Keen to add some cinematic sparkle to this festive period? Simply commit to always saying "Merry Christmas" as though you're in the final scene of a feelgood Christmas movie. The key is to marinade every syllable with meaning.
Shopkeeper: "Thank you sir, your receipt's in the bag. Merry Christmas."
Me: (Long pause.) (Doleful eye contact.) (Slight head nod.) "Merry Christmas."
For the final time this year, feast your eyes on GoPro madness, animated F1 fun, and a hall-of-fame proposal fake-out.
Watch the films on Are.na, or take your pick below.
GoPro’s best of the year round-up is everything you hope it is (3 mins)
Whenever I ask creators which brands really excel at social video, GoPro crops up nine times out of ten. And their best of 2023 is as thrilling as you want it to be.
In some ways they're playing a different game to everyone else, given the quality of the material they have to work with. But that brings its own pressures, to live up to people's expectations.
It's fair to say having people fly over the Pyramids will probably do it... (Watch on YouTube)
A nice surprise as Formula 1 dials up the funny with its season review (3 mins)
This might be unfair, but Formula 1 has always struck me as a brand that takes itself very seriously. What a joy then to come across its animated season review, which is anything but po-faced.
Taking real audio, both from drivers' in-race radios and the commentators, artist Nick Murray Willis makes short cartoons which take the soundbites off in weird and wonderful directions.
Silly, funny and hella creative, it also seems to be an annual tradition, with recurring characters that pop up year on year. (Watch on YouTube)
UN Migration makes a powerful point by asking a simple question (34s)
Through a neat use of the TikTok split screen, UN Migration makes the dazzlingly obvious point that we all make journeys, and that the line between travel and migration is pretty superficial when you think about it.
With 35 million views so far, it's proof (again) that if you're looking to strike a chord with lots of people, the best advice is to keep it simple, stupid. (Watch on TikTok)
The New York Times makes a filmic trailer for an article (and it slaps) (2m 30s)
There's a sense in the media world that looking to the New York Times for inspiration creates false comparisons – so much more advanced is their capacity to create high quality work.
But this still deserves some attention. Essentially it's a trailer for an article about a mountaineering expedition that ended in tragedy, the mystery surrounding it, and the revelations from a newly-discovered camera.
It's incredibly engrossing and I think there is a lesson here, which is how creatively are you thinking about the ways you promote your content? (Watch on Instagram)
Clever BBC campaign urges us all to go full Attenborough (1min)
The BBC's in-house creative studio has form for bringing campaigns to life through video – last summer's This is Our BBC was a stirring and punchy f**k-you to its detractors.
This is clever too, asking different people to take on National Treasure David Attenborough's narration duties and speak up for the natural world.
My only minor quibble (great word) is that I don't think they need the celebrities – I'd have preferred all the voices to be members of the public. Still, nice to hear Dua Lipa talk about frogs. (Watch on YouTube)
Art21’s compelling portrait of deaf artist Christine Sun Kim (13 mins)
Art21 is a non-profit platform that makes terrific short films about the most interesting contemporary artists. Their bar is always high, and this profile of deaf artist Christine Sun Kim exemplifies what they do so well.
These films work best when structured like a tree, with a strong central idea that props the whole thing up, but stories and ideas that branch off in different, ideally unexpected, directions. (Watch on YouTube)
Another artful animation from Hermès (15s)
We've featured Hermès' short Instagram animations before, but once again this cheered up the timeline.
It probably only works for certain brands, but making and sharing beautiful things builds affinity, especially when messaging takes a backseat to creative expression. (Watch on Instagram)
LEGO launches a fun but useless camera in some style (1min)
LEGO is often justifiably cited as a brand that really gets community, and its Ideas platform exemplifies where it goes right. Fans can submit their own creations, which, if they receive enough support, will be turned into official LEGO sets.
That's how the LEGO Polaroid OneStep Camera became a reality, and this launch video leans into the absurdity, revelling in this camera's complete inability to take photographs. (Watch on LinkedIn)
Rockerfeller Center promos its perfection as a place to propose (15s)
Ooof is that guy ok? Oh...well played! (Watch on Instagram)
“Storytellers don't experience anything extraordinary. Instead, they know how to imbue meaning into things that are ordinary.”