HomeStation Announces A New Machinima Contest: Create Your Own Product Advertisement!
by NorseGamer, HSM founder
Advertising is an art form, and a damn hard one to master.
You have to create something which emotionally moves someone to the point of remembering your product and actually wanting to spend money on it. It’s an intangible art whose path is littered with mountains of failure on either shoulder: either you have an ad that’s memorable but doesn’t actually make you remember the product, or you have an ad that tells you about the product but bores you to tears in the process.
And then there are those rare success stories.
What separates a really good ad from just another ad? Why is it that two ads can sell the same product, but one is put on mute while the other one is discussed for days or weeks (or longer) afterwards? What is that intangible something that makes one ad stand out more than another?
It’s time for you to answer that question.
Advertising is the ultimate form of audiovisual shorthand. A good ad should make you want to rewatch it, make you interested in the product it’s pitching, and emotionally drive you to the point of enhancing your life by purchasing it.
There are, in fact, some developer-created Home ads which manage to do this really well. Let’s look at a brace of examples:
1. Digital Leisure’s Aquarium (55 seconds)
2. The Lockwood Horsebomb (51 seconds)
Go back and rewatch these ads carefully. Break them down as a filmmaker, not a consumer. Look at each element that went into them: the length of each cut, the visuals being conveyed, the music which sets the mood, and so forth.
And now we’re going to ask you to make your own.
Pick a Home product that you really like. Any product. Any developer. Make a fake ad for it. And let’s see what the community can come up with!
THE RULES:
1.) Running time must be between ten to sixty seconds.
2.) Use only music, voices and sounds which you have the rights to.
3.) You can enter as many ads as you want, but each ad must be limited to one developer. You can feature multiple products from that developer if you wish, but you can only feature one developer per ad.
4.) All submitted content must be no stronger than PG-13, and within a reasonable-person standard of good taste.
5.) The contest will be divided into two groups: HSM filmmakers and everyone else. That means someone from outside HSM is guaranteed to win.
6.) Finished films need to be in mp4 format with the h.264 codec.
7.) There will be a submissions thread in the HSM forum. You must submit a YouTube link to that thread in order for it to count as a valid contest entry. No other method of entry will be accepted.
8.) Make sure to state, in both the YouTube video title and description, that this is a fake ad. Anyone attempting to pass off a contest entry as an actual developer-created ad will be automatically dismissed from the competition.
9.) Submissions will be accepted until midnight GMT, Sunday April 28th 2013. The two winners will be announced on or about Wednesday, May 1st 2013.
10.) Ad must feature an actual PlayStation Home product or service.
SOME ADVICE:
A.) If you need music, we highly recommend checking out www.musicloops.com — loads of fantastic music there which you can license for a small fee. I’m sure the more established Home machinimists reading this will chime in with additional suggestions for music resources.
B.) You don’t need fancy editing software to make a good advertisement. Sure, more tools are great to have, but go for emotions, not bells and whistles. If you’ve got Windows Movie Maker (a freeware program which comes with Windows Essentials), you’ve got enough horsepower to get the job done without spending a dime.
C.) If you need to film on the cheap, we recommend picking up either the LOOT Active Camera and Active Light or the Juggernaut Observer camera. This will only set you back a few dollars, but the trade-off is that you will be limited to filming in standard definition. We highly encourage you to invest in a Hauppauge PVR 1212 system. Yes, it’s a pricey investment at $140 on Amazon, but it allows you to capture Home at its native HD resolution of 720p — and when your video is blown up to full screen, that makes a huge difference (and no, you can’t get around this by filming in SD and then upscaling to HD; the footage needs to be captured natively in HD). SD entries still qualify for the contest and stand a chance of winning, but you want to make your work look as good as possible — and that means filming in HD.
D.) Kinda obvious, but pick a Home product and developer you’re quite passionate about. This will show in the work. If you really like Lockwood’s Drey clothing, then film it. If you’re a Novus Prime groupie, then make a Hellfire ad. Some of you will be involved in LOOT’s Doctor Who machinima contest (which is running concurrently), so you could easily take your LOOT contest entry, whittle it down to the running time for this contest, and kill two birds with one stone. (Besides, I think the BBC would be very interested to see it…)
E.) Speaking of Doctor Who: this twelve-second teaser has gotten 50,000 views on YouTube. It took an hour to film and edit in Windows Movie Maker, has no dialogue, one sound effect, and an avatar performing the “Boo!” emote. That’s it. Bells and whistles do not guarantee a great ad. Don’t be intimidated. Be creative.
E.) If you need a crash course in good advertising, check out CLIO Award winners from years past on YouTube. Study what made them stand out from the rest. We also recommend studying the following ads in particular:
Volkswagen’s “Pink Moon” Cabrio:
The Most Interesting Man In The World:
Outpost.com:
VW Scirocco Diesel (fake, but should’ve been real):
Old Spice Odor Blocker Body Wash:
THE JUDGES:
Your judges for this contest are HSM’s editorial team: Terra_Cide, MJG74, SealWyf, BONZO, Estim20. Remember, entries are divided into HSM and non-HSM groups, so HSM filmmakers get no special preference.
THE PRIZES:
1.) The winning entry from each group (HSM and non-HSM) wins a $50 PSN card!*
2.) The winning entries will be put on display in Home itself via the HomeStation EOD Channel!
(*$50 PSN card is limited to SCEA Home accounts, and all the usual restrictions apply.)
WHY YOU SHOULD DO THIS:
Yeah, the prizes are great, and yeah, the potential to be seen by thousands of people (or more) on the EOD is brilliant, and yeah, developers will probably be very curious to see what sort of community-created ads come from this contest…but the big reason to do it is because it’s fun.
So let’s see what kind of PlayStation Home ad you can come up with!
April 2nd, 2013 by NorseGamer | 17 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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This is a cool idea. I might have to enter the contest.
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Wow, Norse. Thank you, this seems like a lot of fun. Thank you for making the directions so easy to understand and adding all the tips needed. I am already brainstorming.
IMHO, the best thing to do now, if you are seriously considering making an entry for the contest, is look at each of the above commercials included in this announcement. Then, write down the name of each product that was in the commercials. Which of the product NAMES stuck with you? Because unless the targeted customer and remember the NAME as well as be motivated to find out more about it, the ad has failed. Now: which car was that? Make and model? What deodorant? Which beer brand? What exactly does Outpost.com sell? One of the most irritating commercials in history was the grocer holding a roll of toiler paper and being told, “Please don’t squeeze the _ _ _ _ _ _” Can you fill in the blank with the name of the product? And do you remember the key fact that the advertiser was pushing about that product? Did you ever buy this product? Will you ever be able to forget that commercial?
Who is producing these promos at Sony now? Are they paid employees, families of paid employees with editing equipment?
Not exactly sure what you are referring to, but it is my understanding that each developer is responsible for creating their own videos that they produce for their products. The videos that Sony itself comes out with are either contracted out, or there’s someone in Foster City who creates them in-house.
Since I am the only ‘famil(y) of paid (Sony) employee with editing equipment’ at HSM whn those promos were made, I assume you are asking about me. ROFL! Thanks for the lovely compliment but no way am I professional video maker. Nor am I a staff member of HSM any longer.
Am I entering this contest? You betcha. And if the developer really likes my entry, maybe I CAN get hired to do some promos for a developer. But that’s a very big IF. Competing with ad agencies is not something I want to take on at this stage of my life.
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Norse, I have a question please.
May we have an additional developers item featured in the video along with the developers items that we are advertising? Or will that disqualify us even though we are focusing on just one of the developer in the ad?
Thank you.
Contest rule #3: “You can enter as many ads as you want, but each ad must be limited to one developer. You can feature multiple products from that developer if you wish, but you can only feature one developer per ad.”
No exceptions to this.
Yes, that can make things more challenging — because now you’re facing the same limitations that developers face when they create ads for Home. But that just means you have to build a smarter mousetrap.
A good example of this would be Game Mechanics’ recent ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFueqXfsex0
All GM has are furniture objects. No estates, no clothing, nothing. So John created an ad that uses the Basic Apartment (which is free to everyone), default clothing (same story), and a catchy music beat.
Look at some of the other developer ads that have been created using only default clothing and the Basic Apartment:
nDreams Street Moves: http://youtu.be/yJpHvRen0ZI
Atom Republic
Gangnam Style“Cowboy” dance moves: http://youtu.be/0TSkBILkjysThese are perfectly functional ads that get the message across, and have received thousands of hits apiece. And they probably took very little time to film, edit and mix. Which brings us to a key pointer about advertising:
Lavish production values and crazy setups are meaningless unless they sell the product. Being minimalist can, ironically, make it easier for the audience to focus on what you’re trying to sell. Every single shot in the ad should only exist if it sells the product. A good example of an ad that spent way too much money and time on *not* selling the product would be Chiat\Day’s McDonald’s Olympics ad: http://youtu.be/5184llMCDwA
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
DAMN!!!!!!!!!!
I mean what i meant to say was, time to create Plan B
wait a minute here! Then this means that Bill’s brilliant Dr. Who ad gets disqualified because of the shot of the yacht? Because obviously that yacht is not a BBC product? Also what about the ads that were used as examples for us to study? Those clothes worn by the Dos Equis guy are clearly not from that company. I think you are going to have to cut us all some slack on that because otherwise people who already invested a lot of money in props to use are going to be very upset that they have to reshoot an entire machinima just to change the shoes on all the actors.
You missed the point with the ads to study.
Simple, memorable message, simple production. That’s the point.
We are not responsible for people who feel compelled to go out and buy new Home items expressly for this contest. In fact, it’s most likely the individual who takes what they already own from a particular developer and makes an interesting ad from that who will get more consideration than someone who felt they had to break the bank and buy all the latest Home baubles.
Look at rule #3 again, Keara.
“3.) You can enter as many ads as you want, but each ad must be limited to one developer. You can feature multiple products from that developer if you wish, but you can only feature one developer per ad.”
The rule states that ads must be limited to products from one developer, not one publisher. BBC Worldwide is the publisher on Doctor Who, but LOOT was the developer. Since Bill’s ad uses products created by only one developer (Sunset Yacht and Doctor Who were both developed for Home by LOOT), his ad is not disqualified.
Part of the challenge of this contest is to give the community the same obstacles developers face when creating product ads for Home. Hence why we included two Home ads near the top of the article (from Digital Leisure and Lockwood) for people to study, and I included three more Home ads in response to River’s inquiry on this topic. In each instance, the Home ads created by developers are limited solely to that developer’s products, plus default clothing and the Basic Apartment if needed. The non-Home ads were included, as stated, for people to study the visual vocabulary that went into creating them (since they’re noted as successful ad campaigns).
Keep in mind that if you’ve already shot something without paying attention to the rules, there’s nothing stopping you from completing that work. It just won’t be a valid entry for this contest. That’s all. It’s not like it won’t be a good machinima on its own merits.
As it pertains to this contest, however, there’s no justifiable reason to change the contest rules just to make life more convenient for someone who created a product that doesn’t adhere to them. Particularly since all HSM filmmakers received an internal brief on the contest in development prior to the formal announcement, and that internal e-mail explicitly states, “Our upcoming machinima contest will focus on creating a fake advertisement for a Home developer of your choosing. You can create multiple ads if you wish, but only one developer may be featured per ad. However, you can showcase multiple products from that developer in the same ad, if you wish.”
You were still a part of HSM at that time, Keara. You got that e-mail. As did every other HSM filmmaker. Two entries so far have been received which conform to the rules. How do I justify changing the rules, mid-contest, just for you?
(Before anyone tries to jump down my throat about HSM team members receiving an internal brief — and thus a potential head start — on the contest before the public announcement: remember that HSM filmmakers and non-HSM filmmakers aren’t competing against each other in this contest. There are separate prizes for each group.)
The problem isn’t with the contest. The problem is with people who rushed off the starting line in the wrong direction and now expect the tail to wag the dog. Doesn’t happen here. Sue has already publicly indicated she started down the wrong path and is now working on something new. We encourage you to do the same if you want to have a valid contest entry.
Reshoots and pickup shots are part of a filmmaker’s life, just as editing and revision are part of a writer’s life. You know this. Yes, it’s time consuming, and yes, it can be a headache, but that’s the nature of the beast. The question is whether to take your marbles and walk away, or rise to the challenge. If you chose to invest a bunch of money into various virtual goods for filming purposes (something which is not required by this contest), then why not create a series of small, individual ads featuring just those goods? Turn the challenge into an opportunity.
I was using furniture and stuff from other developers to create a set. After watching the videos you put up, I completely changed my approach.
Looking forward to seeing the finished product, Sue!
just to be clear..the ad we make must feature the developers products. no other spaces can be used if not created by that developer, no other items may be used unless created by that developer, no other clothes may be used unless they were made by that deveopler??
The only permissible exception is the Basic Apartment (Harbour Studio), Harbour Studio default furniture, and default clothing items that all new accounts are issued. The goal is for community members to face the same restrictions as developers.