A Customized HD Flash Video Theatre Using Director’s View®
I’ve explained on our website and in previous posts that Director’s View® is a highly customizable and powerful way to provide
flash video theatres on your website. I’ve also explained how our customers are using our flash video theaters for many different purposes. Well, here’s another great example.
The Power of Flash Video
Flash Video gives you the power to leverage the flash plugin and provide great-looking, crisp-sounding web video. And, Director’s View® enables you to provide flash video in an easy to use, customizable video player. So, as the growth of broadband explodes, professional videographers are looking for better ways to show off their top-notch work (and especially their HD work.) Hello
Dave Williams (once again)…
Director’s View® HD Flash Video Theatre
We recently worked with DVideography to customize their Director’s View® theatre to better show off their HD footage. The result is a
640x360, 16x9 video player that enables Dave and his crew at DVideography to give visitors what they are truly looking for…HD video!
The Result?
Take a look for yourself, but when you mix DVideography’s outstanding video productions with a powerful HD theatre, you can expect great things… You won’t be disappointed. :-)
View the
HD Flash Video Theatre>
GG
Labels: 16x9, Director's View, Flash Video, HD, Videographers
9x16 Footage, Yes, You Are Reading That Correctly...
When I built
Director's View, I knew there would be times that clients would need customized theatres. Sure,
Director's View EX provides some great functionality built-in, such as dynamic chapter selection, adding custom color schemes for each theatre, customizing the background image, thumbnail image, title, and description. But, I also knew that some clients would need something different, which leads to the latest customization for Director's View, 9x16. Yes, that's 9x16 and not 16x9. Kind of like a widescreen theatre, but on it's side. Intrigued?
Dave Williams of
Media Wave Video Productions, the sister company of
DVideography, recently approached me about customizing his Director's View ST Widescreen theatre to fit 9x16 footage. At first, I must admit, I thought Dave had a long shoot the night before...he must have meant 16x9, right? Well, he didn't and I soon understood what he was going for. So, I customized his ST theatre to fit
9x16 video footage, and I think it's one of the most innovative ways that Director's View is being used.
GG
Labels: 16x9, 9x16, Director's View, Flash Video, Videographers
What a Palmcorder and Boat Load of Talent Can Get You
I often refer to
Dave Williams of DVideography as our star Director's View client. This is not only based on Dave's creative use of our flash video presentation software, but also how talented a video production guy he is. So, why mention it again today??
I just visited
Dave's blog and saw a recap of his trip to Australia where he lectured about the hottest trends in the wedding and event video industry. Anyway, I'll keep this post short, becuase you've got to see the recap.
Shot with only a palmcorder, you can see that video production is about much more than the latest and greatest technology. When you have talent, you can create a recap that looks as good as Dave's does
using only a palmcorder! Geez Dave, what would it have looked like shot with your high end cameras??
And of course, Dave used a
16x9 Director's View theatre as the platform for showing off the recap. OK, shameless plug... ;-) But really, check out the recap now. You won't be disappointed.
GG
http://www.dvideography.com/blog/2007/05/dave-goes-down-under.htmlLabels: Director's View, Video Production, Videographers
How Much is that Flash Video Presentation in the Window? Heighten Marketing and Director's View
We receive a lot of calls and questions about the
flash video presentation on our homepage and I wanted to clear up any confusion about what is handling this presentation. Some people think that Director's View is handling the synced video and supporting content, but the
current version of Director's View doesn't handle syncing content to video (notice I say current version). We are using our
rich media marketing solution called Heighten Marketing to provide the two minute flash video introduction to Director's View.
Heighten is a custom flash video solution that enables us to build robust, interactive video presentations for marketing products and services. It has also been used extensively for online training. Again, it's
custom-built, meaning we actually build the presentation for our clients. Director's View is the utility that enables you to provide professional
flash video theatres that are customizable. With Director's View EX, you can customize the
color scheme, background image, thumbnail image, title, description, and chapter selection for each theatre you build. Also, Director's View is a one time fee where Heighten Marketing is a recurring fee per campaign. The trade off is the functionality you receive with a custom-built solution versus more a presentation-focused solution like Director's View.
In future versions of Director's View, I see the gap between Heighten and DV closing, and Director's View providing more functionality as flash video progresses.
There will always be a need for custom-built solutions, like for specific marketing campaigns that require tailored functionality, but I think a flash video solution like Director's View can help businesses with smaller budgets bridge the gap.
I hope that clears up some of the confusion! Please let us know if you have any questions about Director's View or Heighten Marketing.
GG
Labels: Director's View, Flash Video, Heighten Marketing, Rich Media, Viral
Tenacity Wins - How Randy Fromkin of PR Video Productions Implemented Director's View EX
Director's View™
Flash Video Presentation Tool is a powerful utility that enables customers to provide web video in a customizable online theatre. We receive calls every week from a wide range of people in a wide range of industries. During these conversations with prospective customers, we explain that you should be somewhat familiar with encoding video, working with html files, and using ftp to upload content to your website in order to take full advantage of the features of Director's View™. So when I first spoke with Randy Fromkin from PR Video Productions, a
Boston wedding videographer, I wasn't sure it was going to be a great fit. For example, he had never used ftp to connect to his website prior to our conversation.
We are always here to help via phone or email, but it helps if you are familiar with the basics of uploading content to your website. Especially since the point of developing Director's View™ was to empower video production professionals who wanted to quickly create professional flash video theatres. This translates into not having to hire a web developer or web video expert when wanting to show off the great footage you just shot the night before, saving both money and time.
Randy purchased Director's View™ and was determined to get it up and running on his website. Actually, he was probably the
most determined new Director's View™ customer we have ever had! When he came across something he didn't understand while building his first theatre, he read our user's manual and then called us with questions to clarify what he learned.
Then I received an email from Randy with a link to his first Director's View™ theatre, and I must admit, I was a little surprised! Randy did it! He had created his first theatre and was now off and running with Director's View™. There's a reason that Randy signed his testimonial as
Randy the Tenacious...he proved that if you have the determination (and the proper guidance), you can accomplish what you set out to do.
I tip my hat to Randy and I now see several Director's View™ theatres on his site. So, be sure to check out Randy Fromkin's
wedding video samples in his new Director's View™ EX theatre!
GG
Labels: Director's View, Videographers
EventDV 25 - Most Influential VIdeographers for 2006
EventDV Magazine recently released their
EventDV 25, a list of the most influential videographers for 2006. I found this especially interesting, since 2 of the top 25 are Director's View clients! Congratulations to
Dave Williams of DVideography and
Brett Culp of CVP! I can tell you that once you speak with both Dave and Brett, you will understand why they are on the list. When they called about Director's View and I got to take a look at their work and hear their philosophy, I knew I was speaking with some of the top talent in the industry.
So, if you are looking for a
Tampa wedding videographer or a
Philadelphia wedding videographer, look no further. And of course, you can view their samples in Director's View...what could be better? :-)
Labels: Awards, Director's View, Videographers
Why Flash Video, You Ask? The Basics of Why Flash Video and Flash Video Players Have Taken Over
When a company calls me about using Director's View™, one of the first questions I typically hear is, "I read that your product uses Flash Video and I wanted to know why there is such as buzz about using Flash Video versus other video technologies like QuickTime, Windows Media, or Real Media". Therefore, I wanted to start with an introductory post about why flash video rules.
1. It's Ubiquitous Baby - Everyone Can See and Hear Your Video...
How's that for simple? :-)Let's start with the reason that most companies are calling me in the first place! The Flash Video Player is the
most widely accepted and distributed multimedia player on the planet. With Flash 7 having 95.6% penetration and Flash 8 having over 90.3% penetration, you can rest assured that visitors will be able to see your video. And that's pretty darn important, isn't it?
I'm confident that you all have heard comments from visitors about not being able to see your QuickTime, Windows Media, or Real Media files, right? And, I'm sure you are tired of it. When you use Flash Video, especially when it's targeted at Flash 7 Player, you will be targeting the widest possible population. Most
Director's View™ clients are thrilled that the days of hearing "I can't see your video...it won't load...or I can hear it, but I can't see it!" are gone. This point alone makes the transition to Flash Video a no brainer. By the way, the Flash Player is also cross platform, so both PC and Mac users can enjoy your videos. Sorry Bill Gates. :)
2. The Flash Video Player Environment - The Video Theatre Itself Has Game!
Flash is unrivaled when it comes to building robust and interactive environments for the web (and cd-rom). When a client comes to me with great ideas about building a custom video player or flash website and they ask the limitations, I typically tell them that the sky's the limit! I have yet to come across a piece of functionality that cannot be built using ActionScript (the object oriented programming language used in Flash). Flash Professional is a robust application and you can take the user experience to a completely new level, a level that other media players simply cannot... You can build incredible user interfaces with robust navigation, you can use cue points to trigger additional content, you can provide bandwidth detection and tailor content based on connection speed, you can provide dynamic chapter selection, so on and so forth. Which is why we are carefully mapping out the next version of Director's View™, so you can take advantage of some of these incredible features.
The only downside is when you try to program it yourself, which many Director's View clients have tried to do. Flash 8 is a serious multimedia application with an object oriented programming language called ActionScript. It's not uncommon to have a few thousand lines of code running your flash app. For those of you who want to give it a try, I definitely think you should. I think it will give you a good perspective on how flash applications are built and what you can do with this powerful interactive media program. Then, if you get really frustrated and you've already had eight pots of coffee while you work through the night, give me a call. :-)
3. Easy and Seamless Integration With Your WebsiteFlash video files are handled just like any other web file format (whether you are using swf or flv). This means that there is no additional setup required to provide flash video via progressive download on your website (Note, I am referring to using
progressive download flash video and not streaming.)
So, what does this actually mean? By using a product like Director's View™, you can have a flash video theatre running on your site in minutes...literally. The theatre itself is a flash movie (swf) that plays within an html webpage. Your flash video files can sit on your http server (typical web server) and your theatre will load the video as needed. This is one of the most attractive reasons for making the transition to flash video. It's easy and cost effective! You noticed that I didn't mention a streaming service...that's because you can load flv files via progressive download. If you want to use streaming, you definitely can, but you will need a streaming service. To summarize, the process is easy and you don't need a web developer, designer, or video engineer to set it up. This is the core reason I built Director's View™. :-)
OK, so there are three great reasons why flash video is taking over. I wanted to keep this post straight forward, so I'll stop here. Look for more posts in the future about the ins and outs of using flash video.
I want to hear your thoughts too! Let me (and others reading this post) know why you've made the move to flash video.
GG
Labels: Director's View, Flash Video, Viral
The Director's View Blog for Web Video Marketeers Has Arrived, An Introduction by Glenn Gabe
Hello Director's View fans and visitors! I am pleased to announce the arrival of the Director's View™ Blog called The Web Video Marketeer! (Yes, that's marketeer, not marketer spelled incorrectly!) I'll be writing about several topics that cover Rich Media Marketing, and specifically, Internet Marketing using flash video. Over the past 12 years, I've been fortunate enough to watch web video grow from postage stamp-sized clips that you could barely see and hear to robust web applications that have fueled some of the most successful online marketing campaigns! I hope to cover all aspects of web video marketing and I'll be looking for you to post comments and to help educate other visitors.
Some of the topics I will cover in this blog include:
* Examples of web video marketing on the web (both positive and negative examples)
* The effect of web video on viral marketing
* How word of mouth marketing can benefit from the use of online video applications
* Web 2.0 and user-generated video sites (and how they can help your online marketing campaigns)
* The impact of online video marketing on conversion -- does it really help convert visitors into buyers?
* Delivery of flash video marketing (the good, the bad, and the ugly)
...and much more!
So, I wanted to quickly introduce the blog and I hope you come back often to read my posts and to participate in the conversation!
GG
Labels: Director's View
