Media Giants Chase Online Ads With Original Shows (nytimes.com)

“Tim Armstrong, (AOL’s) chief executive, said in an interview: ‘Consumers are adopting video very quickly: big investment in devices and networks, big investments by the most talented creative people to get involved in this medium; and big investment in measurement. So I think this industry is about to explode.'”

13 Ways to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Irresistible  (businessinsider.com)

A little older, but still very relevant information.

YouTube to Launch Subscription Plan for Some Channels (USAToday.com)

A theme I’m seeing, companies wanting better video.

Vine is Exploding, and People are Starting to Take it Very, Very Seriously (PetaPixel.com)

I’m not sure how much I buy into the headline, as anytime I look at Vine there is some really bad content. With that said, I do think Vine is only growing and offers a great plattform to make some creative video.

The Money Shot (VanityFair.com)

This is a longer article about Instagram and its sale to Facebook. Anytime I read a Silicon Valley success story, I wonder what the heck I am doing with my life.

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If you do not have good audio, then you do not have good video. Live by this, because your videos will die by this if you don’t.

A few big things go into good audio: environment, microphones and how it’s recorded. I want to touch on how it’s recorded.

If you’re using a HDSLR like I am, then you have to find a better way than recording straight into the camera to record audio. A mic, or god forbid just the camera’s mic, straight into the camera is not going to cut it. One option is to use an external recorder, and then sync the audio in post. That’s extra steps and can be difficult if you’re just starting out. Though if done properly the results are fantastic, and most times best.

In my situation though, I need to be able to shoot and edit quickly, making that extra work tough to squeeze in. So I use a preamp. A preamp filters the audio before it enters the camera. This way all the audio is being recorded to the camera and you don’t have to sync in post. I use a JuicedLink Riggy Micro, which I couldn’t imagine my kit being without. When using it, you put the gain on your camera down to one or two, and adjust the the gain on the preamp higher. You can also use better microphones with your preamp, as better microphones will use XLR outputs and your camera does not have XLR inputs.

News Shooter (formerly DSLR News Shooter) put together an excellent post a while back that you should read on the JuicedLink Riggy Micro. Their spot-on review of it, is above.

OliviaTech also has a good post on using preamps and another on making sure your preamp is grounded properly if sitting in the hot shoe of your camera.

I don’t have many complaints about the Riggy, expect that it’s not made well to sit under the camera and the “adapters” to mount it on top  in the hot shoe are relatively expensive. It’s essentially a hot shoe mount, but what you need are the mounts for mics on the preamp when it sits on top of your camera.

Of course there are other options aside from JuicedLink, like the newly announced Tascam DR-60d. Haven’t used that or heard too much about it, but I do have a Tascam DR-100 MKII and DR-40 and they are excellent. I realize this was JuicedLink heavy, so please let me know if you have used another preamp and your experiences with it.

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Adobe announced today that it will no longer sell new versions of Adobe Creative Suite – still selling and supporting CS6 – but will now only offer new versions and updates to those using Adobe Creative Cloud. That means if you want new versions of Premiere, Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign, etc., you’ll need to sign up for the service which ranges in price from $20 per moth for a single program to $50 a month for every Adobe program (well at least all the ones I’m familiar with). See a list of programs here.

You can read Adobe’s press release here. 

Nofilmschool.com has a post up and there will surely be a lively discusion in the comments. 

I personally subscribe to the Creative Cloud. I jumped on it last month while Adobe was offering $30 per month for the entire Creative Cloud service, with free updates and upgrades. If I were to purchase CS6 at the time it would have cost $1800. To me it seemed like a good deal and feasible way to own software that I need. I wish this would have been available when I was in college. There is no way I would (or could) put up $1800, but I can do $30 a month. That’s $360 a year for every Adobe product I need. I might hesitate if I had to pay $50, though would (and will) probably give in when the time comes. With all that said, I haven’t had any hiccups using the cloud and haven’t even had a chance to use any other features aside from the software.

I know a lot of people will not be happy about this. People love options, and this just takes one away. What are your thoughts?

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Video above from the Adobe Cloud site, displaying some features of the service.

I can’t say too much about this video without giving it away. I thought it was well-shot, and had a great cast. Found it on Short of the week.

The only other thing I will say is: I didn’t see that coming.

From the Vimeo description:

THE END

Written & Directed by Ted Marcus
Produced by Fred Rowson, John Kassab, Oliver Kember, Ted Marcus
Executive Producers – Erik Eidem, James Mather, Michael Graf, Pierre Emmanuel Plassart

GUS LEWIS as Jamie
SIMON PEARSALL as Tim
ANGELICA MANDY as Frankie
ANNA CLARKE as Polly
and GENEVIEVE GAUNT as Madeleine

Director of Photography – Oliver Kember
Sound Design by John Kassab
Edited by John X. Carey & Nate Tam
Original Music Composed & Recorded by Jessica Dannheisser

Costumes by Tilly Wilding Coulson
Sound Recorded by Don Nelson and Valerio Cerini
Additional Crew – Laurenço Barsi-Gomes, Matthew Greer, Stephen Parker

Visual Effects by Sandbox FX
Effects Coordinated by John Nugent
Animation by James Going
Rotoscope Artist – Jack Nugent

— WINNER – Best SciFi // HollyShorts Film Festival —
— AWARD OF MERIT // Lucerne International Film Festival —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – Palm Springs ShortFest —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – Baja International Film Festival —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – Rushes Soho Shorts —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – Indianapolis International Film Festival —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – Burbank International Film Festival —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – LA Indie Film Fest —
— OFFICIAL SELECTION – London Short Film Festival —

On a mostly daily basis I will try to post links from around the web that I find interesting and useful. They will cover anything and everything about multimedia, including social media. Be sure to share any links you find!

DIY Co-Directors Talk About Their First Feature Film Experience ‘Hills Green’ (nofilmschool.com)

Patients pays dividends for these two young filmmakers. Great Q&A from a really informative site.

THE BEST OF NAB 2013: OUR ROUND UP OF THE SHOW (NewsShooter.com)

NAB is a convention in which all the latest gear and gadgets related to video are announced, displayed and shown off.

6 Ways to Drive YouTube Viewers to Your Website (sierratierra.com and SreeTips)

Simple and relevant.

Photographer Uses His Aerial Helicopter Camera to Deliver an Engagement Ring (petapixel.com)

Helicopter rigs are becoming all the rage and rightfully so, as they’re pretty awesome. Here is a new use for them.

Innovative Rebel: High-Tech Camera Maker Jim Jannard (inc.com)

A great read about Red cameras and how it got it’s start.

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In March the Tribeca Film Festival put out a call for entries for six-second films, inspired (and sponsored) by Twitter’s Vine app. If you haven’t checked out Vine, it’s a fusion of Twitter/Instagram/Video. You record six seconds of video and post it to an Instagram like interface. There have been some really creative Vine videos posted, especially a lot of stop motion/animation.

The winners of the competition were announced at the end of April, and I have to say there are some good ones. Take a look at some of the finalist.

My favorite is probably the egg one. It’s clever. But a theme I’m noticing is that it’s difficult to find one that has a solid story in the six seconds. There is surely a lot of clever stop motion, but finding one that tells a story in six seconds is harder to find. It’ll be interesting to see this competition grow and the Vine videos that come out of it.

Even though the competition has come and gone, me and my wife Sandra were inspired to create our own today, which is what you see above. Have you shot any good Vine videos?

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I’ll post videos – documentaries, short films, commercials and etc. – that I feel are worth watching periodically. Actually, it’ll probably be often, as there is a lot of good videos out there. Here is one I found on Short of the Week.

From the YouTube description:

“Stranded in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, a man sets in motion an unlikely plan to protect the precious cargo he carries: his infant daughter.

Directed by Ben Howling & Yolanda Ramke
Produced by Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke, Marcus Newman, Daniel Foeldes

Tropfest Australia 2013 Finalist”

What do you think of it?

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I submitted this video for a CASE award earlier this year and my fingers are still crossed as awards will begin to be announced in June. I bring this up because while I was submitting the video some of the questions I had to answer where quite interesting. It asked: how much money did it cost to produce? How many people did it take? To answer those questions, I wrote down zero.

I didn’t have any extra cost for this video and I shot all the video used. I’m not sure if that fact will help or hurt at all during the judging process, but the questions made me curious.  They actually go back to the reason why I wanted to start this blog. You don’t need a crew or a huge budget to produce quality video that is effective at communicating your message. Now, I will say that it sure as heck doesn’t hurt to have a crew and a budget. Things can go a lot smoother and quicker. But most of us do not have that luxury.

What I think makes the video, is the focus on real people and real stories. These days viewers are expecting a certain amount of authenticity in their videos and it is up to us to deliver that. With the goal of producing video that highlights UC Davis and it’s students, these girls hit the head on the nail. They are in demanding majors, still finding time for a demanding hobby, creating opportunities where there wasn’t any, and give back to the community. I couldn’t draw up a script that was as good as these girls were in real life.

Keeping it simple can produce the results you want, and sometimes that can be best. Also, there are tons of stories right in front of you, and while there is a time and place for scripting out a video, sometimes you just need to go with what’s given to you – it might be better. Enjoy the video (and cross your fingers for me)!

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I shot this video with the Nikon D800 and various lenses. I rely heavily on the 24-70mm F/2.8, but also used the 80-200mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.4. I also use a juicedlink pre-amp to get better audio. I used Davinci Resolve Lite to convert the footage to black and white and FCP to edit it. 

During the month of February 2013, 178 million Americans watched 33 billion videos according to comScore.com. The most watched video on YouTube that month was the PS4 video featured. It had over 26 million views and didn’t even become live till Feb. 20. With that information, we know that people are watching online videos at an all-time high pace. And for the past few years, the demand to produce video at various companies and institutions has been growing as well. But I’m not sure these companies and institutions understood why they wanted video. Then number of people watching is one reason, but there is more.

Along with watching 33 billion videos, internet video viewers watched 9.9 billion video ads, with Google delivering a record 2.2 billion of those ads. This is why online video is going to be a must-do part of any companies online communications strategy. Not only is it an effective way to pass along information, but it’s also generating money – lots of it.

I wanted to start this blog as a resource for those looking to produce video for news, public relations and whatever else. I don’t think online video is a fad or a trend. People are expecting videos and they are expecting good videos. This blog will feature information on video, audio, photography and social media, and how they all work together. The world of video is tremendously overwhelming, even for someone who works with it on a daily basis. You can be drowned in all the gear, software and techniques associated with video. I hope to take a much more simple approach to explaining video. I will link to other blogs, show videos I think are excellent and expand on my personal experiences.

I currently work as the multimedia specialist at UC Davis, where my main job is to produce video for the university (DISCLAIMER: This blog is in no way associated with UC Davis. All views and opinions are my own). I have a master’s in digital media from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and have worked in news prior to working at UC Davis. I started out as a photographer and reporter and have transitioned into a public relations role.

Oh, and if you are wondering where the name Zebra Stripes comes from, then this will be one of the first things you learn on this blog. It’s simple really. On a lot of video cameras, when your highlights are getting blown out, the screen will display what is called “zebra stripes” in the blown-out areas. I don’t have a deeper meaning to naming this blog that, other than I think it is a cool blog name.

 

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