videos for art or profit

I haven’t tried something like this before, but I’ve seen two separate Honda videos this week in a way that might normally be considered “viral”.

Today’s one pushed me over the edge: it’s a clever piece that combines two short films in one: the Other Side (you’ll likely need a desktop or laptop to experience the two videos together). As a fan of the Transporter series of films, it’s a guilty pleasure.

The one earlier in the week was for a somewhat more obscure product. And it was in an OK/Go video clip I was watching for the fun of it. I was a bit surprised to see how much Honda sponsorship (for the Uni-Cub mobility device) seemed to be involved.

A few more clicks looking into the creative team behind the video, and I saw this amazing wooden xylophone

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One last piece: this older older OK/Go video, for the Writing’s on the Wall:

Which has a few more optical illusions that this one:

Which in turn reminded me of this Honda ad – “the cog”.

These are impressive videos – to create them took hours and hours of effort, and often teams of people working on them. It’s not an analogue for what a single person could create, but it’s a reminder to dream big when planning out a digital piece. Even stretching 10% from your original idea can reap rewards in how impressive the execution might be, and how much the piece is shared.

There’s no “silver bullet” when it comes to making a highly shareable video, no “viral” button that can be pushed. But if your intrinsic motivation is to make great things for the sake of it, there are cases here of big, complex things being shared.