We discovered a new video-sharing site producers might enjoy. Share My HD by Motionbox is geared towards sharing, storing and editing HD video… free. Motionbox recently upgraded storage from 300MB to 1GB, which could be up to 2 hours of footage, depending on your format. Not too bad for free storage. Upgrading to a Motionbox Premium account for about $30 gives you unlimited storage, a nice plus for video producers working in a small town like Videomaker’s headquarters who need to share videos with their L.A. partners.
Users of the free account have an unlimited sharing capacity and online editing, while the upgraded program allows for larger file uploads and unlimited high-quality downloads, along with nice high-quality playback. You can keep your account private, share it with a select few or share with the world; it’s your choice. We did a quick test upload and found the site and directions easy to follow and very intuitive. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for the ‘Online Video’ Category
Free HD Video-Sharing Site
Iran Protestors Death Neda Soltan Shocks Video World
These videos are graphic, please watch with caution
On June 16 Charlie Fulton posted a very thought provoking blog. After discovering the new video of Iranian Protestor Neda Soltan’s death that is quickly reaching alarming views on Youtube I decided to give my thoughts on the same issue. Today we live in an age where technology rules, with the click of a button and audience awaits all of us and what we choose to show that audience. The idea that in a place where the media does not have access, the people are using social networks and privately shot video to bring the news to the media is a powerful example of how times have changed since the birth of Youtube & social networks. It is also alarming and at the same time refreshing to think that people are turning to themselves that there own abilities to bring each other into the know, rather than a tv with a rather one sided point of view. Here are a few more links and media outlets on the story:
New Media’s Role in Regime Change
The situation in Iran is frightening and is still unfolding rather quickly. (For anyone using us as their sole news source, the results of the recent election in Iran are being questioned by a large number of citizens, and the stability of the current Iranian government is in some question.)
Before, if someone noted that, our instincts probably would have been to turn on the TV to one of the news channels just like what some of us did on that one horrible day in 2001. But today, there’s not much of a reason to bother turning on the idiot box–just opening your Web browser can tell you everything you need to know faster. And that has made for a lot of interesting discussions on the net Read the rest of this entry »
The Memory of Internet Video
So, with the upcoming retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, President Obama must nominate a new justice to be confirmed by the Senate. The cat’s now out of the bag: it’s Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. She has been a target of criticism for a long time, and this is another time where the Internet’s deep memory has remembered something quite interesting: a 10+ year old clip of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) taking the opposition to task for their position.
The Internet now gives everyone the power to say “We won’t forget” and really mean it, and video on the Internet adds mightily to that power. It’s truly an exciting time to be on the Internet, and an even more exciting time to put video onto the Internet.
Credit due: The Huffington Post
Send me the Video
Remember the catch-phrase from the Jerry Maguire movie: “Show me the Money” that eventually made it in to popular culture phraseology? How ‘bout “You talkin’ to me?” and “Where’s the beef?” Lately, I’ve been hearing the phrase “Send me the video” a lot.
When someone asks “Send me the video”, it used to be such a simple process, although it did take days to get it there.
Local Goes Mobile
If you create video with the idea of generating income on a local level, here’s a look at how some people will receive their local news soon. Inergize Digital and DoApp have created a program for iPhone/iPod touch applications that distribute news, weather and video from local television stations
The Mobile Local News product is designed for television stations, radio stations, magazines, newspapers and other media companies to deliver local content to consumer iPhone and iPod touch devices. The content can include advertising that helps finance the programs and consumers can share the content through the usual sharing means like texting, email and Twittering.
Currently, WOAI, (San Antonio, TX), KTVX, (Salt Lake City, UT), and KLRT, (in Little Rock, AR) television stations are now using this application and we hear the Mobile Local News group is in negotiations to supply our local station here in Chico, California with the service. We’ll keep you posted on its developments as we find out more. Anyone in the WOAI, KTVX and KLRT station areas might want to give us some updates to how well it’s received. Product managers say these apps are the world’s first locally branded apps to serve video with ads on iPhone and iPod touch devices.
What’s in it for us? As video producers, we need to keep up on the all the latest means of getting our videos seen. In the case of mobile devices, we need to understand the techniques of shooting for such a small screen. Local TV news programs are hurting a lot due to the fact that many viewers are finding their news on other sources. But the one thing local stations can offer is the uniqueness of covering their own community the best. If advertisers can jump on board this new technology, that’s good news for local programming. Read more about the program below.
Mom Tribute Video
Here’s a quick and easy way to delight that special mom you know via a viral internet video with a very “Onion-ish” flair.
My friend Florence sent me this “news” link of a fake CNNBC-video broadcast, that honors ME with a “Prestigious Mother of the Year award given to Jennifer” award.
Sound bites are taken from real newsclips from President Obama and others that also includes man-on-the-street interviews, all supposedly lauding my wonderfulness.
Laid out to look like a real CNN or MSNBC newscast, with the fly-in graphics and lower-third text scrolls, the video can be personalized for any name you select by finding the large orange button that says “Send a customized video to all the moms you know”.
Wiitube?!
So you have a PS3 and you want to watch some new movies. Cool, that’s easy enough. Now lets say you have a 360, and you want to watch some new tv shows. Cool, just rent them through your XBOX Live account. Now lets say you want to see a video that you created yourself and may be even check out other peoples work. Well in that case, you’re out of luck!
However, Nintendo looks like they are the first to offer gamers a new way to view original content with it’s new video on-demand service Wii no Ma.Which contains a rather interesting interface that allows gamers to select the program they want to view with their self created Mii characters while they characters are relaxing at home inside the living room. It’s a great new idea to the gaming world that Nintendo is hoping will grab reluctant consumers and get them to try the Wii for it’s interactive experience. The big vision would be to have a family sit down and watch original programing on the Wii, rather than by standard means. Which is a very interesting concept that got me thinking.
Why not offer the ability to post new content to a user generated channel for all of the video enthusiats out there, that just happen to be gamers? Giving them their own version of a Youtube… Wiitube! And for that matter, why not add to the idea and allow other Wii created characters to join you in a virtual living room to watch your work? Have scheduled screenings and be able to rate the videos that are being streamed on a featured channel?
Well that’s just my idea, what about you?
Goodbye Viewfinder…
There has been a trend in camcorder design lately to eliminate the traditional viewfinder in favor of the LCD panel (such as the Canon HFS-100). And in my opinion it’s good riddance.
I’m going to probably break with most of my professional camera op brethren here, but I’ve become a complete convert to operating the camcorder using the LCD screen. I rarely bother to squint into the viewfinder anymore and these are the reasons:
I wear glasses. I know that all viewfinders have a diopter control that will compensate for my less than stellar vision, but it’s annoying to have to raise my glasses up and down constantly to check both the camera and the real life set.
Having one eye closed all the time is annoying, and takes a while to re-compensate to the real world environment. When seconds count, being able to take your head out from behind the camera and being aware of your surroundings makes it much more likely you will be able to capture what’s about to happen, rather than what’s in frame right now.
The resolutions of viewfinder screens are generally awful. In the SD days, you could still focus reliably using the viewfinder. But with today’s HD resolutions you still have to use all the focusing tools such as peaking and image magnification in order to get an acceptable focus. So what’s the point? Why not use the much larger, and (more likely higher resolution) LCD panel?
I haven’t seen a really good viewfinder since they were mini tube tv’s anyway. Film cameras are totally different, looking through the viewfinder to a nice piece of ground glass, is amazingly sharp and detailed. Looking through a plastic tube into a tiny LCD panel is just disappointing.
I know that the biggest obstacle is shooting outdoors in bright light, and that the LCD panel gets washed out very easy on a bright day. But they are getting better in this regard, some cameras such as Sony’s EX-1 actually use the sunlight, and optically direct it behind the screen to increase brightness.
That’s still the only drawback I can find, and one that’s easily worked around simply by shading the screen with your hand in most cases.
So what about you, so you still find viewfinders useful?
It’s all in the Techniques
Videomaker’s Video Production Associate, Igor Zarubin, passed an interesting 12-minute video along to us the other day. It’s called Signs, and it is such a simple yet well-produced video that I thought I’d share it with our readers, too.
Many producers use music to enhance dialog and SOT, keeping the bed low and just bringing it up at key points. This lovely video does just the opposite. There is no dialog to speak of, what voices you do hear is under the music bed, which is a different concept.
There are also no fancy wipes or effects to speak of, which is something we advocate for producers who are sharing video on the internet, as effects can make your video slow down and get wonky. This video is made well using just good tried-and-true shooting techniques, tight editing, and utilizing the art of the cutaway to it’s fullest.
I hope you enjoy it. Let us know what you think.
Credits go to: Created by Publicis Mojo and @RadicalMedia Director: Patrick Hughes
