i don’t watch tv, and am happy to miss the commercials. (even the good ones!). fortunately Internet Friends™ will share the best of the lot! (passing this one on!)
(and that’s good enough for me!)
My shipment of Girl Scout cookies has arrived (yes- “shipment”, as in they came in a box!). I gave up a box of Tagalongs to my crew as a gesture of good will, since they’ll be getting their quarterly evaluation in the next week. 
But I can never think about Girl Scout Cookies, without thinking of this timeless classic from our friend Cookie Monster!
As the scraggly curmudgeon I play on TV, I find it difficult to admit how cool I think this story is. Yes- the old story of a boy and girl meeting and later getting married in the place they met. A tried and true scenario. But these days you gotta spice it up right?
According to the post, Mr & Mrs Bride and Groom met in a New York Apple Store and love sprung, as love is known to do. What better place to ink the deal, in that same Apple Store, flash mob style. Without being harassed by Apple Staff. Try that in a Microsoft Store!
Ah, the things I miss by not having TV. I saw this commercial on MunchCast for the first time today and almost peed myself!!
When life gives you lemons….
I have spent the last week putting the finishing touches on a music video I was coerced into producing. (Actually I took the gig willingly. It just sounds funnier that way!)
The first “music video” I’ve worked on since the late ’80s (yeah, I know, I’m old), the editing process was a harsh reminder of a few no-brainer shooting principles I had unfortunately forgotten until now. Many of these principles relate to any video assignment, but some are more specific to the “music video” genre. In my mind, all music videos fall under two categories:
#1: pre-produced, story-boarded, staged, scripted, shot, scrutinized, edited, re-shot, re-edited-to-perfection style.
and
# 2: non-planned, no-budget, go-for-it style.
One usually involves an abundance of time, budget, and professionals. The other, regardless of experience- involves a lot of chance, skill, and luck. Each has its own list of caveats and expectations. Since I seem to attract clients with little or no vision, preferences, experience, or money, I tend to shoot the latter style. Seasoned Veterans will give you a slew of valuable tips for producing, shooting, directing, and editing music videos. But since I’m essentially new to the game all over again, I’m remembering them all as I go along. Here are a couple things I wish I’d remembered before this last project, in no special order:
1. Shoot as much footage as humanly possible! These days video cameras, tape, and SD cards are relatively cheap. Pull a Trent or Bon Jovi and hand a couple to the crowd (assuming there is a crowd) to shoot from their perspective. Just don’t forget to get them back! No crowd, you say? That’s what tripods are for!
2. Related: Shoot everything. Loading/unloading of trucks, fans, groupies, band members smoking outside, random passersby, traffic, an abandoned shoe on the ground… No, really. After all, it’s all about getting as much video to work with as possible. You never know what will come in handy!
3. Shoot three different versions of the video. You’re not actually shooting three different versions for the price of one, but if you go into it as if you were, this should give you plenty of content to work with in the editing stage. When the client has not expressed any preferences (which is common in “no-budget” scenarios), its up to you to envision and produce the completed product, which could be any number of possibilities, depending on your vision. If you’re anything like me, halfway through the editing process you think of a totally different “version” of the video you wish you’d had footage to create. By shooting different “versions”, you have a variety of content you can put together for a more interesting final product. It’s not like no one has put out a fragmented, hard to follow, music video of seemingly random cuts before, right?
4. Don’t take it personally when the client doesn’t like the final product. As long as the contract does not say “client must be satisfied with final product before payment”, they’re paying you for a finished product, not something they like. However, most of the time, when the band doesn’t express a preference or is paying in six-packs, they’re usually happy to get whatever they can get.
5. Get the music ahead of time. Listen to it 200 times. After hearing the song 200 times, you should have an idea of what you want the video to look like even without a storyboard, or clearly described concepts. If not, perhaps you should stick to weddings.
6. On directing: Don’t be afraid to be a dick. In a no-budget scenario, the band/client usually has no clue what they want or how to shoot, perform, etc. Just tell them what to do and don’t feel bad about it. It saves time and stress, and makes you look like you know what you’re talking about. You can choose to explain “why”, answer questions, and even take suggestions if that’s your personality type. But unless someone else is “THE DIRECTOR”, that’s your job (one of many). Own it.
7. It’s all about the B-plot, baby. This concept is little difficult to pull off in a non-scripted, no budget music video, but always a good aspiration. “What’s a B-plot?” you say? Ever notice that every episode of every TV show (drama, comedy, documentary, or whatever) has two story lines going on? Yeah, think about it. I’ll wait. Writers do this on purpose. There’s a literary term for this technique but since I’m not a writer I can’t elaborate on it. The point is, somewhere in your unplanned, unscripted, video shoot, look for that “other story”. Capture it, and try to squeeze that into the finished product.
8. Contracts. Love em or hate em, you need one. Even if the contract is written in Sharpie® on a Denny’s 
receipt, the contract is a friend to you as well as your talent. You don’t necessarily need a $1000 lawyer to write one or purchase pre-written contracts off the internet for $400 to cover yourself. A clearly stated agreement of services, products, and fees should keep you out of court 90% of the time, if not simply for the scare tactic alone. Note: I am not any where even close to being qualified to provide any type of legal advice! I’m just sayin…
9. Love Your Job. Despite the perceptions, until you hit big time, you’re probably not making much money on shooting music videos. Solution: Don’t do it for the money. If you enjoy working with others, exploring your creative side, pushing your boundaries, learning something new, and leaving the house now and then, this should be enough motivation/satisfaction to offset an ulcer from working ’til 3 in the morning to meet a deadline on a product you’ve basically lost money on when you calculate man hours spent. (Don’t worry- I’ll discuss “how to charge for your services” in a future post!). Conversely, if you discover you don’t enjoy the process, find a new gig. Seriously.
And finally, perhaps the most important principle of all…
10. NO FREE LABOR!! I repeat: NO FREE LABOR!!! Geez- I can’t express this enough! Even if your talent doesn’t have a budget, they should be able to compensate you *SOMEHOW*. $100, 50, 25 bucks? Dinner? A twelve-pack? An old, punk rock patch covered leather jacket? A carton of smokes? (if you’re into that). Anything. Whatever- just don’t do it for “free”. Because people do not value free. You’ll thank me later.
===
As a “trained professional”, I’m sure I knew most of these principles at one point in my pre multiple-mountain-bike-wrecks life. After time and many contusions later, I forgot half of them until recently. But now you can go into your next project with these suggestions to ponder. Got any additional tips? Share the love in the comments below!
The following videos showed up on my radar (thanks to my fellow red-blooded american male friends). The two spots clearly depicts what we all know about product marketing but are afraid to admit it. Comments after the jump:
Product Marketing, Version 1: Informative, fact-based overview:
Product Marketing, Version 2: Sex and Sophomoric Dialogue:
Be honest now- Which one will you remember?
*My personal analysis of TechCrunch50 from a consumer’s perspective.
Don’t tell my boss, but I watched a pretty hefty portion of the TechCrunch50 presentations over the last two days. I didn’t see all 50+ presentations, but I did see a good chunk.
Of course, I’m not an investor, buyer, developer, pundit, journalist, product reviewer, or even a PR guy. (Okay, if you call a blogger a journalist, then maybe that.) The advantage to this is that I was able to watch and consider the products and services a from an every day joe/end-user perspective- quite different than most of the reviews I’ve been reading over the last two days. With the event over, and as I write this, half of San Francisco crawling with some of the top tech industry influencers and journalists drunk to the gills, I have not yet read any analyses from a consumer perspective. (Note: I cannot verify any drunkenness at this time. It was a hyperbole. However, I’m watching the tweetstream as I write this, so, you never know!)
I can’t speak to liquidity or buy in or business models or exit strategy or all that stuff those investor types kept bringing up in the post-presentation analysis. What I can speak to however, is what a consumer would think was cool. Here are a few of the consumer focused products that stood out in my mind and why (in no special order):
Product/Description: Clixtr. Location-based photo sharing (via smart phone)
Details: Your friend takes a group photo with the Clixstr iPhone app and uploads it to the Clixtr servers. Since it is already geo-tagged, all others in the group (with Clixstr installed) have to do is search for “photos near me” and like magic, there they are, ready to download! Plus, you can see what other cool events are going in in your general vicinity. At $2.99 in the iTunes App Store, this is a pretty awesome product.
Post-presentation comment (paraphrased): “what are you going to do when Facebook starts doing it to?” (A good question!)
From a consumer standpoint, this is a product I would probably buy and use. 4 out of 5
Watch the Video Presentation
Product/Description: The Whuffie Bank: Reputation-based digital currency.
Details: Users earn Whuffie bucks based on some magic reputation-tracking algorhythm. Chamillionaire (yes- he was in fact on the panel) put it best when he straight forwardly asked, “So, I do all this work to earn Whuffie bucks- What do I get?” Bravo Mr. Chamillionaire! Well-said. Personally, I have never been a big fan of virtual currency, which is why I find many of those Facebook apps so darned annoying.
From a consumer standpoint, this is a product I would totally ignore. 2 out of 5
Watch the Video Presentation.
Product/Description: Stribe: Host your own social network.
Details: Stribe lets site owners create their own, personal “social network” that lives on their website. Companies can review and analyze the data generated from its users. Yeah, getting market data is really important for a company. I get that. As a consumer? I would have to create yet another account- a Stribe account. So I can what? Make, read, and or share a comment about some shoes I saw on the Target website? Chat with the 86 other people currently on the Huffington Post? I don’t think users care that much. Or perhaps its just me.
From a consumer standpoint, this is a product I would totally find annoying when I’m asked to sign up.
Watch the Video Presentation.
Product/Description: AnyClip: A search engine for movie clips.
Description: When the guy started his presentation by saying, “what movie was it where the guy said [xyz]…” I said “Duuuuude! I’m in!” He types the phrase into the search window, and the exact scene from the movie plays. Yep- I’m in. Seriously. Where do I sign up? (Doh- private beta!) Questions of copyright and movie industry buy-in ensued.
From a consumer standpoint, AnyClip a homerun. Totally. 5 out of 5.
Watch the Video Presentation.
Product/Description: AIM Lifestream. Integrates AIM client with Twitter, Facebook, others.
Description: From within your AIM client you can see, search and post status updates and share links with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, others. During the presentation one thing I kept seeing people say in the chat room/twitterstream was “oh look AOL just ripped off FriendFeed“. I’ve never used FriendFeed so I can’t comment. However, I know that a lot of people love FriendFeed. I can see how a lot of people glued to their twitter feeds and Facebook page would love it. Me. not so much.
From a consumer standpoint I rate this product a 3 out of 5.
Watch the Video Presentation.
Product/Description: Citysourced: Crowd-sourced reporting of civic issues.
Details: Report graffiti, potholes, trash, etc. in your community from your phone. Simply take a photo of the problem and upload to the Citysourced website. Comments optional. The geo-tagged photo goes straight to the right city offices where they can ignore it for three weeks. I mean, add that to their overworked to do list.
From a consumer standpoint, this is a product I would definitely buy and use. 4 out of 5
Watch the Video Presentation.
Product/Description: iMO: Turns your iPhone/iPod Touch into a joystick/controller for your PC Games
Details: The presentation for this iPhone app was awesome! The presenter played three different PC games from an iPod touch. Even if you already get it, you have to see the presentation. No, really. I’ll wait.
I’m not a gamer. I don’t own any PC Games. But if I did, I would want this. 4 out of 5.
Watch the Video Presentation.
Product/Description: Spawn Labs. Its like Slingbox for your XBox (or other gaming console).
Details: For the 6 of you who don’t know what a SlingBox is, the Spawn Labs box connects to your gaming console, and the other end to your home internet connection. Now from anywhere on the Internet you can access and play your games. But wait there’s more! Other gamers on the internet can allow you to play games on *their* consoles too! There’s much more to it that gamers will eat up if it actually comes to market, but I’m keeping these brief.
I’m not a gamer. But if I was, I would want this. 4 out of 5.
Watch the Video Presentation.
The winner this year was RedBeacon. They had a good presentation and an awesome product, although in my opinion, aimed at small/medium-sized business. You can read about their presentation/product on TechCrunch. [link]
In closing I must say that the livestream of TechCrunch50 was hands down, the best “live, streaming over the internet” production I have ever watched. Ever. I’m not exaggerating. I could write an entire article just on that aspect of the event. Don’t worry if you missed it- every second worth watching is already available on uStream.
Kudos to Jason Calacanis, Mike Arrington, and staff for mapping out how to put out a flawless broadcast- i.e. hire all the right folks. And uber props to the aforementioned hired. It probably cost Jason and Mike a fortune for just the broadcasting of that event, and believe me, it showed! The future of TV is here. But I’ll save that for a future post.
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A short summary of the Banquet from “A MINI Vacation in Vegas” 2009 (a.k.a. “AMVIV”). See the full version and more AMVIV clips at WhiteRoofRadio.tv and BehindTheVroom.com.
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