Blog @ Percolate

When we set out to make a video to answer the question what is curation, the first person we reached out to was Ari. We’ve been friends and fans for awhile and we were eager to partner with Ari and his company m ss ng p eces on the video. Now that it’s been released and gotten some great reactions I thought it might be nice to sit down with Ari and chat about curation, the video and what else he’s up to over at m ss ng p eces.

Without any further ado. Here’s Ari:

Tell me a little bit about your process: We came to you with a brief and talked a bit about style, but you ran with it. How did that happen?

We were intrigued by the idea of making a short film about what makes good curation and what curation means on the Internet. We then asked ourselves how we could present this type of content, and its curators, in an interesting way we can all relate to.



That’s where the desks came from—we all have a little voyeur in us, so we thought it would be fun to show them in their element.  The metaphor animation layer idea came along in the planning process, which was a collaboration with the wonderful Dustin Grella who did Animation Hotline (which I love).

What’s it like to coordinate a shoot like this?

Our awesome production manager, Amber Schaefer, made this one seem easy—this is more of a question for her. 



What I can say is, the most important thing is to create an air of comfort so everyone can be free to have a real, truthful conversation. To help make that happen, we employed an Interrotron, which allows the person to see you and look directly at the lens.  On one hand it helps them feel comfortable, and the other, the viewer then feels like they are talking to them.

How much footage did you shoot for this?

I think the interviews were 20-30 min each. The ratio is 10-1 to make good stuff. The magic always happens in the editing—that’s where you truly distill ideas to their essence.

Can you talk a bit about the animation? Who did it? How did you come up with the idea for it?

We gave Dustin free range to interpret the ideas and bring them to life. He is an artist and usually works on his own projects, so it’s an eye level collaboration designed to let him shine. It should also be noted that the music was by my dear friend and musical maestro Julio Monterrey (aka Youth Faire), a true sonic visionary who was been integral to the sound of m ss ng p eces over the years.

What else are you working on these days?

We just launched an interactive “choose your path” music video for Chairlift called “Met Before.” Our director Jordan Fish spent 3 months on it, and the result is the beginning of what interactive storytelling could be on the web for brands and artists. We are in production for ThePresent, our annual wall clock that tells time in seasons and its due for September 2012!  We just came back a month ago from Antarctica, where we lived and strategized on a boat with Al Gore and Alex Bogusky among other key Climate Reality supporters. Around our various other projects and the various speaking engagements lately, we spend our “spare” time thinking about how to humanize brands, how to create truly immersive worthy content and how to make a true impact with storytelling.

Finally, you spent all this time with awesome web curators: What does curation mean to you?

It means being smart, thoughtful and knowing how to frame the things you like in a way that reflects who you are.

Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Ari for taking part and a huge shout out to them and their skills. If you need a video made awesome, they’re your crew.