NetVideoMaker.Com

Netflix Posts Internet Milestone

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:21:00 +0000

Since the web came into being the majority of content has been free. Thanks to Netflix that's no longer true. The online video service has grown to 22.2% of all US broadband traffic, overtaking peer to peer file sharing for the first time. At peak times, Netflix hits 30% of all traffic. This news comes the same day that Forrester Research released a white paper suggesting that serious cord cutting pressure will arrive by year-end 2012. Cord cutting is the industry term for cancelling cable/satellite TV services. Cord shaving is the step before, describing the paring down of packages to remove pay-for movie channels as viewers become more comfortable with movie content from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus and Redbox, to name major players. While not all of these services are offered in Canada presently, Netflix alone has made great strides here, and deservedly so. Driving this shift is the ubiquity of game consoles, connected to the 'net for the purpose of playing against others all over the world. Once that connection is made, adding a Netflix account takes a few minutes and costs pennies a day. I use a Wii to connect my 42" flat screen to the web and to Netflix. I don't game online. My interest was in bringing the web to my TV and having seen it, I'm not impressed yet with that option. Netflix is a whole different matter. For those who haven't seen it, the interface is far more user friendly than my Rogers VOD for example, because it is web-like in its interactivity. I can page through movie choices by category, hover to read descriptions, cast and ratings and bring up a film with DVR-like control (FF, RV, Pause etc) and trash it for another one if it doesn't grab me quickly. I'm not paying by the movie or the minute. I'm paying by the month. It's where we're going and I'm happy to be on the bus.

Amateur Videographers Rejoice - YouTube now fixes shaky footage

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:42:00 +0000

The Gooderham & Worts building, Toronto

Among the mistakes made by amateur videographers, two are particularly annoying. YouTube has just come up with a free fix for one of them, the shaky clip that results from hand-holding the camera when it should be on a tripod or otherwise locked down. Last weekend I took my Kodak Zi8 to Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market. After carrying my groceries for a while I found that I couldn’t hold the pocket-sized camera steady with my overworked arm. Let’s take a look at what I got, then at what the YouTube stabilizer did with it.
Here is the original clip. And here is the stabilized version. You may notice that the processed clip has had some zoom-in applied to it. All the stabilizing software I've seen in the past ten years employs this approach. In the days of standard definition it often softened the image. With the detail inherent in high definition resolutions this is unlikely to occur unless the original clip is so shaky that only a high degree of zoom will fix it. If you want to give it a try, you'll find the editor here. You will of course need to have or upload at least one video in order to drag it into the editing window.
And, for those of you who don't know what the other annoying mistake made by amateur shooters is, it's the fire hose approach. Swing the camera back and forth, never stop for long enough to actually capture a scene. Guaranteed to make viewers queasy.

Is this thing on?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:44:00 +0000

    Forgive me. I'm fasting ahead of a routine procedure scheduled for tomorrow morning. Perhaps I'm feeling faint. And I'm experimenting with a new HD pocket cam acquired to more easily add quality imagery to the blog and elsewhere. Like the Flip cams one sees everywhere today, this Kodak Zi8 has few of the features of a consumer/prosumer video camera. No flip out screen, for instance, making it a challenge to shoot toward yourself. A table mirror placed behind the camera let me see where I was in frame, but to set up the camera and mirror quickly I had to choose a desk top, which meant getting low, as you'll see. I was also just off my ski machine, hair wet and workout "T" on, so I don't expect Hollywood to call soon. But for the price I can't say enough about the image clarity. See for yourself right here. If you have the bandwidth, be sure to check it out at full screen.
    The audio comes from the on-board mic, which is a bit noisy. Earlier clips with an external mic plugged in (great feature) offer clean audio. Normally I'd embed a video clip but the 720p resolution is too large for the blog's width. The camera will shoot lower resolution but usually that's not what I'm going to be looking for.
I should mention that the unit ships with an HDMI cable so you can view clips on your flat screen TV, where they look surprisingly good. It also takes an SD card to expand the hours of material you can gather. I've got a 4GB card in mine for the moment, about $13 at Staples.
    I promise to shoot something, or somebody, more attractive in the near term.

Spring Newsletter Online Now

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:12:00 +0000

You’re invited to view our spring 2011 ONLINE VIDEO newsletter, four informative pages of advice, information, research results and product offerings focused on what video can do for you. Did you know that Canadians are the most connected people on earth, spend the most time online and view the highest amount of video content? And what’s the significance of ever-larger numbers of us viewing web content on our TV sets? Find out how your business can deliver messages using multiple professional quality video segments for hundreds rather than thousands of dollars. On the back page we show you how, with three clicks of a mouse, you can reserve a convenient time for a one-on-one telephone meeting to get answers to any questions you may have about our video products, the results you can expect and the surprisingly affordable cost of entry. So please go ahead and read, bookmark or print the latest issue of “ONLINE VIDEO”.

“No Video” Video – for fun and profit

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:56:00 +0000

If the word “video” brings to mind images of video cameras, lighting and microphones on boom poles that’s only natural. But in the digital era myriad examples exist of videos which include not a second of video camera content. Whether you edit family vacations or contract for online video content for your business this is useful to know. Let me give you an example from the work of legendary documentary-maker Ken Burns, who pioneered the animation of still images, a process widely known as the “Ken Burns' effect. Early in my experience of his work I realized that a part of his technique, and one that in a real sense does breath life into a still image, is the tasteful use of sound effects. Birds sing, horses whinny, boots echo on wooden steps. As you view this clip, listen too. Mr. Burns takes a single photograph, an image that without the motion he creates would be irritating after ten static seconds, and stretches it over multiple sentences of narration. A video budget that producers would have ignored 10 years ago can create highly effective online content today. And if you’re an amateur editor,"no-video" video can easily and instantly up the quality of your work and the size of your audience.

PC2TV Video Viewers – Latest Research Results

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:35:00 +0000

I posted recently about my experience of connecting with Netflix.ca through a Nintendo Wii game console. For less than a movie ticket I can view any number of films and tv shows each month with great picture quality and not a stutter in delivery on a high speed wireless connection. Today I carved out some time to return to the web surfing side of the offering. My Wii sees the ‘net via a version of the Opera web browser. I haven’t found any way to change that out or update it and I’ve looked, because it is absent support for the majority of Flash video content on today’s web. The result of this is that content I looked forward to viewing from the comfort of my sofa won’t display. I’m talking Allan Gregg interviews from TVO.org and the wonderful stuff available at Ted.com to name a couple. There are exceptions of course. YouTube’s “XL” site serves up decent looking content, including the videos I’ve uploaded to the “dhurdon” channel.

You might be forgiven for asking “who cares?”, although not by me. Granted it remains early days, but one third of adult broadband users in America connect the PC to the TV at least once a year to view local or web-hosted video content. Within this segment users are further broken out as follows:

Frequent Users - the 16.8% that use a PC2TV connection to watch video on their TV at least once per day;
Regular Users - the 21.4% that use a PC2TV connection to watch video on their TV a few times per week;
Moderate Users - the 35.6% that use a PC2TV connection to watch video on their TV between once and few times per month, and
Light Users - the 26.2% of PC2TV Video Viewers that use a PC2TV connection to watch video on their TV between once and a few times per year.

If you’re into addition you may have noticed that more than 38% of this group connects at least a few times per week. It is a virtual certainty that most of this activity involves services like Netflix, which has grown so big so fast that companies including Amazon are looking at offering streaming movies soon. My experience of surfing the ‘net on the flat panel remains underwhelming, even taking the absence of Flash video out of the equation. Were I to add a USB keyboard to the Wii, navigating would be much easier than it is using the controller and a virtual keyboard. But images and text lack crispness and the zoom function adds to those problems. The Wii’s best connection is component. It doesn’t support HDMI and I have no experience yet with surfing via a game console that does. So my conclusion at this point in 2011 is that streaming movies via the Internet are a great value and a remarkable convenience. Surfing on the TV has a way to go. As always I’d appreciate feedback on your own experience – and if you don’t have any yet, get on it!
Source: www.tdgresearch.com

E-retailer Video - real (big) results

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Home Shopping Network creates a great deal of video content, being a TV property. Today they are capitalizing on that via their website, hsn.com, where some 14,000 video segments are now available. Emery Skolfield, HSN.com’s director of digital content spoke recently at an Internet Retailer conference. (Read the article.) Here's what he said about the impact of video on the TV shopper:

... a consumer who watches TV and then visits HSN.com to complete the transaction spends $1294 a year; a consumer who watches TV and then calls to complete a transaction is worth $855, and someone who only visits HSN.com spends on average $625. “If we can give them something that supplements their shopping experience, that’s what we want to do,” he says. “They can watch it on TV and then jump to the dot-com and explore something new and interesting immediately.”

Beyond advising all e-retailers to get started with video he had this advice:

“Get some video on your site, play with what works and drop what doesn’t. Let that mold your video strategy.”

Not all e-retailers have their own TV channel of course, but all today have an equal opportunity to introduce video to their visitor's web experience.

Incoming! Video from all directions

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:23:00 +0000

This weekend I’ve watched two movies. That’s not unusual for me. Since the passing of the VCR I have:

purchased and rented DVD movies routinely,

joined and highly rated the Canadian zip.ca service that mails discs as they receive my returns and

added a personal video recorder (PVR) to my system, which I have used to record sometimes three movies a day. (Can you say “get a life?”) The utra fast-forward function makes commercial interruptions a thing of the past.

But on Friday I took a step I have long awaited. I purchased a Nintendo Wii game console, mainly for its ability to connect wirelessly to the web, opening the door to Netflix streaming video for the price of a carwash a month. Am I impressed? Boy, am I ever.

Once I had used the PVR for a couple of weeks I downgraded my zip.ca service from four in-home at a time to two, because for a few weeks the same four DVDs sat unviewed as I feasted on recorded movies most nights. Now that I’ve experienced Netflix I’m likely to cancel zip completely. As reliable and affordable as the service has been for several years I can’t find a place for that twenty dollars a month in a world where so much variety is available in unlimited quantity and excellent 480p visual quality for under ten dollars.

You have to see Netflix to believe it. Rows and columns of movie (and TV show) options go on seemingly forever. Click on your choice and it plays. I have an ultra high speed broadband connection (up to 30 mbps down measured by speedtest.net) and I see at most a few seconds of initial buffering after which I’ve seen not a single stall or hickup in image and audio delivery. My Wii controller, pointed at the screen, reveals a set of player controls to allow me to pause and restart and because the service offers unlimited viewing, I can quit on a movie anytime and select another immediately. The only caution I would offer relates to Internet agreements with monthly bandwidth caps. Apparently these don’t exist south of the border (according to a Netflix ‘phone support agent I spoke with) but in Canada they do. My monthly cap is as much bandwidth as I can buy from advertised packages available through my provider (Rogers) – 95 GB. I have never come anywhere near to using that much up and down transfer volume but if you go nuts on Netflix you might. A standard definition wide screen streaming video from them consumes roughly 1 GB per hour. This conforms to what I saw checking my usage the day after my first viewing. I’d used 1.5 GB for a movie running 1:38 minutes. The HD service uses double that bandwidth, but Wii doesn’t support HD (PlayStation and XBOX do) – component is the best connection level available, providing a 480p widescreen image. To my eye the visual result is beyond acceptable on my 42” LG plasma screen.

So, from taping movies on a VCR in the ‘80s I’m now watching content from at least four sources, all of it of far higher image and audio quality and much of it on demand, thanks to time shifting and Netflix. Did I mention a free month from Netflix? It’s too early in my experience of the service to be applying for a job with them but if nothing changes during the trial period I may have found, for the moment, the last, best place for movie content.

A Ryerson University Documentary in audio and stills - including me in 3-D

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:03:00 +0000

People searching "Toronto Islands" and similar terms sometimes wash up on the shore of a website I built to promote and sell a documentary on island settlement, beginning around 1800. A few months ago one of them contacted me in connection with a documentary he and fellow Ryerson University students were working on, focusing on how the media has treated Ward's Island residents since the 1950's. I was glad to journey to the campus one fall morning to give an audio interview and was intrigued to discover that although the finished work was intended as audio-only, one of the group was using a brand new 3-D still camera to document the journey they were on. Some while later, he sent me a link to the version of the finished piece that had been presented to their fellow students. It was up on YouTube and with the required eye wear one could have the whole experience of images and sound. Understanding that the subject will not interest everyone I nevertheless offer it here. I had already acquired the glasses (two pair for a buck at Blockbuster) and you will likely stop looking at the screen if you don't have a pair, but that won't interfere with enjoying the narrative.

Industry Pioneer Predicts "Professional Video on every Professional Website"

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 13:51:00 +0000

Most of us today are familiar with the sharing of video content by uploading to sites like YouTube. But there is another option for business in the assortment of online video platforms (OVP), one of the largest being Brightcove, founded by a pioneer in the development of the Flash application. OVPs host video files on their servers, and offer a suite of options including conversion from one format to others to accommodate different viewing devices, tracking of viewership and search optimization to name a few. Some of Brightcove's customers have literally thousands of video segments online. This is big business and getting bigger.Take four minutes to watch and listen as Jeremy Allaire discusses today and tomorrow for online video.

Training Wheels for Internet TV

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:16:00 +0000

    The large and growing audience for the Internet, and particularly video, on TV has spawned an assortment of devices (“boxes”) to connect one to the other. Users of streaming video services like Netflix in the US have several choices when it comes to devices, including the premier game consoles, ‘net connected Blu-ray players and connected HD TVs. But according to Clicker CEO Jim Lanzone these devices are essentially “training wheels for Internet TV”. His company intends to be the online version of TVGuide and has already made great strides in presenting what’s online, where it is and what episodes are available. In a video interview on CNNMoney.com with journalist Jessi Hempel, Lanzone compares these devices to AOL in 1995 and if you were there you will take his meaning – a gateway to certain content organized in a pre-Google format for ease of access.
    So, what comes after the training wheels? Lanzone suggests that a laptop connected to your flat screen via an HDMI cable is already the easiest and best way to bring Internet content to the big screen. And with netbooks selling for a few hundred dollars the best approach is also affordable for most folk who already own the big unit. When the connected HDMI port is selected from the input options, your TV becomes a 50” monitor and your browser of choice presents whatever content you select.
    In the TV/video industry there is much talk about “cord cutting”, choosing Internet content over cable and satellite contracts. The number of consumers who are reducing their service to less expensive levels is growing quickly as more and more broadcast quality content is available through the Internet service they already pay for.
ADDED January 6th:
    An article on Clicker and CEO Jim Lanzone on the Forbes.com site caught my attention this morning. As well as adding detail to my understanding of his business it reveals that, according to Forrester Research, by 2015 more than 43 million U.S. homes will have web connected TVs.

Online Video eh? - Canadians rank #1

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:08:00 +0000

If you haven't made a resolution to use online video in your 2011 marketing effort, here's something to reflect on:

"In Canada, YouTube per capita consumption of video is No. 1 in the world."

So says Chris O'Neill, Canada's country director for Google. In the same article from cbc.ca measurement company comScore reveals a number of other equally positive patterns for business to consumer enterprise:

Canadians spend more time online than users in any of the countries comScore tracked
Canada was the only country in which users logged an average of more than 2,500 minutes online a month (almost 42 hours)
Canadian users view more videos, with an average of 147 watched each month compared to 100 per U.S. viewer.
It's estimated that about 21 million Canadians visit YouTube each month
About 68 per cent of the Canadian population is online, comScore estimated in April, compared to 62 per cent in France and the United Kingdom, 60 per cent in Germany, 59 per cent in the United States, 57 per cent in Japan, and 36 per cent in Italy.

Buyers of custom video content today enjoy a combination of large and increasing audiences, better quality product and lower cost than at any time in history. Add to that the increased distribution options provided by video sharing sites such as YouTube and you have an attractively search friendly environment as well. If you are or know someone who should take a closer look, we would welcome your visit or contact. And regardless of what decision you make, please accept our very best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Of Loss and Legacy

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:44:00 +0000

We recently lost the last of a generation with the passing of my mother’s sister, just months after we celebrated her 100th year of life. This week I’ve put time into producing copies of a DVD video I made from a three-day shoot with her. She was then 93 and needed the support of her photo albums to tease out family stories across so many decades. Next week my family will gather for Christmas, my son, my brothers and their wives and children, together for two short days. Most of those in attendance were together in July for Rita’s birthday. My gift to them, and to those who couldn’t be there, will be the biography she and I produced.

As any filmmaker would I embellished the production with still images, music and in one scene, had a female friend read from a diary my mother wrote during a working vacation she and Rita took together across Europe. I shot the diary over her shoulder and was quite proud of the result. Today I’m grateful for this legacy of her life, and the lives of her extended family, the gene pool shared by many of us gathering for Christmas this year.

When I shot the biography I was marketing a product I called “Life Stories” from a website named “legacy media”. I spoke with no one who didn’t get excited by the idea of preserving the stories of a parent, grandparent or older relation before time removed the opportunity. Another producer in North America got national media coverage on the subject and yet another developed and sold online a package designed to teach any videographer how to create a professional video biography. To my knowledge they got as far as I did, which was nowhere. Three siblings could commission a biography for less than six months of mobile phone bills! If you could arrange to have your grandfather speak to your grandkids for so small an investment what could possibly persuade you not to do it? Seriously. Take a moment to tell me. I would greatly appreciate it and just possibly you might tell me something I hadn’t thought of, something that might allow me to accept our willingness to allow priceless family history to vanish forever.

In the spirit of the season

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:28:00 +0000

Last week ended with Black Friday in the US, so called because retailers transition from spending the bank's money to turning a profit, going into the black, as they say. We don't recognize a specific day in Canada but that doesn't mean we at NVM can't get into the spirit with a deal of our own! So, until December 31st we are offering a $75 (CDN) rebate on all new online video business profile projects. That brings the cost down to under $50 per month for a minimum one-year agreement. Book before the New Year, ($649 US), schedule your shoot and approve the finished video by February 18th, 2011 to receive your rebate. What you get is described on the brochure pictured here and available to view and download here.
It would be very Santa-like of you to pass this offer on to those most likely to benefit from a professional video profile online. There might just be something under the tree for you if you do!

Men watch, women read

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:52:00 +0000

Here’s a statistic to reflect upon if your online target audience is female:

30% of Canadian women never watch online video!

So discovered Ipsos Reid in a new study co-sponsored by the New Toronto Group, looking at the online video viewing habits of Canadians, by gender and age. By contrast, only 9% of all respondents, (some 2,500 of them in all) said they never watch online video.

On the flip side, 31%* of males and 9% of females admit to viewing online video at least daily. The figures total those who watch once or more than once every day. The data become most useful when viewed by age segment:

Online Video Viewing	At least daily	Never
18-24	47%	2%
25-34	35%	3%
35-54	16%	21%
55+	8%	32%

    There’s considerable action between at least daily and never. Remember that data like these on any ad media will display a wide range of usage. I personally don’t read magazines or newspapers “at least daily”, but that certainly does not mean that I don’t react to print advertising. The lesson here is in the mix of text, imagery and video. Lean harder in one direction or another using the learning in the data. We should also note that all data is a snapshot and that behaviour is constantly changing. When respondents were asked whether or not they were watching more online video this year than last year the results were:

All 41%
M   45%
F    36%

    Again the biggest growth was in the younger segments but older segments also posted meaningful growth:

35-54 38%
55+    30%

    Lest you wonder if growth will continue, consider the informed forecast made by Cisco Systems, an industry leader in global video distribution hardware. According to Cisco, by 2014, more than 90% of available Internet bandwidth will be consumed by online video delivery. The message clearly is that if you market on this planet you need to know about online video. If you need help or advice, we’re here.

* survey sponsors say that viewing adult content was eliminated from results, which would normally be expected to impact male viewership more than female.

Online Video - Are Your Prospects Watching?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:34:00 +0000

Many business owners of my (Boomer) generation have the impression that online video is consumed by younger folk, the generation that never used phones that plugged into the wall. Those of us selling custom video for online marketing and sales purposes are frustrated by this belief. So comments by Jim O’Neil, delivered to my inbox this morning, couldn’t have been more welcome. Mr. O’Neil is the editor of FierceOnlineVideo, one of a portfolio of online publications from FierceMarkets. A boomer himself Jim describes his personal collection of gadgets, states his former belief that he was “more techie” than his peers and then reveals the research that corrected his misconception:

The Baby Boomer generation spends more on technology than any other single group, according to Forrester Research, which said Boomers spent more on monthly telecom fees, gadgets and devices and even on online shopping than Gen X or Gen Y.

Jim points out that this should not surprise us, given that for every teenager who asked for an Xbox or Playstation for Christmas there was a dad willing to convince a mother that it was the right thing for junior. Today, of course, devices like the Xbox stream Internet video and play DVDs when they aren’t playing games.

Ten years ago, a quarter of Boomers (those aged 46-64) used to get on the Internet daily; today it's seven in 10; Boomers also increasingly are watching online video. An eMarketer report this summer said 58 percent of 45- 54-year-olds watch online video, saying that number will rise to 68 percent by 2014.

As I've been pointing out in multiple posts this year, the Internet is increasingly being connected to the family flat screen TV, with recent announcements by Google TV and Apple TV joining existing enablers like Roku in promising a convergence of multimedia on the biggest screen available. This is a terrific opportunity for small and medium sized businesses to take a first step toward realizing the benefit of engaging with visitors through the medium they expect. To learn more about the opportunity visit the new NetVideoMaker site.

Yes, Virginia. There really is a convergence

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:29:00 +0000

Slide from Google TV introduction

Holy Cow! Announcements from Google TV and Apple TV in the same week. Today my email inbox is a-buzz with stories that Google TV has made the big announcement. One of those messengers sent me to this site where Google has a Flash slide show hitting the high spots of the new service, available via enabled TVs or via the Logitech Revue box soon to be on shelf at US Best Buy stores. For the moment, most of us will choose to add a Revue box to our existing HDTV. Logitech has put together a tour of their own on the features and attractions the box will bring us. View it here.The show promises the whole web on your big screen unit and that's what I've been waiting for since dirt was young. In Canada we need to be a bit patient, unless you don't mind cross border shopping. I've been meaning to visit Buffalo. Now might be a good time.

Online Video and Global Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:32:00 +0000

If you are familiar with TED you have probably already enjoyed their videotaped presentations on myriad topics. Today I was alerted via the CNN website to a talk by a TED employee, describing a vision of the power of online video to drive innovation. I found it quite powerful, even moving. I think you will be glad you watched it.

3-D on the web

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:44:00 +0000

As a number of recent Hollywood releases have demonstrated, we love movies in 3-D. I have long been looking forward to 3-D on the PC and this morning my wait is over. I was DVD shopping yesterday and while waiting in an over-long lineup, noticed 3-D glasses for a buck. I added them to the microwave popcorn and eventually got checked out. This morning I entered "3-D glasses required" in a Google search box, then selected "video" when the results appeared, and was immediately presented with a page of thumbnails. Soon I was engrossed in a variety of examples of the art. I haven't found any full screen features yet but I wanted to get the word out before losing myself in the search. Go,spend a buck and don't forget to tell me when you find something cool.

Google TV - first review

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:55:00 +0000

I first wrote about Google TV in May of this year. Earlier this week Google CEO Eric Schmidt confirmed that it will be available within weeks in the US and globally in 2011. We have had tantalizing peeks into what it will offer but today I give you the first hands on review I know of, written by a fellow who came home to find a "Revue" set top box at the front door. He was clearly very impressed with the experience as I believe you will be as well. Here is his story.

Now Open in Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:59:00 +0000

Some years ago I edited a travel piece from footage shot on vacation in the Thousand Islands area near Kingston, Ontario. One night on a tavern patio I met entertainer Billy Bridger, whose performance became a part of the video, and I sent him a copy on CD. The result was a commission to create a showcase video to introduce his many talents to booking agents. And yes, he got a lot of work out of the project.

Last weekend, attending the Limestone City Blues Festival in Kingston, I met up with Billy again, still entertaining the lunch and dinner crowd on the cruise boat “Island Star.” He told me he had recently vacationed in Thailand and that while there he had done a Google search which resulted in his viewing the original travel piece on my YouTube channel. It really is a world wide web. Wherever you are, you’re welcome to watch it too, right here.

Why Online Video - find out in three minutes

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Earlier today I visited the website of a client for whom I did multiple video projects a few years ago. They have brought online a new design, something they've talked about for more than two years. While I applaud the effort I was disappointed not to find any video content. Not because my work wasn't on display. Users of the web have overwhelmingly demonstrated that they want information in video format. There can be no other reason that YouTube is the world's #2 search engine. Video is affordable, engaging and gets results far superior to text. The research is crystal clear on this. And those research results predate the latest leap forward for online video, the interactivity I've been discussing and displaying here in recent weeks. We put together a casual, informative piece describing why virtually any enterprise should be developing video profiles today, and we included a few interactive hot spots to bring the news to life. Take three minutes out of your day to take it in, here. Page down to access the player.

The power of interaction in online video

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:28:00 +0000

I have been talking about and demonstrating the addition of a layer of interactivity to online video and today I present a new example. Our documentary treatment of settlement on the Toronto Islands is supported by a website that now has an interactive video trailer on the home page. Across the top is a video browser bar which allows visitors to choose content outside the video. Making such a choice pauses the playback and opens a new tab. When you return to the site and close the info panel, the video continues. Here is the demo, in its beta state. I will continue to evolve the function but I hope you will realize that this is a sea change in the potential for visitor engagement. You may choose to view it in its native (larger) screen size here.
<h1>The Toronto Islands - then & now</h1><p>toronto island,Ned Hanlan,William Ward,York,Toronto harbour,Toronto Bay,Centre Island,Ward's Island,Hanlan's Point,Gibraltar Point Lighthouse,Rectory Cafe, Centreville,Toronto History for Te</p><a href="www.veeple.com" alt="Veeple Interactive Video">Veeple Interactive Video</a>

The State of Online B2C video

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:36:00 +0000

Many business people lack the information necessary to make good decisions about whether or not and how best to invest in online video in their marketing efforts. Not only is it relatively new in its current form, it just won't stop evolving. My contribution to clearing the air is presented in four illustrated pages available here. If you feel that you could be better informed on the subject I hope you find this helpful and want to talk more about it. If you know someone who might benefit from the information I hope you will pass the link along. If you'd prefer an audio only link, it's here.