The Flip Video family of cameras have always been somewhat appealing to me; they are small, easy to use and cheap ($200 or less). Almost perfect for the blogger, or small business owner getting their feet wet in the world of web video marketing. The one problem: No audio input! How very annoying! The video quality is pretty darn good for what you pay but the audio leaves a lot to be desired.
Thankfully a couple of other companies have noticed that hole in the market and are picking up the slack. I’m going to take a brief look at three possible solutions for an affordable handheld video cam that has quality audio capabilities.
Wired magazine recently profiled the Zoom Q3 videocam. Zoom is known for making audio recording devices (think the perfect little pocket recorder for bootlegging a U2 concert), therefore this new device has a top-mounted mic that records in 44.1/48kHz 16/24-bit Linear PCM or MP3 audio up to 320kbps . In other words pretty damn good audio, even though it doesn’t have an external mic jack. The problem may be that this device is an audio recorder first and a video recorder second. In a time when most pocket camcorders are upgrading to some sort of HD flavor, Zoom is sticking with SD- 640×480.
This might be OK for some users if the picture quality holds up, especially in low light scenarios. The Zoom Q3 isn’t out until Oct. 9th, 2009 and I have yet to find any good footage and audio tests online. Therefore the jury is still out on this one, but it has potential. This is probably the best solution around if you are shooting lots of concerts, as it also has on screen audio levels to help with dialing in the correct levels. The cost for this video camera is $249 on Amazon.
As part of what my producer Craig Bland calls ‘Branded Social Programming,’ I shot and edited this promotional web video for JCP Teen’s Schooled in Style with Whitney Port campaign.
The reality style webisode features Whitney Port (”The Hills,” & “The City”) and one lucky $1,000 Back To School shopping spree winner at the new JC Penney’s in Manhattan. Whitney styles the 16 year old Mary Ann, and gives her tips to look her best in the new year.
We sent Mary Ann a FlipCam before the shoot day to get an authentic taste of who she is and the world she lives in. The video she shot serves as a nice introduction to the meat of the video package and proves how the proper use of lower quality cams can add a very effective “real” element (now if they will just make a FlipCam with a mic jack!) I talk a little bit more about our pre-production process for the shoot in my post from a couple weeks ago.
The final video was distributed across the Celebuzz network including Whitney Port’s official blog.
Incorporating video into any online promotion adds an dynamic and engaging element that is otherwise not possible.
Below is my long over due reply to Dan, a Realtor in Florida who is having some trouble with using his new video camera’s MPEG-4 files with Windows Movie Maker and encoding a quality .FLV file for post. Plus I recommend a completely free online flash video player that is easy to setup and has the ability to add your logo, pre-roll ads and more. It may be perfect for your web videos too!
Hi Wayne!
Here’s my problem: I’m using Windows XP and Windows Movie Maker. The camera produces MPEG-4 files and WMM won’t accept them. So I have to convert them (with anyvideoconverter) first to XVID files which WMM will accept. I do all my editing and add music then WMM produces a WMV output file.
I’ve tried converting the WMV to FLV with limited success….the output isn’t the quality I desire and that might be my fault because I don’t even know what to set the output parameters (fps, etc) to so I just leave them at the defaults. The output isn’t clean and smooth like the input.
So my problem is all the file conversions and the resulting file looking like crap! You mentioned something about Sony Vegas? Is that my answer? And if so, does it come with a Player or what player would you recommend I use? I would need to paste the code for the player on each individual web page and then just point at the new video file each time.
OK, so this post is going to be a bit Dear Diary-ish but I wanted to give a quick update and a little explanation on why I launched this blog and then basically disappeared for half a month.
First off- I moved. I only moved a few blocks from my old place but as you all know, moving is a big project and not the most fun activity. However, I love my new place! It has high ceilings and much more sunlight shining in. Which makes for a much better location for shooting videos!
Last weekend I was in New York City shooting Whitney Port (star of “The Hills” and “The City”) for a JC Penney back to school fashion promotion video. One lucky fan won a $1,000 shopping spree with Whitney acting as personal stylist and we filmed the whole event for a web video series.
In the 3rd installment of my Video SEO series I will quickly go over some best practices for titling your web videos.
These tips refer to the title of your post or page that contains the video as well as the title that is included in your video’s metadata. As well as your video title on video sharing sites like YouTube.
1. Utilize your strongest keywords within the title, but keep it short and relevant. Anything over 15 words is probably too many, around 10 is better.
2. Begin title with ‘Video:’ or ‘Video of…’ This will help identify the content and attract readers to the fact the post is a little ’special.’
3. Identify a specific topic(s) covered within the video. For example if it’s an interview with an expert on web design, instead of saying “My Interview with Web Designer Jack Armstrong” you might say “Video: Web Designer Jack Armstrong Talks CSS, Layouts, and Browser Considerations.”
A great little video from passionate video blogger, Sukhjit Ghag. Sukhjit talks about how beneficial this medium is in terms of human connection, social interaction and getting feedback. She also touches on how easy it is to get started and some specific equipment you can use.
This video also introduced me to a new site, GuruTube.net. I am often turned off by YouTube because of the amount of mindless crap that is posted. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I love mindless crap but if I’m trying to find a useful how-to or tutorial video I don’t like having to sludge my way through all the junk. GuruTube focuses on bringing you unique video guides and how-tos from a (currently) small pool of experts. It will be interesting to see how this site matures.
Celebrity branded video package I shot and edited for a Back To College IKEA promotion that will be featured on several high profile blogs and social media websites. In the video Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian are picking out the ultimate college dorm room.
This video played a key role in a complete marketing package that included takeovers on multiple sites and an interactive contest to win autographed merchandise. The video was produced by Craig Bland and when I say ‘My Video’ in the above image, I really mean the video I was the prime shooter and editor of. There were several other people involved in the process including our talented 2nd cameraman Shannon Lloyd.
What are some concepts you can glean for your own video marketing efforts? First of all including some sort of contest and ‘call to action’ to enter will not only increase your video views but also the social interaction around the video. Also if your site has enough visitors you may be able to sell a similar (maybe scaled down) version to a store or corporate sponsor.
Part 2 of my Video SEO series (Part 1 is here) deals with what video file format you should use and how to create it for publishing. So while some of this information pertains to search engine optimization for your video, a solid chunk of it is really a how-to for publishing your web videos online.
Flash (.flv) has overwhelmingly become the posting format of choice for web publishers. All major video distribution sites (like YouTube) transcode whatever format you upload into Flash for publishing. There are three main reasons why Flash has become so popular:
1. Compatibility: The majority of internet users have the Adobe Flash player pre-installed in their browsers regardless if they are on a PC or Mac. Quicktime (.mov) files on the other hand may be difficult for some PC users to view, while Windows Media Player files (.wmv) may be difficult for Mac users.
2. Quality & Size: The Flash compression codec is able to ’squish’ the video file into a small file size while still maintaining a quality picture. How small and how good of quality will depend on your compression settings but generally speaking you will be able to find a compression ‘recipe’ that fulfills your needs. I’ll talk more about compressing Flash files for the web in a minute.
3. Player options: Using Flash gives you a lot of options as far as the look and functionality of the player you want to publish your video in. If you are using a video sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo you are stuck with the basic layout of the player but most have some color, and size customization options. If you are hosting the video yourself, there are even more skins and player options available. In addition to changing color and size, you can add a watermark or logo, add social media features and turn the embed code on or off. A couple of popular player options are FlowPlayer and JW FLV Player.
Like life, your content and marketing strategies are all about balance. You don’t want to put so much time into producing your videos that your written posts, interaction with your followers or other communication methods suffer. Video is a very important piece of the overall puzzle but in planning your video content strategy you must keep in mind all of the pieces.
[Sidebar: For more on leveraging web video on your site download my free 20 page report here.]
Creating video content can also seem a bit daunting at first, so the idea is to keep it simple until you get the hang of it. And you will get the hang of it. Start out with a simple introduction or product demo video and once you get the process down move up to a regular video post schedule. Ideally weekly or even bi-weekly, but if your schedule doesn’t permit make time at least once a month. Whatever works for you well enough and is not stressful. Making videos can be really fun to do but only if you are not forcing yourself to produce them on an unrealistic schedule.
Lately search engines, like Google, have been becoming more video friendly. However unless you properly optimize your video content, it can be a challenge for search engine ’spiders’ to find them.
At first the complete video SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy may seem a bit overwhelming and time consuming. But you will find that most of the steps quickly become second nature and the increased traffic to your videos is well worth the work.
I’ve decided to break the ‘SEO Tips’ into bite size posts that I will release over the next few weeks. This way you can digest them one at a time and implement them organically into your workflow.
Naming Your Video Files:
This is a very often overlooked tactic; properly naming of your files is important as it is one of the first things search engines spiders look at to identify what it is.
The first five to ten seconds of your web videos are the most important. If a viewer makes it past those first few seconds they are much more likely to finish watching the entire video. Therefore it’s critically important to engage your viewers as quickly as possible.
How do you do that? The first major factor is quality lighting, good audio and a clear visual image. I’ll cover those topics in several other posts, today I want to focus on video content that will peak interest and suck a viewer into watching the rest of your video. Below are a few ideas to help you get started.
I’m sure you’ve seen videos with a person standing in a very fake looking location with the fuzzy green outline around them. It just looks bad. Even when it is lite correctly and there is no green outline- why do you want to look like you are floating through space, have a swirly blue wall behind you or worse yet riding a roller coaster. Cheesy! And the ‘gimmick’ factor has long passed.
Most of you are not trying to become a videographer or filmmaker- you are learning how to use video to connect with your followers and market to them in a professional manner, without taking too much of your valuable time.
Green screens are tricky to light properly, take some setup time and you have to learn ‘keying.’
Web video marketing techniques, strategies, ideas and inspiration for bloggers, marketers, small businesses, freelancers, entrepreneurs, writers, bands, celebrities and artists.
Featured Videos
A quick welcome message from me.
Behind the scenes package I shot & edited for KimKardashian.com
