Last night was the Academy Awards Ceremony; it's one of the most-watched shows of the year and the pinnacle of award ceremonies for the film industry at large. It's quite a who's who with a red carpet and television cameras all over the place and the people are dressed to the nines in the super-brand fashion designer dresses, flaunted for the world to see. Enter Casey Neistat, a YouTube creator who proposed Samsung make an advert that airs during the ceremony. He walked out onto a tarred parking square to tell the viewers of the ceremony that they need to pay attention to this massive online community called Youtube. He's worked with Samsung for quite a while and he introduces their latest products to the creator community. For this ad, he proposed the idea of Samsung showcasing some of the Youtube creators; our next generation of story-tellers. And they decided to air it during the Academy Awards.
I think this is a great move for Samsung, to show that they are partners of these creators. It shows that they are on their side and support them with the newest tools (video cameras that double up as a phone). It's something Apple would've done while Steve Jobs was still at the helm of the company. It's also a perfect space for YouTube to be showcased, as I think many people don't yet realize the power this community holds.
The YouTuber with the most subscribers is a guy called Pewdiepie with over 50 million. That's a significant amount of people if you compare it to the population of America currently at 318 million people.
If we look at how we use (I hate the word consume) content online, video is one of the main ways ideas are shared. YouTube is the second largest search engine we have. This shows that there must be a real focus for marketers and companies to start using this platform with more and more people having access to the internet every day. Video is the ultimate showcasing tool and it bridges the language gaps encountered with the written word. If you are open to the idea of gaining a following in Youtube, do it now. Soon you'll have clients wanting your editing style or your following, which can lead to a great business on its own.
So I like this guys Vlog stuff, creative, well paced and fun but I think his commercial stuff is really weak.
Whether it's celebrities on TV, film or YouTube, most eventually get big heads and turn into intolerant, elitist, pontificating jackasses. The irony is most of those people see themselves as liberal and progressive.
Apple is bit lost after Steve Jobs. Quality and usability of software has taken a big hit and I rarely see any marketing from them. Tim Cook is not a visionary, and neither is Mr. Ives. As for Samsung, they've tried using many other bigger celebrities in the past without success.
That's why I left Apple as a customer. Loved that Jobs still cared about the user's end experience, but Cook seems to only care about the bottom line. Other companies have caught up to them when it comes to innovation.
Well, despite the setbacks I think Apple still reigns supreme, for now. The hardware quality is also the best it has ever been, if not the choices. They are just not as good as they were with software. They really need to keep Mr. Ive away from the software. He is the one responsible for the poor usability of Apple's software, and of course Tim Cook for allowing it.
The current iOS on the iPad is truly god awful. More steps to do things, confusing and illogical interfaces, and no longer taking advantage of the large screen real estate the iPads has to offer, with huge white empty spaces instead for their updated apps. Safari on the iPad is also a joke, with incompatibilities and other important things that are still broken years later.
On the macOS side, Sierra still has poor support for optical drives, with the inability to start/restart the computer with the drive plugged in and the drives not being recognized or losing recognition. Even after a number of updates with the latest version of the macOS the problem is still there. Upgrade back to Mavericks (yes, upgrade) and the optical drives work just fine.
A couple of things I noticed about Casey Neistat recently:
1) his videos seem to be out of focus a lot more than usual
2) his subject matter is getting a bit meh
1) He moved over to Sony (not sure which model) and seems to be having a hard time adjusting to it, especially with an LCD screen he can't look at. No idea why he changed, the 80D was perfect for what he did, although I'm guessing the smaller Sony was easier to deal with.
2) I agree.
i can't say that i enjoy casey noseflat his video's the content or rather the lack of it makes it a waste of my time to watch but i have the same opinion about most vloggers they get to much credit for what they do
"How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems." - Daniel Webster
You all are so quick to judge. Lest we forget Casey came from nothing and made himself into the beloved, massively followed influential character he is now by creating the content he loves doing. Not because he had to, because he was meant to. This advert felt very authentic in the way Casey's content feels authentic. Its gritty, unpolished, on the surface level content that is centered around the creator, not the created. And in my opinion, he and Samsung nailed that representation of the creators who do it because they love to.
Amen!
Couldn't agree more. I still find this man to be as genuine as can be in this community of creatives. Sure, as times he seems to have that high horse mentality with this overall presecense but his work and his message still reigns true to his own. I like that about him and he delivers it in a way that still drives home pure passion and a direct message of do work and do it well.
This ad was easily one of the best and most impactful, for me at least, in a long while. Far better than any ad I have seen on Super Bowl Sunday.
I have huge respect for Casey....what ever people say ... I think if most of us have his work ethic we would live in way different world... I like the commercial but I think We live in the world where it is very difficult to create an add with huge impact... we absorb information differently these days and we don't buy product because some one say so ... I found Casey vlog about making this commercial way more entertaining and interesting that actual commercial...having said that I think that those big companies have finally understand that it is not about the fancy gear, huge crew and massive production anymore... I think Casey would pull this off way better with just a cell phone camera.....
Super super super admire Casey's incredible work ethic and SPARK that elevated him throughout his career of content creating. So well earned and deserved, and the commercial was awesome. Kind of a huge slap in the face to the film industry but heck yeah shake it up!
They deserve that slap, and more.
Well I think some comments are a bit harsh....but the reference video was a bit choppy. Maybe first-timer nerves. I think he will get better. What made his YT channel so appealing was is spontaneous but on point banter about..just anything. These seem a bit forced.
I love how Casey called out Hollywood for their insane production. Sure, it would have taken us maybe twice as long to produce a similar looking commercial but guess what...we would have saved MILLIONS! The same thing happens in the photography world where you have to bring in the dog stylists, the caterers, rent an insane location you don't need (studio bigger than what you need), you need the trucks of grip when you will only use 3 lights, you need the water hoes specialist, etc etc. It's insanity!
I personally loved the commercial but thought the user content video b roll was pretty weak. They should have made some of it more epic to show just how good the youtubers are getting with their content. As for all the hate on Casey, eh, anyone who can vblog that long every single day deserves all the success he is getting. If you think you are better than him....well then do it :)
Curious to know what "water hoes" do on a set?
If you have to ask, you haven't been on the big budgeted shoots :)
Here, hold my beer. Watch this!
Im not sure if Im correct, maybe someone can confirm. But from the vlog, I think he was hired as an actor for the advert by Samsung. Meaning someone else directed/created this commercial. Is everyone commenting on Samsung's commercial, or his participation in it, or his vlog? Maybe all ;)
Edit* 2:27 into vlog