A network’s brand can be an ambiguous theology that rejects every creative choice an artist is conditioned to make. And it should: as a steadying anchor of fundamentalism for an audience to develop taste and (hopefully) subscribe to, I’ve seen evidence that branding ambiguity can shout louder than any tagline or title treatment or lower-third-burned-in-tune-in-bug.
So when it came time to refresh FXX — a channel that prides itself in curation, or “making art out of art”— with a new string of ID’s, I pitched a simple idea that was approved and it absolutely consumed me for nearly 2 years.
The idea was to take an interesting Youtube video then add a single line of dialogue that suggests a bigger, more complex story.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
How could such a simple concept be so difficult? I have only myself to blame.
What kind of line should each video have? Funny? Odd? Sad? Do I find a video first then write the line? Or do I write the line and then add it to a video? Which way would produce the funniest result?
What even is funny?
Something introspective like above?
Or an outright arbitrary like below:
I emerged with no answers to any question(s), and in time I forgot what the question(s) was. Plus absolutely anything I could possibly come up with was subjective due to the very nature of that simple, original pitch. Oh and after that, you’ve got to get permission from the person who actually made the video.
I must have watched everything put on the internet between the years 2006 and 2018.
But I did it, even through the amount of failed ones (most because of permission licensing) could fill airtime for nearly a week.
Here’s the full campaign, which garnered a Promax Nom: