It's summertime for me too, so I could only muster five commandments to make you into a VERY successful web TV and video producer:
1. Create SHORT-SPAN entertainment.
2. Involve the audience in a way that more closely resembles a videogame than a narrative drama.
3. Dispense with the first act, which sets the plot in motion. Let chaos reign!
4. Start with continuous action in the second act when everything goes wrong.
5. MOST IMPORTANTLY - engage the audience members at multiple levels with:
• The narrative • Each other • The characters • The producers - YES, with you too!!!
Here is an example from NBC's Gemini Division, set to start, only online, on August 18:
"While Anna dodges 'sims' and agents from the misterioso outfit Gemini Division, fans are able to log onto the show's web site and get transmissions from Anna's partner in the police department.
Users can be recruited as Gemini agents themselves, then talk to other agents via webcam ..."
Have fun creating - fame and fortune shall follow….
YouTube may have captured the largest video audience, but that doesn't mean there aren't still plenty of niches to exploit. AniBoom is tapping into an impassioned community of video animators to create content that could capture some of that YouTube-sized audience.
AniBoom is different from most other video sites in one important respect: Almost all of its content is created by members. Sites like YouTube are, shall we say, suspected for having content ripped off from other sources.
By comparison, they even have its own software tools: Shapeshifter, that you can use to make professional-quality animation and Micro-Smotion, which can add simple animated tidbits to regular video.
Like other sites, most of the existing content is stuff you wouldn't want to bother watching. AniBoom is counting on what they call “the star factor” — from any large group of people, a few exceptional individuals are bound to come forth.
AniBoom's CEO, Uri Shinar, compares the possibilities of his site by referencing Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who were unknown talents making short clips until a Fox executive groomed them, leading to the hit cartoon South Park. AniBoom attempts to replicate this success in its Creator's Series, although none seems to have had more than a few thousand views.
However, the South Park comparison is apt in more than one way. The Stone and Parker creation that led Fox to contact them was a quirky student animation of Jesus killing a deranged snowman. Many of the videos on AniBoom are similarly odd, to say the least.
The site also runs contests offering cash prizes, which seem to attract quite a few submissions, proving that the world's junior animators are eager for both fame and money.
Although there are other animation sites around, like Crunchyroll, AniBoom is one of the only sites encouraging indie content. Another is MyToons, which just launched. Check them all out!
Google's recent announcement that "Family Guy" creator Seth McFarlane will be creating exclusive content for Google, to be served up as part of its AdSense system demands attention, because:
1. The content is uniquely tied to ad revenue through video pre-rolls, post-rolls, or overlays.
2. The content is from a proven creator of programming.
3. There is a significant budget associated with creating the content for "Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy," a collection of 50 two-minute episodes. Production cost is purported to be in the multimillions.
4. The ever elusive "what's the business model?" question appears to be answered in that when a viewer clicks on the video clip, that advertiser pays a fee.
5. Fifth, the general viewer make-up for this content is better known than is usually the case. This makes it possible to push the content to where the viewer is, instead of creating a presence to which interested viewers must go.
The notion (and the allure) that there may be a way to offer one piece of content that is associated with a number of advertisers for those two minutes is enormous. What does a time-slice mean when you can do that? Instead of being able to only sell, say three spots, if the content is syndicated to 50 sites, that's 150 slices for ad placement (pre-roll, overlay, and post-roll).
As a video creator and advertiser, wouldn't you be tempted to place that bet?
So the "where's the business model," "the content looks crappy," "you don't own the content" musings are rapidly turning into very well-thought-out approaches — and these notions are going to become meaningless in very short order. So I hope.
An upgraded robot developed by General Electric Fanuc and Nuvation Research can beat most human air hockey players, its developers claim.
A video system that tracks the puck's position sends coordinates to a special PC board every 10 milliseconds. So far, the robot has defeated every human opponent when running in 32-bit mode, averaging three times as many goals as human players. The algorithm's success resulted from revising its strategy whenever a goal was scored against it.
So the bot revises its strategy but we humans don’t … what does this tell us???
Seesmic’s video service is specifically about enabling asynchronous video conversations for you. That means, in plain English, off-line recording of your message or reply for your video chat. They are also about to add slew of new features, including private groups, the option to block individual users from your Seesmic player, and letting users flag offensive content (e.g. porn).
While search is a currently a big problem for them, they plan to address it in several ways:
(1) Give you the option of adding meta-data to your videos (description, tags, etc.) (2) Employ automated audio-to-text software to create transcripts, and (3) Since Seesmic videos are already on Google, enable you to use Google Video search.
With apps for both Facebook and OpenSocial slated to be released in August, Seesmic hopes to draw more teen and college-age users.
One of the problems with following conversations on Seesmic is that unlike text, there isn't a way to skim through video. Some people just take longer to get their point across. Assuming a 2-minute per video average, a conversation involving 60 posts/replies would take two hours to view from start to finish. Pierre Omidyar, a board member, started a Seesmic thread on the possibility of limiting videos to 30 seconds (a la twitter), but for the moment, there are no plans for that. But there are plans for tools to filter out long videos and to display limited portions for faster viewing.
One month after their public launch, here are some key metrics:
• 23,000 unique users from 25 countries (about 50% are from the U.S.) • 3,000 videos are uploaded each day (total of slightly more than 300K videos) • Average length of a video is 2 minutes • 30 million page views (doesn't include videos viewed through their API) - VERY IMPRESSIVE!
The Seesmic community not only provides valuable input for the product team, they have also put together impressive mashups and visualizations.
for people conversing in sign language, and a visual of conversations related to the recently released French hostage, Ingrid Betancourt. If you download the PicLens http://milliondollarwebtv.com/makeitvblog/?p=261
Firefox plugin, a Seesmic user created a fun tool to help you quickly navigate all the videos posted by a particular user: try this sample search ("junemarshall") and set options to 3D Wall. Seesmic has, very wisely, partnered with a number of web services, to enable you to make the most of your video chats:
Disqus makes your comments more interactive for readers and easier to manage for you — all while connecting your community with other blogs.
FriendFeed keeps you up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing. It offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends.
NetVibes lets individuals assemble all-in-one place their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, email accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the Web.
ShoZu use ShoZu to instantly post your camera phone videos to Seemsic. Simply capture the moment, and with a click, post your blog quality or full res (up to 10MB in size!) video to your Seesmic community. Why wait until you're back in front of a computer to post your videos?
SproutBuilder is the quick and easy way for anyone to build, publish, and manage widgets, mini-sites, mashups, banners and more.
Twhirl allows users to access the Twitter service directly from their desktop, and also cross post to other services like Pownce and Jaiku.
WordPress is a semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.
Zong is the only web service that enables you to create and launch mobile services in 10 countries in under 10 minutes and generate revenues from each transaction.
I’ll report back to you on some of these as I check them out.
MOLV, a shorthand for MObile LiVe is one of the latest ventures that attempts to make streaming live videos from your phones to the web "pretty simple." All you need is a data connection and MOLV client installed on your mobile phone. MOLV works over 3G, EDGE or WiFi.
"There are over 2 billion mobile phones* world wide. The things we could do with a mobile phone is no longer making calls and sending texts. It has changed a lot in the past years. Like streaming live video with audio to the masses right from your mobile phone. MOLV is working to open up this possibility for everyone. Now you don't need expensive equipment and TV stations to make your voice heard and share your life with the world. MOLV makes video streaming from mobile phones so easy, you just install a small piece of software to your phone and are ready to go live!"
* except most of them not video enabled....
The other companies that have ventured into live video streaming from mobile phones to date are Qik and Flixwagon. The major issue these two companies have had is their failure to provide support for a vast variety of mobile phones. I don't see how MOLV will overcome this problem, along with broadcast quality, instant editing, and other issues.
Where are we? First, give your viewer a hint - establish your shot.
Establishing shots do exactly what their name implies – establish a scene’s setting. Many scenes begin with such shots to show the audience where the action will take place. For instance, before showing a student and professor speaking after class, you might want to establish the scene with a shot of the particular building or university. Due to web video's inherently short nature, establishing shots are becoming less and less common in made-for-the-web productions. But if the setting of a scene is unclear, you still might want to throw one in to clarify – that is, unless you want to keep your audience deliberately in the dark. Especially useful if you are a politician!
No matter how short your final video ends up, you should always shoot multiple takes of key scenes. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most basic is that you can’t always tell in the viewfinder if the shot looks like you want it to. If you get a few takes, you’ll have a much better chance of success. In addition, shooting a scene in one take means you only have one type of shot. It’s very possible that the scene would look better at a slightly different angle or with the actor stressing a different syllable in one of his lines. Of course you shouldn’t shoot every shot multiple times, because that would waste time and tape. But if you have a complicated scene with a lot of room for error, multiple takes can save you from reshoots later on.
HotPluto is a new website that offers businesses, big and small, a place to promote their products and services with their web video ads, infomercials, and testimonials.
Vetting Your Video
A cool aspect - IF it catches on - is HotPluto's ability to create a personal connection between advertisers and their viewers. The way this works for you as an advertiser is that you can receive and measure consumer acceptance by the tally of their votes and comments on your video, in return for incentivizing them with online coupons.
That means you now have a very inexpensive way to tweak your message until it hits the "I love it!" blockbuster status. All the while you can direct traffic to your site, so you won't lose out on potential sales.
The steps to use the HotPluto site are easy:
1. Sign up 2. Upload your video(s) 3. Choose the appropriate category(ies) (how many categories you can choose is based on your Service Package) 4. Create your business profile 5. Keep track of your ratings 6. Tweak your video till it hits the bullseye
Your videos are automatically placed in HotPluto's Video Ad Directory where consumers also shop for the products and services. Providing feedback also assures that they will make informed decisions on their purchases and develop a stronger comfort level when making purchases from advertisers like you.
You don’t have a video ad? The alternative image upload process allows you to create a Slide-Show using your images. If you need professional assistance in creating your ad, please contact our team and we will discuss our affordable solutions with you.
For Macsters, here is creative photo and video sharing service I've come across very recently, that extends what you can do with iPhoto, iTunes, and Photo Booth: mix your photos, videos, and music with animated designs you can email, post to a website or blog, or print.
Smilebox is a free service with premium upgrades for print, more music choices, and ad-free playbacks.
Here is a quick rundown on the features:
- Photos, videos, and music: Combine your photos, videos and music, and share them inside animated, interactive designs.
- iPhoto and iTunes integration: Easily drag and drop your photos and videos from iPhoto and Photo Booth directly into Smilebox. You can also easily add your music from iTunes. No plug-ins and no lengthy uploads required.
- Professionally designed content for every occasion: Smilebox's catalog has more than 700 digital scrapbooks, slideshows and greeting, with new designs released each week. Smilebox has partnered with the leaders in digital design including Hallmark, Making Memories, K and Company, DigiChick, Sweet Shoppe and more. Cool!
- Interactivity: Your recipients can click on photos to enlarge them, turn pages, control the speed and flow of their playback.
- Many ways to share: Share your interactive creations via email, post them to a blog, social network or personal website or print pages at home or at a local retail store.
How do you use your cell phone? Don't say you actually talk to someone sometime...because there is an ever-increasing number of companies and media purveyors that are hoping that you don't want to do something as mundane as communicating by voice with another person.
In the latest group of announcements between movies and mobile, we see Spike Lee hooking up with Nokia to "direct a movie made with cell phone footage from everyday people."
Next up is Paramount and Motorola who've announced that they will be working together to bring Paramount films to Moto phones via side-loading (download to PC and move to mobile).
Original content in a short-form format created specifically for the mobile screen is not new, of course. But a high-profile director and a unique spin on the method of acquisition ("everyday people providing the content") might probably be intriguing enough to result in some measurable uptick in activity for Nokia (we'll see); it certainly worked to BMW's advantage when "The Hire" series debuted online, each episode directed by acclaimed motion picture directors.
All the historical questions, while they are still in play, are starting to become irrelevant. Questions such as: Do people care if they are watching content on a phone? Will they watch on a phone? Will they watch long-form content or only short-form? Will they watch on a phone that is also a mobile device or will the majority of people actually not try to overload their mobile device (phone-centric) but, rather, watch it on a personal device (iPod)?
More importantly, do you care? Does this matter? Certainly these trials -- attempts -- experiments -- however you call them, are happening. And what's even more intriguing is how mobile set providers are now morphing their identity to include terms such as media management, rich media capable, and content delivery network aware.
But beyond the distribution of long-form motion pictures on cell phones, beyond the employment of big-name motion picture directors to create original content for the very small screen, there are some other applications that will represent true innovation and freshness.
Citizen-journalist or user-generated content activity, which results in content being captured and uploaded to television stations or Web sites, is but one area where a smart phone equipped with a camera and wireless connection can make content available on a worldwide basis almost instantaneously.
What if you really wanted to go to an event but just couldn't get there? Maybe it's distance that prevents you from attending. Maybe you just couldn't get a ticket. But it's an event that you would love to see. And why not see it from a unique point of view? What if some people in the audience were capturing video from the event, and all of that video became available to you? What if you could experience that event uniquely to you because you get to choose what you see from the vast number of ways, angles, stories, that are being covered during that event?
Someone (or some company) -- maybe YOU -- will come along and start to make unique experiences more common as opposed to experimental. Someone -- maybe YOU -- will create a profitable new business out of this opportunity. Will that someone be YOU?
