The most important viral videos of 2009 were few and far between but I did mange to pick 5 videos that for one reason or another brought real value to the independent production and distribution of web video.
5th – Do You Want to Date My Avatar
This year the brilliant and talented Felicia Day (Creator / Star of The Guild and Stream Award Winner) proved that you could give away 6 Million views of an independent music video for free and still sell electronic downloads of the video and the song as well as market and promote your web video series and DVDs.
4th – JK Wedding Entrance Dance
This viral video wasn’t important because it got over 35 Million views this year. It was significant because it didn’t make any money for the content creators to begin with but it did prompt YouTube to change policy and then it became a boon to YouTube’s “click to buy ads” program.
Social Media Site Mashable said the JK Wedding Entrance Dance was the, “antithesis of the Susan Boyle video explosion, where YouTube and ITV were unable to work out any sort of deal, and hundreds of millions of video views went unmonetized.”
3rd – The Bannen Way Trailer
Actor, co-writer and executive producer, Mark Gantt teamed up with writer, director and executive producer, Jesse Warren to create The Bannen Way (Launching Jan 6th, 2010 on Sony’s Crackle) but before they sold their idea to Sony they created a online trailer and “Pitch Site” that created buzz, got them a fancy Hollywood agent at ICM, helped then sell their show idea to Sony and they got to act, write and direct their project. The studio didn’t take Mark and Jesse’s football away from them and give it to someone else, Sony let them play quarterback and wide receiver. It has been fantasy filmmaking at it’s best and if The Bannen Way does well next month when they launch the first episode (on the same day that you can buy the feature length film on iTunes via electronic sell through) which I think it will, there will be a new working business model for web video and those of us who have been pushing this online video rock up the hill for so long will be jumping for joy.
Now I know the Original trailer for The Bannen Way came out on Saturday August 23th 2008 but I’m excited for these webisodes to become an online web series hit that will become a household name that sends mainstream America to the web to watch video they way they started texting after Ryan Seacrest told people to text in their votes on American Idol.
2nd – Ataque de Pánico! (Panic Attack!) 2009
More than any other video this year this online video goes to show you the power of web video for independent filmmakers.
Federico “Fede” Alvarez made a short film of robots invading the capital city of Uruguay for $300. He now has a CAA agent and a multi-million dollar movie deal with A-list Hollywood “Spider-Man” director Sam Raimi.
According to Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times, “After seeing his short film, which depicts an invasion of Montevideo by a battalion of giant robots, Mandate Pictures agreed to bankroll a $30-million upcoming film for Alvarez, with the filmmaker getting a cool $1 million director’s fee.”
1st – Iran, Tehran: wounded girl dying in front of camera, Her name was Neda
Neda Agha Soltan was shot to death on 20.06.2009 by security forces during a protest (against Iranian Presidential Election 2009) in IRAN. Her name quickly became a rallying cry for the opposition who protested against Islamic Dictatorship.
This video stands to remind us that without the freedom of speech to show videos that are real news and not fluff or propaganda we will be in the same boat as Iran. We need to make sure that the Internet remains open and gets even more open for people who don’t yet have access to the democracy of online video.
If you are interested in keeping the Internet Video and Entertainment open please visit the Open Entertainment Alliance
