bring your blog to life

Bring Your Blog to LifeVideo and audio are where it’s at.

Get with it.

Bruce Sharpebrucesharpe.com

1Monday, February 23, 2009

This Talk is For...

2Monday, February 23, 2009

This Talk is For...1. Baby steps (minimal time, free)

2Monday, February 23, 2009

This Talk is For...1. Baby steps (minimal time, free)

2. A little bit serious, but not very (⌚$)

2Monday, February 23, 2009

This Talk is For...1. Baby steps (minimal time, free)

2. A little bit serious, but not very (⌚$)

3. Even a little more serious (⌚⌚$$)

2Monday, February 23, 2009

This Talk is For...1. Baby steps (minimal time, free)

2. A little bit serious, but not very (⌚$)

3. Even a little more serious (⌚⌚$$)

4. Some tips for the experts

2Monday, February 23, 2009

PC and Mac

3Monday, February 23, 2009

After Today

• You can get started

• You can get better

• You can try something new

4Monday, February 23, 2009

Who Am I?

• Digital imagery at MDA

• Detoured into enterprise software

• Seduced by podcasting

• Conversations Network

• VancouverTechScene.com

• Now: media software and services

5Monday, February 23, 2009

What’s It All About?

• Podcast = blog + audio or video

• like having a radio or TV show distributed over the internet

• add enclosure tag to RSS/Atom feed

• And of course ... YouTube

6Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s

7Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s

• Why would you want to do this?

7Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s

• Why would you want to do this?

• What kinds of content

7Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s

• Why would you want to do this?

• What kinds of content

• Where to host it

7Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s

• Why would you want to do this?

• What kinds of content

• Where to host it

• Whow to do it

7Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s

• Why would you want to do this?

• What kinds of content

• Where to host it

• Whow to do it

• Wrecommendations

7Monday, February 23, 2009

The Five W’s Things

• Why would you want to do this?

• What kinds of content

• Where to host it

• How to do it

• Recommendations

8Monday, February 23, 2009

Recommendations

9Monday, February 23, 2009

Why• Why add media to your blog?

• Because your audience wants it:

• FeedBurner: serves 249,728 podcasts

• 20 million podcasts available for download

• YouTube: 10 hours per minute

• 12 billion online videos per month viewed

• New medium of expression

10Monday, February 23, 2009

Examples

11Monday, February 23, 2009

Documentary Montage

12Monday, February 23, 2009

Art and Film

13Monday, February 23, 2009

Instructional Screencast

14Monday, February 23, 2009

Slide Shows

15Monday, February 23, 2009

More Video Examples...

• crowd powered media: NowPublic

• culture: Underground News

• unboxing: YouTube

• live events: brucesharpe.com

16Monday, February 23, 2009

Audio Examples

• News

• Commentary

• Interviews

• Education

• Conference presentations

• Sports chat

17Monday, February 23, 2009

The Steps

1. Get your gear

2. Record

3. Edit

4. Publish

18Monday, February 23, 2009

Get Your Gear

19Monday, February 23, 2009

Audio Recorder

• On the camcorder

• Direct to computer

• Olympus Voice Recorder

• Zoom H4

20Monday, February 23, 2009

Microphones• Laptop built-in mic

• Camcorder mic: barely acceptable

• Mic to plug into camcorder

• Basic USB mic

• A better USB mic: BlueMic Snowball

Basic USB: $30

Better USB: $125

Two or more USB mics inWindows? Tricky...

$54

21Monday, February 23, 2009

Camera

• Cell phone: live stuff only, immediacy

• Still camera: surprisingly good!

• Brand-name camcorder

• Mic input, flash memory or HDD

• Sony, Canon, Panasonic, ...

• No: Samsung, tape, DVD

• HD: go for it!

22Monday, February 23, 2009

23Monday, February 23, 2009

Oh yeah, get a tripod

Velbon, London Drugs Manfrotto, B&H Photo24Monday, February 23, 2009

Web Resources

• Still cameras:

• dpreview.com

• Camcorders:

• camcorderinfo.com

25Monday, February 23, 2009

Lights#1 Way to Make Your Video Look Better

26Monday, February 23, 2009

Lights

• Halogen work lights

• Don’t do it!! (Illegal in California)

• Recommendations

• Natural/practical light

• Go to a camera store, ask

• Fluorescent, daylight balanced, diffused

27Monday, February 23, 2009

GreenScreen

• OK, this is an advanced technique

• But it’s just too fun

• TubeTape.com

• YouTube tutorials

28Monday, February 23, 2009

Record

29Monday, February 23, 2009

Recording to Your PC

• Use

• your USB mic

• your audio editing software

30Monday, February 23, 2009

Interviewing?

• Prep the questions

• Prep the interviewee

31Monday, February 23, 2009

Phone or Skype?

• Skype

32Monday, February 23, 2009

Recording Skype Calls

• Skype

• Wear a headset (Logitech USB)

• Pamela

• Total Recorder

• MX Skype Recorder

33Monday, February 23, 2009

Recording Phone Calls• From an actual phone

• Radio Shack gizmo

• JK Audio QuickTap

• JK Audio digital hybrid

• Using a conference call service

• TalkShoe

• Use Skype with SkypeOut

34Monday, February 23, 2009

Screencast Software

• Windows

• Camtasia Studio

• Mac

• SnapZ Pro X

• ScreenFlow

35Monday, February 23, 2009

Advanced Techniques

• Green screen

• Multicamera

• Dual-system audio

• Tape sync (double ender)

• VGA2USB to record screens

36Monday, February 23, 2009

Advanced Techniques

• Green screen

• Multicamera

• Dual-system audio

• Tape sync (double ender)

• VGA2USB to record screens

36Monday, February 23, 2009

EditingPost-Production

37Monday, February 23, 2009

Should You Edit?

38Monday, February 23, 2009

Should You Edit?

• I want to be edited.

38Monday, February 23, 2009

Should You Edit?

• I want to be edited.

• It is possible to edit so much that the person doesn’t sound like themselves any more, but instead sounds inhumanly smooth and intelligent.

38Monday, February 23, 2009

Should You Edit?

• I want to be edited.

• It is possible to edit so much that the person doesn’t sound like themselves any more, but instead sounds inhumanly smooth and intelligent.

• That’s how edited I want to be.

38Monday, February 23, 2009

At Least Do This...

• Trim the ends

• Cut the dead air

• Adjust levels(please please please)

• Add intro/outro with music

39Monday, February 23, 2009

Levels

• Same message every year

• Some of you are still not listening

• I beseech you, from the pit of my eardrums:adjust your levels!!!!!!!!!!

40Monday, February 23, 2009

41Monday, February 23, 2009

Twittersphere says...

BTW, Levelator is THE SHIT! LOVE IT!

42Monday, February 23, 2009

More Editing

• Get rid of um’s and ah’s

• Tighten it up, quicken the pace

• Add music

• Reduce noise

• Sound effects

43Monday, February 23, 2009

Audio Editors

• Audacity

• GarageBand

• GoldWave

• Audition

• Soundtrack Pro

44Monday, February 23, 2009

Video Editors

• Movie Maker

• iMovie

• Pinnacle Studio

• Final Cut Express

• Sony Vegas

45Monday, February 23, 2009

Resources

46Monday, February 23, 2009

Resources

• Photo/video/sound: iStockPhoto.com

• Voice overs: Voices.com

• Tutorials: YouTube

• Using the software: Lynda.com

• Conversions: MPEG StreamClip

• Sound effects: Soundsnap.com

47Monday, February 23, 2009

Music

music.download.com111,052 FREE MP3S!

Magic GarageBandPinnacle Studio

48Monday, February 23, 2009

Logos, Web Design

49Monday, February 23, 2009

Prepare for the Web

50Monday, February 23, 2009

Audio => MP3• Audacity

• LAME

• Commercial editors have it built-in

• You will be asked some questions

• 44.1 kHz, 64 kbps, joint stereo (or mono)

• Tag editor:

• ID3-TagIT

• iTunes51Monday, February 23, 2009

Video Encoding• Your video editor does this

• You will be asked some questions

• Format: QuickTime or WMV

• Codec: H.264 or MPEG-4

• Bit rate: 750 kbps for > 15 min

• Bit rate: 2000 kbps for < 15 min

• The host will convert to Flash

52Monday, February 23, 2009

PublishServe the world, make someone else pay

53Monday, February 23, 2009

The General Idea

Host your website/blog and media separately

54Monday, February 23, 2009

Where to Host Video

• Blip.tv

• Free

• High-quality

• Ads are optional

• Pro version: MP3 and iPod

• YouTube

55Monday, February 23, 2009

Where to Host Audio

• www.libsyn.com

• $5/month for ~ one podcast/week

56Monday, February 23, 2009

Where to Host Slides

• SlideShare.net

57Monday, February 23, 2009

Add It to Your Blog

• Video

• Embed Blip.tv player in your blog

• Customize player in Blip.tv dashboard

• Audio

• Embed Yahoo Media Player

• Customize via CSS

58Monday, February 23, 2009

Make A Feed

• WordPress => PodPress.org

• Other => use FeedBurner

• Tell it to use SmartCast

• Turn on iTunes tags

• Tell iTunes that you have a feed

59Monday, February 23, 2009

Submit to Aggregators

• iTunes

• SpokenWord.org

• podcastpickle.com

• blubrry.com

• podcastalley.com

• odeo.com

60Monday, February 23, 2009

61Monday, February 23, 2009

61Monday, February 23, 2009

Show Notes

• Highly recommended

• Put in links, summary

62Monday, February 23, 2009

Coding Resources

• RentACoder

• ODesk

• eLance

63Monday, February 23, 2009

email: bruce.sharpe@singularsoftware.com

blog: www.brucesharpe.com

Twitter: brucesharpe

singularsoftware.com singularproductions.com

64Monday, February 23, 2009