File this one under: Stuff I Can Finally Tell You

We did it! We finally launched the Hot Wheels Custom Motors Cup interactive game on YouTube and the Mattel Hot Wheels site. In its first few weeks alone the game has garnered over 350,000 views - and that’s just on YouTube!

We’ve been dying to tell you all about this project, but we had to keep it all top secret until after the official launch. It’s out there in the world now, though, and if you haven’t already seen this interactive game, you should check it out.

The concept is pretty simple - you pick the vehicle you want to race with and then you pick the accessory that you think will give you the best shot at winning the next race. There are three races overall and you get to pick a different accessory for each race. Watch out though, because the other cars get to pick new accessories, too, and everyone wants to win!

We shot every frame of this video in stop-motion animation. The prep, which included concept generation, storyboarding, planning, set construction and the stage build took six weeks. The shoot took a month. For those of you who like production trivia and fun facts, here are a bunch of numbers that went into this project…

26 days of production
9181 frames captured
1 minute 16 seconds average to shoot each individual frame
88 individual camera angles shot
3 expensive movie light bulbs burned out
2 expensive lighting control boards burned out (but fixed under warranty!)
85 pounds of sugar used
150 pounds of sand used
2 tripods hot glued to the floor
98,511 individual files totaling a 641GB project

Sometime in the next week or so we expect to have a behind the scenes video completed that will highlight all of the work that went into bringing these cars to life. For now, you can play the game on YouTube and tell all your friends about it!

–Mike

This month we celebrated July 1^st as Happy DTS 7.1 Day! “Give me 7.1 surround sound or give me complete silence”.

http://www.celebratesevenone.com/

Celebrate 7.1 on 7/1! from DTS Digital Entertainment on Vimeo.

DotLot played the producer role and called on some of our finest crew to shoot this production. We had the chance to work with some amazing talent: Fred Willard, Lou Wagner, Richard Horvitz, Robbie Troy, John Pollow along with some talented DTS buddies. This was a quick one day shoot which took plenty of preparation. We all had a great time on-set and off-set!

Even the Agoura Hills Mayor Denis Weber got into the act by proclaiming July 1^st to be “DTS 7.1 Day” in honor of their cutting edge 7.1 surround sound audio technology.

Also … signup and be a part of this celebration as DTS is given away Blu-Ray Discs, Playstation 3 and a 7.1 audio system! Go on and have some entertainment!

DotLot is excited to put on an a mini-series event of fun, targeted discussions about online video and its’ uses: entertainment, new media statement, advertising, communication, etc. Some tentative topics include, top online videos and why, top V-loggers and what makes them effective, what’s viral?, and developing online genres.  Plans are being formed, material is being collected and lunches will be planned.

So stay tuned as these events are set to begin sometime in mid-April and re-occur once per month (unless demand changes). We’ll keep you posted as more information is developed. This ought to be entertaining!

There are already a lot of video sharing sites. Some are designed for general video uploading and sharing and others are tailored to more specific audiences. The big daddy of them all, of course, is YouTube, which is not only the most common video site, but has managed to become the de facto resource for all online video.

YouTube has enough features to keep any video producer happy. You can create your own channel, get subscribers, have both public and private videos and even create interactivity using annotations. Why would there need to be any other video sites at all?

The real question should be ‘What is YouTube missing’? Scheduled programming? Live channels? Multi-screen videos? In my own experience with online video, I remember being in film school and checking out sites like Atom long before I even knew what YouTube was. At the time, Atom Film was a great place for film students to try to get their shorts shown. It was popular because it was targeted - it had a purpose.

Today there are a plethora of online video sites, some more niche than others. Lulu TV, for instance, enables content producers to upload all their video and audio creative into their own channel for syndication to their viewers. For all its great features, though, Lulu TV lacks the same thing that most other video sites lack - traffic. At the end of the day, YouTube is by far and away the most popular video site on the web.

What does YouTube lack? Are you using a site other than YouTube specifically because it offers features that YouTube does not? What are the features that would make YouTube perfect for you? If you think YouTube needs some work, or if you’re a die hard fan and you think it’s already perfect, we want to hear about it. Leave us a comment with your thoughts.

In my Space Invaders post I showed you a human performance video from YouTube’s NOTsoNOISY. Well, it looks like video director Guillaume Reymond (translated) is at it again, this time moving cars around to create a real-world transformer for the Images ‘08 festival being held this year in Vevey, Switzerland from September 11th-30th.

In this first video, we only get to see a disjointed making-of clip. Shooting from a remotely controlled blimp (not too dissimilar from the one DotLot uses to shoot our Seat Buddy projects) Reymond coordiated with several of the Vevey public service departments to get a chain of vehicles together that he used to represent a transforming robot.

I’ll be following Images ‘08 and giving you updates on this interesting piece as it develops. For now, check out the making of Transformers #01…

In a move that would make Norman McLaren proud, a production crew got together with 67 extras and shot the following clip of a real-life Space Invaders game. Director Guillaume Reymond organized the shoot. Using the pixilation technique, where people (and sometimes inanimate objects) are used to create frame-by-frame animation, he orchestrated a reenactment of one level of the memorable and historic game.

This clip should appeal equally to film buffs and tech geeks.