Will Video for Food » 2007

Behind the Scenes of “The Office” October 28, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : YouTube , 8comments

Here’s a “behind the scenes” video that includes some favorite actors and actresses of NBC’s “The Office.” I attended “The Office Convention” yesterday (Oct. 28, 2007) in Scranton, Pennsylvania. My wife (wifeofnalts) is from Clarks Summit, PA — just miles from Scranton.

Ed Helms, Oscar Nunez, Leslie David Baker, Craig Robinson, Angela Kinsey, Mindy Kaling and Brian Baumgartner were the big “stand outs” of the day. Unfortunately, the NBC folks must have seen my “Obsessed Office Fan” video because they kept Steve Carell (Michael) and Rainn Wilson (Dwight) at a safe distance. And my Jim and Pam sighting ended up being a false alarm — lookalikes.

Still, there’s some nice footage in this video, including some rare moments of the cast members being themselves and an outtake clip. Poor Melora Hardin (Jan) was rather dull. But Mindy and Craig made up for it with a real saucy kiss. And Oscar Nunez almost kissed Creed Bratton.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=TQAGNhvHnH0[/youtube]

Steve Carrell and I in a Video October 24, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : YouTube, advertising , 7comments

I think this is as close to Steve Carrell as I’m going to get, given that he’s bagging The Office Convention this weekend. But I’m still honored to see his ad for “Dan in Real Life” appearing on my YouTube video.

Video Production Tips With a Humorous Flair: The Shirtless Apprentice October 20, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Future of Online Video, Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Profit, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Gear, Video Sites, Video Software, Viral Video, marketing, popular videos , 30comments

This blog has been too consumed with YouTube and Nalts lately, and I want to get back to WillVideoForFood’s roots. Finding ways to improve the production of online video, marketing via online video, and learning tips to promote amateur and promotional content.

Yesterday I spoke with Paul Kontonis of For Your Imagination. I thought I was an expert in online-video marketing, but I was humbled by Paul’s knowledge of how to get views beyond YouTube. “For Your Imagination” produces a series of fairly high-quality serialized content (some of which has developed into television series). So it doesn’t all apply to us amateurs. But he’s partnered with sites like blip.tv and identified ways to distribute via iTunes and other outlets and still retain advertising revenue. I’m planning on doing a more indepth interview with him soon.

Paul has business partners and funding, and employees a team of production people as well as viral junkees (some freelance) that help promote and distribute the programs they produce. If there’s another business model like it, I haven’t seen it.

Check out this show to learn production while getting bits of humor. It’s “The Shirtless Apprentice.” The poor guy wears a lav stuck to his chest with gaffer tape, and there’s some comedy mixed with solid video-production tips. Personally, I’d love even more humor, but it certainly beats the majority of talking heads out there. I’m adding it to my RSS, and there are already more than 2-dozen episodes on these important topics:

Audio for Sit Down Interviews
Continuity
Sun Guns
White Balance
Shooting Tips – B-Roll
Keying in Final Cut Pro
Capturing Video
Post Production Equipment
Frame Rates for Online Video
Three Point Lighting
Basic Battery Info and Tips
Audio for Internet Video
Lighting a Green Screen
Selecting a Video Camera

500 of the Best YouTube Videos (Creator’s Choice) October 14, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Killer Video, Viral Video, YouTube, popular videos , 11comments

There are three ways a video can be labeled a “best.”

First (and most common) is the rating system. This, of course, has its own biases. Popularity doesn’t always mean quality (even my lame videos tend to jump to the “highest rated daily video”).
The second is the “editor’s choice.” This is good, but subject to selection bias by the editor.
Here’s a third way, and one I advocate. Ask the creator. When we were picking clips for Flix55’s viral-video show, we asked creators to send us their 3 best clips. I found the creator knows their work best, and can usually identify the best work even if it wasn’t their most popular.

Two weeks ago, we fatigued trying to find good videos. So we made this video, inviting people to reply with their favorite video. Clearly I had a secondary motive: to see if I could get the video to surpass NAPPY on the coveted “most responded of all time” page (and it has almost worked- it’s currently the 18th most responded to video on YouTube). Hey, I’m a marketing guy, but at least I admit it.

The challenge yielded some nice clips. Check them out yourself when you’re bored. Here are the creator’s choice of best YouTube videos. They believe these are their best clips, but obviously there’s some garbage here, since not all “creators” were created equally. As an example, check out this animation video (a bit violent but clever) or this video called “Rascist” by Garrison628.

Hey, YouTube Editors. Check them out. What better way to quickly find new feature potentials!?

Create Your Own ofNalts URL (free) October 14, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 5comments

Tim, a friend from Xlntads (who also runs TastyApps), created this beta site at www.ofnalts.com.

It’s pretty cool. You register for a free Username, and then you own the URL www.(insertyourname).ofnalts.com. You can then have that URL point to whatever site you like… instantly without e-mail verification.

It works well when you have complicated URLs that you’ll never remember.

Some that I’ve created:

Royalty-Free Music: Distribution and Rights October 14, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 8comments

There’s a nice thread on the WillVideoForFood Forum about music for online video. Some nice links inside the thread.

In a recent post, I said that you can get my music for free, royalty-free use by visiting http://music.ofnalts.com (which takes you to a Podshow site).

But then I realized two things:

It’s harder than I thought to actually download these songs. Has anyone had any luck? I tried and gave up.
Someone pointed out that I may not be allowed to distribute these loops. I was under the impression that I can distribute a song I create in Garageband but obviously not give out the loops (I’ve bought almost every $100 loop package from Mac except for the Voices one). Does anyone know? Maybe someone from Mac will stumble into this and enlighten us.

Blog Statistics: Don’t Get Too Excited, Bloggers October 14, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 2comments

For a while, my blog on online video was getting no more than a few dozen people a day. Then it grew to a few hundred, and eventually to 2-10,000 per day. When I moved it over to this location (hosted instead of using free Wordpress) I noticed a radical drop in daily views.

Then it occured to me. The vast majority of the previous traffic was not to view my daily post. It was people stumbling into legacy posts, or finding my site from search engine queries (for random words). So it’s quite deceptive.

In any event, the lesson is… your blog will eventually gather a steady increase in daily volume. But much of that is likely going to old posts and doesn’t count as a regular audience. To really gauge the impact of your blog, look at the total views to each new post and the quantity and quality of comments.

The good news is that this makes it easier to resist the temptation to stick Google ads and referrer links on this blog. I never have liked those, and with the new modest traffic it would be trivial income.

Order Your Own Hat of Nalts October 12, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Online Video , 7comments

I’ve been getting a bunch of e-mails lately about the hat. Thanks to the efforts of TheMightyThor1212, you can order your own Nalts hat here at Embroidered Clothes for $21.99.

Please note that neither Thor nor I are connected with the company doing this, and do not profit from these. He just arranged for the company to have a default order ready on the site (with the color, font, etc.).

~!0v3:H@t3:sEx:N@!tS~ October 12, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Viral Video , 15comments

This is a wonderfully creative and artistic video posted by a YouTuber named SquiggMonster. It’s called “~!0v3:H@t3:sEx:N@!tS~” and it’s a strange homage and assault of me in one 5-minute film. If you only watch a portion, check out the morph at 1:50.I don’t quite know why, but I am totally enchanted by it. Of course it features me transforming into Satan (and I’m not a big fan of his), but the images and song and classic ending make it so very interesting.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyRqxWSKStQ[/youtube]

Closing the Chasm on Clickthru (Mr. Complicated Case Study) October 10, 2007

Posted by Nalts in : Future of Online Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Video Advertising, Video Business, Viral Video, advertising , 19comments

Like that headline? Lots of C’s.

It’s the age old problem of online-video marketing. People watch the videos floating around the web, so the medium is brilliantly cost-efficient for awareness and buzz standpoint. But the little repressed direct marketers in us are looking at the paltry click-thru from video to branded website, and wondering what can be done to close the gap. It’s in low single digits even with a great “call to action.”

When I ran a viral video campaign last year, I worked with a website to buy placement around our quasi-entertaining marketing videos. Despite surrounding display ads, the click thru was modest.

Here’s a solution that I’m testing soon, and believe it will work. A simple microsite that plays off of the campaign, instead of invites people to a promotional message. Campaign sites aren’t new, but they’re rarely coupled with videos that have a distribution strategy of their own. They’re usually the equivalent to a billboard in your backyard.

Example: I’m working with a company that has a a complex eBusiness solution (to help purchasing folks work with temporary workers) and our campaign is designed to pose the question- “If you had an easier way to work with temps, why wouldn’t you do that? Are you potentially overcomplicating your life?”

For this to make sense to the layman, we had to pull the purchasing agent into a situation to which we can all relate… ordering a pizza. So Mr. Complicated has guests over, but obsesses with buying parts of his pizza from various vendors, rather than going to a one-stop shop. Here’s the 4-minute draft, but it’s not yet baked.

I’m betting that more people will go from this video to www.MrComplicated.com (which took me less than 45 minutes to create and that includes the time to park the URL) than to the service-provider’s website Clear-Point’s iLaborNetwork).

So the campaign URL allows viewers of one video to see the others, and pays off the gag some more. It also allows the marketing messages to slowly come through. Ultimately I think it will increase the conversions from the video to the provider’s website simply because it’s a bridge.

The online equivalent to dating before marriage. Ever try to propose to a stranger? It doesn’t work. Now THERE’S a video idea.

older posts »

Behind the Scenes of “The Office” October 28, 2007

Steve Carrell and I in a Video October 24, 2007

Video Production Tips With a Humorous Flair: The Shirtless Apprentice October 20, 2007

500 of the Best YouTube Videos (Creator’s Choice) October 14, 2007

Create Your Own ofNalts URL (free) October 14, 2007

Royalty-Free Music: Distribution and Rights October 14, 2007

Blog Statistics: Don’t Get Too Excited, Bloggers October 14, 2007

Order Your Own Hat of Nalts October 12, 2007

~!0v3:H@t3:sEx:N@!tS~ October 12, 2007

Closing the Chasm on Clickthru (Mr. Complicated Case Study) October 10, 2007

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