The Art and Torture of Product Advertisement

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Eventually after a long, long period of producing a product video for a crowdfunding page I found my energy back to reflect on it. What does it mean to find a compromise in order to achieve a piece of art? How can I be still valid as a visual artist and how can my art advertise the product?
Creating this video for multiEngine@easyGoing involved directing, acting, sound and video editing, and guiding the script or rather writing a guideline-storyboard etc. etc. for this video from scratch on.

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Product advertising is any method of communication about the promotion of a product in an attempt to induce potential customers to purchase the product. Well, I never had the ambition to work for a commercial product or advertising agencies and I don´t plan it in near future, but creating a visual compromise was a challenge and I think I´ve done it.
What I found eventually convincing: the keywords and the mission of creating multiEngine@easyGoing. Among other things it was safety, security, privacy, peer-2 peer communication and the VPN server in Iceland. It rings my bell because it means this product is supposed to support and keep democracy!jerganhack2
One big trap where I was falling into was to assume that the product founder knows best. Eventually it turned out that it is very common that the business owner is uniquely unqualified to see his company or product objectively. Too much product knowledge leads him to answer questions no one is asking. He’s on the inside looking out, trying to describe himself to me on the outside looking in. That made me realise that It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle.
For some reason, advertisers want their ads to look and sound like ads. Working for days on just a couple of seconds in order to create something special in after effect just for the sake that the multiEngine inventor disagreed to use it because it was to arty is very frustrating ….but a learning curve: Never start  working to precise without double checking the idea with the founder or producer of the product. It can be very frustrating….and it was!! Which is another reason why I am not enthusiastic about working for an agency.
However.. It was great though to work together with my performance team from former video installations and I am very thankful that Corina and Mick use to be part of this project, because this still keeps it there where it supposed to be: In the landscape of Art.
Nevertheless…I like the outcome but make your own opinion about it.
Videoclip multiEngine@easyGoing
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