The folks at Sonic Foundry sent me an email with a link to a little Halloween silliness they put together in the form of a Mediasite video presentation. The "movie" is designed to reference typical low-budget slasher flicks (think "Texas Chainsaw Massacre").
They are not afraid to show the fake blood and closeups of mock-fatal injuries common to such films. I suppose I'm the wrong audience for this, because I don't watch those kinds of movies in the theaters. That makes me a minority, judging from the incredible grosses (no pun intended, but nicely appropriate) of things like the "Saw" franchise, which exist solely to allow audience members to revel in graphic depictions of fictional characters getting whacked in the most gruesome and painful ways possible. There's no accounting for entertainment tastes. I like musical comedies, so that tells you how hopelessly out of date I am!
But I can't help but wonder about the choice of characterization in Sonic Foundry's homage. I get the concept point... Mediasite eliminates problem areas that plague other technologies. The difficulty for me was that the characters representing the technology limitations seemed very likable and sympathetic. They were average folks you could empathize with. They were lured out to the woods through no fault of their own, and then hunted down and killed off by a menacing, homicidal killer dressed in black and sporting an evil Darth Vader laugh. And he represents the company's own product, Mediasite!
So big points to Sonic Foundry for having some fun and getting in the full spirit of Halloween with all the effort needed to shoot, mike, and edit an outdoor mini film. But next time they might want to think about building a psychological empathy and fondness for their product, rather than making it seem like the worst thing you could ever come across!
Happy Halloween, y'all.
