The Way We Watch

The Key To Good Video: Mess With Expectations

 

Many times, but not all, the difference between what is interesting and what is boring in any media is that the good stuff plays with your expectations.

You think things will go one way and you're surprised when it goes down a different road that is so ingenious that you just have to sit up and take notice.

You can help your storytelling by creating an expectation with genre and then tweaking it or turning it on its head.

I've posted this video before that has a wonderful surprise in the middle but at the start it looks like a "This is another white text on black background" video.

Nearly ten million hits later it's easy to see why this alarmingly simple video has reached viral nirvana.

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The hardest thing we do as video producers is to create video pieces that are original.  Everything has been done with budgets far larger then what you have.

But, there is usually a way to go that will make people hold their mouse in check and not click to something else.

Recently, Wheelhouse (I am a Principal) was hired to promote a new book.

I asked the client what kind of storytelling did she like.  Not just from her company but any company.  She showed me this.

Click here if you can't see the video.

I like it too.  Why?  The story telling is simple and there's a surprise.  You don't expect the nice shot of Bermuda (or where ever it is) to be a landing pad for dripping blood.  The video plays with your expectations of a television ad for something incredibly relaxing.

With that in mind, we pitched and produced this piece for a new murder mystery.

 

Click here if you can't see the video.

How do you set expectations and then turn them upside down?

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/moirabot/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Vlogging 101: Doing It Right (Watch Author Rachel Cohn)

 
Check out Rachel Cohn's vlog series, "Technology Detox with Rachel Cohn" for two reasons. 

She provides some helpful ways to turn it all off, but more importantly for my audience her videos are a great model on what to do right when video vlogging.

1. Her camera is looking somewhat down at her (always more flattering).
   
   
2. She's not against a wall.
   
   
3. There are some nice touches here...
   
   • the turning on and off/adjusting the camera
   • the b-roll
     
   • the TV static transitions
   • the titles that have some zippy music on it
4. Best of all is Rachel's tone. She's talking to us like a friend. 
   
   

Looking for transitions to use in your videos?  Try istockphoto.com.  Very affordable HD and SD clips for you to use as breaks while you're gabbing.

17 iPhone Apps to Make 2010 More Productive and Fun

If you have an iPhone consider these apps.  I've been using them consistently for fun, family and business.

• Air Sharing.  Who needs USB drives anymore?  Air Sharing acts like an extra hard drive that shows up on mac and PC desktops- then take it along. 
• AniGif  Very neat app that takes photos from your photo library and makes them into an animated gif.  I made one of my son eating pizza.  Great for a quick storyboard! HT to @quoz for showing me this one.
• Drawing Board Finger paint and then store in your photo library. Then make a Gif with AniGif.
• GorillaCam  Some very cool features with this camera app.  Easily shoot time lapse and three shot bursts.  Use it with Anigif as well.
  
• Best Camera In terms of an ease vs results ratio, this is the best photo finisher app around. 
  
  
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• Amazon Kindle I'm still amazed by whispersync.  I don't mind subway rides.  I might even start taking the bus because of this app.
• MLB (not in season, yet).  If you like baseball you need this. Period.  Listen to any game.  See any game (for a small fee).
• Pandora Been around for a while ol' Pandora.  Still great.  They even have a Damon and Naomi channel.
• Drop Box I've been giving this app a workout lately.  I have it on three computers and my iphone.  I'm connected, baby.  Put anything on it... word docs, ppt, video, you can see them all on your phone.  Great for my workflow.
• Public Radio It's so cool to be in North Carolina on a shoot, and be able to listen to WNYC at 4:00 pm.
  
  
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• Seth Godin As you know, Seth posts every day.  As I know, this app gets tapped every day.
• Tweetie  I have to admit I had Twitterific at first, then, gave it up for this. 
  
• RSS Runner  The best of the free RSS readers.  
• SpeakEasy Voice.  I think the quality of the sound recordings are a little better with this than the recorder that comes with the iPhone.
• Instapaper.  Use with your laptop.  Mark any web page with a click on your toolbar.  The page is easily accessible on your Instapaper app.  Feels like magic.
• Vook 90 second Fitness.  Hard but short 90 second exercises that you should do every  most days.
  
  
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• Way We Watch Essential!
  

What apps do you use every day?

Image credit: redstamp/ CC BY-SA 2.0

Will Everyone Want An App? Q&A With Scott Suhy - CEO of Pointabout, Inc.

First you needed a website, then you needed a blog, then a Facebook page and of course a twitter ID.

Now, Scott Suhy the CEO of Pointabout, Inc., the company behind the hot AppMakr.com program wants you to have  an iPhone app of your very own (and if you want a sizable discount - read on).

Appmakr allows you to make a fully functioning RSS content based iPhone app in about 10 minutes. 

The Obligatory "I Have An iPhone App" Post

Just finished reading the ever so smart and on-target Mitch Joel in his book Six Pixels of Separation.  If you're on twitter and you're getting something out of it, or if you're a blogger, or if you are an avid reader of blogs, the book was not written for you - except for one chapter on mobility. 

According to Joel, we're all going mobile.  And if you're not starting to think mobile in regards to your content and your audience - you should. Now.

Woody Allen On How To Succeed In Anything

"When I talk to groups they always ask me for advice and I can never really give it, because there is no set way a person gets into the business or becomes a director.  Everyone does it differently.  They do it by hook and crook and manipulation.  Marty Scorsese goes to film school and becomes great, and Leni Refenstahl [laughs] courts Hitler and becomes great.  So the only advice I can think of is that it's only the work that counts.

Don't read about yourself, don't have big discussions about your work, just keep your nose to the grindstone.  And don't think about any of the perks. Don't think about the money or laudatory things.  The less you can think about yourself, the better. 

It's like being a baseball pitcher; the less you're conscious of your motion the better you pitch.  Just do good work, don't waste time thinking about anything else, don't join the show business circus, don't pay attention to the distractions that people send your way, and everything will fall into place.

If people don't like your work, keep doing your own thing and either they'll wise up or you'll find yourself out of work and deserving to be.  If people hate your work, let them-they may be right.  Or not.  And if people even call you a genius, it' very important to run because you have to ask, If you're a genius, then what is Shakespeare or Mozart or Einstein? 
                                     -- Woody Allen in conversation with Eric Lax

Good advice whether you're producing video (my profession), blogging or wanting to direct movies.  Keep your head down and focus on the work.

If you're interested in the book (Conversations with Woody Allen), you can click below.  The conversations take place over 36 years and it's amazing how humble Mr. Allen is.  He's created a career where he gets to make a movie a year - play clarinet on Monday nights - and make it home for dinner with his family. He considers it a job.

He's not interested in creating great art.  He spends his time serving the process - solving puzzles.  In conversations with Mr Lax, Mr Allen is always working out a plot problem in one of his scripts... he takes long showers to clear his mind - we find out - even when he doesn't need one.

Allen doesn't get all stressed out while shooting (it appears).  A scene is to be shot - a discussion ensues with his DP in the morning and they work it out.  He's not the Hitchcockian director who storyboards every shot.  One thing that struck me was the amount of re-shooting Mr. Allen has put into his films.  When he experiences a dip (my words), he throws in the towel and re-shoots the scene.  No angst.  He just does it.

I had some issues with the book.  The interviewer, Mr. Lax, is not as probing as I would have liked, and a lot of his questions are repetitive.  But, all in all, this is a great peek into the mind who made one of my favorite films of the seventies (Manhattan), and then almost thirty years later -- knocks 'em dead -- with Match Point and Barcelona.

Bonus: 1/14/10 Eguiders just posted this rare interview with Woody Allen on The Tonight Show circa 1966. 

Lessons Learned: A Blogger's First Year

One year of blogging.  Here's what I learned so that you can repeat the good stuff and avoid the bad.  As always, I hope this helps you in your social media career and add to the comments if I've sparked your imagination.

On Blogging

• Posting two to three times a week is about the minimum of posts if you want to gain some momentum.
  
• Posting once a week keeps you on a plateau. 
  
• Finding, attracting and getting a dozen or so fellow bloggers hooked to your content is the best way to get the word out about your posts.
• No one person is going to make or break your blogging career.  For the longest time, I thought if I could just get Chris Brogan to tweet out one of my posts, I'd be set!  Well he did tweet one out (see here).  Did it change my life?  Nope.  Did I get some good traffic that hour.  Yep. 
• Create valuable content and everything works out in the end.  Some of my most successful posts have been How To's, Finding inspiration, and lists of stuff I like.
• Use Backtype to find what others are writing about on your same subjects.  Then, write an insightful comment on those blogs that cover your particular niche.  Add a link to your post if you think what you've written adds to the conversation.  See what I did here.  (hat tip to Khuram Malik on suggesting I use Backtype).
• Room for improvement:  1) Post at least twice a week.  2) Create content that leads the reader into wanting more (Problogger is a master at this).  3) Create more video pieces for the blog.

On Twitter

• Twitter is the best place to meet people who will sneeze out your content.  But you knew that.
  
• Tweet out stuff that is in your niche.  I'm not tweeting out sales at Zappos, or what I'm listening to on the radio, or the latest news about the Octomom.  Stay focused on what makes you unique. It's actually a great way not to waste time. 
  
• Tweetie is my iPhone twitter app of choice.
  
• Find like minded people through Twitter search. "Video" is one my Seesmic searches.
  
• I am always suspicious of people who have tweeted out say 135 tweets and have 12000 followers.  I just don't follow these people.  I don't want noise in my stream.  That's not twitter. That's a spam machine.
  
• Things I could do better: 1) Weed out people in my list who are not relevant. 2) Be more of a champion of others - RT more. 3) Utilize Seesmic more often to follow people important to me. 
  

On The Social Part

• Social media is really about being social.  I'm amazed at the people I've met on-line who have been willing to create a relationship through sharing bits and bytes of data.  Here's a list of great people that I've been fortunate enough to have shared and learned from this year:
  
  @adamsinger, @dannybrown, @garynadeau, @ianaspin, @amandagbeals, @KhuramMalik, @heykeenan,  @richardbouchez, @writingroads, @timjahn, @judithsthoughts, @jennom, @mikeconatay @brilliantvideo, @talmadge, @tracyoconnor, and @daisywhitney.  Please follow them.
  
  
• For 2010: Make meaningful connections rather than getting more connections.
  

 
I'm interested in hearing how you make meaningful connections on the social web?

image credit: smcgee / CC BY-NC 2.0