Artists as Pop Cultural Content Producers

02Apr08

Design has become standardized. What was once unique and original has become bleak and uninteresting, through the standardization of design tools within the industry the amount of creativity has become subdued. As I have mentioned in previous posts, we are on the cusp of a shift in values. The barrage of corporate branding isn’t as effective as it once was. The cultural voyeur has become desensitized to these messages and as a result the need for independent, refreshing, original, creative, and personal content has surfaced.

For the most part, this new content has come from web culture. More and more people are turning off the T.V. and instead are turning on their computers and watching 2 minute videos. Companies have recognized this trend, and as a result have started to adopt this independently produced content. As such this has given excellent opportunity for artists as cultural producers to not only be recognized but also to benefit financially.

One example that comes to mind right away is the story of Nick Haley. Nick composed a commercial for the new ipod touch using clips from Apple’s website and put it up on youtube.

Apple noticed the commercial, and as a result they flew Nick over to apple to produce a broadcast version which was later used as the premiere commercial introducing the new ipod.

Another example of artists being hired not to produce content on the terms of the client, but rather on the terms of the producer is a group called mega64. These people who make mockumentary videos based on video game concepts, were hired by Ubisoft the creators of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, to create a new web campaign based on their new release.

Another example of a group of artists being asked to produce content for vh1.

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/vh1-holiday-card–stop-motion-animation/80983

We are in a period of time, where the content being produced becomes more important then the actual brand itself

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