One of the best examples of the power of audio to transform a video clip from something mundane into something extraordinary is the little internet video sensation known as Dramatic Hamster or Dramatic Chipmunk. If you’re one of the 10 people on planet earth who hasn’t seen this yet, here it is:

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The truth is that the furry little creature in question is neither a chipmunk or hamster, but is actually a prairie dog. The original video clip has no music associated with it and actually comes from a Japanese morning show (called Hello! Morning) that was taped in 2001. In its original form, the 5 seconds that sparked an internet craze is just a close-up zoom of the animal for the benefit of the viewers at home. Here’s the original clip from the show:

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It was the accidental genius of a guy in Australia who added a 5 second sound effect from a movie that gave life to this innocuous footage and sparked an internet revolution… and hundreds of imitators have followed! There are now literally hundreds of people that have added additional soundtracks and graphics to this same clip and thousands more that found new segments of video and added their own creative spark to them. Which brings us to the moral of our story — Great Audio can make Mundane Video appear Fantastic! For fun (and as an exercise to improve your skills) why don’t you see if you can find a boring piece of footage and make it superb by just adding audio?

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some additional “remixes” of this now famous clip.

Dramatic Bond

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Dramatic Dr. Evil

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Dramatic Kill Bill

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Dramatic Curses

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Dramatic Star Wars

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Dramatic LOST
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