Dec 11
The current interest in producing video specifically for online distribution has directly sparked the resurgence of one of my all time favorite genres: The serial.
Back in the day when motion pictures were solely created on celluloid strips embedded with silver nitrate. The serial was a short episodic film that played before the main feature. The main convention of the genre was the “cliffhanger” ending that would bring you back to the theater next week to see how the hero would get out of a seemingly impossible situation.
The Phantom Empire:(Mascot, 1932)- 70 years before Firefly, the western and science fiction genres came together in this serial, starring the singing cowboy: Gene Autry
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHZMfHTGVw[/youtube]
Radar Men from the Moon: (Republic Pictures, 1952) Commando Cody investigates atomic rays from the moon!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h4ZdDFLNno[/youtube]
The current resolutions and time limits on many of the most popular online video sites, create the perfect environment for creating a web serial. Multi-part episodic content allows the producer to tell a complicated and multilayered story, (sometimes by far eclipsing the length and depth possible in a feature film) while allowing the audience to conveniently choose when and how much to watch.
For a modern take on the serial check out:
Prom Queen:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8S1damz0Js[/youtube]
Nov 26
Got some fun videos from our last Videomaker Workshop, that I thought I’d share with you. Videomaker Workshops allow you to travel to the tourist mecca that is Chico California, and hob nob with the Editorial Staff, as we take you through the whole production process of a short video. It’s a very intensive blend of lecture, editing, and field and studio shooting over three days. We also manage to have a lot of fun.
One group made: In Search of the Soundman:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KK8Gl4ldbY[/youtube]
One group made: The Flashback
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIaIMT_uxY[/youtube]
Pretty good I think for a group of beginners.
Nov 16
One interesting and often neglected aspect about the online video revolution, is the archival nature of the medium. Usually old programs resided on a tape buried deep in a vault, and would rarely if ever see the light of day again. Thousands of programs languish to this day, locked away in closets, tape vaults, and shoe boxes, their bits trapped forever in the dark.
Video sharing sites however have the potential to unlock all this content and keep it visible to the public for as long as there’s an internet.
As an example, I took a look through my box of tapes and found an old music video I edited ten years ago. This video was shot on film and mastered to Digital Betacam, and as such would be pretty pricey for me to transfer off just to look at it for fun again.
However it did play on MTV for a very short time, back in the late 90′s. I wondered if anyone had uploaded this ancient and obscure music video to YouTube yet. And low and behold: Disappointed by Face to Face
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDdXGXUcbPA[/youtube]
Saved from the vault by YouTube!
It’s encouraging to think of all the content that will now stand the test of time due to online video sharing sites, and not be doomed to rot away moldering in the dark.
Nov 16
Ahh, the prerequisite hello world post.
A starting point, a blank page, a blinking cursor.
The daunting challenge of creation, facing the empty.
Creative works all have inertia and momentum. Getting started requires an incredible amount of effort, but after a while the project gathers its own force and pulls you to the finish line. You just need to reach that tipping point.
So:
— tip —
Here we go…
