“Evergreen- By Gavin Mikhail”
Thats the video above. Yep, it got 200,000 views in 24 hours.
How, you ask?
Well, actually, I had a lot of help getting it seen by that many people. Without Gavin, it wouldn’t have happened. Without YouTube, it wouldn’t have happened. And well-without my animation, it probably wouldn’t have happened either.
I loved creating this video and I am proud that something I created helped someone get attention for their art. That was the fun part-hearing the excitement and the buzz build around something I got to be a part of.
So, how did all come to be then?
I will let Gavin’s words tell you. He wrote a newsletter that he sent out to his fans and mailing list. Here is what he had to say:
“I met Nick several months back on a speaking engagement at a music industry seminar (I was there as a guest speaker and he was there, god bless him, to create an elaborate whiteboard collage from my ramblings. And let’s face it… I can ramble… a lot. :)). Anyway, we kept in touch after that, and when YouTube contacted me in late November to create a holiday video… Nick was my first call. At that point, I’d seen only his cartoon-esque work, but knowing I wanted to do an animated video… I thought it’d be fun to try. Honestly, I had NO IDEA he was such a versatile artist, and what he ended up creating… quite frankly… blows me away. Using only a single canvas… sketched, photographed, and resketched 15 HUNDRED times… he brought my original Christmas song ‘Evergreen’ to life.”
That is how we met. Gavin also talks about YouTube contacting him. He happened to be a partner with YouTube and got the opportunity to enter a contest called ‘Songs of the Season’.
Well-the video was one of twelve chosen-and was put onto YouTube’s home page for a day.
From that point, the views jumped from around 5,000 to 200,000 in 24 hours.
So, how did a video I create end up getting 200,000 views in 24 hours?
Gavin’s presence on YouTube + An opportunity to appear on YouTube’s homepage + an engaging concept(the animation I created) = 200,000 views in 24 hours.
Also, I think the fact that it was Christmas, and there is a holiday fervor already present, also helped immensely. People love things that get them in the Christmas spirit around Christmas time. Also, I think people are more likely to open up to FEELING GOOD around this time. Take that, plus the video, and it makes sense.
I’m just glad that I got to create it. Thank you Gavin!
Sincerely,
Nick Navatta