The Latest Video Trends


According to Kevin Maney of USA Today, "Everything that has happened to words and photos the past 10 years will happen to video in the next 10" ("Tech show expects video to flourish on Net the way words have," USA Today January 9, 2005).

More and more video content is moving onto PDAs, cell phones, personal video players (PVPs), and the Web. While making videos can be a personal art form, it can also be used for broader social uses for play and for work. The following sections explore mobile media, video blogs, and cinema contestsall entertaining new media anyone can have fun with!

Mobile Media

As you'll see, video isn't just for TV or DVD players anymore. PDAs, cell phones, and PVPs let you take your video with you. Here are just a few of the many examples of emerging platforms for playing with video on the go.

PDAs: Pocket PC

Want to share your video wherever you are? Save your video to Pocket PC. One of Movie Maker's sharing options lets you select Save for Pocket PC and gives you a variety of file types to choose from. This is a great way to show off short home videos.

You can access this option in the Save Movie Wizard in Movie Maker or get more details online, in the article "Optimizing Windows Movie Maker Video for Pocket PC Devices," at www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/bridgman_02november18.mspx (see Figure 10.2).

Figure 10.2. The Microsoft website features information on using Movie Maker to create videos for Pocket PC.


Cell Phone Video

Many new cell phones feature video cameras that let you take small, low-resolution videos that you can import into a PC for editing. If you have a cell phone that is capable of shooting video, you can learn how to import this video into your computer. Consult your cell phone manual or contact your cell phone provider for details. (The quality is bound to improve over the next few years!)

Figure 10.3 shows an inspiring and pioneering example of cell phone video creativity. You can watch the first music video shot on a cell phoneHaber Get Downat http://ghettron.textamerica.com/?r=455355. Although this video was shot on a cell phone, it was edited on a Macintosh. Some of the very latest video cell phones will soon let you edit video on the cell phone.

Figure 10.3. Haber Get Down, the first music video shot on a Nokia 3650 cell phone.


Gadgets Gone Wild

Here are some resources to help you stay up-todate on the latest mobile media:

  • Engadget Engadget is one of the best places on the Internet to stay current on all kinds of new digital devices, and it is one of the few sites that tracks PVP developments. Explore http://portablevideo.engadget.com to find out about new PVP devices.

  • David Pogue/New York Times At www.davidpogue.com you have free access to all of Pogue's articles from The New York Times as well as his free email stories and his daily blog. Pogue is one of the funniest and most irreverent technology writers, and he tells readers the real story about the marvels of technology. Written in a personal, approachable style, his site praises the best and mercilessly skewers the worst of new consumer computer gadgets and software. You can sign up for his email newsletter to get his latest missives delivered to your email inbox.

  • Walter Mossberg/Wall Street Journal For a 90-day free access to Mossberg's columns, visit http://ptech.wsj.com. Perhaps the most respected of all the mainstream technology press, Mossberg and his assistant personally test the latest technology gadgets and tell you the pros and cons of new devices. This site features a complete archive of all of Mossberg's columns. He also appears in weekly videos about his latest personal technology column on www.cnbc.com.

  • CNET and PC Magazine These two also provide extensive coverage of personal technology. You can visit them online at www.cnet.com and www.pcmag.com, respectively.


PVPs

PVPs, which have just started coming onto the market in the past few years, allow you to carry VHS or better quality videos with you, depending on the size and cost of the PVP. (However, they don't allow you to shoot video.)

Many PVPs on the market today haven't taken off because they're big, expensive, and use heavy hard drives to store videos.

But one player is both cheap ($99) and small ZVUE from HandHeld Entertainment (see Figure 10.4). You can put short or long videos on it; the length and quality of your video files depends on the size of the SD/MMC card you put into your ZVUE. ZVUE is currently available online at www.walmart.com and in selected stores. For more information about ZVUE, go to www.zvue.com.

Figure 10.4. The ZVUE PVP has won rave reviews from many magazines and websites for its low cost, video quality, and ease of use.


Video Blogging

While video blogs may seem ultra-new-fangled, you'll see that they can be a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to make and share videos. They can be a tool for self-expression and keeping in touch with family and friends, as well as a new source of news. In the wake of the 2004 tsunami, video posted by ordinary people became an important way to share news about the disaster.

Blog stands for web log, and a blog is usually a form of personal writing posted online. This definition is rapidly expanding to include video. Video blogging (vlogging) generally involves posting of personal videos to an Internet site, where they can be seen by others.

Often, vlogs are personal narratives or diariesor even diatribes. But they can be used for many different purposes. Vlogs can be used for education and business as well as personal newscasts.

While most vloggers use webcams and camcorders to record their videos, many video cell phone manufacturers are rapidly starting to promote vlogging as a way of selling new phones.

Blogs of all kinds, including vlogs, can become more powerful when users subscribe to blog feeds by using RSS (a free simple subscription software) and get updates about new postings. And many sites are becoming vlog aggregators, where you can find lots of vlogs to explore.

The Best Video (And Vlogging) Software: Vlog It!

By far the most exciting editing software introduction I have seen in years is Vlog It! from Serious Magic (see Figure 10.5). It's great for anyone who wants to make professionallooking videos, using either a webcam or camcorder, without having to learn how to edit at all.

Figure 10.5. Using Vlog It! is an easy, inexpensive way to make videos.


In fact, the only thing wrong with Vlog It! is its name, and that's because many people are likely to think you have to be interested in vlogging to use it. In fact, Vlog It! is a great video creation tool that anyone can use to make personal videos more quickly and easily than anything I have ever seen. It brings ease of use to new heights.

Vlog It! (and its cousin Visual Communicator) lets you create your own personal newscast right in front of your computer. You type in what you want to say and drag and drop photos and videos to the places in your text where you want them to appear. You turn on your video camera and read your script, just like newscasters read a teleprompter, and Vlog It! automatically inserts your photos and videos when you get to that the appropriate point in your transcript.

The program also lets you add slick digital titles (and digital backdrops, if you shoot against the right background) to your videos, and it features an impressive selection of motion graphics (designed by professional broadcast animators from major motion networks).

Vlog It! is sure to make anyone the star of a very professional-looking video, even if you have never made a video in your life. The product is amazing, and the price is even more mind blowing: just $99.95 for what may be the only video software you need.


See the sidebar "Popular Vlogs on the Internet," later in this chapter, for some great examples of the more popular vlogs.

Here are some of the best resources on the Internet for learning more about vlogs:

  • Wikipedia's vlog listing The free Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia offers a good introductory overview of vlogging and links to many more resources online. It is updated constantly by users, so it provides links to the most current information. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlog.

  • Yahoo! vlogging group Want to see and learn more about vlogs? You can subscribe to vlogs or hear what vloggers are up to by visiting the very active Yahoo! group on vlogging, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging.

  • Freevlog For the best overview on how to set up a vlog, check out Freevlog's website (see Figure 10.6), where you can find video tutorials that show how to save Movie Maker videos to use in blogs, get free blogging software and video hosting, and enable RSS subscriptions to your vlog. Details are available at www.freevlog.org.

    Figure 10.6. Freevlog.com provides a one-stop website for all you need to know to create your own video blog.


  • Cell phone vlogging Nokia's Lifeblog is one of a number of new video cell phone features to help cell phone video camera users share and edit their videos. You can learn more at www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,71739,00.html.

Vlog Hosting

A group of nonprofit sites on the Internet allow you to host your video files for free:

  • Our Media Our Media is an Internet website that provides free hosting for video files. Get the latest information at www.ourmedia.org.

  • Internet Archive Internet Archive (see www.archive.org) is an organization dedicated to helping preserve Internet files. Visit the tutorial "Making a Vlog in Windows XP" to see a video with step-by-step instructions on how to make a vlog, The Internet Archive is actively supporting the vlogging community (including free hosting) and provides thousands of (nonvlog) movies to watch in its Moving Images channel.

  • Creative Commons Publisher You can upload your video to www.archive.org by using free software available online at the Creative Commons website, www.creativecommons.org/tools/ccpublisher.

Popular Vlogs on the Internet

Vlogs are like the "real" reality TV, covering the Internet, politics, technology, and fun stuff. The following are some of the best examples on the Internet.

  • Rocketboom More than 25,000 visitors per day come to see Amanda Congdon, an actress, do a flip, and see funny daily Internet culture newscast on her site, www.rocketboom.com (see Figure 10.7).

    Figure 10.7. Amanda Congdon does a daily Saturday-Night-Live-like newscast on Rocketboom.com.


  • Steve Garfield's Blog This vlog is created by Boston-based video maker Steve Garfield (see Figure 10.8) and can be seen online at www.stevegarfield.com. Steve's blog features interviews, escapades, and videos on many different subjects, but one staple series is "The Carol and Steve Show," a takeoff on the 1950s sitcom a la 2005. Watch "Episode 28: Part 2" to see how great vlogging is for sharing cooking tips, as Steve and Carol show off using a new clean grill, flip burgers, and share their recipe for Boston baked beans (see Figure 10.9). Garfield is a professional video editor, so the quality of his web videos is better than that at the average vlog site. His vlog videos have even been picked up for distribution in the "real world" of cable television.

    Figure 10.8. Steve Garfield's vlog offers high-quality videos.


    Figure 10.9. The Carol & Steve Show is a regular feature on Steve Garfield's professional-looking vlog.


  • The First Politician's Video Blog With help from Steve Garfield, Boston City Councilor John Tobin is the first politician to launch a vlog. You can see it online at www.votejohn-tobin.com/blog/Videos. (see Figure 10.10).

    Figure 10.10. John Tobin is the first politician in America to use a vlog.


  • Ryanne's Video Blog Ryanne Hodson is a New York video editor who's a popular vlogger with the classic type of vlogan online video diary. Check out http://ryanedit.blogspot.com (see Figure 10.11).

    Figure 10.11. New York editor Ryanne Hudson's vlog is an online video diary.



Video As a Sport

While blogging represents a video trend that emphasizes quick-and-dirty first-person videos, other video makers have taken their creative efforts in a different direction.

Cinemasports is one of the most fun and creative new ways to play with video. Cinemasports, which calls itself the Iron Chef of filmmaking, sponsors competitions in which filmmakers make miniDV videosincluding scripting, shooting, and editingin just 10 hours!

As in a scavenger hunt, teams are given a list of ingredients that must be in their films. Screening of finished films, which each must be at least 3.5 minutes in length, begins 10 hours later the same day!

Cinemasports has become an international event and is well on its way to being a regular part of some film festivals. Check the website www.cinemasports.com to see completed videos, award winners, a blog of participants, and a calendar of upcoming events so you can find out how and where to participate in the next Cinemasports event yourself (see Figure 10.12).

Figure 10.12. Cinemasports.com, which bills itself as the Iron Chef of filmmaking, runs competitions for making videos from start to finish in one day.





Create Your Own Digitial Movies
Create Your Own Digitial Movies
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 85

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