For those new to Clean Cut Media, here we like to post not only the latest news and commentary on media influence and social issues, but also post wonderful pieces of art and media that are clean and well done. Occasionally we also post videos that went viral so we could be a source in which to keep up with the latest viral video.

See this beautiful piece of music below. If you appreciate music, it will knock your socks off. Such a beautiful things to hear.

Love Story (Taylor Swift) Meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

Piano: Jon Schimdt
Cellist: Steven Nelson (cellist)

This arrangement was created by Jon Schimdt’s for his daughter. His daughter loved the song “Love Story” by Taylor Swift especially a particular transition in the song. Jon Schimdt thought it would transition really well with Viva La Vida by Coldplay so he created this arrangement.

Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance

From the album “The Opposite Side of the Sea”, released in March 2009. This song is titled “Her Morning Elegance”. This video is a very artistic use of stop motion utilizing a bed as the frame and bed items as the everyday object. Just play the video below and see what I mean.

Related posts:

1. Creativity: Toshiba Timesculpture Advertisement Video
2. Black Hole Short Film – Underestimating the Subtle Power of Desire
3. The Short Film List – Distraxion, Signs, Black Holes & Kiwis

Latest Viral Video: These aren’t all that recent, but still worth a quick look.

Did you Know Video?

This “Did you know” video covers some of the latest statistics in regards to the growth of the information age and the incredible speed of globalization. The video starts with some incredible statistics on the growing population of China and India, then starts to touch upon how quickly our world is changing in terms of information, careers, and the way we communicate. Check out some of these statistics covered in the video

• 1 in 8 Couples met Online
• The Top 10 Jobs in Demand in 2010 will have not existed in 2004.
• Students starting 4 year technical degree – half of what they learn in their 1st year of study will be oudated by their third year of study.
• If Myspace was a country it would be the 5th largest country in the world (terms of members)
• In 2006 there was  2.7 billion searches on Google. Last year? 31 Million
• The US is only ranked 19th in terms of broadband penetration

This well made video covers a lot of very interesting modern statistics. I am certain you will find it very interesting. It really shows how quickly our culture is becoming global and technologically dependent.

• What statistic did you find the most interesting?

For your viewing pleasure, this video has nothing to do with media, but hey it’s gone viral and so as part of the whole viral video series this short clip is for pure entertainment.

A Southwest Flight Attendant decides to spice up his usual announcements with a little something extra . Southwest flight attendants are known to crack jokes, some with great personalities making the flight just a little more enjoyable. Here the Southwest flight attendant decides to rap his announcements with the participation of the people on board.

• Tell us what you think about these videos!
• What statistic did you find the most interesting in the “Did you Know” video?

Twitter Fail Whale - Twouble with Twitter

What is Twitter?

Twitter is known as a micro-blogging site. It is a place where a person can create a Twitter profile where one can post entries or “tweets” of 140 characters or less. Friends and Strangers alike can follow your tweets just like anyone would follow a blog. Twitter is one of the most well known social networks today.

Does CleanCutMedia Twitter?
Follow CleanCutMedia Twitter Here! Whopping two “tweets”.  

Below are two fun viral videos that pokes fun at Twitter and the type of info that it is used for. Twitter has often been ridiculed for being the medium in which people update each other about every mundane thing they do. “Watching TV with my Cat” “I forgot how much I like my pickles”

“Twouble with Twitter”

This is a hilarious video of two people at work discussing twitter. One person just started to use twitter and is raving about it’s uses while his co-worker adamantly claims that its absurd. More hilarious if you are familiar with Twitter. (Info: The White Twitter Fail Whale is what appears on the screen when Twitter has a problem such as too many users hitting their servers at once. The Fail Whale has it’s own subculture including t-shirts, clubs and sculptures). Warning, little blood at the end.

Flutter: The New Twitter

A new company called “Flutter: The New Twitter” which takes the twitter idea to a whole new level. For the gullible folks, it is a parody.

Defending Twitter

Ok. So to balance out the mockery in this post, Twitter does have some useful functions. Twitter is a great medium to communicate up to date reports on conferences and events live. You can also ask a quick question to your contacts and get quick responses. It can be used to spread important information quickly through the contact network.

• What other way have you found twitter to be useful?
• What is your feeling and opinion on Twitter? Think it’s useful? Think it’s dumb?

More Viral Videos: Susan Boyle & Ironman vs Bruce Lee

Susan Boyle - Britians got Talent - I Dreamed a Dream

Viral Videos are online video’s that gets spread around very quickly. People like the video and send the links to their friends who send to their friends and so on. Typically when people say a video goes viral, it means millions of people view it within a span of several days. Companies all dream of having one of their videos go “Viral”.

Periodically as part of the creativity series, I’ll post some videos that have gone viral. Of course they need to be clean, creative and something worth sharing. Slide these in between more serious posts. There are too many to share so I’ll post 2 at at time. Enjoy!

Susan Boyle – Britains Got Talent 2009
Susan Boyle a 47 years old charity worker from West Lothian, Scotland. Currently unemployed she went on “Britain’s Got Talent”, an American Idol Equivalent to sing for the judges. With a small stature and elderly age, everyone laughs as she speaks about wanting to be a professional singer. She chose to sing “I dreamed a dream” from les misérables. See what happens.

Ironman vs Bruce Lee
Created by Monsieur Belvin 03/19/2009. Music by DJ4Joy. A Stop Motion Film. Stop Motion is when one takes still objects and take pictures of the objects with slight modification. Think creating a flipbook but with real 3d objects or an old school animated disney film where the artist has to painstakingly draws a picture of every frame and puts it together to make it come alive. Enjoy and watch.

Gracepoint Fellowship Church – GLive Opening Video

Gracepoint Fellowship Church, a Christian Church located near UC Berkeley, recently had a large scale performance called Gracepoint Live or “GLive”. This production occurs every 2 or 3 years where 100s of college students who are part of one of their affiliated Christian campus groups perform several skits and musicals tackling life questions. About 1900 were in attendance this past weekend.

This year their theme was “UNDO: Can you delete the past?” discussing the regrets we have or will have about life. Below is their opening video.

For those who are new to Clean Cut Media, in addition to articles on media influence, social issues, among other media related topics we also post examples of good or interesting pieces of art and advertising. As long as they are “clean” of course.

This video was created by a couple people part of Gracepoint Fellowship Church. I think they did a spectacular job considering they aren’t professionals. From video shooting, editing, music, and sound everything was done from scratch. The message is very hopeful and you could imagine it setting a great tone for the night.

Comment below with your thoughts!

Other Interesting Videos with Message

• Black Hole Short Film – Underestimating the Power of Desire
• Obama Pro-Life Viral Video?

The images of a baby fetus.
The heart beats, the baby moves.

“This child’s future is a broken home.”
“He will be abandoned by his father.”
“His single mother will struggle to raise him”

The baby continues to grow…

A pro-choice video, we assume..

Then in a twist of fate,

“This child, despite the hardships he will endure, will become the first African-American President.”

Images of Barack Obama triumphant on election night.

“Life. Imagine the potential.”

Obama Pro-life Abortion Video? Sorta. This creative pro-life ad was created by CatholicVote.org as part of their new multimedia campaign called Life: Imagine the Potential™. This specific ad was created for the Super Bowl. NBC had refused to air it probably due to the controversial topic. On youtube has over 1,750,000 hits.

Regardless of your stance on abortion, you have to appreciate the creativity of this pro-life commercial spot even if it never got an opportunity to air for the Super Bowl.

CatholicVote.org
CatholicVote.org is a faith based educational program dedicated to informing Americans about the critical issues in the public policy arena.

This is not an Obama Endorsed Commercial
So there is no confusion, this is not an Obama endorsed commercial. Obama has always insisted that no restriction must ever be placed on the right of a mother to decide to abort her child. One of his first moves as president was to kill the banning of federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortions. He also has a history of either always voting “present” (rather than yes or no) on controversial abortion issues or voting pro-choice.

Related posts:

1. Pro-Life Abortion Speech by 12 Year Old
2. Google Changes stance on Abortion Keywords
3. There is Media, then there is Reality – Abortion

Children Influencing Culture through Media?

We always talk about media influencing children and culture, but how about children influence culture through media!?

A creative speech video that has been making the rounds a few months ago is the video of a young Canadian 12 year old Lia who chose the topic of abortion as her topic for a school speech contest. Her teacher wanted her to pick a different topic but she chose to continue. As you’ll see below she was an excellent speaker and crafted her arguments with thought and strategy.

“What if I told you that right now, someone was choosing if you were going to live or die?”

“What if I told you that this choice wasn’t based on what you could or couldn’t do, what you’d done in the past or what you would do in the future? And what if I told you, you could do nothing about it?”

“Fellow students and teachers, thousands of children are right now in that very situation. Someone is choosing without even knowing them whether they are going to live or die.”

“That someone is their mother. And that choice is abortion.”

Lia’s mother initially tried to help her find other topics but Lia was adamant because it was a topic she was passionate on.

Though her principal and teachers thought she was clearly the winner, her abortion speech was initially disqualified due to the controversial topic of abortion. There was a disagreement among the judges then one voluntarily stepped down because she did not want to cast her vote due to the topic. The rest of the judges then reversed their decision and declared Lia the winner advancing her to the regionals. (That one judge must have held a lot of power!).

She did not win the regional contest despite an apparently flawless delivery. The pro-life video has now accumulated over 500,000+ views on youtube though comments were disabled due to the hateful comments directed at the young little girl.

Though she lost the speech contest, her and her family were able to celebrate what they deemed the “best trophy ever” when a person who saw the video, then decided not to abort her child. In one of the comments someone mentioned that her aunt saw the video and decided not to have an abortion.

“Why do we think that just because a fetus can’t talk or do what we do, it isn’t a human being yet?” She asks in the video. “Some babies are born after only five months. Is this baby not human?

“We would never say that. Yet abortions are performed on 5-month-old fetuses all the time. Or do we only call them humans if they’re wanted?”

Please keep comments civil.

Related posts:

1. Obama Pro-life Abortion Video?
2. No, Mr. President: John Piper’s Response to President Obama on Abortion
3. There is Media, then there is Reality – Abortion

3D Building Chalk Art

Following are some incredible 3D Building Art drawn on the side of buildings and other large structure. The 3D paintings look fantastically real forcing those passing by to stop and gaze in awe, of course if they even notice it!

I’ve also added one more 3D Chalk Art below due to it’s popularity on this site. Enjoy!

3D Building Art – Building Tunnel

3D Building Art - Building Tunnel

This 3D Building Art is by far the most intricate and my favorite. Amazing details and the depth of the 3D work is quite amazing. If I had a car I would probably drive into the wall and get seriously injured. Be grateful you saw it here first!

3D Building Art – Oceanside Pool

3D Building Art - Oceanside Pool

This is what you do to make your pool look like the greatest pool there ever was. Look at that awesome ocean view! I want to swim there!

3D Building Art – Building Archway

3D Building Art - Building Archway

Another picture I am thankful I saw here before seeing it live. If I had friends I would say, look at that amazing view, I’ll race you to it! Then proceed to watch my friend run straight into the wall. That would be cruel, your evil.

3D Building Art – Building Archway Waterfall

3D Building Art - Building Archway Waterfall

I know what you are thinking evil man. What people do for entertainment…

3D Building Art – Building Ripped Open

3D Building Art - Building Ripped Open

My Other Favorite. Wish I had this in my college campus. Just incredible 3D Building Art if I ever saw one. They should paint the inside too so it looks like you are looking out.

3D Building Art – Tunnel of Barrels

3D Building Art - Tunnel of Barrels

This is also drawn on the side of a wall. I can imagine people walking up to it to see what is going on.

Some More 3D Chalk Art

3d Chalk Art by Kurt Wenner

- Another amazing street artist known for his Baroque religious themes and surrealism. His art is often tied to classical themes specific to myths and allegories. Wenner is an architectural designer in Europe and in the US. One example of his work below.

3D Building Art – Reflection of Church – Kurt Wenner

3D Building Art - Reflection of Church - Kurt Wenner

3D Building Art – Reflection of Church Closeup – Kurt Wenner

3D Building Art - Reflection of Church Closeup - Kurt Wenner

3d Chalk Art by Edgar Mueller

Edgar Mueller – 3D Chalk Art – Riverstreet River Waterfall

- Another brilliant 3D Chalk street artist. Nearly 1000 Square feet, this Mural takes up an entire block. Brilliant 3D Artwork.

3D Chalk Art - Riverstreet River Waterfall - Edgar Mueller

3D Chalk Art - Riverside River Waterfall - Edgar Mueller

Please come back and see the poll votes! I also have a grip of 3D Wall Art I will eventually post as well! Also if you haven’t visit our 3D Chalk Art posts links below!

Click Below to See More Incredible Chalk Art!

• 3d Chalk Art Part I
• 3d Chalk Art Part II
• 3d Chalk Art Part III

Follow Clean Cut Media @CleanCutMedia Twitter!

The Long Awaited! 3D Chalk Art in the Streets Part II!

This batch of 3D Chalk art is even more amazing then the ones you saw in the previous post. Huge list of amazing pictures below. Pick your favorite at vote at the bottom!

3D Chalk Art – Batman & Robin

- How in the World…

3D Chalk Art - Batman

3D Chalk Art – Prison Hole

- Someone help them!

3D Chalk Art - Prison Hole

3D Chalk Art – Dive Plank

- Looks refreshing!

3D Chalk Art - Dive Plank

3D Chalk Art – Fountain Pipes

- Don’t slip now!

3D Chalk Art - Fountain

3D Chalk Art – Hole Slide Pole

- Looks pretty fun down there

3D Chalk Art - Hole Slide

3D Chalk Art – Art Hose to Drain

- This has to be real

3D Chalk Art - Art Hose

3D Chalk Art – Playing with Puddles

- I want to touch it

3D Chalk Art - Boat Puddle

Which one is your favorite? Vote Below. [Pick 2]
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Click Below to See More Incredible Chalk Art!

• 3d Chalk Art Part I
• 3d Chalk Art Part III
• 3D Building Chalk Art Special

Follow Clean Cut Media @CleanCutMedia Twitter!

3D Chalk Art in the Streets Part I

This is the first of four posts highlighting the beautiful 3D chalk art of Julian Beever. Julian is famous for his incredible 3D chalk art he draws in the streets. It is carefully drawn at incredible angles so that when the viewer stands in front of it, the art looks like it jumps off the street completely in 3D. His 3D chalk art is often drawn in long stretches of pavement. It is hard to make out what is is supposed to be from the back or the sides but from the front you can’t help but be awed by the artwork. I do not know if all the artwork posted below is Julian’s work but I know most of it is. Enjoy! Many more below the jump. Vote for your favorite!

3D Chalk Art – Coke Bottle – Unbelievable!

3D Chalk Art - Coke Bottle

A very simple 3D Chalk Art piece, but none the less very clear and amazing. Making me thirsty!

3D Chalk Art – Shark – Scary!

3D Chalk Art - Shark

Ok don’t be scared. This 3D Chalk Art Shark is pretty awesome. Might startle some bystanders.

3D Chalk Art – Cityscape – What in the World am I looking at!

3D Chalk Art - City Scape

Now this is just amazing. 3D Chalk Art at its finest. This cityscape 3D piece covers such a huge area. I am guessing many did double takes trying to figure out what they were looking at!

3D Chalk Art – Brick Hole – Careful, under construction!

3D Chalk Art - Brick Hole

Simple 3D piece, but very fun. Notice the guy walking around it.

3D Chalk Art – Man Fall in Hole – AHH! Watch out!

3D Chalk Art - Man Falling in Hole

Great looking 3D Chalk Hole, too bad the people don’t look so realistic. But still simply amazing.

Example of what the chalk art looks like from a different angle. It just looks like a stretched drawing, hard to make out….

3D Chalk Art - River Angled

When looking at the art from the correct angle. Magic.

3D Chalk Art - River Rafting

Just appreciate it. Wonderful. A feast for the eyes for any artist.

Making Of – See this Transformer 3D Chalk Art being Drawn over a span of a week.

Which one is your favorite?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Click Below to See More Incredible Chalk Art!

• Clean Cut Media – 3D Chalk Art Part II
• Clean Cut Media – 3D Chalk Art Part III
• Clean Cut Media – 3D Building Chalk Art Special

Follow Clean Cut Media @CleanCutMedia Twitter!

It’s that time of the year again. Superbowl! Though most people don’t care too much about who wins the big game, everyone wants a reason to get together and enjoy some good food and good company.

Another tradition of the Superbowl is the million dollar TV commercials in between the coverage. Advertisers spend several million dollars and pour hundreds of man hours try to capitalize on the large Superbowl viewer base. Due to the expensive nature of these TV Commercials, these TV advertisements get critiqued and scrutinized on how creative and effective each spot is. Hundreds of articles and top ten lists discuss how good or bad each Superbowl TV Commercial was. Hundreds of sites will take polls and stream every Superbowl TV ad to be viewed again and again long after the game is done. But what about the cleanliness of the ad? How about ethics?

No one seems to scrutinize the fact that with each successive Superbowsl many companies are throwing up more classless, sex focused ads that are completely inappropriate for adults let alone teenagers or children who may be watching the game. A good test is whether or not you would be comfortable watching such an ad with your own child or in front of your parents.

My biggest gripe has been the advertiser’s attempts to gain attention by coming out with more promiscuous, blatantly attention grabbing ads that talk very little about the product itself rather just aims to draw attention to itself. There are particular companies who are expected to come out with ridiculously inappropriate ads every year just so everyone will talk about it. Unfortunately we have come to a time where there is no outcry over the type of images being shown in these commercials.

• Have you noticed that the boundaries of what is taboo is being stretched every year?
• Do you feel any sense of problem with the level of promiscuity in these commercials? or feel they are ok the way they are?

Don’t get me wrong, there has been a history of well done commercials which remain classy, clean and very creative. My concern is the general trend of where media is heading and how the standards have been lowered year after year.

You will of course, find no such ads here. But for your enjoyment below are a few Superbowl TV commercial ads that has found creativity without having to compromise on message or ethics for that matter.

Tide – Talking Stain Superbowl TV Commercial
The Talking Stain. A very clever TV commercial highlighting the distractions of a strain during a business interview.

FedEx Pigeon Superbowl TV Commercial

Cars.com – Ring of Fire Superbowl TV Commercial

Etrade – Talking Baby Superbowl TV Commercial

Careerbuilder.com – Celebration

Related posts:

1. Creativity: Leave Nothing Nike Commercials
2. Are Superbowl Ads Not Good for Kids?
3. Creativity: Classic Honda TV Commercial

The following videos are service ads shown on TV or other mediums in order to send a social message. Each of these TV spot videos are done in slow motion to enhance the message. The first video has to do with fire arms. The second video has to do with slowing down driver speeds in residential areas and the last is promoting the use of seat belts. Each of these videos use some powerful imagery to shake people into thinking about these issues.

Bullet Slow Motion Video

Disclaimer: I am going to spoil a bit of the punchline but I need to get this disclaimer out. Those who are faint in heart, there is a portion here where the ad leads you into thinking something is going to happen, but it doesn’t. Just know this is a CLEAN video.

(Lesson of the Day: “Faint in Heart” is correct. “Feint in Heart” is not. Feint means to trick or deceive. So the ad “feinted” or did a feint… but it’s not for the “Faint in Heart”.)

This video is very simple and captivating. I thought it was very creative in showing off the power of the bullet and then helping the viewer personalize it by recognizing when people get shot, it’s the same thing.

Slow Down in Residential Areas Drivers

Disclaimer: Again I am going to spoil the punchline because I care about who is viewing this ad and for some people they may choose they don’t want to see it. This video is a car in slow motion braking hard in an residential area. It ends up hitting a boy crossing the street. Note that no one was hurt in this ad, they replaced the boy with a dummy. But the imagery is pretty realistic.

The point of this ad was showing the literal distance of how long it takes for a car to stop between going 30mph vs 40mph. As the car brakes, the narrator counts how many feet it continues to slide.

This video, though somewhat outdated (we have much better brake systems and tires), it is very powerful. This video is an extended version of the actual TV commercial played for viewers.

Other Notes noted by Viewers
Bounce of Ball
- Timed to match the reaction time of driver, 0.7 Seconds
- 0.7 seconds is reaction time of male army recruits
Dogs Nose
- Point at which car would be stationary if going at 30 mph.
Ball
- Ball boy is carrying represents adult’s head and where it would have struck the car.

What is really shocking is the comments on this youtube video. Half the people say things like “dumb kid”, “stupid kid”… I really don’t know what to say to that. Do you feel anything wrong with this? To watch someone get hit by a car (again not real here, but it looks real) and to be able to say “stupid kid”. What is wrong with people these days! Do you not find this infuriating that people can be this heartless? People don’t seem to value the human life anymore. Am I overreacting to this? Tell me your thoughts please.

Wear Seat Belts TV Spot

There are many videos similar to this kind, but I wanted to highlight one example. These videos do a slow motion reverse from a scene of a crash where the passengers do not where a seatbelt.

Thoughts? Comments?
What do you think of these videos? Are they too graphic or is it a necessary to get the point across? How about those youtube commentors? What do their comments tell us about the world we live in.

Previous Post Highlight – Another Awesome Reverse Order Video
Casting Crown – Slow Fade Music Video

Related posts:

1. Creativity: Clever Play on Words – Commercial Video
2. Creativity: Apple vs Microsoft. Mac vs PC Marketing
3. Top 11 Commercials & TV Spots of 2008 Beijing Olympics