Posts Tagged ‘shooting video’

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Be An Online Video VIP

April 20th, 2011

OnlineVideo.net is running an online video content contest for all of you video producers out there whom are creating original content that is creative and effective in reaching and informing users. The goal of the VIP (Video In Practice) contest is to reward companies who are harnessing the power on online video as part of their marketing strategy to promote and sell their products. I think this is a brilliant idea as I am both a huge proponent of online video and an online marketer so kudos to the StreamingMedia and OnlineVideo.net teams for coming up with the idea.

There are five categories that businesses can enter based on company size:

  • Small business –fewer than 100 employees
  • Large business- more than 100 employees
  • Local products and services
  • National products and services
  • Nonprofit/Government/Educational/Other organizations

The first round of selections will be narrowed by the general public, then a panel of professional judges will select one winner per category which will be announced on June 13. Submissions will be accepted through May 2, voting on May 9 – 23, and finalists announced (top 3 per category) on May 24.

They’ve already got some slick videos collected, check out these small business submissions, here. To enter your videos you can upload from your computer, submit a URL or post to a third party site like YouTube then email the description and company name to onlinevideo (at) onlinevideo.net.

Winners will receive some impressive (and expensive) software to help them further their video production endeavors including:

  • Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium ($1,699 value)
  • Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro ($299 value)
  • Sorenson Media Squeeze 7 ($799 value)
  • Telestream Wirecast 4.0 ($449 value)
  • Wowza Media Server ($995 value)

Get crackin people, this is a cool contest!

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Content is King Again, Online Video Content

March 30th, 2011

I’ve heard the question a thousand times over the past few years when speaking to businesses about their online video strategy, “Where do I get premium, high quality content for my audience?” This is the critical piece of the puzzle that will help redefine online video in the coming years. There are businesses that offer this kind of content, like AOL and Yahoo! which offer online news as well as the traditional TV bureaus. However, these options can be low quality, limiting, and expensive.

Enter the recently launched NetGreen News, which focuses on delivering daily headline news covering the environment, the emergence of the clean industrial revolution, healthy eating, and Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability (LOHAS). The idea is to provide premium 1080p HD video broadcast news content to online news publishers at an affordable cost (NetGreen News charges by finished delivered minute, with most segments lasting 90 seconds). The company is focusing on something I personally feel is critical to online video: content. Not just any content, but premium, high quality, relevant content. The stories its journalists cover come from both existing print headlines that would benefit from a video version and those that its reporters find on their own. The team has recently expanded their platform to cover all news beats with the recent launch of RealNewsCo. RNC is set up to bring any print headline life with quick turn around and, like NGN, in HD that will play back on any device from mobile to TV.

I took a trip to Eugene, OR to meet with the people behind NetGreen News and RealNewsCo to learn more about their operation. They use a centralized newsroom platform and digital journalists with professional hard drive cameras in the field. This gives the company the ability to deliver news coverage that costs 90% less than most multi-national news broadcasters.

According to the company’s founder and CEO Stanley Fields, “NetGreen News currently produces over 500 broadcast news headlines per-month in stunning HD quality covering the global green and environmental beats. Since September 2010 we have originated over 28 hours of newscasts in 90 second segments (3 headlines) optimized to (work on) any smart phone or mobile device and continue to produce high quality broadcast news everyday.”

The NetGreen News Eugene, OR facility has a very large fiber pipe that ties directly into the backbone of the Internet so they can easily move large volumes of content around the world at a cost that is substantially less than any legacy broadcaster.

It’s an interesting approach to an industry-based challenge. I believe that we’re at a turning point in Online Video. We’ve proven over the past several years that it’s incredibly easy to get video online and business today have over 85 options (OVPs) to choose from to help them do just that. What Online Video has really done is created a need for high-quality, premium content and as a result we’ll start to see some real revenue derived from this type of content.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big believer in curated content (see Magnify.net). There’s truly an abundance of great user generated material out there, but there’s a difference between UGC and professionally produced content. Both are critically important to helping businesses realize real value from an online video strategy by increasing user base and stickiness, extending brand, promoting and selling products, and increasing revenues. As we start to see more companies that offer high quality content at more affordable prices, it will become clearer that you no longer have to be CNN or ESPN to garner $50+ CPMs from online video advertising.

Disclosure: I am a recent advisory board member of NetGreen News.

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Lighting for Online Videos: Try not to burn down the house – Shooting Online Video Part 7

July 19th, 2010

There’s a reason that Sandra Bullock said she always befriends the lighting crew when she starts a movie in her Oscar acceptance speech and it’s because good lighting makes all the difference. Bad lighting can completely change the mood of the video you’re shooting. Lighting is really an art form. The good news is that if you have any kind of photography background lighting might come a bit easier to you. If not, you’re going to have to work at it.  Before you can become Sandra Bullock’s BFF on the set, there are a few essentials you need to know about lighting.

Lights can use a lot of power and depending on where you are shooting that can be a problem. When I first got into lighting I went to a video/photo store to get started. I found a sales assistant to help me and started asking questions.

“I’m shooting video and I need to get some lights. I’m not sure what kind.”

He asked, “Where are you shooting?”

My response, “In a house.”

He took me right by all the fancy lights you see on movie sets and straight to light bulbs in a box. I thought to myself, ‘this is soooo not going to work.’ He pulled a few lights (Westcott #0050 50 watt Daylight Balanced Fluorescent Lamps, and Eiko Photo Pro 30 Watt lamps) off the shelf for me and told me they should work fine.

Looking longingly at the fancy lights, I asked, “Really? Why not those lights over there. They seem better.”

His response, “Do you know anything about the wiring where you’re shooting?”

I shook my head ‘no.’ Come on’ I’m not an electrician.

He responded, “Those can fry your electrical system and burn down the house.”

That sounds bad. So I took the lights he recommended and asked about light stands.

He got me some stands and said something sort of surprising, “Next, you should go to Home Depot or a hardware store and get those silver clamp casings. It won’t cost a lot and it will work fine with these lights.”

I thought that sounds a little ghetto, but I was new to lighting and it was a minimal investment to get started. So, I took them, went to the hardware store got what he said, and started messing with the lights when I got home. Actually, turns out not so bad. Yet, still I wanted those crazy big lights. So I learned more and more about lights and now I know why the guy set me up with the ones I have.

First, those big fancy lights can get hot: I, mean, really hot. You should never touch them with your hands. You should use gloves when handling them. One reason is that they’re freaking hot. The next reason is that the oil from your fingers can actually ruin the bulbs. Second, the electricity in the house isn’t configured to support those huge lights and thus can overload a circuit. The other problem with the heat emitted is that the person those lights are focused on is going to start sweating – even start to think they’re getting a tan. I know, I’ve been under those lights a lot. They’re firecracker hot.

In short, most homes can support at least 15 amps. But you don’t see amps on light bulb boxes. Instead you see Watts and Volts. So to find out if you’re going to overload a circuit with your lights, try this equation: Amps = Watts/Volts. In my scenario I have a light that’s 50 Watts and 120 Volts. 50/120 = 0.41 – That’s well in the range of what a house will support. So circuits won’t blow, house won’t burn down. All is good in the world.

Before getting lights find out what your electrical system can support and then you’ll know what to buy. As for those tin covers, apparently they aren’t so ghetto after all. Just about every one I’ve met who does lighting has their own portable lighting kit and what do they have for the light bulb covers? Those tin covers. Why else are they so good to have? Well, they have clips on them so you can clip them to just about anything and you’ll be surprised how much this comes in handy.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 6 – Camera Settings

Part 5 – Backgrounds

Part 4 – Lighting And Content

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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FACT, Crucial Video Camera Settings – Shooting Online Video Part 6

June 30th, 2010

Cameras come with pretty thick manuals and few people dare to read them, though they are often packed with great information. That said, there are a few features on your camera that you should get to know and get in the routine of checking before you start shooting. Just think of the word FACT.

F – Focus
A – Aperture
C – Color
T – Temperature

Focus is crucial or your video will come out blurry. If you’re camera has an auto focus feature, you might want to use that. However, it will probably take a minute for everything to come into focus so be patient. If you’re camera has zoom, you’ll need to make sure it’s not in zoom to accurately put something in focus. Once the subject is in focus, you can zoom in or out as much as you want. The focus will not be affected.

Aperture deals with the amount of light bouncing off a subject and the amount of light coming into the camera. Essentially, it’s how you make an image lighter or brighter. Though you can adjust for this in some editing programs, it’s always better to have the best quality video first instead of relying on fixing it later.  If you don’t know how to adjust this, read the manual. Using the automatic setting for this feature isn’t always the best idea since the camera may not be adjusting the brightness for the area you care about. This can also be referred to as IRIS or Exposure on your camera’s settings.

Color Temperature can be adjusted by setting the white balance. Color temperature is often skewed by surrounding light, so it’s important to set it once you’ve set up the lights. There are three light options: sunlight, which is cool; Tungsten light, which creates a warmer hue; and Fluorescent, which tends to be more green. You can often adjust these in the camera as well and you’ll want to pick the lights that correspond to the type of lights you’re using. These lighting terms will become more important as you pick the lights you’ll be using to shoot video. As noted, to adjust for Color Temperature you’ll need to set the white balance. Some cameras do a good job at this, but it’s perfectly easy to set yourself. You’ll need to check your camera’s manual to see how it works on your individual camera, but essentially all you need to do it is to select the setting, hold up a white piece of paper and let the camera do the rest.

Like I said, cameras have tons of features and the more you use your camera and read the manual the more you’ll be able to do with it, but in the meantime if you set you these features on your camera before shooting you’ll get pretty decent results. It’s a FACT.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 5 – Backgrounds

Part 4 – Lighting And Content

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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Backgrounds – Shooting Online Video Part 5

June 2nd, 2010

Background shots in a video are important and a crucial feature that can be overlooked when starting to shoot video. Whether you’re shooting in a studio, a conference room, or at an off-site location consider what people will be behind the subject. It seems kind of silly to think about when really what you’re thinking about are the shots you need. Yet, in reality a background is what helps highlight the subject and can easily add interest to a video. That said, don’t feel like you need to spend a ton of time on picking a background – especially when you’re shooting on the road. Although, if you’re going to be creating a studio then spend a little bit of time on it and feel free to play around with different backgrounds. Here are a few things to consider when creating a background for online video:

  1. If there’s something in the surroundings that talks to what the video is going to be about, try to incorporate that. For example, what if you’re interviewing an award-winning director. Try to get some of the rewards in the background placed subtly on bookshelves or on a fireplace mantle that would still be in the shot. This adds a bit of interest to the video and reminds people of the credentials of the person being interviewed without you having to dedicate a lot of video time to it.
  2. Try to stay away from white. First, white is not exciting to look at. Think about it. Put something in front of a white background and it’s just not that interesting. Of course, if you’re doing a product photo you definitely want to do that, but this is not a product picture. This is a video. It should have interest. If that’s not enough, lighting white backgrounds isn’t the easiest thing in the world and you could be dealing with a lot of shadows looming in the background. Don’t get me wrong shadows aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but they’re definitely something you want to control in a shot and not the other way around.
  3. Creating a studio to shoot your online videos? Definitely spend the time experimenting with backgrounds. Consider what you want to see in every video since this is a good way to create consistency. Is it a company name? Is it worth getting a banner made or will that be something you add during editing? What is the mood/feeling you’re trying to convey in your video?  Think about how a background can contribute to that.
  4. Green screens. Yay or Nay? By this point you might have heard of green screens or even taken the tour at Universal Studios as a child that shows you how ET was able to fly through the air. Green screens essentially let you shoot something and fill in the background later. That’s cool, right? Could serve all your background problems, right? Not so fast. You also need a lot of space to use them effectively. For example, you’ll need to make sure you have at least 6 feet between the subject being shot and the green screen behind them. Not everyone has that much space available. Besides that this is video for online, not some Hollywood blockbuster.

Here’s the magic sauce about backgrounds: They can change. Don’t be afraid to try out a few different options. Do your best not to make them too busy since that can distract from the “star” of your video, but don’t be afraid to move things around – especially if you’re shooting on location.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 4 – Lighting And Content

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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Posted in Getting Started in Online Video

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