Pharrell Williams’ Happy video inspires 1,000 remakes

Fan-made versions of Pharrell Williams’ hit video Happy have now passed 1,000 across the globe.

Pharrell Williams’ Happy video was released last November and became an immediate sensation with over 150 million views on YouTube.

The video’s simple message, and low-fi footage of ordinary people dancing as they go about their business, make it ideal for amateur re-makes.

The project has been initiated by a French couple, designers Loic Fontaine and Julie Fersing. They were stunned by the number of people creating their own versions, but understood its appeal. They began adding them to WeAreHappyFrom.com, a site they made to showcase the huge number of videos being made.

“One of the fundamental things about the project is that it’s not commercial, religious, or political. It’s just a message to say <<we are happy, we are happy>>,” said Loic Fontaine.

The same principles apply to the videos that appear on the site – and so the number does not include some of the better known versions which have explicit political messages.

Earlier this week, a group in Brazil created Porto (un)Happy which aimed to highlight the poor conditions in Porto, one of the cities that will host the World Cup just three months from now.

A map on Loic Fontaine’s site shows the location of each video – including 170 from France alone, 98 from Germany, and 13 from the UK.

This week the 1,000th video was added, and the total currently sits at 1,032.

Launched at the end of January, the couple thought the trend would last for a month at most.

Between 20 and 40 new versions are added to the site each day, and the rate shows now signs of slowing.

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