Giant Boobs, Pig-Faced Men and Shocking Violence – Now That’s a Book Promo

Publishers continue to make small forays into using short videos to promote their books.  This has taken every form from a simple talking head to an elaborate webseries.

According to AdRants, “Champagne-Fueled Jungle” a first novel by James Palumbo, is:

…about a society gone wrong. A society in which reality channel Shit TV (yes, that’s what it’s called) has overtaken the small screen and filled it with “homicidal dwarfs on rollerblades and obese mamas in tutus.” Title character, Tomas, has had enough and with the help of his tommy gun, he hopes to eradicate the world of this filth.

And if that doesn’t sound good enough for you, check out the lavishly animated promo video.  Beware, while entirely in black and white, the violence is quite graphic:

It’s great to see this level of attention and artistry dedicated to a book promotion.  Currently creeping near 4000 views, if just ten percent of viewers go get his book it would seem worthwhile.  Of course, that might be asking a lot from your average YouTube viewer.

Still, the combination of great animation and a violent, sexy story make this a video that could catch on and spread to some potential new readers Palumbo would never reach through traditional marketing.

Machinima’s Big Push Starts with Good Writers

Machinima has remained pretty much fringe area of the web video world with a few exceptions – most notable being the success of the series “Red Vs. Blue.”

Now this, via TubeFilter:

“Machinima.com, flush with cash after recently raising $3.85 million in capital, has announced the Machinima Comedy Lab, where the site is bringing on fifteen traditional TV writers, each to develop a comedy web series pilots. The series will be greenlit for up to four episodes each before they decide whether to further produce the series.”

What I find so smart about this move is that a group best known for what they do in terms of pushing the technical aspects of the genre forward are putting a real investment into writers who will be able to, I hope, take this great form of extremely low-cost animation to a wider audience.

Good Stuff!

Web Apps/Sites I Am Checking Out Right Now

Let’s start with Xtranormal, a site that begins to bring simple animation projects into the realm of the hobbyist:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.751473&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.xtranormal.com%2Fmedia%2Flandingpage%2Fplaylist.rss%26enablejs%3Dtrue%26javascriptid%3Dmpl%26displayheight%3D260%26displaywidth%3D600%26height%3D260%26width%3D600%26showdigits%3Dtrue%26showicons%3Dtrue%26overstretch%3Dfalse%26shuffle%3Dfalse%26smoothing%3Dfalse%26thumbsinplaylist%3Dtrue%26showcase%3Dtrue%26playlistWidth%3D0%26autostart%3Dfalse%26repeat%3Dnone]

Fun to play with but it would be awesome if you could sync in your own voices instead of sticking with the limited CG voices.

Also worth a look is ZunaVision out of Stanford University.  This is another way to place ads or other graphics onto existing video in a less obstusive manner:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR3tQmxrPo8&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]

Ah, the internet.  Cool stuff.

Stuff I Like: 3 Thug Mice

Thanks to ReelPop for pointing me to 3 Thug Mice, “the handiwork of NY illustrator Steve Marcus, with voices supplied by graf legend Min-One, plus Queens rapper Kool G Rap, and controversial Biggie/Mobb Deep/Wu-Tang collaborator R.A. The Rugged Man.”

This is an outgrowth of a comic strip from Source Magazine.  There are now 12 short-but-sweet episodes that are a tribute to “old” New York complete with a lot of bad language and crude behavior.

The mixing of actual images of the city with Marcus’ great drawings give the series a unique flavor and feel.

This is not a series for everyone but I think it strikes an excellent balance of humor, art and brevity.

PopWaffle is Gossip Powered by Crayons

Thanks to Tilzy for highlighting the work of PopWaffle because it’s really charming.

The semi-regular videos are a combination of crayon drawings and stop-motion animation used to deliver recent pop culture news and events with a bit commentary thrown in for good measure.  Here’s the latest episode:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXKrKBg0pxA&hl=en]

And here is a very clever “interview” with the creator:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=297UPoLC2SY]

Good stuff!

Toyota Gets a Little Assy (McGee)

Following up on what I’ve got to assume was a fruitful partnership for the Scion with Adult Swim’s Frisky Dingo, the carmaker has signed on to another in-show sponsorship.

This time the Scion brand will be worked into Assy McGee, an animated series featuring a gun-toting ass with legs (see pic above).

According to TVWeek:

“During each “Assy” episode this season, which kicks off April 6, a mock commercial for Scion will appear. The 35-second commercial is a takeoff on those local auto dealer spots with the loud-mouthed pitchman. Only in this spot, the loudmouth is Assy, who makes a gassy pitch, complete with graphics that promise Scion car shoppers, “No Haggle,” “No Hassle,” “No Bullshit.” It ends with the tag “Don’t make me run your ass over.”

You can watch it for yourself here.

I remember seeing the Scion sponsorship in Frisky Dingo and thought it was actually pretty funny and well-don.  The key seems to be transparancy.  We’re all in on the joke and at the same time the brand message is being transmitted.  This is a lot like the Doritos/Colbert Report union.

Whether or not Scion appearing in a show about an animated ass will drive up sales among young drivers remains to be seen.