We recently attended “Brave New (Open) World: A Producer’s Primer on the Latest Open Source Software,” hosted by the Producers Guild of America at The New School. We think user-generated content is king, so the coolest portion of the talk was on users remixing content. Kaltura, an open source video platform, talked about how they have two sites that offer remix tools: kaltura.org, which is free, and kaltura.com for corporate clients.
They highlighted some of their work to demonstrate how remixing videos engages users – for kaltura.com, a great example is their work with the TV show “Heroes.” In partnership with MetaCafe and Universal, a Heroes microsite let users “remix preloaded videos, photos and audio from the show’s second season. Users created new ‘Heroes moments’ or remixed existing moments, complete with transitions and soundtrack.” The result? In just a few days, “hundreds of new mashups“ were created by fans, who expressed an increased interest in the show:
For kaltura.org, they showed how the 2008 US elections inspired many to remix videos. Here’s how a Remix America user utilized Kaltura’s remix tool:
In terms of marketing, remixing videos is not just about fun for the users – the increased engagement makes them more invested in the brand, which is especially evident in the Heroes remix. By personalizing content, users become brand ambassadors who share their new, original video with others.