WARNING: If you are easily offended by crude humor, a homicidal attitude toward Native Americans, or the lyrical stylings of a certain rapper known as “Eminem”, you may want to skip this post.

Do you love history and have a somewhat twisted sense of humor?

If so, you’re gonna love this!

Here’s another interesting and fun way to use Public Domain images to get attention for your products and promote your business…

Earlier this week, I stumbled over some outrageous videos put together by Phil “Overman” Rice of Zarathustra Studios. What immediately caught my attention about the videos was that they were put together using black-and-white Public Domain historical photographs from the Library of Congress.

That in itself isn’t a big deal – it’s what he did with these photos that’s absolutely crazy.

Want to see how to breath “new life” into an old Public Domain photo?

Check this out…

Here’s a video “starring” General George A. Custer, Andrew Johnson, Daniel Marcy, Samuel Morse, Brigadeer General Edmund Rice, General James S. Robinson, James Speed, Walt Whitman, Stephen A. Douglas, General Ulysses S. Grant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Judson Kilpatrick, Brigadeer General Edward D. Townsend, Roger B. Taney, and General Benjamin Franklin Butler.

1000 Words Final

If you’re shaking your head right now and didn’t like this video at all, that’s cool – this kind of thing is definitely not for everybody.

If you did like the video above then check out the rest of the videos in the “1000 Words” series…

NOTE: I’ve noticed that YouTube seems to be having some issues lately – if you get an error on clicking play, just wack it a few times until it starts playng…and again if your easily offended, these vids probably aren’t for you…

General George A. Custer

General Ulysses S. Grant

General Judson Kilpatrick

Brig. General Edward D. Townsend

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Stephen A. Douglas

Walt Whitman (reciting Eminem)

Daniel Marcy

Is that crazy or what?

Almost spooky even.

The very first thought that was going through my mind as I viewed these for the first time was, “How did they do that?”

I figured the photos must have been manipulated in a photo editor of course but I had never heard of the application that they used here. It’s called CrazyTalk Pro 5 – Face Puppet Animation Studio by a software development company called Reallusion.

Basically, it let’s you create 3D talking characters from photos, images or illustrations – includingPublic Domain images.

Here’s a short demo of what this thing is capable of…

There’s lots of great example on YouTube of what this software can do (and some not so great examples) – just search with keywords “crazytalk” if you’re interested.

I thought surely a powerful piece of code like this would be outrageously expensive, but it turns out that it’s very reasonable…

Do you have any ideas for how you could use this technology in your business?

How about animating Public Domain images of various zoo animals for a children’s educational series?

How about bringing historical documentaries to life by interviewing actual important people throughout history – all you need is one good photo!

How about having the subject of a biography actually personally welcome visitors to the website that sells the biography?

How about a “reality show” in which 6 of our most famous U.S. presidents have to live in a house together for 6 months (I can almost see George Washington and Abe Lincoln fighting over who gets to use the bathroom first in the morning).

Maybe, they’d start a rock band and record a music video – “Dead Presidents” would be a cool name for the band. I heard Teddy Roosevelt played a mean six-string.

This is just one more example of the nearly endless amount of ways you can repurpose those great old Public Domain photographs for fun and profit!

A little creativity and the right tools can accomplish some amazing new things.

Let me know if you have any more ideas by leaving a comment on this post.

Until next time,

About the Author:

Logan Andrew is an online entrepreneur, information publisher, and author that has been using Public Domain material to create profitable products and businesses since 2001. He is also co-author of "The Public Domain Treasure Hunter's Survival Kit" available here. For more info Logan, click here.

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Last 5 posts by Logan:

• When U.S. Public Domain Magazines Enter The U.K. Public Domain
• Public Domain Author Spotlight: H. Rider Haggard, Adventure Novelist
• Public Domain Author Spotlight: Orison Swett Marden, Self-help Guru
• 17 Great Online Resources For Public Domain Comic Book Research
• When U.S. Works Enter The U.K. Public Domain

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