In the eight years Krista Lang Blackwood has been artistic director of a nonprofit choral group, she's heard it all: prospective donors asking again and again why they can't get comped concert tickets, or why money should go to singers when there are starving children in Africa.
It was getting a little frustrating.
Instead of venting to friends, she chose to make a video about the situation — an animated one in which cute teddy bears speak dialogue like emotionless robots.
She used Xtranormal video, an easy platform that was originally intended for making storyboards but has morphed into a hugely popular way to creatively crab about work-related annoyances: obnoxious customers, entitled noobs, oblivious bosses and dim co-workers.
People in all professions — publicists, writers, architects, doctors and those who work in the entertainment industry — are posting their Xtranormal videos on the company's site or YouTube, and some of these are racking up more than 100,000 hits. Creators are finding that making the videos lets off steam and helps them cope with workplace stresses.
Psychologists say this can be a healthy way to deal with stress — but only if the video producers remember to keep humor at the forefront and the venom tamped down, and that what gets posted on the Internet stays on the Internet.
Even technophobes can make an Xtranormal video in a couple of hours by logging on at the site (www.xtranormal.com), typing in dialogue and choosing a few "camera" angles to create their own videos using the company's pre-designed moveable characters. Filmmakers can choose from robots, historical figures, cute animals, people and other creatures who speak in flat, automated voices, like the kind you hear when you call to get your bank balance.
The videos — some witty, some a little puerile — are peppered with zingers, slick retorts, pregnant pauses and copious swear words. They're often more creative and funny than most job-related tirades on sites such as Workrant and Jobitorial, and potentially less risky than bailing from your job by grabbing a beer and sliding down an airplane emergency chute. Some are conversations you wish you'd had yourself. Usually, you sense that the scenarios would be instantly recognizable by someone in the same profession.