Back in the 1920s, the Dadaists came up with a parlor game of sorts called the exquisite corpse. One would start a drawing (or a poem), then pass it along to a friend, who would add the next segment, and so on, until it was completed. Now, a young entrepreneur named David Hissami wants to bring a similar concept to Web video (although, he is not calling it that). On December 1, he plans to launch The Whoa Show, a site filled with audience-produced video series. The basic concept of the first one, called First In Action, explains Hissami, is this: “At the end of every clip, someone gives a direction. The first person to follow it makes it on the show, and gets to direct the next person.” The only way to get on the show is to be the first to follow the previous direction and submit your clip.
“This creates a public race,” says Hissami, “and lets you play a real-life game with many participants.” Part of the appeal is supposed to be the fact that nobody knows what will come next, and that it is only limited by the imagination of the audience. (There are a few exceptions—no directions calling for nudity or dangerous activities will be accepted). It is about “watching real people being forced to follow a direction in order to give their own, and wondering what the directions will be and who will follow them and how,” explains Hissami. Audience, entertain yourselves.
Collaborative art can be a lot of fun, but it is rarely any good. It may turn out that the only people who end up watching these shows are the ones whose submissions are accepted (and their friends). Since the hurdle for acceptance is whoever is fastest to upload a video, not whoever uploads the best video, the end result may be a little disappointing. Hissami says of the quality issue: “The Whoa Show is not so much about ‘best’ stuff as it is about ‘real’ stuff. Compared to say, traditional TV shows, Whoa Shows are more personal and social. In other words, you can better relate to them.” But not everyone will be able to relate because only one video will be selected per scene (at least for the first show). This could limit its appeal. Of course, it is impossible to say until the show actually launches. Like any participatory video, the quality will depend on who participates.
(Exquisite corpse drawing via Ghostpatrol).
Savvy marketers will need good make-up and costumes to create the necessary back-and-forth. Feel free to go through my closet.
Give it a rest
isn’t this called webcam? I think I’ve seen it on porn sites
Dan, i agree with Marzipan, give it a rest. we don’t need spammers like you. STOP SPAMMING
interesting
Looking forward to checking this out.
Dang! This is stupid!
Do you know where I can contact them to post on Reel SEO?
video will be selected per scene- this will limit the players, blackjack games in casino sites are much better.
Article doesn’t do good job explaining. Is this single video of different scenes? If yes why is it called show? The image shows numbered titles but what are the titles to? I do video research so answers would help. Explain please.
What a waste of life! Can’t people do something more productive.
Brainless!
have a good feeling about this one. how many video series will the site have when it launches?
Yeah…Don’t like this idea at all.
I want to correct and clarify the article, because the information that was sent to Erick was vague (our fault, not his). The result is an inaccurate comparison of First In Action to Exquisite corpse, and the misleading “collaborative art” label.
The Whoa Show makes video shows that star the audience. First In Action, our first show, is set up as a never-ending chain of video clips. Every clip has two parts: at the beginning, someone follows the direction that was given in the previous video. At the end, he or she directs the next video.
The only way to make it on the show, and give a direction, is to be the first to follow the latest direction.
For example, one person says, “I want you to scare someone.” The first person to scare someone might then say, “I want you to confess something on tape for all the world to hear.” The first person to do this might then say, “I want to see a guy introduce his mom to everyone and kiss her!” On and on, the spontaneous fun keeps going.
Unlike the Exquisite corpse projects, First In Action has no finality. There is no buildup with each clip, and there will be no “completed” work.
First In Action is not a movie, and there will not be a single “scene”, at least in the film sense.
Although a certain collaboration takes place when someone gives a direction and other people (in response) race to follow it, First In Action can’t be described as collaborative, since each video clip in the chain is created separately and individually.
And while it can be considered art in some regards, First In Action is all about entertainment. The show will have low-quality and high-quality videos, but this won’t affect its mainstream youth appeal. Like MySpace, it will be judged on viewership and participation by the target audience, not artistic quality.
Video SEO – My email is dhissami [at] whoashow [dot] com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Video Guy – I hope my follow-up clears things up for you.
First In Action clips are titled numerically. The first clip will be “#1 by [insert username]“, the second will be “#2 by [insert username]“, and so on.
brett – The Whoa Show will keep releasing video shows, called Whoa Shows, that star the audience.
The web will serve as our only broadcast platform for now, but we will soon release mobile-specific Whoa Shows, and eventually expand beyond that (as technology allows).
I am confident that I can explain or address any issues or criticisms anyone might have, and will appreciate the opportunity to do so.
(We all know that negative comments posted anonymously and without substance are from spammers, and like most of you, I simply ignore them.)
i really love the idea, looking foward to it.
I prefer Kaltura’s concept, where there is a greater potential for collaboration.
David and Myra im totally looking forward to the launch of your site. Ive herd alot about it and now fully understand the beginning/concept behind it. look for me to jump into that chain of vids some where. but how many times can one person give a direction? Or i should say how many times can a person be on the site as far as submitting video? I wish you the best of luck with cant wait to see it.
Hi Zamoe! lol
To answer your question — there is no limit. As long as a viewer is the first to follow the latest direction, his or her video will be the next one on the show. Some viewers might have several videos on First In Action while others will have none (no matter how many times they try to make it).
Hope this clarifies things a bit, stranger!
-Myra
Co-Founder, The Whoa Show
Sounds like fun. This really does remind me of Kaltura, except that at Kaltura the idea is video collaboration, and users can do anything they want with it – so potentially something like this could be a specific project on Kaltura, and then the sky is the limit.
Sounds like an interesting idea. What I don’t like about it, though, is that people will rush a video hastily made just to be first rather than take the time to plan out and make a quality video to submit.
I’m wondering who would have the time to be constantly checking the site.
No one with a 9 to 5 job, no one seriously interested in their college studies … in other words, mostly people who have a lot of time on their hands.
My final thought is that I have an 18 yr old son aiming to get into film school and I would never want him to become “addicted” to this site as it would take his time and focus away from his classes.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that to me, rather than pressuring people to be FIRST, it would be much better if videos were submitted and then VOTED UPON to be used! You’d get much better quality video clips that way. Get the audience to VOTE on the next clip to be used. I think you’d get much more audience participation and interest that way.
janet- maybe they will have videos to be submitted times other than 9-5 like 12am or something, personally i’m also trying to get into film school and i think if this site got big it could be good practice and good to be seen and could have benefits and i’m always up to a challenge, i could be addicted also but everyone has control maybe do a video here and there and watch some to get some ideas but i do agree instead of having the first video maybe they should have a time limit for video submissions and then close the submissions and choose the best video or have users rate the best video and then maybe that person gets a special recognition like name and shoutout or something ~just my 2 cents.
CARversation (I guess you like cars) – I’ve seen my son spend a lot of time perfecting his videos, he even sells them in local stores on DVDs. I think that anyone like him who takes pride in his work and takes time to edit would be disappointed that they spend the time but crappy videos are shown because the videographers slapped it together just to get there FIRST!
Someone like you probably understands that. People who don’t care much and just want to be FIRST would just throw it together and submit. Possible result … a lot of crappy clips. Then they could change the name to crappyclips.com
I guess it would be good practice trying to create quality clips in record time! I just think your idea for a time limit for video submissions and then voting is a much better idea!
My son wants to go to SVA in NYC or the New York Film Academy (Steven Spielberg’s son went there!). Which schools are you looking into?
janet-ya i like my idea also, i’m looking into usc or ucla and chapman as a worst case scenario.
CARversation – Do you have any videos on youtube? My son places skate videos there, some get thousands of hits! He’s really great editing with special effects. He also did a Seinfeld parody that’s pretty funny. Now he’s doing a 3 min video for a newly renovated hotel and they’re paying him $500 for it. Amazing. I hope you do well in your career. Good luck.
David Hissami – hopefully you’ve read CARversation’s idea and will take it under consideration. Good luck with your venture.
Jonathan & Lucy – I love Kaltura’s concept.
The Whoa Show makes video shows that star the audience while Kaltura allows users to create videos together. Two very different companies.
Indeed, The Whoa Show and Kaltura complement and benefit each other.
For example, let’s say someone wants to submit a video to one of our shows but wants to first collaborate on it with a friend or group of friends. Kaltura makes this possible.
And since our shows will make the video camera more exciting, more people will adopt it. This increases Kaltura’s potential market.
Janet & CARversation – Think of First In Action as a game with many players. It is a show you participate in, not just watch. It will be a public race, not a public display of art.
Filmmakers will join in on the fun, but First In Action is not a film festival. (It just might be the perfect break for your son, Janet, when he wants time off from his film projects & college studies.)
People don’t have to keep checking back on our site because we will provide a widget that updates with the latest clip from First In Action.
If you love the idea of a “time limit”, then you’ll just have to wait and see what we have in store with our second show, The Count Drop.
Thanks for the feedback!
The similar idea is already realized:
http://forums.t...8241䝁
Sweet! Just 2 days left!