Jon Samsel

A music video medley of Heardable images that make you wanna rock it don’t stop it!

What can you say about a fifty-six-year-old man who died? That he was bounteous and brilliant? That he loved technology, design, the Beatles, and us?

Okay, I’ve twisted the words of Oliver Barrett IV from the film, Love Story, into a quick ode to Steve Jobs, but it’s the first sentence that popped into my mind when I heard Steve had passed.

It’s hard to believe one of the great ones has gone over to the other side.

To me, Steve Jobs was like that uncle who lived in another state — don’t really know him very well but he’s part of the family. We think of him, indirectly and sometimes directly, by carrying little pieces of him around with us in our pockets — be it our iPhone, iPod, or the like. Yes, they are merely devices but it’s these gadgets that have transformed our ability to communicate as humans. Steve helped give technology a soul.

In the mid-1990’s I worked as a consultant for Apple. I can still remember standing in front of the Cupertino campus in awe. Dana DePuy Morgan, who managed the Apple Media Program at the time, hired me to write and produce “The Killer Content Workbook,” one of the first interactive PDF guides ever created using Adobe Acrobat — a project that incorporated text, images, audio, video, interactive forms and hyperlinks — all of which were considered leading-edge interactivity for that time.

I actually had bartering this first job with Apple in exchange for two PowerBook 5300 laptops. Sweet! I did more work for Apple after that. I can recall the first check I ever received from Apple for work delivered. I just sort of stared at it for a few minutes, thinking to myself — I work for Apple!

In an odd way, the death of Steve Jobs is inspirational to me. Re-watch his commencement address at Stanford University and tell me Steve wasn’t amazingly prophetic, humble, reflective, yet entirely motivating to a new generation. We should be so lucky to be honored for our life’s achievements the way the world is honoring Mr. Jobs.

It’s truly sad that Steve Jobs is gone from this earth, but he hasn’t really gone anywhere.

Steve Jobs is now ubiquitous.

Here’s to one of the crazy ones.

Okay, I’m sick of hearing all the reasons why there are no videos posted to your website. I almost believed you when you said they were too expense to produce. And you nearly conned me when you claimed your staff lacked the talent needed to produce ‘videos of the highest caliber that met your corporate standards.’ Yes, your unfortunate tale about your inability to grasp the technical steps required to convent your camcorder videos to MPEG so you could upload them to social networks practically brought tears to me eyes.

But now there are more no more excuses thanks to Google/YouTube’s Search Story tool. All you need is to go to the Google/YouTube tool page, type in a few sentences that speak to the basic story you want to tell, then click the finish button and viola — you have your very own, custom video posted to YouTube.

The video not only tells your basic story — but does so by using search as the visual metaphor for how people create stories during each search they have on Google.

Pretty crafty. Google lets you create a video, in minutes and for free, and they get new content for YouTube at no cost to them — complete with free product placement advertising for Google in nearly every shot! Not a bad deal for all parties.

The finished product can be embedded into other websites (like the one I’ve included in this blog post), or published on third party sites such as Facebook.

So what are you waiting for, Mr. I Can’t Produce Video For My Company Cause It’s Too Darn Difficult? Try it for yourself after watching this video that I created for my company, Heardable.com.

I was asked to be the guest speaker at Lynn Isenberg’s class, ‘Transmedia Entertainment and Technology,’ at Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles on January 27, 2011. This is the outline of my talk on the role of writing in digital entertainment.

Intro

We live in an exciting age where the story and the teller are merging in a garden of forking paths. The audience is no longer a passive but an active participant in the content. New methods of communication and expression are being forged. And more and more it is the writer—the electric scribe of the Digital Age—who is leading the charge.

“I think there have been a lot of writers who over the past two generations have been trying to figure out how to break the confines of a book,” claims writer/designer/director Douglas Gayeton. “A book starts on page one and goes to the end. I think if those people were starting now, they would be doing interactive. Because, interactivity is all based upon the principle of nonlinear thought. And that is the way we think. I could talk to you and never finish a sentence—or finish an idea—because our minds are like that. And I think that’s why people have gravitated toward interactivity. Not because it’s a fad, but because it really captures the dimensionality of thought. That thought is not a linear process, it’s a multi-plane, multidimensional process. And a story that allows you to assimilate and capture the essence of how our thinking processes work is a tremendously fascinating and exciting thing.”

Jen Stein, team member on the USC Mobile and Environmental Media Lab, provides us a glimpse into the future of narratives, “Imagine you’re on your way to pick up your child from a rained out baseball game…and [because of sensors in your vehicle] your car now knows you’ve now picked up your kid. Since your plans got canceled, the car sees an opportunity to invite you and your family on a play mission. The real world becomes a giant gameboard…[yes, a real game] engaging with other people and cars while on the road.”

Samsel’s Story

If it’s true that your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die, here is what my personal life might look like. Created using Pummelvision using photos from my Facebook account.

Heardable’s First Screencast Story

I wrote a script for my company’s first screencast and submitted it to Voices.com to get voice over talent to audition for the role of narrator. I received about 50 submissions. Three voices out of the lot had the hip, yet intelligent sounding voice I was looking for. But only one actor injected a personal style and some bold ad libs that made me question the readiness of my script. Based on this one actor’s reading, I decided to rewrite my entire script with his voice in mind. I hired Mike O-Brian to record the narration, then I recorded the screenshots and assembled the video using Camtasia Studio 7. This is the end result.

Music + Animation = Short Film Story Without Dialogue

A touching retrospective of an old man’s life, based around the evocative imagery created by his piano playing. Story and animation by Aidan Gibbons. Music by Yann Tiersen.

Words + Spoken Voice = A Poetic Story

According to PoetryFoundation.org, “E. E. Cummings was among the most innovative of twentieth-century poets, experimenting with poetic form and language to create a distinct personal style. A Cummings poem is spare and precise, employing a few key words eccentrically placed on the page. Some of these words were invented by Cummings, often by combining two common words into a new synthesis. He also revised grammatical and linguistic rules to suit his own purposes, using such words as ‘if,’ ‘am,’ and ‘because’ as nouns, for example, or assigning his own private meanings to words. Love is the propelling force behind a great body of his poetry.”

75 Years of Writing: Ray Bradbury’s Story

Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works — short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse — exemplifying imagination at its most creative.

Behavioral Experiments As Stories

Thefuntheory.com, an initiative of Volkswagon, wanted to see if they could get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do. Piano Staircase was one of several finalists out of hundreds of written concepts submitted.

Stop Animation Story

Writer/performers Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal set out to create something that had never been done before on YouTube: a stop-motion animation video with live actors…with the animation taking place on two T-shirts that interact with one another. T-Shirt War was the result. The team partnered with top-ranked YouTube veterans Billy Reid (aka verytasteful) and Joe Penna (aka mysteryguitarman) to produce their masterpiece.

Stop Animation as a 30-Second Commercial Story

Rhett & Link, a pair of novice writer/filmmakers, were discovered on YouTube by McDonalds and Coca-Cola who asked them to create a TV commercial for them based on T-Shirt War. So why did two of today’s biggest companies hitch their multi-billion dollar brands to a social video phenomenon? Consider it a calcuated risk designed to associate traditional commodities with the uber-hip and cool generation of tomorrow.

Websites As Stories

Some claim this is the most creative ‘website’ ever. Advertising agency, Boone Oakley, made clever use of YouTube annotations by creating an interactive video experience. It was actually their agency website embedded into YouTube across 50+ videos, the very first of its kind. With over 1 million views, this is possibly the most viewed agency site of all time. To cap it off, they won a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2010.

An Overview of Web 2.0: A Story Well Told

Professor Michael Wesch | Web 2.0… The Machine Is Us/ing Us. Video created four years ago that summed up the power and potential of Web 2.0 in a five minute presentation.

Customer Service FAIL Story

One of the first popular examples of how social media can bring a major brand like Comcast to its knees by highlighting their poor customer service to an online audience in the millions. Backstory: A Comcast technician came to replace a faulty modem. After spending an hour on hold with Comcast’s central office, he fell asleep on this person’s couch. It was all captured on film and uploaded to YouTube. If the video wasn’t shame enough, hundreds of writers and editors picked up the story and published commentaries about various ways that consumers were fighting back against companies that wrong them.

Social Journalist Weaves A Web of Intrigue

Supposedly a skier in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park found a roll of film in the snow, had the film developed, posted what he found on YouTube, then asked for the public’s help to recognize the people in the photos. Many say this is a hoax — but it’s a great story nonetheless. Over one million views on YouTube as of 1/26/11.

Classic TV News Crime Story

Antoine Dodson interviewed by NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News after the attempted rape of his sister Kelly Dodson - Huntsville, Alabama. TV channel broadcast reach: In the thousands.

Unconventional News Story Music Video

‘The Bed Intruder Song’ by the Gregory Brothers uses software called Auto-Tune to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances — and can even tune a mundane evening news video clip. The music video has been played over 85 million times on YouTube and reached #89 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. As of September 2010, they had sold more than 100,000 copies of The Bed Intruder Song on iTunes, allowing Dodson to make enough money from the song to move his family out of the projects.

Brand Integration Into A Comedic Drama

Ikea Heights is a melodrama shot entirely in the Burbank California Ikea Store without the store knowing. Entertainment Weekly’s Whitney Pastorek said of the series, “[IKEA Heights] is so brilliant and awesome that its glories can really only be diminished by additional words.”

Corporate Song and Dance: A Musical, Sort Of

A dramatic coming of age tale about a big deal at a unique investment company by KassemG. Over 1.3 million views on YouTube so far.

Video Game Stories

A brief history of interactive writing in the gaming industry. Nice recap of the major issues spoken in a really fast, high pitched voice.

Hybrid Branded Fiction Alternate Reality Game

33 Keys was an alternate reality game that challenged players to immerse themselves in a real-life, sci-fi adventure for the chance to win a brand new 2010 Mazda3.

Ambient Storytelling for Vehicle-Driver Interaction

A USC project that attempts to deepen the relationship between driver and car by using aggregate sensor data, context and location sensing protocols, and social media feeds to develop a narrative “lifelog” for the vehicle and its driver. Test cinematic augmentations for the driving experience, including generative soundscapes, single- and multiplayer games, and driver-specific guided tours. Develop the character or identity of the vehicle by employing usage metrics and driver feedback to modulate the rate, style, and mode of vehicle-to-driver communications.

I was recently in Dallas working with one of the biggest brands in the world on a two-day training seminar titled, “The Write Way - Expand Your Online Brand Reach By Writing Smarter.”

The event was designed to help marketers become better online writers by engaging them in interactive exercises designed to teach the the ‘art’ and ‘mechanics’ behind:

1. Storytelling
2. Writing for the web
3. Writing for SEO

The seminar was a big success — and fun to lead as well. Over 40 ’students’ participated and the head of the marketing department who organized the event had lots of positive things to say about the entire experience. I call that a satisfied customer!

Here are a few quotes from students:

“Jon is the go-to guy when you’re trying to understand the different pieces of the online writing puzzle. I recently attended one of Jon’s writing seminars in Dallas. Great presentation about storytelling, writing for the web and SEO — with tools that marketers can use immediately. Highly recommended.”
-Dallas seminar attendee

“The class was well balanced with real life scenarios, and tactical hands on training. From individual to group work, the attendees were able to participate at their own comfort level. Culminating at the end of the day into a presentation that applied all that had been shown throughout the day. If you are doing publishing on a website, this class is well worth the time and money spent…a great investment for any corporation.”

-Dallas seminar attendee

INQUIRE ABOUT A TRAINING SEMINAR FOR YOUR STAFF
To receive a free phone consultation and proposal on how to help your business write smarter, call 1-888-520-0034.

Brands are invisible if their products and services and not getting found online. In today’s competitive world, being heard is a marketing imperative. And brands who tell the best stories are often the winners because they connect on a visceral level with their customers.

In the this 26 page PPT deck, you will learn how to make your brand visible and remain relevant in the age of the weird, wild web.

The Write Way: Writing Smarter to Expand Your Brand Reach

1-Day or 2-Day Power Writing Seminar

Instructor: Jon Samsel

Who this course is intended for: Companies looking to train their marketing/communication staff on the importance of writing and the skills required to help a brand become successful online. Website writing best practices, search engine optimization (SEO), and storytelling are emphasized. Ideal for novice to intermediate level-staff looking to quickly boost their proficiency. No prior programming skills needed.

Inquiries: 310-402-2890 or email: jsamsel@gmail.com

IMPORTANCE OF WRITING

Famed management consultant, Peter Drucker, said, “As soon as you take one step up the career ladder your effectiveness depends on your ability to communicate your thoughts in writing.” In other words, if you want to be noticed within or outside your organization, you have to be able to express yourself-clearly and concisely.

The same can be said when you are an employee representing a company online, whether that’s on a corporate website, press release, training module, marketing campaign, social media site or email. Your writing is a critical extension of your company’s brand — so it’s important that business leaders invest in assisting their employees become the best ambassadors of communication possible.

• Your writing creates an image
• Text is the universal language of the web
• Being readable and findable is critical
• Great writing attracts customers

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS COURSE

The purpose of the training course is to help you become a better web writer, whether you are writing for humans or for search engines. You will increase your knowledge of today’s effective writing techniques, better understand the emotional mechanics of storytelling, and learn how to apply winning search engine marketing best practices.

• How to make your website more relevant
• What must be done to get good search engine rankings
• Best ways to submit, subscribe & syndicate to be found
• Why stories matter and how best to exploit them
• Customers who interact are more likely to transact
• The difference between branding and direct response content
• How extending text & tags to multiple media to amplify your reach
• How usability testing can be used to validate your choices
• How to monitor and track your success over time

COURSE REVIEW

Web Writing

• Writing for humans
• Text elements of a high-impact website
• Designing content structure
• Tailoring your writing to different audiences and needs
• Editing & testing text for clarity, concision & response
• Writing to sell: persuasion & direct response
• Social media writing & representing the brand voice
• Syndication: The power of web distribution
• Measuring success with text tools

SEO

• Writing for engines & bots
• SEO basics
• Business planning & goal setting
• Keyword selection, relevancy, and density
• Competitive assessment
• Code: titles, meta tags, URLs & site maps
• Copy writing
• Offsite SEO & social search
• Measuring success with SEO tools

Storytelling

• Writing for emotional engagement
• Integrated marketing: The holy grail of marketers
• The new PR: Participation not propaganda
• Advertelling: Successful brands are about people
• Word of mouth matters when the experience is the brand
• Ratings, testimonials and user generated content
• Educational training, kiosks and demos
• Narrative stories & branded entertainment

FORMAT

One-day or tow-day tutorial encompassing lectures, live demos and exercises. Real-world examples are used to highlight points throughout the day. Copies of the presentation slides and exercises with be provided to all attendees.

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Jon Samsel is a published author, speaker, instructor, consultant and thought leader in the areas of branding, online marketing and writing. He has worked as an online marketing executive at Fortune 100 companies such as Bank of America, Ford and Countrywide where he was responsible for a broad range of marketing activities such as paid and organic search marketing, display advertising, DRTV, social media engagement, mobile marketing, and multivariate testing, including the task of coordinating teams of designers, programmers, copywriters and others involved.

His book, ‘Dead Ahead: The Web Dilemma and the New Rules of Business,’ co-authored with Laurie Windham and published back in 1999, predicted many of the changes the Internet has had on businesses and organizational processes. Jon’s book, ‘Writing for Interactive Media,’ first published in 1995, has been utilized as a textbook in over 40 colleges and universities throughout the US and Canada. He wrote and produced, ‘The Killer Content Workbook,’ for Apple, Inc., one of the first interactive PDF’s ever created to incorporate text, audio, video, embedded forms and interactive user response.

Jon is an adjunct writing instructor at UCLA and UC Irvine where he has taught courses in multimedia, fiction and non-fiction writing. Jon has co-authored four published books, edited 12 books/directories, and is a published poet and Hollywood screenwriter. Jon is an online marketing/writing consultant and a regular seminar speaker for Richmond Events.

COMPLIMENTARY VALUE ADDS

Free 1-Year Premium Subscription to Heardable.com

Heardable is the world’s first and only online brand optimization platform. All workshop attendees will receive a 1-year premium subscription to Heardable.com (a $2,999 value) redeemable via a special promotional code provided at the end of the class.

Free copy of writing for interactive media

All workshop attendees will receive a free copy of Jon Samsel and Darryl Wimberley’s book, ‘Writing for Interactive Media.’

PRICING

Custom class configurations and pricing available upon request.

TESTIMONIALS

Comments about Jon Samsel’s training seminar, The Write Way: Writing Smarter to Expand Your Brand Reach:

‘The class was well balanced with real life scenarios, and tactical hands on training. From individual to group work the attendees were able to participate at their own comfort level. Culminating at the end of the day into a presentation that applied all that had been shown throughout the day. If you are doing publishing on a website, this class is well worth the time and money spent…a great investment for any corporation.’   – Robbie Holland, Senior Manager of Content Management & Localization at Hilton Worldwide

‘Jon has an amazing understanding of consumer insights and behavior as they relate to online usability– skills that bring immediate value to strategic consulting projects. Understanding, and leveraging the technology through best practices and innovation are critical success factors, and Jon is clearly one of the best in his field. –Christophe Bertrand, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Hitachi Data Systems

‘Jon’s vision and in-depth knowledge of both the business and creative aspects of new media production is truly remarkable. This is a man truly “gets it” and empowers those around him to do their best work. Bottom line – Jon is a rare commodity, a visionary in the area of online direct response marketing and a creative powerhouse.’  –David Greene, Owner of Creative-Spark

JON SAMSEL
Digital Brand Strategist, Author & Web Consultant
310-402-2890
jsamsel@gmail.com
jon.samsel @ skype
jonsamsel.com - blog
linkedin.com/in/jonsamsel @ linkedIn
twitter.com/jonsamsel @ twitter

1. Apple’s design process revealed!
2. Hilarious video about ‘Death By Committee’ group decision making processes. Love the logo designs!
3. Naming tools to help get your creative juices flowing.
4. The Components of a Writing Business Plan.
5. Website up-time tool.
6. What every web designer needs: A handy Lorem Ipsum generator!
7. An online font tester!
8. 100 things on the Internet that might be of interest to you.
9. Type in a word to find rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more.
10. Life of Pi - Interactive promo. The mood that this creates is almost like a movie. Awesome.
11. The website is down: Sales guy vs. web dude. Funny!
12. ZeFrank’s song about social networking
13. Good site for hiring freelancers to work on social media gigs or web dev projects.
14. Quantcast - Free, competitive website analytics.
15. See every mouse movement and every click on your website. Record & more.
16. Fun brain teasers and exercises.
17. Need to quickly translate text into another foreign language?
18. Nice gift idea - give a personalized book to your child or relative.
19. SEO tool. How many desired .edu or .gov links does your site have?
20. Over 1,500 stories about coffee’s impact on real lives. Very cleaver marketing.
21. Social search engine. Pretty cool.
22. Where’s WaldObama? 1,474 mega-pixel picture of the Inauguration. Wow.
23. Mint or Rudder - which is best online tool to manage your money?
24. Runners. Track your distance, pace, progress & calories with this cool NIKE tool.
25. Looking for the perfect Web 2.0 domain name? Try Dot-o-mator.
26. Download free Web 2.0 logo designs!
27. UGC traffic to triple by 2012, according to Cisco.
28. UGC / user reviews are critical. See latest Nielsen findings.
29. “The Crying Game” of viral marketing. So well done. Click till you see the surprise ending!
30. U.S. real estate prices from 1980-present plotted to a roller coaster ride!
31. I just love Howcast - learn about almost anything!
32. Creepy girl. Watch as her eyes follow your cursor.
33. Amazing interactive simulation by Motorola.
34. Heatmap simulation for any image you upload. Sweet.
35. Design for Emotion and Flow.
36. Website User Journeys, Needs, and Trust: A Volkswagen Case Study.
37. Very helpful usability blog site by Craig Tomlin.
38. Net Promoter Score: Pro’s? Con’s? Full of bologna?
39. Get Elastic’s landing page optimization webinar recap.
40. Consumer purchase preferences by zip code.
41. Free version of the Word of Mouth Manual Volume II.
42. Social media marketing case study: Will It Blend.
43. Free 34 page ebook - The New Rules of Viral Marketing.
44. Social Web Analytics eBook 2008.
45. Introduction to Good Usability - Free PDF Ebook.
46. How to think virally w/ Jeff Benjamin, the creator of  Subservient Chicken.
47. Customer Feedback Usability Insights.
48. 5 new skills for the future of marketing.
49. Bring Holistic Awareness to Your Design.
50. Long live the Cluetrain Manifesto! 95 theses ahead of their time.

Source: http://twitter.com/jonsamsel

A motion picture is composed of thousands of still framed images woven together in a fine tapestry of Technicolor storytelling. Each of the shots of film are arranged by an editor in a specific order and context, which, in turn, provides meaning to any given film. The meaning of a motion picture can be dramatically altered by changing the sequence of shots. Or a film’s meaning can be altering by meddling with the context of the shots–such as the juxtaposition of sound effects, music, special effects, and the like.

The impact of context and the sequence of shots cannot be underestimated. The result can often be two completely unique stories, each with it unique themes, characters, settings, plot and meaning.

Take the 1964 classic Disney film, Mary Poppins. It’s a story about a nanny who arrives like a whirlwind into the home of the Banks family and teaches them important lessons about life as only a Hollywood musical can. The original trailer for the film, which can be viewed on YouTube.com, is a compressed version of the whimsical tale I have just described.

The prevalence of simple, affordable video editing software in addition to video broadcasting portals, has ushered in a era of ‘context provocateurs,’ an virtual army of stay-at-home armchair editors who toil and toy with both the sequence and context of stories we’ve come to love, only to re-release them onto the world as frightenly good, alternative web flicks.

Scary Mary is one such context redux. It’s a re-cut of the Disney classic, Mary Poppins, made by Chris Rule and Nick Eckert, two average Joe’s with a passion for editing and a keen eye for stretching the boundaries of context. The result: A very unexpected and original version of the Mary Poppins trailer as a horror film.

If you are hungry for more, you will be delighted to know that online video portals have become havens for fake movie trailers that blend humor, effects, originality re-sequencing of shots and changes in context to provide entirely new and entertaining shorts. Some of my personal favorites are:

Harry Potter and the Brokeback Goblet

MTV Movie Awards 2003 - Matrix Reloaded Spoof

The Rain Main - RECUT Movie Trailer Spoof

Home Alone - Horror Movie Trailer Recut

Jack Black - Spiderman Spoof

Jimmy Kimmel (The Bourne Ultimatum Spoof)