Create Your Own Digital Movies

A Way to Get Your Old Home Movies Digitized for Only $15 a Tape!

2009-12-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

Featured in the NYTimes today is a company called Pixorial that will take your VHS tapes (or several other sorts of analog video media) and digitize them for $15 each.

Then Pixorial will put them on a password-protected part of the company’s Web site.

You can use Pixorial’s simple editing tools to cut the master tape down.

Read more at the NYTimes

New iMovie Features from Apple Announced at MacWorld Today

2009-01-06T21:02:00.001-08:00

Apple announced lots of new features for all the content creation tools in iLife today, but the most exciting for personal movie making may be the new Travel Maps.

Learn more here.

FInally: A Terrific How-To Site for Lighting

2008-12-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

One of the questions I am asked most frequently is how to light. Since I'm not an expert on lighting, I usually try to duck the question and refer people to a better resource.

Now the perfect resource is here. It's Lowel.com, where you will find lots of fantastic diagrams and resources to help you situation by situation find out how to do professional quality lighting. Of course, it's from a manufacturer of lighting equipment, but...I think the company should be applauded (and patronized) for its fabulous how to light site.

The site includes really useful extras, like an interactive feature that shows you exactly what effect certain lighting positions have on your subject. It's like being given the key to the secret language of light that cinematographers know.

You may not need to really know how to light this well, but I find it very exciting that I have a place to refer to should I need to know this skill. Enjoy!

StoryTlr: The All in One Place Place

2008-11-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Do you have a twitter comment, a few photos, and a video about the same day or event or topic? And yet all these pieces are in separate places on the web...unless you have storytlr.com, a nice place to pull them altogether. See here:

Or just go to www.storytlr.com. Kinda nifty.

Vuclip - Send ANY video to ANY cell phone

2008-11-13T15:00:00.001-08:00

Could VuClip be the next YouTube?

Read about them in ReadWriteWeb or just to their web site and see what it's all about.

The only thing I don't like (and it's small) is that they don't have a viral video I could post here for you to learn more right here.

They Shoot Home Movies, Don't They?

2008-11-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

You gotta read David Pogue's column today about Why We Shoot Home Movies.

Poladroid

2008-10-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Do you remember Polaroids? Well a new software application, Poladroid, lets you take your digital photos and turn them into Polaroid-like images.

It simulates the old Polaroid experience by making the photos like this:

Official POLADROID demo video - v0.9.5
by paul_ladroid

Might be fun to pop a few of these into some video.

Poladroid is free at http://www.poladroid.net/

YouTube101.TV Blog

2008-10-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

I spoke yesterday at a conference in San Francisco called BizTechDay and that sparked a new blog where I've been posting information specifically focused on the needs of small businessese who need to use web video. If that sounds interesting to you, check it out at YouTube101.tv.

YouTube: Video Interactivity (Just Like The Old Days, Only Better)

2008-10-02T14:06:00.001-07:00

In the olden times of CD-ROMs, people were pretty excited about video interactivity and by this I mean being able to let people make selections on screen while a video is playing.

Thanks to Google's acquisition of Omnisio this summer, you can now do easy video interactivity using these features on YouTube.

Because they call it video annotations, a lot of people might miss out on how exciting this feature can be. (Annotations makes it sound like a homework assignment footnote or something.) But it's way cool, as you can see in this here video:

Want to know how to use it yourself? Get started here:

For more specific instructions, see the YouTube Help page for Video Annotations. I wish they had their own how-to video about using these features, but...for better or for worse, the way of YouTube HQ is to let users make the how to videos about their features. Viva la community.

Do It Yourself News Coverage: AmTrekker

2008-10-02T10:32:00.001-07:00

Sometimes people think making videos requires a boatload of gear and a crew of people. Not so, of course, and no one could better illustrate the simple rig you need these days to make videos than this remarkable fellow. See the video and be sure to visit his site at www.amtrekker.com.

I like his lifetime list - and how he's acting on it! Talk about self actualization.

Live Streaming Video from Your Cell Phone: Wow

2008-10-01T09:22:00.001-07:00

Right now it only works with Nokia, and with specific Nokia phones, but it's really amazing. Got some real eyebrow-raising attention at Streaming Media conference. For good reason.

It's About Time: YouTube Goes to a Gig

2008-09-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

YouTube just upped the size of video files users cab upload from 100 meg to 1 gig. Which puts it more in line with competitors.

Streaming Media Conference Product Pick #1: Caption Sync

2008-09-29T21:40:00.001-07:00

Just back from KM World/Streaming Media conference, where hundreds of people gathered to see the latest and greatest.

One product worth mentioning is CaptionSync, automated captioning for your videos.

They can also provide transcription services.

UC Berkeley is one of their clients.

Many government agencies are required to put captions on video, and have been unable to comply with that requirement when it comes to web video.

Captioning also increases search retrievability of video content.

There's a good list of client samples of using their service here.

Google Video Unveils New Video Hosting Feature in Google Apps

2008-09-03T10:03:00.001-07:00

Google announced a new video hosting feature this week as part of the Google Apps Premier Edition suite of services, which sells for $50 per year per user. The service is targeted at businesses.

This is the very topic - using business internal videos - I will be talking about at KM World, so I'm happy to be able to show you even more support for video distribution. In the past Google Video would host your video for free and make it unsearchable. However, that isn't the same as private and secure.

The new service lets you:
• Upload videos for viewing securely and privately
• Search the video library
• Permission videos for individuals to view (if you want to)
• Rate videos
• View highest rated and most popular videos in the library
• Move from scene to scene, using thumbnails below the video to navigate directly to specific segments or images

Where the new service really shines, and sets itself apart from the crowd, and really provides value worth paying for are in collaboration features.

The collaboration features include:
• Enables users to make comments or add feedback on specific scenes (i.e. the information here isn't correct or needs to be modified or is super helpful)
• Ability to embed (while still maintaining permission rights - that's a biggie) in web pages

On the other hand, YouTube still offers plain vanilla FREE video hosting service, with private video sharing for up to 25 users invited by you. But it doesn't offer the added features for collaboration nor the cachet or team-building fun of having your own group video area.

Watch this video to how some business and government users describe the benefits of the new Google video hosting service and what's included:

This should be a total win for businesses, who were so often overly challenged by trying to get a broadband video hosting solution. It was complicated, horrible, and unpredictable in the past trying to purchase a solution. (Been there, done that, have the teeshirt, etc.) The Google solution will work for a number of companies who thought that getting a video hosting contract was too complicated, time consuming and expensive. And IT may be relieved that it doesn't have to be involved, except to vet security.

For all the details on the Google Video for Business service, click here.

(To repeat, the $50 a year licensing fee (per user) includes a large number of features, of which the video hosting is just one of the components.)

This is a great solution for groups who want to have their own video nest for a low cost.

Educational groups will be able to use a special version for education which will be free through March and will then cost $10 per user after the initial period.

More FLIP Love: Put It Anywhere

2008-08-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Because it's so light and so basic, the Flip camcorder allows you to mount the camera in many places you'd never think of putting a more expensive or larger unit.

Here's a great example, "Rollerblading with Smalley the Jack Russell Terrier":

Details

FLIP MINO

2008-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's read my book (Create Your Own Digital Movies) knows just how big a fan of the Flip I am. (In this photo, taken a year ago, my godson Henry (age 5) is holding his Flip, which he uses to make movies.)

With the new Mino, there's even more to get excited about.

I upgraded to a Mino this week and should tell you some details about using the new phone.

First, read the review from the Wall Street Journal. I don't think you have to be cool-set oriented to want a Mino, so just ignore the headline.

The only thing FLIP does poorly is show you how to use it. Of course, it's pretty easy to figure out just by noodling around, which is its strength, but I only discovered how it zooms by reading the All Things Digital review (link above).

The most important thing to know is that if you use a Mac (and I always recommend that you do, if you can), you will need to get Quicktime Pro ($30) to edit your FLIP video files. No biggie. (Unless you don't know.)

I was wandering around on Flickr and came across this video of a dyed in the wool skeptic who starts to use the FLIP (found on Flickr), lists all of her reservations (which are many) and finally, at the end, says the Flip is great!

To read comments about the video, visit it on Flickr.

Classes Starting In Sept. in Fairfax

2008-08-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'll be teaching two new classes in Sept. in Fairfax.

YOUTUBE101 - INTRO
Sept. 20, Saturday, 10 am - 1 pm, $30, The Natural Space (near Frog's)

Curious about using YouTube? Come find out how to make and post videos on YouTube. You'll learn about how to make videos using a video camcorder or no camera at all, what web video camera to get (the Flip from PureDigital) and more!

Future classes during the fall will feature other aspects of making personal videos.

I will also be teaching a class on making green videos Sept. 27 from 10-1 at the same location.

YouTube - The Documentary

2008-08-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Finally someone has gone where no man dared to go before...and that is straight to the anthropological heart of YouTube.

The acclaimed YouTube anthropologist Michael Wesch - who's first YouTube video (The Machine Is Us/Ing Us) got more than 7 million hits and explained to most of us what Web 2.0 is - had his moment of glory in front of the Library of Congress in July.

Even though this video is 55 minutes, you won't want to miss a single minute once you start watching. Catch it here!

Shwup.com - Video Collaboration Site

2008-07-23T23:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to share videos with friends and family? Or pool yours together? It's an awkward frustrating process on Flickr (which only covers photos) and you'll get more than a few frantic emails from friends who just can't fathom the site's convoluted signup, cumbersome registration process, and confusing UI.

Enter Shwup.

Shwup let's you share privately online. And collaborate. I upload, you upload and we can jointly edit our stuff together.

Shwup.com which launched in June brings us all closer to video collaboration. Read more about it in this review.

Radiohead - They're Just So Darned Digital

2008-07-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

I don't go to the home page of YouTube very often, but today I did, in search of something else. That's where I saw that Radiohead's newest music video was out - and it uses no cameras or lights to make these images. Very interesting. Have a look.

Now see the making of...

Sagas.com: Get Your Family Video for Only $399!

2008-07-16T11:31:00.001-07:00

I consulted a year ago to this pioneering video company Sagas.com.

Now they've got some samples up on YouTube to show people the work that they do in making family interview videos. With their network of 2,000 videographers around the country, they can send a video interviewer to visit almost anyone.

Here's one I did with Mark Eveslage as a sample for the company.

To see more examples of Sagas interviews, check out their posts on YouTube here.

Whilte they are simple, they are also cheap to buy. Video interviews for your family history archives - they're not just for the rich and famous any more!

And of course there is no limit in using Sagas.com for family history - your company or organization can hire a videographer from Sagas for the one-hour interview for any type of content.

If you have other needs, Sagas.com can help video longer pieces, too. But the $399 one-hour deal is a great thing to know about. Wouldn't that make a great present for someone's 40th, 50th, or 90th birthday?

Cisco Live - Video Blogging for Conference Attendees

2008-07-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Even though it's a big corporation, few companies are doing as much to move the world forward to video literacy than Cisco.

Here's own Cisco used video blogging at its recent Cisco Live event to get feedback from attendees...

Imagine the possibilities in other settings and venues...like in your world, even.

Can video go social?

2008-07-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's such a great idea - and yet so far it hasn't found a home other than YouTube. I'm talking about the online video conversation - and it's found a new home at Seesmic.com. I think it's pretty darn exciting - something new that could really be a lot of fun and also extremely helpful.

See it now.

How Low Can You Go?

2008-07-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Time was when those bad boy couch interviews were all the rage - and only for college students (you know the ones I'm talking about). Now, they're sort of like The New Standard. Those hipsters over at Wired are getting into some very simple video production techniques that make me encourage lots more people to get real about web video.

You don't need a highly polished video, but it helps to have a little sizzle in your branding and identity graphics. Once you've got a sparky little video opener, see how plain jane the actual video part can be.

This is good news for people who want to look professional - and do video on a regular basis (which I really encourage) - and yet have no budget. Or a very little one.

Make once, use many - for the video opener - is a good way to go and will save you a lot of time and energy. See what I mean - right here.

Here's another very simple video - not a whole lot to it, but it does have actual edits and slo-mo. But again, I am showing you this here to emphasize how very simple your web videos can be!

It's a Lot Like a Video - Without All That Muss and Fuss

2008-07-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Flowgram is a new company that's about to put out something that's called a Screencast - it's basically a slide show with audio - that's very very easy to make using some really simple tools on their site.

Basically you can take your photos or web pages, add your own narration and voila - your flowgram is done.

The process and the product are better than the word flowgram would lead you to believe.

It's sort of like a step up from a PowerPoint world and a step below iMovie or iPhoto.

Go to their site now to sign up to be notified when it's ready for you to try it out in your own test ride.

Get the real info - and see what a FlowGram is - on their blog.

As if EBay Now Came in a Video Version - with (real) funding from Amazon!

2008-06-10T09:55:00.001-07:00

This is one of the more interesting companies I have seen that's taking video to a whole new level.

On Talk Market, individuals and small businesses post videos about their products. Think of it as the Home Shopping Network - Ebay on steroids - but for micro-content. Amazon bought a chunk of the company yesterday.

Talk Market may be the killer ap that YouTube has never managed to be - video with a business model.

My favorite Talk Market moment was visiting the site today and the first ad that came up was for a pendant that says "Corporate America Sucks." Not that most of the items are so alternative. But it's freestyle - just like EBay. And there's gold in them thar hills. Perhaps Talk Market will also be the killer ap where everyone suddenly finds they need to learn how to make a video to unload all that junk in their garage! :)

P.S. If you're interested in more of this kind of micro-marketing style, check out etsy.com, another site du jour, where artisans offer handmade crafts. (No video yet, but...)

Current TV Video How To: Evolution Extraordinaire

2008-05-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

I blogged about Curent TV's producer training online when it first debuted 2 years ago. I just checked back in this week to see its current state and am happy to report it's still one of the hippest and most happening places for people to be inspired and learn how to make video news pods online. Current's brand attitude is really fun and engaging. Hipster-ism gone good.

Here, for instance, is Dave Eggers on storytelling.

Nonfiction Films at SF International Film Fest 2008

2008-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

It was not a strong year for documentaries at the SFIFF, with the exception of Errol Morris' new (my rating - *****) Standard Operating Procedure (which I recommend as must-view filmmaking). S.O.P. is a masterpiece - and not only about this particular incident.

The film is equally illuminating about the act of taking pictures and their relationship to truth, for as you will see in the film, many images we read meaning into actually had quite a different context, when the participants' narrative is finally added.

More about Errol Morris and this topic are in this Columbia Journalism Review video:

The docs I did make it to (9 out of the 22) were these:

1. Ice People
Zenlike simplicity...geologists in Antarctica where time moves glacially...and so does this film. That's a positive. Elsewhere I have called this the anti-Anderson, as in the opposite of a flashy CNN Planet in Peril shocktorial on the state of global warming. This is just scientists doing science. Lots of digging and eating camp food. Oh, and sky.

2. Dust
Another Zen-nish eco-topic, this German documentary mixes it up - from fraulein to supernova dust. You will never again use a vacuum cleaner in the same thoughtless way after seeing this film.

3. The English Surgeon

This was a winner - especially the surprising in person appearance of its star, the surgeon himself. Charismatic and genuine, his good deeds should not go unnoticed - nor the continuing need. After seeing open-brain neurosurgery in the Ukraine performed with a Bosch drill, you will never look at the tools department of Home Depot the same way.

Sadly it seems films like this one - which is a real gem - will never be seen in the U.S. except at festivals.

I met the filmmaker and we both lamented the dismal state of distribution today. Even though we should and could see these kinds of films online - for a fee even - distribution has not caught up to market realities, even at the oh so international BBC.

4. Flow: For Love of Water

Water is an important political issue and this film highlights a lot of global drama. But it's a lot of drama and not much about how to cope. You'll cry and then feel powerless and depressed. Is it better to be aware than not? You be the judge.

5. **** Glass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts

This is high-class People magazine profile land and Philip's love life is at least as interesting as his art. It's inspiring and jealousy-arousing to see the lovely life of a successful artist, but his intensity and passion make you less envious. There's no end to the passion - i.e. he never stops working.

Unfortunately there is an end to his marriage, unanwered in the film, until I read a subsequent newspaper article about his new relationship to his new muse, a cellist who bears a remarkable resemblance to the one in the film.

It's an exceptional film. Bravado filmmaking from the start to finish - by Scott Hicks, Australian filmmaker par excellence and director of the acclaimed feature Shine, nominated for 8 Oscars and winning one for its lead actor, also about the life of a musical genius.

How to See: This will be released in theaters soon.

6. A Journey with Peter Sellars

This is a film that makes up for rudimentary filmmaking technique by being a film about one of the most fascinating people in the performing art world and in the political art world. Truly a revolutionary, I have still not yet recovered from Peter Sellars' stellar talk at the 2007 SF festival, so it was a delight to see this film. No release planned, I am sure - it's not commercial in anyway. But it was filled with revelations about art and its role, and much more, much of it inexplicable and chewy ideas for thinking about later. Perhaps we will be lucky enough to be able to buy it on DVD and give it to friends.

7. The Judge and the General

Another film that makes up for low budget by being about something important and life-changing - the final determination by Chile's legal system that Pinochet really did do bad. His bad unfortunately didn't catch up with him until after his death, but the man who finally overcame the military's resistance to lead the country into some healing is the subject of this film. The most moving aspect was that the judge himself appeared in person - which led to a standing ovation and many heartfelt tears of relief and joy - that truth can win out in the end.

How to See: Coming soon to a PBS television station near you.

8. Up the Yangtze

We all know the Yangtze River dam is a travesty - and one that has global implications, creating an actual bulge in the planet's gravity. But this film, while entertaining and winner of the Golden Gate documentary prize, the top award for nonfiction films in the festival, is not a great film. Beautifully shot, and gorgeously scored, it is an example of great craft and confused narrative, but so well done you may not in fact notice the confusion.

Definitely recommended, but think upon it afterwards. It has very little to do with the dam. And the potshots at American tourists are kinda cheap. On the other hand, what other film is ever going to show you the Chinese side of the tourist cruise ships that ply the soon to be forgotten Yangtze?

How to See: In theaters soon.

Pogue Flips for the Flip

2008-05-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's only THREE YEARS after I wrote about the Flip Camera, now with 13% of the U.S. market (up from zero when I wrote about it in my book!) but my idol David Pogue has finally gotten around to singing the praises of this very fine little piece of techno-simplicity. (Finally there is a product which can be described using those two words in the same phrase.)

See his video.

Screens Everywhere: Get Ready!

2008-05-14T22:20:00.001-07:00

I went with my friend Susan Davis, diva of digital effects and owner of Paintbox Productions, to see Kevin Kelly speak at the SF International Film Festival 10 days ago on The Future of Cinema. Past years had featured speakers from far away galaxies - like Tilda Swinton from UK (lovely to meet her!) and Peter the American Euro-Culture-Genius Sellars. Both of these talks were utterly memorable and made a big impression on me, so I decided to head into the city on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to take a chance on KK.

Although the talk's venue was in the drastically smaller Clay Theater (compared to the largest theater at Kabuki in years past), the intimacy of the gathering did not diminish or dim the inspiration.

Kevin talked about a few themes in the digitization of everything. (Bravo. This is my theme song.) To summarize - rather drastically - his main points were about what he called the Guttenberg Shift - from a text-based society to a screen-based society which relies on visual images - and especially moving images - as the lingua franca.

Some of the ideas...

1. database movies

Just as Flickr is now the supermarket of building blocks for interestingly themed collections, made by connecting keywords and tags, moving images can become aggregations of disparate yet related moving images.

did you know there are 151,000 photos of the Golden Gate bridge on Flickr already? No need to talk another one. You can relax now.

In my world, it's maybe not about the GGB, but about your grandmother...

2. movies as software

3. democratization in the Guttenberg Shift

KK showed us a pyramid
with hollywood at the top and youtube at the bottom
that means a whole lotta time for people to learn video and make stuff we really want to see

4. personal video newscasts

although people have been promising these for years and years and years, KK showed us the image of The Daily Prophet from the Harry Potter movies as a reminder of what we probably will have...soon. I love TDP and hope it will be there as soon as possible!

5. the web is only 5,000 days old

so we have a lot to look forward to!

if asked to give my own future of cinema address, I personally would talk about what this mashup/mix/soup is doing not only to the length of videos but also to the contents. We are not only impatient with things longer than 2 minutes, but we are now playfully experimenting with mixing up the imagery.

Perhaps the most forward thinking in this department are directors like that Frenchie genius Jean Pierre Jeunet who did Amelie (see his student film here) and Brett Morgan who did the new documentary about the Chicago 10 which blended archival and documentary footage together to make something utterly original.

To those who no longer see one visual context for everything, I say: Hurrah. Bring it on. Let's SEE the possibilities.

Cool Mapping Ap: Great for Your Travel Videos

2007-11-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

Want to generate a custom map of the places (states or countries) you have been? You can get a map of the country or the globe with this free, cool little ap Visited Countries.

Of course, the mapping ap in the book is even cooler (since it generates a video), but this is another nice addition to "fun stuff tools."

The $500 Video Ad!

2007-11-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

Several new services now provide online video ads for small businesses ranging in price from $500 for self service models to $5,o00 for custom ads.

Self Service
EZ Show Ad Builder
Spotrunner.com

Custom
Turn Here
(Owned by Will Hearst)

Video Ads Propel Video Content Creation

2007-11-28T22:15:00.001-08:00

Two recent reports demonstrate how popular and effective online video ads are.

The Kelsey Report (from early 2007) found that 59% of 500 people surveyed had seen a video ad and that 15% of them had bought an item in a video ad. Catch the podcast with Kelsey analyst Michael Boland with the Wall Street Journal.

The Online Publishers Association (OPA) released a study in June 2007 (Frames of Reference) surveying 1,000+ people and found that 80% of people online had seen a video ad. Roughly the same percentage -12% - said they had bought something after viewing a video ad.

The video ads on portals typically command high ad rates of $30 per thousand views because they are so effective. (So far you can't use Tivo to get rid of the online ads!)

Thinking of Using Web Video for Your Business?

2007-11-28T20:15:00.000-08:00

In the original manuscript of Create Your Own Digital Movies, I wrote a chapter about making business videos, but it was cut from the book (due to space limitations).

So...for those of you who are interested in using web video in your business, have a look at a few new articles that appeared this week.

The Wall Street Journal has a feature article this week on how businesses are using web videos: Lights, Camera, Sales!

Meanwhile, nonprofits are also just starting to use web video to promote their causes, according to Philanthropy.com's Nov. 15 article Telling Moving Stories.

A good source to stay current on business video online is Web Video Report which also offers a newsletter.

I also like to subscribe to TV Week's top videos of the week newsletter. The site and the newsletter bring you the top videos on a variety of leading video sites daily.

The most compelling reason to use video is not just to be viral, however. There are many other uses as well, which are often equally important. That will be the topic of a future post!

Tales from a Small Planet a Hit!

2007-11-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

The green film fest in Madison proved to be a real winner. The festival was curated along several different themes - beauties (screened in the art museum), toxics (screened on campus), cartoons and animated images of wildlife and nature (including some rarely seen old films), and more.

The festival opened Friday night with global warming's "poet laureate" Bill McKibben (yes I had my photo taken with him, I'm a big fan of his work and he is married to a college classmate of mine) followed by the debut of the lighthearted global warming documentary feature Everything's Cool.

McKibben's talk was very inspiring, calling upon people to get more involved in global warming activism by learning about StepItUp2007.org, the group he started. Everything's Cool opens in December; visit the film's web site for many different trailers that provide a good introduction to the film - highly recommended!

I could go on and on about the films I saw, but I will save that all for my new blog that will launch in 2008 at GreenSpeak.tv.

In the meantime, enjoy some more shots from the film fest on my flickr feed.

Making Green Films...

2007-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

I have been devoting most of my attention this fall to environmental filmmaking and am actively approaching the launch of a new project and web site: GreeenSpeak.tv. The site will be a web video portal for environmental groups. Look forward to hearing more details soon.

In the meantime, I am heading for the environmental film festival in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend. Learn more about it here.

"iMovie" here for Windows Users!

2007-09-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Adobe has just come out with the easy to use editing software of your dreams - iMovie for Windows. Although it's called Premiere Elements 4, it is actually a clone of iMovie (pre version 8 which has much more functionality than v8).

Hurry to the Adobe web site to learn more. And it's only $100! Download it now for the free trial offer and you will see why it's the program I recommend (instead of MovieMaker by a mile).

Brainiac Mashup: BarCampBlock...and Beyond: Video Types Convene Oct. 12-13

2007-08-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent a precious summer Saturday (sunny even!) at BarCampBlock in Palo Alto to see what all the fuss was about...a geekfest that bills itself as the unconference. Unconference meaning everyone shows up and gets their 30 minutes of demo time or discussion time, etc. etc. for free. The event is free to attend and to present at.

See a collective slide show (courtesy of Flickr) here.

It turned out to be a vibrant, exhausting day - learned a lot, met great people, hung out with people I knew. Where else would I have had the chance to brainstorm social media patterns with the Y! Design Patterns people. It was a great brainiac mashup.

Now what's cool is to discover that a similar event is scheduled to take place in mid October - but even more cool is that it's ONLY about DIGITAL VIDEO. You too can come! Details are here.

Digitally Archiving Yo Stuff

2007-08-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

Interested in family history? Here are two pieces of news you will want to read.

One is the New York Times article "The Record of Your Life As a Digital Archive" published in Circuits Aug. 16, 2007. It lists many great resources for getting your nondigital memories into digital forms from low-cost vendors. I was excited to find out about a place that digitizes slides for cheap.

Secondly, you might be interested in StoryCorps. This is a mobile truck that goes around collecting oral histories. Learn more about them here!

Story Corps

QlipMedia: Easiest Way to Make and Share Online Videos

2007-08-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

I went to BarCampBlock this weekend in Palo Alto where I got a glimpse of this very interesting FREE software that helps you put together pictures and audio as well as markup your photos or screens when they're on the screen.

It's better explained on screen than in words, so check it out here...Click on Why QClip when you get there.

Qlipmedia.com

It's great for making family memory movies...because you can just go through pictures and add your own narration while you are seeing them. You can even circle people as you talk about them.

Qlipmedia then makes your audio and stills into a wmv file which you can edit yourself later or have others edit. Best of all, it posts your wmv file to the web, where you can send a link to others to view it in Flash.

The only downside right now is that Qlip works only on PCs. A Mac version is expected by the end of the year, developers say.

Check it out!

Viddler: WOW

2007-08-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

A very cool new video site! Check it out! You can add tags to your videos and more. A very social site. Great for sharing.

New Resources for Family Memory Movies

2007-06-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Want to get those old VHS videos and home movies onto a DVD or your computer? Try these new services.

Service Bureaus for Converting Your Tapes to Digital

Here are excerpts from the SF Chronicle article The Business of Memory about video companies that can help the home video family memory movie maker.

VideoPickle.com
Digital Pickle will convert a two-hour video into DVD format for $25.

It digitizes still photos as well as home movies.

"Stephen Valentino, a radio host who lives in Marin County, turned to Digital Pickle when thousands of family photographs dating back to the 1800s were damaged during a home remodeling project. For about $9,000, Digital Pickle digitized his photos and repaired much of the damage.

"When I sat my mother down in front of the computer, she was so moved she sat there and cried," Valentino said. "How do you put a price tag on memories? As we say in Yiddish, this was a mitzvah, a blessing, to have all these memories and history intact."

HomeMovie.com
Home Movie, started in 1999, can digitize a two-hour videotape for $5. Customers can then edit their footage on the company's Web site and order DVDs for less than $20.

But the company is counting on a new service called StashSpace, which offers online storage and archiving of videos, to provide the bulk of its revenue. For instance, storing five to 10 hours of video on the site costs $3.99 per month.

"We are really looking for customers to stash their videos with us and have it kept safe -- a remote digital desktop rather than putting it in a safe deposit box," Krumme said.

Yes Video
Greg Ayres, chief operating officer of YesVideo, estimates there are 700 million videotapes sitting in shoe boxes in people's closets. Krumme says that the number could be as high as 5.5 billion if you count tapes of old TV shows as well as home movies.

YesVideo, which also started in 1999, began as a similar online service. But it changed to offer services to brick-and-mortar retailers like Walgreens, Target and Ritz Camera. YesVideo figured that people would be more willing to entrust precious family videos to a familiar retailer that is already processing their still photos.

Videos dropped off at these stores are sent to YesVideo to be converted into a DVD for about $25. (Some Ritz outlets have in-store kiosks that do conversion.) Customers have the option of editing their footage through software that comes on their DVD.

"Because of the whole trust issue, we decided to leverage the photo industry, since the trust is already there," YesVideo's Ayres said.

Pictureal
Pictureal, the relative newcomer of the three, is a Web service that offers automated editing. The firm claims its technology can sift through video footage, eliminate errors and scenes with little action, and provide a final product that looks good without hours of editing. Their higher prices -- $99 to convert three hours of video into one DVD -- reflect that service.

"We shine at taking a large amount of video and editing it into something manageable," said Art Schram, a product manager for Pictureal. "People can send us their stuff and get something nice out of it, without doing much work, at a reasonable price point."

These companies are all angling for the attention of consumers like 70-year-old Bernadette Tapella of Sunnyvale. She had a dozen 500-foot reels of 8mm family movies going back as far as her wedding in 1959. "We didn't take snapshots, we took movies," she explained.

Tapella and her husband, Charles, still own a movie projector. But they hadn't used it in 20 years because it is such a hassle to set up. So last year, she took a couple of the reels into Walgreens for digitization by YesVideo. It wasn't cheap, about $60 per reel, so she converted a few reels at a time. This summer, she bit the bullet and did the last six for about $300.

Tapella has no regrets.

"Watching our wedding, you think, 'Omigod, were we ever that young?' " she said. "And you see people who are gone now. Even the ones who haven't died looked so much younger. Reminiscing was the best part, and seeing people we hadn't seen for years. At the time, you think, 'I'm never going to forget this,' but you do.

"If you have old movies, do it, because otherwise you'll lose all that," she said. "I think it's wonderful. I am really happy we did it."

For more information, read:

The Business of Memory

The NEW Best Video Tutorials on the Internet

2007-05-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Acceptable.tv has just launched a new web site with video programs they created and with the idea that user-generated content will fuel their program pipeline. But at least they (unlike so many other sites, including YouTube and GoogleVideo) are DOING something to help users.

These tutorials are the hottest thing I've found online - and entertaining to boot. Enjoy!

Classes Starting in May!

2007-04-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Want to learn how to make videos? I will be starting to teach in various Bay Area locations (Oakland, Berkeley, SF/Pacific Heights, Marin and South Bay) starting in May. Check out the new web site!

SF Film Fest: Docs To Watch

2007-04-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

What looks hot:
Fog City Mavericks: a documentary about the big feature film directors of the Bay Area.
Spike Lee: talking at the Castro - and you can finally see When The Levees Broke on the big screen
Walter Murch: a new documentary premieres about "the editor's editor." Murch was also the first to edit a major motion picture using Final Cut Pro.
Heddy Honigman: an in-person tribute to this documentary filmmaker from Holland; her new film about Pere Lachaise cemetary in Paris will show, too

Fave Raves: Supercool New Video Web Sites

2007-04-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

I am so happy whenever I find a really cool video site to see that life on the video internet. I've been SO loving TED Talks - I listen to at least one or two of these each week and get so inspired. And I really looking forward to checking out the new Fora.tv site which has a lot of great speakers, too.

These both make life way better than talk radio.

Three other sites popped on my radar this week, a few of them thanks to the list of SXSW web award winners. I'll share a few with you here.

Life on Terra is one of the best new video web sites. This exciting environmental program features films on hot topics from around the world in a very intriguing weave. It ultimately didn't win but was a big contender for one of the SXSW awards. (An abundance of riches...)

Two interesting sites that did win are SocialSaga.com (People's Choice award), an indie site, and HowDoISayThis.com (Student award) from MTVu and Cisco.

Another site I like is from a new startup in Berkeley - again, more social network video stuff. It's called Dabble.com and I'd describe it as YouTube meets Netflix. See what you think.

Oh, and in case you missed this site, another one I like (and blogged about elsewhere) is called www.turnhere.com. I prefer the Classic Version of their site. It's like Google Video meets Google Maps...sort of.

Even A Five Year Old Can Make Videos

2007-04-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

At Christmas, I was in Costco and came across this totally simple camcorder, which I bought, partly because I was intrigued, and partly as an experiment, giving it to my five year old godson to see if he could really use it.

The verdict is in: not only can he use it, he is making videos.

I have never seen a simpler camcorder. Now I am even tempted to get one for myself.

It only records 30 minutes of video; the video is VHS quality (not as good as miniDV camcorders). The recorder is tapeless - you upload through the USB port on your computer. It comes with painless, easy to use (really E-Z) software for emailing and posting your videos.

It's recently been enhanced so you can upload your videos directly to YouTube.

Check it out on the manufacturer's site: Pure Digital.

The HD Camcorder for Under $1,000

2007-01-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

I just attended Frederic Haubrich's presentation at the MacWorld Users Conference on The Future of Digitial Video. The French born director gave a good overview of the state of the art of HD. In the Q and A portion of the presentation, Hubrich recommended not even buying a standard definition video camera if you want to reach the professional market. Wow.

Both Sony and Canon have consumer (not prosumer) camcorders in the market. My friend Mark Eveslage, a cinematographer, and I checked out the Canon HD10 at the Canon booth - it's small, lightweight, friendly - but there's ONE thing that's missing and that's a jack for an external mike. You could get around that by using a separate audio recorder, but it seems just since chintzy on the part of the manufacturers. Canon's excuse is that this is what Sony does, too. Well, maybe, but is that really an excuse? No word yet on when an HD camcorder will be out for under $1k that does have an input for your microphone.

You can experience this user conference session online for only $5. Check macworldencore.com to purchase any user conference session (audio, ppt and some have video) for this incredible low price.

MacWorld: What's New in Video?

2007-01-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

Digita video took a huge backseat to digital photography at MacWorld this year. But of course mobile movies will soon be in vogue, with the announcement of the specatularly beautiful iPhone.

The perfect mobile movies platform, after seeing Steve Jobs' keynote, I raced out of the auditorium to register mobilemovies.tv! Maybe someday that will be the place to learn how to make The Best Mobile Movies.

On other fronts, I've been having fun hanging out and catching up with my media and digital buddies - Maggie Hallahan (see www.maggiehallahan.com) who is talking at the Digital Photography area at the conference. She was part of the Iceland Lightroom Project shoot sponsored by Adobe in 2006 and her photos are simply stunning! She will be offering women's photography workshops in Iceland. It was also fun hanging out with my digital creativity pals Eloise and Rachel. (Photos to come).

Most fun of all was David Pogue's fabulous presentation this morning. Check out his hilarious song parodies at davidpogue.com to experience some of the MacWorld spirit.

World Knowledge

2006-12-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

Cindy Gordon's excellent presentation from KMWorld factoid:

1. World knowledge was doubling every 12 months as recently as a year ago. Today world knowledge is doubling at a rate of every 7 months.

2. Storytelling is a powerful technique for cutting through the resulting attention deficit economy. We can't absorb facts as easily and well as we can absorb stories.

Listen yourself to the online presentation.

Smarter, Wiser...and Tired

2006-10-31T21:55:00.000-08:00

I've been attending KM World's KM Conference, Intranets Conference and the Streaming Media conference in San Jose (Oct. 31 - Nov. 2) where I've been moderating collaboration tools presentations for one day and running to stellar presentations the other two days.

Conferences are a love/hate thing. Heaven is learning, hell is info overload - same coin, two sides. A lot of the conference keynotes are available online. I recommend these in particular:

STREAMING MEDIA CONFERENCE

-Big Media is here at Streaming Media, touting the various new business models they hope will keep them afloat once the Web 2.0 video surge expands beyond MySpace teens and college students.

AOL Video is coming on strong, thanks to its extensive library from Time Warner. Comcast and NBC were also there with strong presentations. To me the most interesting presenter was a senior exec Ron (I'll have to look up his name) from Fox, which, surprisingly to me, seemed to have the most interesting and to my mind most successful strategy - which is, namely, to create neighborhood hubs. For instance, a high school would have a web site on Fox online where users could post their videos from various sports events for instance.

-Youtube has 1,000:1 ratio - i.e. 1,000 consumers to every one uploader (and uploader aren't really creators, for the most part, on youtube) so one could say the video creator era has yet to really begin.

-Word of the day: "me-trepreneur" (individual as entrepreneur)

-Fordham Law School is piohneering in using online video. as the former pr guy who is working with them to launch video on their site says, "my clients used to want to do anything to get on tv. now i tell them they can have their OWN tv channel."

-Speech recognition (or "speech reco" as the podzinger rep put it) is turning out to be more critical for video indexing and searching than probably most people would have imagined...and there is no single solution that is reliable enough to be deployed yet...

-Click.tv is pretty nifty (video with scrollable transcription)

BEST CONFERENCE AP I LEARNED ABOUT
Motionbox.com is pretty cool - snip and share.
We still need a good online editing site.

STREAMING MEDIA TAKEAWAY FOR ME

-No one is really understanding how important teaching video content creation skills is for the success of all of the video sites now clamoring to be your online video channel. It seems like a remarkable oversight. A few sites are good - current.tv - and bbc channel 4 (referenced in previous posts here.)

INTRANETS/KM WORLD

Iupload is a pretty nifty product (content syndication ap) - you can even create community newspapers for micro communities. I plan to check it out and perhaps recommend it to some clients.

FROM ALL CONFERENCES

-The video revolution on the web is taking off So Much Faster than I expected. A year ago, video blogging was an oddity. This year we have the Vloggies Awards. Viva the changes.

Users "LUV" Video, Conference Frenzy

2006-10-31T07:04:00.000-08:00

I have been working with a large financial services company over the last 18 months on their intranet. While I have worked on many different types of content during this engagement (as blog coach, new media and podcast evangelist, etc.), one of my major interests has been evangelizing the use of videos to liven up a lackluster web site.

So I am happy to announce that last week, our first interview talk show video debuted, and immediately, within one week, more than 25% of the people with access to the intranet site watched it...unprecedented in the history of this multimillion dollar, sophisticated (IT-wise) web site. Yes, content counts. And video provides an engagement with the audience like no other medium.

I'll be leaving this company soon (my time there is coming to an amicable end) and will be re-establishing my own company again - in part, with a focus on providing video for intranets consulting services. (And other interests which cannot be mentioned here).

This week I am attending the Intranets, KM World and Streaming Media conferences this week in San Jose and will share what's up there on this blog.

New Docs to Watch: Fall 2006

2006-09-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

The new film The US Versus John Lennon is another great new documentary feature about to hit theaters (I saw an advance screening last night - 9/25). You can see the trailer here. Listen to an interview about this story on Fresh Air or visit the Jon Wiener (author of the book much of the movie is based on) site here.

Not only is this an extremely well crafted film (hit at Venice Film Festival and well deserved), it also exemplifies the art of the succinct sound bite. You'll notice throughout the film just how short the interview segments are. It's only conjecture, but I would think that the subjects may have been directed quite a bit to come up with such short, discrete statements. Just one more reminder of how important it is to work with your talent during the shoot. This tack is the opposite one to the verite purists like Fred Wiseman (who appeared recently in SF), but makes for better commercial success.

Remarkable about the John Lennon film is the sudden realization for those of us who lived through this period that a whole generation of film goers were not alive during Lennon's era; this film is history for them. History?! Sigh. Well, it's good "history" to know.

One of the film's producers (Lazin) is the former head of MTV; the rest of those behind this Yoko-sanctioned film are probably also very experienced pros.

The only quibble people might have is the reductionist scope of the project - i.e. Lennon's saintly image is enhanced by his widow, at the expense of a more well-rounded, realistic angel-devil profile. But it IS very, very inspiring to see the political through-line denuded of any conflicting story lines (i.e. heroin, the lost weekend years, etc.). Just what a U.S. audience needs to hear at this time in the arc of Bush's span. Many of the lines from Nixon/Vietnam are, of course, identical to what we are told today. The more things change...

Of course, the bottom line in this film is that truth will out, and in doing so, uniquely in this story, the whole house of cards fell down. One wonders how many years it will take for the current generation of Bush advisors to meet their destiny.

Maybe the best documentary of the year (at least so far) for me is Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke. Stylistically it didn't break new ground, but it told a story no one else captured in a way no one who watched it can forget. See the HBO site where there's an interview with Spike Lee (available as a podcast version, too - see your iTunes podcast listings for HBO Docs; they don't seem to advertise the audio on the film site) and a trailer, or read an article about the film on Wikipedia (highly recommended).

Stylistically, this is a film that relies on the well told story, and also probably had quite a bit of directing during interviews. It depends on having four hours to tell its story; while U.S. versus John Lennon clocks in at 90 minutes or so. You can compare the two approaches. Both exhibit one of the things I like best: multiperspectival approaches - i.e. almost like Interviews 360. The story is not told from "opposing sides" but many sides, including "opposing" sides. For lucky viewers, one gets a chance to see things in a much more holistic way, nuanced, and illuminating. We have come a long way from dreary polemics.

TIP: The film will be rebroadcast on HBO through Oct. (NonHBO subscribers: if you have cable and you can order HBO, get it just to watch this show and then call back after seeing it to unsubscribe to HBO. In my neighborhood, as a cable but nonHBO subscriber, I called in like at 10 pm to get HBO so I could watch the show, and within 2 minutes, it was on my TV. That's what I like about America.)

The Best Video Training Site on the Web is on Current TV

2006-09-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Today's announcement that Yahoo and Current TV will partner is news that sent me to Current TV's site today just to have a look around. I'm glad I did. I found the best site on the web on video production tips, one to rival the UK Channel 4 site I wrote about earlier this year.

See what Current's online production pages are like - and watch a few videos there on how to make videos people will want to watch. Don't miss the web video tips. You'll even find sample videos with producer/feedback commentary in the broadband section - super useful.
Go to Current TV Training

Improve Your Home Movies

2006-09-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Succinctly...how CAN you improve your videos? I like these tips from Clerks II director Kevin Smith....recently published in Wired.

Broadcasting rocked as TV viewers become producers

2006-09-08T22:47:00.000-07:00

As if the Long Tail spoof video (see below) wasn't enough to describe the turning tide about user-created content...here's this story from the Washington Post:

"Amateur TV producers make better programmes than many people may think, and there is huge interest in their shows, said Andre Mika, director for current programming and production at Time Warner's Internet business AOL.

STORY IS KEY

"The story is key, and if you have a good story to tell, people will watch you. Even if the budget is just you and a little camera," Mika said, pointing to the popularity of the new North American television channel Current TV which only broadcasts programmes that were created by viewers.

"Current TV is being watched closely by everyone in the industry. The content is very good," he added. Read story
---

You may also want to tune in to some of the more creative and innovative channels online to see what people are posting (that is head and shoulders above YouTube subjects). Two of the best are:

www.current.tv

www.treehugger.com/tv

Yo! Smirnoff Raps for Malt Beverage

2006-08-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

WSJ...'Tea Partay' Video ParodyIs Launched on YouTube SiteIn Move to Generate Buzz'

"Posting videos such as "Tea Partay" can be a cheap way to get attention. Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the New York firm that crafted the film, says it spent less than $200,000 to create the Smirnoff video. A traditional TV spot costs an average of $350,000 to make plus the cost of air time -- which typically runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for one 30-second spot." Read article (log in required).

Staying Up to Date on Online Video

2006-08-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

How do you keep up to date on the latest video sites? Many are the ways...while I usually read David Pogue in The New York Times and Walt Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal (who was a big fan of my first interactive video project From Alice to Ocean), there ARE others...

Here's a new series I just discovered on Business Week that's promising and all about online video (for some period of time at least): Video sites reviewed include: Google Video...AOL...YouTube. So far.

Another source of tech news that I like (and should remember to listen to more regularly) is the BBC's The World: Technology radio programs, available as a podcast on iTunes or online. While U.S. news cover tech news here well, The World's coverage is truly international, and much more fun. It's a lot more about the political and social impacts and trends in technology (but it covers much more than video).

Want to hear about how the nasty Russian spam king was murdered (report from a Wired reporter), what's up with web censorship in Vietnam, or whether the PC's dead yet (pros and cons)? These are this week's topics. Another thing that's very nice about this site is that they also publish the transcripts of the audio, so you can hear or read the stories. Visit site...

User-Generated Content = 5 of the Top 10 Most Popular Web Sites

2006-08-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

From August 14's "Most Wanted" section in The New York Times, the visual call out of top TV shows, box office, music sales, and web sites:

Top10 fastest growing web sites since July 1:

1. HSBC - 6.4 million visitors - up 394%
2. Sonic Solutions - 3.7 million visitors - up 241%
3. Associated Press - 9.7 million visitors - up 234%
4. ImageShack - 7.7 million visitors - up 233%
5. Heavy.com - 3.0 million visitors - up 213%
6. Flickr - 6.3 million visitors - up 201%
7. Artist Direct - 3.2 million visitors - up 185%
8. PartyPoker.com - 6.0 million visitors - up 184%
9. MySpace - 46.0 million visitors - up 183%
10. Wikipedia - 29.2 million visitors - up 181%

How fast is the growth on YouTube? I'll look around.

Posted Videos Affect Elections: Who Knew

2006-08-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

The Christian Science Monitor today covers the importance of online video and video blogs in the recent Connecticut race for Senator...in this article:

Politicos beware: You live in YouTube's world

"Supporters of Ned Lamont, the Democratic upstart who beat Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the Connecticut primary Aug. 8, discovered that by capturing funny, embarrassing, and otherwise telling campaign moments on video and posting them on YouTube, they could reach voters in a way that's far more entertaining than over-the-top rants by bloggers." Read article

Spoof on The Long Tail

2006-07-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Technorati's Peter Hirshberg (an old pal from my Apple days) and Bob Kalsey (an actual video professional) have already come out with a hilarious video on the dying days of Old Media: The Day of the Long Tail.

As the bookend to this, see one of their previous "hit video," one of my favorites, which I used to show in "New Media" classes in the 1990s: Digital Convergence. (However then viral videos could only travel at the speed of home VHS duplication.) It, too, was made by Hirshberg, with Bob Kalsey, back in the day. I used to show it to Time Warner execs in interactive TV (at their Full Service Network), BAVC indies, France Telecom Theseus think tank types, and any and everyone.

As they used to say in my old art history classes in college, "compare and contrast"...in these two videos, you'll see that 10 years ago it looked like Big Media was going to "own" the interactive space...while today, Big Media is running scared and TV stocks are falling, as audiences decide they're rather make their own movies. And this is only the dawn of the era. Wait until more peolpe have the skills they need to create more satisfying media experiences.

You could compare fledgling videos online today to some of the very first short movies, like these from the Lumiere Brothers (of France) on Google Video. Think Muybridge and all that. The more things change...

Turn Here: The World, Neighborhood by Neighborhood AND The Rebirth of Niche

2006-07-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

If you like Google Earth, you'll love TurnHere.com, which features videos from around the U.S. (and some of the world) neighborhood by neighborhood. Stuck behind a computer this summer? You can take a virtual vacation of pretty much most places in the U.S. on www.turnhere.com...one video leads into videos of neighboring videos. In fact, you might even take a cross country trip, if you wanted to.

Not only do I love this site, I love how I found out it. Was it from The New York Times? A trendspot? A blog? No. It was from a firefighter at Easter dinner...he appears in the short video about Bakeshop Betty and the Temescal neighborhood in Oakland (where his fire station is). I also love the video about the Grand Lake theater, a vintage movie house in Oakland (where I just saw The Devil Wears Prada).

What distinguishes this site from so many other online video sites is the HIGH QUALITY of the videos, which are professionally produced. Videos are commissioned by most of the subjects (interesting businesses) which seems acceptable, since sponsored ones are labeled sponsored, and they are not sales-y at all, just visual and informative - and fun. Micro-culture.

In fact, TurnHere.com is part of what Wired editor Chris Anderson's new book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is About Selling Less of More is all about: micropublishing. In a world of online distribution and search engines, niche content has big potential. (This book ranked #10 on Amazon.com sales during its first week on the site...which must say Niche is Big!) You can listen to an Internet audio of Anderson discussing the book on with Instapundit on the GlennandHelenshow.com. The Long Tail predicts that there's a shift from mass market to millions of niches.

But you don't have to have an agenda to find lots of fun on turnhere.com - just interesting videos you can explore: Montmartre in Paris, Sao Paulo in Brazil, South Africa and Seoul, South Korea.

This site gets my vote for a Webby.

They Don't Call It Video Editing Any More...

2006-07-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

A recent New York Times article, "Camera. Action. Edit. Now, Await Reviews" (June 15, 2006) provides a great roundup of new, emerging online video editing sites: jumpcut.com, grouper.com, eyespot.com, videoegg.com,

In a bit of brilliant wordsmithing, editing has been transformed into a new verb - mixing - which might make it seem easier to an audience raised on music mixes. And if you're just editing to music, editing is easier.

Anyway, if you want to get the hang of editing, in an easy context, you might try these sites to see what it's like. And, they're free!

If you have your own footage, you can upload it. If not, you can create "video mashups" using footage available on these sites that has been licensed for you to use (free). Have fun!

Great Distribution Plan: Sundance and Google Video

2006-07-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Sundance filmmakers will soon be distributing their works on Google Video...a very exciting proposition. Soon you could see major indie movies online! Details

4,500 People!

2006-06-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

My publisher (SAMS) emailed this morning to say that since it was released in Dec. (that's about six months ago), Create Your Own Digital Movies has sold 4,500 copies!

Four Docs: Best Free Online Video How To!!!

2006-05-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

Channel Four in the UK has a fabulous web site dedicated to four minute films...and tucked away inside the online video site is something even more spectacular - the best free how-to video site on the web.

What's especially nice is the way the graphics on screen reinforce what's being said in the video.

Be sure to see the guide "Try Directing." It's got a thing where you can select multiple camera angles and edit them together. Pretty nifty.

I also love the one on "Sound" because it IS the most underappreciated skill people have to learn - and the most impossible one to fix through editing...like, you actually can't fix it. And I LOVE how they show you all the don'ts.

On the other hand, making home videos can be simpler than the site makes it sound...(I guess that's why I wrote that book...you know, the one that this web site is supposed to be all about...)...especially if you work from the shot suggestions for each type of video (which is in the book).

This site has it right in terms of wanting to be a recipe-like way to create videos, but since it isn't dealing with this degree of granularity, you have to sort of fill in a lot of dotted lines.
Visit site

Wired's Guide to the Online Video Explosion

2006-05-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

A good online resource to video collections that are more focused than Google Video *but may not be around very long.

Great New Documentaries: Coming Your Way

2006-05-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

I recently went to the SF Film Festival (as I do every year) - this year the films that sounded the most interesting were the documentaries.

The best one I saw by far was Who Killed the Electric Car, which will be coming to theaters in July. Check out their web site (and the online trailer) at http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/...who would have thought to see Phyllis Diller even in a movie like this. But there it is (and a whole lot more).

Wilder and woolier was Beyond the Call (http://fest06.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=11 or http://www.wadirum.com/films/beyond_the_call/) by Adrian Belic which is seeking theatrical distribution. It's about three guys who are out to save the world, and they're doing a pretty amazing job of it - as a sort of "Mother Teresa meets Indiana Jones." It will be on PBS sometime in 2007. It should be very inspiring to beginning filmmakers (because it's not shot very well), since it illustrates how a good story can carry the show.

Another documentary I saw last week at an advance screening (I went with a Sierra Club group) was Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, which will be in theaters in June. Gore was there after the show at the Metreon and got a standing ovation (apparently there were three standing ovations when the film screened at Sundance; it will also be featured at this year's Cannes Film Festival.) It's frightening, but very entertaining and even optimistic by the film's end.

As David Remnick of the New Yorker says, "Log on to Fandango. Reserve some seats. Bring the family. It shouldn't be missed."

See the movie web site (and online trailer) at www.climatecrisis.net.

Documentaries are, as usual, profound and relevant but getting a lot funner, hipper and entertaining. You might even get inspired to make one about your own passions.

Google Video: Post Your Own

2006-05-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Google Video is fast becoming one of the hot video hubs on the Internet...You can watch thousands of hours of videos, including your own (using their upload service).

I've been talking it up with filmmakers at the San Francisco Film Festival as a great indie distribution channel, since you can show your video or film for free or charge what you want (with Google Video taking a tiny slice of the proceeds.)

See what the most popular videos are today in the Google 100, see educational videos (everything from karaoke to Julia Childs, classc guitar lessons, and medical info about hundreds of conditions), National Archives videos, music videos, TV shows, and more. You have to sift through a lot of stuff (you might say it's like the free cable access channel on acid) to find the gems but fortunately, it being Google and all, they do have great search.

A friend who lives in Laos frequently was visiting recently, so we typed in "Laos" and got an eyeful of fun stuff.

It's not a site that is really "there" yet but it's a magnificent hodgepodge...like a place where you hope your friends email you the great stuff THEY found there.

Witness: Video for Change

2006-05-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Rock star Peter Gabriel demonstrated the new video arm of his nonprofit Witness (for human rights) at the TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference this spring - to much acclaim. The organization distributes videocamcorders to places where human rights violations are occurring as a way of empowering activists, a model that can be applied to many situations. The group also distributes their own book on how to make videos for political change.

You can watch their online video on the link above.

MySpace: The Movie

2006-03-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

Want to see an online video that shows how you too can be an online video superstar? Take a tip from David Lehre and see MYSPACE: THE MOVIE on his web site or on his myspace page. Here is a 21-year-old who's rocketed to a real career based on some spoof videos made at home.

You can read more about his success - he's been offered an MTVU series, films, more - in this LA Times article.

Watch it on YouTube.com, now the biggest online video web site. In fact, this year traffic on YouTube (a top videosharing web site) outranks traffic on Flickr, the biggest photosharing web site.

Book is #1 Bestseller at Powells in Computer Books

2006-02-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

This just in...Create Your Own Digital Movies is the bestselling computer book at Powells.com, the great indie online/real world bookstore, one of the largest online bookselling sites. Cool!

Postscipt: Okay, well it's no longer #1 but it was the #1 bestseller in computer books at Powells.com in February!

Something Really Fun: Film Festival of Cell Phone Movies

2006-01-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

How long will it be before video is the lingua franca of the Internet? Text is so dry, video is so fun!

I talked in my book about cell phone videos and showed the first one ever made at the Apple store earlier this month, so I'm happy to report that cell phone film makers now have their own little film festival, featured in an NPR story today.

Learn more at the CellFlix website.

PS You'll see in the photos on the NPR link that one of the filmmakers is editing, presumably, on his Apple laptop, so you still do need to learn how to use your computer to make these movies.

Top 10 Tips/Links for Apple Store Talk (and Everyone Else)

2006-01-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Here are links to some of the things I'll be talking about today.

1. Intro Chapter: Making It Easy (Because It IS Easy)
David Pogue: A One-Man Studio

2. Editing: Using Titles Creatively (no link)

3. Five Video Projects(A Few Links)
a. Birthday/Baby
Birthday Video: Chris' 40th Birthday
Baby Video: Fuller Sings

b. Travel
Coolest Free Mapping Download:
Road Trip Effect

c. Sports
">CVS' Disposable Video Camera (online video), Sports Camcorders (David Pogue video)

d. Live Event/School Play
Inspiring Examples: In the Shadow of the Stars, Spellbound, Amadeus (DVD Extra: Making of)

e. Family Memory Movies
Oral History How To

4. Future of Video: Cell Phone Video
First Music Video Made on a Cell Phone
Haber Get Down

5. Future of Video: Video Blogging
Best Blogging/Video Creation SW: VlogIt
Mac Users: Watch online video and apply cutaways concept

6. Future of Video
New Business Models: Video Blog Stardom
Rocketboom
Steve Garfield

7. Future of Video: Politics and Blogging
Citizen Blogging: Tsunami Video
First Politician To Have A Video Blog: John Tobin

8. Future of Video: PVP (personal video player) Distribution
Apple iPod/Video Podcasts

9. Future of Video: New Business Model
Charge What You WantGoogle Video Store

10. Why It Matters
Douglas Engelbart Videos

Deal of the Year, Or One of...

2006-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

Hollywood Reporter's year end wrap up names the Steve Job/Robert Iger deal for video downloads as one of the most significant events in the industry this year!

SF Talk: Wednesday, Jan. 11 at the Apple Store (It's MacWorld week!)

2005-12-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

I'll be speaking at the Apple Theater in the SF Apple store in downtown SF Wednesday Jan. 11 1:30 to 3 pm. Just another reminder that you don't have to use Windows MovieMaker to enjoy the book since 9 out of 11 chapters apply to ALL aspiring video makers.

I'll be showing video clips, presenting some of the most recent video developments, and talking at a beginner level about how to tranform from digital still picture taker to video movie maker.

(Contrary to the Apple Store's event description, I won't be talking that much about camera shopping. But I WILL be talking about how to "direct your "documentary" -- and how making video is different from photo taking...and how to build on your photo-taking experiences to develop video-making skills).

Event info

Be a Web Video Star: $20 A Day!

2005-12-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

Rocketboom (a video web site in the book) makes The New York Times, in the department of "TV Stardom on $20 a Day." [Registration required.]

And of course, don't miss Rocketboom. Their latest announcement: now on TIVO!

Welcome

2005-11-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

Create Your Own Digital Movies launches Nov. 10. Get ready to pick up your videocamera and make some movies!

Easiest way to share videos on the web?

2005-11-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

Typepad has teamed up with VideoEgg and VlogIt to create easy ways to share your 90-120 second videos. Check it out!

My FAVORITE Video Program: VlogIt

2005-11-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to make videos that make YOU look as good as the TV news? My all time favorite video software, VLOG IT is now in beta, and free to download. Check it out!

Broadcast Machine: Make Your Own Internet TV Station

2005-11-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Broadcast Machine is free software that helps you create video podcasts or your own Internet TV station. Details

Convert your movies to Flash (so everyone can see them on the web)

2005-11-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

A new $49 software program called Flash Video Studio lets you convert video to Flash for easy, automatic playback on a web site. For more info (and to download a 15-day free trial version), see:

http://www.flashvideostudio.com/index.html

Put your own videos on your video iPod (or start a video Podcast)

2005-11-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

Apple's new video iPod lets you bring your videos with you to share easily. Learn how

Step One: Create Video for iPod

Want to start your own video podcasts? Apple has easy tutorials on how to get started!

Choose a tutorial for Mac OS X or Windows

Creating Video Podcasts on Mac OS X

Creating Video Podcasts on Windows

One of My Favorite Stories from the NYTimes...

2005-11-02T10:50:00.000-08:00

Deer Tape Their Private Moments

Scientists at the University of Missouri have placed cameras on deer, turning them into roving videographers...
Read story