Bookmark Vlog Blog
Apr
15
It’s hard to say if the following video is a vlog or not (back to that old question: What is a vlog?). It’s a video on a blog, but does that make it a vlog? In reality, it’s a homemade commercial for Nike produced by marketing blogger Joseph Jaffe featuring Tiger Woods and a dramatic chip shot on the 16th hole of the Masters. But in addition to being a video on a blog (making it something of a vlog), it has other characteristics that vlogs will no doubt come to be known for in the days to come - namely, it beat mainstream Corporate America to the punch (in this case, Nike). The shot took place on Sunday afternoon. Jaffe created the commercial (a 60 second and a 30 second version) in thirty minutes and had uploaded it to his blog by Sunday night.
Now, the set up: Tiger Woods, needing a perfect shot on the 16th hole, chips toward the flag from just off the green. The ball, which is going in the wrong direction, takes what seems to be an improbable, impossible, 90 degree turn toward the hole. It rolls and rolls and rolls, weaving too far right, then weaving back to the left again until it looks as if it’s indeed on line for the hole. As it crawls closer and closer, the camera zooms in tighter and tighter. The only question left is: Will it have enough oomph left to actually make it to the cup? After a heart-breaking last push, it finally makes it to the lip; but perched there on the edge, it stops. The crowd, having begun a collective, crescendoing gasp of hope five feet earlier, deflates instantly with an even louder moan of disappointment. Nike’s black swoosh sits dramatically emblazoned on the snow white ball as if put there by some sinister product-placement marketer looking to squeeze every last ounce out of the TV coverage. But then, suddenly, it drops! Somehow, miraculously, it drops! Straight into the hole. The crowd erupts, Tiger erupts, the caddy erupts, the announcer erupts! … Fade to black: Just do it.