Cutting Edge Application as Cable TV Advertising Vehicle

Was watching a show called "Human Weapon" on the History Channel last night and noticed an ad at the end that pointed to an online initiative they've started called the Greatest Hits Mashup Maker.

If you go to that site, what you'll find is a pretty slick interface that allows anyone to take short clips from the show and mash them together to create a new video.

Drag and drop clips from the library on the bottom up onto the timeline above, move them around, add in fx that help transition from one clip to another as well as music that sets whatever mood you're going for.

Then when you think it's ready, submit your masterpiece for the world to see. By doing so, you'll enter yourself into a contest where you the grand prize is a plasma TV, a Nintendo Wii, and Human Weapon paraphernalia.

You can also share your new video with others by embedding it into a webpage, as I've done below:

Now I have to admit, while it was fun throwing this together, the interface was a little crude, making fine adjustments overly difficult. And the limited number of clips restricts the number of creative things you can do to try and create an entertaining, standalone video.

But the reason I'm pointing this site out isn't because of how slick the interface is but instead because I wanted to highlight an interesting example of a broadband application--which this site undoubtedly is as you're dealing with video, lots of moving pieces, and a hosted application for the editing--and because I found it interesting to think about how much work went into creating this experience despite the fact its only intent is as a promotional tool for a cable TV show.

This certainly isn't the first instance of online video editing applications being used for marketing, especially since Adobe launched its Remix platform, but I do find it fascinating that we've reached a point where something as intensive as video editing has been transformed into what is essentially an ad.

Remember the days when ads meant spots on radio, boxes in print, or infomercials on TV?

If technology as sophisticated as this can now be harnessed for purely promotional purposes, imagine what's going to happen once we start using these applications for more serious endeavors.