One of the many ways you can use your smart phone to begin to cross the digital divide is by using it as a camera to create a v-log - or video-blog. This can be a smart way to go for many reasons, including the fact that voice narration also be used to incorporate key words just as well as the written form, and once you pick up the ability to shoot and edit, it's almost as easy as writing a quick blog. Not to mention just as cheap.
While the hosts of my erstwhile blogging efforts here might not like what I have to say about You Tube, and they may well not, the fact is that I steer well clear of the service for many reasons, including the fact that you lose your rights as soon as you post anything on Google's video servers. And while You Tube may in fact be the most popular video sharing service out there, it certainly isn't the only one. There are many. Today I will be discussing another option, Vimeo, a decidedly non commercial service, that aims to stay that way. I have been experimenting with the service for about a week now as I play with other blogs on other platforms that require video uploads to be hosted in certain formats or to be uploaded from other servers. Some people may consider this to be a drawback, but the point of having options is to use the many flowers in the garden you have available to you and keep the rights you have, not give them all up for the sake of expediency or laziness. I suppose that giving everything up to Google in the name of ignorance or laziness is one way to go, but I have never sat on my behind for long. Even this blog isn't going to stay on this service for any longer than it has to as I build out another one on a server to be revealed to my avid readers as soon as it is ready for prime time.
Isn't freedom of choice wonderful? But that is why knowledge is a very important thing.
However, let's get back to video servers. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am now producing a documentary I shot entirely on my android phone - which I inherited when my previous smart phone - a much superior product - a Helio - was bought out by Sprint earlier this year. So I ended up with this one. I'm still playing with it, and to be honest while I whinge about it and I don't like being constantly forced into constantly avoiding Google products and services, there are many aspects to the service and the phone which are both serviceable and very good for a low end, prosumer product that are certainly adequate for this kind of usage. So I decided, as a twenty year veteran documentary maker, to give a whirl and shoot a quick documentary. To date my budget is $0, which makes it a candidate for a non-commercial (so far) experimental product. I don't know if I will make any money on the documentary I'm making, again, a non-commercial project (to date). And I'm editing it (so far) entirely on my computer's Micosoft editing platform, although I will probably end up editing the final cut on an MPEG4 editing software.
If I just lost half of the audience somewhere, you will just have to subscribe to my blog to catch up and figure out what I'm talking about if it all sounds like Double Dutch. These are all technical editing terms that you will have to figure out as we go along. But you should begin to learn them as you go, as they are really essential tools of the trade, along with the knowledge that there are 30 frames of video per second.
In terms of deciding what kind of android phone to purchase, if you are in the market for one, I decided to get the slide out QWERTY keyboard, so I missed the opportunity to shoot in HD. It was a business decision because I use my phone as a mobile internet connection as well - and typing on the touchscreen is a royal pain in the @#$. As much as I am a filmmaker, I am also a blogger and businessperson. These are the trade offs you have to make, although I kind of wish you didn't have to make them. Nevertheless, as phones go, it is a design that is still superior to anything out of Apple, unfortunately. As much as I still remain loyal, in theory, to the Mac as a creative, they still must make up lost ground on the business end.
From the perspective of someone who learned how to edit on digital editing software called AVID over twenty years ago when I suffered the slings and arrows of the professionals who called me crazy for using a computer to edit film and video, even the PC editing software offered these days by Bill Gates isn't all that bad. I have offered a few links below to the segments created so far so you can take a look. Keep in mind that some of the hiccups are because of slow servers. Nevertheless this is a remarkably amazing outcome for a budget of $0, a production crew of 1, no sound or lighting crew and a camera that doubled as my phone. Not to mention an editing studio that is my mobile laptop computer. I know that for those of you reading this who aren't production professionals, the contrast isn't all that amazing, but for those of us with any perspective (read gray hairs) time was when you couldn't even touch a digital editing system for less than a hundred grand. Now a pretty decent one comes bundled for free with your office software.
And what's great about Vimeo, just like any other digital network, is that you can create your own channels, networks and promotional buzz on multiple levels. They even have festivals you can submit your work to. Remember, until you've actually sold your work, or have been paid to create it, you are not "commercial." It's important to keep that distinction clear, because it gives you a lot more freedom to mix and match as you put all the pieces together in the digital mix that is blogs, digital servers other resources you need to make a living online.
One very important caveat to remember. If you have a commercial in front of your video blog, YOU MAY NOT USE VIMEO. There are other services available. What those are and how to use them will be coming soon.
Happy v-logging!
Cheers
Marguerite
For the direct links to my featured rough-cut segments mentioned above - Edge of Apocalypse, see below:
Part I: Last Days in New York
Part II: The Recession in New York
Part III: Gardens of Eden
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