Post-Vidcon Online Video News

So I couldn't con(vince) my bosses into sending me to VidCon this year but that did not prevent me from obsessively following the news and entertainment stories that came out of the annual conference/convention.

Maker Studios has hit the 1 billion views per month mark, signed Snoop Dogg, and wrangled a former Disney Exec.

YouTube has introduced "Marketplace" to connect content creators and brands looking for an online presence. This really excites me since I work for a brand that has an online video presence. This opens up the possibility for us to work with some more-popular, more mainstream content creators without having to do a long term campaign. We would be able to connect with YouTubers with an audience similar to the one we already reach in order to give us a broader spectrum of influence.

The take-away from VidCon is that online video is growing faster than we can imagine. More money than I can comprehend is being poured into this growing industry and I am excited to play even just my small role in it.

Balancing Act

I am continuing the work on a script. I have rearranged the scenes so that safety is first (since safety should always come first). I think I have decided what repair to shoot, but the marketing folks tell me they are interested in something longer.

The issue with a longer repair is that I don’t want anything that’s going to be complicated, either for our star to do or for me to shoot. The longer repairs involve more tools, more close-ups and more angles to get everything in shot. My first priority is for our star to be comfortable. My second priority is for everything to look pretty. Making sure everything is a certain length of time is fairly low on my priority list.

Visit with our "Star"

Our new guest star visited the set today. I'm not sure what he thought of everything but he was extremely well-behaved and attentive. I think this will work out well. He and his mom didn't have too many questions but they seemed to enjoy themselves. He skipped class to be here since we thought school was done on Wednesday. Turns out it's not finished until next week. Oh well, I'm pretty sure he didn't miss anything important. I have also started working on some scripts for maintenance and care videos as filler for the diagnostic videos that are currently in limbo. I'm taking stuff the marketing team has been working on and turning into a video script.

Behind the Scenes

I’ve been experimenting with behind the scenes footage and have discovered a few things.

1) An iPhone 3GS is really awkward to record with for any length of time
2) My personal camcorder makes a really obnoxious sound when the auto-focus is operating
3) My personal camcorder has a stupidly short battery life.

The bts footage will be a challenge. I have a whole new respect for the people who shoot this stuff on a regular basis and make something useful and entertaining out of it. With the structure of a script or anything like that it’s hard to sort. Do I do it chronologically? That seems like the most likely way to organize everything, but I doubt it would be that entertaining.

Argh...

Foggy-Headed, Wooly-Brained

I’m having one of those days where I feel like I have tapped my well of inspiration and it’s run dry by lunch hour. My brain feels foggy and slow, as it does most Mondays but due to my busyness this morning everything feels so much slower now. I keep forgetting my iphone cable at home so I’m stuck without even my behind-the-scenes footage to work with. I could always upload it from my phone to YouTube and edit it using YouTube’s editor. The bit of experimenting I’ve done with it leads me to believe that the editor would be suited for this kind of project. I would much rather do my editing with Final Cut. I’ve also tried exporting our videos using something other than the “Upload to YouTube” option built in to Final Cut. It seems to have worked very well, but I’m not sure if there are any tangible differences.

Story Boards with No Script!?

I’m thinking about starting a storyboard for the new video, even without a script. I think it might help me work out some of the things in my head and communicate them to the marketing team. I still can’t imagine having an actual script for this project until we are ready to record the voice overs but I need to have an actual plan. I’m still waiting to hear about casting our star. It’s been narrowed down and I have been led to believe that I will be taking some responsibility for choosing who will be on set with us.

Behind-the-Scenes

Got the go-ahead to shoot behind the scenes for the new project. I’m going to start practicing with some behind the scenes for our regular videos. I’m not sure how I’ll manage two cameras at once but I’m sure it’s possible. I’ll probably just use my iPhone for now. If it works I may bring in my personal camera. The marketing folks don’t know if we will have any use for the behind the scenes footage for regular videos, but at the very least it will be practice for the new project.

Script Writing for an Unscripted Video

Working on the “Script” (such as it is) today. The Social Media team have sent me a list of questions to ask Steve to help them get an outline together. I’m starting to wonder how much work they are going to put into a script only to see NONE of it actually used. I’ll try wrangling a response from Steve, but I think this will end up being an interview tomorrow before or after we shoot our diagnostic video. I don’t expect any sort of usable script-based dialogue to come from our shoot. I plan on having a topic, a few shots to get and a series of questions to either ask our kid or get the kid to ask Steve. Most of the instruction and advice will be done after as a voice over.

New Project

I wrote the following while debating where this should live. For now it will be here, as a way to collect my thoughts about my most complicated video project to date.

June 1st, 2012
We’re starting a new project and it feels like I should be documenting this one. Natalie and the Social Media team contacted me about doing a video of Steve doing a repair with a child. They haven’t let me know many details yet so I am not clear about the specifics but the idea is that we have a video with Steve introducing a kid to the world of household repairs as a way to show parents what is or is not appropriate for a child to help with around the house. I have mostly been concerned with researching child labor laws and compiling a thorough release form that is understandable to anyone, not just those who speak film/legalese. There is no way I will be going in to this with a proper script. I think our best bet is going to be casting a kid with natural curiosity who will ask questions and who gets along with Steve. I used this as a template for my release form. Since this project is most similar to a documentary I felt a documentary release form to be the most appropriate, and this one contained a provision for an underage participant.

Life

Ha, well it's been a while and my writing fingers might be a little rusty. Life goes on, much as it always has, here in the Shire...

Baby J is growing, Monkey is all potty-trained (except for her first major accident in MONTHS today) and I'm still making porn in the basement of a former warehouse (at least, that's what my co-workers think I do).

I recently started wrestling with the desire to do more. I'm still not sure what "more" may be, but dammit, I want to do it. I am still crafting, working on an awesome blanket for our best friend's future offspring and toys for my girls and nephews. I'm also participating in a Joss Whedon craft swap.

Work is fun if a little unsatisfying at times. I would like to do a lot more creatively, but I am aware that the limitations of "relating to appliance parts" hinder most creative endeavors.

I have been reading up a lot on the independent film biz and YouTubing in general. I look at part of my job as being the "Keeper of the YouTube" and part of that is keeping up to date on trends, who's who in YouTube and any new things the Google folks are running out that may affect our videos.