The Complete Guide to Video Blogging
Even though the notion of video blogging itself isn’t new, the actual endeavor is still novel to many people. This guide will explore concepts behind video blogging and the tools for distributing and creating that content.
Video blogging is nothing new– after all, the video has existed on the web long before YouTube. Video equipment is now cheaper, post-production software more accessible, and online platforms on which to distribute video– such as YouTube– are easier to use than ever before. Still, only some of the many people posting videos regard themselves as video bloggers.
Video Blogging is Still in its Infancy
The demand is there. In August, more than 161 million viewers watched an average of 157 videos per viewer, according to data from the comScore Video Metrix service. A whopping 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video and the average online video viewer saw 9.7 hours of video in August.
It may seem surprising that video blogging hasn’t taken off considering how cheap the equipment has become and how easy it is to shoot, post and edit video online. According to Adam Singer’s Future Buzz blog, some reasons it hasn’t include: it’s time-consuming to produce compelling video, video is not searchable, and pros still have an advantage.
Robb Montgomery, CEO of a public charity that promotes journalism education called Visual Editors, said in an email interview that web video consumption overall maintains but is a booming phenomenon that we are still at the beginning of an emerging art form and story form with video blogging and it may be too early to generalize about long-term effects.
Video viewing doesn’t show signs of slowing, but what about video blogging?
Leo tries to post a video every other week. He said he learned to improve his videos through trial and error– posting, watching them, and posting again. “The important thing is to post something and learn as you go,” Leo said.
” Now that freedom comes to video– as the cost of cameras goes to next to nothing and the web carries video with the same fluidity that it carries text,” he said. “What we are looking at here is the true democratization of video– a real ‘free press.’ This, I think, is a very positive thing.
Creating a Video Blog
Montgomery said choosing a video camera depends upon your beat, style, audience and frequency of posting. “I have seen people be effective with a mobile cam or laptop camera. At the other end of the spectrum are solo video journalists who have the chance to make high-quality stories from the field with small cameras like the Sony A1U and about an equal dollar investment in microphones and Final Cut,” he said.
Michael Rosenblum, CEO of Rosenblumtv, said in an email interview, that the only reason people used to differentiate between average person and journalist is that access to the ability and the equipment to publish was just too complicated and too expensive. He said that went away with the web, which gave anyone the ability to publish or write whatever they wanted.
Web Video Puts People on Equal Footing
Video on the Internet does two things– it puts people on equal footing versus the top-down communication of broadcast media and it allows for direct talkback from the audience.
The software Montgomery recommends is a mixture of professional and low-cost applications: Final Cut Studio, GarageBand, iPhoto, Fission, and Audio Hijack Pro for editing and audio.
We find that two minutes or so is the ‘sweet spot’. Most songs are three minutes long and that works great, and delivers a great story and experience for the listener,” Rosenblum said.
Ryanne Hodson, a video trainer, blogger, and editor who, with co-founder Michael Verdi, launched Freevlog.org in 2005, said the number one tip for video bloggers is to be passionate and to cover topics they care about. “Be excited about something and go out and capture it,” she said.
Josh Leo, who has been video blogging since 2005 and has four vlogs, said good videos are a mixture of the basics of good production: editing, good, clear shots, and good lighting. “You can create a copycat video, but you’re contributing to the noise,” he said.
Leo said that during his first three years of video blogging, he used a Sony Handycam for shooting and iMovie for editing. He now uses Final Cut Pro, an HD camcorder, and an iMac.
What Makes a Good Video Blog
With lower costs for equipment and software, anyone with a video camera phone could become a video blogger. Technical barriers to video production are getting lower, but the big question is, what makes a good video blog?
Montgomery said that most web video needs to get to the point right away. The key is to know how to keep the story moving at a good pace,” he said.
The length of video clips can vary depending on the style of the video created, but always keep your audience in mind.
” The move to video blogging, just getting started, is to my mind the same as the move to writing books post-Gutenberg. It took the printing press to liberate writing from the few literate monks; now the web will liberate video from the few ‘video literate’ TV types,” said Rosenblum, who just launched an online video training site called the New York Video School.
final-cut
It’s not just about the video– audio also matters, according to Montgomery. “It is far wiser to invest in microphones and recorders that capture high-definition sound than it is to go for a camera with high-definition pictures and a small lens,” he said.
Rosenblum said Flip cams and the JVC HM100u are great and noted that shooting in HD is important for certain types of video blogs. If you are going to buy a camera, I strongly suggest HDV,” Rosenblum said.
Distributing a Video Blog
Hodson posts her videos on YouTube, Blip.tv, Archive.org and embeds clips on her blog. She also likes using Flickr for video and photos because she can email them from her iPhone 3Gs, then Flickr sends a link out to Twitter. She stresses, no matter where you post your videos, you should add your video clips on your own web site or blog.
In the end, though, video blogging is exploding because the barriers to entry are so low. “The bottom line is, if you want to get into video blogging it is remarkably simple and very, very inexpensive,” Rosenblum said.
Hodson said she likes the Flip cam and Sanyo’s Xacti HD cams. She said Mac users can use iMovie and PC users can use Windows Movie Maker, and a step up from those are Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere Elements.
He points out that people are loyal to their video providers, so uploading to multiple sites is smart. “It’s just giving people the opportunity to choose how they want to view your video,” he said.
Rosenblum said he loves YouTube because it is so easy and simple to embed, and that quality of Vimeo and Blip.tv is great and fast, while Montgomery said he uses Vimeo for its quality and YouTube for its search.
” It really helps if you engage with your audience in social media. I got 9,000 YouTube views in one day for my ‘Obama in Cairo’ report (second only to Al Jazeera) because I used Twitter, keywords and other social media to promote the publication at the right moment and in the right social space,” he said.
” Now that freedom comes to video– as the cost of cameras goes to next to nothing and the web carries video with the same fluidity that it carries text,” he said. Ryanne Hodson, a video editor, trainer, and blogger who, with co-founder Michael Verdi, launched Freevlog.org in 2005, said the number one tip for video bloggers is to be passionate and to cover topics they care about. Josh Leo, who has been video blogging since 2005 and has four vlogs, said good videos are a mixture of the basics of good production: editing, good, clear shots, and good lighting.
In August, more than 161 million viewers watched an average of 157 videos per viewer, according to data from the comScore Video Metrix service. A whopping 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video and the average online video viewer saw 9.7 hours of video in August.
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