We've All Been Had!

So in my earlier post, "The Official 'Videos that Travel around the World' Post", I posted two great viral videos that use music in a wide range of locales to produce a couple of intensely uplifting clips. The first one, "Where the Hell is Matt", with over 17 million views worldwide has become nothing less than an internet sensation. The New York Times has called it "an almost perfect piece of internet art". To get the full effect, it is obviously preferable to watch the whole thing, but to give you the gist: Matt is shown dancing (proving at the same time all those who said that white men can't dance to have been correct) in 70 different countries, with the local folk acting as enthusiastic participants.

No, that is not really a Korean soldier but one of Matt's buddies.

One of the reasons I think that the video pleased me so much and put an instant smile on my face was the feeling of global unity and cooperation that it elicited. However irrational, it evoked the feeling that given all the conflict, the tension, the wars, and the hatred in this world, that we are all still more united than we are divided. That we are not just a collection of red states and blue states...kidding, but I'm sure Obama would enjoy it.

Appreciate you can, but the revelation a couple of weeks ago that the whole thing was an elaborate hoax took away the authenticity, and hence, a lot of its charm and impact. Yes, ladies and gents, the video was a pure product of excellent video editing, green screen technology, and dancing actors. The following clip is Matt himself explaining in great detail just how and why they did this. Extremely interesting video, especially for all you graphic designers out there!