Know+Your+Meme+write+up

Post 200 words about a know your meme video:

Rajvir Virk "Antoine Dodson / Bed Intruder"

In a WAFF-48 News clip, Kevin Antoine Dodson, a Huntsville, Alabama resident, was interviewed about a man who broke into the his home and tried to assault his sister in bed. The story was first posted as a meme onto the website Reddit and from there instantly became an Internet sensation. It became even more popular once the “Gregory Brothers’ of Autotune” released an auto-tuned version of the news report, calling it the “Bed Intruder Song.” It became the 25th most bought song on the main iTunes charts when it was released, selling more than 10,000 copies in the first two days of its availability and, at one point, it even entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at #89. Auto-tune, made popular by artists like T-Pain, was reflective of the youth of 2010, and still the youth of today. By transforming the new reporting into a cultural representation of what youth during that time were listening too, it was able to reach incredible amounts of success. The strategy that we can use from this is that our meme needs to be reflective of today’s generation; it needs to be something that the mass majority can relate too and understand.

Somrata Sarkar "Nope! Chuck Testa"

//Nope! Chuck Testa// is low budget advertisement featuring taxidermist, Chuck Testa. The producers of the ad, Rhet and Link, famous YouTube personalities, intentionally created the video in a low budget style in order to make it successful as viral video, or meme. This technique worked. This lack of budget is important to //TheViralProject// as our video will also also maintain an ‘amateur’ quality. However, like //Nope! Chuck Testa,// we will not let the lack of budget hinder the quality of the video. Overall, the ad has excellent sound quality, steady camera shots and perfect pacing. This shows the intentional planning behind the ‘bad commercial’. Other qualities of the video which //TheViralProject// can draw from is the use of repetition. The video repeats the line “Nope! Chuck Testa” throughout. This makes the line catchy, humorous and most importantly, memorable. The combination of these effects is what provokes a viewer to watch the video again, or remember to show someone else. The style of this video is also important to the direction //TheViralProject// wants to go with our meme creation. The video uses a series of short non-sequitur situations, such as a deer driving a truck, or a bear in someone’s bed. Our video will similarly propose short situations where keyboard shortcuts would be beneficial in real life contexts.

Melissa Mock “I Like Turtles”

A young boy named Jonathan with a painted zombie face was interviewed on a live broadcast and when asked what he thought of it, he responded with the phrase “I like zombies.” Its random, unexpected nature and the fact that it was broadcasted live makes its humorous. The reaction of the interviewer also contributes to Jonathan’s unanticipated answer. The camera quickly pans away from the boy and the interviewer concludes and sends it promptly back to the newsroom. The length of clip is short making it easy to watch repetitively. Once this film was posted to //Youtube// it wasn’t long before there were other videos mimicking it and making remixes of the original. A short, humorous and easy to reproduce clip is what would help our group go viral. It would also be beneficial to have it circulating on more than on website giving it the potential to reach more viewers. Originality or taking a different approach on an old idea would also encourage people to watch it again or share it. Having a live clip rather than an animated clip can also contribute to seeing the clip as a random occurrence which may also contribute to its humor.

Samantha Dookhoo "The Splendiferous Barfing Cup"

Viral videos have become a contributing factor in the ever so popular and expanding Internet. Weather the content is based on reality, flash animations, or simply people messing around, viewers are clicking the play button all over the world. According to the “Know Your Meme” website under the category “Videos”, many videos can be discovered that all possess a certain characteristic of being an ideal viral video. The following example best illustrates this and can be compared to our group’s potential viral video: “The Splendiferous Baring Cup”. This is a simple Styrofoam disposal cup that has a face drawn onto it and an opening for its mouth that has been cut out. From the opening of the mouth, brownish, yellowish liquid expels from it in large amounts with the accompaniment of sound effects by the creator. This video to date has 2 million views in the last 6 months and with qualities of cleverness and simple use of an everyday household utensil, this video is truly viral. By taking these qualities and integrating it into our potential video, I believe it could be viral because viewers appreciate the sense of creativity and the relatable aspect of it.


 * Works Cited**

Dubs, Jamie. "I Like Turtles." //Know Your Meme//. Cheezburger, Inc. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

O, Will. "Antoine Dodson / Bed Intruder." Know Your Meme. Cheezburger, Inc. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. .

Marot, Clement. "Nope! Chuck Testa." //Know Your Meme.// Cheezeburger, Inc. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.

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"The Splendiferous Barfing Cup" []