Buffy slays Twilight: how to make pop-up video mayhem

Remember those awesome pop-up videos on VH1? Thanks to Mozilla Popcorn, the new HTML5 tool for supercharging web video, the pop-up format is about to get a whole new lease on life.

Exhibit A: this wicked “Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs. Edward from Twilight” remix, created by the mash-up maestro from Rebellious Pixels. Check it out here. Then get started making your own pop-up video here.

“Hacking pop culture”

First posted in its original form in 2009, the “Buffy vs. Edward” remix video has garnered over 4 million views, been subtitled into 30 languages, and received media attention from NPR radio to Vanity Fair (“Buffy Could Kick Edward Cullen’s Precious Sparkly Emo Ass“).

The new Mozilla Popcorn-powered “pop-up” version adds a new interactive layer over top, with added annotations, commentary, and tips on protecting yourself from real-life stalkers.

The video’s creator, “pop culture hacker” Jonathan McIntosh, says the remix is all about hacking gender roles and Hollywood cultural coding — a theme he’s explored in other projects like the hilarious “Gendered Advertising Remixer,” now also available in HTML5 format.

Create your own pop-up video with Mozilla Popcorn

Want to add annotations and pop-ups to your own videos? Popcorn Maker is designed to make the power of Mozilla Popcorn more accessible to non-developers and mere mortals. Popcorn Maker’s “pop-up video” template makes it (fairly) easy for you to add annotations and context to just about any video on the web.

The software is still in early alpha version, so there’s still lots of rough edges. But you can check it out and get started now. Just pick “Pop Video” from the “Choose a Template” menu.  Or have a look at the Popcorn Maker user manual here.

3 comments

  • Wow, this is really cool! Thanks for sharing Matt.

    (unrelated)
    Have you ever tried to add a webm video to WordPress?
    I looked through your past posts and didn’t see any.
    WordPress doesn’t make it easy, in fact, they’re apparently not allowed or possible without some sort of plugin.

    • I’m actually just in the process of switching over to self-hosted WP, partly for this reason. Should have it done next week.

  • Mine is self hosted.
    After some research, I found a solution.

    (repost from Facebook)
    In case anyone else wants to know, I’ve learned how to add open (and other) videos to WordPress.
    Open the .htaccess file and add any or all of the following above # BEGIN WordPress or below # END WordPress
    AddType audio/ogg .oga
    AddType video/ogg .ogv .ogg
    AddType video/mp4 .mp4
    AddType video/webm .webm

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