14 DAY TRIAL // Google managed to create quite a sensation with its first ever Super Bowl ad. This being Google, it went about things a little differently than all of the other, multi-million dollar videos. It ran a video it had made available several months before on YouTube. In fact, it was its popularity on YouTube that spurred the search giant to use it. The clip had Google’s usual minimalistic touch, but it was pretty clever and interesting.
It featured a string of Google searches depicting a couple’s love story, from the first date to the first kid. The clip’s popularity led to a lot of parodies borrowing its style, sometime to great effect. It doesn’t take a video editing guru to create a similarly styled video, but it’s not for everyone either. This is where Google’s newly released Search Story video creation tool comes in. Simply add a few search terms, pick a musical theme and let Google do the rest.
“During the Super Bowl, we ran a 60 second ad made simply with a few Google searches and a little music. We were humbled by how much some people liked it. And we've even seen a few parodies that have left us in stitches. Making videos out of Google searches isn't exactly elaborate Hollywood film-making, but to help everyone get in on the fun, we've made a really simple video creation tool, which you can try today,” Robert Wong from the Google Creative Lab explained.
Using it couldn’t be simpler. The tool is available on a special page set up on YouTube. All you have to do is enter a few queries and select the type of Google search for them, images, maps, blogs, etc. The second step is to select a song to play in the background, presumably something to go well with the theme of the video. Finally, you can let Google work its magic, it only takes a few seconds, and you have a full-blow Search Story ready to be uploaded to YouTube.