SunChips VCAM, or “How to be Depressed about Your Work”

See it on Youtube here. Pass around this link and vote: http://current.com/groups/sunchips/92369409_whats-your-next-change.htm

So earlier this year I had decided to enter as many video, animation, and photo contests as I can. I came across the Current VCAM deal from Youtube. I had been subscribed to Current’s Youtube Channel sine it was started, but I rarely went to the website. It’s recently become one of my main landing pages and I really like most of the original content there. Back in February I did a VCAM for their Lexus contest and the final video wasn’t THAT good. I was working on one with mosaics and lot of fun imagery but my computers just couldn’t handle the massive files I was trying to use and I didn’t finish it on time. So I took the concept that I had, rehashed a old video I did in my 2008 Video Month (where I made a video every day for a month) and just sent it in. I was pretty surprised to discover I was a finalist. But I was even more surprised I was a finalist when I saw the winners. I had seen previous VCAMs in the past and some of them were pro quality. The Lexus winners were TV, pro quality. The video I made didn’t even compare. But at least then I understood what was needed to pass to have a chance at winning.

Next came the new VCAM for SunChips. I was pretty excited about this one. I had tons of ideas and concepts. The only real problems I had were that I live in Japan (No SunChips here) and the due date for the video fell on the same time I was trying to get my Japanese Drivers License. (a nightmare, will make another post about it soon) After the bags of Sunchips my friend in the States sent me arrived I sat and thought, writing down what I think I could do. I read the Current VCAM conditions and what SunChips wanted very carefully and before starting I had about 5-6 concepts penned out. I started a few, but was forced to waste more than a week of dime dealing with the Japanese License testing center. I eventually settled to work on one or two, and then combined parts of both to make the video you see above.

To be honest, I really like it. I originally wanted to do some slick transitions and a few more layers… but I watched it a few times in it’s current state and decided that it was fine on it’s own. The only thing I don’t like is my voice. I hate using my voice, but I was working too fast and wasn’t really close enough to anybody who I knew could do it at the time. At least I have thousands of hours of recording and training people to do voiceovers under my belt. I may not have a good voice, but I can at least make it sound like a voiceover. In the end, I was proud that I did what I thought they wanted and I did almost everything myself. (Chip bags are from my friend Chris in America and the music is from APM. Everything else is me!)

Now, I had looked around on Youtube and Vimeo to see if anybody had uploaded their progress or completed commercials. It was pretty shocking to see that so many people had completely missed the point of what SunChips wanted and didn’t follow some of the simplest rules. But I had only seen maybe 20 of the 100+ VCAMs that were eventually done. When Current announced that the videos were going to go live before the winners were announced, was was pretty shocked. I thought they didn’t do this. The thing I loved about the Current TV VCAM deal was that it was between me and the sponsor, not a popularity contest. There are too many people out there with crappy videos that have huge networks. I mean, I have a pretty good network myself, but most of them are college kids who have nothing better to do but upvote and refresh their buddy’s videos. That aside, it was a HUGE eye-opener to see the competition. What little confidence I had was almost completely gone. There was some real professional productions, some shot on a RED, some with beyond amazing design, and a few with great graphics. After I saw the 5th or 6th one that I knew was amazing I almost stopped watching, but I went and finished them all.

To be honest, if they want a slick commercial that looks exactly like one they would have paid a production crew to do in the past, that they wrote and fits their current design scheme, they’re set. There are 5-6 that they can choose from. To be honest, from what I got in the write-up and conference calls, a lot of people just made a basic SunChips commercial, not something that follows what they’re trying to say. They don’t give the message. Some people even highlighted the bag noise (which was specifically hinted NOT to do) and didn’t mention the website at all. Everybody knows what to do to recycle and make our planet better, or at least that they should. Preaching the same stuff that every other company and website says gets old. I guess I wanted to give something that was at least relating to the main audience and hopefully made the “click” to understand how easy it is to change things for the better.

I don’t know what the people at SunChips actually want. I’ve already picked the four I think they’re gonna pick, but we’ll see. I’ll keep you guys updated as the process goes along. Maybe Al Gore (a judge for this as well) likes sqiggly line animation. I guess it’s not as much depressing as it is… well… what it is. I still have really far to go as far as improvement. But that’s one of the main reasons I moved to Japan and that I’m making videos again… I now have the time to do it. So let’s go, and hope for the best!