I spent a long time thinking about what I could and couldn’t do as a marketing campaign. More often than not, I was aware I was going to have to do something that didn’t involve me being in front of a camera.
Behind it, fine, in front —err… No.
It’s not that I’m particularly hideous, or that my reticulated magnetism causes problems with electronic devices. No, it’s that I don’t feel that people actually want to see me. I’m one of those reality effects that should be relied upon, but not seen or heard. I’ll leave the broadcasting to those better suited, or those with more visual and verbal appeal.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t try to create some shorts with me in them.
Nor does it mean I won’t appear in any in the future.
(Heavens to Betsy!)
Those shorts (with me in them) that did get created, you’ll be pleased to hear, have been quietly uncreated. Which also means the copyright to them has been released. So, feel free to recreate such embarrassing episodes yourself, if you’d like. Just without me involved.
Thankfully, I haven’t felt the depths of despair —yet— to resort to such risky endeavours. And instead have opted for the book to take my place, in a kind of Amelie-style exploration.
Generative AI
This is the point where I think I should show my stance of Generative AI.
It is a tool that is currently being used in many of the wrong places.
I don’t know about you, but I want the ‘Glorious age of AI’ to help with the dishes, fold clothes, wash windmills, feed the hungry and give directions to tourists.
I don’t want it stealing away from artists and other workers. Nor do I want it writing my books, or telling me to “tag along with it” if I want to live.
Quite why the tech world has focused on these areas, I do not know.
You may then shout at me as ask why I’ve used it in places in my shorts.
That’s because of my brain, and the fact I’ve been working away diligently on many projects for years, never seemingly getting anywhere because I always hold myself to ridiculous levels of detail and rule following.
So, I have allowed myself a little of its usage, here and there, in the MARKETING!
You know, the area that Douglas Adams poked fun at. The industry that Bill Hicks wholeheartedly attacked. I will NEVER, EVER use Gen AI to write my books. Anyone doing that currently is clearly producing beach reads, and bad ones at that. And they do not know the negative effect they are causing —everywhere.
I have also made it a caveat that all my videos must include something real if they are going to include something generated. I will always attempt a balance between the two. This is because this is in someway what TEOWAD is about.
How can balance be regained when it is lost.
How much of nature, how much of automation?
Explanation
Ok, so this has a few things going on. All of which are occurring and needed to be filmed directly after the school run —as it was the only time I had to film. This is why we have a lovely shot of a train from a bridge.
I’d be interested to see if people noticed the “understand my book” change in the text the first time through.
I’ve always been fascinated by how everything just keeps getting more and more complex, yet with the complexity the layers flatten into almost ‘shorthands’, so that we can then deal with even greater complexity. It must stop at some point, right?
That also goes hand in hand with my love/hate of time and things going backwards. But I shall warn you now, if you think chronology plays a big part in TEOWAD you’d be right, but for all the wrong reasons.
My favourite part of this short is the time it took for me to find some RF music that could play backwards and sound good.
I feel it really adds to the whole drama of the piece.
Yes, I did just say that about a Marketing short.
Yes, I am aware of the fragrance ‘Pretentious’ by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
Yes, I do spend a lot of time focusing intently, by myself, on strange little things.
I’m allowed.
The over-arching concept here is how things can change when you aren’t paying attention, and they usually do, in more powerful ways that you can realise.
