Producing Your Own Vidcast for Video Sharing
Part One - Planning (page 2)

There are three main areas you in which could invest time and money to increase the quality of your video sharing. In approximate order of importance they are: content development, lighting and set design, and equipment.

Fortunately, for the success of your video sharing endeavors, the most important area is also the least expensive. Just about everybody's got a camcorder; many have pretty decent ones. What they often lack is a compelling reason to turn it on. Spend the majority of your time gathering information and your thoughts, and you'll already be well ahead of a large number of current video sharing "producers." Good preparation and an outline should not stifle your delivery or make your video sharing content stiff... just the opposite. It should provide you with the freedom to be casual and informative, with a structure that will prevent you from rambling.

If you need to invest in anything, it's likely your lighting. If you've been using hardware store lighting fixtures until now, this might be the time to replace them with real lighting instruments. A large softbox or fluoropan for your main light, a focusable rim light or two, and some spotlights with barndoors for the background, positioned correctly, will give your video sharing content a professional feel.

Your set is probably the biggest factor in determining the "look" of your video sharing content. It can also be one of the most time-consuming and costly. Is a battered couch all you need or are you conjuring up blueprints that require planning commission approval? Starting simply is always a good idea, but if you want to start with some pizzazz on a budget, consider a virtual set. If your shot will be static and not too wide, a simple chroma-key set may be just right. We'll talk more about set design and virtual sets in our next issue.

As with set design, we'll get into discussing equipment in more detail in part two, Producing Your Vidcast, but for now, if you have a camcorder you are happy with for general videography, there's no need to upgrade just for your video sharing content. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a feeble rationalization... sure, a better camcorder will translate into better images online.

How often you produce your video sharing content has a lot to do with its popularity. Not only will your viewers come to look forward to your next installment, but it seems evident that several of the leading RSS aggregators, like iTunes and FireAnt, use frequency as a factor in ranking. We have found that a weekly show will rank higher than one that is less frequent. Releasing on the same day each week, while not critical, may also have an impact on ranking.

Length is certainly determined by your subject matter, your capacity to sustain its delivery and your intended audience's attention span. However, another factor to account for in this planning stage is web server bandwidth. A few of the early vidcasts got quickly swamped with viewers that rang up hefty bandwidth fees. We're talking many thousands of dollars. So while it may be a welcome "problem," it's a good idea to check with your current Web host provider what charges may apply if you go over your monthly bandwidth allocation.

The last step in planning is to estimate how much your new video sharing venture will cost you. Review your answers to the questions above and tally everything you'll likely need to get started. Don't forget to allow for costs of props and perhaps some extra hard drive or optical media storage. If you've been trying to answer these questions as you read along, you're probably beginning to see how much there is to consider in planning for your first video sharing experience. But don't let this dissuade you from learning first-hand what works for you. It still can be as simple as turning a camcorder on yourself and talking about your passion.

If your video sharing is starting to take shape, be sure to check our next issue where we'll dig into the details of production and follow with distribution.

Contributing editor Brian Peterson is a video production consultant, trainer, and lecturer.

Vidcasts to watch for ideas

• Videomaker Presents (of course)
• Podcast Salad
• PhotoshopTV
• Diggnation
• Buzz Out Loud
• DL.TV
• Slashdot
• Engadget
• Rocketboom
• CommandN.tv

Producing Your Own Vidcast: Part 2
Producing Your Own Vidcast: Part 3

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