Category: Business

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Distribution Item of Interest

4K video comes to YouTube

4K video comes to YouTube http://bit.ly/bJsre3

From the Google blog:

Today at the VidCon 2010 conference, we announced support for videos shot in 4K (a reference resolution of 4096 x 3072), meaning that now we support original video resolution from 360p all the way up to 4096p. To give some perspective on the size of 4K, the ideal screen size for a 4K video is 25 feet; IMAX movies are projected through two 2k resolution projectors.

Now there’s somewhere to distribute all those RED-shot movies 🙂

Needless to say, watching 4K from YouTube is going to require a darned fast Internet connection.

Oh, and here’s the backstory from the guy who made the showcase 4K movie for YouTube’s launch today.

Categories
Item of Interest New Media The Business of Production

YouTube Tries To Boost Production Budgets

YouTube Tries To Boost Production Budgets With $5 Million Grant Program http://bit.ly/9Q2nVF

As they say:

The goal of YouTube Partner Grants is to act as a catalyst by infusing additional funds into the production budgets of a small group of YouTube partners who are at the forefront of innovation. Funds from YouTube Partner Grants will serve as an advance against the partner’s future YouTube revenue share. This additional funding can allow partners to invest in better cameras, achieve higher production quality, expand their marketing efforts, expand their staff, or just hire more talent. Anything that will help them evolve their art, business, and ultimately the entire creator community. We look at this as an investment that will bring an even richer body of content for our users and advertisers and raise the creative bar for online video.

So it’s more of an advance on advertising revenue than a grant, but still, it should help that “select group” to improve their product.

Categories
Business & Marketing Distribution Item of Interest Media Consumption New Media

The Lack Of A ‘Golden Ticket’ doesn’t mean you give up and go home.

The Lack Of A ‘Golden Ticket’ Business Model Doesn’t Mean You Give Up And Go Home http://bit.ly/axLkMF

Kara Swisher goes to meet with Hollywood Executives who are all looking for a Golden Ticket (Willy Wonka reference) so that they can charge the same monopoly rents they did when they (used to be) a monopoly.

Michael Masnick deconstructs Swisher’s reporting and parses it for us. This is a worthwhile read, even if a little long.

From music to movies to television, the biggest minds here still sound perplexed as to what will finally be the golden ticket to carry them through to the inevitable next era of digital distribution.

That single sentence basically describes the problem. These guys are sitting back and waiting for someone to hand them a golden ticket that replicates the old ways of doing things. That’s not how it works. No one gave the buggy whip makers a golden ticket that let them keep their old lines of business going.

The unnamed executives even ask why the customer always gets to be right. Yep, that’s how far removed they are from any sense of commercial reality. The customer is always right because there’s always someone else that will meet the customer need if you don’t. (Where is my “any program, any time, any device for a fair price” service again? There’s a customer demand for it but the old guard won’t deliver.)

Final words:

The role of the disruptor is not to make life easy for the disrupted. Swisher and these execs seem to be confusing the role of certain folks in the legacy industry with the overall entertainment industry itself. As noted, the entertainment industry is thriving. More movies, music and books are being created. More money is being spent. It’s just that it’s going to different players. There’s no reason to “figure out a way to keep talent from being dragged into the future.” The opportunities and wide open path are there. The problem isn’t that tech leaders haven’t made it easy for them. They have. It’s that these guys are so myopically focused on the way they used to make money they don’t realize that the new opportunities are already there and have been embraced widely by others.

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Apple Metadata Video Technology

How serious is Apple about metadata?

During a recent thread here where I “infamously” suggested Apple should drop Log and Capture for the next version of FCP, one of the topics that came up was the use of metadata. Most commenters (all?) appeared – to my interpretation – to feel that reel name and TC were the “essence” of metadata.

And yet, if we look at the most recent work of the Chief Video Architect (apparently for both pro and consumer applications) Randy Ubilos we see that Location metadata is a requirement for the application. According to Apple’s FAQ for iMovie for IPhone if you don’t allow iMovie for iPhone to access your location metadata:

Because photos and videos recorded on iPhone 4 include location information, you must tap OK to enable iMovie to access photos and videos in the Media Library.

If you do not allow iMovie to use your location data, then the app is unable to access photos and videos in the Media Browser.

You can still record media directly from the camera to the timeline but, without the Location metadata, you’re pretty much locked out of iMovie for iPhone for all practical purposes.

There is no location metadata from tape capture! There’s not much from non-tape media right now, although some high end Panasonic cameras have an optional GPS board. However P2 media (both DVCPRO HD and AVC-I) as well as AVCCAM all have metadata slots for latitude and longitude.

Now, I’m NOT saying that Apple should force people to use metadata – particularly if it’s non existent – and this type of restriction in a Pro app would be unconscionable. I merely point out that this shows the type of thinking within Apple. In iMovie for iPhone they can create a better user (consumer) experience because they use Location metadata for automatic lower third locations in the themes.

Where I think it’s a little relevant is in counterpoint to some of my commentors: building an app that’s reliant on metadata is a different app than one relying on simple reel name and TC numbers.

Categories
Item of Interest Media Consumption

The Shocking Media Habits Of 8-18 year olds.

The Shocking Media Habits Of 8-18 Year Olds http://bit.ly/bc1BzP

Henry Blodget takes another look at the Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 2000 families about the media habits of 8-18 year olds. As this group grows, they become “the new normal” for media consumption.

No real surprises in the results, but how very different is the audience for broadcast Television where more than half the audience are outside the desirable 18-40 demographic.

Other results from the Kaiser survey:

  • Kids consume a heck of a lot of media–and more all the time.  Basically, if kids are awake, they’re consuming media.  And, increasingly, they’re consuming multiple forms of media at the same time.
  • Kids’ print media consumption is tiny and falling.
  • Kids’ digital media consumption is going through the roof.

Categories
Item of Interest The Business of Production

“Our Footloose Remake” Beats Paramount

Our Footloose Remake Beats Paramount to the Punch http://bit.ly/bx1VvU

More an exploration of what can be done, than a serious approach for all production, they did manage to get a Footloose remake done before Paramount can.

Each team was assigned one scene from the film to recreate however they saw fit, leading to the following tally: 33 different Rens (played by Bacon in the original), 15 different Reverend Shaw Moores (played by John Lithgow in the original) and 27 different Ariels (played by Lori Singer originally). The result is an insane but delightful mashup of styles and approaches — parody, animation, puppets, Dance Dance Revolution homage, reverse motion, video remix, stop-motion — with instances of both male and female drag, puppets, puppies and amazingly bad wigs.

And yes, they knew it wouldn’t make money. In my database of production funding methods, this will go in “Gimmicks”.

Categories
Distribution HTML5 Item of Interest

YouTube: HTML5 Video Is No Match for Flash (Yet)

YouTube: HTML5 Video Is No Match for Flash (Yet) http://bit.ly/d48tWW

Although YouTube has been encoding to H.264 since early 2007, most distribution is via their Flash player, although they do have an HTML5 player as well. The advantages of Flash for YouTube at the moment are:

  • Live Streaming (although almost nothing on YouTube is live streaming in that sense – it’s all progressive download). What Google means is control over buffering and dynamic quality of the files it serves up.
  • Content protection for the “Premium Content” demanded by the content owners, despite all kinds of DRM being pointless (don’t work) and annoy the legitimate user.
  • Encapsulation and Embedding. Flash is definitely easier for that and has better security.
  • Fullscreen Video. Tick. HTML5 players (mostly MP4 players) do not do Fullscreen video. Not that I use it often, but it’s an important feature to have.
  • Access to Camera and Microphone for interactive experiences, something not yet possible in HTML5

On the other hand, Hulu Plus kicks Hulu’s dependence on Flash for it’s iPad/iPhone application. (In fairness, you can do pretty much all of the above when you move from plug-in or native browser support to a custom application.)

Categories
Business & Marketing Item of Interest

Marketing Tips for Web Video Series

Marketing Tips for Web Video Series. Two views from creators of Compulsions http://bit.ly/dmCVf6 and http://bit.ly/9lzIP8

The post from CompulsionTV’s own site does refer to the excellent article by Pam Kulick but also adds some additional insights.

The points made in both articles are applicable to any independent project be it film,web video, tv or music.

If you want to learn about Web series marketing challenges and how to surmount them, then you will enjoy this account of launching the Web series, Compulsions.  As the marketing lead for Compulsions, I can attest that they were formidable:

  • No brand sponsors or advertising partners
  • No Web TV Network Partner or distribution strategy
  • No marketing budget
  • No launch strategy
  • No clear-cut genre
  • Mediocre Web site
  • No previous Web series credentials for the creator
  • Eight episodes
  • Needed to launch by December 2009 for Streamy Award qualification (Holiday Season)

Categories
Item of Interest Media Consumption

Is Television Advertising For Old People?

Is Television Advertising For Old People? http://bit.ly/aQofqy

With a median age of 51, that makes more than half of those who watch prime time television are outside the desirable 18-45 demographic. More than half outside TV’s desired demographic. Hard to have a hit.

What does this mean for those content creators that rely on that distribution channel? Plan another approach; this one is nearing its use-by date!

So what does this mean for traditional content owners?

First, it means they are losing. They are losing their audience, which will ultimately translate into losing their revenue and relevance. If they do not commit to developing a meaningful audience off television, they will begin to lose their market capitalization.

Read on for implication two (Google and Apple are winning) and three (Technology is king over programming).

 

Categories
Business & Marketing Item of Interest

5 Media Relations Tips from Scott Kirsner

5 Media Relations Tips from Boston Globe Columnist, Scott Kirsner http://bit.ly/90HTGV

Scott’s been on both sides of the interviewer/interviewee equation so he knows his stuff. (He knows his stuff anyway!)

  1. Be Open!
  2. Be Seen
  3. Be an unselfish resource
  4. Create a dialog not a press release and
  5. Never call to ask if a press release was received.

These are great basics for dealing with an interview and certainly parallel what I’ve been teaching in my various seminars.