Red Giant Software Goes Viral with Plot Device

Ok so this is pretty awesome. The people at Red Giant Software created this video with the help of an indie film maker in an effort to push their sweet software package, Magic Bullet. A suite of software used to create and manage color styles in film/video.

I have wanted to own their software for a while now but it is a little out of my price range, even though, considering the competition, it isn’t so bad. Here’s the Mashable version of how this entire production went down.

With less than $10,000 in their pockets but armed with a great idea and serious filmmaking skills, the company enlisted the help of indie filmmaker Seth Worley to create “Plot Device,” a viral video that topped 540,000 views on Vimeo and YouTube in its first two weeks.

via Mashable

Part of the fun in this video can only be enjoyed by the serious film-goer. I love that sort of stuff. It’s what sets these sorts of videos apart from the crap that other agencies put out there claiming “this will go viral”. It has to be at least one of the following to go viral:

  • Hilarious, like lol, side splitting funny.
  • Disgusting, see Two Girls, one Cup, or don’t.
  • So amazingly produced that your mind is blown, you forget it’s an advert (check).
  • Smart. Not like Studio 60 smart (dare to dream) but at least Robert Reich smart.
  • So racist/homophobic/sexist/stupid/ignorant that we can all universally laugh at it.
  • Super emotional, think It Gets Better
  • Lowest common denominator, a kick in the balls, so to speak.

This video exhibited at least three of these traits.

This is pretty much the first time a YouTube video has me lusting over a piece of software. Lusting over it as if owning it would give me the incredible mad skills required to make a video like this.

Though the color effects wouldn’t be so bad would they? Now if they could make a version for Final Cut Pro X, and that doesn’t cost $799 to own the entire suite. Yikes. A steal to the serious video professional but a barrier to entry for video guys like me.

Elgato Turbo.264 HD Reviewed

Over the last year or so I’ve been doing more and more video editing. It started when I got my Kodak Zi8 handheld video camera. It shot pretty decent 1080p HD video at a stupid cheap cost of entry. Getting the Kodak Zi8 was a no-brainer but how to handle the files afterwards proved to be a bit more complicated.

Typical Justin-style, long-winded introduction and review of the Elgato Turbo.264 HD continues below. The short story is the Elgato Turbo.264 HD is worth every penny. Read on to be entertained, informed and generally over-educated on my process and thoughts. Continue reading