Video! A Successful Marriage of Content and Context!

Neurosonics Audiomedical Laboratories, was a film originally released in August, directed by Chris Cairns in collaboration with a group of DJs. The film was fantastic, because it utilized post production to composite human heads atop instruments (turntables, drums) mimicking the sounds produced by them.

What’s also amazing is that they decided to reproduce this effect-but live! Teaming up with Beardyman and holographic projectionists Musion, they were able to sync live video with each sound. I love this piece because it treats video as separate objects, specific for the context. Although cross platform content is great, there is still a lot of design and craft decisions that have to be considered when changing the vehicle in which you are presenting the material. I’ve heard people say crazy things like, “Oh, let’s just take a commercial and reuse it for our in store video displays!” I understand that we’re at point where we often have to cut as many corners as possible these days to satisfy a budget. But, there also comes a moment when designing an experience where video content loses its effect/messaging when trying to repurpose.

Successful executions exist when you cannot possibly imagine a piece without the video content. Perhaps this can be shown through unconventional displays, where the content has been specifically designed for the context. My colleague and fearless leader, Teri Rogers, proposed a thought in a recent post that “content is king” for 2010. And, in my opinion, if content is king, then context is queen!

That’s why I really enjoy this piece as well, designed by Tokujin Yoshioka for Maison Hermès, because it utilizes video as an integral part of the presentation. The video content adds another layer of character to the sound and would have a difficult time standing alone. Fantastic!