The Three Acts of a Viral Video: The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige
As a magic trick that entertains an audience by creating illusions of seemingly impossible actions, I believe that a viral video uses the same idea of the three stages of a magic trick: The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige.
The Pledge: Here is when something ordinary is introduced to the audience. Normally it can take most of the time in the viral video. It can be seen as simple story telling that induces the audience to a given mind set that will have continuation in the next stages.
The Turn: The second part of the viral video is where the spotlight attention of the audience is switched to something of particular interest. At this moment, the audience already has some background information (given in the previous stage) and now their total attention is in this particular issue, where they necessary will feel curious and anxious of what’s going to happen next.
The Prestige: As expected, this is the glorious part of the viral video, where the audience start laughing, if it’s a comic ending, or feel shocked if it’s a dramatic ending. The point made is that the illusion created over the last stages ends here, in this so-called emotional stage. This last stage itself doesn’t need to be that spectacular, but due to the story telling presented to the audience and the curiosity generated by them, a good prestige will just blow your mind, and make you share it with all your friends.
[Advertising Notebook]: The Three Acts of a Viral Video: The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige http://bit.ly/bboze1
RT @xcreativity: [Advertising Notebook]: The Three Acts of a Viral Video: The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige http://bit.ly/bboze1
Well… that’s very interessting but honestly i have a hard time figuring it… wonder how others think about this..
The analogy to the magic trick is quite right, because pulling a "viral" video happens "magically". Wether or not it will go viral is all based on the appreciation the audience has of it.
To draw a second analogy, I'd say it is like the film industry, particularly the Hollywood industry. Studios invest large sums into creative concepts, assemble great production teams, market the movie, but in the end really, if it goes blockbuster or not is simply a question of appreciation from the audience…