Top Go Viral tips from toast's online content manager

Hello! I am Vicky McNaught-Davis, the online content manager at toast and one of the Go Viral contest judges. Here are my top tips for going viral:

1. Know what a viral is

A film going viral is the dream of many a brand, scriptwriter and production company.  Essentially, it means being watched and promoted through the sheer force of the entertainment value of the video. The first viral video that I remember was Ok Go’s ‘Here It Goes’. It’s a surprising, low-fi video that energised an otherwise fairly average song through a labyrinth of a dance routine. This highlights the need for unexpectedness to ‘go viral’. ‘Here It Goes’ was so weird and entertaining that it evoked a strong reaction in everyone who watched it, so they shared it.

2. Know what type of viral works

Large quantities of viral videos arrive from incidental circumstances, such as Fenton the dog chasing deer across Richmond Park. But those types of virals don’t have a message to convey and arrive through sheer luck. If you want to script a viral, you have to put on a display for the bored at work network to want to share. The Obama girl was an entertaining piece of political campaigning, as are Cassette Boy’s parodies of UK TV. These things were shared because they have a social point that appealed to the middle classes at their desks.

3. Know your audience

These people, myself included, have a short attention span. So, a viral must be succinct and easy to share. A top tip from Marketing Week Live 2012 for me was that cats rule the internet. I found this to be true when I Tweeted the advice and it got re-Tweeted to thousands of others. This is because people across the globe love cats and pictures of cats, but it’s still a personal eccentricity that’s shared by a huge online community.

4. Get inspired

Ad Age recently launched a YouTube monitoring service, which shows you the top viral videos of the day that you visit it on. So, you can see what trends are popular at the moment and the types of videos that are receiving the most shares. That said, originality will make your work a more enduring accomplishment, so don’t be a copycat.

Keep up to date with our video production tips, news and analysis by subscribing to our RSS feed in the top right hand corner, or join us on Twitter and Facebook. Click here for competition tips from producer Jeremy Dunn, click here for tips from script writer Martin Sadofski and click here for tips from viral director Stuart Fryer. Click here to apply.

Great new TV commercials

Ikea have revolutionised the television. This is exciting. They have integrated the everyday HD smart television, DVD player, stand and speakers into a singular customisable piece of furniture with hidden wires and one remote control. It also has a five-year guarantee. We want one right now. But it’s launching in the second half of this year. So we wait.

Read more here.

Levi Roots returns to our TV sets with a new ditty and a singing BBQ. But this time he’s shaped in the form of an Aardman character. Singing sausages that are marinated in Reggae Reggae sauce accompany him in the sunny suburban scenery, making us long for the return of the good weather.

Read more here.

Gumtree rolled out a nationwide ‘Quick Conversations’ campaign that’s rumoured to be worth over £1m. Hamish Stone, head of Gumtree’s marketing, said to The Drum: “Our previous ad campaigns really paid dividends for us, driving those looking to buy or sell their goods on Gumtree in record numbers. The new ads are all about bringing people together.”

Read more here.






Have you seen our new Cetaphil commercial yet? Post us your thoughts!

What do you think makes a great TV commercial?

Following some great reactions to our LadyLucks commercial via Twitter, we thought we’d conduct some market research via business social media portal LinkedIN Answers.

We posed the question, “What do you think makes a great TV commercial?” Below, we’ve logged the results so far:

Humour isn’t a priority for you. What you’re really looking for is something that stands out in your mind. Media that really stands out is almost impossible to find. As soon as it gets published, everyone else and their mother have jumped on board. Nonetheless, as the Cadbury’s 2007 drumming gorilla proved, it’s far from impossible to do.

Does this profile fit you? Keep sending our answers in to us here.

The filming of The Robbery, part three

Toast TV’s James Gentle spent a sunny weekend shooting his short film, The Robbery. The piece is currently in post-production and will hopefully be completed at the end of May. In the mean time, we thought we’d treat you to some dark and dramatic details of the shoot in a three part series. This blog details the final day of the shoot and some Tascams that just won’t work.

Follow James's production company @KissTheKerb.

Sunday goes by in a relaxed blur. We head back to the scene of yesterday’s crime with our game faces on. This is merely a meeting point before we head off to our final location. Everyone miraculously has the same energy from Saturday. This is gonna be good.

The sunset is beautiful as we drive half a mile down the road to the Benfleet Sewage works, as the sun disappears our location becomes the seedy meeting point we need. We set our cars, our actors, everyone is ready, Thom has excelled himself again with the first shot, it couldn’t be better. We roll. Wait. What’s wrong?

Alex Martin our new soundman (we get through soundmen like Spinal Tap and drummers) calls cut! I thought I was meant to say that? The Tascams are playing up, so the sound is sporadic. We work to resolve the issue, next take, good. Things are back on track. Wait.

Again, the Tascams are failing, battery life now becomes an issue, even though we’ve had them on charge all day. We go down from three radio mics and a boom to one mic and a boom. Surely this must help. No. More issues. We take a break whilst we go get some AA batteries. We go again, this time with all the mics back on. We get another take. But again the issues return. What? We have to get this done tonight! There is no option.

We decide to wrap this location and head back to the house to recharge the tascams, and head to our second location of the evening. Fortunately this doesn’t require sound. Slightly deflated we plough on, but by the end of this scene we are happy again. Our actors are safely ensconced in one of the cars, food and drink by their side.

We wait for Phil and Thom to return with the Tascams. Crunch time. What seems like an age passes. They eventually arrive, I rush over and hold my breath. ‘We’re on’ says Thom, ‘but we have to be quick.’ Action stations, we hurriedly return to our first scene, set up as quickly as possible, stick the Tascams onto charge again (you know, for a boost) and get some scenes done which aren’t sound important.

The moment comes and we plug our mics in. We set. We go. It works! We’ve lost at least two hours but our collective will to get this done persists. The actors pull out performance after performance. Thom pulls out shot after shot. Alex pulls out good sound after good sound.Our final shot is with a glide cam. The Tascams are now almost exhausted. I call cut. Everyone gathers. I take a moment, and relish the words. “That my friends, is a wrap!”

Sitting in the edit suite here at Toast Towers looking back on that weekend, I can’t honestly believe we achieved so much in those three evenings. Thom, Phil and I can’t thank enough everyone who was involved in this film. Our fantastic actors Dan O'Malley, Edward Walters and Tom Coombes. Our wonderful friends who played extras for the evening. Millie Scalchi who was indispensable. Lewis J Clark and Alex Martin for excellent sound and determination in the face of adversity. To everyone at Toast TV and BigBalls Films for the kit, and helping us pull together this first venture of ours.

James Gentle

Our producers' showreel for 2012

Here's the latest copy of our showreel for 2012. Read more here. Enjoy!

The filming of The Robbery, part two

This blog details things getting dark on the second day of The Robbery shoot. Click here for part one. Follow @KissTheKerb for updates.

I spend the day chasing shadows, buying more props, more food and more beer for the set and more things for wardrobe. Eventually, I arrive at the house location with casting director and shoot facilitator Millie Scalchi. I’m exhausted and I haven’t even begun.

The house is buzzing. Our kit has gone from backbreaker to stage setter. Thom and our soundman Lewis are busing themselves with Tascams [http://tascam.com/] and radio mics. Phil is working the barbeque. The other two main actors are here, along with more or less everyone else. The process is intoxicating.

Phil, Thom and I have made this. Everyone is here because of our dumb idea to make a short film. It’s incredible. After mingling, we turn to the matter at hand. There is a film to be made. The actors are in costume, fully rehearsed and ready to go. Thom has the extras set. Camera, lights and sound all ready. There is nothing left to do. The moment has arrived.

Action.

The first take is a doozy. The second, third, fourth all reel off without a hitch. This is excellent. We switch positions, again, it’s perfect. This film making malarkey is easy. An hour or so later and our first recorded scene is done. Wrapped. Finito. We take a break to soak everything in, say goodbye and thank all of the extras for their brilliant work.

But, we still have lots to film. The actors, Dan O’Malley, Edward Walters and Thomas Coombes, crack through all the scenes effortlessly, as do Thom and Lewis, Phil and myself. Our wrap time passes but we are still in good spirits as we head ever closer to the end. A few brief words with the crew, a check of the script and our work here is done. Our energy spent, evening has become morning, and we head for home.


James Gentle

LadyLucks ‘enjoy the moment’ commercial is live!

Our new LadyLucks commercial aired yesterday. You might have seen it last night on ITV2, while watching the Shawshank Redemption. We wanted to capture all the fun of mobile gambling in a new and exciting way. 

We put together this tongue in cheek piece using creative work from Us London. The 30-second film shows a string of everyday people celebrating their betting victories in true slow-mo style. The still above depicts a man who discovers that he's won his bet and enjoys the moment as a bus opens its doors to him and then closes without him boarding.

The filming of The Robbery, part one

Toast TV’s James Gentle spent his weekend shooting his short film, The Robbery. The piece is currently in production and will be distributed in a few weeks. In the mean time, we thought we’d treat you to some dark and dramatic details of the shoot in a three part series. This blog details the first day of the shoot.


Follow James's production company @KissTheKerb.

I’ve just returned to Toast Towers with a gun.

On my arrival I’m confronted with the news that the Canon C300 will not be available for The Robbery. The gun now appears to have a second role along side it’s relevance to the film.

I rip open the package, fill the gun with gas and release the trigger a few times to feel the kickback. My disappointment at not having the C300 dissipates. Instead I concentrate on making sure that I have everything that I need for this weekend’s shoot.

As I leave, I get a text from the director of photography and cameraman extraordinaire Thom Hill, saying that our back-up camera is still out on location. If only that gun wasn’t buried so deep in my rucksack. I carry on to Fenchurch Street, knowing that the 7D will be with us, eventually.

After an hour’s wait, Thom arrives in a taxi with even more equipment than me. Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Will we be able to start filming tonight? Are we actually going to be able to carry all this kit between the two of us? Or are we going to be stuck in London surrounded by a sea of magic arms, lights and radio mics?

Fortunately, our train delivers us safely and quickly to our location at a small commuter town in Essex called Benfleet, which is where I grew up. Phil Reynolds, our writer, is already there waiting for us as we cram everything into all the available space.

We head to our first shot, up on a hill in Leigh-on-Sea, merely a 10 minute drive from the station. The three of us look around as if we’re waiting for something bad to happen, we suspiciously get what we need out of the car. Then Thom sets his shot and we turn over.

From there on in it gets easier, we act like old pros, ideas and shots coming to us as if it were second nature. There are slow mos, Go Pros and everything in between. Midnight comes, a gopro falls off the car and at that point we call it a night. A very successful night.

James Gentle

SocialGuide Intelligence finds what TV is Tweeting

SocialGuide have launched a new product called SocialGuide Intelligence. For its launch the company analysed Tweets about content on 213 channels over the course of two days. The objective was to see who was talking the most about what. The data was collected from February 15 onwards and is based on American television and Twitter use.

Although sporting events accounted for only three percent of the program volume, they made up 37 percent of the comments. This made it the most talked about topic by a huge lead. Programmes shown in series received the most Tweets overall. But as they accounted for the majority of the programming schedules this was a proportionate reaction.

Reality TV shows received 19 percent of the series comments, making them a substantially more popular Twitter subject than any other genre in its category. But teen dramas Revenge and The Vampire Diaries had the largest number of hashtag comments, followed by reality shows Survivor: One World and American Idol. The Ellen Degeneres Show account (@TheEllenShow) received the most comments out of any account, whereas Oprah Winfey (@Oprah) received the most personal messages.

Thank-you to Will Jarman

Toast would like to say a very big thanks to freelance motion designer Will Jarman for stepping in to help us cope with the work load this week!

Reading is the full first interactive poster test site

An interactive poster in Reading.

Outdoor media analysts Kinetic and outdoor advertising specialists JCDecaux are testing the British public’s reaction to interactive posters for the first time. They are using two-dimensional bar codes, which respond with rapid data. Members of the public are able to download exclusive content and vouchers from the posters using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. The initiative works by swiping a smartphone to download content from the 13 major advertisers taking part in the scheme. The project is dubbed ‘Test the Near Future’ and is taking place in Reading’s six sheet poster sites. 

All of the area’s bus shelters and the Oracle Shopping Mall are also included, making 325 'touchpoints' in total. The brands involved include: Morrison’s, H&M, Universal DVD, Universal Special Projects, Mercedes, ITV2, Lucozade Sport, EA Games and Unilever’s Lynx, Toni & Guy, Magnum and Vaseline. Content will vary over the four-week period of the trial. Director of Insight and Marketing at Kinetic, Nick Mawditt, said: “NFC is widely regarded as a technology that could transform the way consumers use their mobile phones to interact with their environment.” 


Vicky McNaught-Davis

Kinetic

JCDecaux

Shell Advance 7 Riding Wonders of the World competition

On location at Shell's Ultimate Riding Wonder track, the Coorg-Ooty-Munnar route.

Toast recently put our new miniature GoPro Hero 2s cameras through their paces at the Shell Advance 7 Riding Wonders of the World competition. The competition got motorcycle lovers from across the globe to vote on their favourite roads to ride on.

We were filming on behalf of Hotheads, Shell Advance Oils and Ducati. The filming took place on the newly crowned world’s Ultimate Riding Wonder, the Coorg-Ooty-Munnar route. This road from was chosen out of the top seven routes that had been voted for through this extensive online campaign.

We used all manner of helmet mounts, body mounts, rubber suckers, arms, clamps and imagination. This meant that the Go Pros put the viewer firmly in the saddle on this amazing journey through the Hill Stations and Tea plantations of Kerela.

We even managed a few GoPro time lapse sequences. The GoPro Hero 2 is reputedly the most versatile camera in the world. It certainly lived up to its name on this occasion.

John Gradwell

On location at Shell's Ultimate Riding Wonder track, the Coorg-Ooty-Munnar route.

Red Epic camera vs Arri Alexa

Having recently worked on a few moving image projects with leading DOP Brendan McGinty, we asked him why he prefers the Red Epic camera system over the Arri Alexa.

Brendan said: "At the moment the Red Epic camera is the highest resolution motion camera in the world, capable of a massive 5K resolution."

The chart below shows how large 5K resolution is when compared to the Alexa's HD.

And below is a frame grab comparison of what this extra resolution means in terms of sharpness

These are the magnified corners of a resolution chart shot with the same lens, same light etc on an Alexa and on the Epic. This was an independent ratified test by the ASC in the States. 

The Epic (on the right) is significantly sharper and its resolution holds the fine detail to the outer edges of the circle, where the Alexa falls off into some quite apparent 'aliasing' ( the ringing / reversed circles ). 

This fine detail rendering of the Epic is particularly crucial for composite work.

All this makes pretty good sense but here's the bit we didn't know; the Epic provides a considerable level of resolution that you then sharpen to your taste. The chosen level of sharpening is never baked in to the Raw R3D files, but rather optional. This is considered the beauty of shooting Raw. 

By comparison the post-processed-HD-footage that emerges from 'prosumer' or 'broadcast' HD cameras is filled with false detail, ramped up electronic sharpening or edge enhancement with no increase in scene detail. All this is widely considered not so good news for serious composite work.

Ok, so producers and their clients don't hit the panic button when they first see the rushes coming in to the edit suites the pictures that emerge from today's cinema cameras ( Arri's Alexa Raw, Phantom's Flex, The Epic or even a 4K film scan) generate images that appear 'soft' but are in fact far more detailed than any others going. 

They are images that are simply waiting to be sharpened to the levels you desire without the ringing, aliasing and bristling that is 'baked-in' to the pictures from lower-end HD cameras.

But, as with everything in the world of the moving image industry, by the time it's written it's all change.

VW 'Touareg launch'

DDB chose director Ben Hume-Paton and Toast to create a series of online & dealer launch films for the new range of VW Touareg 4X4. Shot over three days, in studio and on location, each film required its own distinct personality. 

Filmed on latest generation Red, Varicam and Canon 5D, the finished films are a visual feast of excitement, beauty, technology and power.


Have a look for yourself here.

Want a gentle face cleanser that works? Then look no further than Cetaphil, the number one dermatologist and paediatrician recommended brand. The cleansing and moisturising skincare brand from Galderma have taken to the air with their first UK commercial featuring five gorgeous girls talking about their individual skin needs. And the proof is in the pudding, as you can see from their glowing complexions. 


Conceived by Nolan Willis at Sudler London, it was directed by Gregg Masuak with Angus Hudson as DoP. It was shot on the Arri Alexa and postproduction was completed at Toast, Square Zero & Rushes. Watch the video here.

BBC's Great British Railways - Talkback Thames

Toast TV have created the latest round of in-programme graphics for the Michael Portillo travel show Great British Railway Journeys. The animated maps were built to echo the look of Bradshaw's 1860's Railway Guide used as a reference throughout the show. Great British Railway Journeys is produced by Talkback Thames, Series 3 starts on BBC 2 in 2012.

Toast creates Cymex sponsorship bumpers for The Only Way is Essex

Being no strangers to a quick turnaround, when Sudler London came to Toast to create the Cymex sponsorship bumpers for hit ITV2 reality show 'The Only Way is Essex', Toast were well equipped to take on the task.

Capturing the flirty, party vibe of TOWIE, the finished product is, we think you'll agree, very watchable!

Watch the finished product here

Ambi Pur get in the festive spirit

Who doesn't love the warm, cosy smell of cinnamon and vanilla whilst sat at home by the fire, wrapped up against the winter chill? With this in mind Toast TV, together with Alex Bass and Simon Jones from agency G2 UK, produced a 10 sec tag designed to promote a new range of Ambi Pur air fresheners just in time for the festive season.

Using inviting images of freshly baked biscuits and frothy hot chocolate designed to evoke the senses, we set about capturing the familiarity of those comforting aromas on film.

Directed by Gregg Masuak, and shot using the latest generation Canon 5D camera, the tag is a perfect example of how beautiful results can be achieved when you marry the right director with the right creative.