The video below was made for JDub, an NYC record label, to help them pitch their artists at a sales conference. JDub represents artists such as Matisyahu, Golem, and Sway Machinery.
The purpose of the video was clear: showcase the label’s artists and their energy.
Deliverables:
In addition to editing the final video and delivering a DVD for the sales conference . . .
We also optimized images, logos, and videos for JDub. Additionally, we converted multiple video files from DVD’s from performances, archives, and promos. All these graphic and video files were delivered to JDub for future use.
Finally, we produced this media player for all the video files. The media player can be managed by JDub without knowing any code.
I created this video in order to generate interest around The Clytemnestra Project. It features choreography from Panorama by Martha Graham. The students in the piece learned the choreography in 1 week!
I’ve been spending the first part of my Summer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. We’re on a residency at Skidmore. I’ve had the privilege of working with phenomenal dancers from the company, and am also working with a team of over 30 students to produce a group blog.
By producing and promoting your work online, you must develop a strategy for free. I learned this from Chris Anderson who popularized the term, “The Long Tail.†He is now writing a book about the economy of free.
This year, we saw Radiohead lead the way in free by “giving away†their music. By allowing fans to set the price tag, or even download the work for free, Radiohead made a statement about the distribution of art. On the internet, distribution is essentially free. With a good strategy, you can post and distribute with greater ease. And people might or might not pay for it. And why should they?
Recently, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails followed suit by offering free downloads of his music. Before this initiative, he has actively encouraged his fans during shows to download his music for free: Wendy Davis writes, “Last year, at a concert in Australia, he urged fans to download his group’s tracks from file-sharing sites rather than pay what his label charged instead of paying for it on CD.â€
Trent Reznor also produced Saul Williams’ album “Niggy Tardust,†and offered the fans a pay-what-you-want system. According to Wendy Davis’ article, the results were mixed. Only 18% of people who downloaded the album paid anything.
However, it greatly increased Saul Williams exposure. His last album sold 34,000 copies, while “Niggy Tardust†sold 28,000. On the other hand, there were a total of 154,000 downloads accounted. That’s five times the number of his past album. Considering Saul’s label took a cut of the 34,000 albums sold, Saul actually made more money on his new album.
 I was thinking about how artists translate their work online and came across this great article on Creative Capital.org.
The article looks at interesting web projects that artists put together as an extension of their work. I remember seeing (and loving) one of the projects, Learning to Love You More by Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. The project asks user to complete “homework assignments†– and the results are often heartfelt, hysterical or both. The artists say, “We spend hours drifting through the site…reading your life stories, watching your videos, listening and looking. It is one of our favorite things to do, and we know that thousands of other people feel the same way.â€
I wonder how this kind of project can be developed within the performing arts community. . . . What will it take?
Photoshop remixing reality – this ain’t news. But…there’s been an evolution. Now users can “stretch the truth†even more. with this awesome piece of software, developed by a neuroscientist.
Some of the new tools for removing tourists from photos, stretching pictures without distorting faces and making reality flexible are free and online.
Mr. Baldassi’s photo-editing tool can be downloaded from his Web site, liquidrescale.wikidot.com, and used as a plug-in with a popular open-source image-editing tool known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP.
“We spend about 10 percent our waking life with our eyes closed by blinking,†said Michael F. Cohen, a principal researcher at Microsoft’s research division in Redmond, Wash. “If you want to take a picture of 10 people with their eyes open, you’re out of luck.â€
So he and researchers at Microsoft built a tool called Group Shot, which can be found atresearch.microsoft.com/projects/GroupShot. The tool lets users identify the best parts of a sequence of pictures and merge them. It can correct for small changes caused by movement or changes in the lighting. Adobe just introduced a similar feature in the latest version of Photoshop Elements 6, which sells for about $100.
Mr. Cohen said his tool would produce photos that were closer to the reality that we perceive than a photograph.
“We’re assembling what’s really there — just not from one-hundredth of a second, but longer,†he said.
“Think of an axis from the purely objective to the purely subjective,†he said. “At one end is a photograph, a recording of what really took place. At the other end is our internal experience of an external event. There’s some place that is a little bit subjective. It’s not quite real. But if you and I looked at it, we would agree on it.â€
This weekend, Kristin Sloan from The Winger, Chris Elam, and myself (Jaki Levy) led a workshop at the annual Dance / USA winter forum in Los Angeles on Recording, Producing, and Sharing Online Video. The workshop was well attended by the dance company executive / managing directors, development and outreach staff, and the attendees had some good questions. One particular participant asked if there was a way to track who is viewing your video, and what age are they are.  For performing arts organizations, this data can be very valuable for building your audiences.
With a bit of work, you can certainly get a sense of what your viewership is. While you may not have quick access to this information, you can certainly look at who is subscribing to your videos, and leaving comments. YouTube users are fairly open and usually post their age on their profiles. You just have to go and get this data – there is not automatic way to do this – yet.
In addition to answering these kinds of questions, we also suggested a few ideas for kinds of segments that would make sense for any dance organization.Â
For larger organizations, copyright and licensing is a significant issue. Choreographers, Dancers, Union members, and Musicians all have licensing fees, so producing a video segment can be tricky. We suggested considering Behind-the-scenes or Dance Education videos. To avoid the up-front cost of licensing, video segments about your company members might also be a possibility. However, this is a growing issue and must be dealt with.
Another possibility is streaming rehearsal video. With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation’s New York City Innovation Fund, Merce Cunningham will begin doing this in February 2008 in a series called Mondays with Merce.Â
Overall, the conference provided a valuable opportunity to get a sense of where things are going. Dance/USA did a wonderful job in organizing everything. I trust there will be a very positive impact as a result of everyone’s participation.
As lots of videoBloggers know, YouTube is great because of the large audience. However, the quality lacks, and users can’t download any of your videos directly from the site.
(You can however use a service called DownloadYouTubeVideos to do this – but the quality is still poor)
So, what else is out there? I’ve briefly reviewed some good video solutions that I personally use. If you see something missing, or have a question, please let me know + leave a comment. My goal is to compile a comprehensive resource for content producers, hosts, designers, and curators of video content. Hope this list helps!
Vimeo
Great for programmers, developers, bloggers, and others who want their videos downloadable. Nice design + social networking capabilities. The nicest feature I like is the friend updates. Whenever a friend of yours leaves a comment, or gives some ‘net love to another video, you’ll see the instant feedback on your account. Good way to discover new video.
BrightCove
A Great solution for internet television, but not so great for video bloggers. Allows you to create your own custom channel. Here’s an example.
Another great feature is the customizable upload forms. You can create these custom upload forms and embed the form into your site. This way, visitors can upload videos to your custom channel without leaving your webpage.
BrightCove offers desktop software to help you manage your online media. Part of the software includes a batch uploader which allows you to upload multiple files at once.
Revver
Revver is also popular but I do not use it. They allow visitors to download video, but I don’t really know enough about Revver to be writing about it.
Blip.Tv
Blip.Tv is probably one of my favorites. They offer visitors and content producers high quality video, downloadable content, and the ability to create iTunes podcasts. They also offer content producers the ability to create a custom channel. Here is an example I created a while back.
Blip.Tv helps your content go beyond the web. The site helps you convert your videos for viewing on cell phones, video iPods, and many other formats.
Like Brightcove, Blip.Tv also offers a batch uploader, so you can upload many files at once, saving content producers and publishers LOTS of time.
I’ve embedded a video to give you a taste of the quality :
Â
Pando
What if you just want to send video back and forth without hosting it publicly?
Use Pando. Pando allows you to send 1GB files & folders via any email or IM.
Think of it like YouSendIt, but for video and way cooler.
Produced for Ralph Lauren’s flagship store in New York City on Madison Ave and 72nd Street. The work was designed to play on 4 plasma screens simultaneously. The video was produced from a series of still images taken by myself and Robert Moon.
For more on the project, visit the blog for documentation and research.
