Ze Frank

Ze Frank

Ze Frank at the 2010 Streamy Awards
Born Hosea Jan Frank
March 31, 1972
Guilderland, New York, US
Residence Los Angeles, California, US
Known for nerdcore comedy[1]
Notable work the show, a show
Spouse(s) Jody Brandt (2003-present)
Website
zefrank.com

Ze Frank (/ˈz/; born Hosea Jan Frank on March 31, 1972) is an American online performance artist, composer, humorist and public speaker based in Los Angeles, California.[2] He was a pioneer of the vlogging format and is considered one of the most influential people in the field, inspiring such shows as the vlogbrothers, Philip DeFranco and Wheezy Waiter. He is currently executive vice president of video at BuzzFeed.

Personal life

Frank was born to German-American parents and raised in a suburb of Albany, New York. He has a sister, who is a painter, as was indicated in the show.[3]

He was educated at Montessori school, known for its constructivist teaching methods, and graduated in 1995 in neuroscience from Brown University.[2] At the university, he played guitar and sang lead vocals for a funk/jam band called Dowdy Smack, along with Blues Traveler bassist Tad Kinchla, until its dissolution in 1998. In 2003 he married his longtime girlfriend Jody Brandt whom he met at Brown University. Jody is a licensed psychologist. At the end of 2008, Frank and his wife moved from Brooklyn Heights, NYC, to Westwood, Los Angeles, CA.

He was listed as second author on a paper published in The Journal of Neuroscience, entitled "Developmental Inhibitory Gate Controls the Relay of Activity to the Superficial Layers of the Visual Cortex." This article was featured briefly in episode 21 of a show on May 25, 2012 called My Pupils, explaining that his study of neuroscience of vision was motivated by his harmless anisocoria condition.[4]

Career

In 2001, Frank created an online birthday invitation and sent it to seventeen of his closest friends. Forwarded wildly, the invitation soon generated millions of hits and over 100 gigabytes of daily web traffic to Frank's personal Web site.[5] The site grew to include interactive group projects, short films, animations, and video games, many Flash-based, including children's educational videos featuring handy tips such as "Don't vacuum your face".

Frank won a 2002 Webby Award for Best Personal Website (People's Voice) and in 2005, he was featured in Time Magazine's "50 Coolest Websites".[6] Frank debuted onstage at the Gel conference in 2003. He has spoken for many years at TED Conferences, with presentations in 2004, 2005,[7] 2008, and 2014.[8]

Frank has served as an adjunct professor at ITP/NYU, Parsons School of Design, and SUNY Purchase.

Discussing his work in the digital medium, and the potential of new platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, Frank said, "For me, experimentation is not about the technology. In an ever-changing technological landscape, where today’s platforms are not tomorrow’s platforms, the key seems to be that any one of these spaces can use a dose of humanity and art and culture."[9]

the show

the show with zefrank
Presentation
Hosted by Ze Frank
Genre comedy, current events.
Updates Weekdays
Production
Picture format .flv, .mov, .mp4
Publication
Debut March 17, 2006
End date March 17, 2007
Website http://www.zefrank.com/theshow

On March 17, 2006, Frank launched the daily video program the show with zefrank. The format of the program combined commentary on media and current events with viewer contributions and activities. Each tightly edited three-to-five-minute episode combined Daily Show-style commentary on world events with songs, observations, and occasional games or challenges for his viewers to participate in. Thousands of photos, videos and music files were contributed by the audience, including over 1,000 photos in one 20-hour period.[10] The show appeared each weekday until its final episode on March 17, 2007, exactly one year after its start. Following the success of the show, Frank signed with the United Talent Agency of Beverly Hills, California for representation. The Show's style has influenced many popular video bloggers today, such as the Vlogbrothers.[11]

In October 2013, Frank posted the entire library of the show episodes onto YouTube, having removed them several weeks earlier from previous host blip.tv. The entire catalogue is also available for purchase from his webstore store.zefrank.com

a show

A show with zefrank
Presentation
Hosted by Ze Frank
Genre comedy, current events
Publication
Debut April 9, 2012
Website http://ashow.zefrank.com/

On February 27, 2012, Ze Frank announced that he was going to do a thrice-weekly show, that will be "same same but different" from The Show. Similar to his other projects, Frank's new venture would be a collaboration between him and his audience.[12] The new show, titled "a show" was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $146,752 in eleven days.[12] It debuted on April 9, 2012 with an episode titled "An Invocation for Beginnings".[13] Eight months later, with the release of the "Body Karaoke" episode on November 30, 2012, "a show" and its related collaborative efforts, including "projects" and "missions" went on unannounced hiatus. No official announcement has been made regarding the status of "a show" or whether series production would resume.

On January 12 and 13, 2013, Frank hosted a public participatory showcase event at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz, California, entitled "Ze Frank Weekend", featuring hands-on workshops and activities, exhibits related to "a show", and the results of collaborative "projects" and "missions" developed between April and November of the previous year.

Other media appearances

References

  1. Ze Frank's 2004 talk about nerdcore comedy at TED
  2. 2.0 2.1 St. John, Warren (June 18, 2006). "And You're So Funny? Write My Script". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  3. Frank, Ze. "Unity". The Show With Ze Frank. Ze Frank. Retrieved 2006-09-07.
  4. My Pupils, episode 21 of a show
  5. Kukec, Anna Marie (April 23, 2001). "Web designer's email invite forwarded millions of times". Daily Herald.
  6. Murray Buechner, Marryanne (June 20, 2005). "50 Coolest Websites 2005". Time. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  7. Ze Frank's speech at the TED Conference (2004) Monterey, California (video)
  8. Kirsner, Scott (2009). Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age. Boston, MA: CinemaTech Books. p. 51. ISBN 1-4421-0074-5.
  9. "First Ze Take Hollywood" by Spencer Morgan, New York Observer, January 21, 2007
  10. John Green: On cuties and cooties, Green states, “Ze Frank inspired us to start videoblogging”
  11. 12.0 12.1 A Show with Ze Frank — Kickstarter
  12. An Invocation for Beginnings
  13. Ze Frank Keynote at Ruby Central and O'Reilly Media's RailsConf (2007) Portland, Oregon
  14. Fair Game: Hasan Elahi, Rachelle Garniez, Harvey Pekar
  15. The Caroline Werner Gannett Lecture Series - Ze Frank at Rochester Institute of Technology.
  16. Ze Frank on The Sound of Young America
  17. Friskies 'Dear Kitten' commercial goes viral CBS 46, July 7, 2014

External links

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