On-line sources for video content of all sorts, from artistic to instructional to experimental, are multiplying at a dizzying pace. Video collaboration, particularly collaboration “in the cloud,” is a quickly maturing concept.  And behind these sites for online video collaboration is the basic motivation for film makers and graphic artists to find new muses and wider audiences. Clearly there is no shortage of inspiration for those of us who are as passionate about video as we are about music, art, science, technology, and more. One of my favorite sources for such inspiration is the exceptional TED.com.

TED talks have been around for a long time now and many of us are in the habit of regularly visiting TED.com to check out the latest on-line releases. On a recent web surfing excursion to TED, I came across an extraordinary piece featuring an exhilarating example of collaborative on-line video editing. (Videomaker has blogged on this topic recently: see Daniel Bruns’ excellent blog posted August 8^th on the phenomenon of leveraging HTML5 for music video production by bands like OK Go, Arcade Fire, and Danger Mouse.) Some of you are likely very familiar with Aaron Koblin’s work. Koblin’s TED talk, “Artfully Envisioning Our Humanity” posted this past May is a marvel.  If you haven’t already, you really need to check out Koblin’s TED talk.

Koblin has built an online environment wherein artists and videographers can contribute to a collaborative video featuring the late Johnny Cash’s final recording Aint No Grave (Can Hold My Body Down). It’s an astute choice, not only because this is a wonderful version of this song about living on through one’s legacy. Cash has been missed by many of us since his death in 2003. Koblin’s choice of Aint No Grave is also astute because there is no “holding down” the creativity of the still image contributors building a video and embracing Koblin’s site and his vision. As more and more images are added to the montage, it is clear that this site is tapping into both profound reverence for the artist (Johnny Cash) and into an enthusiasm for collaboration in video. The very nature of this project means that there is really never an “end-product” or a finished video, but rather iterative experiences that change with nearly every viewing, as long as the contributions keep coming and the video keeps evolving. Collaborative endeavors such as these inspire us to return again and again, to both add to and to admire the outcome. If you haven’t already, you really should check it out. (Visit The Johnny Cash Project.)

Many video producers toil to perfect their craft in simple DIY studios at home, or in temporary rented space, or simply out in the world with their camcorder in their hand. Unless you’re working closely with a cadre of fellow practitioners of the video craft (which luckily, many of you are), the work of video is usually less an act of collaboration and more often a solitary enterprise. You often shoot alone, edit alone, and release your video alone, hoping to capture a wider audience as your videos catch on via YouTube or Vimeo or elsewhere. But projects such as Aaron Koblin’s remind us that we can do amazingly creative things when we work together.

Last night Videomaker friends, family, staffers and alumni gathered for a festive event to celebrate 25 year’s of publishing tips, techniques and tutorials on making video – and we streamed it live to a worldwide audience.

When Matt and Patrice York first launched Videomaker magazine, there was no other publication like it that was targeted to the consumer video enthusiast. A few magazines existed for the professional producers, but nothing for the home video market. Matt’s vision was to create a warm, friendly environment where people interested in taking their home videos to a higher level by using better techniques and creative composition could ‘drop in’, ask questions, and not feel intimidated by the technology or snubbed by the elitists in the pro world.

Back then, video cameras were incredibly clunky, some still separated the camera from the recorder deck, and they were called “affordable video cameras for the consumer” for “only” $2,500 -  quite a bit of cash in the 1980s economy!

If you desired to edit your video – good luck! You had to have two VTRs, one to play your video out, the other to record your video to, and each time you dubbed footage down you had what they called ‘generational loss’, which was pretty bad in many cases because the original footage had poor quality to begin with, no real colors, poor contrast, and a complete loss of details in low light.

Then there was the problem of distribution. Once you had your footage shot and reasonably edited, you had to deliver it to your audience somehow, which usually meant dubbing it once again to a VHS tape and mailing it or hand-delivering it to someone.

Now everyone can upload their video to any number of free internet sites like YouTube and Vimeo, and anyone can stream their footage – live – via many sources and the quality is pretty good. Back in 1986, when Matt and Patrice launched Videomaker, only Broadcast TV stations had that ability, now we’re all broadcasters in our own right. And, believe it or not, we have Matt York and Videomaker to thank for some of the changes in the market through Matt’s personal contact with the manufacturers of the products you use and his battle at many levels to make video making no longer an elitist game, but an Every Person game. Congratulations, Videomaker, for 25 years. I’m glad to have been part of that history.

Happy 25th Anniversary, Videomaker!

To help us celebrate 25 years of teaching video techniques, we created a forums page called “How Videomaker Helped Me”.  This link takes you to our 25th Anniversary “Letters to the Editors” page with comments and congratulations and you can read more or to add celebratory comments on our forums page.

Vimeo is now offering Creative Commons licensing options for its members. Creative Commons licensing helps artists to define the specific usage rights that allow others to use, perform, distribute, and make derivative works from their original works. With an easy selection of one of six free Creative Commons licenses, artists can retain their copyright while choosing to allow others to use their work given proper credit and maintenance of simple conditions specified in the Creative Commons agreement.

Now people looking for high quality videos that they can legally share, use, adapt, and remix can find them on Vimeo, where an ever-evolving collection of work is available for use under Creative Commons’ permissive copyright licenses.

Vicent Laforet, Canon and Vimeo recently announced a unique video contest to be shot exclusively with DSLRs. The concept is unique, take a still image from the previous film and come up with your own interpretation of the story behind the image – moving the storyline forward. This is an 8 month long contest which began January 7^th . Each month Vimeo users will vote on finalists which will be selected to win either a Canon EOS 7D or 5D Mark II, along with a canon lens of their choice. On top of that the Grand Prize winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to shoot a short film with Vincent Laforet.

Canon gave Laforet a still image of a cab and then asked him to interpret it into a 2-3 minute short film. Laforet’s film, which was shot with a Canon EOS 7D DSLR, ends on a still image. It’s your job to pick it up from there and end with another still image, this should be a really unique 7 chapter series and I can’t wait to see the finished product.

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