Making FIRST Viral

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old 25 year old but I hate nearly every viral video. I would much rather be popular and have people pay attention for longer than a week and a half. We're trying to change the culture over the long haul not for a minute.

How many people are still playing WOW because they saw the leeroy jenkins video? I imagine not that many.

If we hadn't had such an issue with mobile user access on this video, we might have gotten more than 4,000 views

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6khLRcDgv4

It did finally become the #1 search result for "robo gangman style", though. One thing I took away from helping produce this was that timing is everything. Thankfully, we were able to latch onto Gangnam Style before it became too, too unpopular and overplayed.

For this upcoming season, I'm switching back to the media group to maintain our team's momentum after one of our mentors retired from his previous position. I'd love to make videos that are a) educational b) make a difference c) fun. Our Chairman's Award production is going to be our number one priority this year, but I know we can create some additional content that will help advance FIRST and its message.

I'd love to take the ideas that have been brought up in this thread and use them as inspiration for our productions. One thing I think that will be advantageous is to develop a mini-series or collective set of videos that are not mutually exclusive. Building an audience is very important, and I feel that developing a plot line or continuity between videos will help us. One thing that may also be of benefit is to ask teams to participate in a video version of the "How I work" interview series.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by stinglikeabee

One thing that may also be of benefit is to ask teams to participate in a video version of the "How I work" interview series.

We would love it if someone took this on. We would be happy to help but video production is not one of our strengths. It's high on our list of things to work on but we definitely have a long way to go. We have a new mentor who has some experience, we're putting together a light kit and working on getting better cameras and audio equipment.

Feel free to take that idea and run with it, we would love to see videos.

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

We would love it if someone took this on. We would be happy to help but video production is not one of our strengths. It's high on our list of things to work on but we definitely have a long way to go. We have a new mentor who has some experience, we're putting together a light kit and working on getting better cameras and audio equipment.

Feel free to take that idea and run with it, we would love to see videos.

If you're strapped for cash: get quality audio first! You can take good enough web video using most smartphones or an iPad. Check out Rode's smarLav. It's $60 lav mic that uses your iOS device as a portable audio recorder. You can later sync audio in video editing software like Kdenlive (Ubuntu/linux) or Final Cut Pro or the Adobe CS/Creative Cloud apps. I have a Rode NTG-2 and it is an excellent microphone. Cheap handheld mics and Xbox headsets also work very well. If you can afford it, get a nice set of Sony or Sennheiser UHF wireless mics, as they work far better than the sub $150 VHF sets.

My lighting kit is primarily two Z96 LED lights. The $40 cheap LEDs also work apparently, but it's nice to have a constant color temperature to work with.

That being said, don't stress on the components in your kit. Get a good script and set go from there.

I'll see what I can do on my end. There might be a way to make this work, as I think it's a great series to read.

[safiq10]

Why not make an entire show for FRC people. I know their is FRC top 25 but a show that showcases "this is how we work", Table talk (where mentors from different teams and the host give their opinions on a disscussion on the CD.), and a whats new and cool segment where you showcase and highlight what teams are up too.

[JohnFogarty]

I personally thought these are the best Engineering related parodies that exist made by a music/engineering group at Purdue called West Wing.

This is Engineering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbWXuR_2Ow

ENGR Nights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rZY8iX8Mdw

If media and spirit teams made stuff like this with FIRST lyrics. I'd be happy.
However, it wouldn't make much sense to non-FIRSTers if we start making refrences to super shifters and VICTORS...etc.

[Dom20]

I've had the idea for a couple years now, and it's my senior year on my team. I didn't think many teams would be interested but we should do it if teams are all on board at regionals and at world championships too. That would be the best!