"A hundred million times is a lot of times"
This week's most interesting videos, made by and for organisations.
The comedian Mark Watson once had a routine about the inventors of Ask Jeeves witnessing the unstoppable rise of Google. They must have been so annoyed! They had basically the same idea, but they put a butler in it.
You see this online quite a lot – a video that nearly works beautifully, except for one rogue decision which sends it veering off course. This is more frustrating than a video that doesn’t work at all.
So it’s a good question to ask yourself during any creative process – wait, did we just put a butler in it?
Let’s watch some videos.
Liverpool goes full mockumentary in a surprisingly good sponsor film (6 mins)
It’s a depressing part of modern football that super-clubs enter all manner of nonsensical commercial partnerships. Liverpool teaming up with Mr Muscle manufacturer SC Johnson appears to exemplify this greedy scourge.
But, hold those judgemental horses a second, because this video they’ve made for World Earth Day is unexpectedly great. Shot in mockumentary style around a team meeting, the players display genuinely impressive comedic skills, from Caoimhin Kelleher shoehorning references to famous Irish songs into the discussion, to Darwin Nunes sharpening a pencil with impeccable timing.
The four minutes of outtakes at the end felt a little much, but this is how to have fun with something which could easily have been incredibly dry. (Watch on YouTube)
Thanks to Kunal K for the recommendation!
Yes, yet another film about a man-pizza-sandwich love triangle (1 min)
Man finds new love. Man is caught cheating. Man tries to explain himself. It’s a tale as old as time, just in this version, the devastated jilted lover is a peanut butter and jam sandwich.
So many lovely details here, but particular props to the delicious jam tears, and the wounded way the sandwich cries, “Karl?” when he discovers the betrayal. (Watch on Vimeo)
The high-wire thrill of the fake ID captured in Adult Swim animation (5m 30s)
I would argue there is no anticipation quite as nauseating as standing in the queue for a club waiting to use a fake ID. This high risk, high reward rite of passage is captured brilliantly in Paul Rhodes’ animation for Adult Swim.
I especially liked the discussion about drug dealers’ shoes, and the bizarre hedonistic promises of what lies beyond the bouncer – a child’s impression of what happens in an adult space. (Watch on YouTube)
Silly Apple ad sees crooning photos beg not to be deleted (40s)
Apple obviously does big emotional heft really well, but it’s also great at low-key relatability. Most of us will have stared at our saved photos trying to decide what to delete, and this film takes that dilemma, and ratchets up the ridiculous, as each picture sings for its survival.
It’s all in the execution, both stylistically, and in the short, sharp nature of the spot, which means it doesn’t outstay its welcome. (Watch on YouTube)
Peak Performance promotes its new range with a man of many talents (4 mins)
Given the frequency with which they appear in this newsletter, you may know that I think the big outdoor brands do video better than most. It’s nice to see a smaller company continuing this fine tradition.
Swedish clothing brand Peak Performance is known for its winter wear, but recently launched its first range for mountain bikers. So it was an astute choice to profile WeiTien Ho, an elite competitor in both skiing and mountain biking.
The film switches energies really nicely, from stillness to high-speed and back again, and a great soundtrack elevates it still further. (Watch on YouTube)
Super simple, yet super satisfying format from the New Yorker (2 mins)
There was a time in my mid-20s where my friends and I spoke almost exclusively in “Top Threes” – top three Will Ferrell films, top three pizza toppings, top three Popes etc.
So it was nice to see this idea come to life on the New Yorker’s social feeds, as critic Naomi Fry went through her three comforting comedies to watch on TV.
It’s a beautifully simple format and, as my friend (and Top Three aficionado) Will pointed out, it invites immediate interaction, as people leave their own lists in the comments. (Watch on Instagram)
The Gourmand has a bitter fun with its new book about lemons (10s)
I still remember the excitement when the first issue of The Gourmand magazine dropped in 2012, and across its many subsequent incarnations, it has remained a go-to example of quality content and beautiful design working in tandem.
To promote its new book on lemons, they have been releasing a series of very short social trailers, which show how much visual punch can be packed into just a few seconds. (Watch on Instagram)
A modern take on a famous thought experiment from MSCHF (1m 20s)
It’s hard to easily describe MSCHF, the New York collective which gleefully rejects any obvious label (on Linkedin, they describe themselves as a dairy company).
Whatever MSCHF is, they create some of the most interesting art-media projects around, and the Sink of Theseus is yet more proof of their weird and wonderful work. It involves stealing a sink from the Met Museum, by replacing each individual part with an exact replica.
Why? No idea, but it’s both entertaining and thought-provoking, which is an exhilarating combination. (Watch on Instagram)
The Browser Company takes an honest look at what might kill it (2m 30s)
I have waxed lyrical before about the Browser Company’s approach to video, and once again it’s pulled something fascinating out of the bag.
We Might Not Make It is a five-part series in which they promise to, “pull back the curtain and talk about a different reason why the Browser Company might be dead by the end of next year.”
This sort of thing usually takes the form of a faux-humble parody, but this is for real, as each film takes a nuanced look at genuine reasons why the company might fail in its mission to change the way we use the internet. (Watch on YouTube)
And now, a man disguised as a bag of rubbish… (20s)
Quite simply, the funniest thing I saw this week, and more proof that human ingenuity knows no bounds. How best to steal parcels left on people’s doorsteps? Why, disguise yourself as a bin bag full of rubbish of course.
Heck, even the victim was sort-of impressed. (Watch on Instagram)
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Love the butter story and the creative process. I'll add it to my 'fridge' metaphor. We were working on a pilot for Channel 4 show 11 or 12 years ago. The idea was that people would come up with a challenge but they could only do it with the help of their social followers. Whilst casting we found lots of people who wanted to do some big adventurous challenges. The only problem was we felt they were the kind of people that could do the challenges with their eyes closed - some people are just like that. There was no jeopardy so the challenge and the contestant did feel interesting enough. Then I remembered Tony Hawk's book about hitchhiking around Ireland with a fridge. The inclusion of the fridge changes everything. For me "Stick a fridge on it" became shorthand for "it needs something adding to make it more interesting".