Blogging with Brin

Trouble Viewing Thomas Brin?

noreply@blogger.com (SayreMedia.com) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:47:00 -0400

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Occasionally, viewers will email that they cannot view a particular episode of Thomas Brin. There are a number of issues that can cause a viewing problem. However, viewing issues primarily fall into three categories: coding issues with the Thomas Brin website, incompatibility issues and/or bugs in browser and/or OS updates, and issues with plugins that the browser depends upon to properly render the QuickTime file within the browser window. I can only fix the first category but do have suggestions that may remedy problems with the other two categories.

If you are having trouble viewing any of the TB episodes via the Thomas Brin website, please help me and your fellow viewers by briefly posting here the specifics of your problem. In your post, please provide your web browser and version, operating system and version, and specific issue experienced. This will help me determine which category your particular issue may fall into and how to address it.

In the meantime, while I investigate your particular issue, here are several steps to try:

1.) To view Thomas Brin online, your browser needs to have a properly configured version of Apple's QuickTime plugin. Check to make sure that the QT plugin in your browser of choice is properly installed. You do that by visiting this Apple webpage via your browser: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/troubleshooting/

2.) Another possible cause of viewing problems is that javascript is disabled in your browser of choice. Check to make sure that javascript is enabled. If it is not, you will not be able to view any of the episodes. This is because each episode's webpage makes a javascript call which automatically generates the proper object and embed tags for the QuickTime file.

3.) If you're still having issues viewing, you can connect to each episode directly by copying the desired url and pasting it into the browser of your choice. Please note, you must have at least QuickTime version 7.1.5 installed to view the episodes.

Episode 1: http://www.thomasbrin.com/QTEncodings/GOT1NS.mov

Episode 2: http://www.thomasbrin.com/QTEncodings/GOT2NS.mov

Episode 3: http://www.thomasbrin.com/QTEncodings/GOT3NS.mov

I hope this helps remedy any viewing issues you may have.

Where's Episode 4?

noreply@blogger.com (SayreMedia.com) — Thu, 3 Apr 2008 18:55:00 -0400

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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By now, some of our loyal Brin fans may be wondering why Episode 4 of the Adventures of Thomas Brin is not yet out. After all, at the end of Episode 3, it clearly stated "Episode 4 Coming Fall 2007". Since fall technically ends in late December, we're only 3 and a half months late--so far!

The truth is that we have not yet started to post produce Episode 4.

As I stated in an earlier post about E3 production statistics, it took A LOT of hours to create TBE3 (Thomas Brin Episode 3). That is one reason, among many, that we introduced Brin 2.0. To keep producing episodes, we need help.

Unfortunately, we only have had one individual inquire about Brin 2.0--a very nice individual from England who was really inquiring about the production equipment and software we used. So, with Brin 2.0 announced just a little over a year ago, we have zero people (outside of the original production team) getting involved. Furthermore, to add insult to minor injury (hey, we have big shoulders here) we have not had a single comment on the Blogging with Brin Blog and only one fan email in the past 12 months.

Although this is disappointing, it is not too surprising. Most of our viewers watch the Adventures of Thomas Brin via iTunes or some other podcasting directory. In fact, according to our server logs, fewer than 1% actually watch Thomas Brin directly via our website. This means that, although the episodes have been downloaded over 1.5 million times, we have only had 15,000 unique visitors to our website. This is one of the problems with the podcasting paradigm--the podcast directory websites get the vast majority of the visits whereas the websites of the creators' of the content (that is freely given away) receive very few visits.

So, the only way for the creator of a podcast to know how he or she is doing is from viewer comments. If they receive only a few comments, then they have to come to terms with the fact that they are not providing the type of content that viewers truly want.

When will Episode 4 come out? We'll, with seemingly little interest from our viewers, we are in no hurry to put in the 800 hours or so we estimate it will take in Post production. But, perhaps we are wrong in assuming that there is little interest left in Thomas Brin.

With all the Thomas Brin downloads, we know we have viewers. We'd love to know how we are doing. Some feedback from our viewers would be nice! As a viewer, do you enjoy what we've created? Do you want us to continue?

Please take a moment and leave a comment on this post. Or go to the Thomas Brin website and leave a comment on our Frappr Map or join the Cloud City Community.

CloudCity Community Opens at ThomasBrin.com

noreply@blogger.com (SayreMedia.com) — Wed, 2 May 2007 11:00:00 -0400

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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After much forethought and procrastination, we have finally implemented a Thomas Brin Forum into the TB website! Now fans from around the world can meet in the CloudCity Community and discuss all aspects of the Adventures of Thomas Brin.

There's not much more to say than PLEASE JOIN! Community membership is free.

Thomas Brin Unveils New Website

noreply@blogger.com (SayreMedia.com) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:10:00 -0400

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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One of the goals when creating a website is to organize the site's features in such a way that first time viewers can quickly grasp what it's all about. Well, the original Adventures of Thomas Brin website did a poor job at that. So, we redesigned the TB website to be simpler and more to the point--a la Web 2.0 style.

Viewers can now quickly and clearly see all the features of the Thomas Brin website. They can access each of the episodes right from the homepage instead of having to navigate three pages in as in the past. They have quick access to the Thomas Brin community tools, including the wonderful Thomas Brin Store!

Finally, the menu system has been redesigned and better organized. In fact, the menu you see on the TB blog is the same menu you find on the TB website. If you have not yet toured the new TB website, please do today.

Brin 2.0: Revolutionizing Video Podcasting!

noreply@blogger.com (SayreMedia.com) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:06:00 -0400

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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About two weeks ago I posted this article about TBE3 production statistics. If you have not yet read it, please do.

The obvious conclusion from that article (and not-too-subtle statement on my part) is that for the Adventures of Thomas Brin vodcast cinema series to continue, there will have to be some big changes in the overall production workflow. Clearly I cannot spend 750 hours of my time producing and post-producing each new episode. Although I have no problem with putting that much time into the series since that is what it takes in this day and age of new media to get something started and noticed by the world, I do realize that going forward, it will not be sustainable.

Fans want Thomas Brin to continue. In fact, most fans want TB to be released more frequently than twice a year. In fact in fact (yes, a double "in fact" is like saying P.P.S. at the end of a letter), for Thomas Brin to realize its full potential as an Internet movie phenomenon, future episodes will have to be released more quickly.

I mean, who wants to subscribe to a fun scifi video podcast if it only comes out once every 6 months? It's like waiting all summer for the next episode of Lost, or for the conclusion to the season-ending Stargate SG1. If fans had to wait that long between each new episode do you think Lost or Stargate SG1 would be hits? Of course not.

But, those two very successful shows have large production budgets and a large team of people helping out. That is why old media held sway in the content creation arena. But times are quickly changing. Web 2.0 technologies are providing new ways in which content can be collaboratively created. What's even more impressive is that the overall quality of new media content is improving daily. In the not too distant future, new media visionaries will be creating high-quality broadband content on par with old media studios. The big difference will be that overall production cost will be much lower thanks to the power and flexibility of the new media tools and paradigms.

Introducing Brin 2.0

Brin 2.0 is a revolutionary new paradigm in the video podcasting arena. It is an open-source-like project where viewers from around the world can get involved in the production of future episodes of the Adventures of Thomas Brin. It's a way for fans to get involved directly with production efforts.

As more people with appropriate skills get involved with Brin 2.0, more episodes can be produced (and released!) in a shorter amount of time.

Brin 2.0 may very well be the first of its kind--a new media vodcast property that is globally produced! It is new media by the people and for the people!

To learn more about Brin 2.0, visit the Brin 2.0 page.

Thomas Brin: Episode 3 Production Results

noreply@blogger.com (SayreMedia.com) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:47:00 -0400

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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All Thomas Brin fans have now had a month to experience TBE3--that's Thomas Brin Episode 3 for all new fans. I was looking at the post-production logs to see how E3 differed from E1 & E2. The most obvious difference from a production/post-production workflow viewpoint was the sheer number of hours it took to bring E3 to fruition. TBE3 took just over 750 hours to produce. Since it runs almost 9 minutes, that equates to 83.33 hours of production time per minute of finished content. Holy cow!

Okay, I know that right away something peculiar sticks out. You're probably asking, "Do you really keep production logs?" The truth is, no. I keep scribbles and cryptic notes to myself on my ever-increasing pile of legal-ruled pads. But, they serve as my style of logs and I do have a very good idea about how many hours I put into producing TB. After all, once the actors have done their thing in the 2 days of shooting, the entire post-production responsibilities fall on my shoulders. I do all the animations and background mattes, composite the scenes, create the score, edit the final sequence, encode the movies, and program and maintain the website.

The real question your asking is how one person can do all of that, how I can afford to spend 750 hours of producing something that is viewed for free?

The answer is I can't afford to put that much time into Thomas Brin. I mean, the average employee in the United States works 2,080 hours per year. So, E3 took 36% of one-person's yearly worktime!

However, as a new media visionary (yes, self adulation) who heads a new media company (yes, self promotion), putting in long hours on projects that have yet to pay off is just part of the game. Besides, I don't work a 40 hour week. It's more like 100+ hours per week, every week. So, that means for TBE3, I used about 14% of my workyear.

But, it is clear that I cannot afford to release two episodes a year if each new episode is going to personally take me 750 total hours of production time--which it certainly will take if not longer. So, what's the answer to this production dilemma? Stay tuned for exciting news on a new initiative that I'll be announcing in two weeks.

Thanks for Watching!

Jeff Sayre
CEO & President
SayreMedia.com