes or approval from them directly during dailies there in the theater. On a Visual FX movie, the director is more removed, and you tend to get your approvals through the animation Supervisor or animation Director. Working with other departments is a little segregated, mostly you work with the riggers if a rig can't do what you want, or if you need a control added. But the story boards are usually set and you add your own personality through the acting and making it look believeable.
Question 6 (submitted by myself): What advice would he give animators starting their careers?
Be humble! Accept the shot you are given-even if it is a background character, or something simple and make it the BEST you can. It will help you shine and you will be given more difficult shots after you prove yourself. Don't walk in and expect to do "A" level shots on your first film or project. Learn as much as you can about movement, never stop studying or observing. Don't be afraid to seek advice from other more experienced animators at the studio.
Question 7 (submitted by William Rockwell) - My question would be, has anyone you have heard of made it that big without a college degree? Can someone make it there with Talent alone?
YES! I know MANY MANY MANY People who have been self taught. The REEL is the thing, if your reel is AMAZING, what degree or school you may have attended is secondary. As long as you know what you are doing.
Question 8 (submitted by ScottW): If I can double-dip for another question, now that I've seen the new TRON LEGACY trailer: One of the most startling (and pleasant) surprises in the look of this film is the familiar but somewhat subdued mood and ambiance in visual style. Consistent but evolved. Was this a specific look designed from the start with animators like yourself, and can you tell us how this visual style was accomplished in your work?
Sorry, but I am not at liberty to talk about projects currently in production. (ED. NOTE: this doesn't mean we can't put the latest Tron:Legacy trailer that blew everybody away! Check it out)
Question 9 (submitted by JoaoNeto): Do you think there's no more room for 2D animation as blockbuster movies, and if you were given the oportunity to work in a 2D project, would you consider it easier or less challenging?
The story has always been the thing. If the story is well told, pulls emotion and is b, it doesn't matter the medium in which it is presented. It could be stop motion, 2d, paper cutout, flash, or CG; if the story is great, the film will be seen. On TV, Family Guy and Simpsons aren't feature quality animated, but they are tremendously popular because of the writing. It's always been that way. What a lot of "new" studios fail to realize is that its not flashy CG effects and lighting nor great animation that will keep people coming to the theaters, it's the story. Period. I have worked on quite a few Traditionally animated (2d) features, and I would welcome the chance to work on one again. To me, it's about creating the performance, whether it is with puppets, CG or drawings.
Question 10 (submitted by myself): What made you change from 2D to 3D, personal choice or the economics of animated movies (ie lots less 2d movies being made)? And how was it adapting to a different medium?
It was simply a matter of wanting to animate, and the fact that 2d was being edged out by CG. See my answer to question 9. I just like to animate.
Question 11 (submitted by Doug Warner): Please tell us a few details about the animation work you're doing for Tron Legacy. Is the much loved Yori (as portrayed by Cindy Morgan) from the original Tron returning for a digital cameo? What are your thoughts on why she hasn't already been included with the other two returning stars of Tron: Jeff Bridges & Bruce Boxleitner.
Sorry, I am not at liberty to talk about projects that are currently in production. (Ed just to show we did ask)
Question 12 (submitted by myself): How does it feel to be working on this movie (Tron:Legacy), and what you think of the original Tron?
I love working on such an anticipated movie. I remember the original fondly. I loved the video game.
Question 13 (submitted by Eamonn Callaghan): What programs would you use for 2d animation, not for any animator, but you?
At home, I use Digicel Flipbook. http://www.digicelinc.com/ It is very similar and even better in many ways than the pencil test programs at Disney and Dreamworks. Other than that, I use paper, a pencil and a drawing disc with a light under it. I made a down shooter from my webcam to capture the images. Good luck to all of you! Keith Sintay http://www.ketihsintay.com

---- Alright guys that's it. What amazing and insightful answers these were. We can't thank Keith enough for taking the time off his busy, busy schedule for this, we are truly honoured. Check out his site for news and future projects, it's well worth keeping an eye. On behalf of Wooshii, I'd like to thank Keith once more and wish him good luck with his future projects.

This week #5 - Viral Review

Ricardo Fonseca — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:39:59 +0100

Back with another week in virals review. (sorry a little late)

Ok Go's video is still going strong with 7.5 milliono views, and the most shared video during the past week. A few new trailers have also gone viral, like the new from the Twilight Saga - Eclipse, and the awesome Tron: Legacy one (don't forget we an interview with questions submitted by you guys with one of the animators on the movie - answers coming real soon!).

So what else is new and noteworthy in virals this week? First and foremost, I'd like to point out one by Wooshii members Seedwell aka Pantless Knights with a spoof of a Jay-Z song feature Alicia Keys. It's becoming a geek hymn and it's great at that. Take a look:

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

240.000 views in 4 days.

That Pedigree ad that shot dogs at 1000 fps is also still strong at the viral charts, but another great new entry is this video from BMW. It's an old trick but done in an unexpected manner, and got 1.4 million views in a week.

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

The Embrace Life seat belt campaign as surfaced a few weeks ago but is still also being shared a lot, and particularly this week. It's a great work of simplicity: great simple concept, great simple exectution, perfect result:

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

Another great detail about this is that it was made for a a public organism in the UK - the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership - so people can see virals are not just for private companies and brands. Now approaching the 3 million views.

Finally, we have a very strange video, and strangely hypnotic (both the visuals and the music) that I can't stop watching. It was made by animator Cyriak on Youtube and it has been slowly crawling it's way to the top charts since it was uploaded 2 days ago, already with 176.000 views.

Take a look:

There you have it, another week in virals. Once again, if you'd like to point out a viral from this week, comment away. Till next week!

Link Roundup 6 - Crowdsourcing, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Video

Fergus — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:47:17 +0100

Crowdsourcing
Profiting in the Idea Economy
6 Worst Case Scenarios of Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing in Africa
Beyond the Call Center
Another *new* ad agency. Crowdsourcing Social Innovation and Sustainability Challenges
Harvard-Based Crowdsource Project Seeks New Diabetes Answers
New Crowdsourcing Model Lets Agencies and Printing Companies Harness Crowdsourcing
The Do-First Work Ethic
How to crowdsource a girlfriend
SETI Turns To Crowd Sourcing
The Role of Crowdsourcing and Mobile in Post-Conflict Development
Beer + Crowdsourcing = Happy Customers! - crowdsourcing before crowdsourcing

Entrepreneurshi/ Business
Should You Be An Entrepreneur?
Finding Innovation in Every Corner
Nature vs Nurture and Entrepreneurship
Bootstrapping your way to success
5 thoughts for startups and small business on managing the work vs. home wrestling match
Can Entrepreneurship Change the World?
For those start-ups running their own PR
Couldn't have said it any better so I won't

Video
Top 10 Reasons to Use Online Video for Your Business
Using Viral Video to Boost Sales

Marketing
KLM comfort << cclever, clever
Dream Job: Interview with Film Graphics Designer Eric Rosenberg
Are we square? << really great way for anyone to take credit card payments on their mobile
Your Business Is Worthless if It Depends on You

This Week #4 - Viral Review

Ricardo Fonseca — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:57:06 +0100

Most weeks we see lots of music videos in the most shared lists. But this was even stronger, and was clearly dominated by two music videos, both of which were released almost at the same time. The first one was the new video for Gorillaz -Stylo, which immediately got the attention of the internet, getting 1.1 million views so far on Youtube, but it certaily has more since it's on other services like we're showing it here:

Gorillaz ft. Mos Def & Bobby Womack - Stylo Enviado por indarnb. - Ver os últimos vídeos de musica em destaque Amazing video, like we're used to coming from this band. And the other video that dominated the week is from another band that we're used to getting great views. Their career was almost launched due to a viral video, one that now has more than 60 million views on Daily Motion, and now they've done it again. With an incredible Rube Goldberg machine, they gone to the top viral video charts and got 3.4 million views in mere 3 days! If you haven't already, take a look:

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
I said they have dominated this past week but the truth is, they're still dominating it right now, and for sure will continue in the next days. Other noteworthy viral videos this week were a Pedigree ad with great slow motion and dogs catching treats. People love seeing animals, particularly cats and dogs, so being as good as it is, no wonder it has gone viral (and now we've seen virals for pretty much everything, even dog food!)

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
Finally, we have a great stop motion lego animation that started going viral yesterday. It's fan made for a competition, like most stop-motion videos it displays the great deal of effort gone into it, and shows great filmmaking. Have a look:

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
And that's it for this week. If you saw something really interesting and noteworthy going viral this week, tell us about it in the comments. Till the next week in review in virals!

This Week #3 - Viral Review

Ricardo Fonseca — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:11:08 +0100

Hi, back with another review of the week in virals.

The high school student video (A story of pretty much everything) is still strong at number two of the viral video chart, being the first the video for We are the World - Haiti. Right below it is a video that went viral for Windows Phone 7 series operating system. With the same feel as many Google virals, Microsoft scored one with 600.000 views in one week.

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
The Parision love video by Google is also still strong, going already on more than 4 million views, and a some numbers below is T-shirt war, a great stop motion video by comedy duo Rhett and Link and directed (and edited) by Youtube user and Wooshii member Mistery Guitar Man.

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

It has now 1.8 million views. Of reference is the first ever Youtube video that has been shared a lot this week. If you never seen it, don't expect something exciting!

Google Buzz videos are still hot, the mashup that unites 25 top songs of 2009 too, and to close this off we'll leave you with yet another Google video, one that has gone viral since yesterday and done by Wooshii member Jr. Canest . All in all a great week for Wooshii creatives! Take a look:

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

If you want to talk about other noteworthy viral of this past week, tell us something in the comments. Until next week!

60 Seconds With - Chris Lee

Ricardo Fonseca — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:38:19 +0100

We're back with another profile of one of our creatives. At the end of last week a somewhat strange, peculiar video started getting the attention of Vimeo users. It was a video for a Wooshii project done by member Chris Lee (and non-member Paul Storrie). So we thought of profiling Chris this week (http://wooshii.com/wwwthisischrisleecouk) and get some insight from the whole process from him. Chris is based on London, UK, and has graduated in 2009 at Central Saint Martins with BA Hons in Graphic Design: Moving Image.

How did you get started with creative things? With passion.

What's the video you created that you're most proud of? Maybe the 30 second Barnardo's ad. It started off as an entry for Kodak student commercial awards 2009, I was working with two talented guys-Tim Keeling & Minsu Song. We did alot of research and exploration into the problem that we were dealing with and I think that by the end of the project, the final concept that we developed was truly heart felt. I think the execution could be improved to really reinforce the concept. If I could shoot it again, I wouldn't shoot on 16mm film. I found it quite restrictive. Not whilst digital is indefinitely catching up.
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
What video you wish you had made? I would quite like to make something really unique and really engaging so I guess there is nothing out there quite like it...yet.

What's your creative process? erm i think i wrote a whooole lot on this in the wooshii forum but to sum it all up... Live your idea but stay analytical/critical. stay aware.

What is your dream project? At the moment, perhaps to create a music video for a song that really inspires me.

What's your favourite software for your work? Computer software is quite simply tools, thats like saying whats your favourite spanner. However, the camera has always been a good tool. Photography is important to me.

Which software/hardware doesn't exist, but you wish it would? A camera in my eye that takes photos when I blink.

Tips for making good pitches (and winning them)? Research. Know your target audience and show it. Good/clear illustration. Clarify your direction. Have a vision.

Tips for getting views? Plan exactly what you do and who exactly for.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Dead. Live for the moment!

So that's the set of questions we have been giving to out, but we all this interest in the Wooshii video, it would be cool to know some additional stuff about the project, so we gave him even more questions!
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
How did you come up with the concept? Firstly, I decided to team up with a Mr. Paul Storrie. (I had worked with him before on a low budget short called 'the meeting') We always shared a similar sense of humour and interest in bringing ideas to life. We met a number of times and really developed what we wanted to explore and why. Some crazy ideas we were close to going with. Too many infact but we kept going until we felt we had found the best idea. The concept of fishing came about as a joke at first but it was strangely appealing. The idea was aesthetic, simple and not like anything I had seen before. Nearer the end of the project, we had the idea for a whole campaign based around different techniques of catching a meeting. Our starting point was obviously our brief but it really evolved around a rather intriguing love/hate work relationship between creatives and businesses we had always been interested in. One which we had seen in many instances online. I think this blog sums it up from the creatives point of view- http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com Also, I think that our current unemployed status was definite subconscious inspiration!

Did it change much from concept to execution? The idea didnt change at all. The narrative structure was storyboarded which remained the basic skeleton for the film. (attached to email is original storyboard) Some minor things changed. We got rid of alot of stuff.

What were the most difficulties you had shooting it? Location and actors. The production was difficult on such a small budget but this is all part of the creativity. We spent alot of time searching for the right locations. All the actors are creatives- illustrators, designers, artists etc, some recent graduates currently looking for work. This definitely brings a haunting realism to the film.

How much time did it take to shoot? The weather was a big problem. It snowed a number of times on organised shoots (There is even remains of snow and ice on the roof in the film) We would sometimes go out and get a shot we thought was missing even after starting the edit. All in all, too much time.

What was it like having this much interest on Vimeo on a work of yours? Quite exciting indeed. Alright, great stuff! We're trying to embed here the storyboard (which is awesome) and will have it here as soon as possible.

Thank you very much to Chris for taking the time to answer all these questions for making a great video for Wooshii.

This Week #2 - Viral Review

Ricardo Fonseca — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:59:06 +0100

Past is the iPad presentation (in viral content time, one week is a long time), but still in the top 5 most shared videos of the week, 3 of them are about it. The first is yet another Hitler parody - I'll spare you to it. But I'll show you a cool edit one Neil Curtis made of the iPad keynote, putting together only the (many) adjectives spoken:

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
It had 550.000 views in 4 days. A big hit this week has also been a satirical piece from english journalist and comic writer Charlie Brooker that demonstrates how to build a news report. It got huge views, with more than 1 million views in 9 days.

Another notworthy viral is a truly inspirational one, a piece of conceptual art captured on video. Here's the description of the piece: "For his installation in The Curve, Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape." And here's the video, on Youtube for almost a month now, and with 400.000 views.

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

Another videos being shared a viewed a lot include some already known and older ones (in viral content time, remember!) like the Aids Graffiti one, the Mad TV iPad spoof, the Mashup by DJ Earworm of the top pop music of 2009, The Known Universe, and the Coca-Cola Happiness Machine. And, to finalize, in the week that started Lost's final season (another great topic for virals this week), I'd like to show you a video made by Wooshii members Fine Brothers, with 260.000 views in a week:

Well, that's it for this week's review in virals. There have been others but these are the ones who stood out for me. If you have any suggestions, comment away!

60 Seconds With - Eammy

Ricardo Fonseca — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:34:41 +0100

Hello creatives! We're back with another creative profile, this time with Eammy (http://wooshii.com/Eammy). He is an artist, animator and programmer based in Australia, and is experienced in 2D, 3D and special effects. He almost never gives away his real name. Let's get things started! Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
How did you get started with creative things? I started drawing comics at school, since the learnings were boring. I gradually invented simple cartoon characters, and continually made comics, entertaining others. Then I started with Flash, where I frustatingly attempted to make awesome cartoons, although they turned out cheap. No-one will ever know of them though, since I was under a different alias at that time ;)

What's the video you created that you're most proud of? Even though it's not that impressive in graphics quality, it would have to be Virtua World. I created it in the same sense as always, that I wanted to make something epic, with voices, music, plot, and characters, and this cartoon is a pretty good achievement in my view. It took a few months to make that cartoon, and it was still frustrating. In terms of graphical achievement, the video I'm most proud of would have to be Viral Marketing - Some Facts. Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
What video you wish you had made? Something AWESOME and EPIC. Don't know exactly what. I continually come up with ideas that dominate previous ideas. The cycle is endless.

What's your creative process? Somehow, I come up with a wonderful idea, that matches the resources that I have available, and then I do it. I mostly like to take shortcuts (some call it 'cheating'), and do things quicker and more effective than other people. This takes care of details faster, which is necessary, because I like to have a lot of attention to detail in my works.

What is your dream project? An epic cartoon with heaps of quality and hidden moral / metaphorical meaning. I hope to have this done by the end of the year.

What's your favourite software for your work? SONY VEGAS PRO!!!

Which software doesn't exist, but you wish it would? Highly flexible procedural graphics generation software. Something like fractals, but MORE. Also, I want Construct to work properly. Even better, I want something like Construct, but for Flash. And... how about some ray-tracing software that isn't pain-stakingly slow. I would love to know if any of these exist.

Tips for making good pitches (and winning them)? Go better than others. What I constantly remind myself is to SHATTER EXPECTATIONS. This is important. And, you have to really want to do the project. Also, skill and talent is helpful. Also, being nice to others goes a long way.

Tips for getting views? I don't care much about views. What I'm really interested in is having true fans / friends.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I can't predict the future. What I want though is to have 'Eammy' as some sort of organization, where I can take risks and be free to do crazy experiments, and yet still be financially sustainable. I think that would be awesome. Ok! Thank you Eammy for your time to answer these questions and continue to create great stuff for us fans to watch! See Eammy's profile here http://wooshii.com/Eammy and his personal website http://www.eammy.com/

Link Roundup 5 - Crowdsourcing, Start-Ups, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Bootstrapping

Fergus — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:40:57 +0100

Another roundup of links and articles I have spotted on the interwebs !!
Entrepreneurship and Start-Ups

Ten Reasons 2010 Will Be the Year of the Entrepreneur
5 business pitfalls to avoid in down times
Ten Common Arrogance Traps for Startups
Top 10 Signs you’re an Accountant at a Startup
Entrepreneurship – the Failure Myth
The Simplest Secret To Business Growth
Entrepreneur trades sex for solar - growth industries -
Getting your small business started with social media
Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs -
5 Entrepreneurship Trends to Watch Out for in 2010 : Technology ::
Success is All in the Attitude - 12 Entrepreneurial Attributes -
10 Lessons in Entrepreneurship"
Top Ten 2010 Trends for Entrepreneurs
Startup Marketing: Tactical Tips From The Trenches
How Much Time Do You Spend Marketing in a Startup?

Viral and Marketing

Seth Godin - Random rules for ideas worth spreading
5 Ways to Share Content to Create Referrals
The 8 Elements of Contagious Ideas -
How to make a killer viral marketing video. 5 Top Tips
Viral Marketing Madness: 5 Viral Marketing Mechanisms
Top 6 Ideas for Incredible Viral Content for Social Media Marketing
Feel good guerrilla marketing

Bootstrapping

Business Bootstrapping Advantage Number 3
10 golden rules when bootstrapping your company -
Bootstrapping a startup
Bootstrapping and Debt
Portrait of a Modern-day Bootstrapper

Crowdsourcing

Creative Crowdsourcing Empowers Non-Profits to Spread the Word -
Outsourcing Benefits
Stop, collaborate and listen: knowledge management has a brand new adventure
10 Tips For Using The C-Word

This Week #1 - Viral Review

Ricardo Fonseca — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:33:51 +0100

This week, on viral content, has been very much dominated with iPad videos, most of them spoofs but not all.
So let's get the not-iPad virals out of the way and then get on it.
One of them earlier this week was another "dancing inmates" Michael Jackon choreography, this time to promote the DVD release of This Is It. It got 2.2 million views in 6 days.
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
The next video is for a video for AIDS prevention awareness, and has also been shared a lot this week (gone viral since the end of last one) and in this short amount of time already got more than 3 million views (beware, NSFW).
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
Then Apple's iPad was unveiled on wednesday, and many of the videos going viral were on the subject (many fake before it, and then most spoofs).
One of them, just starting to go viral yesterday but already with 720.000 views, is the inevitable Hitler parody.

Besides the also obvious official video presentation of the iPad (also gone viral), a sketch from Mad TV from 2007, where they spoofed the iPhone coming up with a product named iPad (again, this in 2007) was shared a lot this week:
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
Finally, Wooshii member Whirled Creative have a video going viral in the past 24 hours (done for Barely Political, and with 40.000 views overnight) that mashes-up the iPad presentation and Obama's State of the Union speech. It's been featured on Gizmodo and Techcrunch.

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com
And those are the highlights for this week on viral video. Check back next week for more!

60 Seconds With - Nath

Ricardo Fonseca — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:39:53 +0100

We're starting a regular feature here where we'll shine the spotlight on one of our creatives and get to know him a little better. Our first one is Nath Milburn (http://wooshii.com/nath). Nath has done work mainly on animation and is currently getting adegree for Broadcast Design & Motion Media at Savannah College of Art & Design.
Nath was one of our early users and many of you will know his stuff but just to give you a full encite check ou the interview below.

How did you get started with creative things? Well of course I've been drawing ever since, I used to draw trace pokemon and draw fat people during church as a little boy, but around middle school I found an animator named Dan Paladin which got me into animation which led into just doing digital illustration and all that shit. I started out making animated gifs with MS Paint before I found Adobe Flash back when it was Macromedia.
What's the video you created that you're most proud of? Shit I dunno, I like them all pretty much the same, cause I could definitely have pushed each one further. Let's brighten dark situations definitely came out the best, but I always seem to love my latest ones the most, so that'd be the one I did for you guys!

What video do you wish you had made? Dunno, haven't made it yet! I guess anything by Maxim Zhestkov, the guys work is insane.Onedreamrush / Zhestkov.com from Maxim Zhestkov on Vimeo.

What's your creative process? I would just chill, think and draw up different ideas, I always have a few pop in my head immediately. I would then storyboard it, do some test sketches, maybe some style frames, then do an animatic (if it's an animation of course) then go from there. Pretty much like anyone else, I don't do anything special or interesting that leads up to finishing my work.
What is your dream project? I don't know, help creating a cartoon series on the tv would be nice, but I've never been big into full animation, so I'd have others co-create it, but I don't really have any "big" ideas waiting to come out.
What's your favourite software for your work? Adobe Flash and After Effects are my two favorites by far. I just love the layouts of each and how they function. They do what I need.
Which software doesn't exist, but you wish it did? Controlling your hands wirelessly and being able to paint or control a screen to make art would be sweet. I'm sure they have something similar but nothing like how I want.
Tips for making good pitches (and winning them)? Have good ideas ha, but I'm sort of the worst at this. You should tell them the audience you're going after, the style you're using, the medium and means of bringing it, a styleframe would definitely be nice for them to see and how fast you can make it. You should describe your idea as best as you can, try not to keep it vague or make them fill in blanks, that's what they are paying you for.

Tips for getting views? Make cool shit
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Living on my own.
Alright, that's it. We'd like to thank Nath for taking the time to answer this and for creating great stuff. You can also check out Nath's profile here http://wooshii.com/nath or his personal website at www.heynath.com

Wooshii and Music Videos

Fergus — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:05:03 +0100

Word of mouth has always been important for the music industry and social media is really an extension of that. In essence the music industry has always revolved around communities. They call them “fans” but essentially the idea goes if you like something that I like then you might like something else I like.

So if you get something moving through a community of fans you can quickly pick up momentum and a fan base that will pass on your musical message.

Video, (viral or other wise) gives you a great way to get your music moving through these communities.

Case in point the Ok Go video that has topped over 45 million, (that’s right million) views!

Music Videos Through Wooshii
Video sharing sites and Facebook have caused a resurgence in the need for great music videos but producing them can be a costly exercise. Wooshii can put you in touch with some outstanding creative talent (check just three examples below) and done right even the simplest video can go viral .

Hey Wooshii creatives post your wooshii profile link below if music videos is your thing

Wow - Like Wow !!

Fergus — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:24:10 +0100

So things recently have been really hotting up on the creative front. The Top 50 creatives (in views terms has been changing every day) and even the long reigning leaders “The Fine Brothers” have been knocked of the top spot... twice..

In total you guys have created content that has given rise to 30mil views !!! and that is just through YouTube and Wooshii. We are not even counting Vimeo views yet (although we will soon promise)

So here is a selection from our top 3 (plus one really cool video that Ricardo spotted)

No.1 - wooshii.com/JaredNeumark (Every body Poops)

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

No.2 wooshii.com/Whirled (Sporanos - (Classic Viral)

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

No.3 - wooshii.com/TheFineBrothers (100 Movie Spoilers)

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

And check this out for just coolness – all cgi –

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

Enjoy

Fergus

Starred Accounts

Fergus — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:08:47 +0100

With the crack of 2010 we can announce that starred accounts are on their way. What do they mean for those that are lucky enough to be awarded one? See below.
How do you get one? Ahh well that is to be revealed
1 Star
• Pay only 18% commission on all project winnings
• 1 Star Badge
• Displayed in featured user lists
2 Star
• Pay only 15% commission on all project winnings
• 2 Star Badge
• Displayed in featured user lists
• Invites to participate in our premium projects
3 Star
• Pay only 11% commission on all project winnings
• 3 Star Badge
• Displayed in featured user lists
• Invites to participate in our premium projects
• Features on Wooshii and associated blogs and news releases

Christmas Top 5 Virals

Fergus — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:35:21 +0100

I spent some time and picked out 5 viral videos I like. Something to keep you occupied at work these next few days.
What are yours?

Bailey the Unknown Reindeer
Not an Ad but over 4.5 mil views…Not bad going
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

Dick in a Box
Just funny

Christmas Lights Gone Mental
This is the original. There is Guitar hero one doing the round this year but this is the best 6 mil views plus
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

12 Days of Christmas - Indian Style
Ahh racial stereotyping - 4mil views and flying
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

Bud Light at Xmas
Main stream, big budget but still funny

Weekly link roundup 4 - Crowdsourcing, Start-Up Marketing, Viral Marketing and Wine

Fergus — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:30:09 +0100

Some more great articles that I came across this week.

Enjoy

Start-Up Marketing

Startup Marketing: Tactical Tips From The Trenches - http://bit.ly/6Fmk7u
How Much Time Do You Spend Marketing in a Startup? - http://bit.ly/8nESIw
Turning Problems into Marketing Strategies - http://bit.ly/4HctBj
PR strategies for lean startups - http://bit.ly/8TgNTH
Some nice tips for a startup’s early press releases - http://bit.ly/84NN2Z
Start-up Marketing - Milestones to Startup Success - http://bit.ly/7O9mHP

Start-Up Advice

When Bootstrapping, Leverage What you Have - http://bit.ly/7iCui6
Great interview with Mint.com CEO Aaron Patzer - http://bit.ly/8DkBQB
How much of success is luck? - http://bit.ly/6rQbfI

Viral Marketing

Some great reasons to run viral marketing campaigns - http://bit.ly/8AzHND
The 10 most innovative Viral Video Ads of 2009 - http://bit.ly/5ETDIt
Engagement Marketing: The Communications Pro of the Future - http://bit.ly/5NnUJE

Crowdsourcing

Fox crowdsources pilot choices - http://bit.ly/5JBNw3
Crowdsourcing wine choices - Adegga - http://bit.ly/8Z3thF

Viral Marketing Benefits

Fergus — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:41:31 +0100

So this week I have been on a bit of a sales mission. Direct sales are a great way to examine your product. It gives you first hand insight into exactly what the client wants, thinks he wants and their perception (if any) of your product or service.
Some questions pop up time after time so here are my viral marketing benefits

• Viral marketing is one of the few potentially cost-free methods for successfully promoting a business transaction.
• Viral marketing campaigns don’t have a stop date like traditional advertising. They can go on indefinitely.
• You don’t have to monitor your campaigns all the time. In traditional advertising you have to track every dollar you spend. But with viral marketing, you won’t have to monitor the dollars because you won’t be spending any.
• Your brands will start to gain a life of its own. Viral marketing is a medium that allows you to be as creative and zany as you want, without any restrictions or reservations
• Your search engine rankings will soar. Ranking on search engines is partly determined by how many links lead to your site. Every time someone embeds your video, links to you, links to your content, etc. you get brownie points with spiders and the engines they serve, like Google and Yahoo.
Of course, traditional advertising has its upside as well, but if you’re just starting out or you don’t have a lot of money to spare (or perhaps you have a niche market that can’t be targeted by traditional media), viral marketing may be the solution for you.

Avoiding Group Think

Fergus — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:46:08 +0100

Coming up with ideas for any new marketing campaign is a difficult one. You pull together your team of creative geniuses and beerstorm, sorry, brainstorm, (beerstorming is a solely Wooshii phenomenon) all those thoughts and ideas you have. But how do you avoid groupthink?

What is Group Think?

“The tendency for members of a cohesive group to reach decisions without weighing all the facts, especially those contradicting the majority opinion”

Simply put if you are working with a team on a specific project there can be an underlying tendency for the group to come to decisions based on preconceptions and shared knowledge. This maybe subtle or even sub-conscious. Janis Irving coined the phrase in 1972 and described how a group can make faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment”. In a creative environment that’s not good news. You need people to be, (dare I say it) “thinking outside the box”. Much easier to, (here it comes again) think outside the box when you actually don’t know where the box walls are.

The answer – Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a fabulous way to avoid groupthink. You can set some boundaries to guide a huge group of creatives and then set them to work independent of your main team. Ideas Bounty (see www.ideasbounty.com ) are doing just this for entire campaigns and have recently had their model verified by brands as big as Unilever, who dropped their agency in favour of crowd sourced creativity - see here.

With viral let me quote David Meerman Scott, (author of The New Rules of Viral Marketing)

“To minimize poisonous internal groupthink, invite people from outside your organization to help. Teenagers are especially tuned in to Internet trends and viral phenomena, so you might want to recruit some to help you come up with ideas.”

That is what is so great about Wooshii. It is full of creatives from a myriad of places, cultures and careers. It allows you to tap into an enormous creative user base vastly increasing your creative output and helps to minimise internal group think.

Would love to hear your thoughts on avoiding group think. What steps do you take, if you are working in a team, to minimise its effects?

Weekly link roundup 3 - Crowdsourcing, Bootstrapped Marketing, Social Media

Fergus — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:46:12 +0100

Here you go people. More of a 2 week round-up (sorry). I think my favourite is the agencies trying to buy a brewing company via crowdsourcing. At $300mil it's some task but what a good cause!

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourced marketing opportunity for Garfield : FLIRTing with the Crowds - http://bit.ly/5dn5vs
Crowdsourced Beer Money - http://bit.ly/53IqX0

Spreadable, Viral Media

17 People Who Created the Word of Mouth Industry - http://bit.ly/74SLoo
6 Awesome Viral Marketing Tips - http://bit.ly/8b8xbx

Social Media

3 Steps for Effectively Using Social Media For PR - http://bit.ly/4Vrt7U
3 Tools to Make Twitter Lists Even More Useful - http://bit.ly/706tWz
What Is Creative in the Age of Social Media? - http://vimeo.com/7229703
5 advanced social media marketing strategies for small businesses - http://bit.ly/5yuShi
Debt, equity and a third thing that might work better - http://bit.ly/5vZXiX
How to Break Into Advertising Creative Agencies as a Student - http://bit.ly/6sMVqc

Boostrapped Marketing

Top five benefits to startups who talk to customers - http://bit.ly/4uFIFv
NFL Guerrilla Marketing - http://bit.ly/7G7C1s
Business Bootstrapping Rule Number 10: Pay Attention to Cash Flow and Not Profitability - http://bit.ly/4s7jly

Misc

Some great Aimation in Music Videos - http://bit.ly/6VspYk
Beer Loves You - http://bit.ly/76dE9G

Changes - your thoughts

Fergus — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:07:11 +0100

So folks I was just about to post a great blog on avoiding Group Think when my colleagues shouted. “STOP, hey Fergus we need to get our users views on some groovy changes”.

So here we go. We are proposing to change the Wooshii system in a number of ways and would love your feedback before we rush headlong into something that you might not want. So here they are. If you could leave any of your comments below, (or you can email me fergus@wooshii.com)

One change has already occured. You may notice that views have started going a little haywire and that some users have shot to the top. Thats is becuase we have started including YouTube views (of videos you have created) in your view total. Soon we will look to include views from other sites too. In order to continue to recognise active Wooshii members we will also be ranking users by Wooshii activity.

So in the words of David Bowie here are our proposed Chu chu chu chu changes!

We are to build the community element of Wooshii a little more this will include
1. A forum – A place where our users can interact with each other through a system other than profile comments

2. Weekly themed competitions – i.e. this week upload a thanksgiving related viral – most viewed wins a Turkey !
3. To make the profiles list and uploaded videos more searchable and sortable
4. To class virals around views (i.e. hotting up, peaked, just starting etc)
5. To slightly alter the layout – removing some not so frequently used buttons (such as About ) to the footer
6. Displaying a user's Facebook and Twitter account on their profile so you can big them up
7. To include some leader boards – Profile with most views, most active etc
8. Pro-users - we are to start promoiting our top users to agencies and brands directly. We shall start giving users star ratings based on views and activity. We thought no stars to 3 stars. The most active and highly viewed users will be promoted to our advertsing agencies and friends. [Check out soon a report we are sponsoring on the Top 200 Unsung Creatives]

Your thoughts appreciated

Weekly link roundup 2 - Crowdsourcing, Bootstrapped and Viral Marketing

Fergus — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:36:25 +0100

A round up of all those interesting articles I have read this week. Hope they are of use

Crowdsourcing

Coffee Beans and Crowdsourcing « Jason Spector - http://bit.ly/TVHFD
'Whether it was viral or word of mouth, it was always based on the content'James Hong: - http://bit.ly/1HfGQH

Bootstrapping and Marketing

If you are building a web app you must read this - Getting Real: The Book by 37signals - http://bit.ly/XxiI2
Basic but suprising how many people forget - People buy benefits, not features -http://bit.ly/37keUz
Web entrepreneur: 'Social capital' is key
- http://bit.ly/48hzUh
How To Protect Your Brand Online - http://bit.ly/1hOc29
Business Bootstrapping Rule Number 8: Find a Mentor - http://bit.ly/3ioHrD
51 (no less !!!) Free Marketing Tips from Growth Nation - makes interesting reading - http://bit.ly/3aYlG9
Startup Marketing Advice from Balsamiq (the blog rocks almost as much as the product) - http://bit.ly/jdnrS
Ten Rules for Bootstrapping Your Business
- http://bit.ly/14wFDS
Viral Marketing
Guy Goes Viral, Gets Written Into VW's Script - http://bit.ly/3uMSAe
How Ideas Spread | what makes them go viral - http://bit.ly/3EfeWm
Social media changes everything, except the need for creativity - http://bit.ly/2jqURQ

Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

Fergus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:04:50 +0100

Well almost to follow on from my last post.. For those that haven’t seen it here is Rory Sutherland vice chairman at our friends, Ogilvy giving a talk at TED this year. I’m a huge fan of all things TED but this is one of the funniest most entertaining you’ll watch.
Sutherland makes the argument that advertising's power to alter people's perceptions can be harnessed for good rather than evil—that it could help preserve the world's limited material resources by emphasizing the perceived value of things over the "real" value. He says:
"If you want to live in a world in the future with fewer material goods, you basically have two choices: You can either live in a world which is poorer, which people in general don't like, or you can live in a world where intangible value constitutes a greater part of overall value."
Well worth the watch
Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

Wooshii at Ogilvy

Fergus — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:27:31 +0100

As some of you know we are on a mission to ensure that our creatives have the direct access to some of the best brands. We are spending a good amount of time trying to link specific creatives with major brands and agencies.
Our friends over at Ogilvy & Mather in London invited us to be one of their exhibiting companies at an Ogilvy Digital Labs day. In all it was a great day that allowed both ourselves and host of really interesting companies to meet them, their clients as well listen to some really interesting speakers. We were in great company exhibiting next to the likes of YouTube, Spotify, Last.fm, LinkedIn and Rubber Republic, (thanks for the book guys)
Check the video below for a feel of what went on, (pity about the bad hair do at 1 minute 42 secs)

Weekly link roundup - Boostrapping, Crowdsourcing and Spreadable Media

Fergus — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:44:21 +0100

Every day I send out links to interesting articles on twitter (@fergusdyersmith & @wooshii) and through my shared articles in google RSS reader. Weekly I will round these up here. I hope you find them useful, entertaining etc!

Bootstrapped Business
Founders Make the Best Startup Marketing Leaders - http://bit.ly/1ymY4B
Bootstrapped Media Companies That Focus On Business Are Rising Up Through The Cracks - http://bit.ly/211EaC
How to Sell
- http://blog.bzzagent.com/?p=1314
Don't Just Sell. Inspire A Cultish Movement - http://bit.ly/4mNQT4
5 Tips for Getting More Leads from Speaking - http://bit.ly/2INeXh

Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing a Discussion on Crowdsourcing: Agency Nil,
Anomaly and Victors & Spoils http://bit.ly/4EjcWb
Crowdsourcing of graphic design goes local - http://bit.ly/JvNF3

Viral / Spreadable / Conversation Marketing
Spreadable Media: A Cure for Viral Marketing - http://bit.ly/3u67S
Will Elf Yourself Return in 2009? YES! - http://bit.ly/vSiab
5 Things I Roll My Eyes At - http://bit.ly/Tr8j8
If you want a conversation, say something interesting - http://bit.ly/A3pm2

Memes and Sequels

Fergus — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:10:28 +0100

Memes and Sequels
One way to increase your chances of your promo / advert / rich content going viral is to look to produce a sequel or meme
A sequel is exactly that. Find a viral that has already done well and follow up with your own version or a remake. A meme (in viral terms) is essentially that taken one step further i.e. many people do this and many sequels get made.
Here are a load of examples
Downfall
The first ever Downfall was a film (I know). What was the first parody? According to YouTube it was the Xbox live parody (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfkDxF2kn1I). Personally it is not my favourite so have put some others here.
What I love is that a fairly simple task of adding subtitles over a well known film created viral sensation and turned into a true meme

Caaktail

Similar things have happened with remixing film trailers (just one listed below). You’ll find hundred if you look around

iDroid
Here is a classic example. The below viral for iDroid did really well and got over 2mil views very quickly. Just today I noticed the second video. A fight back at the iDroid comes from and account called droiddont, (nothing to do with apple apparently). When I first checked it today they had 20 views. 1 hour later they were at 210 000 (not bad going)

Start wars kid
A classic initial viral with follow ups.

Yet again all these examples prove that virality is not necessarily linked to production quality. More ever it is linked to great ideas and creative people using what ever tools at their disposal.
That’s why we, (Wooshii) love it

Auto tune it !

Ricardo Fonseca — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:06:22 +0100

Guest Post
Auto-tune was a technology invented in the late 90's and used to correct the pitches of singers.

Nowadays, its use is still going on in the music business (Kanye West's latest album, for example) but lately has been a source of viral video goodness.

And why is that? Well mainly because the results of making something musically inocuous as a speech, converstation, or newsreel, and turning it to sound like music, is in most cases hilarious.

Also it elicits from you that WTF reaction, that what a strange video I'm watching reaction that will make you laugh, and want to share it with friends.

So ,one of the first cases in viral video history I remember using auto-tune was made by turning something as blant as the news into a song, in a series of very funny videos called Auto-Tune the News:

Auto-Tunes became so popular as a joke, that there's even "Iphone Apps for that". A notorious one is from notable auto-tunes user T-Pain, who has also got his own viral video:

A few days after this video became a viral hit, it was spliced up, mashed up and auto-tuned with an interview of President Obama, getting 1 million views in the process:

Then, we have a viral hit in which YouTube user melodysheep spliced together some clips from Carl Sagan Cosmos and auto-tuned them, creating a music video that got 1.1 million views in one month!

These are all great examples of what you can do with a lot creativity and without the need for great resource.

Auto-tune is can indeed a hot viral component.

Ricardo - wooshii.com/Ricardo

3 tools to help turn your scripts into viral adverts

Fergus — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:05:18 +0100

Well the more active of you will have noticed that Wooshii is filling up with some awesome animators. There is no taking it away from these creatives they are extremly talented and we love having them on Wooshii. If you have an idea for a great animation thoughit is now possible to put it into reality. I've been checking out some of the services out there to help you do it

Go Animate
GoAnimate.com - Interesting idea but I am yet to see anyone use it well. You can choose scenes (yes they have Star Trek and Star Wars) characters etc and animate with a load of set animations facial expressions etc. Mix this up with a load of changing camera angles and the potential is great. Like I said I couldn’t find any great examples of peoples work but here is a kind of promotional video. Seems to have potential for some novelty fun so if any one does anything good be sure to upload it to Wooshii.

Xtra Normal
XtraNormal has already featured on Wooshii (see below). The key difference between this site and GoAnimate is the speech overlay that can be applied to animations. It results in some hilarious creations and unlike the above there is no end of good examples on the site. The site runs a premium service, though you can do a fair bit with the free version.

ToonDoo
ToonDoo - This is comic stripping made easy. With a host of sets and characters preloaded intothe system creating humerous illustrations or viral ads becomes simple with the right script. Lame attempt by me below but i can see this being a serious cause of time wastage. Love it (I guess it could be used for simple storyboarding as well)

To Spec Or Not To Spec

Fergus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:55:26 +0100

Well as expected we have had a sackful of responses to the launch of Wooshii. On the whole the feedback has been excellent – mostly positive and constructive. That said however there is small number of people that come through the doors with a big ‘NoSpecWork’ banner and I thought I would address this issue here.
We (Jim, Sean and I) are all creatives so we have deliberated over this issue for some time but our position is now pretty clear. I have tried to answer some of the nagging questions below. It would be great to know your thoughts!
Wooshii is spec work and I don’t do spec work?
Wooshii is not a spec work site unless you want it to be. You can pitch on Wooshii just by submitting ideas and concepts. You can upload examples or finished articles if you wish to increase your chances of success, but you don’t have to.
But that is spec work?
Well only in the sense that the more work you do the higher the chances of winning with a pitch .What makes the design industry so exceptional that we don’t have to do work before winning work? I have run and worked in many companies and I don’t know of a single instance where you don’t have to do some work in order to gain work… that is how it works. (So to speak!)
But sites like Wooshii are driving down the market…
I totally disagree. The market is changing, shifting and the cashflow is shifting with it. It is becoming more competitive but the economics are just shifting. The same amount of money exists in the system; it is now just spread differently.
But I need to live. I can’t live off what is being paid anymore.
There is no getting away from new markets and changing economies. So change your model. Markets change. Just look at the music industry. Stand still, moan and you will fail. Innovate, change, dare I say be creative and you will succeed.
I am a professional-level designer and I won’t participate in work on spec
That is fine. (Not that we draw any real distinction between you and an “amateur”. To us our users are just “creative”.)You probably have a good bunch of clients and are working with established brands. What Wooshii is all about is connecting not only professionals but also the rising stars, the new creatives, the stay at home moms, students, amateurs with people who want to tap into their talent. Our users are passionate about what they do and would do it anyway regardless of any financial reward. We want to challenge the notion that agencies and professionals hold the keys to creativity.
I am a professional-level designer, how can I work with Wooshii?
Submitting ideas is easy. Just spend say 30 minutes a day submitting some pitches to projects and see what comes back. As a professional you have a wealth of experience to draw on.
OR
Use the system as a way to increasing your creative pool. Post projects. You are still the client facing entity with editorial control.
But there is no guarantee of work from my pitches, is there?
That’s right, but when is there? If you run a business there is never any guarantee of work just because you pitched your sale, proposal or design to a buyer
We do however do everything we can to ensure that you are protected against misuse with b terms and conditions that protect both the buyer and creative.
Is Spec Work Evil? (thanks to I’m Just Creative for this)
Ask most seasoned designers or employed creatives and you will get a big meaty ‘yes’, SpecWork is evil. Ask those creatives struggling to make a living, those who have lost a job and find themselves without a personal portfolio, those just starting out or those seeking to earn a living whilst living with a illness and you are likely to get quite the opposite reply.
If you find it easy to judge those mentioned above, the ones that do participate in SpecWork as being reckless and irresponsible, then you ‘Creative Person’ need to open your eyes to the reality of the world. (see full article here)
So in a nutshell give it to me…

1. Live and let live – There are different markets for different parties
2. Markets change – Change is always difficult but embrace it or be the changing force and you will surely succeed
3. Enjoy it – If you enjoy it then the cash is just a bonus
4. “No one owns design” - Graham Smith (or for that matter creative thought). We just do it. We love it and people sometimes want to pay us to do it which is awesome!
5. One mans SpecWork is another mans pitch. Just do what you feel comfortable with. If what you are being asked to do makes you feel uncomfortable then don’t do it.
A final note:
I understand this is a hot issue for some people. At Wooshii we really have thought about both sides of this argument. But in the end it boiled down to our own belief in the principles above. We want to make Wooshii useful, engaging and fun. Along the way we might all earn some cash, meet some nice people and gain some great clients… which will be nice

Inspiration and thanks to
@rosskimbarovsky - http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1253-the-nospec-campaign-vs-crowdspring
@imjustcreative - http://imjustcreative.com/trials-and-tribulations-of-specwork-and-crowdspring/2009/10/06/
@skaw - http://jakenickell.com/2009/10/14/some-spec-work-thoughts/comment-page-1

Creative Profiles

Fergus — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:01:13 +0100

So we are a week or so in and some of the creative talent coming through is just awesome. (Awesome I know it is a word I use a lot but it is heart felt) Well thanks to all of you who have taken the time to come back and take look around the now live Wooshii. It is always slightly nerve racking launching something like this. You launch and think “Will anyone actually get it this” Take a look at a few of the portfolios of some of our users. I‘ve picked out just 2 but there are plenty more
wooshii.com/nath
wooshii.com/theoutsidejoke

Earn
Now that the initial teething issues are resolved we have actually dug deep and added some small budgets to the current live projects.
Viral video mash-up to attract new Wooshii members - £600 here 'Kinetic text' animation to promote viral marketing - £ 400 here Plastic's not Fantastic - £100 here Make The World Happy! - £100 here
Remember wining these projects will not only earn you £$ and € but also gain you vital views.
Ultimately these are your currency and will help you win projects in the future. At the moment you can see view wise I’m almost at the top of the list. I doubt I’ll be there for long once some good virals get moving. As every viral you produce that goes live not only gains your brand views but also your Wooshii profile.

Questions from creatives

Fergus — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:16:35 +0100

So I have had a few questions coming through from creatives on the system. As the Wooshii machine slowly chugs into life I thought I would post an extract from one conversation here. It may well answer some of your questions

"my question is about the payment system. How does that work? I don't see a payment system in place? "

- Non of the posting projects areas are live yet. They will be arriving next week. We just wanted to test the actual bidding process first.

"Or if I'm a creative, and someone is interested in having a video done by me, they would contact you first, and pay you, then you pay us?"

- to answer your questions
1. If a buyer would like to have a viral made
a. They set up a project http://wooshii.com/virals/get/
b. They set and pay the total budget to Wooshii
c. Creatives pitch
d. Once a winner is agreed and project completed Wooshii releases the funds to the creative
2. If a buyer then decides to seed a project
a. They set a budget
b. They set a click through rate
c Publishers publish the viral on their blog, links to it etc
d. Their account is credited with payments until the buyers budget runs out

I see, very much like 99 designs, but that's for logos. And the creatives, know upfront how much the budget is, wooshii, just takes a cut right? So really the customer is sold on the pitch only. As oppose to 99, where the customer dictates how much they will pay, and creatives, produce the product upfront and is paid if the customer likes it. But the customer also can choose not to pay anyone.
I think some pitches maybe better than others, but if the customer is sold on the pitch and the video quality is poor, well I guess the customers will already have seen videos from that creative to get an idea of the quality. So nevermind, just answered my own question

- Yep bang on you got it
It means that
1. Creatives do not have to produce whole videos to pitch
2. Creatives who are "creative" but maybe not technical i.e. can't actually produce a flash game can still pitch in ideas and concepts
3. You can split the work i.e. Take one persons idea and then re-submit the project looking for someone to actually produce it
4. And yes reputation is everything. Unlike say 99 designs where you can only gain reputation through winning projects with Wooshii every viral of your own that you upload gains you view and so reputation. (even if not for a actual project)

Wooshii is Open !

Fergus — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:53:39 +0100

Well it has been a long-time coming with numerous stops and starts but we are finally ready to start revealing what we have been up to for the past few months.
That’s right… believe it or not we can finally launch beta 2.1 of Wooshii
So what’s new
About - http://wooshii.com/about/
A whole new resource section with info on what Wooshii is what viral marketing along with blogs and a whole host of FAQ’s
Browse - http://wooshii.com/virals/
Browse through uploaded viral videos and images or creatives find a project to work on
Projects come in 2 forms

Ideas - can gain reputation and cash just by submitting ideas and pitches to live projects
Productions - can gain reputation and cash just by turning ideas into finished projects

and all of you can - Create profiles, View other peoples, Post favourite virals ,Become fans of other users
Please send us any comments you have and even help us get this thing moving by tweeting #wooshii.com

The Significance of Views

Fergus — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:26:04 +0100

So the Wooshii system is going live and one of the things you may notice is the views number underneath your profile picture. Why is it there and why are views significant?
Views are essentially the currency of Wooshii. Virals are all about views in essence. Although different markets and demographics will have different likely success rates we feel views gives a good overriding picture of any creatives ability to create winning virals.
Creatives - build your profile
The more views have as a creative the hotter a property you are and therefore the more likely you are to win pitches, so how do you gain views. Well it’s pretty simple we record views of virals and profiles so any viral you upload to Wooshii, whether it is for a specific project or not, will gain you views.
So it is possible to build an amazing view count without ever winning a project.
In order to reward great ideas you will also gain views for viral idea projects you have won. Lets say you have won an idea project and that idea goes on to become a produced viral. Even if you do not produce the viral you will gain views at the same rate as the producer. So don’t hang around. Upload virals, gain views, win projects, create great adverts and earn.
Brands
For buyers of viral adverts it’s easy. Use views as a gauge. The more views a user has the more successful their track record is in creating winning virals. Simple huh?

Hitchcock - Story boarding on the iphone

Fergus — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:05:58 +0100

So after my last post talking about story boarding I spotted this neat little app for th iphone called Hitchcock. It is one of the more expensive apps but it’s really well done.
Hitchcock is designed exactly as it should be…the software takes full advantage of the iPhone’s built in camera and multitouch capabilities, and allows you to quickly and painlessly build a visual storyboard, apply movement markers and cues, and even intelligently pan/crop/zoom in the Ken Burns style to simulate dolly moves and pans.
Here’s the link http://www.cinemek.com/hitchcock/
And a review

What makes a good viral?

Fergus — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:49:33 +0100

To Quote Seth Godin
No one sends an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
No one "gets" an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time
1: Make people feel something
The most important trick of all is to create a very strong emotion. You need to have an opinion, to express an idea with commitment and dedication. You want people to:
•   be filled with love or hate.
•   be very happy or insanely angry
•   be an idiot or a genius
•   be deeply compassionate or an egoistic bitch
You want people's blood to be pumping of excitement.
Forget neutral, trying to please everyone, supporting several target groups or any of the many ways to be unbiased. Viral marketing is 100% about emotions.
2: Do something unexpected
This one explains itself. If you want people to notice you campaign, you have to do something different - something unexpected.
Remember the bear being attacked by a man? That was unexpected - and it is one the most effective viral advertisements ever.
3: Do not try to make advertisements (that sucks)
One of the biggest mistake companies make is when they think viral marketing is just advertisements that people share - it is not. Traditional marketing is about promoting your product, showing how good it is, giving it center stage - and generally being incredibly selfish (and possibly using supermodels or movie stars). But guess what, nobody cares about you!
Viral marketing is all about a good story. When BMW put out BMW Films, the main ingredient was not the cars, but the story. Replace the car with another one, and it would still be great. When Sony made their Bravia TV ads, the product was not even seen - yet everyone remembers it.
Forget about you, your product or your company. Focus exclusively in creating a good and interesting story. Sure, you can add you product into the mix, but it must not be the most important thing.
4: Make sequels
People have just seen your campaign. They think it was interesting, unexpected and their emotions has reached a high level - you have their complete attention.
Now what do you do?
If you do like most companies you will simply do nothing... and that is a big mistake. When you got people's attention you need to act, and one the best ways of doing that is to give them more - make sequels. This can be many things;
•   It can be extra movies similar in concept to the first one - like BMW Films and Nissan did.
•   It can be a behind the scenes look
•   Bloopers
•   A blog about the process (like Nissan did)
•   Extra material, goodies etc.
•   ...or all of the above
Never leave people standing with nothing.

Why Viral Marketing?

Fergus — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:23:05 +0100

Viral Marketing regardless of the form it takes, causes the following internal reaction in the reader:

Viral marketing is called such because it’s ‘infectious.’ It uses one of the most effective and inexpensive marketing tools in history – the word of mouth.
Word of mouth marketing empowers the consumer. As a consequence happy, interested people will say good things about you to their peers, friends and family all of whom are likely to be your target audience.

Why viral content is the new King?

1. Social media loves viral content. If people like your viral, posts will be made on various social media sites. As your post is passed along social media networks you can expect it to be championed by various users, creating a snowball effect for the content in question. This kind of social media success has the potential to bring hundreds of new visitors and subscribers to your blog.
2. Viral content generates inbound links. As viral content is both shared and talked about this will commonly occur through links into your blog, website etc
3. It can bring streams of traffic over long periods. The best forms of viral content are timeless, and the snowball effect of such posts can roll on for long periods of time.
4. It creates buzz around your product, service or website. Viral content is great for spreading your brand throughout your niche. Your name and viral articles will seem to be turning up everywhere: in link round-ups, in social media, and so on. That kind of visibility will ensure your chosen niche begins to recognize your name.
5. It encourages engagement. Viral content is meant to be talked about.

Story Boarding

Fergus — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:06:44 +0100

So your a creative and you have a great idea for one of the projects on Wooshii.
Story boarding is a great way to get your ideas across when submitting your ideas to a given project on Wooshii.
It allows you quickly and cheaply give some meat to the bones of your idea.
Let's pretend you're making a video called Boy Loses Girl. The story is simple, involving a man getting a call from his girlfriend, leaving his apartment to drive to his girlfriend's house, talking to her and then leaving the city.
Take your script idea and read the opening scene. Now close your eyes and think about the way it ought to play on screen. What should be the first image the audience sees? Perhaps you want to open with a wide shot of the house. Maybe you think an extreme close up of the telephone will be better. Both of these shots are different; both communicate different things. But drawing them first and then looking at them in series can only help you see which one you like best. And that also saves you time when you’re shooting.
If you've decided to go with the close-up of the telephone, then you don't need to shoot the exterior of the house and vice-versa. It also saves time in editing because when it comes time to put it all together, you already know exactly how to arrange the shots. Of course, this isn't to say things won't or can't change. But the value of storyboarding is enormous nonetheless. Continue with this procedure until you've storyboarded your whole script. Now look at your drawings. Yes, that's the way you want your video to look.
Remember, storyboards can give a really good idea of how your concept will work and is an excellent way for brands and client to visualise your idea when making a decision as to which idea to award the project winnings.

Example:

Introduction to Viral Marketing and Advertising

Fergus — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:28:44 +0100

Viral marketing is an idea that spreads and an idea that while it is spreading actually helps market your business or cause. A good advertising campaign is one that engages with your audience enough for them to think "I want to pass this on". The effect is that a simple message can be passed through a demographic of peers quickly.

“Every piece of research tells us what we already know: that advocacy – recommendation from a friend – is the most powerful and credible influence on consumers. Viral marketing is a very logical extension of this principle, and increasingly, we're putting it at the core of our strategic thinking.”

DAMIAN BLACKDEN - EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
UNIVERSAL MCCANN

Most viral campaigns won't become large-scale. Few actually achieve that status. In nature, viral infections rarely turn into plagues. They tend to be small -- yet can have a big impact on a community.
The same holds true of viral campaigns. You can have a small campaign that has a big impact in your industry or community. Total numbers alone should not determine success.
There are hundreds of successful viral campaigns happening right now that you'll never hear of. Nor will they ever be featured on major news networks, because they're focused on particular areas of interest or communities.
It's important to keep your target audience and goals in mind when designing your campaign. Is it to build brand awareness? Build quality links? Get the attention of industry journalists?
For Wooshii it is all about creating good advertising campaigns. To us this means having a viral element. That is to say that your advert adds enough value for a viewer or customer to want ot pass it on to their peers.

Show us your favourite viral videos!

Fergus — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:59:00 +0100

The launch of Wooshii.com gets ever closer and once again we need your help and inspiration.

This time we'd like you to show us examples of your favourite viral videos.

They don't have to be videos that were created or commissioned by you - they can just be something interesting that you've seen and would like to share with the Wooshii community.

To upload your videos, visit the new "My Virals" tab on the right side of your profile page.

You'll need to paste the 'embed' code from YouTube (or a similar site) in order for the video to be displayed on Wooshii.

Doing this will help both you and us.

1, Firstly, every time a video you've uploaded is viewed by a unique daily visitor, your view count will increase.

Potential clients are likely to look for creatives who have a good track record of attracting viewers, so get yourself a head start by uploading some videos!
2, Secondly, it will allow us to test our viral tracking system. This is still in development, and having some real live virals (and real live data) to play with will be a big help to us.
3, Finally, hopefully the videos will entertain and inspire all the members of the Wooshii community and give us all some creative ideas of how video can be used for viral marketing and entertainment.
If you've got any questions at all, please leave me a comment!

Many thanks as always for your help,

Fergus

Wooshii Update July 2009

Fergus — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:21:22 +0100

Firstly we want to say a big thank you for participating in the early stages of Wooshii.

We have had a little bit of a rollercoaster ride here over the past few months, not helped by an almighty hardware failure and a few panic stricken days of lost data!

Additionally, we had a few funding issues which have unfortunately resulted in quite a delay getting launched.

All that said we are now back and working at full steam. Our hardware is at the menders and our funding is now in place.

So this will mean some exciting new releases over the coming weeks as we work our asses off to bring you Wooshii as quickly as possible.

Onwards

Cheers

Fergus

http://wooshii.com/fergus

Creative questionnaire - the results so far

Wooshii — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:38:13 +0100

We recently asked our creatives to help us out by filling in a questionnaire that would give us useful information as we prepare the site for launch.

The key issue was how much our creatives would charge for certain types of work, and how long they'd take to do the work.

The answers to these questions will help us give guideline prices and timescales to brands who are looking to commission viral campaigns.

Well, we're delighted to say that a large number of you were kind enough to spend a few moments filling out the survey, and the results have been very interesting.

The results so far for each of the different type of viral campaign are:

1, Simple viral image (use your graphic design, photoshop or illustration skills to come up with a basic viral image).

91% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £250 GBP (approx $400 USD / 290 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 2 days.

2, Basic Flash game (create from scratch a simple interactive Flash game, with no database integration).

16% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £500 GBP (approx $800 USD / 580 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 8 days.

3, Flash game with database (create from scratch an interactive Flash game, including database integration).

11% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £1000 GBP (approx $1600 USD / 1160 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 15 days.

4, 60 second Flash animation/movie (create from scratch a simple, non-interactive Flash animation).

43% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £600 GBP (approx $950 USD / 690 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 5 days.

5, 60 second video edit (take an existing video clip and overlay it with new text, logos, soundtrack etc).

61% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £500 GBP (approx $800 USD / 580 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 4 days.

6, 60 second video production (an entire 60 second video clip - storyboarded, filmed and edited from scratch).

41% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £4000 GBP (approx $6350 USD / 4600 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 10 days.

7, 60 second 3D animation (a bespoke 3D animation - storyboarded and produced from scratch).

16% of our creatives said they could do this work.
The average cost would be £5000 GBP (approx $8000 USD / 5800 EURO).
The average timescale to do the work would be 13 days.

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We'd love to know your feedback on those figures. If you're a creative,would you be prepared to do projects for those amounts?

And if you're a brand, would you be happy to pay those prices for a viral campaign?

We're really keen to hear your thoughts - please leave a comment on this blog.

And if you haven't already filled in the survey, it's not too late, click here to access the questionnaire.

Becoming a 'fan'

Wooshii — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:35:47 +0100

Now that you can browse through the profiles of the other Wooshii members, we have also added another new piece of functionality - the ability to become a fan of anyone whose profile particularly catches your eye.

But what does it mean to 'become a fan'? In these early stages of the site, not much! It's just a way of connecting with people who you think are interesting.

However in the longer term, as the rest of the site becomes live, building up your own fan list will eventually become a very important part of the site.

Talented creatives will build up a fan base of people who love their work; these people will be keen to be the first to know whenever their favourite creatives launch a new viral. This gives popular creatives a great distribution list that they can use to seed virals - and earn money for doing so.

Similarly for brands, building up a fan base will enable any new campaigns to be seeded in a very cost-effective way. Imagine you're a brand and you've built up 100,000 fans who can't wait to see your next campaign - you'll have a fantastic way to kick-start any future virals.

And if you're a publisher, growing a large fan list will put you in pole position to help brands and creatives to spread their messages - and in the process you'll earn a slice of their seeding budgets.

But how do you go about building your fan base? Well, we've got loads of new functionality coming soon that will help you do this.

Until then, perhaps the best way is for you to become of a fan of other people in our community. Hopefully they will then check out your profile and like it enough to reciprocate.

Please have a try of the system and let us know if you spot any bugs or have any questions about how it all works.

Browsing other people's profiles

Wooshii — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:34:49 +0100

As you probably know, for a month or so know we've been inviting our pre-registered members to begin to fill in their Wooshii profiles.

We've had a great response, with many people using their creative skills to come up with profiles that are not only interesting but look cool too.

Now we're excited to launch the next phase of the site, which allows you to browse other members' profiles.

By clicking the People button on the new top-level navigation, you'll be taken to our Community home page.

You can filter the profiles by type (ie creatives, brands and publishers) and also order them in different ways, for instance alphabetically or by the profiles that have had the most views.

Maybe you'll find some inspiration that might give you an idea of how to make your own profile even more interesting.

You also have the ability to 'become a fan' of anyone whose profile particularly catches your eye. We'll explain more about this feature in a separate blog article here.

So please feel free to have a browse around and, as always, please let us know if you have any thoughts or feedback.

The Brand Survey

Sean Wilson — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:06:34 +0100

If you're registered as a 'brand', you've probably noticed that we're asking for your help to fill in our brand survey.

It's a very quick questionnaire, aimed at helping us find out exactly what kind of viral marketing campaigns our potential customers are interested in. We're keen to find out what types of viral marketing you've done in the past (if any!), and what type of campaigns you might want to do in the future.

We're also interested to find out what kind of budget you might have to spend. Don't worry, we're not going to expect you to spend it all on Wooshii, but it will help us get a feel for whether or not viral marketing is seen as a large or small part of a company's overall marketing budget.

You don't have to fill in the survey, it's completely optional, but if you do take the time to answer the questions, it will really help us ensure that when we launch the full site, it meets the needs of our potential customers.

If you've got any comments at all about the survey, please feel free to leave them below, or email Fergus (fergus@wooshii.com) and he'll be happy to help.

How the Publisher Network works

Fergus — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:10:45 +0100

- Do you run a website or blog?
- Do you have a Twitter, Facebook or any kind of social networking account?
- Do you have a group of friends and contacts who you email regularly?

If your answer to any of those is "Yes", then you are a 'publisher', even if you didn't realise it!

As a publisher you can earn revenue by publishing or linking to Wooshii viral campaigns.

For instance - you might embed an interesting or relevant video clip into your blog, and get paid for people viewing it or clicking on it.

Or - you might send out a 'tweet' linking to a funny viral campaign, or share an amusing link with your Facebook friends. Again, you get paid for everyone who clicks through.

Once you're part of the publishing network, you'll be able to get you own unique embed/link codes for each viral campaign on Wooshii.

So if you spot a viral you think your visitors, friends or contacts might be interested in, you can share it with them and get paid for doing so!

And the beauty is, if they forward your unique link code around, you'll get paid for anyone else who clicks it too.

There's no obligation at all to publish anything unless you like it, so there's nothing to lose by joining the network.

Click here to get started by adding a website or blog

Click here to get started by adding your Twitter account

Click here to get started by connecting to your Facebook profile

The Wooshii Creative Questionnaire

James Black — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:21:56 +0100

One of the toughest part of any negotiation between a brand and a creative is the issue of cost.

The client wants the work doing at the cheapest possible rate, and the creative wants to earn a decent wage. What we'd like our system to do is take the stress out of this aspect of pitching for work.

The creatives need a clear idea of the client's budget before they start submitting ideas. After all, there's no point in a creative coming up with a stunning idea for a 5 minute video extravaganza if the client's only got a budget of $50.

But as we've been working on the site and speaking to brands, the general feeling is that many companies simply don't know what sort of budget they need for viral marketing.

How much should they set aside for a video clip? What would a Flash game cost? And how long will it take to make them?

These are the questions that the brands are asking, and we need to be able to give them some rough figures. We need the brands to feel confident that if they set aside a certain budget, they'll be able to get what they're looking for.

And that's why we need the help of our creatives to fill in this questionnaire.

We'd love to get your thoughts on how much you would charge for certain projects, and how long they'd take.

This will help in two ways; firstly, the brands will get an idea of costs and timescales, and secondly the creatives will know that they're going to get projects with a decent budget.

The questionnaire should only take a few minutes to complete and your answers won't be shown to anyone or displayed on the site.

Don't worry, you won't have to stick to those prices when bidding on projects! It's just an initial exercise to help us get some rough figures. Please try to be realistic - if the figures are too high, brands might be put off from posting projects.

If you've got any comments at all about the questionnaire, please feel free to leave them below, or email Fergus (fergus@wooshii.com) and he'll be happy to help.

Welcome to the Wooshii Developer Blog

Wooshii — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:23:49 +0100

It's always been our intention that Wooshii needs to be a collaborative effort between the developers (us!) and the creatives, brands and publishers who will be using the site.

The site needs to work well for everyone, and that's why it's important that we get, and listen to, all the feedback we can.

We've only got a small development team - three people: James, Fergus and Sean - and we're not backed by millions of pounds of funding... although if you've got a few thousand lying around, drop us a line and we'll send you the business plan! ;-)

The only way we're going to make this site successful is by listening to what our users think.

Since we started the pre-registration process for Wooshii a month or so ago, we've been overwhelmed by the amount of feedback we've had from the people who signed up.

Most of it has been incredibly positive, but we're also especially grateful to all the people who have taken the time to point out bugs or come up with suggestions of improvements.

That's why we're now launching this blog, so we can keep you all posted with the latest developments and get your input and feedback about what we're doing.

We've started with articles about a few of the new features - the creative questionnaire, the brand survey and the Publisher Network.

Feel free to leave us comments, questions and suggestions... they're greatly appreciated.