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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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Brightcove and Long Tail Video get Pay Per View Micropayments via Invideous

June 9th, 2010

Online Video eCommerce is quickly ramping to become a very real and easy option for revenue generation in online video. London based Invideous, parent company Swiffen founded in 2008, recently closed a six-figure round of funding and is announcing an impressive customer list starting with Brightcove and Long Tail Video (Bits On The Run). The service offers publishers the option to charge per view for content via micropayments built directly into the video player which, according to Invideous, takes only 10 minutes to integrate. They offer subscription or pay per view via credit card or SMS with clear and easy to use menus (screen caps below). According to Jack Thorogood, co-founder and Commercial Director, larger publishers can co-brand within the video with a favicon, or logo. And they are also set to roll out two new customers at the end of the month, Kaltura and VMIX.



The Invideous service is very stratighforward which may encourage further adoption of the pay for play model but there have been others in the past that have tried with lackluster results including YouTube, and http://www.vidcompare.com/video-provider-detail.php?id=19although not entirely the same solutions. For example, YouTube tried a pay per download model charging a “personal license fee” and Ooyala’s offering is available in their Backlot allowing viewers to pay for a limited number of shows via an Ooyala branded PayPal account.

There are other interesting OV eComm solutions out there like SundaySky who offer eCommerce websites a service that will take images and product information and mash them into a product video that will dynamically update as the product does. So if specs on a particular camera change, so will the SundaySky video that is associated with it. Pretty slick.

As these services emerge making the monetization of online video easier we are still years out from a unified, standard, and widely accepted means by which to generate revenue from video. Until then, keep monetizing your highly valuable and already monetized web pages with video by syndicating your videos driving traffic back to your site,  increasing engagement, and extending reach.

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Lighting and Content – Shooting Online Video Part 4

May 27th, 2010

Now you have your camera. You’re going to need lights, backdrop and something to shoot. That sounds like a lot more to do, but the good news is that it doesn’t all have to be done in one day. Lighting, in fact, is a work in progress and believe me, you’ll make plenty of changes. There will be tons of posts coming up about lighting. Also, depending on what you plan on shooting for your online video can change lighting options. For example, did you know that there are lighting professionals that specialize in food and beyond that there are lighting professionals that specialize in shooting chocolate. By the way, you can’t shoot chocolate since the lights will melt the chocolate so you need a chocolate model. See what I mean about lighting?

Let’s start with the content of your online video. First, think about what you’re shooting. Is it a product/service? Is it a person giving a demo of a product/service? Is it a presentation? Is it an off-site shoot (meaning you’ll be going to another place to shoot video)? Will you generally always be shooting in the same area? These are all things to consider when deciding how and where to shoot a video.

Regardless of what you’re shooting or where you’re shooting, you’ll need a game plan and that usually comes in the form of an outline. Start by making a list of all the things you want to address in your online video and then prioritize them. You may not be able to get all the points you want to make in one video and that’s ok. That just means if those issues are important you can make another video. This will also help you better organize a video.

Once you know what you want to get across in the video, here’s a good rule of thumb for organizing it:

  1. Tell them what you’re going to be telling them
  2. Tell them
  3. Then tell them what you told them

Sounds redundant, right? It actually is a little, but by “telling them what you’re going to tell them” they know immediately if they want to watch the video. They’ll also appreciate the honesty upfront and are likely to come back to see other videos that do interest them. “Tell them” is really the meat of the story and what people want to see. Finally, “Tell them what you told them” is a quick wrap up and a great way to get any brand messaging across. Also, this is a good time to include any calls to action. Maybe visit a web site, make a call, or ask them to leave a comment if that feature is available on your site.

When you get your outline finished, it’s time to think about the best way to convey this information visually. Remember, people are watching a video online because they want to see something better or they don’t necessarily have the time to read about it. Take each of the points in your list and create an outline that includes the best way to demonstrate what you’re trying to get across. This will help you create a shot list and ultimately will help you when you’re editing the video.

I know, it’s a lot to take in, but a little organization and forethought can go a long way in saving time and money when shooting a video.

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

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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4 Vector Video Personality – Matching Your Use Case to an OVP

May 18th, 2010
This is a guest post written by Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.Net (see below for details on Steve):

If video is going to be everywhere, and everyone is going to need it – how can you determine the best solution to fit your needs. Well,  it turns out there are different kinds of customers that fit different kinds of solutions. So,  let’s start by asking a few basic questions about YOU,  and your video needs.

1.  CONTENT

2.  SPEED

3.  INDUSTRY

4.  GOALS

So,  here’s the Video Personality Questionnaire:


CONTENT,  you are a….

A Prolific Creator.   This means that either you, your site, or your team shoots, edits, and publishes a large volume of video on a regular basis.

An Occasional Maker.   You and your team make a few videos a week,  no more than
10 or 15 videos a month.

An infrequent Video Author.   Sure,  you make a video ever now and then,  maybe an
interview with the CEO or a rare video of your team at a trade show or public event,  but
mostly  you just don’t make video.

SPEED.   How zippy are you?

Your a Speed Daemon.   You’re site’s content is changing all the time. You’ve got a twitter account – and you tweet out news often and quickly.  You post new blog posts,  upload FlipCam videos,   and expect your site to be updated in real time.

A Frequent Refresher.   You’re not a realtime publisher,  but you update your sites content on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  You  endeavor to be topical,   keeping content fresh and perky.

A Cautious Updater.    You’re sites information is static,  and updated only when needed. You publish white papers,  and data,  but not news or changing information.


INDUSTRY –  what do  your visitors expect.

You’re a Media Site.  Your content focused on publishers, knowledge and how-to’s.  You pride yourself in Curating the best material in your area of focus – and your visitors expect topical,  timely,  fresh content.

You’re a Brand. Visitors go to your site because they are buyers of your brand.  They’re are coming to be part of your brand fan club.  Or,  they’ve got a gripe.   They want to post, share,  upload,  and engage in your brand community – both as a consumer and creator of media.

You’re an e-commerce site.   You’ve got great things for sale.  Electronics,  Books,  Shoes, Crafts,  you name it.

GOALS –  what do you want video to do for  you?

I’m looking to be the ‘it’ place to go.  I want my visitors to consume text, pictures, and video from my site.  I expect Video to increase the time visitors spend on my site,  the number of pages they view,  and as a result I want my SEO (search engine optimization)  to help me grow my page rank and search results.

Ads.  I’ve got an ad sever with DoubleClick,  OAS,  or XX,  and I want to be able to drive pre-roll campaigns with adjacent ad banners on a coherent dashboard.

Cash –  I want Revenue.   I don’t have an ad sever,  or advertiser relationships,  but I want someone else to sell my pre-roll and just hand me a check.  I don’t need to have a direct relationship or veto power over the ads on my site.


Using These Four Vectors,  Content,  Speed,  Industry, and Goals – you can determine what kind of video user you are, and therefore what kind of platform you’re looking for.


THE MAJOR MEDIA MAKER:
if you and your team create a lot of video,  then storage,  encoding,  delivery, and analytics are your core needs.  You’ve got sunk costs – and how you need to get revenue back against plays.


If your a MAJOR MEDIA MAKER your priority is going to be finding a solution that has solid storage and delivery. You’ve probably got developers on staff, or on call – so you don’t need pages,  or web dev tools,  or even ad networks. You’ve got all that.  You need a player,  customizable,  and an ad server.

Good solutions for the Major Media Maker are Brightcove,  Kaltura,  Ooyala,  or building your own solution with JW Player or Flowplayer.


THE SOCIAL MEDIA MAVEN
You’ve got traffic,  and community,  and engagement.  Now it’s time to turn that passion into action – and get your visitors to make video,  share video,  embed video,  and spread the content and the brand with the power of your social network.  Community is the driver here – and revenue comes from organic growth.  So the core tools re sharing tools,  video discovery –  video upload of UGC,  Curation,  and building the largest most contextual collection of content that  your community can share and grow.


If your a SOCIAL MEDIA MAVEN then video is driven by community.  You’re looking to embrace upload, discovery, sharing  - and of course monetization.  For this use case,  a Social Video Platform is a must.  You probably have limited dedicated dev resources – so you’d like a solution that can be managed by non-technical staff.

Good solutions for this use case might be self sever video players like Vimeo or Viddler,  or more full featured video discovery solutions like VodPod or Magnify.net.


THE BRAND BUILDING DESTINATION
Fans and friends are showing up at your site.  They’re looking for knowledge – how to’s and FAQ’s.  They want to find video that answers their questions -and they’re ready to share their product knowledge and passionate brand fanaticism with your visitors.   Here the tools are about Aggregation,  Curation,  Filtering  - and presentation layer.


Good solutions for you include solutions with integrated social media tools,  robust API’s,  a diverse mix of on-page players,  and database driven video library pages.  In addition, you may want to be looking for a Realtime Video Curation engine,  and on the fly Sponsored Video Sections for monetization of brand partners.  For an open source solution,  Kaltura offers some of these features,  as does Ooyala,  and Magnify.net powers these solutions.


THE MONETIZATION MONSTER
You’ve got the traffic. You’ve got the content.  You’ve got the costs.  You need revenue,  and fast.  This means you need essentially a video ad server,  or a player that bolts in to the best ad networks you can find.


For the hard core revenue driven site,  the number one, two and three concern is ad serving. You need both players and pages-  and you need tight integration with OAS and Dart DoubleClick ad servers.  You need to be able to run multiple campaigns at the same time,  and be able to provide advertisers with granular data about video plays, engagement,  and off site video embedding.

Among the solutions for this complex integration are Brightcove,  Magnify and Ooyala.

CONCLUSION:

Video is powerful,  important, and able to provide a measurable impact on your site traffic and ROI.  But understanding your content strategy,  and your video sources,  and then finding a video partner that can work with you to meet those goals takes some effort.  Understanding what platforms provide – and exploring both the documentation and existing implementations is essential.  Don’t assume that all whats under the hood is everything you need.  If you need Ad Serving,  take the time to set up a demo campaign and see how complex the dashboard is.  If you’re looking to add Aggregated and Curated video to your offering,  make sure that you’ve got a scalable solution that provides both sensible content and workflow solutions.

Video is here to stay.  Welcome to the Realtime video web.  It’s bound to have an impact on your business – so why not explore ways to make that impact measurable and meaningful.

About our Expert Guest Author: Steve Rosenbaum is founder and CEO of Magnify.net, a NYC-based solution that provides Aggregation and Realtime Curation of web video. He has been building and growing consumer-content businesses since 1992. He was the creator and Executive Producer of MTV UNfiltered, a series that was the first commercial

application of user-generated video in commercial TV.
Follow Steve on Twitter:  @Magnify
Read Steve Rosenbaum on CurationNation.org

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SD or HD: Shooting Online Video Part 2

May 12th, 2010

One of the toughest decisions you need to make about shooting video for online distribution is picking a format in which to shoot the video. My answer to this burning question: just get started with what you have access to. Sure, the online video platform providers (OVPs) will support both formats, but in all honesty at this point shooting in Standard Definition (SD) is just fine and probably the lowest cost to entry. This is because SD video cameras are much cheaper to purchase, the files are smaller than High Definition (HD) files so you don’t need a ton of extra storage space, and they can be seen on just about any device (computer, TV, cell phone, iPad, etc).

You also should think about where people will be watching your video. If it’s online, the quality of SD is perfectly acceptable. If it’s on a mobile device, SD quality might actually be preferred since it will take less bandwidth to stream those videos. Plus, until the Sprint EVO comes out, cell phones don’t really support HD anyway. That said, if you’re planning for people to watch your videos streamed on an HDTV initially, then you probably want to get started with HD. Chances are that’s not the case. However, as you get better at shooting video, going HD just may be the next step on your online video path. Like I said, the online video providers all support it.  Even YouTube has rolled out HD support, so it’s clearly not going away. If you do decide to go HD here are a few things to keep in mind:

  1. HD files are big; a four-minute video can easily take up 1GB of storage space. You’ll need a place to store those files and if you plan on storing them on a computer, chances are you’ll quickly run through hard drive space. You’ll likely have raw video files and a completed video for uploading online both stored on a computer’s hard drive. An IT person will tell you that’s not the best idea you’ve ever had.  Plus, that’s easily more than 1GB of space for producing probably one video. You don’t want to run your computer with a hard drive almost filled to capacity. It’s just not a good idea, plus the computer will run slow. If you’re anything like me, that’s just not acceptable.
  2. An external hard drive is a must-have. There are a few reasons you’ll want an external hard drive. Did I mention that HD files are big? So, you’ll need a place to store them off of your computer’s hard drive. An external hard drive is a great place to save un-edited video and final video. Also, if you’re going to be using a program like Final Cut to edit the videos, this is the way to go, plus working with the video won’t tax your computer too much. The good news is that an external hard drive is not very expensive. You can get a quality external hard drive for under $200.
  3. If you’re using an online video provider to store, host, and stream your video files you may need to pay more for that service since as I’ve mentioned HD video files are large. This means it takes up more space on an OVP’s server and someone is going to have to pay for that. Also, if you’re thinking of trying a service for free, you’ll probably have a data cap. So if you upload HD videos, you’ll be uploading fewer of them and that might not give you enough time to real test an OVP’s service.

In short, HD video is going to cost more on multiple levels. SD is simply the more affordable way to get started shooting video to post online. Besides if you’re new to the world of online video, SD is much more forgiving of any mistakes you may make when shooting. Oh, and did I mention HD video files are big!

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

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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