Here Be Monsters|blog

it's that time of the year again

Back in 2 weeks.

the rise of the tweeter jockey, or just another pr competition?

That's Gabi, Gabi Gregg who has just won the chance to be MTVs first Tweeter Jockey or - TJ if you roll with the street.

Gregg won Follow Me, a months-long competition on MTV, not unlike popidol but for tweeters, her prize, a 100k a year job as the company's social media voice. So far an average, if solid pr ideas I'm sure you'll agree. And that may well be MTV's intention.

But, as someone who has been championing the use of twitter for brands beyond the banalities of a PR junior hysterics and OMG txts. I'm hoping they will see the potential of what they have. The TV coverage will have helped develop solid backstories for both character and narrative from which to engage and encourage participation and with their events and tv channels the opportunity to create more depth is there too.

So, one to watch, assuming she can write with insight and wit of course - she starts next week and you can follow her here.

old spice social campaign case study

whatever way you look at it, it's impressive

2 well crafted commercials

While the pay off is perhaps obvious. The bumper -the line after the joke that's there to get the big laugh - works really well. Nice performances too.

Then there's this one. I thought this worth commenting on for the quality of the writing and the fact that they've made the assumption that the viewer will get what's going on without any heavy explanation - we're made to discover at the same time as the guy at the bar does. (That said, the strapline so doesn't work.)

Nice idea, poor script

I thought this was a wasted opportunity if I'm honest. Someone came up with a nice use of the Youtube site and then blew it with a lame script. How much more effort was needed for this to really have worked? Anyway you decide. Click here as you should probably see it in situ for best effect. And thank you Daniel for the heads up

The simple lesson here is, make sure you write with the rules of your chosen world.

Here we see that Sly is playing a mercenary, a hired killer who never backs down from a fight. And because he's still alive he must be pretty good at it.

Now, the logic of the world starts to wobble. Why would someone want to kill the actor Sly?  Surely they would want to kill the character?  But let's put away this logic. Let's just say the actors have been so engrossed with the filming that they've taken their work home with them. 

But that doesn't explain why Sly chooses to shoot in a completely different direction to the one that the red dots are coming from, or why he then ignores them, perceiving then not to be a threat, but if that were the case surely this makes his reaction inappropriate.

How much better if he grabbed the interviewer as a shield and let her take the shots for him before taking out the shooter/s. Or if she turned out to be an assassin.

Does any of this really matter?  Am I being pedantic?  No, not at all. You will not connect with people unless they believe in your authenticity to exist, and that means living within the boundaries of the logic of the world you have created. 

It's why back stories are so important. It's all about stuff you don't need to know as a viewer, but which if you, as a writer, don't know will under mind your communication

If you want to see it done properly, check out the Iron Man, Stark Industries clips here and here.

Oh and on a separate subject entirely, check out Sell Sell's blog, thoroughly enjoyed it, hope you do too.