Ask HN: I have a Viral Video (I Think) - just posted it - how can I make $? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I have a Viral Video (I Think) - just posted it - how can I make $?

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6 pointskeltecp1113 comments

I don't think it's obvious enough to really have viral appeal. Also, it makes you seem like a sociopath (jumping into a stranger's car, while they're driving, seems more like a crime than a prank.)

On the other hand, it is funny.

Any ideas on how I can make it more obvious? What if I put an 'annotation tag' in the beginning basically saying something like 'Step 1: Wait for the random Jeep Girl to come to a complete stop' or something?

You're no Rémi Gaillard or Joey Scaggs, or even Sacha Baron Cohen or Johnny Knoxville. However, if you wanna pull of something like Gaillard's stunts but for the American market, I can see that working.

My gf is a musician and I know a few agents who we have declined to work with because they specialize in shock gossip, celebrity scandals and other tabloid-worthy stuff. If you get contacted by those, hire them as "bookies"; a commission on each deal, but keep final say to yourself.

Jeep Diving could take off, but make sure you're not giving free advertising to Jeep. At the same time, try to avoid commercializing the Soy-Bombing movement; pranks as art are strictly a counter-culture thing, do your reading and be nice.

http://sniggle.net/theory.php

Update!

On a second view, I think you will need more than just guts to be good at this. Good pranksters are philosophers at heart; not only do they turn social norms on their head, but they also have strong sense of irony. You and your friends are breaking character left and right. It's you jumping into someone's jeep, not your character. Create a character, learn method acting and always ask yourself "What would Andy Kaufman do?" :-)

Create the character, be him, and follow up with a few more "Jumping into X" videos (not just Jeep); start with an "Jumping into an stroller", for example. Or jump into a cage in a zoo (starting perhaps with the much easier "doggy day care" ;-)

Open your eyes.

Okay, it's sorta funny.

But at the same time, it's sorta creepy too.

I really hope that's not you laughing like an idiot the entire time. It would have been far funnier without.

this idea, as it is, cannot possibly become a viral video. there are many reasons why, here are a few -

for starters - with the rules, this idea is already too complex for viral video greatness. second, hardly anyone else can submit their own version, because barely anyone drives open jeeps, and even fewer people are willing to jump in them.

most important - your video has no climax in action. yes, cat videos didn't either but your video is not cute and funny. you are not doing flips. all you do is sit in the car. the mcdonalds "fire in the hole" videos are better comparison to your own concept, and show what you are missing.

So we were screwing around in Canada one day and well this video happened. First off, is it 'funny enough' to be viral? If you think so... what should I do? I just bought the domain name JeepDiving.com I want to build up the webpage over the next couple of days, maybe make it like Jorts.com, have it get user content, submissions, and maybe just have a couple banner ads? Got the twitter name now 2... but any one have any other creative ideas?

you cannot possibly expect to become a jorts.com when what they do is so simple and what you do is so complex. anyone can purchase and wear "jorts". not many people at all can and will want to go 'jeep diving' at their own significant peril.

I'm not so sure how smart it is to encourage other people to follow suit with your prank.

Yes, it was kind of funny, but wait until some guy gets pepper sprayed and falls out of the car in moving traffic and JeepDiving.com will end up costing you a lot of money...

Canadian judges are a lot less inclined to allow frivolous lawsuits than their us counterparts.

People are responsible for their own actions, you should not be able to sue some website because it told you to do something stupid.

I should note, what are your thoughts on actually contacting JEEP if this gets big enough?

If he paints himself as the "jeep jumper", Jeep will not pay for advertising they're already getting for free. And no other advertiser would want to touch a performer so strongly associated with another brand.

He needs to create a character that does wild things, that way sponsors would pay for the persona/character and not the comedic prop.

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