behind-the-scenes
08/29/2007
Gmail Behind the Scenes: The Final Cut
Ever wonder how a Gmail message travels from sender to receiver? Well wonder no more! This video pulls back the curtain and details the entire process, which apparently involves skydiving, juggling, stop-motion Legos, cgi robots, and a whole host of wacky video effects. For an ostensibly cutting-edge technology company, this seems like a needlessly complicated algorithm. The cost of delivering even a single email must be enormous. Watching this video, I’m not sure how Google manages to stay in business. I think their stock might be seriously overvalued. Call your broker and get out now.
This video is actually a collaborative effort created by people from around the world. Several weeks ago Google posted their own video showing how a Gmail message goes from Point A to Point B, and then invited everyone on the web to film their own ideas and post them on YouTube. Over 1100 videos were received and then whittled down into today’s final cut. You can visit YouTube to see all of the videos, including ones that didn’t make the cut. Also, this Google blog has a rad map that shows where each of the videos came from. Overall it’s a cute bit of promotion, but again it begs the question: how well can Google really be doing if they’re subcontracting their advertising out to John and Jane Q. Public? I predict a WorldCom style collapse within the next three weeks. When it happens, just remember that you heard it here first.
07/23/2007
Behind the Scenes: Sprint's "Dreams"
I've never really been much of a CGI/tech geek. (I'm always more curious about the "why" than the "how".) But sometimes a piece of work comes along that's truly astonishing, that really employs technology not for its own sake but in the service of a larger aesthetic goal. The new Sprint "Dreams" spot is one such example. Directed by Little Miss Sunshine's Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the spot combines old-fashioned stop-motion animation with high-tech post gadgetry to expound on the virtues of light and the power of creativity (it's not corny, it really isn't). Thankfully, the folks at Sprint have posted this great behind-the-scenes making-of short that reveals how the directors and their team of collaborators pulled it off. Think of it as a DVD extra, but for commercials.
