Our obsession with selfies — we take millions of them a day — is finally generating something useful: innovation.
World, meet the automated selfie stick. It extends, or telescopes, on
its own, has a pair of beauty lights that extend from the back of the
iPhone holder and even fans that fold out to blow your hair back for
that perfect, wind-swept look.
SEE ALSO: Sorry selfie lovers, the first-gen iPhone was not made for you
It’s the craziest and most impractical selfie stick ever. It’s also, sadly, not available for purchase.
Created by Thinkmodo — the madcap hacker/video-makers/marketers that brought you Devil Baby and Super Strong Meter Maid Lifting Taxi —
the automated selfie stick is a working gadget, but there are only two
(one is a backup) and they were built to promote the upcoming season of
Lifetime’s Unreal.
Unreal is a fictional, behind-the-scenes look at the making of a The Bachelor-like show. It’s a funny but trenchant look at manufactured reality.
"We think it’s something Kim Kardashian would love to get it for Christmas."
"Lifetime wanted something that communicated self-image
manipulation," said Thinkmodo co-founder Michael Krivicka, who edited
and directed the above video.
Krivicka, Thinkmodo co-founder James Percelay and producer Sam
Pezzullo came up with the idea of a sort of next-gen selfie stick to
help market the show, which premieres on June 6.
Lifetime loved the concept, said Pezzullo.
Not your ordinary selfie stick
Thinkmodo spent three months building the device, which features a
large black and red handle that houses the wiring, motors and batteries
necessary to auto-extend the stick, and the phone holder that houses the
lights and fans. There’s even a second battery on the back of the phone
dock to power the beauty lights and the motors that extend them and the
fans. Did I mention this is a heavy selfie stick?
The automated selfie stick quickly attracted attention.
Image: Thinkmodo
"It’s
a little bit heavier than a regular selfie stick, but did you see the
features?" said Miami-based actress Noa Lindberg who is featured in the
video. "Every time they add a feature, it gets heavier, but it’s totally
worth it."
Lindberg said she didn’t need to be trained on how to use the
sophisticated selfie stick. There’s a clearly labeled button for each
main feature.
"All the parts are custom-made," said Krivicka. "The fans were designed from scratch."
In the video, Lindberg sidles
up to other selfie-takers who are clearly stunned when she whips out
the automated stick, which starts extending with a press of a button.
"Generally, they said, 'Oh my god, it’s so amazing, where can I get
it?'"
How it works
Like a regular selfie stick, this one connects to your phone via
Bluetooth (iPhone only) and the photos in the video were actually shot
using it. Even the fans work, though Thinkmodo admits to using a little
artistic license in the shoot.
The retractable beauty lights were a nice touch.
Image: thinkmodo
"The fans are strong enough to blow hair, but like in any commercial, we might have added some wind effect to enhance it."
Lindberg, who is currently shooting a vampire movie called The Soiree,
said she has a favorite automated selfie stick feature. "[It]
definitely is the lights. It’s just fantastic. It’s like a to-go
studio," she said.
Unlike some of their
previous video outings, this wasn’t a prank and Thinkmodo didn’t use
hidden cameras. Even so, during the two-day shoot, "when the boom
extended, crowds gathered quite fast," said Krivicka. They all wanted to
know where they could buy it.
Which is nowhere.
Thinkmodo has no plans to mass produce the stick.
"We hate to see an awesome idea like this going to waste," said
Krivicka. "If there was enough demand, we’d go back to Lifetime, put our
heads together and see what we can do with this."
But would anyone really want it? The handle looks huge and is quite
heavy. Plus, we don’t even know how much it would cost. Thinkmodo
refused to tell me how much they spent (and Lifetime paid) to build it.
Sure, the automated selfie stick is just about promoting a TV show, but Thinkmodo built it to actually work.
Image: thinkmodo
If
they ever did commercialize the Automated Selfie Stick, Lindberg said
she would buy it, and Krivicka believes there is at least one other
virtually guaranteed customer. "We think it’s something Kim Kardashian
would love to get it for Christmas."
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