Earlier this week a video made the rounds showing an incredibly talented teenager reenacting Beyoncé's "Countdown" video in the most perfect way. He nails every part of the fast-moving video—if you blink an eye you'll miss a perfectly synched up detail, and some of those finer details are intentionally and often humorously off (did we mention he's wearing a Snuggie most of the time)? Beyoncé herself posted it on her website under the heading "Brilliant," noting, "I think he did this video better than I did." He has also been overwhelmingly applauded with positive comments on YouTube, even by experienced production editors who he will probably be the boss of one day. The kid behind the video is 16-year-old Ton Do-Nguyen, and we asked him a few questions Thursday night as his video went viral.
How old are you? And where are you from? I'm sixteen, going into my junior year of high school, and I'm from Pennsylvania.
When did you make the video, and how long did it take? I made the video all the way back in November actually, even before I made the "Love on Top" video. A couple of months later, it all got wiped out though so I had to start from scratch. So I've pretty much worked on this video ever since that happened. It's been months and months of filming and editing, and finally after forever, it's done and out!
Why a Snuggie? I don't really know why! Who can deny a Snuggie? I love them, they're just so fun! Infomercial products in general just get me every time!
Do you have a lot of experience with video production—what programs did you use to get the video to be so spot-on (it's really amazing!)? I've been editing just for fun for a while now, all the way back to middle school and maybe even elementary school. My skills have definitely sharpened since then! But my friends and I would just make videos for fun, whether it be for birthday videos or for little amateur movies. A lot of what I know today is self-taught, but I did take a TV Production class last year in school. For Countdown, I used Sony Vegas to edit the video. I would zoom in at every single little part and try to get everything down to the frame. I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to editing.
Is this something that you want to get in to? Yeah definitely! I love to make videos and I'm so interested in the whole process.
What was your reaction when you saw Beyoncé posted it on her site, with the heading, "Brilliant"? Oh my goodness, the very moment of seeing my face on Beyonce's website had to be the best moment of my life. I can't even find words to describe how I felt. Knowing that my number one idol, the Queen B, had meerly seen my video was enough to send me over the moon. The response was so positive, I couldn't even believe what was going on.
Do you have any other videos in the works? I'm not working on anything at the moment, but I am thinking about what video I should do next. Hopefully another one will be out in the near future. Beyonce all the way, definitely!
