It’s Monday. Wait — correction: It’s the Monday after a holiday weekend. You know what you need? A video of snowballs hitting people in the face in slow motion. I mean. It is probably exactly what you need right now, because Mondays are painful, and Mondays directly following holidays are extra painful.
The video functioned as Baltimore ad agency Exit10’s company holiday card this year, because clearly nothing says “happy holidays” like two and a half minutes of your employees being pelted in the face with frozen balls of slush. Said Eric Hartsock, Exit10’s managing partner and creative director, to Ad Week, “[the idea] came out of that dark place where all holiday video concepts come from — meaning, the small conference room the creative team refuses to leave until they come up with something that sticks.” All 17 employees participated, with the moments before, during, and after impact being captured on a Phantom Micro camera shooting 1,500 frames per second.
For some of them, the anticipation looked worse than the actual snowball attack:
Others calmly took it on the chin:
Many seemed to think the best way to cope was to drink a cup of coffee or hot chocolate while it was happening:
Some looked like they enjoyed it:
And some of them took it as an opportunity to wear magnificent and hilarious headgear:
If you’re curious about why some people look like they’re either over or underprepared for the flying ball of icy coldness hurtling towards their head, it’s because a lot of them couldn’t actually see the snowballs coming. “The lights were blinding — you need a ton of light to shoot 1,500 fps,” Hartsock said.
Maybe this is just me, but I find the video fascinating for the same reason I found Patrick Hall’s “The Taser Project” interesting. At least Exit10’s version is a little easier to deal with, though — while it’s true that snowballs can cause quite a shock, it’s not quite the same as getting 300,000 volts shot through your body.
Watch the whole video below. Raise your hand if you’re up for a snowball fight!
Images: Exit10 Films/Vimeo (6)
