anything media

So I just saw a Facebook status where an acquaintance was promoting his new friends who create and implement those videos where a person walks out on to your web page and talks to you.

Okay, that was fairly non-judgmental in introducing the issue, right? Now the not so judgmental portion and where I ask for your opinion. Personally, I hate this.

I went to look at the web site of the company he was promoting. I’d been there several years ago (hated it then too), but had not been back since. Wanting to give it an honest shake I tried again. No cigar. Here’s are some reasons why I hate it:

Tacky… I don’t think I’ve seen one of these yet that isn’t tacky.
JBYCDMYS… This is a principle everyone should learn, but especially those of us who work in the media world. Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should. Placing these videos on your home page (and worse subesquent pages) to me is kinda like the craze when web folks were putting all kinds of widgets on web pages. Like the weather on a crafter’s page. Just because they could, not because they had a reason for it being there.
Gimmicky… It kind of says “desparate” to me. Kind of like, “Our site is boring… or not effective… so we’re throwing this video on here to try to fix it.” Oh, and green screen. It’s the latest craze. Clients think they have to have a green screen because it’s the latest cool thing going.
Technically challenging… I have a screaming Internet connection and on even the one on the company that does them’s web site was choking. Bad enough to have it there, but to have it stuttering is worse.
Often redundant… Many times when I’ve seen them, they are only saying what’s on the page, or telling you where you can go on the site and what you’ll find there. Isn’t that what content on the page is for? Isn’t that what good navigation is for? At least write some new and engaging content if you MUST do it.
Talent sucks… At least if you are going to do it, get someone who is REALLY REALLY REALLY good on camera.
Substitue for real content… Folks who are using video effectively on their web sites appear to be doing in a blogging or news this week about our business/topic type format. I feel like people are wanting to be cutting edge with video on their site, but won’t make the commitment to keep it up to date and relevant. The static “host” is a cop out on video for video’s sake.

I’m willing to admit I’m predisposed to my opinion, and may just have not seen the REALLY effective ones out there. So point me to them if you have some you’ve seen that really make it worthwhile. And what’s your opinion? Like ‘em? Hate ‘em?

Storyboarding is a great tool for videographers and filmmakers to use in preparing for shoots. Some filmmakers use digital cameras to shoot photos in locations there they want to shoot and use stand-ins for actor positioning. I’ve been awaiting a mobile app for performing the basic functions of storyboarding and now, Hitchcock appears to have given me more than I had hoped for.

I’m anxious to give it a try. Here’s what their website says about their app:

Hitchcock is the worlds first mobile story boarding application. With Hitchcock you can have your first story board up and running in a matter of minutes. Hitchcock streamlines the process of storyboarding by allowing you to compose storyboards using photos rather than the tedious hand drawing process. This allows professionals and students to portray their vision to others in a easily controllable and transportable format.

It may be the first app over $2.99 I’ve paid for on my iPhone, but it looks like it could be well worth the price. I can put the plan together, then export it to a PDF to review or use on set.

Non-iPhone users may have more envy if this pans out as well as it looks. Take a look!

I have used Google (Apps) calendar for a couple of years now. Love it. But one thing I found annoying was trying to move quickly through the calendar to look ahead. Then, I accidentally placed my cursor over the small calendar that appears usually to the upper left of the main calendar and discovered my scroll wheel advanced or retreated (couldn’t think of another word to convey this) the calendar in rapid fashion. So there’s a great tip for those of you who use Google Calendar. Put your mouse cursor over the small calendar and move the scroll wheel to make big time travel leaps.

Visit the Website to read the full article and view the videos

Came across a great article today on viral video characteristics. He links a bunch and gives an alliterated list of characteristics videos that go viral tend to have:

• Content
• Chance
• Characters
• Comical
• Community
• Compelling
• Creativity

Great stuff!

If you’ve been around web video for a while, you know that On2 is a very successful, high-quality flash codec giving H.264 a run for it’s money. And now Google owns it.

Some of its codec designs are known as VP3, VP4, VP5, TrueMotion VP6, TrueMotion VP7 and VP8. Its customers include Adobe, Skype, Nokia, Infineon, Sun Microsystems, Mediatek, Sony, Brightcove, and Move Networks….

Also noteworthy: Google could use the VP8 codec for YouTube in HTML5 mode, basically forcing its many users to upgrade to HTML5-compliant browsers instead of using Flash formats.

Smart move by Google, and possibly great news for innovation in web-based video viewing.

Great move Google! What do you think?

I often wonder how much storage I’m gonna need for a video project and have found two tools to date that seem to make sense.

The first is a widget (or web page) called VideoSpace for Mac put out by Digital Heaven.

The second I discovered this morning (and am already falling in love) helping a student see if his video assignment would fit on his USB flash drive. It’s a web page optomized for iPhone called Footage Calc and it seems to have more options yet is simpler to use. I set a bookmark on a page on my iPhone so I have one click access to it anywhere as long as I have cell coverage or wifi.

I’m always excited to see what is going on in the video world. Cori Chavez, a Boulder-based colleague began a series called New Video Monday which she is using to promote and explain some of the issues (which many deem illusive) surrounding the online video craze. Her latest highlights a simple online tool known as Animoto which can be used with photos, music, and text to create your own video.

Using Animoto by New Video Monday (Cori Chavez)

Thanks to Adobe I found a great chart for encoding video to FLV at a variety so different standard (and not so standard) sizes which their gurus had tested to determine which were the best, better, and good settings. Problem is I cannot for the life of me find it online again and I have almost lost my hard copy several times. So when I found it the most recent time (today) I thought it was lost I decided to somehow perserve it for posterity in a manner other than a hard copy printout in a pile on my desk.

(If someone ever finds it only, please tell me where and I’ll give more precise credit where credit is due)

Adobe Standard Aspect Ratio Sizes (PDF)

Come join in the fun!

… but what about video that gets results and doesn’t take a Hollywood production budget and crew to pull it off?

I’m really excited to have been asked to be part of the Learn About Web Denver conference taking place at the Curtis Hotel September 14th and 15th. The goal of LAW-D is to help small business owners who want to utilize the best resources in social media, web design, and search marketing to attract more customers to their websites. I’ll be speaking on creating great video on a shoestring budget. I know, I know… it’s kind of like cutting off your own arm since video is part of how I pay the bills. But I have a soft place for small business owners who can’t even afford my reasonable prices so Craig Sutton and Deb Robinson found me an easy pushover to get to jump in with both feet.

I’ll be covering some simple but profound (I think so anyways) ways anyone with a video camera can shoot better video and compile them into more effective tools that can get results on your web site… and all that using tools readily available to you already with no additional expense. So come join me! Let’s have some video fun!

This past two weeks I had the opportunity to participate in an awesome project. The Silicon Flatirons Center (out of CU Boulder) was having a pseudo-gala event honoring several individuals and companies for their work in the entrepreneurial world and for who they were in business in general. One of the awards was a Lifetime Achievement Award for Brad Feld, who is as Jack Tankersley of Meritage Funds put it, “one of the preeminent venture capitalists in the country”. I was enlisted to interview eleven of his colleagues, friends, and family (which I quickly found out most fall into at least two of those categories if they are in one because of the type person Brad is) and to compile sections of those interviews into an hommage video to be shown the night of the gala. Here’s the video:

Brad Feld – Lifetime Entreprenurial Achievement award video from Kendall Media Group on Vimeo.

As you can see, he’s quite a guy. I’m delighted I got to do the project, but more delighted I got to learn more about Brad and the influence he, and others through his inspiration have been able to do in this exciting area.

Organizations all over the world could learn a lot from what I observed the night of the awards. While a number of highly respected and influential people were in the room that night, there was also a league of young entrepreneurs floating around the room taking it all in. It appears the leadership for the event, knowing the audience created a great environment where the two subcultures could meet and “play well” together picked a unique venue in The Dairy Center for the Arts to host the event, and, they facilitated some interaction between folks by, among other things, assigning every attendee to a team for a Rock Band tournament. It was an awesome way to see merging of two generations who love the same thing… starting businesses.

Props to the folks at Silicon Flatirons, to those who have inspired them (like Brad, Jason Mendelson, Brad Bernthal, and Phil Weiser). It’s special what’s happening in what used to be lazy little Boulder.