6-Second Films

SpecialGuest was tasked with launching YouTube’s new six-second pre-roll ad format and proving to advertisers that you can do a ton with those six seconds. To begin, we needed to elevate the format from being perceived as a junky Vine video to a premium media time that creatives and artists love to use.

YouTube joined forces with SpecialGuest to bring the new six-second ad format to life among influential audiences at Sundance and SXSW Interactive.

SpecialGuest curated nearly 20 artists and directors to each create a six-second video based on class works of literature. Alexa Meade, Sophie Gateau, Hombre McSteez, Lorenzo Fonda, and more came through with six-second films that showed the creative potential of the medium and built confidence around it.

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We designed and programmed an interactive installation to showcase the films about Macbeth, Dorian Gray, Of Mice and Men, Alice in Wonderland, and more as works of art inside the YouTube house at both events. Each film was a high-impact work of art that demonstrated how, so often, less is more.