Digital Video Production

I came across the following blog post on The Ike. Cantaloupe has hung it's hat on disposable, timely and relevant content. We've preached the importance of this approach as part of a successful online video campaign - something Ike has come to see the real value in. Enjoy...

Years ago I would have cringed at the thought of spending, time, and money on any communications tool, tactic, or strategy that would literally be old news within a day.

But here I sit, engaged, enlightened, and excited about the development and acceptance of disposable content, specifically video. Right now video has gone from high production, high dollars to hi res, low budget and yet more impact. Video has simply become more accessible.

I came across a great source of futuristist projections:   Cisco's Visual Networking Index Forecast.   Their press release, just released June 2nd, is a great summary of all of Cisco's predictions about the explosion of IP traffic in the future, and the role web video will play.

Fun forecast facts:

• IP traffic will grow over 30% per year through 2010
• The growth in traffic will continue to be dominated by video
• Online video will surpass 55% of consumer internet traffic by 2014
• The amount of video that will cross global IP networks in 2014 every second would take two years for one of us to watch!

So, still not sure about the important role of online video for your business, read more here, and check out Cisco's hightlights video too.   Want to know how to make online video work for you? Give us a call! 

And check out how Cisco is using video in their own online marketing efforts on their website home page.

Again we're discussing common mistakes marketers make with their videos in their online marketing campigns. On- and offline videos are a representation of your company, your people and your level of quality. It may be someone's first impression of you.

So, you have a fantastic online marketing video including all the right people, a perfectly polished message and a gorgeous setting. It's been edited exquisitely and is ready to be posted on your website. There's one final step that can make or break you're viewer's perception of the video, your company and your quality - the video encoding. Yes, a little technical. Yes, a little critical to success of your online video.

Video encoding helps prepare it to be played in a number of players - since we already know your site visitors use a number of players on a number of browsers. During the encoding process, decisions are made about the resolution, bit rate, frame rate and many other items that directly effect quality of playback.

Whether you do your own video production, or use a partner like Cantaloupe, your digital video editor must be mindful of how his or her decisions impact the final product you lay before your potential and current clients. Quality (real or perceived) is not the place to cut corners.

Guerrilla filmmaking refers to a form of independent filmmaking characterized by low budgets, skeleton crews, and simple props using whatever is available.

Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City) made this term notorious by making the film El Mariachi for $7,000, before digital editing made filmmaking cheaper.

These techniques, chronicled in the journal Rebel Without a Crew, have been very useful in the world of web video production.

The 4 steps to Guerrilla Video Production

1. Plan ahead - know what you want and how to get it before you go in
2. Be flexible - anything can and will happen, but you got to keep moving
3. Bring only what you need - equipment is heavy and expensive, do you really need a second light?
4. Get what you need and get out - be efficient, time is money

An average shoot, for me, is about 1-2 hours.  I go in knowing exactly what video and sound I need.  I bring bare bones equipment and staff, usually just one other guy. When we leave a shoot, I have everything we need to put a story together, most of the time.

By doing this, the cost of online video production is decreased dramatically. 

The look, feel and cost of web video is different than standard video production.  Don't get left behind and get stuck paying for it.


Justin Gutwein

Tip #1: Don’t Shoot into Windows
Tip #2: Organic Storytelling
Tip #3: Don't Pick up the Sticks

 We've just finished the first cut of a video that gives an overview of our new online video management system, Backlight 2.0. In this video we poke fun at Cantaloupe's President Stacy Billanti, who thought it would be funny during her confessional interview to fake like she was picking her nose. (crude humor isn't really my thing, ha). She specifically said "Don't use this or you're fired."

Well we used it anyway and she wants us to cut it out, but it's such a great ending to our latest online marketing video that I'm putting up a small fight.

To build my case, I'm embedding a video shown at Bill Gates' retirement party. You'll see that throughout the video he makes fun of himself, and it comes off quite well.

A couple web video production takeaways...

• Unscripted would have been better. They obviously decided to script some of this. I think it's bearable, but I also think they easily could have captured the comments they needed without scripting and it would have been a lot better.
• Repurposing this digital video works here. I'm pretty sure this video wasn't produced specifically for the web. I think it was originally shown in a big room with a lot of people. It works for the web for a number of reasons but a couple are 1) It's not a commercial. It's entertaining so people watch it. 2) If a video is shot in high enough quality for off-internet, that means it's usually high enough quality for the internet.
• Authenticity and vulnerability make for great content. Bill isn't afraid to make fun of himself, which is refreshing. 

Look closely and you'll notice a couple things about this video:
1. This guy isn't scripted
2. He's talking about something that he's an expert in or knows a lot about
3. The fact that he stumbles a couple times or has long pauses doesn't depreciate the effect of the content
4. The video is short
5. There is only one camera and it's definitely not on a tripod

What did he do wrong? Well, if he actually owns a ski shop he didn't direct me to his website.

I'm certain this is not professional digital video production, which in this instance is okay. Think how painful this would be to watch if they tried to be scripted.

 Cantaloupe.TV saw a lot of interest this year at the Techpoint Indiana Technology Summit. One of the people who stopped by our booth was Eric Kanagy of a company called RedPost. (What does RedPost do? I think their mission says it best: To replace the world's bulletin board with digital signs?)

The reason I'm highlighting Eric is because he wrote a blog post reflecting on what impact YouTube has really had, not just in the online world, but in the world of video production.

As a the owner of a video production company "pre-YouTube," I think he can speak to the disruptiveness of online video better than I can.

I'm guessing "website video firms" wasn't a category anyone thought to google in the era "pre-YouTube"?

This is what a Cantaloupe client told me he wanted from us. I shouldn't have been surprised by this but I was.

Being at a firm that positions itself in the "internet video marketing" arena, I often get more caught up in the "internet" than the "video." I tend to spend more time thinking about video tracking and video analytics (it's probably worth noting that our blog posts around these topics are some of our most popular) rather than the "boring" digital video production side of things.

But anyone who has ever had to work with deliverables known as "the creative" has felt the pain of missed deadlines and misunderstood expectations. Manufacturing seems so anti-creative that sometimes people are apt not to apply the same principles that produce reliable and consistent gadgets to producing creative content - which if you ask anyone, they'd like to also be reliable and consistent, at least in terms of deadlines and results.

At Cantaloupe, we've experienced our own pains with delivering creative video production like manufacturing, but I'm happy to report that just in the past 4 months we've increased our success rate of hitting deadlines to 98% and there is really little to stop us from hitting 100% month after month.

The web side of things is important, but "content is king" as they say, and there's no point in knowing how to track and distribute your web video, if your web video isn't delivered on time and worth distributing.

After nearing the completion of my 30 days worth of video fashion rules from GQ, I've decided I'd very much like to see the video tracking and how many people skip over the intro that's included with every video. It'd be a great case study in web video production.

The intro is good in a way. It's fast-paced and it builds excitement - at least it does unless you've just watched 5 in a row, which often happens because I rarely find a little bit of time every day to watch each video, and rather watch a bulk at once.

I started fast forwarding through it, and I'm sure others do to.

From a producer's perspective I get that the intro is good if the video ever leaves the home of its video magazine. The thing is, it's very unlikely to leave its home. The only way it can is if someone embeds it in a blog or takes it upon his or herself to post it on YouTube.

Even if I post it to a social network like Facebook, it still links back to the original page - which you can only get to if you've registered, making it less likely the video will ever leave its original page.

Intro music and title screens are an old way of thinking about video. It recalls the weekly sitcom and drama that we watch on tv. It doesn't embrace user control and our different viewing habits (like watching a bunch at once).

Yeah, I can fast forward, but why should I have to? You could do something better with my first 15 seconds - like get me interested with something I haven't seen before. I'd rather seen interesting video advertising for Burberry or JCrew instead of watching the intro again.

Even Cantaloupe's digital video production team still uses intros. I think I'm going to open up a debate...

And we’re back with more trends and how they correlate with what we’re doing here at Cantaloupe.  In another report, Tech and Web Trends Predictions 2008 (link here) by Trendsspotting, top technology professionals and influencers give their take on what they think is cooking up for 2008.  Some trends are already evident and the others have great potential for making there stand before 2009 rolls around. 

Quick overview of the report:

“Out” in 2008:

-       TV and DVR
-       Data web
-       Analog
-       Piracy
-       YouTube embedded
-       Broadcast and cable TV ads by 2010
-       Amateur content
-       XP

“In” in 2008:

      -         TV on the net
-       Gen X and Y on mobile web
-        Mobile messaging
-       Information-based businesses
-       Customer as innovator
-       Web gadgets
-       Online delivery models
-       Peoples web
-       Online video/internet TV
-       Personalization
-       Quality, speed
-       Unified communication, voice and video
-       Video blogs
-       Video search
-       Branded professional online video

Some of these don’t have much to do with Cantaloupe to be honest (i.e. mobile messaging, XP, Piracy).  But lots of the other trends sure do:

How we measure up with what’s “out”:
-       If TV is “out,” people have to watch it somewhere – ONLINE.
-       We don’t promote, overloading your web visitors with just plain data, we like the idea of using internet video marketing and telling your stories and messages through a compelling, entertaining medium.
-       Analog is definitely out – digital is the way to go.
-       Not everyone wants to have their videos hosted and played on YouTube,  Custom-developed framework allows individuals and companies to surround their videos with their own branding.  That's one perk to having professional hosting/video playing.  Cantaloupe already does that for clients.
-       As broadcast and cable ads become more and more useless (thanks DVR), reliance on online video and interactive marketing will increase.
-       More and more, viewers of online video want to see professional content, no more amateur stuff.  Our digital video production is all about being professional.  Professional without the absurd price tag.

How we measure up with what’s “in”:
-       All we do is TV on the net.  That’s what we’re about: online video magazines.
-       We like to think our customers are innovators.  The best part about the video-making process is story development.  You’d be amazed with how innovative our clients can be during the process – even the ones who don’t think they have a creative bone in their bodies.  Take a look.
-       The web is a people’s web.  It’s my web; it’s your web.  We’re bettering it every day. 
-       Online video and Internet TV again – yep, that’s what we’re here for.
-       Personalization – our videos are about getting personal with you and your business. We want to hear your passions and your triumphs.  We want to show your database exactly what you’re doing for them.
-       Our videos are high quality and we finish them and get them to you in a fraction of the time it takes big expensive studies to do the same.
-       Video blogs are popular because people like to hear what’s going on… on an ongoing basis.  We help you create an ongoing conversation with your database to keep them in the loop and better your relationships.
-       You want branded professional online video?  You got it.  Just give us a call.

Out for 2008:

•      Demographics
•     Unstructured user-generated content
•     Buying attention
•     TV directors
•     TV 30 second spots
•     Daily newspapers
•     Basic
•      Clicks
•     Eco-ugly
•      Microsoft Media Offerings

     In for 2008:

•          Instant gratification
•     Transparency
•     Targeting behavior
•         Earned attention
•     All digital
•     Creating TV ads
•     Structured user-generated content
•     Social reputation management
•     Friendiligence and conversation with customers
•     Experiences
•     Make-it yourself
•     1-1 marketing
•     Credibility of invitations

How Cantaloupe adds up:

• We don’t worry about demographics, just your database
• We give you professional stuff, structured for your audience (just not too structured so you lose your authenticity)
•  We don’t use TV directors, we let you speak passionately and work with the story you tell us
•  Regular TV advertising is out, but Internet video marketing isn't
• We track more than just clicks 
• Online video instantly gratifies an interested customer by providing authentic info
• Video magazines give you the transparency you need to show your true passion
• You earn the attention of our database by giving them relevant information
• We’re all digital
•  Our content is structured and follows a story, but isn’t too structured so it seems like an ad
• Create a solid reputation by showing your database the causes you believe in
• The video magazine concept provides you with a way to stay friendly with your database and keep an ongoing conversation going.
•  You can show the experience your company/products/people provide(s) through video
• BackLight enables you to market 1-to-1
• We only market to credible databases, so your invitations will alway be credible

     So where do we stand?  In a pretty good position.  Online video marketing sets your marketing plan up for success. Online video magazines provide you with a way to keep in touch with your database and have an ongoing conversation - so you aren't forgetting about them and they aren't forgetting about you.

    Coming soon: "2008 Web and Tech Trends Predictions" analysis

    

Cantaloupe has got its hands in something big: Internet video marketing.  Of the 150 million Internet users, about 85 million are viewing video online at this point in time.  The future of online video may seem mystifying, but if one thing's for sure, it’s not going away. 

Online video spending was at $225 million in 2005 and then $640 million in 2007 (these numbers include video advertising dollars, digital media production costs, and online media firm fees, etc.).  eMarketer projects that by 2009 spending will reach $1.5 billion.  With the increasing popularity of this entertainment medium there's good reason to expect that kind of growth.

According to a study by F.N. Magid Associates for Online Publishers Association:

-       5% of consumers view online video daily

-       24% view it at least once a week

-       46% view it at least once a month

Marketers want web video because it engages viewers.  Viewers want it because it’s engaging (and entertaining).  Online users watch many forms of video, but news video ranks highest in popularity (except with younger viewers), and humorous videos came in second place (probably because these videos are most likely to be shared with others).  According to the study conducted by Pew Internet & American Life titled "Online Video," professional videos are preferred among viewers over amateur content.  Thankfully Cantaloupe can help you out in the area of professionalism.  That's not to say if you really want amateur-style video we wouldn't do it though...

The more popular and available online video becomes, the more people will view it.  Google and Yahoo already have video search options making it easier for people to find video on websites.  Strides like this will only amplify viewer numbers.  

Since the emergence of Internet video marketing, companies have looked for more and more ways to incorporate video into their own marketing plan.  We all know people don’t want to read through a bunch of mumbo jumbo to figure out what you/your product/your business is all about.  Just show them.  Through video.  It can be fun, entertaining, informative, and chock full of your wonderful marketing messages (but not blatantly full of them of course).  Soon there will be a day when people expect video.  Might as well start giving it to them now.  

Many companies like to think that their website is this cool, interesting place where people go to hang around on, read lots of interesting info and look through all the cool products you offer (we like to think so too). Companies spend countless dollars and hours making it the perfect Internet destination.  Truth is, whether your company goes for a plain and simple website or a flashy and bright one, it’s not special.  No one hangs out there.  It’s not the hot spot.  Your customers don’t talk to their friends about your sweet color scheme.  That’s the cold, hard truth.

According to Nielsen statistics, most web users are pretty much selfish, impatient, and ruthless with their web time.  Their goal: get in, get what they want done, and get out.  Only 25% of people even travel to web pages via the homepage of sites.  Want to guess how they get there?  How did you get here?  Probably search.  Search pretty much rules the web.  Everyone’s using it.  Most people have one on their own homepage (i.e. Yahoo, MSN)

People search for what they want.  That’s how the web is used.  Let’s say someone wants a new widget.  The web user types in “oval widget” into Google or Yahoo or whichever search engine they prefer.  A list of various sites all carrying various oval widgets pops up.  They click on one, or many, and look through their options.  They buy from a site and leave.  They don’t want to look at circle, square, and tube-shaped widgets.  They have no need to view your homepage, just your oval widgets.

So how on earth can you market your other products?  How can you get people to your homepage where your specials, your best products, your business news is featured?  Video magazines.  This is where email and online video marketing comes in.  It reminds your database to visit your homepage.   It’s a perfect excuse for people to see (actually see) what you’re doing and what you have to offer them.  It’s the new marketing currency.  People love it.  Its new, there’s no reading involved, and its authentic.

Streaming video is what can bring your database to your homepage.  Better yet, we can even tell you what that person did once they’re there.  That’s real marketing power.

Digital video isn’t such a cold, hard place.  It’s what people want.  It’s what you need.

 

I had to check myself twice before I typed that title. Do I really mean exactly what that says, that quantity is more important than quality? In a debate could I stand my ground? I've already given you my answer.

Blockbuster web videos and grand openings elevate quality.
So do TV commercials on the internet,
And traditional media firms (for the most part)

Video Magazines elevate the quantity. Why? Because it's about the relationship, and most relationships are not love at first sight. They're built over time with multiple conversations.

Read that again and apply it to the way you used to think about internet video. How often did you think about internet video as an ongoing strategy (quantity)? Now how often did you think about it as a piece of glitter for your website (quality)?

Quantity vs. Quality is really a false dichotomy. They're not necessarily mutually exclusive. As a digital video production company, we produce quality videos. Do we produce the highest quality? No. Do we produce the highest quality needed to reach your online marketing goals? We like to think so.

But you be the judge.

Those familiar with traditional video production might be surprised to know that we don't use scripts or storyboards here at Cantaloupe. These former staples are painfully time consuming and costly, not to mention they tend to reek "staged commercial."

So are scripts and storyboards still necessary? No. And this is part of the innovation the internet has brought to digital video production.

Traditionalists might wonder how then, do you plan a story with any predictable result? The answer is not in scripting and editing it's in the interview-style of shooting. We rely on the expertise and knowledge of your people, partners, and clients (indisputably the best people for telling your authentic story). They don't need to read a script to know what needs to be said. They have the script in their head, and they've rehearsed it a thousand times - that is every time they have talked to a prospect, explained to a friend what they do, helped a customer, or justified their reason for buying from you.

There is still planning involved, but it focuses on the indispensable components of the story rather than the details. It focuses on the core message, the key characters, the high-level talking points, the locations, the big take-away, and the vision. This is the essence of our story development process.

Scripting and storyboarding still has its place with tv shows, movies, and commercials, but when it comes to web video production where authenticity is expected and highly valued, scripting and storyboarding is just overkill.

It'd be easy to take a look at Cantaloupe and think that digital video production is all we do. The video is the most prominent feature to the outside world; however, there's a reason we talk about video magazines and not just video production. The truth is, the video alone is nothing more than an online marketing parlor trick. It's really the conception of the entire video marketing strategy which creates the value.

The strategy makes you think about things like where your video plays, how people find it, how often you update the content, and how you actually administrate that. Just think about these questions:

• Is your video on tv of all places, operating in an interruption marketing environment?
• Is it on a DVD that's really difficult to share and pass along?
• Is it on YouTube where you have no control over the ability to market your other stuff, or is it on your homepage where people can clearly see what they're supposed to do after they've found you?
• How do people find your video in the first place? Do they stumble upon your website and go, aha, there's a video, or do you proactively send the video out to them?

Their time.

Time is like a "wild card" that can be used in place of any tool. What I mean is, let's say you don't have access to a tool like Salesforce.com that can help you automate the tracking of your cost per lead. All hope is not lost. You can still track it manually, usually using spreadsheets. It takes more time yes, but you theoretically get the same result.

Apply this to video on websites and Video Magazines. Cantaloupe knows that if push came to shove, you could probably execute something similar to what we do on your own. There isn't a whole lot of secret sauce in our technology.

The secret sauce is really in the process. It's in our method of story development, digital video production, integration with your website, proactive distribution, and ongoing maintenance. (Our video analytics does contain some secret sauce)

We haven't built our product just around this novel concept of internet video marketing; we've built our product around the idea of saving marketers time. We execute the whole process of a web video strategy so you don't have to struggle to figure out how to do it yourself, and we've even built some efficiencies along the way.

Ultimately, we believe online video is great, but not if it completely dominates your time.

Hi everyone, welcome to my first blog EVER.  I've never blogged before so I'm going to take this opportunity to talk all about myself.  Everything from Indonesia, web video production and my epiphany when I started working at Cantaloupe.TV  I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first.

I have been working in digital video production since my junior year in IUPUI's New Media program.  While there, I focused on all different types of digital media production. I worked in web design, 3D animation, video production, streaming video etc.  At the end of my college career I had to come up with a project that told a story.  We could use any of the skills we had honed while in college in any combination we wanted.

Some of our crazy ideas:

An online interactive roller coaster experience
3D animation about a kid trying to create every digital image possible
An Interactive Marketing Kiosk for a restaurant

All of these ideas sounded exciting but the possibility for STORY in each project sounded less appealing than what we ended up doing.  I decided to travel to Indonesia (with 2 video classes under my belt) and interview survivors of the 2005 Tsunami that killed over 250,000 people.  While I was in Indonesia my project partner started working on the website that would house the video stories I collected.  

This project, called notseennotheard.com, ended up being used as an internet video marketing tool for the not-for-profit we were working with. (island-aid.org)  They were able to use it to show their donors the types of people they were helping.  We had to use streaming video because Island-Aid's donors were all over the world and hard copies such as DVD or simple text emails just wouldn't work to get the message across.  We wanted a way to capture the real emotion and strife of those affected by the tsunami and effectively have people view these stories. Viral web video was the only way to do it.  

Our greatest accomplishment was using the website as an avenue for people to donate money so two little girls in a remote mountain village could get surgery.  Without telling the stories of these two little girls, Erinawati and Soteria, they may still be living with debilitating burn scars that covered half of their bodies.

Here are a few things I learned after completing the project:

EVERYONE has a story
Video on Websites works

These were important lessons starting out in my journey towards finding my first post college job but my real lesson was yet to come.

By chance, I met Jon DiGregory (founder of Cantaloupe.TV), and my esteemed boss) and he explained his concept of a Video Magazine.  We talked about the world of online video advertising, online marketing, viral marketing etc. and my eyes were opened.  Just when I thought throwing a little video on websites was good enough I realized I had a lot to learn.  Thus begins my journey in online video production and working for Cantaloupe.TV

You can look forward to my future blogs probably being about myself just like this one.  I'll try to entertain you, tell truthful stories, maybe throw in some useful information and I hope you'll keep reading on an ongoing basis.  

DISCLAIMER:
If you want to be entertained by riveting stories about things you are interested in this blog is only a mediocre resource.  Do yourself a favor and go find a video blog if you want compelling emotional content.  

THANKS!!! and keep reading!

Zachary Nischan Shields

This question seems to come up a lot in the online marketing publications I read: What's the best way to put video in my emails?

To which I would answer: Don't

Now that might seem confusing to those of you who are familiar with our process and know that email is the primary method by which we distribute online video, but we don't actually include the video in the email. We do what the above article refers to as putting a .gif or .jpeg in the email that is a link to the actual video; although, we don't try to disguise it as a media player (that just sounds hokey).

We do that for a couple really good reasons:

1. Including a video file in an email just creates all sorts of unnecessary complexities. It creates complexities with quality. It creates complexities with getting through spam filters. It creates complexities with just getting the video to play.
2. By having videos play directly in emails, people are missing out on an opportunity to bring audiences back to their websites. It's the difference between playing on your home court or theirs. Ultimately you'd prefer to play on yours. This isn't sly or underhanded - if they signed up to receive emails from you and they clicked to watch your video then they are expressing an interest in something, and it is your job to fulfill that interest when they get to your website.

We're not unique in this regard. Most of the publications I read advocate this same approach to "video in email." One day it could change, but for now, the best way to do video in email is to like to the video which actually resides on your website.