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. :-)
Actober.com : Getting Into The Act With Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to jump into the amplified word of mouth ring this year with Actober, a chance for baseball fans to reenact their favorite postseason moments by creating their own user generated content (UGC). Participants got to script, shoot, and edit their own video and upload it to MLB for a chance to win 2 tickets to this year’s World Series. MLB is even providing participants with downloadable video clips (of baseball's famous moments) ready to be edited into their own user generated videos. More on this later in the post.
How it Works Each week for 10 weeks, MLB posted a list of famous postseason moments on the website. Participants could then choose a famous moment and create their own video reenacting that moment. The 5 most compelling videos each week were chosen by MLB and posted on the site (actober.com) where fans were able to vote for their favorites. After each of the 10 weekly winners was chosen, the finalists were posted on the actober website for a final fan vote. That’s where they are now in the contest… The 3 winners will receive 2 tickets (each) to this year’s World Series. Pretty interesting concept… so I decided to check it out.
Cast Your Vote Right now, you can check out the website to view the 10 finalists as chosen by the fans. As you would expect with UGC, some clips are great and others make you cringe a little… That said, the concept for the campaign is a good one. Get people involved, make it fun, promote sharing, and give away something of worth to your targeted audience. My favorite video is definitely the Time Machine by Andrew Bradley. Now, I’m a Yankees fan (as most of my readers know already), so you better believe I wasn’t about to vote for a Red Sox video! :-) That said, the curse of A-Rod even made me laugh… Definitely check it out.
Some notes about the site and contest: * I love that MLB provided the actual video and audio for participants to download so they can use that footage in their own UGC videos. Very smart… and obviously increases the production value of the videos. The music industry should take note of this…
* The entries tab took me to a page that had links for past winners and all other entries, but I wasn’t really sure I was seeing all of the entries… It seemed that I was only allowed to view a select group. I really wanted to check out a page holding thumbnails of all the other videos (youtube-like). This might have been just a usability issue, but it’s something they should change for future video contests.
* They have a lame forward to a friend email. The process is solid on the site, but the creative that is sent to you is really flat. It’s plain text, no baseball visuals, and a one line message that yields as much excitement as watching the Royals play the Devil Rays…in May. They definitely need to improve this…
* MLB might be asking too much from its audience. For example, they might be asking too much of visitors and participants to vote on a weekly basis and then wait for a final vote up to 10 weeks later. Let’s face it, when it comes to user participation, requiring too much from your community is the kiss of death. I like the contest, but I’m not sure the process was the best one to use.
Did it Work? So, did the campaign drive more people to watch the postseason? I doubt it. I’m a huge baseball fan, but too much of the audience draw is based on factors outside of what MLB does from a marketing standpoint. For example, the team locations drive ratings, so Colorado and Arizona won’t help MLB gain much needed viewers for advertising dollars. Also, since the Yankees and Mets aren’t involved at this stage knocks out a HUGE audience in the Greater New York area. Football (both college and the NFL) are now in season, which takes away viewers from the baseball postseason. And of course, how competitive and compelling each postseason series is will help or hurt ratings… For example, if a game is 7-1 by the fourth inning, you are going to lose viewers… If a team is going to sweep another in a championship series, then you’ll lose viewers. Boston is the only team with a widespread following still in the postseason, so the ALCS is probably doing ok. However, if Cleveland wins, ratings will sink even lower… On the other hand, the NLCS is probably tanking ratings-wise, with Colorado and Arizona fighting it out. Let’s face, both are small market teams.
Anyway, definitely check out the actober website to view the top 10 clips and to cast your vote. With regard to watching the postseason, I’ll help MLB out here! Boston plays at Cleveland tonight, October 15th at 7PM on FOX. That said, the New York Giants (football) also play tonight on Monday Night Football... So, unfortunately for baseball, you can probably guess which station NY sports fans will be watching…
After you check out the actober website, let me know what you think.
World War II - Are High School Students Really That Dumb?
Unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard of the documentary series on PBS called The War, directed by Ken Burns. I'm a huge World War II buff, so you better believe that my DVR was set to record each episode. And believe me, it doesn't disappoint. Actually, I read that over 18.7 Million people watched the premiere on Sunday, September 23rd. That is outrageously strong for PBS...actually it's strong for NBC, ABC, CBS, or FOX!
Anyway, I was watching a recent episode of Bill Maher on HBO and he interviewed the Director, Ken Burns. During the interview, I literally fell out of my seat as I heard one response... Bill and Ken were speaking about how important it is for the young people in our country to understand World War II (which I couldn't agree with more), but Ken went on to explain how there are actually High School students in the US that think the United States fought alongside Germany against Russia............ {Lean, Fall, Choke, Grunt}. What??? Seriously? Do kids really think that? If so, I'm afraid what this country is going to look like in 10 years. Are they really that un-informed?
Teachers, if you are reading this post, drop what you're doing in class and dedicate the next month to World War II. Between 50 and 60 Million people (that's Million) died during the war. It spanned the entire globe and our country stood up, fought hard, sacrificed, and liberated the world. Literally. What can be more important?
Anyway, I'd love to see the actual survey numbers to see how many high school students really thought we fought alongside Germany. I hope and pray it's a small number. Ken, if you read this post, please let me know where you heard this. I think the entire country would love to know.
I've included a video below of the trailer for The War. Check the PBS website for the schedule, or just buy The War on DVD. It's too important not to...
Let me set the stage. Take approximately a dozen teenagers with the parents of one of the teenagers away on vacation for 10 days. Then, over 7 days, those teenagers engineered what can only be considered the best slip n slide I’ve ever seen. It sounds like a scene from Risky Business, doesn’t it? Well, the end-result was risky, since any one of the teenagers involved could have been seriously injured. But, like hundreds of thousands of other viewers on the web, I was glued to the 5 minute viral video that you can view on SpikedHumor.com, YouTube, or several other social media sites. Read on.
What is Ron’s Slip n Slide Extravaganza? You actually have to see it to believe it, but imagine a 60 foot slip and slide built on the side of a house (yes, you begin your slip and slide journey on top of a house!) Then, you slide down a 60 foot slide and hit the jump, which propels you 16-20 feet across the yard into a small inflatable pool. Sound crazy? It is...but you have to give the guys who were involved credit. It is simply amazing to watch them fly through the air after speeding down the 60 foot slip and slide. Some land perfectly in the pool, and as you can probably guess, others don’t! Shot and edited by one of the teenagers, you will be impressed with their video production. And I bet you’ll watch the entire video…I didn’t intend to and then it was over before I knew it. :) View the best slip n slide ever created here.
The Viral Video Results: As of today, there have been 256,648 views on YouTube and 57,464 views on SpikedHumor.com and my guess is that those numbers will keep going up… So I ask you, would you like 314,112 people glued to a video that you produced? Maybe something tied to one of your products or company? Yes, I’m sure you would as long as it's not negative, right?? :)
User Generated Content (UGC) Now, many of the best viral videos are not created by companies or agencies. They are produced by the average person out there who just wants to capture something funny, disturbing, amazing, etc. This is one of those cases. Actually, this video was both hilarious and disturbing at the same time. There are so many companies clamoring to create the same effect, but it’s hard to do when you stage it… You can do it, but it’s not easy.
So, have you created a viral web video that generated results like Ron’s Slip and Slide Extravaganza? And hopefully without hurting anyone? If so, post the link below. We’d love to see it.
I'm a huge fan of horror movies and Halloween ranks as one of my all time favorites. I’m referring to the original Halloween…and not the next 5 or 6 that came out after… OK, Halloween 2 was decent, but like most films, there’s nothing like the original.
So I was shocked to see the commercial for a remake of the original, this one directed by Rob Zombie. At first, I was disappointed that someone would mess with the classic film by John Carpenter, but I must admit that the trailer had me glued to the television. I immediately went to my computer and Googled Halloween 2007 and found several links to the trailer, other movies sites, etc. but not the official website. Interesting. After some digging, I found the official Halloween 2007 site and just like the commercial did, the site had me glued to my dual displays!
Flash and Web Video Marketing Definitely check out the official website to see the trailer and TV spots. There’s some nice flash work on the site… Now, the search marketer in me cringes when I see all flash and no text content (Check out the Google cache for the site here), but we all know this site will get a million links in no time. :) You can navigate around the site via a large kitchen knife, like the one good old Michael Myers uses to kill his victims! Pretty cool…and of course you hear the classic Halloween music, which makes most people shake with fear.
The Rob Zombie Halloween MySpace Page Then there’s a link at the bottom of the website to the official Rob Zombie Halloween MySpace page, which holds a lot of interesting content about the movie. You can watch the trailer, learn more about the cast, view screenshots from the film, view the official soundtrack (which will be coming out on August 21st), etc. The Rob Zombie Halloween MySpace page already has over 82,000 friends. Not bad. :)
So Can it Compete? Well, do remakes ever compete with the original?? It definitely has a fresh feel, which I really like. I need to see and hear more, and the proof is in the pudding, but they are off to a great start marketing the film. Halloween fans will probably want to at least check it out and my guess is that many will pay to see it. That said, Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM) can make or break the movie. If it doesn’t live up to the original, it could bomb…and if it brings a new view of a classic horror legend, it could make boat loads of money. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
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.
The Mini Takes on Flash Video - How Mini Cooper is Using Amplified WOM to Drive Visitors
I am always on the lookout for interesting uses of flash video, especially for marketing purposes. So it was no surprise that the mini cooper amplified wom effort named Hammer and Coop caught my eye. Hammer, a fictional character reminiscent of Starksy and Hutch meets up with Coop, a mini cooper that ends up being his partner. Together, they take you on a whirlwind journey through six exciting webisodes where Hammer takes on criminals, ninjas, and anything else they could think up. It's quite entertaining.
First, Production Value The production value is through the roof on the site and webisodes. With lots of user generated video making news, you can see what production dollars and professional writers get you. (Not that I'm against user generated video, I love it, but check out this site to see what I mean!) The actors were excellent, the webisodes were well written, and the site worked extremely well.
Second, Video Value The site utilizes widescreen video at 575x325 and the compression was very clean. The controls were easy to identify and easy to use, including the volume control. The menu system was also easy to identify and provided some nice rollovers to identify the name of each webisode. Overall, the site provides a clean and professional interface with a focus on the video (which I would also aim to do, since I can only imagine the budget for this amplified wom campaign.) Overall, and for those of you focused on video production, your jaw will drop with some of the stunts that are part of the webisodes. As an added benefit, there is a music video you can access from the main menu to the song from Asia called Heat of the Moment. For those of you in your 30's or older, you know the song!
Third, the Marketing Value The goal of the site is to clearly generate buzz online and to send a lot of traffic to the ultra-entertaining site (at least the marketing team hopes so...) I actually think it will. And you know what, it should! I think they did a great job at incorporating the mini as a star in the actual webisodes, and with a personality no less! The car talks and has a witty english accent to boot! The site has some viral elements on it like a downloadable screensaver, wallpaper, and buddy icons. That's very smart, since people like passing elements like this around, which in turn, could bring more traffic to the site. In addition, there is an action hero name generator, which provides an interesting version of your name, but action-hero like! My name was Granite Grinder, which I may start using for my blog posts! ;-) A quick search on technorati for hammer and coop yielded 426 blog posts about it, so the word is getting out. Good luck to mini, and again, I applaud their efforts!
To check it out (and if you are a video production professional, you'll want to spend some time on the site), follow this link: http://www.hammerandcoop.com/
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.
Reviewing the Best Super Bowl Commercials With The Help of Flash Video!
So which super bowl commercials did you like? I'm a TIVO fanatic, so during the Super Bowl is probably the only time that I won't whip through the commercials during a game! I thought the game had some great ads (mostly during the first quarter) and I wanted to mention them here, especially since AOL Sports did such as phenomenal job at creating their super bowl commercials site. Now that's a great interactive environment for viewing the video clips, commenting on each ad, rating your favorites, and then passing links around to your family and friends. To read more about aol sports and its flash video marketing, read my post on the Internet Marketing Driver (my blog about web marketing).
To the ads! 1. Doritos Crash I loved this commercial. First, it was user generated, so all of you big time creative directors should be calling Dale from NC! ;-) Why is this number 1 for me? I remembered the brand and product when the super bowl was over, which is a big challenge for many super bowl ads. Also, it left a positive memory, it was funny, and again, put Doritos front and center more than a few times during the 30 second spot. And did I already say that it was user generated??
2. Fedex Moon Office Great ad. For anyone who uses fedex, you know how incredible they are... The only time I thought they screwed up was when I screwed up!! Anyway, when watching the commercial, it hit me that if we ever advance to the point of having offices on the moon, fedex better be there! The fedex shuttle was great and the ending where the guy gets smoked by an asteroid was hilarious. Like Doritos, I remembered the ad and the brand.
3. Bud Light Face Slap OK, I had to add one really stupid commercial... but this one was hilarious! I laughed as everyone was slapping each other throughout the commercial, but what put me over the edge was the guy at the end who slapped his boss after a big meeting. The look on his boss' face was priceless! It almost looked like they really surprised him somehow. I guess you'd have to ask the director.
4. Sierra Mist Combover This goes out to anyone who's had a friend or family member with a combover. Come on people? Shave it off or keep it tight! It's not 1970 anymore... Anyway, it's a really funny commercial, but I have to say, I initially didn't remember the company or brand after the first run... That said, the web saves it for them, since I was able to see it over and over again on aol sports (or any of the other sites providing the clips...)
Overall, I'd give this year a 7 out of 10. The commercials definitely seem to be taking a hit and maybe, just maybe, it's due to the fact that billions of dollars per year in TV advertising is starting to flow elsewhere... like the web. :-) You've got to love your TIVO! But that's for another post...
Who Can Benefit From Using Flash Video and Rich Media Marketing?
I have been asked dozens of times over the past 5-6 years if I believe Rich Media Marketing works so I thought it would be a good idea to address it here in the Web Video Marketeer! Based on hard experience, I can tell you that web video can help any size business make a bigger impact with their online marketing efforts. I've launched video-based campaigns for a wide range of clients across several industries and I can tell you that using rich media properly can boost your campaign results (visitors, sales, exposure, etc.) I don't care if you are a Philadelphia videographer, a flavored water company, a Pennington chiropractor, Ellen Degeneres, or the NFL, an immersive environment for marketing your products or services can light a viral fire across the web. With 100,000 blogs going live each day, it has become easier and easier for people to get the word out about another website, a product, service, news story, etc.
Is it expensive to produce? Great question and the answer completely depends on your industry, product, and target market. If you need a high quality video produced, shot at a studio, using professional lighting gurus, and sound engineers, then it won't be cheap. However, maybe your production only requires a steadicam operator with no audio (and you'll edit music in post), which will drastically cut down your costs. If you really don't have a big budget, then maybe you play to that... What do I mean? Craft a script and storyboard that don't require a big budget...have it look grainy, a little shaky, etc. That could be the angle you use! (Blair Witch Project-like).
The proper use of flash video on the web can attract visitors, help close sales, increase the length of stay per visitor, and ultimately help you increase ROI. A word of caution though, the script and storyboard are critical! Do not rush to production without a solid script and storyboard in hand. A bad interactive experience using internet video typically stems from not having a solid script and storyboard. Don't fall into this trap!
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 Website Flash 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.
Glenn Gabe focuses heavily on internet marketing and has been developing web applications using Flash for over 10 years. Glenn helps companies build online marketing campaigns that leverage the power of Rich Media, Word of Mouth, and Search Marketing.
About The Web Video Marketeer
And yes, it's marketeer, not marketer spelled incorrectly! I started this blog to cover the use of flash video and its impact on internet marketing campaigns.
Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to jump into the amplified word of mouth ring this year with 
Unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard of 
Let me set the stage. Take approximately a dozen teenagers with the parents of one of the teenagers away on vacation for 10 days. Then, over 7 days, those teenagers engineered what can only be considered the best slip n slide I’ve ever seen. It sounds like a scene from Risky Business, doesn’t it? Well, the end-result was risky, since any one of the teenagers involved could have been seriously injured. But, like hundreds of thousands of other viewers on the web, I was glued to the 5 minute viral video that you can view on SpikedHumor.com, YouTube, or several other social media sites. Read on.
I'm a huge fan of horror movies and 
