Video Virility (ramblings)

The goal of any viral video is to inject life into the audience. If it plays by the rules, the audience will be limited. If it relies on expected tropes and conceits, then it will appear fake. Honest and amateur will trump fake and professional. Professionalism for the sake of professionalism is always fake. Professionalism is expected; amateurism is novel. One video shot by one protester in Iran will always have more views than an edited collection of different shots.

We live in a vicarious age. We minimize our guilt by spreading it to others.

We live in an age of little hope. We minimize our hopelessness by spreading what little hope we find.

It's more important to get people interested than it is to educate. Trivia is easy to provide because it doesn't require context. Yet it provides a starting step to understanding the context, because trivia provides familiarity. All knowledge of context is grounded in the familiar; it allows us to make comparisons and connections between ourselves without relying on abstractions. That we can all know something trivial requires no abstraction, but provides a basic human context. If I were to make a video -- or any media -- regarding the Arab world, I would start by pointing out that Arabic has no "p"; that "p" is the most common consonant in the world; that of the top 25 languages spoken, Arabic is the only one without a "p". I'll bet you didn't know that. Want to learn more...?

If you have 10 seconds to keep people watching a 5 minute video, start with the familiar and transition to the unfamiliar later. Start superficial and then peel away at the layers. You deconstruct inwards towards the source, not outwards toward the product. Start with as little context as necessary. Root yourself in common assumptions; doing otherwise may appear insisting.

It's easier to intellectualize over the actions of the victimizer than it is to have empathy for the victim. This is related to the above.

People won't watch something that's hard to watch, especially if they have neither interest nor context. Baptism by fire does work, but it's not something most people willingly go through. Make it harder /later/.

Adrenaline rushes are overrated. Use them wisely, and timing is everything. This is /chemical/.

Moments of heartwarming are chemical. Moments of intense sadness are chemical. If it creates an emotional response, it's chemical. Know how these emotions work in you, because the feelings created by emotions are universal.

And of course: ignore all rules. This is a rule, as is everything above it.