Can’t afford a team of digital animators to create special effects for your online video project? Don’t have the necessary permits to fire weapons on set? Is your movie good, but could it possibly be better with, say, a scene where the hero escapes … Read More »
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Jackson West
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The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the guilds (Writers, Screen Actors and Directors) are at loggerheads, and the tension over talent costs could give rise to the first major entertainment industry strike in a generation. Online distribution gives talent an opportunity to seize … Read More »
Looking to get your musical stylings discovered online? In the quest for ever-cheaper source material for the low costs demanded by online production budgets, web video producers are turning to everything from the Creative Commons to promotional contests to get their projects scored. For example, … Read More »
One of the perks of my job is being able to wrangle interviews with filmmakers whose work I really admire. So while in New York last week, one of my goals was to sit down with Casimir Nozkowski, whose short “Ghetto Bodega” I was … Read More »
Can’t make it to New York this week for Streaming Media East? Don’t worry, blogs about video and videobloggers are on the scene, so no there’s no need to navigate Midtown Manhattan wearing a nametag. Beet.TV has been dubbed the “official vlog” for Streaming … Read More »
“Al Gore’s Television Network,” Current TV, is still hanging out in the upper reaches of your digital cable or satellite listings and soliciting content from viewers like you online. It’s kind of an OldTeeVee meets NewTeeVee mashup, and is shooting for that golden … Read More »
Just like the media industry it covers, Gawker Media has succumbed to the siren song of producing video content for the web. To that end, Richard Blakeley was hired to produce, shoot and edit original clips for Gawker’s stable of sites including Gawker, Gizmodo … Read More »
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Looking for some fresh shows in web video land? Here’s a batch of new options from the networks. Icebox will be producing a series of its “Hidden Celebrity Webcam” animated shorts sponsored by the MTV Film Awards and distributed online by GoFish, with 13 new … Read More »
What are some of the new revenue models for video production? And what does the business of producing video for the web look like? Those were my questions for Adam Elend of Bright Red Pictures on Friday at the company’s new offices on … Read More »
On May 21, the day the finale for Heroes will air, NBC will be releasing a “making of Heroes” series of online videos, as well as a series of character profiles and new installments in the web comic. Networks have been using the … Read More »
A new series of ‘minisodes’ bridging the story gap between the first and second seasons of The ‘Burg will be sponsored by Motorola and syndicated across a number of social networks by VideoEgg. Motorola phones will figure into the story and will be … Read More »
As the 50th annual San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) comes to a close, I got a chance to chat with Graham Leggat, Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society which organizes this, the oldest and arguably most prestigious festival for motion pictures in … Read More »
Yesterday the news broke that podcasting community Odeo was purchased by little-known SonicMountain, a New York-based startup, for “a little over $1 million” according to TechCrunch. Since then, I had a chance to chat with SonicMountain president Rick Arturo about his company’s … Read More »
QubeTV, the new video-sharing destination for political conservatives, recently got a wave of traffic from a link on the Drudge Report. The brainchild of Republican veterans Jeff Lord and Charlie Gerow, the site is a reaction to the perception that YouTube is … Read More »
Could online screen tests be the new casting call? Could vlogs be the new headshots? That’s one trend being suggested by the latest call for entries over at Vlip, the video clip destination site from SightSpeed (see previous coverage). They’re … Read More »
NEW YORK, NY — The sense of playful enthusiasm was infectious at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) Spring 2007 show hosted at their study space in the Tisch School of the Arts building on Tuesday. Students presented class projects and their … Read More »
NBC’s online humor destination, DotComedy, has announced a new slate of shows featuring professional entertainers posting new videos daily. “Gaggle of Star Vloggers Find New Home At NBC Universal,” read the emailed release touting the five acts. Fronted by a former National Lampoon editor, … Read More »
A recent spate of announcements indicates the 18- to 34-year-old male geek isn’t the only target audience for professional broadband video. Videos focused on everything from fashion tips for the budget-conscious clotheshorse to child-rearing advice for new mothers define some new content offerings that … Read More »
There was a time when a young person with a dream of making it in the entertainment industry would hustle money and favors from everyone they could find to put together a first feature, or even just a short, and shop it around to festivals and, … Read More »
YouTube’s eagerly anticipated system for rightsholders to discover and flag unauthorized uploads of their material, “Claim Your Content,” has gotten bit closer to reality. “It’s entering the testing phase,” YouTube co-founder Steve Chen told BusinessWeek’s Spencer Ante in an extended interview for BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting. … Read More »
Last week I spoke over the phone with Hiro Media‘s Ronny Golan, who shares the title of founder and CEO with partner Ariel Napchi. The Israeli company has been around since 2004, but only recently began to trumpet its product worldwide. Namely,
The battle over immigration is becoming more and more heated, particularly in cities with large immigrant populations along the southern U.S. border. May Day has become an annual event for immigrants and supporters alike to gather and call for immigration reform. In Los Angeles’ … Read More »
Of 100 broadcast network television show website contestants selected by Hitwise, American Idol is tops with a share of nearly 33 percent of U.S. visits for the week ending April 28. NBC’s Deal Or No Deal came in a distant second with … Read More »
It’s official: Spider-Man 3 has appeared online as an unauthorized download on public torrent trackers ahead of the release in theaters across the U.S. Just today, VCDQuality indexed two slightly different versions from the same source in China, presumably, as the recording is in … Read More »
Have you ever wanted to star in a sitcom? Have you ever wanted to be effigized as a puppet? Well now you can kill two birds with one stone. Brian Hogg of DotBoom, everyone’s favorite puppet show about life at web production … Read More »
Which types of HDTV connections provide the best possible HDTV quality — online downloads, cable, satellite or broadcast? You might be surprised to hear that of the four choices, broadcast is often the best and online downloads usually the worst, with cable … Read More »
After six months online, Cruxy announced its full 1.0 site version release. The Brooklyn-based company features the hippest of hipster lifestyle content from Blue Note records’ the bird and the bee to a series of instructional breakdancing videos from Elastic Illusion. Cruxy … Read More »
Big names are joining no-names online. The same low initial overhead and favorable demographics that are helping independent productions succeed online are also becoming a boon to traditional, and not so traditional, content providers. There’s a flood tide of online exclusive content on the way, … Read More »
The Webby award winners were announced today, and the “Online Film and Video” categories are packed with familiar faces. There’s a mix of old media digital teams, well-funded new media startups and indie kids who went for broke online. To give a sense … Read More »
On sale at a big chain near you today is “The Flip,” a point-and-shoot video camera from Pure Digital the size of your palm which plugs directly into a USB port and will upload your video directly to YouTube, according to Matt Marshall at … Read More »
It’s that time of the, erm, however often these things happen — ReelSolid.tv‘s Bill Cammack has sounded the call to all the vlogosphere announcing a new Vlog Deathmatch. And this is a no-holds-barred affair — anyone, anywhere (“even in Canada”) can do anything … Read More »
Google filed a response to Viacom’s allegations of complicity in widespread copyright violations on YouTube today in New York’s federal district court. The suit, brought by Viacom, is seeking $1 billion in damages. Google has asked for a jury trial, and the San Jose … Read More »
If there just isn’t enough Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cindy Lauper or Mudhoney in your online life, then you’ll be happy to know that VH1 Classic is making an effort to serve your needs. Their new site rollout is more video-centric, and features playlists compiled … Read More »
At San Francisco’s St. Regis Hotel on Friday evening Wired threw its annual Rave Awards reception, and the Conde Nast-sponsored scene was literally hopping with talent that have made names for themselves in online video. While California’s own Governator, a Rave Award winner and bona fide … Read More »
Free, online video from WGBH’s popular Frontline series on PBS is available on its site, and there’s even an RSS feed to push announcements of new installments. The problem? The feed links back to an HTML page for the show, not a … Read More »
Last night’s presidential debate featuring candidates for the Democratic Party nomination hosted by MSNBC was available live at their website. Candidates fielded questions from Brian Williams as well as from good old “regular Americans,” and focused on the issue of the Iraq war.
It’s that time of year again — when crotchety old men gather around novelty helmet phones to pluck the fruits of the NCAA’s talent orchard, selecting a handful of 21-year-olds from the thousands who have been chasing the dream, risking life and limb on the gridiron … Read More »
Former MPAA chief Jack Valenti died Thursday at the age of 85. While a somewhat reviled figure among online critics, it was his job to be Hollywood’s lightning rod for criticism of copyright policy and the ratings system. “A gentleman, very old school” … Read More »
Hollywood has been forced into a prisoner’s dilemma by new technology, where the industry seems convinced that its self interest and that of the audience are at odds. In fact, if they could trust each other (see below), they might both get what they … Read More »
The hype machine is in full swing if the recent interest in new media by big business is any indication. At the Milken Institute conference Wednesday, Forbes managing editor Dennis Kneale moderated a discussion with News Corp. COO Peter Chernin, former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, … Read More »
How do you get users to watch your web show? One way to do it is bribery. A new quiz vlog from the creators of online comedy show Can We Do That? called “3V” asks users to watch an episode, and then … Read More »
With potentially half a billion dollars at stake, networks and web destinations are hard-selling advertisers on their digital campaigns. Product Placement Surge: How do you earn advertising dollars in a world where consumers are skipping the ads, downloading shows, and otherwise avoiding 30-second spots? Product … Read More »
Tuesday a rumor went out on the wire that copies of Sony’s blockbuster Spider-Man 3 had already been found on DVD in China. Sony immediately denied any leak had occurred, but did report that Spider-Man 2 DVDs were being sold in fake … Read More »
The case against Viacom for issuing a bogus takedown notice for a parody video which used clips of The Colbert Report has been dropped by lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Stanford Law’s Fair Use Project. Viacom, which had denied issuing this particular … Read More »
In an attempt to put the players in the fight over the future of the online video that any internut can understand, I’ve literally drawn up an analogy pitting the many tentacles of giant squid-like media conglomerates against the more evolved, mammalian intelligence of the … Read More »
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