RonAmok!

When my company first contemplated video, the natural response was to hire a professional video company to come in and record for us. We organized a series of interviews with various employees, planning to release them internally. The professional video company entered our building in waves, pulling all sorts of equipment into our little conference room. They brought elaborate backdrops, lights, and diffusers. They had professional cameras on solid stands, wireless microphones that went into a 16 channel board, and a professional monitor that we used to watch what the camera was collecting. We had set up a perfect little television studio.

In terms of quality, the video was flawless. But there was a problem. The employees that we interviewed, looked anxious. Not only were they intimidated by the lights and the crew, but the heat caused our guests to sweat.

That experiment guided us to another one. What if we could take a little consumer camera, put it in front of an executive, and let them talk? We did exactly that, and released the video internally to rave reviews. People liked hearing from the exec; they liked the way it was unscripted; and they even commented on the fact that he looked relaxed.

That one video started something that we could not have predicted — employees started sending their own videos. It was this sudden rush of employee-generated video that made me rethink my belief that audio was easier than video, because I was staring at proof otherwise.

New Media is about unscripted, transparent, and ultimately human communication. To capture this type of programming does not need a big studio, expensive cameras, and lights that’ll melt the toupee off of a balding middle-aged man.

No need for expensive lighting, makeup and difficult edits. A simple camera, adequate lighting, and minor editing is all that’s required. Try it. I think you’ll be surprised at the quality that you can get through these simple and inexpensive tools — especially when filming for the tiny-screen at 320 x 240.

Now, if you are creating some video extravaganza, a highly produced piece that needs broadcast quality, this method won’t work. But if you are a New Media Evangelist who wants to convey meaning to employees or customers using this powerful medium, set your personal digital camera to shoot video, point it at someone, and ask a question. You won’t be disappointed. And you won’t be broke.

Having produced The Best Family/Work Safe Storytelling Podcast for the past 26 months, I’ve learned lots about audio programing. It takes lots of work to get digital audio to sound good — proper mike choice, mike technique, audio equipment, editing software, etc… When video podcasting started growing in popularity, the conventional wisdom among podcasters was that video was harder to produce than audio.

And you know what? We were all wrong. Video is easier to produce than audio. Exhibit A? YouTube.

Part of the reason is that digital video devices are so much more prevalent than their audio counterparts. Just open the Sunday newspaper and look at ads for electronic stores such as Fry’s, Best Buy, or Circuit City. How many digital audio recorders do you see? None. On the other hand, how many video recorders do you see? Pages and pages.

And these video cameras are extremely easy to use. Most can be operated by depressing a single red button. Hit that button, point the camera at a subject, and you are regular Cecil B. DeMille. Now Mr. DeMille may have had a better eye than you or me, but the technology of capturing image and sound is orders of magnitude better than what he had at his disposal. Hitting that one red button and you not only capture automatically white balanced, focussed and motion-corrected video, but auto-gain controlled and filtered audio as well.
Compare and contrast this experience with digital audio recording. There is no big red button — I’ve looked! You have to deal with XLR, 1/4 inch, 1/8 inch, or RCA jacks. You have to set preamps and EQ settings. Recording audio is harder than recording video.

Ah, but what about editing, you may ask. “Editing video must be harder than editing audio. Right, Ron?” Again, a misconception. Entry-level video editing is easier than entry-level audio editing because when you drag a video clip into a video-editing timeline, you see pictures. Everyone knows how to read a picture. Not many people know how to read a an audio waveform.

Oh sure, once your video productions become more complex, video editing becomes harder. But at the entry-level, where anyone, a student, an employee, or my mom can hit a big red button and do some minor editing? That is by far simpler.

And I think the folks over at YouTube will agree with me:-)

Technorati Tags: Audio, Video, YouTube,

Email. Love it or hate it, but our overflowing inboxes have become an integral part of our personal and professional lives. Unfortunately, it has become a garbage disposal of information. Think about it. Your inbox is crammed with messages that have nothing to do with one another.

Take my work-email inbox for instance. It contains messages from my coworkers, my wife, and even my mom. Sprinkled among these various threads are other things like newsletters and of course, the dreaded spam.

So, let’s take a look at the tyranny of my inbox from the perspective of your newsletter…the one that I found interesting enough to subscribe to, but begrudgingly because you didn’t offer to me as an RSS feed.

Can you predict my experience for reading your newsletter? For example, what “context” am I viewing it through. Am I in the right frame of mind to read it? Unfortunately, you can’t be sure. I could have just read bad news from a customer, spent ten minutes eliminating spam, or just learned of a new project with an impossible schedule. You see, my email inbox collects messages that only have one thing in common…that they are intended for me. Unfortunately they all fight with each other for priority and contextually have nothing in common.

The truth is that I want to receive your newsletter; I wouldn’t have subscribed to the thing if I didn’t. But just like your other customers, I’m busy. We’re all juggling multiple priorities, projects, need to catch that plane and most importantly, need to spend time with our families. I still want your information, but I’d just rather it not compete with the tyranny of my inbox. And here’s the rub, if I’m feeling overwhelmed by the backlog of messages in my inbox, I’m gonna send your newsletter to my trash folder, where it’ll never to be seen again.

But what if you offered your newsletter as an RSS feed — one that I can read with my feedreader? Then, I’ll read it in the context by which you prefer, when I’ve decided that it is time to read it. Oh, and when I’m done with your feed, I don’t really delete it, do I? By its very nature, RSS gives me a sort of archival mechanism, whereby I can return to the article/post for later use.
I just have one simple request. Please get your newsletter out of my inbox!