Google “Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review” – Welcome to 2012 and our first post of the new year! We’ll kick it off with a video review of 2011′s most popular searches. This montage is a stirring and emotional review of the past year, highlighting some of the most important changes in the world. It also bids farewell to some of the most influential people in the world, including Steve Jobs and Andy Rooney. This video has been incredibly popular over the past few weeks, gaining seven million views in under a month. The video doesn’t incorporate any amazing special effects or humor, but it does generate an emotional response with video clips of some of the most viral and talked about videos of the year. There have been a few articles in the past that speak to the power of viral videos being based on their ability to create an emotional reaction in the audience. Another component of this video, as is often mentioned in these round ups, is the use of a powerful sound track which compliments the visuals.
Star Wars “Freeze Mob” – This viral video is based on the flash mob format but instead of breaking out in song and dance, people freeze in a pose. While this is not a very effective form of flash mob for every business or video, for this viral it works very well. The costumes and make-up for this video were very well done, especially for the main Sith character who had terrific blood-red eyes. The viral is for a video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, also known as an MMORPG. It has received much praise from gaming outlets and has been talked about as the best competition World of Warcraft has had in a long time. The incredibly simple video, released a few weeks ago, has massed two million views in under a month and has likely been fueled by fans of the game and the Star Wars genre. However, as seen in previous videos, Star Wars fans don’t help every video reach the coveted 1 million views mark, there has to be some quality built into the video as well.
Peugeot “Motion & Emotion Show” – French car maker Peugeot has released this excellent video featuring 3D mapping techniques and an Xbox Kinect to create the effects seen in the video. Nokia recently released a video which used 3D mapping of a building in London to create some pretty cool effects. This Peugeot video is crowd based as well, allowing a huge audience in Brazil to watch this giant light show. An actor uses his body and the help of Kinect, to direct some of the driving sequences in the video. It’s a pretty cool addition to the video and also gives Microsoft a nice pat on the back for their technology. With 5 million views in under a month this video has been highly successful. Peugeot is not a company known for viral videos and is not a common name in the United States, but their creativity has transcended oceanic divides and entertained us damn Yanks.
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This particular viral is an ad for the new Google Chromebook which will have no operating system, but just a browser that people will work off of. It’s not a brand new idea, Microsoft has said in the past that they foresee a future without an OS, but Google is attempting to make it happen. When they finally release these Chromebooks the PC industry will surely have their eyes firmly glued to the success of this radical new platform. Until then we can sit and appreciate the simple graphic representation of the Chromebook which explains all its features while entertaining us.