Vlogger and .tv influencer Steve Garfield will host a power version of his popular lecture “Web Video Made Easy: A Crash Course” On Friday, October 1st from 5:30 to 6:30pm. This presentation includes tips & tricks for producing great videos, including the latest in cameras, lighting and microphones. You’ll learn about capturing video, editing techniques, adding music, exporting your video for uploading and various hosting choices. Definitely a highlight of the conference.
If you're interested in getting a super fast overview of what you need to know to capture and share video online, this is going to be a fun session.
Then later that night, .tv is sponsoring the Open Video Conference Afterparty at 92Y Tribeca and we're going to see how many people we can get to shoot video at the same time:
Steve Garfield will lead the crowd to set the world record for the most videoed dance party. Audio-visual mixologists Eclectic Method will perform and inspire audience members to capture footage on their own video enabled phones or with Flip cams they can check out with a valid drivers license. Partygoers will be encouraged to upload their footage to a site that’s been created specifically for this event, Openvideo.tv, in order to set the world record.
Here's what Eclectic Method looks like in concert:
Low Cost/Higher Quality
Pocket HD Video Cameras like the Kodak PlayTouch Video Camera (affiliate link) keep adding features at a lower cost. The microphone jack also doubles as a headphone jack.
Live
Sites like Livestream, Ustream, and Qik let anyone broadcast live with a webcam or a cellphone.
Easy Webcam Recording
A large percentage of YouTube and Facebook are direct recordings from webcams.
User Lead in 10 Minutes Visible Gains allows non-editors to combine clips into videos and create user directed videos where the path of the video is selected by the viewer.
Interacting in Real Time with Broadcast
I am experimenting with interactiing with realtime broadcasts at The Pulse Network on my new show SteveGarfield.tv
Note:
The video you choose to share via twitter doesn't get hosted on twitter. No video does. It gets hosted on Flip's FlipShare site.
It would be nice if you could upload to YouTube or Facebook and send out a tweet with a link to either of those sites.
My Verdict:
Twitter integration with FlipShare is poorly implemented. If the only videos you can share on twitter are Flipshare.com hosted videos, I don't see this feature being used much, if at all.
It's a lot easier to upload to YouTube and use the social media sharing available there, or just share the link to the YouTube video on twitter yourself.
FlipShare Video editing software, Version 5.8, installation note:
Instructions say:
To install FlipShare:
Open FLIPVIDEO and launch "Setup_FlipShare" (PC) or "Start Flipshare" (Mac).
But the program name on a Mac is "Install Flipshare"
Jakob Lodwick, the founder of Vimeo, coined the term "lip dubbing" on December 14, 2006, in a video entitled Lip Dubbing: Endless Dream. In the video's description, he wrote, "I walked around with a song playing in my headphones, and recorded myself singing. When I got home I opened it in iMovie and added an MP3 of the actual song, and synchronized it with my video. Is there a name for this? If not, I suggest 'lip dubbing'.
I wanted to play with the 'wigglegram' technique I've seen in many animated gifs online. The result is more of a series of photographs than a video, and perhaps feels a bit out of place as an Odwick video.
I'm beginning to gain confidence in my approach to filmmaking, gaining clarity on my motives, my goals. It's really simple. I want to start telling stories. Not 'making videos' but telling stories in the medium of video (or film). If I could go back, I would make this video into a (short) story, but this motive clarity didn't come until too late in the project.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the piece, even though it's a bit insubstantial. We're halfway through the season yet, and honestly I feel that I'd just been warming up until now. The next five videos might be where it starts to get interesting, or, at least, where my ambition leads us to a strange new place.
They Got My Partial Attention
Klout devised an excellent promotion to get me to sample the new TV show, Lone Star. They sent along a nice kit that included plastic beer mugs, wine glasses, cooler, popcorn, wine opener, keychain, T-Shirt, posters and a CD of the TV show.
It prompted me to have friends over for dinner and watch a bit of the show.
That in itself is a success.
Lone Star Promotion Gets Klout Noticed
I'd been aware of Klout before, but this was the first time they had contacted me. If you have a twitter account, you can input your twitter name and your Klout Score will be generated. Klout explains the Klout score over here with lots of important words like influence, action, true reach, demand and amlpification probablility.
Just got a notice from Amazon.com that there's a new Flip camera, The UltraHD 8GB.
The newest features are Image Stabilization and the ability to shoot at 60 frames per second.
These features are already in the current Kodak Zi8 and the new Kodak PlayTouch.The Kodak cameras also have an audio in jack to allow capturing better audio.
The Flip camera continues to be a good choice for people who want easy one button recording and easy editing with the included FlipShare software.
As it says in the specs, "Press the big red button to start capturing vibrant HD video," that's one of the biggest selling features of the Flip.
For those with a Macintosh computer, iMovie, is the best software out there for ease of use and powerful editing features.
Features listed on their website:
Simple to Shoot in HD
Shoot up to 2 hours of better-than-ever HD video on the easy-to-use, now even slimmer UltraHD
Press the big red button to start capturing vibrant HD video (720p / 60fps) on the super-simple user interface
Comes with 8GB of built-in memory, letting you capture two hours of HD video; no additional memory cards required
Keep your video steady with image stabilization, UltraHD's newest feature
Power up with the included Flip Video Ultra Battery Pack (recharges when connected to USB); also supported by standard AAA batteries
Connect the built-in USB arm to your PC or Mac® to launch pre-loaded FlipShare™ software
Use FlipShare software to organize and edit your videos, capture photos, send video greeting cards and create custom movies
Watch your videos on your HDTV by connecting your UltraHD to your HDTV with the Flip Video Cables HDMI™ sold separately
Extend the capability of your UltraHD with Designed for Flip™ products, a new expanded accessory line from Flip Video and partner companies
Record high-quality H.264 HD videos that are compatible with most video-playing applications, including Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, and iTunes
Video: 16:9 widescreen, HD 720p (1280 x 720) at 60 frames per seconds (fps) progressive scan; recorded as MP4 files
"Child Safe" mode to prevent accidental deletions of clips
Silent mode for recording in sensitive situations
Simple to Share
Organize your videos by dragging and dropping into folders you've created, or use the automatic date-stamped folders
Edit and trim your favorite videos clips or even add your own music, all using FlipShare's easy editing tools
Create video greeting cards or use the Magic Movie feature to make movies with the click of a button
Capture photos using the easy Snapshot feature. You can grab a still-image photo from any of the 60 frames that comprise each second of your video
Share videos privately using FlipShare's attachment-free email or by creating Flip Channels; post publicly with direct video shares to Facebook™, Twitter™ and YouTube™
Then there's this interesting news from the press release:
...the new Flip Video UltraHD 2 hour also features a new slimmer design that fits easily in a pocket or purse. The UltraHD 2 hour is the first Flip video camera to feature FlipPort™ -- a proprietary Flip-designed connector enabling new add-ons options as part of the newly announced Designed for Flip™ accessory program.
New Designed for Flip products using FlipPort include Mikey for Flip, from Blue Microphones™, a professional quality external microphone that lets Flip users capture even better sound quality ranging from a whisper to a rock concert. Scosche™ will also be offering a wireless lavaliere microphone that will enable up close audio ideal for interviews. iGo™ is also offering three new products: the Overtime Battery extender which doubles the Flip Video battery life; the Charge Anywhere power adapter can charge two products at once such as a Flip video camera and another USB accessory; and finally a new Pocket Projector will allow Flip owners to instantly project and watch their Flip video clips directly from the video camera anywhere and on any flat surface up to the size of a 70" TV. In addition, Seagate has plans to support Flip video cameras with FlipPort in the coming months.
For all Flip video cameras, the Designed for Flip accessory line also features a wide assortment of products to let users do more with their Flip. New accessories now available include Flip Waterproof cases from Aquapac®, which allow consumers to use their Flip video camera for activities such as sailing, snorkeling and skiing, a line of underwater cases from Ikelite™, ideal for scuba diving and a new magnetic Wide Angle Lens, from Bower™, that makes it easy to capture wide-angle video footage.
Mikey for Flip features two of Blue’s custom-tuned condenser capsules for professional-quality stereo recording. Users can choose between ‘Loud’ or ‘Automatic’ sensitivity settings, allowing users to record any volume level clearly, from a marching band to a wedding. Mikey for Flip also features a mic input jack for easy plug-in of additional microphones like a lavalier, handheld or corded interview microphone. Mount the Flip video camera on Mikey’s built-in tripod mount or stand it upright on Mikey’s wide base design for hands-free recording.
In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.
You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared onTwitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.
You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.
Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what's new at http://twitter.com.
Interesting points to consider in this email from twitter:
I got a coupon to try out Costco Canvas Prints. I went in to Costco with my USB drive full of photos to get two prints made to see how the quality is.
When you put in your USB drive, the computer at the photo center copies all your content to the hard drive. I wonder when that gets erased?
I chose two photos and was presented with a cropped image. The image showed which parts of hte photo were going to be wrapped around the edge of hte canvas. I didn't want any part of hte phot wrapped, so I clicked to 'add a border.' Pictured here is a sample that shows ho the black border is on the edge so your photo doesn't get cropped.
After selecting the black border you don't get to see the revised crop of your image. You should.
Klout will never sell or give away your contact info.
Participating (or not participating) will not change your Klout Score.
If you accept the offer you are not required to do anything. We do not want to "buy" your tweets. You are receiving the product because you are influential and have authority on topics related to the product. This is a more targeted form of receiving a sample while shopping at the grocery store. You are welcome to tell the world you love the product, you hate the product or say nothing at all.
>If you decide to talk about the product we will ask you to disclose that you received a sample http://cmp.ly/2/va
America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man, was built on three bedrock principles: Freedom. Liberty. And Fear -- that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty. But now, there are dark, optimistic forces trying to take away our Fear -- forces with salt and pepper hair and way more Emmys than they need. They want to replace our Fear with reason. But never forget -- "Reason" is just one letter away from "Treason." Coincidence? Reasonable people would say it is, but America can't afford to take that chance.
So join The Rev. Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. on October 30th for the "March to Keep Fear Alive"™ in Washington DC. Pack an overnight bag with five extra sets of underwear -- you're going to need them. Because, to Restore Truthiness we must always... Shh!!! What's that sound?! I think there's someone behind you! Run!
Stewart, Colbert announce Washington rallies, CNN Report:
On Thursday night's airing of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," the comedian announced plans for a "Rally to Restore Sanity."
"See you October 30 on the National Mall to spread the timeless message, 'Take it down a notch for America,'" he said.
Stewart dubbed the event a "clarion call for rationality."
"A million Moderate march, where we take to the streets to send a message to our leaders and our national media that says, 'We are here! We... are only here until six though, because we have a sitter,'" he said.
DNC 2004 report by SteveGarfield featuring Amy Carpenter.
Here's the full transcript of the email interview we did:
Why did you decide to start a blog and become a videoblogger in 2004?
I decided to start a video blog in 2004 for an easier way to get video on the web. Blogging was revolutionary in how it so easy for people to put text on the web. I figured, why can't we try and put video in a blog and make that easy too.
You got popular during Obama's campaign as CNN put online your videos. Which were the video CNN chose? What did they like most of your style?
During the Obama campaign I did something that I called "happenstance journalism" or "reporting by wondering around". I went up to New Hampshire where the first primaries were, and just captured moments that I happened to come across. CNN was smart because they have a site called iReport which lets anyone report stories, and their producers decide what story they want to promote on CNN.com and from those stories the TV producers then decided what they want to put on TV. It totally opened up the ability for anyone to report and get on CNN. It's very exciting!
As you received a special attention during US elections, does a blogger nowadays needs “special occasion” to get seen?
These days bloggers do not need a special occasion to get seen. My friend Greg Verdino just wrote the book called microMarketing and says "every one in the audience has their own audience" so when you put up videos your audience will see them and spread them. If something is topical and news worthy it'll get spread even farther
What do you need today to be a videoblogger (which camera is the best to start? Which are the advantages of a Flip compared to a camera?)
The easiest way to start videoblogging is to use the camera that you already have. A lot of laptops already come with a WebCam. That's a perfect way to start. You know the majority of videos that get posted to Facebook are WebCam video. Many digital still cameras shoot great HD video. The flip is a good choice and I really like the Kodak models because they allow you to attach a microphone and they have replaceable batteries.
The secret you write in page XIV: “your video does not have to be professionally produced to be successful and tell a story”. So which are the secreto for a video to be successful?
The secret to a good video is to be authentic and real and most of all timely. Be aware of is what's happening in the news and if it's something that needs video, like maybe new product comes out and there's no videos about it, do it quick demonstration and get a video out that will get seen very quickly. Be aware of what kinds of things need to be produced with video and be the first to post and get the word out about your video through social media.
What would you suggest to videobloggers to be good marketers of their work?
What I would suggest for video bloggers to be good marketers of the work is to really foster a community. Build a community first before you need it. When you put something out, you have your own audience that will help you promote the videos that you make.
When a video blogger can be interesting fo tv and online newspaper? Which are the characteristics they are looking for?
Bloggers and video bloggers that can be interesting for TV and online newspapers are people who are out there where the newspaper TV station doesn't have the resources to get out there and cover stories, like for me in my neighborhood I'll cover hyper local stories that are interesting to me and my neighbors that might also have further interest for a greater audience so as long as the TV and new stations are watching what the local bloggers are doing, and if they find us, and think what we are doing is interesting and then share that, that's a great partnership
Which is the role of you tube in making a video blogger important?
YouTube is like a whole another thing. The whole community subscribes to each other. there's some videoblogger friends of mine like iJustine who get tens of thousands of views whenever they put out a new video, so working in that YouTube environment is really not even working, it's just like having an account and making friends there and being authentic and real. Commenting on other videos in participating in the whole community is is what YouTube is all about
How can you use comment in a useful way?
How you can use comments in useful ways, first of all what you should not do is just going to comments and say come visit my website. that is so lame. IT is not the way to get people to follow you need to actually have a conversation.
If you go to blog you read something interesting to you you can go ahead and comment on it and then people will click on your name and follow back to where you are. Promoting yourself is more about listening to what people are saying having a conversation. That's how I became friends with Jimmy Fallon. On his first video blog I left some comments with constructive criticism and then he answered me back on another video and then I sent more video and we just had a conversation.
What Jimmy Fallon did on his video blog was really smart. Instead of just broadcasting a message, he would he would put out a video but then he listens to what people are saying read the comments I commented back and started to have a conversation. Don't just think of the audience as people sitting back and watching. They want to connect and have a conversation with you, that's very important
Are videobloggers usually paid in US or how can they get money working in the media business?
Many video bloggers are not paid in United States, although some are. To make money working in the media business you need tobe hired by someone who might want to do a contract with you. A friend of mine, Jeff Cutler, for example, is an independent writer and he was contracted to go down on the Gulf Oil Spill and was there for a week of reporting. If you do good work and you're out there getting seen, then you can get some contracts to make some money on producing video reports
Give us 3 links of what you think are the best videos you have made so far...
And the ones that made you “famous”?
Three links for videos that I've made it made me famous first of all is one from rocketboom.com where they get hundreds of thousands of views for each euro in this one about the Chevy volt electric car is a classic video him that's really great one.
#1 Rocketboom Report: Chevy Volt
Good example of one man band reporting. Also, I use this example when I talk to Journalism classes to see how students feel about what happens at the end.
Rocketboom has also placed their videos on YouTube in addition to hosting them on their own servers.
Did you get in touch with Obama too or did you try to videoblog him?
I did a lot of videos of Obama. I did a video when he came to a very important campaign stop at big rally in Boston. for that one I actually live streamed it using QIK and I had people watching me as I am broadcast from the rally. very groundbreaking. I ended up getting to interview his staff for my book Get Seen: Online video secrets to building your business, and they just felt it was very important for people, other than the campaign, to help tell the Obama story, and that's what made the Obama campaign so successful.
How did you select all the people you interviewed at the end of the book? Were you hit by some special suggestions these people made during the interviews? (My opinion: all interviews are really interesting)
I interviewed a majority of them at SXSW the big Internet and media conference that's regularly held in Austin. these are all people that I respect and have became friends with through video blogging, from all around the world. I just had the opportunity and get them all in one place and interview them they'll had really great advice in the book and am a lot of the advice was to really to just do it and get started
Do videoblogging has some characteristic in common with traditional media?
Video blogging have some characteristics in common with traditional media, it's a person recording a story into a camera and then broadcasting that. I would say that has 100% in common.
Some of the differences are that some of the video bloggers are doing it because they love it and some of the media are doing it because they paid. the media has to try to be unbiased, and video bloggers are not constrained by the rules of reporting which is what a lot of people what to hear. they want to get the real and authentic feelings of the reporter.
The best website to open a blog? (Blogger, ex..?)
The best the best website to start a blog. I use blogger because it's very forgiving is the type of things that you can embed. Other sites like WordPress.com are somewhat finicky and will strip out some code him but I wouldn't discount it. so blogger WordPress, tumbler, posturous, all are ery good sites to make it very easy if you want to host your own video blog. you can look at WordPress.org too, and if you want to pay for a hosted solution you could look at something like TypePad and is also square space and Brightcove.
I should also say that publishing video direct to YouTube or Facebook is a great place to post videos because of the community that is there. It's easy too.
To make live streaming?
This website to do live streaming with is both livestream and Ustream, they have a desktop client that makes the quality very high and very good for live streaming from your laptop. You to stream with HD webcams. This costs a little more than streaming in standard resollution because you have to pay some money to get HD quality support. This is very good choice to get started with some live streaming.
(affiliate link) keep adding features at a lower cost. The microphone jack also doubles as a headphone jack.
(affiliate link) was recently released and records everything!
