Flashmob: The End.

Considering it was our first flashmob ever, I think we pulled it off relatively well. Of course there were a few logistical items we could improve on (i.e. telling more people in advance, thinking through the "what if's" and potential problems that we could face, how we could adapt to a new situation), but since introducing an element of abnormal behavior to upset the social norms as our intent, I'd say it was a success!

Flashmob #1: Red Light, Green Light

I couldn't get any pictures of this, but it was the most successful of the five Flashmobs. Maybe it was because the timing corresponded with when class let out and students were flooding the Humanities bridge. It was fun for the thirty of us who were running-stopping-running-stopping all the way to the Admin building, but even better to see non-participants participating. They'd even yell "Red light!" or "Green light!" to throw us off. Funnily enough, we were the ones trying to throw them off by interrupting the normalcy of their day.

Flashmob #2: The Applause









The point of this flashmob was to follow a random person and applaud them. The first few people were definitely weirded out, but the others had some great reactions. Note the expressions of these victims above. It was a nice mix of "Back away from my car," "What's going on?" and "Hey, this is so amusing I have to take a picture of it on my cellphone!"

Flashmob #3: The Line






Anonymous supporters cheering us on. Thanks!



It was a nice break from the all the running around we did in the previous flashmobs. We formed a huge line that meandered around Ring Road, into the bookstore, through Starbucks, etc...basically, wherever the unlucky person we chose to follow decided to go. Some more non-Arts 50 people joined our line, which was pretty neat.

Flashmob #4: Free Hugs (or High Fives)






Between a rock and a hard place. Too bad there's only one way to get off this bridge!



Despite the good intent of these hugs, it's not so appealing when you're hugging people after running around campus for thirty minutes and all they can feel is the sweat on your back. I think if we had done this one first, with more students milling around Ring Road, the awesomeness of it would have doubled at least. Maybe even tripled!

Flashmob #5: ATM Attack




Flashmob students pretending to be normal students


We'd slowly surround the unsuspecting victim in silence and/or whispers to make them uncomfortable, then applaud when they completed their transaction.





Execution could have been a little more organized on my group's part, but interestingly enough, we didn't evoke any crazy responses from the people we targeted. I thought they would've been more timid or angry, but mostly they were pretty apathetic about these strangers that could potentially steal your credit card number and identity. I guess that's what happens when you live in a city like Irvine.