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"Ahead of the MTV Video Music Awards \u2014 which will air live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Aug. 25 \u2014 MTV will reveal the ceremony's Video of the Year nominees and contenders for other categories on Wednesday through videos on Instagram and Vine. \nThe network told Mashable it hired Khoa Phan, a popular stop-motion animation creator who has recently completed videos on both video-sharing services for Peanuts Worldwide and Snapple, to mastermind eight pieces of VMAs-related content. \nSee also: New Steve Jobs Movie Trailer Arrives Exclusively on Instagram\nMTV will unleash the first video post at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, \"giving the VMAs the distinction as the first award show to ever announce nominations via these social media video platforms,\" according to a MTV spokesperson. Each subsequent hour, MTV will divulge nominees in other categories in more Instagram and Vine videos as part of its #RoadToTheVMAs campaign. \nThe VMAs have a slew of new aspects this year: a new host venue in New York City, a newly redesigned Moonman award (see above) and a new method to reveal nominees. \nMTV had previously used Instagram photos to reveal the new location of this year's VMAs. Employing the #RoadToTheVMAs hashtag in March, MTV divulged the new host venue through photos of the VMAs Moonman's trek from the Staples Center in Los Angeles to Brooklyn. \nThis stunt, MTV said, attracted a quarter of a million Instagram likes, 16 million Twitter impressions, 8 million Facebook impressions and 1 million Tumblr impressions.\nMTV was the first brand to reach 1 million followers on Instagram in November 2012. MTV now has 1.37 million Instagram followers and 117,000 Vine followers. \nMTV has worked with 23-year-old Phan in the past, and has called his animation work \"beautiful, compelling and highly sharable.\" \nUPDATE: Here are the first two videos released Wednesday morning: \nThe Instagram video reveals nominees for Video Of The Year: \n\nJustin Timberlake - \u201CMirrors\u201D\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - \u201CThrift Shop\u201D\nBruno Mars  - \u201CLocked Out of Heaven\u201D\nRobin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - \u201CBlurred Lines\u201D\nTaylor Swift - \u201CI Knew You Were Trouble\u201D\n\n\nThe Vine video reveals nominees for Best Male Video:\n\nJustin Timberlake - \u201CMirrors\u201D\nRobin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - \u201CBlurred Lines\u201D\nBruno Mars - \u201CLocked Out of Heaven\u201D\nEd Sheeran - \u201CLego House\u201D\nKendrick Lamar - \u201CSwimming Pools\u201D\n\nOther nominees this year include (fans can vote in general categories at vma.mtv.com):\n\nVideo Of The Year\nJustin Timberlake - \u201CMirrors\u201D\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - \u201CThrift Shop\u201D\nBruno Mars  - \u201CLocked Out of Heaven\u201D\nRobin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - \u201CBlurred Lines\u201D\nTaylor Swift - \u201CI Knew You Were Trouble\u201D\nBest Hip-Hop Video\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - \u201CCan\u2019t Hold Us\u201D\nDrake - \u201CStarted From The Bottom\u201D\nKendrick Lamar - \u201CSwimming Pools\u201D\nA$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz &amp; Kendrick Lamar - \u201CF**kin Problems\u201D\nJ. Cole feat. Miguel - \u201CPower Trip\u201D\nBest Female Video\nRihanna feat. Mickey Ekko - \u201CStay\u201D\nTaylor Swift - \u201CI Knew You Were Trouble\u201D\nMiley Cyrus - \u201CWe Can\u2019t Stop\u201D\nP!nk feat. Nate Ruess - \u201CJust Give Me A Reason\u201D\nDemi Lovato - \u201CHeart Attack\u201D\nBest Pop Video\nBruno Mars - \u201CLocked Out of Heaven\u201D\nJustin Timberlake - \u201CMirrors\u201D\nfun. - \u201CCarry On\u201D\nMiley Cyrus - \u201CWe Can\u2019t Stop\u201D\nSelena Gomez - \u201CCome and Get It\u201D\nArtist To Watch Presented by Taco Bell\nTwenty One Pilots - \u201CHolding On To You\u201D\nZedd Feat. Foxes - \u201CClarity\u201D\nAustin Mahone - \u201CWhat About Love\u201D\nThe Weeknd - \u201CWicked Games\u201D\nIggy Azalea - \u201CWork\u201D\nBest Collaboration\nJustin Timberlake feat. JAY Z -\u201CSuit &amp; Tie\u201D\nPitbull feat. Christina Aguilera - \u201CFeel This Moment\u201D\nCalvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding - \u201CI Need Your Love\u201D\nRobin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - \u201CBlurred Lines\u201D\nP!nk feat. Nate Ruess - \u201CJust Give Me A Reason\u201D\nBest Video With A Social Message\nKelly Clarkson  - \u201CPeople Like Us\u201D\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis - \u201CSame Love\u201D\nSnoop Lion - \u201CNo Guns Allowed\u201D\nMiguel - \u201CCandles In The Sun\u201D\nBeyonc\u00E9 - \u201CI Was Here\u201D\nBest Rock Video\nImagine Dragons - \u201CRadiocative\u201D\nFall Out Boy    Fall Out Boy - \u201CMy Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)\u201D\nMumford &amp; Sons  Mumford &amp; Sons - \u201CI Will Wait\u201D\n30 Seconds To Mars      30 Seconds to Mars - \u201CUp In The Air\u201D\nVampire Weekend - \u201CDiane Young\u201D\nBest Art Direction\nCapital Cities - \u201CSafe and Sound\u201D\n30 Seconds To Mars - \u201CUp In The Air\u201D\nJanelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu - \u201CQ.U.E.E.N\u201D\nLana Del Rey - \u201CNational Anthem\u201D\nalt-J - \u201CTesselate\u201D\nBest Choreography\nChris Brown - \u201CFine China\u201D\nCiara - \u201CBody Party\u201D\nJennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull \u2013 \u201CLive It Up\u201D\nwill.i.am feat. Justin Bieber \u2013 \u201C#thatPOWER\u201D\nBruno Mars - \u201CTreasure\u201D\nBest Cinematography\n30 Seconds To Mars - \u201CUp In The Air\u201D\nLana Del Rey - \u201CRide\u201D\nYeah Yeah Yeahs - \u201CSacrilege\u201D\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - \u201CCan\u2019t Hold Us\u201D\nA-Trak &amp; Tommy Trash - \u201CTuna Melt\u201D\nBest Direction\nJustin Timberlake feat. JAY Z - \u201CSuit &amp; Tie\u201D\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - \u201CCan\u2019t Hold Us\u201D\nYeah Yeah Yeahs - \u201CSacrilege\u201D\nfun. - \u201CCarry On\u201D\nDrake - \u201CStarted From The Bottom\u201D\nBest Editing\nP!nk feat. Nate Ruess - \u201CJust Give Me A Reason\u201D\nCalvin Harris feat. Florence Welch - \u201CSweet Nothing\u201D\nMacklemore &amp; Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - \u201CCan\u2019t Hold Us\u201D\nJustin Timberlake - \u201CMirrors\u201D\nMiley Cyrus - \u201CWe Can\u2019t Stop\u201D\nBest Visual Effects\nFlying Lotus \u2013 \u201CTiny Tortures\u201D\nSkrillex feat. The Door \u2013 \u201CBreakin\u2019 A Sweat\u201D\nThe Weeknd \u2013 \u201CWicked Games\u201D\nDuck Sauce \u2013 \u201CIt\u2019s You\u201D\nCapital Cities \u2013 \u201CSafe and Sound\u201D\n\n2012 VMAs Recap\nLast year's VMAs attracted 12.8 million comments on Twitter and Facebook. Based on stats from MTV's Twitter Tracker, the following moments stood out among the social media crowd:\n\nOlympian Gabby Douglas Joins Alicia Keys Onstage: 14-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys performed the title track from her forthcoming album, Girl on Fire, and she had a sporty surprise for viewers. Keys brought out Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas (see above), who showcased gymnastics swagger.\nRihanna Wins Video of the Year: Rihanna bookended the VMAs, opening the show with two songs and then closing it by winning Video of the Year for \"We Found Love.\" The steamy video caused controversy when it was banned in France last year.\nGreen Day Rocks Staples Center Crowd: Billie Joe Armstrong \u2014 who was sick at the time \u2014 led Green Day in \"Let Yourself Go,\" the first single from \u00A1Uno! \u00A1Dos! \u00A1Tre!, which dropped on Sept. 25, 2012. Armstrong spent loads of time with fans in the pit, hopefully keeping his germs to himself.\nTaylor Swift Sings Her Hit Single: Decked in a red-and-white striped top, T-Swift channeled her inner Where's Waldo during \"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.\" At the end, of course, MTV zoomed in on Twilight's Taylor Lautner, who used to date Swift.\n Frank Ocean Shines in Emotional Performance: Frank Ocean, who in July 2012 revealed that his first \"true love\" was with a man before releasing his critically acclaimed Channel Orange album, gave a touching performance of \"Thinking of You.\" This became the most-tweeted moment at last year's VMAs.\n\nImage: MTV"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/07/16/mtv-vmas-instagram-vine/>