The Fat Virus
Well…I really don’t have a lot of commentary on this one, because I’m not sure I can think of much positive to say about it. Except for the following: this was a “corporate piece,” meaning that the story and the interview material was originated by another station under the Hearst Argyle umbrella. The story was included on a national feed shared among the Hearst stations in case they need some filler material during sweeps periods. (Only we ran it, due to being short-handed in the reporter department at the time, as a full-on sweeps story instead of a funny filler.) And before you ask, I specifically requested permission to send the material up a little bit - it’s just so weird, and the public is naturally going to be skeptical. I was told instead to play it dead serious. This spot is the result. The “virus” background that runs through the whole thing is actually a re-tinted loop of a tiny segment of an ABC News 3-D graphic representing - of all things - breast cancer. I looped it, added a morph transition so the “virus” would keep growing back, altered the hues in the video to change the colors, and added a subtle “expanding” effect so that the virus would, in fact, get fatter. (I also used that expanding effect on the rotating wireframe human bodies in the spot, so they’d get fatter too.) The “video window” concept you’ll probably recognize from last year’s “Shopping For Germs” promo.
My one editorial opinion on this story: it isn’t a great moment for journalistic credibility, but our station didn’t come up with the idea. I think I’m going to call in sick tomorrow with the fat virus now.
