The Real People in the Middle of this Election (and the TV hype)

Errol Morris is arguably one of the most important documentary film makers of our time. More than just an Academy Award winner (for "The Fog of War"), he has an amazing talent for listening to people and letting them tell their own stories in ways that inform and even illuminate reality.

Now, he has written for the NYTimes blog site an extremely insightful perspective, including an impressive selection of historical examples, on real "everyday" people in election advertising campaigns. This perspective, "People in the Middle" also includes discussion and links to Morris' brand new web video site, PeopleintheMiddleforObama.org which was sponsored by People for the American Way.

About this new work, Morris says, "If you’re not going to put words in people’s mouths, if you’re really listening to what they have to say, you’re going to learn something. Admittedly, the evidence is anecdotal. I haven’t selected these people through some kind of statistical sampling. These people are self-selected. They wrote in and said that they were registered Republicans, Independents or switch-voters who were planning to vote for Obama. People in the middle. And I was interested in talking to them on film about why they were making the switch from voting for a Republican to voting for a Democrat."

Most interesting to me was this conclusion, "The people I interviewed have embraced Obama. They are voting for a candidate, not against a candidate."

Read more of Errol Morris on "People in the Middle" by clicking here.

Howard Rheingold Parses the Video Language

Howard Rheingold was a thought-leader before the term entered the vernacular. For example, he wrote the original book on virtual community. Now, Howard is helping people to understand what he's calling the "video vernacular" by walking his talk ie by posting a video on his vlog (video blog).

Just like us videographers used to talk about the "language of film making," Howard is correct that the whole video language, along with all the various forms of interacting with video are going through a radical metamorphosis. Video will never be the same. Will we? Doubtful.

Howard does a tease at the end of his six and a half minute video clip for the relevance of these new forms of video to education. In any case, I appreciate Howard's effort to help those of us who don't swim in this cyber-crap daily to get some perspective on what's happening.

Facebook to Become New Distribution Channel for Major Media Videos

Social media platforms are all the buzz, but I think this is a milestone worth noting: Slide today announced a deal to use Facebook to distribute videos from "major media" companies (including CBS, NBC and many more...). The geeky young face you see to the right is not only the founder/CEO of Slide, but a co-founder of PayPal.

Sure, Amazon and NetFlix (just to name two) are now distributing streaming video; but the leverage of Facebook is quite amazing. In fact, I've become an active Facebook user myself recently (see link lower left of this page), and I enjoy (among other things) using the quickie one-click video embed for Facebook that's offered by YouTube. Now, fans of network TV shows will actually be able to embed episodes and who knows what else.

Stay tuned. The Video Web is regenerating with a major boost from social networking power!

Live Video Streaming for Cell Phones Hitting, well, the Main Stream

Last week, a friend on Facebook (or actually an acquaintance... someone who I've never met in person, but within whom I've done a little work via phone and email) offered a link (via Facebook) to a live video stream of a techie industry party on a rooftop over-looking Washington, DC. The amazing thing was that when I clicked the link, it actually worked. Instantly, I was face-to-face, in a virtual sense, with party-goers who were saying things like "I just thought you were taking my picture..." to which this guy says, "No, you're live on the web" and a quasi interview ensued.

The Video Web is expanding more rapidly than even I realized... and cell phone video, live streaming cell phone video, is to blame.

If you want a more widely-respected opinion, The New York Times wrote up the whole scene in a Sunday Business section column called "Novelties." The article, "Capturing the Moment (and More) Via Cellphone Video," includes some even more compelling examples from the likes of LA's NPR radio leader, KCRW and mentions two leading live webcam video streaming website platforms (which are enabling these feeds): Kyte.com which calls itself "The Universal Digital Media Platform," offers ideas for "monetization" and offers the image above as part of its self-promotion, and Qik.com which appears to be a bit more popular with the blogging/social networking crowd, including my pal in DC.

Kyte also offers among other things, "The Kyte Premium Facebook application (which) is more than a simple widget – it’s a branded social communications platform, featuring live video streaming, multimedia chat, viral distribution capabilities and monetization opportunities." Don't we all need one of those?

Michael Moore to Make New Movie Free for Downloads

In a move that would make Chris Anderson proud -- and in a move that is, to my knowledge, completely unprecedented for a "major motion picture" -- Michael Moore and Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films have announced that Moore's new flick, "Slacker Uprising" will be made available via the web for free download on Sept. 23rd. If you're interested, this link will hook you up to the viral marketing campaign so you can spread the word.

Their announcement also adds, "You can also buy the DVD for $9.95, which will start shipping on September 23 and features extras like: Special Guest Joan Baez - America the Beautiful, Why People Like George Bush?, My Pet Goat, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids, Just Add Water and Heat - More Ramen and Clean Underwear, and more. Or should I say, Moore!"

Here's the trailer:

Web Video News Story: Democracy Now host Amy Goodman Arrested

In this world of video on demand and video shooters everywhere sharing their news, it is no less shocking to have the highly-respected American journalist, syndicated columnist and author Amy Goodman arrested while doing her job, right here in the USA, at a demonstration outside the Republican National Convention. (Full disclosure: I was, many years ago, a producer for Pacifica Radio, the network of independent radio stations who produce Ms. Goodman's "Democracy Now" broadcasts.) Perhaps even more striking (and dare I say empowering) is the fact that this story can be tracked in detail via videos on the web. For example, here is video documentation of her actual arrest:



And here is a short video interview conducted in the halls of the RNC immediately following her release from jail:



By way of background, Time magazine's website provides an overview on the demonstrations; and if you are as shocked and appalled as I am by this kind of treatment of journalists, please sign the petition at Freepress.net demanding that the charges against Amy Goodman and her producers be immediately dropped. I submit that freedom of the press is worthy of your time to support. As a journalist, I feel personally violated by this kind of intimidation of the press.

Updated Tues 9/3: The most comprehensive online coverage, video and otherwise, of the clashes and arrests by police in St. Paul may well be aggregated by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com who goes so far as to suggest with shocking substantiation and more web videos that the FBI may well be involved in coordinating the attacks and intimidation of protesters.

New iPhone Videos Better Than Ever

I'll leave the commentaries on Apple's dramatic announcement of the iPhone 3G to others. I'll only say that after holding out on buying an iPhone, I'm glad I did. Because now I'm ready! Half the price for double the speed (and all those new applications!) I'm going to get an iPhone 3G as close to July 11th as possible. That's as strong an endorsement as I can make. And, I think the iPhone is truly the first, the leading and the most important mobile computing platform.

I also noticed that the videos of today's announcement are better than ever. For example, here's a nice little hightlight reel from the Wall Street Journal:



I also looked at a little of Apple's streaming Quicktime version of Steve Jobs' complete presentation, and the quality of that video looks better than ever at http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0806wdt546x/event/

I also enjoyed and appreciated the excellent live blogging done by the TechCrunch crew. Their live blog posts included videos of key people and commentators pre-event (including a nice scoop that EBay would be announcing an application) as well as great photos during.

Enhancements to the Video Web: The Mini-Camcorder Du Jour & Intelligent Video Conversations

A couple of quick blog bites (vs sound bites) from the NYTimes website which indicate continually brighter days ahead for what I affectionately call The Video Web:

First of all, my fave tech writer David Pogue not only reviewed my Christmas present (see posts and demo video below), The Flip Ultra, but his latest "State of the Art" column, "Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot" pretty much nails it. It also informed me--and I had no idea about this--that the Flip is now garnering a rich 17% of all US camcorder sales and "has been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com since the day of its debut. For Pogue's finely articulated perspective, click here.

The other item is what appears to be a new feature on the NYT website, which is Bloggingheads.tv "diavlogs." Language-wise this is a double-derivative term. I'll bet most people don't even know that the term "blog" is derived from "web log" let alone that a "vlog" is a video blog. Just the same I welcome this combination that creates a new kind of conversation. (kind of rolls off the tongue) I've been thinking and occasionally saying that the use of webcams and the ease of the current state of video conferencing should be put to more use. Little did I know that this kind of video dialog, oh OK, diavlog was being so widely distributed. And then imagine my delight when I found at least these two commentators talking about the Barak Obama race speech being more articulate and interesting than most of those duds on cable TV news shows. Right on. It was also nice to see the NYTimes editing down and providing a solid 4-minute excerpt of what appears to be an almost hour-long original conversation on BloggingHeads.TV At least the whole thing is there for you if you want it.

Click here to watch the NYTimes-BloggingHeads edit: "Obama's Grandmother" which asks the scintillating question: "Is everyone missing the whole point?"

I have to add that the intelligence of this BloggingHeads conversation is in stark contrast to my experience experimenting with the Seesmic.com video "conversation" website which is mentioned in the Davos post below. That turned out to be an interesting attempt from a technological point-of-view, but extremely boring overall. Even Seesmic's specially produced (and apparently funded) posts were disappointing (to say the least). Sorry. I liked their bushy-eyed enthusiasm, but there's good web video and a lot that is not so good. Like everything else...

Live from Davos via The Video Web

I'm presuming that most of you know about the World Economic Forum held in Davos each year and attracting a virtual planetary A-list who's who... from heads of state to Bill Gates & Rupert Murdock to celebs etc. etc.

As the video web expands, live person-to-person coverage is becoming quite interesting; and perhaps the best of that batch is Loïc Le Meur, the French self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur and blogger." Here's a taste of "live from Davos" via the video web featuring Emma Thompson, Bill Gates and more...



Btw, Le Meur's latest start up is Seesmic.com "the dashboard for your videos" and an online video "conversation" platform that's still in alpha (testing, limited user base, etc.) Click here for a review/demo by BBC News' Dot.Life

Oh yeah... And then there's "The Davos Question" on YouTube:



And (drum roll) a darn good (IMHO) answer by "rock star" Bono :



It looks like the video web's conversations are heating up! ;)

My First Pocket Camera Video is on YouTube

I mentioned that I got a Flip mini-video camera for Christmas:

My favorite new gizmo is The Flip (Ultra), a pocket-sized, web-ready video digi-cam. No tape, just 60 mins of MPEG-4 video in Flash memory and a flip-up USB port.

This camera is about the size of a pack of cigarettes. It's easy to use and for what it is, it works quite well.

So, I took it out for a drive... my buddy Keith Bailey had a photography show open at a restaurant in San Francisco last week. I shot the following while in attendance, in a very noisy atmosphere, in some instances with virtually no light... and the results are not bad. I edited it in about 1 and 1/2 hours with iMovie and "borrowed" some music from a friend, Gary Malkin (his collaboration with Tito La Rosa will be for sale soon.)

Anyway, here's my quick first effort at pocket-cam event videography. It's about 3 minutes. Please let me know what you think:

My Virtual CES Report

No, I didn't go to CES (the consumer electronics mega-convention) in Las Vegas, but here are a few tidbits from the web that I've found worthy:

Scoble's doing Qik videos direct from his cell phone including this interview with the guys from YouTube:



And CNET picked this astoundingly innovative and open source BugLabs platform as its CES Awards winner for "emerging technologies." I even like their video. Cool.

Nintendo Wii Hack Creates 3-D Virtual Reality Head-tracking: Whoa!

I don't usually cover do-it-yourself techno-hacks, but as far as I'm concerned this is one of the kinds of things that YouTube was invented for. Specifically, here's an amazingly creative computer guy (a Ph.D. student actually) who has figured out a way to create a true 3-D virtual reality experience by doing a customization (a.k.a. a "hack") of the Nintendo Wii.

What's equally impressive, at least to me, is that in less than 5-minutes on the video clip below, he not only explains how to do this yourself, but he educates us mortals about the difference between a simulated or flat 3-D image and the much more real virtual reality style head-tracking that he has managed to implement. I love not only what he's done but the fact that he can use internet video to share it (and to share it so clearly) with the world. (Thanks, Johnny.) Enjoy.

Yet Another Stupid (yet entertaining) Web 2.0 Video

Another tech bubble? Who are you kidding?!? Or not...

Seniors Nintendo Wii Bowling Video Scores as Viral Video Marketing

Here's a video that's not only entertaining and about seniors using the innovative Nintendo Wii video game, but it is also a clever form of viral video marketing which subtly promotes a senior assisted living company. Expect to see more of this kind of thing in the future. This one is unusually well done, and they save the low-key pitch for last. Appropriately putting the fun first...

A Viral Video with Massive Heart, Energy & a Difference

Sometimes I see something that moves me and is sufficiently "right on" that I feel I need to post it. This is one of those times:

Video Shows (or Channels) Are Attracting Real Money

Beet.TV is calling this a "boom time for niche media" as in Believe It: Boom Time in Niche Media is Now: Mediapost Sells for $23 Million....WallStrip Producer Explains the $5 Million Value Proposition for CBS..and More! Impressive sales for producers who started their own thing, only on the web. Real sales for real substantial dollars. Nothing pie in the sky. Unquestionably, internet video programming has become a REAL market.

NYTimes covered the MediaBistro sale

A New Way to Distribute Your Videos on the Web

What's a video producer to do? We all want to have as many people as possible see whatever we produce... So should we upload our clips to MySpace, to YouTube, to Google Video, etc. etc. Or, wouldn't it be nice to have a simple web-based service that does this kind of distribution for us?

Well, now there is. It's called Hey!Spread. Get it? They help you spread your video around the web.

It's a basic, practical, straight-forward service (but you do need to set up accounts at the services you want them to populate with your clips) and most importantly, it's immediately useful. I like that. ;)

Thanks to TechCruch for their mini-review of this service.

What We Call the News: "Only the Truth is Funny"

Happy Monday. I'm on the run, but (as some of you know) what I think matters most about all this new media revolutionary... internet, digital video, and other technologies that are associated with the potential democratization of media (and so forth) is that all of this new media offers an alternative to the media circus that has largely replaced honest and informative journalism in our mainstream media. Thus, my enthusiasm and salute to the Jib-Jabbers who created the following bit of parody and spot-on comedic commentary. Enjoy.



Or, you may view "What We Call the News" at JibJab.com

Skype Video Call Gives Me a New Taste of the Global Village

I know this is nothing new, but the experience is somehow different, especially when it happens to you unexpectedly. Here's what happened...

I have a prospective consulting client in the UK. We've had a couple of phone calls and numerous emails. I was away on vacation last week and we planned to talk yesterday to catch up and finalize details. She suggested we use Skype. Truthfully, I've used Gizmo Project for internet phone calls. For a while, I used it quite a bit, but not lately. I had downloaded Skype for Mac just in case while a client was overseas, but hadn't really used it.

I scrambled... First, upon plugging in my USB headset, I found that it was recognized right away. I was able to confirm this quickly with a nifty test call feature that was built right into my "buddies" list. Then, unexpectedly, the prospective client suggested we might do video; and before I knew it, I could see her!

I have a MacBook Pro with a build-in webcam. I opened Skype's preferences and told it to automatically activate the camera. She called back and presto, we were in a face-to-face meeting. Just like that, my first transcontinental video conference call. Very much like being in a meeting, but without the travel time.

I was impressed with Skype's ease of use, neatly supported by the Mac's ease of use and the fact that Skype supports the Mac. It's easy to see why Skype is the clear leader in VoIP calling.

And, despite writing about this stuff for years (and even consulting with VDOnet years ago when they had one of the first webcam networks), I was struck by the immediate reality of our global village. It reached out and touched me in a concrete way, and gratefully in a way that may well benefit my bottom line.

It's a treat when all this stuff we write and think about comes up to you and gives you a nice warm fuzzy nudge. ;)

NYTimes Spotlights The Internet-to-Cable Comedy Incubator

I love this. More evidence of the power of putting video online. More creative freedom and opportunities for creative people. More media power to the people. More breaking up of the old guard media empires (oh yeah, they call those "disruptive technologies"), etc.

New York Times television "news" section calls its report: Online Yesterday, on Cable Today

Enjoy.

Creating YouTube Video Channels, A Pro Explains His Search Engine Strategy

Toward the end of this interview on Beet.TV, Brad Inman of leading edge, yet professional internet video producer, TurnHere, gives the most credible explanation of why companies, corporations and other organizations should be creating their own YouTube channels. It's all about search.

Finally, An Overview of Video Sharing Sites and Revenue Opportunities

I've been wanting someone to write this article. (Thanks to Beet.TV for the tip.)

A site called LightReading (which calls itself "the leading integrated business media company serving the telecommunications industry and other related next-generation communications markets") has published Online Video: Show Us the Money which includes information on no fewer than 75 video sharing sites with mini-reviews of the Top 10 revenue sharing sites. It's complete with comparison charts, and I recommend clicking on the "Print" link to get the whole report with charts embedded. You could really call this a white paper in the purest sense.

Great work. Thanks, Light.

Online Video Monetization Blooming

If you still don't believe that there's money to be made, not to mention good marketing buzz to be generated, with online video clips, then you better check out The New York Times coverage of the competition between video sites to make revenue sharing deals with producers and talent who can develop a following using online video. They call it, New Hot Properties: YouTube Celebrities.

Web 2.0 Illuminated by Neat Video

Great video illuminating Web 2.0. Thanks, Kanas State U. ;)



OR a higher-quality WMV version of this video is available here.

Enjoy.

New Easy Way to Monetize Your Internet Video Clips

(Sometimes I still feel like I'm covering the "Video Web" the way I did in my "old days" at Videography, yet I know not how many of you readers even know or care.)

I not only think that AdBrite's new InVideo service is useful and practical, but I really like the fact that they're walking their talk with a quick, clean and illustrative video that does a good job (see below) of explaining the advantages of and how this new way to place ads in your internet video clips works (still in invitation-only beta).

Maybe some day I'll get around to producing some online video content? Especially now that I know that I can produce video clips with easily self-embedded video ads that are not offensive and which will travel with an embedded video player to anyone else's website. Nice!

Video & You: Bigger Than Ever

I've been talking about how hot the online video business and content is getting for months, but it's now beyond my comprehension. Not only are the Skype founders testing a new broadband video service and the NY Times is reporting a new online video service being put together by "a handful of giant media companies, like NBC Universal, the News Corporation, Viacom and possibly CBS," but user-generated content a.k.a. "you" is the person on the year and the cover of Time magazine's year end issue. The real story behind this is Web 2.0 and, of course, YouTube. For example, the article explains that last year users were downloading 10 million clips a DAY from YouTube. This year: 100 million video clips a day... read more of Time's perspective... (including the list of related articles.)

Making Money on the Video Web

Any of you blog readers remember my Videography columns? Just curious. In any case, FYI for the rest of you, I've been writing about video on the web since the first streaming video vendors (in fact I consulted by VDONet which preceeded Real in terms of online video). Not that that's important, but it's nice to see the financial eco-system aka the online video marketplace coming of age to a point where people think there's a business there. Of course, the biggest piece is the sale of movies, TV shows and other commercial forms of entertainment. But, as I'm found of saying, "stay tuned"... there's more.

If you're involved in the online video marketplace and its business potential, you'll find this eMarketer.com report about other research reports regarding the "MoneyTube," Online Video Becomes a Real Business, to be of interest.

Net Video Sites Up Offers of Cash for Content

Reuters reports that video sites are now paying real cash money for what has been the amateur-only user-generated content category of web videos. In particular, Break.com has upped it's payments to $400/clip, with more being paid for original animations; and the site claims to have already paid over $300,000 for original user generated content. The universe of web video appears to be beginning to mature in terms of its business models with paying of eyeballs (viewers) and quality content motivating submissions. Stay tuned.

The Birth of the "Social Video Network" (video blogging & social networking remixed)

You take a little MySpace, you add some YouTube, and mash 'em up. That's the latest in easy to use video blogging... er well, I mean video sharing/syndication... well, actually, I mean video "channels" based on MySpace social networking and YouTube video sharing type o' technologies.

The business model et al was written up on AlwaysOn or go straight to Dave.tv (the "social broadcast network") or vsocial.

Next Generation: Online Digital Video Editing Software

As readers of this blog (or my old Videography columns) know, I like the ASP (application service provider) model of "software as service" using web-based applications to replace those that once lived exclusively on your computer's desktop. Video editing software has been one of the most difficult to deliver via an online application. But in today's world of ubiquitous high speed connections, not to mention the massive demand for online video deliver, much more viable solutions, like StashSpace.com are emerging. Very impressive! Read TechCrunch's review with links to other online digital video editing software application sites.

LonelyGirl15: Viral Video Victory

If you search YouTube for "lonelygirl15," you get all kinds of debunking, profanity and other forms of extremely personal video reactions. Whether hoax or otherwise, the girl's got buzz. Personally, I'm with the crowd that thinks she's too polished not to be a professional production (and I am a video production professional). Regardless, she's the latest generation of viral video star; and, as New York magazine says, she's the leading edge of a new (albeit commercial) art form.