Fun Little Movies

helloo

2010-01-21T12:37:00.001-08:00

Mr. Wrong: Mr. Narcissist - The top video clips of the week are here

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new

2010-01-21T12:23:00.003-08:00

2010-01-21T12:23:00.001-08:00

Mobile Demographic is Changing

2009-12-28T16:57:00.001-08:00

2009-07-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

One-Minute Interviews: Pop17
Sarah Austin

In the latest of our series of flip-cam, one-minute, web-celeb interviews, we asked Sarah from Pop17 her favorite quote, her secrets to success, advice, and more!

Sarah Quotes a Role Model:

I interview Sarah about her own advice and what she thinks made her such a success:

Be sure to check out her site at pop17!

2009-07-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Check out our fearless leader:

"Ask A Ninja" Interview

2009-06-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Interview With Ask A Ninja's Doug Sarine
I just recently had the chance to sit down with Doug Sarine and ask him a few questions about his wildly successful Ask a Ninja series. His series has pulled in as much as $100,000 a month from sponsors. So, I asked him three questions:

1) Why do you feel your series has been so successful?

2) Do you have any advice?

3) Is there anything important happening behind the scenes?

2009-06-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

Secrets to the Viral Video

Rule #4: Repeatablity
Rule #4: Repeatability

Imagine you've hit upon the perfect idea. You film it, and it gets a million views. Great! Now, how about a sequel? Because, when someone hits upon your amazingly funny and engaging show, he's going to want to see more. And if you have more to give him, you're golden, and if not, then you're just one more one-hit-wonder.

And why wouldn't you film several episodes? If it takes all that effort to film a show, wouldn't it make sense to film several episodes since they're there anyways? The ten episodes of Turbo Dates 2 were filmed over three days.

Once you've hit on a winner idea, why do just one? Hollywood loves sequels. And here in the mobile entertainment industry, it makes so much sense. From a viral standpoint, if you've finally found a funny video, you're gonna want to watch a second, and a third, and a fourth. That is, if there are more.

But if you want to get picked up to play on Sprint and Babelgum(which is on the iphone), it takes so much time and paperwork to seal the deal that it only makes sense to go through the trouble if you've got a series.

Tune in Later this Week for Rule #5: Evergreen!

2009-06-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Rule #3: Clear Genre

A Music Video, like Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" (yeah, she might have gamed the system, but she's still second for most views on YouTube), is nearly always obvious. If you don't know the title and the singer, the music throughout the whole clip will give it away.

But you probably don't want to compete with Avril. That's cool. If you're making a comedy, the viewer needs to laugh almost right away. Why? Because that's how you prove it's really a comedy (because most comedies are funny). If it's action, you gotta blow something up, or hit somebody.

If it’s a comedy, you need a laugh within 10-15 seconds maximum. It annoys and frustrates viewers if they don’t understand what they’re

watching right away.

And the crucial element is speed. As the graph below shows, the audience doesn't have time to wait around for you to explain what you're doing:

Audience Attention Span
Video length    % of Audience who watched the entire video
10 sec.                   89.61%
20 sec.                   80.41%
30 sec.                   66.16%
60 sec.                   46.44%
2 min.                   23.71%
3 min.                   16.62%
5 min.                     9.42%
Source: Tube Mogul

Tune in Next Week for Rule # 4: Repeatable!!!

2009-05-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

12 Secrets to the Viral Video
Rule #2: Easily understandable concept

Welcome to the second post in our 12 Secrets to the Viral Video. The title cuts both ways: it can stop people from checking out your video, or it can draw them in. You want them drawn in. Today's rule centers around the concept: it must be easy to understand.

You probably haven't heard much about the Concept. If you've been keeping pace on the Fun Little Movies Twitter,we've tweeted on interesting ideas on how hard work can make a good movie viral. There's a really good starting point at TechnoBabble that even addresses the title.

SHORT FORM MEANS SHORT
If the title is the Gate to becoming viral, the concept is the floorplan. Your visitor is not going to stay any longer than three minutes. Which means it's gotta be easy for him or her to find the way to the bathroom. In a feature, your visitor has a chance to roam around, see the living room and the kitchen. They get a chance to meet interesting characters who develop over the course of the film, or, for a series, the course of a season. But three minutes is not a lot of time for complicated character development. You've got to KISS(Keep It Simple, Stupid) the audience.

You don't know whether the visitor is going to come back to see the next video, or if he will even stay for the end of that video. Or watch them in order. One key to keeping the visitor interested, though, is a simple concept. If you jump from humor at one second to drama the next, you may leave your audience, and your prospects of going viral, behind.

NEXT WEEK:

Rule # 3: Clear Genre

2009-05-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

12 Secrets to the Viral Video: Rule #1

Welcome to Fun Little Movies!

WHY

Here at Fun Little Movies, our job is to squeeze big fun into your cellphone screen. But we need good, quality fun for the phone, which is why we're here. This blog is about how to make the best video snacks, so you can make them, and we can post them. Next time you find yourself in a line at the supermarket, you just might be able to pull out your cell phone and watch your own 3 minute Fun Little Movie!

If anyone knows what it takes to make a viral video, we do. Frank Chindamo, the guy in the picture, holds the world record for most short films independently produced, and founded the first company in America to publish videos to cell phones. He holds more than 20 awards worldwide for the mobisodes that he has already made.

MOBISODES vs VIRAL VIDEOS

But you saw the title, and it says, "Secrets to the Viral Video," and you're thinking, "If this is Mobisodes, then why tell us about Viral Videos?"

Mobisodes and Webisodes have a lot in common; they're both short, fast paced, and the audience can tune out at any second; so the ingredients that make a video viral are generally the same ones that would make it interesting on the cell phone.

The beauty of this new realm is that anyone can participate, but not everyone knows how to bring out the best material, which is why we've come up with the 12 Rules to a Viral Video.

Rule #1: Have a Great Title

Imagine this: You're standing in line, bored, so you pull out your cell phone to watch a quick short. You want to get the most out of your 3 minutes. So, you watch the video of the first title to catch your eye.

MAKE AN EYE-CATCHING COVER

You know why they said, "Don't judge a book by its cover"? It's because people do, and as the newest viral producer, you've gotta take advantage of this!

Wouldn't it be terrible to spend all your time and money making a great video, only to have no one watch it because they never got past the title? So, make a better title!

TITLE TIPS

Okay, okay, you're saying, so how do I make a good title? Well, think of what your audience is looking for as they surf their phone or the internet. Something that is

quick
interesting
familiar
funny

So, a series like, "Turbo Dates," is perfect. Turbo satisfies that speed that we're all looking for, and the title sounds similar to speed dating, something everyone knows about.

Or, take the viral hit, "The Landlord," short simple, and easy. CollegeHumor has an amazing array of good titles, like "Real Life Twitter," and "We Didn't Start the Flame War." Also, "Ask A Ninja" shows that it's silly, and "HotforWords" uses a keyword, "Hot" in its title.

TITLE SETS EXPECTATIONS

The key is that your viewer knows what they're gonna get right away from reading the title. If your title is funny, the audience should be able to tell. If it is dramatic, the audience should be able to tell. Your title sets the expectations for the piece. The next step is simple: fulfill those expectations.

COMING NEXT WEEK

Stay tuned for next week's Rule #2: Easy Concept, the first step in fulfilling those expectations!