Any one ever work for MTV?

[shah269 0]

Guys, gals I need your help. I need some one who has either worked for or has produced videos for MTV.
I'm looking for some one who understands the mind of the average 8-18yo student and how a video should be edited so as to keep their attention.
I'm looking for a meeting to discuss format and subject matter and am willing to put them on contract.
Thanks!

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[billvon 3,119]

Did some work for them for one of their reality TV show (tandem demos) and did a MTV sports video intro for them. But someone like Quade can probably give you better suggestions for video product. Generally very short clips, lots of motion, lots of color.

[guppie01 0]

If memory serves, ranchgirl http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?username=ranchgirl; did some work for them.

g

"Let's do something romantic this Saturday... how bout we bust out the restraints?"
Raddest Ho this side of Jersey #1 - MISS YOU
OMG, is she okay?

[shah269 0]

Quote

If memory serves, ranchgirl http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?username=ranchgirl; did some work for them.

g

Thank you I will shoot her an email later in the week.
I'm working in a new office where by we are trying to educate kids 8-18 regarding the feasibility of a career as and engineer or a scientist.

I say feasibility because a the moment, all the literature and videos present it that way.

And I wish to substitute attractiveness to feasibility.
Furthermore the videos are horrible. They are 10minutes long and are just talk talk talk and very little to no action.

And i know that the guys and gals who work for or have been contracted by MTV have a real insight into the mind of 8-18 year olds and can be very helpful.

Again thanks and I'll contact your friend later this week.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

I'm working in a new office where by we are trying to educate kids 8-18 regarding the feasibility of a career as and engineer or a scientist.

Now why in gods name would you want to lure them into engineering???

"Hey kids, would you like a career sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer, try to implement the ridiculous technical decisions made by technology-challenged upper management? If so, then engineering is for you!"

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[shah269 0]

Quote

Now why in gods name would you want to lure them into engineering???

"Hey kids, would you like a career sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer, try to implement the ridiculous technical decisions made by technology-challenged upper management? If so, then engineering is for you!"

Some one with a higher pay grade than I was notified that I was capable of selling sand to Arabs and snow to Eskimos. So I was tapped for the gig.
Funny thing....I agree with you 100%.

I don't particularly like engineering. Be it the lack of respect one gets with the degree or the total lack of good looking girls. But it's the job and I'll do it as best I can.

As for why? Look at the data that was presented to me, in 10 years there will not be enough engineers to meet industry needs. The kids are just not that into it. And it's my job to convince them otherwise.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

Some one with a higher pay grade than I was notified that I was capable of selling sand to Arabs...

Persians selling sand to Arabs???
That could be a good gig after the oil runs out.

Quote

Be it the lack of respect one gets with the degree or the total lack of good looking girls.

The hottest babe I've ever in engineering was when I was in school.
She wasn't just smoking hot; She was exotic smoking hot!
I suspect she had some mixed ethnic blood, (perhaps South Pacific), but I never got to know her well enough to ask.
I did get to know her well enough to figure out she had an IQ in the genius range, and was doing a second major in EE just because some friends were. Her primary major was pre-med.

Quote

As for why? Look at the data that was presented to me, in 10 years there will not be enough engineers to meet industry needs. The kids are just not that into it.

Obviously, today's kids are smarter than I thought.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[quade 4]

Quote

I need your help. I need some one who has either worked for or has produced videos for MTV.
I'm looking for some one who understands the mind of the average 8-18yo student and how a video should be edited so as to keep their attention.

Well, my first suggestion would be to ditch the idea of anything even remotely based on what you may think is the style of MTV.

Honestly it's something that people request all the time and unless your topic is a music video, then it's not a good fit. Besides which, the MTV model of video editing is played out and recognized by kids when they see corporate types try to emulate it as just more insincere hype. They smell it a mile away.

That's not to say they don't fall for it when it involves one of their favorite musical groups, but selling them on engineering with it is, I think, a bad idea from the get go.

Eight to 18 is also a pretty damn big spread. Not much bridges that gap. If you guys are engineers you should recognize that an 18-year-old is more than twice the age of an 8-year-old. You certainly wouldn't market to a 50-year-old the same way you would to a 25-year-old. Further, by the time a kid is 18, a HUGE number of decisions have already sent him down the path he's going to be on for the next few years. I really doubt you're going to change many kid's minds that late and end up with a quality engineer or scientist. Face it, they've probably already screwed up their chances at getting triple 800s on their SATs and going to MIT.

You really want to focus on those earlier kids and that's also not necessarily a strict MTV edit.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[billvon 3,119]

>Now why in gods name would you want to lure them into engineering?

Where else can you build something that's never, ever been built before? Not many jobs where you can still create new things.

[quade 4]

Quote

>Now why in gods name would you want to lure them into engineering?
Where else can you build something that's never, ever been built before? Not many jobs where you can still create new things.

And make no mistake about it, creating new stuff is THE thing that drives just about everything in the US. Whether it's a new jet, computer, clothing, book, movie, car, vaccine, snack food, video game . . . anything . . . "new" is the driver.

We are novelty seekers constantly looking for the new thing that's even just slightly better than the thing we already have.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[shah269 0]

Here is the issue.
We want a number of videos made from existing stock.
The issue is that the people in charge of making the videos at the moment are all 50+ and have a thing for the history channel. So you could only imagine what they have done with these videos.

As for these videos, these are science videos. Basic stuff that teachers teach every day. Except that an engineer or a scientists explains how what they are learning today is used every day by scientists and engineers.

As for your top scoring kids? Those are the easy targets. Odds are they will go off and become scientists or engineers unless they want to have an active sex life and a savings account in which case they become doctors and lawyers. What my target set is are the kids who are B students. The kids who ask the difficult question "why?"

And why do I want a B student and not an A student? Simple as stated these kids ask "why?" which is the root of any new development and advancement. Further more recent study has indicated that your A students aren't really that creative. They just have really good memories. They memorize and spit back what you gave them. They don't really want to ask "why?"

So, I need some one who works for some company that understands the mind of the average kid (8-18) and can be contracted to re edit existing video to "speak" to the kids. And yes, there will be different videos for the 8 year old than the 18 year olds.

As for why become an engineer? I'm an engineer, I became one because I really didn't have a choice. And unfortunately I'm good at it. 8 years in the game and 3 patents and 5 value engineering awards later....I guess I'm a successful engineer. But deep down.....I'm human. I like interacting with people. Which for some engineers is a scary thought.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[DSE 5]

I have, and often do, work for MTV.
If you want to use copyrighted works, MTV doesn't own them for the most part. Nothing has been "done" with the videos. They're archived as they were created. Copyright prevents anything from being done to them. You can request access to any vid ever seen on MTV through www.loc.gov. The vids are owned by the artist, label, or production company that produced the video; sometimes owned by any mix of the above.

As Quade said, the MTV "type" of edit (whatever that is) doesn't generally fit into anything outside of music video. If you're referring to an ADD edit, that works, but the new Discovery is more your model. Fast cuts, lots of angles, lots of B roll, and lots of $$. Look at the social shows being targeted at your same market; they'll give you the best sense of what is happening in that group.

[shah269 0]

The ADD edit! I love it!
Yes! Basically that's what I'm looking for.
But have some one do it who understands how the mind of your average over caffeinated over stimulated under nourished adolescent.

As for the new Discovery...you know I honestly never thought of that. The guys who shoot the Myth Busters seem to have a good idea how to get these freaking kids to pay attention for 3 minutes. Maybe I'll look for them.

I just figured MTV since I'm only 30 min from NYC and could just drive on over and hold a meeting.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[quade 4]

Quote

The ADD edit! I love it!
Yes! Basically that's what I'm looking for.
But have some one do it who understands how the mind of your average over caffeinated over stimulated under nourished adolescent.

I still think even that's missing the mark a bit.

Quick cuts and shakey cameras do not a compelling story make. Hop on YouTube and I think you can see that kids are willing to watch everything from a static head shot of somebody yammering for 20 minutes to a cat flushing a toilet. While I'm certainly not suggesting you emulate that subject matter, I do think the subject matter is what is more important the special effects and quick cuts.

Hire a writer first and an editor second.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver