Camcorderinfo Blog: Your Source for Producing and Marketing Online Video

It's time once again for our annual CamcorderInfo select awards. Every year, we honor those camcorders that stood out above the dozens that go through our labs. Each of these camcorders has survived a battery of tests and has been carefully compared to the competition; our awards reflect the camcorders that our review process has shown to be the best.

Two weeks before the election I wrote about YouTube and PBS's Video Your Vote Project.  In this program we are all invited to grab video cameras and cell phones to document voting experiences. A YouTube channel was set up to accept election video and to share it with the world. The program provided some great advice from the Citizen Media Law Project about how to shoot video at the polling place without breaking the law.  Would people follow this advice and be careful about where and whom they shot, or would they become in-your-face gonzo journalists pushing the envelope to uncover the dirt about the election?  Figured I would check in to see if any interesting material surfaced that I could write about. 

I Like the Google Map Interface

My first impression is that I like the YouTube\Google Map mashup used as the main interface to the program. Log in to Video Your Vote and a map of the United States covered with virtual push pins immediately smacks you in the face.  Each pin on that map represents a video for you to play.  The color of the pin tells you what type of video lies underneath. Purple pins representing voter intimidation videos are the least common.  Red voter perspective pins are the most common. To load a video simply click on a pin and the corresponding video starts playing in a little window that overlaid on top of the map.

A map is a great interface for providing access to user-generated videos sent in from all over the country or the world. Wanna make your own Google map mashup?. It's free and relatively easy to do.

Read the full article....

I have long been a fan of Commoncraft's videos. If you don't know the work of this two person company check it out right away.

Sachi and Lee LeFever make these short and wonderful little videos that explain complex technology using simple English, a whiteboard, paper cutouts, and primitive stop motion animation techniques. Their work is widely imitated by rarely equaled.

I am not the only one who thinks their work is great. In the last couple of years they have produced great stuff for Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wetpaint Wikis, PRWeb, MeetUp and a host other companies.  You can see some of those videos here.

Recently Sachi and Lee announced they were going to stop accepting work from corporate clients. As I understand it, the plan was to build up a large library of videos about technology and whatever other  subjects struck their fancy. The idea was that they, not their corporate clients, would chose the subjects to animate and how to best cover those subjects. Once a video was done Commoncraft would add it to the Commncraft online store. Individuals could watch the videos for free and companies could buy licences to use those videos from the store . Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote about this plan in a September blog. Lee LeFever fills in more details here.

Problem is that Commoncraft kept getting lots of requests from companies who wanted them to keep taking on custom work.  Sounds like they got tired of saying no.  So they are on the look out for kindred spirits who can work with them to give their corporate customer what they want.

Here is the job listing. 
 

If this is the sort of work you can do, feel free to contact them.  If you end up talking to them please let me know. I am interested in how the interview goes.
 

In a previous post I talked about the bizarre Gates/Seinfeld Microsoft TV ads as well as the boring "I'm a PC" follow-ups.
I even provided links to a few home-brewed, pro-Microsoft commercials that Steve Balmer might want to emulate.

Instead of taking my advise, Microsoft is trying to pump new life into the program by soliciting user-generated video it can use in its new campaign.  So send in your videos. Microsoft guarantees it's going to use every clip it gets. 

How can Microsoft Guarantee that Your Video is going to be used in its New Campaign?

Please note, I am not saying that Microsoft is promising to air everyone's video as part of one of its new national TV spots.
More than 20 thousand people have already submitted clips into the program.  You would need to air all-Microsoft-all-the-time to use up that much video.  Ain't going to happen!

Your 5 Seconds of Fame.

So how's Microsoft going to use all of that footage?  Some wag at Microsoft figured they could churn through a lot of it by projecting it on the big Microsoft screen high over NY. Given how many minutes there are in a day, chances are good that your video is going to get its moment over Times Square.  Sorry - if your Mother misses it, you can't ask them to play it again.  Instead  direct her to Microsoft's panoramic wall of video where she can see your video whenever she has a spare moment.

Read the full article ....

As I have described in several previous posts, these days newspapers are all racing to add as much video as fast as possible to their websites.  

How Do Papers Collect The Video they Need?

• Some papers are hiring videographers to create this video.
• Other papers are posting video sent in by subscribers.
• The third alternative is to retrain and equip existing print reporters so they can blossom into multimedia gathering machines.According to a recent story in Beet.TV that's exactly what the  Wall Street Journal is trying to do. 

Training and Equipping Print Reporters to Gather Video Content.

According to the Beet.TV piece, the Journal publishes 25 to 30 videos a day, most of which include material grabbed by Journal reporters.  The paper sponsors regular training sessions to help old-time print reporters master the craft of running video interviews. The paper also purchased "dozens" of Sony HDR-HC9 cameras for reporters to use.  Standardizing on a single camera helps the paper to come up with a uniform look and feel for all their videos and streamlines the workflow required to turn raw footage into polished streaming video. 

Why Did the Journal Pick the HDR-HC9?

As our review shows, the HDR-HC9 is a great tape-based HD camera. I suspect they picked a tape-based camera because it makes archiving footage relatively easy.  As our review shows, this camera is affordable, produces great quality footage, and looks a little "more professional" than its main competitor, the Canon HV30.  As I described in an earlier post, reporters care a great deal about what their cameras look like.    

What Sort of Videos can a Journal Reporter Produce?

Check out some of the great videos that Andy Jordan posts on his Wall Street Journal Tech Diary videoblog.

A few months ago I wrote about the curtain going up on Google's on-line art house, the YouTube Screening Room.  Every other week since that time Google has given us four new high-quality short films to enjoy on the full-screen YouTube theatre player. Now Google has added its first full-length movie to the mix.

Long-Form Video is the New Trend at YouTube

I expect YouTube is going to start hosting lots of long-form video real soon. Just last week YouTube added full-length TV shows like "Californication", "MacGyver", "Dexter", and "Beverly Hills 90210" to its mix.

The reason for the move to long-form video is two fold.  Joost and Hulu.com are doing it, and YouTube can't afford to loose any momentum to the competition. More importantly, it is much easier to insert advertising into longer format material without annoying the audience - and YouTube needs to start coming up with a way to pay for itself. The TV shows all embed ads front, midstream and back. The art video flicks don't embed ads yet, but I can't believe that's going to go on forever.

Feature Film, "The Princess of Nebraska" Debuts on YouTube

Read the full article .... 

 

On November 4, Google and PBS are inviting you to document your election day experiences and share them with the world on YouTube.  To this end, YouTube has set up a special Video-Your-Vote channel for uploading your election day videos and for looking at footage other people have sent in.    

Google is glad to accept any sort of voting video you chose to submit at this site. My guess however, is that most of the attention is going to be focused on videos about problems that arise.  If you do grab some good shots of  long lines, a broken voting machine, voters being intimidated, antagonistic campaigning techniques, and the like, post them on this channel to get maximum YouTube attention. Make sure to mark your video with either the tag "videoyourvote", or if you have captured footage of trouble at the polling place with the tag "pollproblem". 

PBS promises to incorporate user-submitted YouTube videos within its election coverage.

Read the full article....

A recent Advertising Age article talks about the success of Microsoft's "I am a PC" ads.  These new Microsoft ads were created to counter Apple's very successful PC vs Mac campaign in which a cool and snarky guy named Mac argues with pudgy nerd named PC about just how lame Microsoft's software really is.  The Mac ads masterfully poke fun at some of Microsoft's biggest perceived weaknesses. Check out my favorite, in which Mac and PC exchange holiday gifts.  

Microsoft tries to fight back with its own ad campaign.

Two years after the Mac vs PC ads first started running, Microsoft decides it has had enough. Time to fight back with its own ad campaign. The campaign kicked off with a few spots in which the comedian Jerry Seinfeld helps Bill Gates try to become a regular Joe sixpack.

You gotta admit, the Gates/Seinfield ads are odd.   Bill Gates wiggling his butt to signal to Seinfeld about what features were being added to Vista?  Lots of commentators said that Microsoft was smart to dump this strange duo in favor of ads that showed all sorts of people (scuba divers, Hollywood stars, boxers) proclaiming "I am a PC".  We get it - PCs are used by lots more regular people than Macs. The general consensus was that the second set of ads were much more effective than the Seinfeld/Gates spots.

Not so fast says Ad Age.

Read the full article ...

Google just used it's official blog  to serve notice about one its latest attempts turn YouTube into a profitable service.

YouTube videos can now link to sites that sell music or software.

According to the Google blog, "When you view a YouTube video with a great sound track, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where (you) can download it. Or when users watch the trailer for an upcoming video game, they want to know when it will be released and where they can buy it."

"Today, (Google) is taking steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding "click-to-buy" links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos."

How much revenue can Google can get out of hosting these links?

Click-to-buy links are different than the ads that Google already allows companies to embed around their videos. With click-to-buy, Google is collecting revenue for products sold or products downloaded, NOT just for click throughs.  Here is an example of a click-to-buy in place. 

Best as I can tell, Google is negotiating directly with publishers about how much it is going to charge for embedding and managing these new types of links.  Early participants in the plan include music publishers EMI and Universal Music Group as well as EA, the publisher of the Spore game.  It's a new plan, and my guess is that rates are variable and are going to change depending upon the size of the publisher and on how well received click-to-buy proves to be.   In time everyone will probably be able to add click-to-adds to their YouTube videos, but for the time being this is only for large publishers. 

But there are real implications for all of us!  To read the full article click here.

OK, I admit it,  my title is a little misleading.  But I don't think it is too misleading!

YouTube/Pulitzer citizen video journalism competition

Google is working with the Pulitzer Center, Sony, and Intel to sponsor a competition looking for great examples of citizen video journalism.

The contest is intended for non-professional, aspiring journalists who think they have a great story to tell that otherwise could missed.  Ten semifinalists, selected by the Pulitzer Center, are going to win Sony Vaio laptops. They will also be given Sony cameras they can use during phases two and three of the competition. The YouTube community will pick the top five finalists and eventually the ultimate winner. That winner is going to get a $10,000 fellowship and the chance to work with the Pulitzer Center on a story of global importance.

The submission window for phase 1 closes on October 5th. If you think you have created an award winning video clean it up and submit it fast.

Each piece must be three minutes or less in English or with English sub-titles.  More information about the contest, advice about how to  create great citizen journalism, and examples of work that the Pulitzer Center likes, can all be found on the official contest web page.  The submit button you need to use to upload your video into competition is smack dab in the middle of the top of the contest page.  

If you end up winning, make sure to include a mention of CamcorderInfo into your acceptance speech.

Google just rolled out a new video uploader for YouTube.  It's the same one a few special customers have been using for while, so most of the kinks should be worked out. Don't worry that Google is still calling it a beta.  Google insists on calling everything a beta until half the world is using it.

Wanna give it a try?  Click on this link and give it your YouTube passwords.

What's better about the new uploader?

• It allows you to enter video metadata (title, description, tags, etc.) while the upload is processing. No more getting everything just right before you start the upload.  
• It allows you to upload more than one file at once, (No more need for seperate plug-ins). 
• Seperate progress bars will be displayed for each file you are uploading.
• The file-size limit for uploads has been raised from 100MB to 1GB. This allows higher resolution files to be uploaded, but most of us are still restricted to the 10 minutes maximum for each video. (See my earlier post for a way to get around this restriction.)  
• If you find you don't like the new uploader, just follow the link provided on the upload page to revert back to the old uploader.

Details about the new uploader are posted on the official YouTube Blog.

Robb Montgomery trains journalists trying to make the transition from print to video and multimedia reporting.  I have never been to one of his sessions, but I do find some of the videos he posts on his blog about those sessions informative. 
 
At the bottom of this post is a five minute piece of a lecture by Carol Marin, a Chicago TV journalist and Chicago Sun-Times columnist, about interview techniques she uses to capture great video reports.

In the video Carol talks about the importance of listening and and responding to ideas the interviewee brings forth, rather than trying to force the interview to follow a predetermined script. She also talks about using dead space (pauses to elicit more honest responses), and why it is important to let emotion run its course in an interview. 

For the most part, I agree with Carol's advice. One exception. One of the reporters asked if she allows people she is interviewing to stop an interview in order to rethink and restate an answer they are not happy with. In essence Carol said YES--if the interviewee is private citizen, but NO--if it is public official. I don't think I agree with this answer. My take is that you are always looking for the clearest, most informative answers you can get.  I see no reason not to give any person the chance to restate something if it is muddled on the first go round.  It is important is ask them to always restart at the beginning of an idea (the paragraph). Video interviews stitched together out of a collection of  partial sentences and paragraphs are rarely believable.  AND of course, if the official said something newsworthy in the first take, and then tries to retract it, you as the reporter have to decide which answer is more honest and revealing.

New media consultant Shel Israel has started asking the readers of his blog to send in some good social media stories he can publish. The first one he covered is the story of a 14 year guitar player named Jesse Gold who made it to the big time thanks to YouTube.

The story starts with Nikki Yanofsky, a teen who spends lots of spare time watching YouTube videos.  But Yanofsky is a little different than most 14 year olds - she is a well known jazz singer, perhaps best known for the work she did for High School Musical II (I am sure she would shudder at this description). 

Nikki was working on a video with Wyclef Jean. During some downtime she shared one of her YouTube faves.  The reggae/hip hop superstar liked some of the songs Jesse has posted on YouTube and invited the young guitar player to a benefit concert. 

Jessie's turn on the big stage

Much to his surprise, when Jessie got the concert he was invited up on the stage to perform one of his original compositions on stage with Wyclef.

Jessie's YouTube library still includes his high school performances from 'Fiddler on the Roof', as well as few original songs he performed with his brother. Now it also includes his turn on stage with a superstar.

Will Jessie ever become a star in his own right?  It can happen!  Remember last year the classic rock band Journey found it's new lead singer from a YouTube cover video posted in Manilla. 

• In 2007 the study found 24% of companies were using online video.
• In 2008 that number almost doubled to 45%.