To go along with the viral video theme discussed this week, Samsung released a video ad, which is intended to go viral, for its I8910 camera phone, which I found on a Geekology post. It seems to be a trick camera, and the point of the ad is to challenge the people in cyberspace to figure out what the trick is. The guy in the ad challenges everyone to guess how the ad was filmed; he claims that it was all done in one take without editing or special effects.
In the ad, which is 1 minute and 44 seconds, a guy is in his house filming with the camera phone, and he wants to show everyone in cyberspace how great the camera is. After he films his live-in girlfriend, asking her to say hi, he walks over to a mirror and begins filming himself. At one point, he waves his hand in front of the camera so that everyone in cyberspace can see nothing but his hand pass, and when the screen is hand-free again, the camera with which he’s filming seems to have disappeared, or at least invisible. The trick is - he’s still filming. We can see him still filming himself in the mirror, although there now is empty space where he appears to be holding up the camera. He even pans the camera, and it really appears as if he’s still filming. He waves his hand again, and the camera reappears; the challenge is then issued.
The ad appeared to be informal and a bit grassroot-sy, which I think worked. As far as social media is concerned, I think it tries to engage the audience with the guy talking to the camera, even daring them to guess how he was filming with a camera that didn’t seem to be there. While I think it was made obvious that it was an official Samsung ad, I didn’t mind that it was written in a script that the “girlfriend” showed her annoyance with her “boyfriend,” as if they were a real couple. I thought it was a funny, and it rang a bit true. Although some people may be allowed with viral videos, I think this one was fine. At least it wasn’t trying to pretend like it was a real guy in his real apartment. I could tell it was professionally done, and I found it likeable that it wanted to initiate two-way communication in the honor of social media.
2 comments:
I agree with you. I thought that it was definitely a Samsung produced commercial and liked how they made it seem like they were a real everyday couple. The camera also looks very cool! I'm still trying to figure out what the trick is.
This is a very effective ad! It seems like he's such a normal guy just playing around with his camera. AND he's magic! I never like to admit that I like an ad, but this one made me wonder more about the product. Definitely worked.
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