Cofactor Genomics
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 11:20PM
Grant Essig in Video

Sometimes, I get lucky to have awesome jobs land in my lap. This was one of them. Cofactor is a startup DNA sequencing lab, but since the beginning they have been heavily invested in doing things differently... which is what brought them to myself and my good friend Kevin Barry.

Kevin and I have been known to create some really stupid videos (click here if you need a reference point, but prepare to be disappointed), and these guys were into the general idea, so they asked the two of us to collaborate on a viral video intended to create interest in the genomics community. Sounds unlikely, right? Well, we worked with Cofactor to establish a silly theme that still allowed them to share some knowledge on what they do... but the key element was Kevin's character: an interviewer who was bored to tears by their every word. I mean, let's face it... science is boring to most of us, right? Hilarity ensued, obviously.

Anyway, I shot and edited this whole beast, and considering that 85% of the lines were improvised (based on a very loose script), it was quite the job. I'm absolutely happy with the end result, and despite the fact that I think we really glazed over the joke of shooting it in such poor quality, it remains one of the most fun video productions I've worked on. What can I say though? I'm anal about the details, so I remain bummed about our decision to shoot on DV, not HD. Rather than being funny, it's just sad. Now I'm just complaining.

Aside from being a great experience, Cofactor has since brought me back to do other media and design work for them. Yay!

Article originally appeared on Grant Essig | Design Music Motion (http://www.grantessig.com/).
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