Marketing with YouTube Videos, Part I
A bit of show-and-tell, some navel-gazing and thoughts on marketing.
In the 2007/2008 season, the Arizona Opera Orchestra went through a complicated contract negotiation that ended up going on for about 17 months. While I was not involved in any official committees, I did offer a hand in Public Relations: making a web site and most effectively, producing and creating short YouTube videos.
Probably my favorite video is this one, which reflects my quirky sense of humor. The beginning cartoon was a lot of fun to make.
Besides the obvious “sinking ship”and “ticking clock” metaphors, the music – especially in the second half – was purposely chosen for its political overtones. It is a message that any opera aficionado would immediately understand.
How?
I get asked a lot on how these videos were made. It is a complicated method that can’t be explained easily, but in a nutshell they were mostly created in Adobe Flash. More details on creating animation videos and the whole process in making the AZOOMA web site is documented in an extensive article written for Polyphonic.org.
The narrator’s voice…
It is me, but digitally altered to give it that documentary announcer sound – lowered a half-step, edited to remove the “uhms” and mispronunciations, pasted together from the best takes and equalized to give it some “boom.”
…heh-heh…
One more thing I get asked about is the music. Using a recording without licensing or permission is out of the question of course. After a little research though, I discovered a few online resources to purchase royalty-free music clips that include licensing.
A large resource of classical music is available at Shockwave-Sound.com. While the performances are not stellar, they are relatively inexpensive and most importantly, they are legal to use.
The learning curve begins
I am not a trained marketing developer but in the process of researching and developing these videos, I did pick up on a few things. In reflecting back on the AZOOMA videos, I hope this series of posts will relay some of that learning.
Symbolism and metaphor can be a clever and effective means to imply a message without being directly confrontational. Satire and parody are also useful tools, and in the event of any legal action, these modes of communication are very difficult to prosecute.
There is a big difference between calling someone a giant space slug, and illustrating them as one in a parody.
…next, using Lyndon Johnson’s “Nuclear Winter” ad as inspiration.
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