Production
Just like the scope of a web video project, the tools necessary can vary widely. The basic materials needed are a video camera, microphone, and a computer or other device with an application to process and edit your recorded video. Video camera can range from professional-grade equipment (like Panasonic’s $60,000 model) to computer webcams to mobile device cameras to cheaper, low-end digital cameras like the Flip Mino. Microphones vary similarly in quality and price, from boom mics to handheld models to small devices that a speaker can clip onto his or her collar. Many low-end devices these days have embedded microphones for ease of use.
Once you have selected your equipment, then you can focus on your technique. For a quick video on hand held video camera shooting techniques, check out this video from Videomaker.
Post-Production
Once video and sound have been recorded, either separately or in tandem, it is necessary to edit the video into a more polished work. A wide range of video editing applications are available, with the most popular options including iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and Roxio Creator. iMovie and Roxio Creator are cheaper and more consumer-friendly options, while Final Cut Pro, at $1,299, has been used to produce Oscar-winning films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, No Country for Old Men, and Cold Mountain (source).
Distribution
There are a slew of options for sharing your masterpiece. In addition to the ever-popular YouTube are alternative sites such as Veoh.com and Vimeo.com that function the same way, allowing you to create a personal profile and video library. If you want your video to be seen, shared and commented on by the largest audience possible, however, YouTube is still the way to go, boasting the 4th most traffic of any site in the US and similar numbers in many other countries around the world (source).
Additional Resources
For more information, check out Hillman Curtis’ article on adobe.com about his preferred tools and techniques for web video creation.
If you haven’t heard the news, one of the biggest disasters we’ve seen yet for mobile devices and cloud computing is currently underway.
Sidekicks were designed to automatically store users’ information, including contact lists, remotely on servers owned by Danger Inc., the company that makes the devices. This was apparently intended for ease of use, and the added data mobility does sound like a great idea. And it was one, until Danger Inc. experienced some sort of massive server failure and had no backup of Sidekick users’ information. Consumerist has more details.
It’s impossible to believe a company of this size (owned my Microsoft, no less!) would not have a backup in place to handle such a possibility, yet that seems to be precisely the case. After almost a week of silence T-Mobile issued a press release Monday to “express our apologies regarding the recent Sidekick data service disruption” and another yesterday to recommend that users don’t power off their devices or let the battery die, in case they can find some way to retrieve data from the devices’ local memory. (Perhaps it would have been best to suggest this to their users immediately after the outage happened?) They’ve also halted the sale of Sidekicks online.
Meanwhile, Sidekick users are still SOL. It goes beyond T-Mobile, however. The concept of cloud computing is a fairly new one for many people and this is bound to make them wary of it, which hinders the technology and hurts all of us in the end. And I imagine T-Mobile and Sidekicks aren’t looking too hot right now, either.
For more information check out Engadget and TechCrunch. Then go and backup your phone’s data.
Filed under: Flailings
I’ve redesigned the blog to look nicer and hopefully function a little better. Please let me know if you encounter any issues, and also feel free to share your opinion on the new look. Thanks.
Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (watch it right now on Hulu if you haven’t already) is the kind of success story that makes everyone in and outside the filmmaking business take notice. Filmed during the 2008 writer’s strike in just six days and with a total budget around $200,000, the “show” won an Emmy and was hailed as the 4th best television show of 2008 by TIME Magazine even though it never actually aired on television (source). It’s a wonderful example of how to combine the norms of mainstream entertainment media like TV and movies with the spread, speed and price (free!) of the Internet.
Producing the work without the rigidity of a large-scale and -budget project was creatively freeing for all of the parties involved:
All parties agree that not having to answer to an outside funding entity allowed them an unusual amount of leeway in their work, something they loved about the project. “Because it was so crazy when we were doing it, we had the freedom to behave like professional amateurs,” [Neil Patrick] Harris says. (source)
The combination of an atypical product (a fantasy musical short film) with an atypical production method, medium (the Internet) and business model (it premiered free for five days before moving to iTunes as a paid download) turned out to be perfect for the project: iTunes sales alone were enough for the team to recoup all of the production costs (source).
So what does this mean for small-time filmmakers? Naturally, it depends on how one chooses to look at it. It’s true that the film’s budget, while shockingly low by Hollywood standards, is still out of range for many amateur and independent filmmakers, and also that the combined wattage of all the stars involved may have drawn more attention than the project would have received otherwise. However, it’s undeniable that the unique approach taken to produce and distribute the film had a huge impact on its costs and, thus, its profit margins. Online hosting has reached a low cost available to everyone while also allowing creators to avoid middlemen such as theater and TV station owners. It also offers similarly cheap advertising and encourages the best (and cheapest) advertising of them all: word of mouth. Hopefully Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog will inspire other filmmakers to seriously consider the Internet as a valid distribution medium for their projects, as the freedom and low costs associated with it are unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed.
Filed under: Flailings | Tags: culture, google, internet, microsoft, technology
At this point most people have had experience with both Microsoft Word, the desktop application that’s been the standard document editor for as long as many of us can remember, and Google Docs’ document editor, Google’s web-based alternative that went live only in early 2007. Like Word, which is part of Microsoft’s Office suite of desktop programs for personal publishing, the document editor is only one part of the Google Docs suite and offers a similar variety of tools. While Google’s document editor and Word essentially provide the same document-editing service, however, the manner in which each approaches the task is drastically different.
Microsoft Word and the classic software model on which it is based need little explanation due to their ubiquity, but in summation documents are constructed, edited and saved locally through the proprietary framework of the Word software and shared if desired through some other means, such as email. While Word is packed (some might say bloated) with features and tools, there is no inherent online aspect to the program. Inversely, Google Docs exists solely online, allowing you to create and manipulate documents via whatever modern web browser or mobile device you choose. They are stored online, where they can be accessed anywhere and freely shared and edited with others. In terms of its interface, Google Docs trades comprehensiveness for efficiency both in design and its feature set. Google Docs completely embraces the three key principles of the web: speed, mobility and collaboration.
Because of this, I consider Google Docs’ document editor to be much more useful than Word, even with its limited feature set. It’s targeted towards the average user’s needs and rather than doing everything, it does fewer things and does them well. I think the only thing that stands in the way of Google Docs’ success is Microsoft’s traditional domination of the market. As people become more aware of Google’s alternative—and grow more comfortable with this dramatic shift in focus and interface—we can expect to watch it and the many other products like it see explosive growth.
A recent Wired article called “The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine” discussed this topic excellently, charting the increased interest in and market share of products such as Skype, Hulu, mp3s and micro-clinics that combine reduced feature sets with efficiency and lower costs. It’s a fascinating article that’s definitely worth a read, and the topic itself is one that will be increasingly influencing product and software developers—and we the users as a result.
Most people who join Twitter probably don’t bother to read the Twitter Rules, and hopefully they’ll never have a need to. However, there are a few interesting points that people should be aware of.
Impersonation is bad—very bad. Twitter takes impersonation, copyright infringement and identity squatting very seriously. At work we recently had an issue with someone impersonating one of our clients on Twitter, and after filing a complaint with Twitter it was resolved very quickly. They even have a system where you can monitor the status of your claims. Very convenient.
Be active or be gone. It seems that Twitter wants to run a tight ship. Inactive accounts–those that aren’t used for six months or more–are subject to deletion. Also, accounts with no follows or followers are also subject to removal, so if you make a new account, be quick about getting involved with it.
Don’t be too active, though. They have a long list of activities that may get you banned, but I found the following most interesting:
- If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
- If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;
- If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;
- If a large number of people are blocking you;
I wasn’t aware until I read the rules that these statistics (especially the first three) are monitored. I applaud Twitter’s desire to keep things running well, and so far it seems like they’re doing a pretty good job.
While Twitter has been a magnet for business identities almost since its inception, but Twitter was fairly slow in responding to this rapidly-growing market. It was only a couple months ago that they published a brochure site named Twitter 101 for Business to help companies get their feet wet in er stream. Working at a company that handles both identity creation/management and comprehensive web services, we have been creating Twitter accounts for our clients for ages and even had a “Twitter basics” tutorial we shared with them until Twitter launched their brochure site. They do a great job explaining the different ways in which companies can engage with their audience, but in my experience here are a few different methods that are effective for anyone seeking to build or promote a brand.
- BE INTERESTING. This is the most crucial step, and also the one most companies fail to grasp. Learn how Twitter functions and how people typically use it, then post things that will get people’s interest. Tweeting boring things and tweeting infrequently are just as bad as not being on Twitter at all.
- Monitor your brand. Constantly. Search Twitter and bookmark the results; many Twitter clients even let you stream custom search queries. Add and/or thank everyone who mentions you positively. And for those that don’t…
- Troubleshoot. If someone complains about your company, ask them what happened or how you can help. Tonight after work I spent an hour on the phone with a Charter rep trying to lower my bill because my promos expired, and I tweeted asking my followers for alternatives because I’m sick of them. 21 minutes later I got an @reply from a Charter rep asking how he could help, and I’m currently talking with him. 20 minutes ago I was ready to cut my TV and find another ISP just to get away from Charter, but if he can help me, I’ll probably end up keeping them (begrudgingly). I didn’t expect to be my own case study for this point but hey, it obviously works!
- Expand your brand. Follow people. If you’re a clothing store, for example, follow your friends, follow your competitors, follow anyone near your stores whose bios mention fashion and shopping. No one will care about your company on Twitter if they don’t even know you’re on it.
- Tweet useful things. In addition to troubleshooting and making relevant tweets, share content unique to your Twitter stream so it will get people interested and encourage them to follow you. Behind-the-scenes pictures are a great option, as are Twitter-only promo codes and discounts. Even simply breaking a promotion or big piece of news on Twitter first (“Twitter exclusive!”) is a big help.
- Give things away. Freebies draw followers for a company like flies to honey, so use it to maximum advantage. One of the easiest and most common promos to run to increase your followers is to give a prize to one of the people who RTs your tweet about the promo (“RT this to win!”), or someone who follows you before a certain date. It’s an excellent way to increase your range on Twitter with very little overall cost involved. The prize doesn’t even need to be big.
If a brand can follow these steps, they’ll have a great chance of carving out a niche on Twitter and using it to their advantage.
I’ve been a fan and user of Twitter for ages. Here are a few tools I use often to make the service easier, more convenient and more fun.
- TwUnfollow.com
This is a free service that will send you an email notification whenever someone stops following you. Knowing the subjects you tweet about that lose your followers’ interest is a good way to help you play to your strengths. - Twinfluence
This is a go-to for everyone who wants to check their status in the Twittersphere. Twitter isn’t a competition, but it’s still nice to know where you are in the larger spectrum of things! - Echofon for iPhone
An excellent Twitter client for the iPhone. I use the free version, which is packed with features, but the pro version has even more. This is also the program I cited recently as an example of a great iPhone app. - TweetStats.com
A free and incredibly information-dense resource to track your Twitter activity – your tweets per day, when you tweet most often, even the words and hashtags you use most often. It shows you the types of patterns and routines you’ve developed without even being aware of it. For instance, I had no idea I post the vast majority of my tweets between 8 a.m. and noon, and am least likely to tweet on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I wonder what factors in my schedule cause that? - Tweetie for Mac
My favorite desktop Twitter client – compact, simple to use and a beautiful interface. There are other programs out there like TweetDeck that have more features, but the sleekness and simplicity of Tweetie are the reasons I prefer to use it.
Whether you’re new to Twitter or a long-time user, all of these tools are incredibly useful—and free. It’s win-win!
Our last class got me excited to start developing applications for the iPhone, and also about what differentiates a good app from a bad one. Here are a couple apps I think exemplify both scenarios.
Good: Echofon (formerly TwitterFon)
This is the best iPhone Twitter client out of the several I’ve tried. It is densely packed with information, but also intuitive. Tapping on a Tweet gives you the option to reply, retweet, send a DM or view the user’s timeline, and tapping someone’s icon or profile allows you to access other stats about them. The main app navigation runs along the bottom of the app with contextual shortcuts along the top. The screens also transition nicely from one to another. There are frequent updates that fix bugs and add new features.
Bad: Bank of America
While I’m happy BOA has an app for managing your account (Discover Card still doesn’t), it needs a lot of work. For starters, when you tap to go to the login screen, it shows all your online IDs while it finishes loading, then hides all but the first one. What’s the point of hiding them? There’s also no way to delete an online ID you no longer use, which just means extra taps every time you need to login. When you tap a button the hover effect doesn’t actually line up correctly with the button itself, and transitions between screens are slow and glitchy. In the two years I’ve had the app there has only been one update made to it. Unless I need to do or look up something BOA-specific I always use the Mint.com app, which looks and works better in every way.
These are some of the things I’ll be keeping in mind when I start to work on my own apps. With 70,000+ apps out there, no one has time for the crappy ones.
