Monday, November 26, 2007

'Speechless'

I've been viewing the short-video series that combine Hollywood's A-list celebrities with some out-of-work WGA writers in support of the writers' strike and I have to say that these guys know nothing about the short form.

Case in point: click here

Famous faces trying to get their point across in less than a minute? Well, it's like famous faces trying to get their point across in less than a minute.

Yeah, I work in the advertising industry, so I am a tad bit biased, but also a tad bit knowledgeable about short-form storytelling. All stories have a beginning, middle, and an end. Every part of the story is crucial, but in short, short storytelling, the ending is especially crucial. When you have a visual medium such as video, the beginning can utilize many shortcuts, or what some call visual shorthand. What you see in these videos is a known celeb and some dead air, which is the gist of the ongoing "Speechless" series.

My point? These are hardly entertaining. And if that's the point of them, then they're hardly worth wasting the time. But if you must, you can watch all of them on Nikki Finke's site here.

Oh, but I did like this one. Not sure why, but it works: Sean Penn.

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