April 11, 2006
firefox flicks video site launch
We've just launched the new Firefox Flicks video site. Here's a taste of what you can find over at Flicks. This Firefox ad, called "Daredevil" was created by Pete Macomber.
Voice Over:
The idea behind this spot was to capture a youthful energy and approach to life that is often lost in adulthood. In order to pull this off I studied the master of truth Errol Morris. I interviewed Ella Minot (a surfer, not an actress) using some of his techniques. I found that being passive, but engaging, allowed Ella to get lost in her world and when this happens you get the gems. As Errol once said, "you couldn't write this stuff." And he is so right. The word "daredevil" has been missing from my vocabulary for twenty years. I did the interview on the beach, which I think helped her relax and the fact that the sound quality is not perfect perhaps makes the spot more believable.
Camera:
"Daredevil" was shot with a DVX100 through a fisheye lens. I liked the using the fisheye for this project because the spherical quality of the image lends itself to the global nature of the product. (Please take all this with a grain of salt.) The skateboarding was shot from a bicycle. I like the silhouette of the rollercoaster on the pier in the background. I think it reflects the magical nature of a kid's imagination.
Post:
I made an effort to color the scenes to match the hot Firefox logo. The tag line changed several times, but I like the juxtaposition of this one. The music reminds me of something Ennio Morricone would write if he were an outlaw surfer. And one final note: Please remember it is much easier to make this stuff up after the fact.
About Pete:
Pete Macomber was born in Holland, raised in South Africa, received a degree in English literature from University of Colorado, competed on the US Snowboard Team and now creates music videos, commercials and screenplays from his Venice, California home when he's not off searching for undiscovered waves in Panama.
W're going to be putting up several new Flicks videos each day-- and there are two additional videos, "Drama Queen" and "Double-Click Relief" already up at the site, so head on over to Firefox Flicks and see some of what our community is working on.
reactions, thoughts, comments, etc.
Posted by: rayh ulop | April 11, 2006 10:41 AM
How is flash any more of a standard then quicktime?
Posted by: Kevin | April 11, 2006 11:38 AM
There's no Quicktime for Linux...
Posted by: Rishi | April 11, 2006 11:43 AM
I like it! Firefox really is a lifestyle :)
Posted by: Emil Stenström | April 11, 2006 11:57 AM
i love it! really great!
Posted by: testboy | April 11, 2006 12:12 PM
Great stuff. I can save it as a source file using QT Pro on the flicks site, but not from this blog. Also, the other 2 videos can't be saved as source. Shame, I wanted them on my HD for offline viewing, but never mind.
Great quality stuff though.
Posted by: Mr Lizard | April 11, 2006 12:58 PM
Mr Lizard, you can download all three videos. There's a download link on the page.
- A
Posted by: Asa Dotzler | April 11, 2006 1:27 PM
It would be nice if you could include the creator's notes with each of the submissions to better highlight that these adverts have been community contributed.
Posted by: Kroc Camen | April 11, 2006 1:45 PM
This stuff does not load and sometimes even crashes firefox. Try opening two windows of your blog with firefox on windows without quicktime or whatever is needed.
Posted by: Manuel | April 11, 2006 1:46 PM
You don't need any special program to download the videos:
View -> Page Info -> Media
Posted by: ant | April 11, 2006 1:59 PM
OMG!! they're incredibly BAD, it's like those things you can't stop watching because they're sooooo embarrasing
Posted by: lala | April 11, 2006 2:35 PM
Cheers for pointing out the download link Asa. Do Mozilla make specs? ;-)
Posted by: Mr Lizard | April 11, 2006 3:03 PM
Just a thought- anyone able to add subititles (captioning) to the videos? Just a thought for those who are hearing impaired
Posted by: Mr Lizard | April 11, 2006 3:04 PM
I really like the phased approach with a few new flicks posted every day to keep us coming back for more.
Posted by: GeekyGirl | April 11, 2006 4:41 PM
Please also check out the new banners (if you feel like spreading the flicks)
Posted by: marco casteleijn | April 12, 2006 8:11 AM
<abitofftopic>
FF 1.5.0.1 tells me that for http://www.firefoxflicks.com/flick/index.php?id=19319&c=false "additional plugins are required to display all the media on this page".
I press "Install Missing plugins" and the Plugin Finder Service tells me that i have to "press next to install these [ Apple Quicktime ] plugins". I press "Next" and a the PFS show "No plugins were installed" .... ( and give me the "Manual Install" alternative ) ( at this time i believe the non technical give up Quicktime plugin, give up Firefox and return to IE ).
Questions ( with my respect ):
. is there any incompatibility with FF 1.5.0.1 and Quicktime plugin ? ( Flash plugin just installs and just works )
. why www.firefoxflicks.com dont post the videos in a more ubicuous format like Flash Video, MPEG or a totally open format like Theora ? ( http://www.theora.org/)
</abitofftopic>
By the way: go Firefox and FF Flicks !
Posted by: omz | April 12, 2006 1:21 PM
@omz, that's why I think they should use flash instead of quicktime, it's more widely a standard format for os's, it doesn't blow up when they do upgrades, and almost everyone who has a computer has flash.
Posted by: Anti_Anti | April 12, 2006 1:39 PM
Please, anything but Flash. Flash hurts people. Would offering multiple formats be a good solution instead? (WMV, maybe? I dunno what Linux likes.)
Posted by: db | April 12, 2006 9:18 PM
Quicktime sucks balls
screw fxflicks
Posted by: pd | April 13, 2006 3:57 AM
"Please, anything but Flash. Flash hurts people. Would offering multiple formats be a good solution instead? (WMV, maybe? I dunno what Linux likes.)"
are you kidden me? how does flash hurt people, wmv is priority format which only as far as I know runs on windows, and doesn't run without hactive x, that is even worse then quicktime... quicktime movie format .mov sucks most It crashes firefox is the codec isn't up to date m They should either use a format that is widely used such as mpg or swf..
Posted by: doogi | April 13, 2006 6:31 PM
I liked it.
BTW: I don't hate Quicktime, but you guys should provide the videos in a format that can be viewed on all the platforms that Firefox runs on. Firefox has a big following in the open source world, so it doesn't make sense to not provide a format that can be viewed on Linux. You don't have to dump the Quicktime version, just add an mpeg link.
Posted by: wg | April 14, 2006 1:26 AM
Kinda random, but the frame from the video posted here on the blog looks a lot like the opening of the music video for "Say You'll Be There" by the Spice Girls. :)
Posted by: R.Mo | April 14, 2006 7:02 PM
agreeed. Having dealt with so many different video formats and different OSes, FLV is the way of the future. It's supported on Linux, MAC and Win. It makes things so much easier to play.
However, unfortunately only flash 7 is available on Linux, but that still works for 99% of the sites i have been to and Macromedia should be releasing flash 8 for Linux soon.
Posted by: justin | April 28, 2006 9:12 AM
I would like to see a plugin for firefox that does what wmprecorder does. find the file being played from windows media player and give you the option of downloading it.
Posted by: dennis | May 11, 2006 4:42 PM
Does anybody know where the music to the daredevil ad came from? It is very familiar and catchy..
Posted by: RS | May 31, 2006 7:37 PM
Looks like my media player needs to be updated :( why aren't the videos in a more standard format like flash (.swf) ??