Archives for the 'Tips and Tricks' Category
To Take a Break
Taking a break. It’s a cliche term most often used when relationships go sour, and people want to move on guilt free. I have discovered that it can also be used to describe what happens when life gets in the way. I’ve been trying to think of something to write for WATM for a while now, as I have been extremely remiss in my relationship with such an awesome body of work. I could write about the new vlogs that I’m discovering, or maybe the old vlogs that I’m rediscovering. While I enjoy doing that, I feel like I need a different approach right now. This is why I have chosen to write about what it has been like for me to all but disappear from the world of vlogging for several months and then return to find that things have been moving moving moving along without me (imagine that). It’s a unique experience, removing yourself from such an active, vibrant community that it growing in all different directions all the time. I wouldn’t recommend it unless absolutely necessary. I happened across my “break” with the vlogosphere by accident. The pace of life quickened in many ways, and, slowly, vlogging took a backseat. I travelled and worked, fostered personal relationships, and after a month or so I realized I hadn’t opened my FireANT in quite some time. I found myself wondering if people were slowly removing my feed from their own aggregators. Then the second and third month went by. I tried to break back in one or two times, but it just didn’t happen. The relationships I had formed through vlogging had slunk into the corners of Blogger and Wordpress and Typepad, only to be rekindled with the utmost of care and attention.
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Published by Tim on June 30 .
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Making your feed Internet TV ready
I found this really interesting link on how to change your RSS feed to make it ready for something called Internet TV. I’m not sure if that’s IPTV, or if it’s whatever Yahoo and Google are cooking up. In any case Charles writes this excellent “How-TO” for both vloggers and developers to start converting those enclosure feeds for TV. So Josh, Daniel, Veoh, Blip and others, have a look at the section for developers.
Published by GabeMac on April 13 .
1 Comment.
Watching Downloaded FLV video files
Reading the last post I thought I’d give a little tip for how to watch those flv video files you download. The answer is FIREANT. Just download fireant, (if you haven’t got it already). Then drag the FLV file you downloaded onto fireant and press play. This is what I use on the Mac version, but I’m not 100% sure it does work on the Windows version.
-Gabe Mac
Published by GabeMac on April 3 .
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Tips And Tricks For An Interview
I’m going to be doing some interviews next week with a camera operator and editor. This is an upgrade from my usual routine of shooting everything by myself and pointing the camera back and forth and so I went to the yahoo videoblogging list to ask for advice.
Published by Bre Pettis on April 1 .
1 Comment.
Testing Grounds
Deirdre and Devlon and Anne have partnered on a project called “Testing Grounds.” This blog features a growing list list of video-sharing services. (currently 30) The blog offers comparisons of each service and allows visitors to supply their own reviews and comments
“I used the same video (the trailer for my videoblog) throughout, starting from the same WMV version wherever possible, to level the playing field.”
For people who are still deciding how they want to share video on their blog, the Testing Grounds is a valuable resource!
Published by Josh Leo on March 20 .
2 Comments.
Gettin’ the word out
FRUSTRATED VLOGGER
“It’s been a long month; four vlog posts, a case of Schlitz, 10 showers, a jar of organic pickles, and a barrel of Visine. The vlogs are brilliant of course, each one improving upon the last. I’ve spent days, nights, weekends - writing, editing, posting. I’ve e-mailed my friends and family (including second cousins, and uncle Leo) - but I can’t crack 20 subscribers, my feedburner’s stuck, my web stats are flat-lining - what the hell! It’s a big world – am I misunderstood!”
- Anonymous
It may be time for a little marketing boost to discover the audience you deserve. Here are a few simple and cost-effective (i.e. free) ways to promote your vlog without selling your soul to Rupert Murdoch.
Press Release
Send out a press release to your local media. E-mail your local newspaper or weekly and tell them about what your doing. Send along a few links to articles about the vlog explosion and start a buzz in your own hometown.
Collaborate
Collaborate with other vbloggers. Find other vloggers who share your own aesthetic and work together to create something unique. This will introduce both camps to new audiences.
Involve
Involve other artists. There are plenty of up-and-coming songwriters, bands and composers looking to get exposure for their work. Put an ad on Craigslist and you may find a kindred spirit to write the soundtrack to your vlog.
Comment
Leave comments! Chances are that when you comment on someone’s site they’ll go check out yours. Everybody wants, needs comments. Don’t be shy express yourself.
This is just sampling of some ways to increase exposure to your work. There are plenty of others of course and if you have any hot ideas please share!
Published by wtrainbow on March 8 .
1 Comment.
Free Online Tutorials
Want to migrate from Imovie to Final Cut Pro but the task seems a little daunting? Want to get into the guts of Quicktime Pro but need someone to hold your hand? Or maybe you just want to get a little bit better at Windows Movie Maker.
If so, take advantage of access to all of the tutorials available on lynda.com. Lynda.com produces excellent Quicktime based video tutorials for dozens of applications and you can sign up for full access for a 24hour trial period . So set aside a large chunk of time on Saturday or Sunday and dive into some of the best training tutorials available becuase there is hours and hours (and hours!) of it to go through:
Final Cut Pro 5 Essential Editing
Final Cut Pro 5 Essential Effects
Digital Video Principles
Audio and Video Integration in Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Learning Apple DVD Studio Pro
Learning Windows Movie Maker 2
Learning Adobe Premiere Pro
Learning Apple LiveType
Learning Apple Soundtrack
Learning Adobe After Effects 6
Learning Apple Final Cut Pro 4
Learning Apple Motion
Learning After Effects 5
Adobe After Effects 5.0 Overview
Digital Anarchy Demonstration
Learning Apple Compressor: Movie and Audio Compression
Learning iLife: iTunes 4, iPhoto 2, iMovie 3 and iDVD 3
Learning QuickTime 5 Pro
QuickTime Compression Principles
Published by Graham Walker on November 4 .
2 Comments.
Easy conversion to your vPod
Want a nice easy way to convert any of your movie files and make them Vpod enabled or don’t like getting into the guts of Quicktime Pro? Podner from Spasm software will do the trick. It even supports AVI conversion. Movies can be converted to .mp4 or that crazy new .m4v format. A cool feature is that your movies will end up in a special iTunes playlist so they can synch up to you iPod for automatic downloading.
Best news of all for Vloggers is that as long as you keep your files under 2.5 minutes it is free.
On the flip side, it is a Mac only product right now. It also seems to load your movies into the “unknown folder” in iTunes (even when I tried a file that included meta data). And hopefully, future updates will include batch processing so you can convert multiple movies all at once.
I just got a vPod so this little app will find a lot of uses.
Published by Graham Walker on October 27 .
2 Comments.
Stats for your Vlog
So you signed up for a free blog account at Blogger. You got free hosting at Ourmedia, and now you want to be able to track your stats for free too. No problem.
Sign up for a Statcounter.com account and you can see some pretty cool info about the people visiting your vlog. The only catch is that it just tracks the last 100 visitors (you have to use the pay service to get more), but if your vlog is just starting out it might be all you need to get a little bit of insight into where your traffic is coming from, what pages are popular, and how long people stay at your site. I find it a great way to simply track referal sites so I know which sites are generating traffic my way. Set up is really easy too.
Published by Graham Walker on October 27 .
1 Comment.
Automatic Torrent Service For RSS Enclosures
Gary Lerhaupt of Prodigem has created an automatic torrent service for your RSS enclosures. Here’s how Lerhaupt describes it:
“For the guts of how it works, Prodigem just scans your feed once an hour. It checks the latest 5 RSS items in your feed and if any contain an enclosure, it pulls that enclosure into your Prodigem account via the web and just torrents it. That’s it. You can also specify if you want Prodigem to email you whenever it attempts to make a torrent, and you also specify the license you want to use for the content you distribute. Folks, it doesn’t get any easier than this.”
Published by Jonny Goldstein on October 22 .
1 Comment.
