Watch the Footage archive

I figured I’d get this started, although please feel free to shut me up if I'm getting ahead of myself. I’ve been selected as the Wicked Witch’s campaign manager.

The right and left hand assistants are
WackyMeetsPractical (Greg)
Dryunya (Andrew)

If this is in error, please let me know and it will be corrected (we have considered the possibility that there is more than one person with each of our names on the site.) As soon as we're sure we're all the right people we can send each other the emails we sent the witch which apparantly convinced her of our aptitude.

First, let me just begin by demonstrating my current feelings with regards to the situation in as calm and composed a way as I am currently capable of expressing them: oh my god oh my god bugger damn blast DON’T PANIC crap!

Right. Now that I’ve gotten that monumental freaking panic out of the way and am once more in control of my faculties let’s get that witch on a presidential campaign, while figuring out exactly what we’re meant to REALLY be doing here.

Maybe make her a fake birth certificate first, or else it'll be Obama all over again...

But seriously, I guess... making campaign posters and spreading them around? Like in real life, just like Quixote's warning labels?

Well, my plan:

1. Find a site with user-generated content and as large audience as possible.
2. Make a successful, memetic and viral witch's banner (as I said, the internet may actually like the idea of pushing someone absurd to the presidency).
3. Gather a large audience.
4. ???????
5. PROFIT!

Now, as I said to you and lied to the witch ( ), I have no idea how to make something viral. And also, I'm afraid to attract a large audience here, as we may be overwhelmed by muggles. And god forbid us to resort to 4chan or something. They can actually help us make her viral (just how many memes originated from 4chan, anyway?), but at the cost of attracting Anonymous to the ARG. You know it can't be good.

Dryunya wrote:Now, as I said to you and lied to the witch ( ), I have no idea how to make something viral. And also, I'm afraid to attract a large audience here, as we may be overwhelmed by muggles. And god forbid us to resort to 4chan or something. They can actually help us make her viral (just how many memes originated from 4chan, anyway?), but at the cost of attracting Anonymous to the ARG. You know it can't be good.

Please. Don't go for 4chan or 9gag. Just please don't. Cracked might, maybe, perhaps, be up for the joke... But these two would be... evil. To us. The potential flood of muggles is not worth it at all.

I do like RotavatoR's idea a little bit... But that's just forcing field work.

Dryunya wrote:Well, my plan:

Find a site with user-generated content and as large audience as possible.
Make a successful, memetic and viral witch's banner (as I said, the internet may actually like the idea of pushing someone absurd to the presidency).
Gather a large audience.
???????
PROFIT!

Now, as I said to you and lied to the witch ( ), I have no idea how to make something viral. And also, I'm afraid to attract a large audience here, as we may be overwhelmed by muggles. And god forbid us to resort to 4chan or something. They can actually help us make her viral (just how many memes originated from 4chan, anyway?), but at the cost of attracting Anonymous to the ARG. You know it can't be good.

Pixelmage wrote:Please. Don't go for 4chan or 9gag. Just please don't. Cracked might, maybe, perhaps, be up for the joke... But these two would be... evil. To us. The potential flood of muggles is not worth it at all.
I do like RotavatoR's idea a little bit... But that's just forcing field work.

Agreed, I really don't think any ammount of viralness is worth getting Anonymous or 4Chan invovled in this. I have managed to avoid them for years and would rather not start turning their heads now, thanks. But thinking on it, we just need her to THINK she's going viral, and creating an illusion of that would be entirely possible, TV tropes can do that all on it's own. We can get campaign flyers and posters out online and we COULD use Don's method, but as you say, that would be forcing field work and I wouldn't want anybody to feel required to do it. Either way, first we NEED the poster... I mean, I know how to handle photoshop, but I'm not exactly a graphic designer.

Regarding the audience... well don't we already have one? Tv tropes. In fact the "contacts" I mentioned consist entirely of TV tropes and quite possibly deviantart. We need to start her a tropes page, like the other presidential folks have, and an artist must be obtained. What do you think of us all having seperate topic pages for each of these requirements?

RotavatoR wrote:Maybe make her a fake birth certificate first, or else it'll be Obama all over again...
But seriously, I guess... making campaign posters and spreading them around? Like in real life, just like Quixote's warning labels?

Though you said so in jest, the birth certificate is a good move. Should be easy to fake...

Pixelmage wrote:Please. Don't go for 4chan or 9gag. Just please don't. Cracked might, maybe, perhaps, be up for the joke... But these two would be... evil. To us. The potential flood of muggles is not worth it at all.

I do like RotavatoR's idea a little bit... But that's just forcing field work.

I'd love it if Cracked could help us. They like tvtropes, and we like them, so it's worth a shot.
And the field work doesn't have to be forced, we'll just see who's up for the task, and think of some more ideas besides that.

RotavatoR wrote:

Pixelmage wrote:Please. Don't go for 4chan or 9gag. Just please don't. Cracked might, maybe, perhaps, be up for the joke... But these two would be... evil. To us. The potential flood of muggles is not worth it at all.

I do like RotavatoR's idea a little bit... But that's just forcing field work.

I'd love it if Cracked could help us. They like tvtropes, and we like them, so it's worth a shot.
And the field work doesn't have to be forced, we'll just see who's up for the task, and think of some more ideas besides that.

If we go through Cracked, the other two will probably find us, this is a risk, isn't it? Like Dryu I am unfamiliar with viral networking...

I think Dryu's plan works pretty well. We should wait on WackyMeetsPractical's input here and see what other ideas he has. Meantime we have three clear goals, the rest can be worked on: campaign posters, banner, audience.

Scarab wrote:If we go through Cracked, the other two will probably find us, this is a risk, isn't it? Like Dryu I am unfamiliar with viral networking...

I think Dryu's plan works pretty well. We should wait on WackyMeetsPractical's input here and see what other ideas he has. Meantime we have three clear goals, the rest can be worked on: campaign posters, banner, audience.

True... We probably shouldn't really go viral after all... Because either we ask 4chan to launch us, bringing them here... Or we hit them with a meme they didn't launch and then they come here. Probably even more pissed off than usual...

But that a "6 reasons the Wicked Witch should be the next president" would be awesome...

Pixelmage wrote:

Scarab wrote:If we go through Cracked, the other two will probably find us, this is a risk, isn't it? Like Dryu I am unfamiliar with viral networking...

I think Dryu's plan works pretty well. We should wait on WackyMeetsPractical's input here and see what other ideas he has. Meantime we have three clear goals, the rest can be worked on: campaign posters, banner, audience.

True... We probably shouldn't really go viral after all... Because either we ask 4chan to launch us, bringing them here... Or we hit them with a meme they didn't launch and then they come here. Probably even more pissed off than usual...

But that a "6 reasons the Wicked Witch should be the next president" would be awesome...

Agreed, a six reasons for the witch would be spectacular, should definitely go on the possibly-to-do list.

Jeeze... deep breaths, Scarab, don't freak out now. You're JUST helping campaign for the wicked witch to be president, that's all it is.

Pixelmage wrote:

Dryunya wrote:Now, as I said to you and lied to the witch ( ), I have no idea how to make something viral. And also, I'm afraid to attract a large audience here, as we may be overwhelmed by muggles. And god forbid us to resort to 4chan or something. They can actually help us make her viral (just how many memes originated from 4chan, anyway?), but at the cost of attracting Anonymous to the ARG. You know it can't be good.

Please. Don't go for 4chan or 9gag. Just please don't. Cracked might, maybe, perhaps, be up for the joke... But these two would be... evil. To us. The potential flood of muggles is not worth it at all.

I do like RotavatoR's idea a little bit... But that's just forcing field work.

HOW DARE YOU BRING UP 9GAG

You can go to Equestria Daily! They can help you, and they are a major website, getting several hundreds of thousands of views a day and they are really acceptable to people!

Or you know... just Cracked....

Scarab wrote:

RotavatoR wrote:

Pixelmage wrote:Please. Don't go for 4chan or 9gag. Just please don't. Cracked might, maybe, perhaps, be up for the joke... But these two would be... evil. To us. The potential flood of muggles is not worth it at all.

I do like RotavatoR's idea a little bit... But that's just forcing field work.

I'd love it if Cracked could help us. They like tvtropes, and we like them, so it's worth a shot.
And the field work doesn't have to be forced, we'll just see who's up for the task, and think of some more ideas besides that.

If we go through Cracked, the other two will probably find us, this is a risk, isn't it? Like Dryu I am unfamiliar with viral networking...

I think Dryu's plan works pretty well. We should wait on WackyMeetsPractical's input here and see what other ideas he has. Meantime we have three clear goals, the rest can be worked on: campaign posters, banner, audience.

I've been silently lurking this thread for a while. I haven't been speaking up because I don't have any ideas myself. I do think we do need to be spreading the word of this around, either across the internet or the real world. The puppetmasters have been hinting that they do want more people involved, and if this is one way to do it, then we should be doing it.

I have a deviantart account with a handful of followers. I could see if any of my followers would be interested in joining the campaign. Maybe we could get some campaign material posted up there and see if they get some attention.

That's all I got.

WackyMeetsPractical wrote:.
I've been silently lurking this thread for a while. I haven't been speaking up because I don't have any ideas myself. I do think we do need to be spreading the word of this around, either across the internet or the real world. The puppetmasters have been hinting that they do want more people involved, and if this is one way to do it, then we should be doing it.
I have a deviantart account with a handful of followers. I could see if any of my followers would be interested in joining the campaign. Maybe we could get some campaign material posted up there and see if they get some attention.
That's all I got.

That's good, deviantart is as good a place as any to start really. And a Tv tropes page. We really need to make her a tv tropes page.

Anyone have anyone or anything specific in mind for designers for posters? We need something simple and catchy... and a slogan would help. Does she have one in mind?

We should really get back to the witch with out plans to create a poster and ask her what she'd like to see...

Scarab wrote:

WackyMeetsPractical wrote:.
I've been silently lurking this thread for a while. I haven't been speaking up because I don't have any ideas myself. I do think we do need to be spreading the word of this around, either across the internet or the real world. The puppetmasters have been hinting that they do want more people involved, and if this is one way to do it, then we should be doing it.
I have a deviantart account with a handful of followers. I could see if any of my followers would be interested in joining the campaign. Maybe we could get some campaign material posted up there and see if they get some attention.
That's all I got.

That's good, deviantart is as good a place as any to start really. And a Tv tropes page. We really need to make her a tv tropes page.

Anyone have anyone or anything specific in mind for designers for posters? We need something simple and catchy... and a slogan would help. Does she have one in mind?

We should really get back to the witch with out plans to create a poster and ask her what she'd like to see...

OH, I WANT TO CREATE THE PAGE!

...
...
...

Wait, never mind.

About the Cracked page, maybe we can ask them if they won't mention us in the article. This might keep those creeps on aforementioned sites away, while we can still show it to the witch, who will be impressed.

I should warn you all right now, I've created a sort of persona when dealing with the witch. To give you an idea, here's the email conversations

Me wrote:My name is Greg [Hidden]. I saw your ad in the paper.

I'm a retired taxi driver and an experienced Navy Seal. I do a little wrestling on the side. I'm a no nonsense, go-getter kind of guy. I like to take the bull by the horns and never let go until they come right off.

Whatever you need, you need a guy like me who is willing to fight for whatever it takes. I take orders and enforce them to the little. I also like to go a little bit extra.

I do not know any dark arts, but I do know 7 ways to kill a man without even having to touch them. I can also tie cherry stems with my tongue. It is very impressive, indeed.

So if you feel like I'm the right man for the job, please let me know.

Witch wrote:Only 7? I know 107 ways to kill anything without so much as looking at it. But it's not a bad start. And I do know a few good spells where bull horns can be useful. Tell me, how would you bring the masses to our side?

Me wrote:The masses of this world are very easy to manipulate. They're like sheep. A smile and a few empty promises is all you need. Promise them change. Promise them that things will be done differently under your rule. People eat that stuff up like candy.

Also, celebrity endorsements. If you can get a famous actor on your side, you've immediately got thousands of people under your command holding onto your every word.

Witch wrote:Celebrity endorsements? Creating popularity by utilizing the popularity of others? Despicable. I like it.

Would you be able to contact these celebrities to secure their support?

Me wrote:Sorry it has taken so long to respond. I was off handling a ninja problem. I do that. Now to answer your question.

Not only can I contact the celebrities, but I can draw them to our side. I once sold ice to a couple of eskimos. They were incredibly grateful. Now as for celebrities, I happen to have Chuck Norris and John Wayne on my speed dial. They'd be sure to get us some supporters. If you would like I could call them up right now. If they say yes, there is nothing we can't do.

Well... you're fscked?

I think we should start with the simple things, the first being: do we want to actually attract attention to the witch or do we want her to think we do?

If it's the first, then to what extent should we get the people involved? I see the following tiers:

1. Just getting them on to the "Wicked witch is a good candidate" thing.
2. That, and linking them to her blog.
3. That, and linking them here.
4. That, and linking them to the ARG page.

Of course, starting from tier 2, the people can get to tier 4 by themselves, if they dig well enough. That means the main question is whether or not to link the people to the witch's blog.

If it's the second, we need to understand how to fake it. In the very least, we should know the witch's information sources.

As I said before, real people would be nice. As much as we fear being flooded by n00bs, we really do need more players, especially if we need people to go out and fetch physical objects. So let's just use this witch's campaign to attract people to the ARG. That's my vote anyway.

RotavatoR wrote:About the Cracked page, maybe we can ask them if they won't mention us in the article. This might keep those creeps on aforementioned sites away, while we can still show it to the witch, who will be impressed.

A possibility. Keep the watchthefootage.com and westwitch.ezblog.co out of the article. Well... Thing is, if someone goes meta and looks for info on it... They'll find us quite easily. If the thing really goes viral, it will be risky for us even without direct mention... There's always a random basement nerd googling out weird stuff for the lulz. And if we actually get the message out, odds are one of these'll catch it. Whether or not this one rallies the 4chan to come to us is a complete mystery.

Also, Cracked accepts reader submissions, I really think one of us should write the article if we (after a lot of thought on the matter) decide to ask them to post it. Even then, we don't know if they'll accept, so...

Dryunya wrote:I think we should start with the simple things, the first being: do we want to actually attract attention to the witch or do we want her to think we do?

If it's the first, then to what extent should we get the people involved? I see the following tiers:
Just getting them on to the "Wicked witch is a good candidate" thing.
That, and linking them to her blog.
That, and linking them here.
That, and linking them to the ARG page.

Of course, starting from tier 2, the people can get to tier 4 by themselves, if they dig well enough. That means the main question is whether or not to link the people to the witch's blog.
If it's the second, we need to understand how to fake it. In the very least, we should know the witch's information sources.

Yes, what we need first and foremost is posters: the kind of campaign stuff we see coming out from other presidential candidates. but with links to Watch the Footage dot com and her blog. That means we need them to be designed and then gotten out there via whatever means is best suited. Namely, methods which will draw peoples attention without drawing the wrong KIND of attention from people we really don't want heckling us.

RotavatoR wrote:About the Cracked page, maybe we can ask them if they won't mention us in the article. This might keep those creeps on aforementioned sites away, while we can still show it to the witch, who will be impressed.

This is as good point. On that note, how exactly does one go about submitting articles to Cracked? Would we need contacts with their writers, or something? I'm not sure how that site actually works.

WackyMeetsPractical wrote:Sorry it has taken so long to respond. I was off handling a ninja problem. I do that. Now to answer your question.
Not only can I contact the celebrities, but I can draw them to our side. I once sold ice to a couple of eskimos. They were incredibly grateful. Now as for celebrities, I happen to have Chuck Norris and John Wayne on my speed dial. They'd be sure to get us some supporters. If you would like I could call them up right now. If they say yes, there is nothing we can't do.

Yeah that's a persona alright. I guess that makes your character the Muscle of this whole operation, as well as one of the brains. I like it.though. We're working with personalities she can understand and giving off the impression we can actually get stuff done. We can FAKE celebrities, no bother.

I'd like to be able to get back to the witch asap with our follow up ideas. Shall we inform her of our desires to contact these websites, and ask her about slogans?

And could one of us start up a topic thread concerning getting a designer involved...

Guys, check this out.
I have no idea how, but we may use it.

Dryunya wrote:Well... you're fscked?

I think we should start with the simple things, the first being: do we want to actually attract attention to the witch or do we want her to think we do?

If it's the first, then to what extent should we get the people involved? I see the following tiers:

1. Just getting them on to the "Wicked witch is a good candidate" thing.
2. That, and linking them to her blog.
3. That, and linking them here.
4. That, and linking them to the ARG page.

Of course, starting from tier 2, the people can get to tier 4 by themselves, if they dig well enough. That means the main question is whether or not to link the people to the witch's blog.

If it's the second, we need to understand how to fake it. In the very least, we should know the witch's information sources.

WackyMeetsPractical wrote:As I said before, real people would be nice. As much as we fear being flooded by n00bs, we really do need more players, especially if we need people to go out and fetch physical objects. So let's just use this witch's campaign to attract people to the ARG. That's my vote anyway.

I'd vote for fake it. But Wacky has a point. We do need more manpower to deal with the ever growing character pool here... My concern is about at which scale we should showcase the information... The 4chan masses seem to me like a very harmful idea. But some smaller scale recruitment is something we actually need over here...

Dryunya wrote:Guys, check this out.
I have no idea how, but we may use it.

Wow, coincidence...

As a totally meta idea, maybe we should ask the puppetmasters about the whole muggle concern?

Dryunya wrote:As a totally meta idea, maybe we should ask the puppetmasters about the whole muggle concern?

I strongly believe they would support the idea. Both Mr. A and Cheshire have hinted at needing more people. I don't think any of them would say "No, we don't want to get people involved! Get them away!" But maybe I'm wrong. We do seem to be dealing with a double edged sword. On the one hand, we want more people. On the other hand, we don't want stupid people.

WackyMeetsPractical wrote:On the one hand, we want more people. On the other hand, we don't want stupid people.

The answer is simple. Does anybody know a site with user-generated content frequented by smart people?