(the video above is just a teaser - to see the story in full glory, see storyofstuff.com)
The Story of Stuff must be the lowest-effort way to spend 20 minutes of your life getting an introductory glimpse into the impact of our consumerist lifestyle to Mother Earth. Simplistic - yes. Slightly propagandist - maybe. US-centric - a bit, but guess where most of negative environmental impact originates from? Definitely worth your time nevertheless.
What I admire the most is the extremely effective use of different mediae and interaction of putting this thing together. Narrative meets video meets illustration meets animation meets data visualization in just the right way. Enhancing your consumption of new information while entertaining you. Importantly - while not overwhelming you with unnecessary effects.
After watching the story try to imagine how boring it could have been if written down as a text-based web page. Or a PowerPoint deck. Or even an audio podcast. Would you ever have made it to the end?
Don't you wish the author of your daily dose of business presentations or school lectures had put in 2% of the effort seen here?
Comments (5)
Hei Sten,
Have a look at this site: http://www.commoncraft.com/
They do the same thing as their main business."Using a simple format and real-world stories to make sense of complex ideas"
They have also own Youtube channel where you can see some quite good video examples howto explain difficult things in very easy and simple way. http://youtube.com/profile?user=commoncraft
For example: How does Google Maps Mobile location function works. http://youtube.com/watch?v=HhgNZ5wMz2A
Google Docs in plain english: http://youtube.com/watch?v=muVUA-sKcc4
Posted by Oliver | January 4, 2008 5:56 PM
Posted on January 4, 2008 17:56
Couldn't agree more. This is probably the first 20 minute "video" I've actually cared to watch all the way to the end while not itching to click the fast fwd button.
And not to mention the actual storyof it, which really makes you think whether you really should buy that brand new phone that comes out every month or use the current one as long as it's actually working and usable. That 1% of things that remain in use after 6 months after purchase does make you wonder why do people buy so much stuff. I guess it's in our nature to abuse everything.
Posted by Margus | January 5, 2008 3:28 PM
Posted on January 5, 2008 15:28
"US-centric - a bit, but guess where most of negative environmental impact originates from?"
china cant see it changing anytime soon either
Posted by kalm | January 5, 2008 9:15 PM
Posted on January 5, 2008 21:15
Good format but quite worn and sad facts. Might work on average American, though. Greens got the Arnold Schwarzenegger's message to present green way of life in a more sexy format.
Posted by Urmo | January 7, 2008 3:54 PM
Posted on January 7, 2008 15:54
Urmo – what campaign do you mean exactly? URL :) pls thnx
Posted by Edvard | January 10, 2008 7:56 AM
Posted on January 10, 2008 07:56