Video that Changes the Debate
Session Type(s): Screening Series
Starts: Saturday, Jun. 9 1:30 PM
Ends: Saturday, Jun. 9 2:45 PM
Room: 550
So you’ve been told to create a “viral video,” whatever that means. How do you create media that not only succeeds online but also changes the debate? How do you make content that people pass around that also pierces the national conversation? We’ll examine these questions in-depth, speaking with those responsible for creating or spreading political videos that have made an impact—and learn how to do the same in our own activism.
Moderator
Andy Menconi
Andy Menconi is a graphic designer and animator who has been creating viral content since 2000. While working as a web designer for Bank of America he won ‘Bush in 30 Years’: a flash animation contest sponsored by MoveOn.org which opened the door to being the graphics guy for many leftist political organizations.
He went on to form Agit-Pop Communications, an award winning viral media firm with partners John Sellers of the Ruckus Society and Andrew Boyd of Billionaires for Bush. On tax day in 2010, Agit-Pop communications began a new project called ‘The Other 98%’ as a meme to help shift the dialogue of the culture war to one of economic justice.
Andy Menconi was born in Texas, graduated from AAC in San Francisco, loves punk rock, the NFL, green chile and romantic dinners on the beach.
Panelists
Andy Cobb
Andy Cobb is the Political Director of Second City New Media, the online video arm of the legendary Chicago-based comedy troupe. He writes, directs, and performs videos that have been seen over 15 million times online, as well as on MSNBC, ABC, CNN, FOX News (yep), Current TV, Al Jazeera, and a mess of other places. On the web, his work has been promoted, featured, and covered on sites such as DailyKos, HuffPost, Perez Hilton, Gawker, Young Turks, Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan, Americablog, Politico, RealClearPolitics, Jezebel, Alternet, Media Matters, Atlantic.com, Media Bistro, New York Times.com, Defamer, Crooks And Liars, Slate Magazine, Salon.com, and many more. Recent clients for directing, writing, performing, and producing video projects have included MoveOn.org, Courage Campaign, Americablog, Brave New Films, Current TV, SEIU, and Americans Against Escalation In Iraq. He often blogs with the fine folks at Crooks and Liars.
Haik Hoisington
Haik Hoisington is a Brooklyn-based freelance animator. He strives to use animation to illustrate alternative perspectives of urgent social and political issues. His work has been shown in film festivals, broadcast on television and featured in on-line and print publications. It includes award winning music videos for musical artists Eminem and the Coup, as well as animation for the feature length documentaries American Blackout and Lockdown USA.
Haik is a graduate of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University.
Jasiri X
Emcee and community activist Jasiri X is the creative force and artist behind the ground breaking internet news series, This Week with Jasiri X, which has garnered critical acclaim, thousands of subscribers, and millions of internet views. From the controversial viral video What if the Tea Party was Black?, to the hard hitting truth of A Song for Trayvon, Jasiri X cleverly uses Hip-Hop to provide social commentary on a variety of issues. A six time Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Award winner, Jasiri recently became the first Hip-Hop artist to receive the coveted August Wilson Center for African American Culture Fellowship. A founding member of the anti-violence group One Hood, Jasiri started the New Media Academy to teach young African-American boys how to analyze and create media for themselves.
Other sessions: Turn It Up: Using Hip-Hop to Mobilize in 2012, Criminal Justice in America
