Gdovin.net

Imagine being able to make your dream set for videos in Photoshop and project it behind the hosts by  replacing a single color and not have to  bother with construction and the large expense of set design. This is not Science Fiction technology in fact, it exists in fact as chroma key better known as Greenscreen where an editor can take the green or blue color out and replace it with whatever graphic that they want. This unlocks almost unlimited possibilities and help anyone produce high quality video sets.

Unfortunately, however easy this sounds, chromakey is a semi new technology and although it may look good if done right, it could look horrible if there is one little variable off. Either way, no matter how well it is done chromakey always looks a bit cheesy and especially if the background itself is cheesy.Chroma key has a lot ofm potential and sounds affordable if you only need to buy a $50 can of Key Green paint, but whaty you are not realizing is that every little shadow will mess up the keying leading to the nessesity of expensive lighting kits and not only that, but you need a high power computer to do the actual keying because the technology is very demanding on processing and graphics card power.

I do believe that in the future as the technology becomes more developed and more advanced, that this will be a very useful technology because you could run a TV network and not have any sets but just a few rooms with green screens and design the set of your dreams in photoshop and not have to waste: time, money and space on a set. This technology can especially help the “Grassroots” video movement of people making video from their homes and instead of building a set in their houses which is not very plausible, they could use chromakey instead and broadcast from their basement or bedroom but, produce video that looks like it was made in a multi-million dollar studio. Chroma key has great potential but, right now, I reccommend only using it if you are a video professional or if you throughly researched it and understand how to truly use utilize it.

In the late 1990’s a few pioneers began to experiment with stream live video over the Internet. Although the video quality was poor, this laid the groundwork for the live webstreaming of today where, because of services like Sticcam or UStream anyone with a webcam is able to stream live with very little technical skills at all! This has developed the idea of “Lifecasting” where people like Leo Laporte, Chris Pirillo and many others stream themselves continuously throughout the day.

However entertaining this is, I am not sure if Live Webstreams will be able to compete with standard broadcast like Television and Radio in the current state because as of right now, it is mostly people just sitting in front of the camera and giving information. I think inorder for webstreams to compete, people need to produce entertainment streamed live. I think this can be achieved in two ways: first, independant producers creating live entertainment and secondly, for big production companies to live stream their shows in simucast to broadcasting over the air. This would be great because for now at least, to watch TV shows online, you have to wait until the next da. However, the big trend in viewing right now is video-on-demandso that people can watch what they wnat whenever they choose but, if they combind a live web stream and then have a on demand version after the  live webstream then the viewer can get the best of both worlds. I still prefer to watch video on demand however,  many people like watching content live and for things like news live is nessesary but, I think Video-On-Demand is the more popular trends still and will probably remain that way.

The other day a major observation became apparent to me about internet production and I thought that it was important enough to share with all my readers. I made this observation when I was watching videos made by Chris Pirillo on Youtube and when I discovered that he has thousands of videos on his page and for the most part they were done by just one take and no editing or any other evident post-production were used and the video is very informative and since he has little to no post production work, he can crank out more videos very quickly. One of the primary reasons is that Chris does a live webstream and most of his videos are done live and recordings are posted to Youtube. Not only does this method allow the producer to turn out videos faster, but it also produces videos that are more natural becuase it shows the viewer a more natural representation of the show which although less formal, it is more organic to the viewer because it is more like talking to a friend instead of having a “All Knowing” host talking down to you. All in all a more organic method of video production maybe something you should consider when making internet video and something I wll consider for Gdovin.net video.

For most of the history of video production, video mixers were seperate boxes that switched video input sources for a live or live-to-tape show, but the problem is that video mixers cost at least $1,000 and are way to far out of the reach of a amatur video producer but, many people would like the power of a video mixer and mix multiple cameras in to a professinal Multi-camera shoot. BoinxTV allows users to turn their Mac into a video mixer at a fraction of the cost. BoinxTV starts for $199 but, if you buy the MacHeist Bundle, you can get it for $40! Boinx lets users record up to 3 cameras and mix in graphics, text and much more and record either to disk or stream out live to the internet! This is not only more affordable but, is a better option than a standalone mixer because it can record directly to the computer’s hard drive. This will become morew common over time because it is not only a major space saver but it makes running a video mixer much eaiser for the crew!

Recently, High Definition cameras have become much more affordable with cameras like the Flip Mino HD which offers High definition for a little over $200 and there are also hundreds of other HD cameras that are under $1,000 making high definition as a viable option for average consumers. However, do people really need to be filming in HD? Although the quality is far better than standard definition do people need to be recording in such high quality? It takes much more space to store and a very powerful computer to manipulate. Even video podcasts at Broadcast television is transitioning over to HD and it does make the expirence more enjoyable but, only if you have the equipment to get the full experience, like a HD TV or high resolution computer monitor. For the most part, video is produced for entertainment but there are informational videos as well and they could benefit from HD because they it could help viewers better see details.

So you might be wondering if you should be buying a HD camcorder for your next video camera and my thought is that of depends. If the camera is just for home videos then save yourself the trouble and get a standard definition camera it not only will save you time but, it will also save you from needing a very powerful computer to edit and manipulate the footage. If you are planning on becoming a professional video producer, then you may want to consider HD especially if the video you plan on producing is very graphics heavy because then the quality boost may be worth the extra cost. Also many HD cameras have a standard definition option so you have they option to shoot in lower quality. In conclusion, although HD has become much more affordable and I believe will continue to I think you should only consider High definition if you first are serious about producing high quality video and secondly make sure you have the equipment to handle High defintion both for playback and for editing otherwise there is no reason to spend the extra money!

Even before Youtube, there was Internet video although it tremendously grew with the emergence of Youtube and other social video networks. In fact in the past 3 years internet video production has grown into a large business and companies like Revision3 and Cnet produce web videos as their company’s service. Many have even built expensive studios to record their video however, I believe that the next generation of web video producers will record most of their video out of their homes and build their own inexpensive sets and do everything with what they have in their home and possibly buy a few extra items. The reason I believe this is because High definition cameras are relatively inexpensive and allow people to produce high quality video at very low cost. When it used to cost millions of dollars to build a television studio it now can be done for a few hundred!

One of the best examples of this is Tecker 911. In the beginning we just used Plaz’s DV camera for recording and living room and TV for a set with a bunch of regular house lights for lighting and for editing we just used Plaz’s Dell Desktop computer with Windows Movie Maker. Although it was a very hacked-together setup, it worked and accomplished the goal. After sometime, we bought microphones, borrowed a lighting kit from school, and when Reed joined the group, we were able to use his HD camcorder. Even after we got all that equipment we only spent around $100 and with that small amount of expense, we produce very high quality video. This is partially becauseequipment has become less expensive as technology becomes more advanced but, it is also because we were able to make use of what we had like tripods and TVs that were already at Plaz’s house. I believe that this will be the future of video production because it allows anyone to create video at extremly low costs and also allows work to be done with fewer people because the workflow is simplified and this will also be a key in the future of video because it makes things easier and more cost effective this is the way and will be crucial to the continuation of video production in these tough economic times.

Anymore, more and more people are watching television shows on their computer instead of watching live on cable. Viewing on a computer provides the viewer with a higher resolution image and lets them view their shows whenever they want. The notion of watching television shows online began when people began torrenting shows and more recently major Television studios like CBS, NBC and ABC provide a stream of shows the day after they are broadcasted on TV.

Third-party sites as began appearing like Hulu that let you to watch shows when you want online in a flash player. The studios make money off of them by inserting brief 30 second ads in the video and making money that way. The other model is selling episode like Amazon Unbox and iTunes and sell them either by the episode or by the season and allow the customer to download and watch them anywhere. Both models have their advantages and disadvantages: the stream model is free but, you have to sit through ads, need to be connected to the Internet and shows are usually only available for a limited amount of time. Meanwhile, the download model allows you to watch your video anytime, anywhere  but, it cost money and can be seen when ever you want, but the down side is that you need to pay $2/episode. The one disadvantage for both models is that shows are usually not distributed online until the day after it is broadcasted and sometimes, it takes even longer.

I believe to preventing people from stealing content, television networks need to improve their online distribution models. First, they need to provide a larger archive online for streaming to promote their shows and stop people from pirating. Next, they need to decrease the cost for buying shows online in order to make people more likely to buy instead of streaming or pirating. Finally, and what I think is most important is that they need to release web versions on the same time the broadcast is released so that they can  get people to watch online and not be behind just because they didn’t watch the show on cable.

Do you have a good idea for a video podcast but, you have no idea where to start?  I was in that position when I started W3life I was in that position. I was lucky enough to find a good amount of resources and would like to share them so other people can get a good amount of information to get them started.
maketelevision.com- a great resource about internet television production

wordpress.org- a great content management system for one podcast, also what I use for this blog.

feedburner.com- a easy way to make RSS feeds which help immensely with distribution.