Why Every Brand Should Hire a Professional Video Producer http://tinyurl.com/6kjxthb

In summary: the professionalism expressed in the quality of production has a direct bearing on how well the brand will be received:

Bruce Alfred, Principal of Cobblestone Inc., is asked over and over, how important is it to create high quality video? Can I just use my consumer HD camera to make something and put it up on my business website? As professional video producer and web video consultant, Alfred’s answered that question many times and his answer is no, that’s not the best idea.

Alfred says,

“When you’re putting your own video on your site you want it to increase and raise your image. You don’t want it to join the YouTube, user-generated, quickly shot and thrown up on the web type of video because there’s so much of that. You want to rise above the noise. So, in short, make sure that you hire a video producer or a video production company that knows how to tell stories, that knows how to connect with any audience, that can learn your goals quickly and be able to interpret those goals into a message that calls people to the action that you need.”

Note that he doesn’t talk about how “professionals” have a certain level of equipment, but rather hire “a company that knows how to tell stories”.

Mind you, a little creepy with the author of the piece quoting himself in the third person, but that doesn’t mean what he’s saying isn’t accurate!

Getting ready for Final Cut Pro X http://tinyurl.com/6z25w8j

My Free Webinar is at 10 am where I outline what we know, and build on that with my research over the last couple of years. I think I’ve got insights that haven’t been published yet.

Artists Don’t Think Piracy Hurts Them Financially, Study Shows http://tinyurl.com/3dtm7kk

Big Media pretends to speak for artists but in reality they are only in the business for themselves and frequently take money out of artists pockets, quite deliberately. (more…)

Author Paulo Coelho Explains Why He ‘Loves Pirates’ http://tinyurl.com/6hmhczu

TorrentFreak alerts us to the news that he’s posted yet another blog post on the subject about howhe “loves pirates” and how people underestimate that artists can and do get paid, even when their work is being shared in an unauthorized fashion. In fact, he’s selling more books now that he’s actively offering up more “pirated” copies of his own work than ever before.

That parallels my own experience. While I know there are unauthorized copies of most of my books available, I’ve made sufficient from each work to be happy with the results.

Is cloud editing the future of editing? http://tinyurl.com/3mpfqq5

Is the cloud the future of editing: with a facility cloud or a remote cloud? How will the tape shortage change delivery into the cloud? How does cloud editing work? Will the cloud be suitable for archive? Will the cloud be suitable for archive? Will the cloud lead to outsourcing?

(Recorded before Apple’s NAB Final Cut Pro X preview was announced to be at the Supermeet.)

Kevin Smith’s Red State Experiment Has Already Paid for Itself http://tinyurl.com/4ybp2ql

Kevin Smith announced that he would auction off the rights to Red State after a Sundance screening and then infamously sold them to himself, leading to a rant about the state of distribution for independent movies.

He planned on doing a series of screenings-with-director events leading up to an October theatrical release.  Well, according to reports he’s already close to, or achieved, payback of the $4 million budget.

Kevin Smith’s latest passion project Red State has already paid for itself, six months before it actually sees full theatrical release. Thanks to an ambitious multi-city road trip in which Smith traveled to screenings of the movie and spoke with audiences afterward, Red Statehas already made back the $4 million budget production company SMODcast Pictures invested in the film.

Now Kevin Smith comes with a built-in fan base that he’s cultivated over the years (and that is indeed part of any success in this new paradigm – first Connect with your Fans) but it’s not only working for Smith:

That said, Smith isn’t the only filmmaker experimenting with new types of distribution. Edward Burns, for instance, distributed his latest feature film, Nice Guy Johnny, direct to iTunes, VOD and DVD last year, skipping theatrical release altogether. Indie filmmaker Sebastian Gutierrez distributed his Girl Walks Into a Bar directly to YouTube. And Pixar CTO and independent film producer Oren Jacob used a mix of social media and food banksto boost the profile of his documentary Ready, Set, Bag!