Updated: June 24th.
Thanks to everyone who left comments below, I think they really do add something positive to an event report like this. If you haven’t yet, then comment away, theres still some space left. I thought I’d better update this report with all the resources etc so people coming to the site in the future will be able to read all about it in one place. I’ve been meaning to do it for a while but have been super busy with uni stuff as I’m sure a few of you have too.
What?
For those of you who don’t know, the ‘Ninja Raid on Adelaide’ was an event hosted by the AFM on Saturday May 24th. The basic idea was to get a huge group of people together, dress up as Ninjas, run around the city and make a great video about it. You can find the full instructions including how to construct the Ninja head gear here.
Why?
This question has been asked many times and I think the answer is different for each person. I participate in Flash Mobs and related events because I like to be different, I like to make spectators out of unsuspecting people and make them go ‘what the?,’ I like to document the event and see the impact that the videos have on other people and I like participating because its great fun. Why do you like to Mob?
Wrap Up
The event went very well and was definately our biggest and most successful event yet. Our best estimate puts the mob at 150- 200 people but we know we had at least 100. We had 4 groups each with a group leader (who wore coloured arm and head bands) and each group had different tasks in the campaign to catch the Pirate Prince. We got some great reactions from bystanders which you can see in the video if you look closely and read about in the comments below.
We also had a bunch of guys from Parkour SA doing tricks and stunts throughout the event. If you’d like to learn more about what they do or get involved yourself, check out their website and forum
.
Media
We contacted the TV stations and Sunday Mail before hand and were happy to see a photographer/reporter as well as a Channel 7 camerman come out to cover the event. Apparently when the Channel 7 guy came to the meeting place to ask us what the plan for the day was, he asked several people what we were going to do and got several answers of ‘its a secret, we can’t tell you,’ ha ha… great work Ninjas!
- We got a story and a bunch of photos on the Adelaide Now Website (owned by the Advertiser) and then a follow up story in the Sunday Mail
the day after.
- Unfortunatley we didn’t make the News that night or Sunday night but we have heard rumours that we were on on Monday night. If anyone happens to have the footage we’d love to get a copy!
- About a week later we discovered a full page story and some pictures on a very popular Korean News Website, CyWorld (in Korean). We still haven’t got an official translation yet so if anyone can help us out, it would be much appreciated.
- As a result of the Raid, Alex and I were interviewed on Radio Adelaide’s ‘The Range’ on Friday, check out the podcast here
.
Resources
We are lucky at the AFM to have a dedicated and talented media manger, Ken. He had his work cut out for him for this event as he had to film us go past and then sprint to the front of the group once more to film us go past again, then rinse and repeat. We also couldn’t have done it without the help of our volunteer filmers, so thank to them also. The video turned out great and seems to get better every time you watch it. If you watch it one youtube, remember to do it in high quality as its a much better experience.
I have posted the picture sets below followed by the video teasers and finally the finished video. Don’t forget to check out our next big event, ‘Ninjas vs Pirates, The Battle for Adelaide,’ happening on August 9th.
-Nick
corelyy2003’s photostream on Flickr
Adelaide Flash Mob photostream on Flickr
Ninja Raid on Adelaide ‘The Video’
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESNRj8RiuXY]
(tip: watch in high quality on youtube)