VJIX Creative RSS

VIDEO RESPONSIVE WEBSITE

video@vjix.com — 2012-05-14T10:00:50-04:00

VIDEO RESPONSIVE WEBSITE

As always, we are tinkering with our website. Now VJIX.com scales and collapses so the design flows from desktop monitors to any device no matter what the size or screen orientation is. There are still kinks to work out, so if you see anything “odd” let us know!

how to shoot a video for business marketing

video@vjix.com — 2012-05-12T15:57:43-04:00

basic camera work:

I have been a camera man for over ten years, there are a few basic guidelines that will make your videos better than 99% of what is on YouTube.

how to hold a camera — prevent "vomit cam”:

Unless other wise called for (like a war scene) you should always use a tripod, but most people prefer to not spend the money; here is my Number One camera lesson.

steps to hold your camera better:

1. Hold your camera with both hands firmly, don't just brace with your second hand! Wrap your hands around the camera like you are warming your hands on a coffee mug.
2. Push your forearms together at your chest and lock your elbows at your lower torso.

yeah this looks silly:

3. Here is the big one. Use your whole body to pan (left to right) your camera. Do not use your wrists or your arms to pan, use your waist. The bigger the movement, the more steady your camera work will be.
4. If you have to walk around (which I don't suggest) bend you knees and use them as springs keeping your torso and arms from bouncing. Like how SWAT guys walk keeping their gun level.

Yeah, this looks insanely silly but now your camera work is better than 99% percent of people out there.

tripod:

A video tripod costs more than a photo tripod with good reason. A photo tripod is meant to be "locked down" while a video tripod is meant to fluidly move. If you're buying a video tripod email me your budget and I will find a nice set for you, I care that much actually.

how to use a video tripod:

1. If you have a video tripod first tighten your axis screws so the head (where your camera is attached) moves smoothly.
2. Warm up the head (insert joke) by panning and tilting the camera, think of this as oiling up the movement.
3. Third control the movement by putting both your hands on the head itself (don't use the tripod arm). This way your energy can be evenly distributed because you're not leveraging the head from a foot away.
4. Repeat your shots until they are "butter smooth".

zooming:

Are you shooting a Kung Fu video or local car dealer spot, if not, skip use your zoom during a shot.
(unless you're trying to be funny in a Kung Fu way)

focus:

If you can control the focus on your camera, do so. Auto focus can pop in and out ruining a shot.

To properly set focus:

1. zoom into your subject before you start shooting
2. focus on the eyes or where you want your views to watch
3. zoom back out to reframe the shot

Congratulations! You have critical (perfect) focus .

lighting:

I could talk all day about lighting but here are some basic tips:

1. More light the better, under lighting is your camera's enemy.
2. Soft light is better than hard light, the easiest way is to bounce your lights off a wall or ceiling.
3. For video, a slightly overcast day is better than pure sunshine. You will have less shadows and your talent won't squint.

camera:

Money buys quality. A ten thousand dollar HD camera is going to look better than a four hundred dollar HD camera. The difference is the image sensor(s), the lenses, etc etc. So yes a $25,000 camera will have a better image quality than a $250 camera. But you can buy a really nice nonprofessional camera for almost nothing these days.

VJIX CREATIVE SITE UPDATE 2012

video@vjix.com — 2012-05-05T16:20:18-04:00

VJIX CREATIVE SITE UPDATE 2012

We have been busy making videos for other people (which is a good thing!) but our site and videos are starting to look stale. Site updates will be rolling in and we will have new videos for our products by the end of the month.

Best video size for online video

video@vjix.com — 2012-01-12T07:39:20-05:00

Best video size for online video

There is no single best size for an online video but here are a few suggestions so you can successfully post the best looking online video on your site.

The Short Answer

In short make your video in HD 1280x720. Just because your video is made at 1280x720 that doesn't mean that will be that size of your video on your website. All services like YouTube will give you options on the size of your embed code (the HTML that is placed on your website to call the video).

An video size example

This video was made in HD 1280x720 but has been sized down to 560x315.

Where are you going to host your video

Where you are going to host your video is going to play a huge part in answering what is the "best size" for your online video. If you plan on using a hosting site like YouTube or Vimeo I suggest making your video to the HD 1280x720 standards.

Unlike 1920x1280 HD video, 1280X720 is accepted at almost every video hosting service and you can watch this size on any HD television. This size is the most versatile of standard video sizes, plus it will start playing faster than 1920x1280 because it is smaller in pixel and file size.

Custom video sizes

Our front page is a nonstandard video size of 1150x450. It stands out from your normal video because of this, but the drawback is if you upload a nonstandard video size to a hosting site will not be encoded to HD quality, and your video could be squashed out of proportion.

If you plan on doing a custom video size you will want to host the video on a Video Content Delivery Network (CDN).

Extra tip

I like using Google labs browser size page to calculate how large my video player should be. I suggest having your video be small enough that it is seen in the 90% range of height and width. This way you know 90% of your visitors will see the video without have to scroll. Your player might be 525x295 once sized down, or any other proportionately smaller size.

2011 Online Video Review

video@vjix.com — 2011-12-23T21:28:53-05:00

2011 was certainly the best year yet for VJIX, we created over 40 videos for large and small businesses. Sadly the two biggest clients we worked with so far, that are Fortune 500 businesses and house hold names, we had to sign NDAs. It is like saying, “Trust me, we won an award for being awesome, but I can’t tell you about it”.

The biggest news was Steve Jobs died, and oddly the anticipated Final Cut Pro X was released which was a total flop according to most reviews. Personally I have noticed Apple backing away from its professional users to cater to the general public. Thankfully Adobe released some of the best video tools yet with CS5.5. It will be interesting to see what Apple does next and how Adobe responds.

2011 was also year for mobile video codecs to battle. Unfortunately there is no one video codec that will play on all devices and computers, without pointing fingers I can tell you it is over greed, not tech specs. Eventually some form of HTML5 video will prevail, but it will take a while until compatibility reaches the 99% that flash has on desktop computers.

In 2012 I don’t think anyone will question is validity of online video, it is here and growing quicker than any other medium. People are seeing video works great in conjunction with text information, and better than a single image. No surprise there.

I hope 2012 is a safe and great year for everyone!

site v4 update / Steve Jobs dies

video@vjix.com — 2011-10-09T19:27:18-04:00

Well it has been another year and we have updated the site again.... And we didn’t blog since the last major site update. Being busy is no excuse, but that is our excuse.

Sadly Steve Jobs died earlier this week, we video professionals will miss you. Apple (Steve) made professional editing affordable for the masses, soon after everyone followed step. A few years before then an editing machine would cost you 30 to 60 thousand. Most people will remember you for iPhones, iPads, laptops and iPods but I will remember you for the powerful G5 towers and Final Cut Pro and (sorry) Shake for $500.

As a final thought Apple (Steve) also gave us clean design from their operating system to their marketing. That will be the legacy that lasts forever, we will miss you buddy.

(a screen shot of Apple’s website this week)

site v3 update

video@vjix.com — 2010-11-28T11:43:30-05:00

It has been a while since a blog post has gone out. We have been busy busy which is always good news. With the holiday lull we wanted to make some changes to the site. Less is more, that is the belief.

Soon we will post our newest works. Also we have some neat end of year reviews, the frosting on the cake kind of stuff.

2 Billion views, VP8, Google TV = @Google grandslam!

video@vjix.com — 2010-05-20T17:38:49-04:00

2 Billion Views

Google this week has made some major announcements to shake up the online video community. Seven months ago YouTube reached 1 Billion views a day, this week they are announcing TWO BILLION views a day. If you had any questions about where online video is going, this is your answer.

VP8

Also google bought VP8 (a video codec) a little while back for $150 million, they have released as open source. This comes in the wake of Apple and Adobe trading punches over the future of online video formats. I think it will take a while to see where the market lands but I will tell you one thing; anytime there are multiple paths on the web the designers suffer having to design for both such as the dreaded IE6 which most JUST laid to rest.

Google TV

During Google’s IO conference they announced Google TV. Basically you will be able to watch Internet video on your TV using Google’s powerful search with a set-top box. In the past few years I think people have started to want a smart TV where they can surf the web, check their email, social media site, and watch TV all in one neat device. Like when BlueRay and HD-DVD were introduced we are about to see clashes over how we view entertainment, but unlike BlueRay and HD-DVD this might spell the beginning of end to physical media. This is possible as Netflix has shown us.

YouTube also turned 5!

sidebar video to attract new clients

video@vjix.com — 2010-05-16T19:49:59-04:00

Within two weeks our best practices guide for online video has become our number one way people find VJIX organically. To make sure these guests see video, I have put a small 1MB video on each page in the sidebar. This way they are greeted with information they need, and some “eye candy”!

64Bit upgrade & HTML 5 fight

video@vjix.com — 2010-05-10T19:56:29-04:00

This week has had a lot of ups and downs for Adobe the makers of Flash as well as other essential programs for designers such as Photoshop and After Effects.

To start with the good news, Adobe released Creative Suite 5 or CS5. This is by far one of the biggest updates I have seen in 10 years of video postproduction. For me the nicest update is After Effects becoming completely 64-Bit. No more 8 or 16-bit effects that have been around for 10 years, what an amazing transformation! It is like putting a Mustang engine in a Ford Fiesta = Lightning Fast.

The bad news is Apple stated they will not support Flash on their mobile devices, ever. Then Microsoft said it would not ship IE9 with Flash. Each is gearing their new products to HTML5 for video playback, which is good and bad. The good is with HTML5 content distributors can easily embed video into their webpage with simple HTML tags. The bad news is not all browsers use HTML5 like IE6 and IE7.

In the long run HTML5 video embedding will be a big deal, right now Flash is on 99%+ off all computers. The safest thing to do (if you get Lots of traffic from iPhones and iPads) is make a mobile site devoid of Flash interaction.

VJIX Creative wins a Telly for Use of Animation

video@vjix.com — 2010-04-24T16:04:18-04:00

Our first year out and we landed a Telly Award for Use of Animation. The Telly Awards receives over 13,000 entries annually from all 50 states and countries around the world from companies large and small including Comcast Entertainment Group, Clear Channel, Chicago Tribune, Disney and many more.

To win an awards in the same group as these companies in a honor for us.

2009 & 2010 VJIX Creative

video@vjix.com — 2010-01-01T09:52:06-05:00

What a big year and a bigger one to come! In case you haven’t started a business, it is hard work and there is always 1000 more things to do. Also starting a business is awesome, being able to do things your way has got to be the best payoff.

For me 2009 will be one to remember.

became a LLC
Developed the vjix.com, as a non-web developer this took more time than I had hoped.
Made relationships with new clients to make awesome videos!
Snagged agency work which I hadn’t thought of doing, but was great.
Made 1000 changes to the website.

2010 is truly going to be awesome!

Two new products or levels of videos will become available.
More marketing to get our name out there.
More online video news in the blog, there are so many great developments in online video.

I have one goal, that is to make clean videos that show off other people’s businesses to get them more clients. If I can do that, then my business will flourish respectively. Best of luck to all of you in your ventures, 2010 is going to be great!

blog update

video@vjix.com — 2009-12-04T22:13:18-05:00

For those people who have subscribed to this blog thank you! The RSS feed has changed slightly so we could add some new features. If you would to continue to follow our blog please re-subscribe. Thank you again!

WebWorkerDaily

video@vjix.com — 2009-11-14T14:15:55-05:00

Editor Simon Mackie of WebWorkerDaily posted my reader profile yesterday! My profile is a part of their month long look at online video. Last week they interviewed Izzy Hyman who is making a big name for himself with his online tuts.

It is exciting for me since I enjoy reading their blog for the new web products and trends. Plus I received some very nice emails regarding the post and a surge of traffic.

Thank you Simon!

Click the picture to read the full write up!

1080p HD Is Coming to YouTube

video@vjix.com — 2009-11-10T11:30:33-05:00

"We're excited to say that support for watching 1080p HD videos in full resolution is on its way. Starting next week, YouTube's HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from our maximum output of 720p today."
Read YouTube's official blog post.

This is awesome news for people shooting 1080p. They will no longer have to convert to 720p and any advancement forwarding web video is great news. It is funny to think about how just a few years ago online video was mostly AVI or WMV files that looked horrible, with small frame sizes, and a gigantic file size. We have come a long way!

On the flip side- I have a cable connection that steadily has 14MBs down and 4MB up running to a dual quad core Apple Pro with a great video card and I still get stuttering video from YouTube in HD. So will it really matter if the picture is bigger is their bandwidth is lagging? Yeah, I'll take it!

August 2009 Online Video Numbers

video@vjix.com — 2009-09-29T19:57:40-04:00

Here are some interesting facts and figures from Comscore.

All totaled in August people watched 25 billion videos, 10 billion coming from Google.

Other August 2009 stats:

* 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
* The average online video viewer watched 582 minutes of video, or 9.7 hours.
* 120.5 million viewers watched nearly 10 billion videos on YouTube.com.
* 44.9 million viewers watched 340 million videos on MySpace.com.
* The average Hulu viewer watched 12.7 videos.
* The duration of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.

I think this online video thing is catching on! ;)

site v1 update

video@vjix.com — 2009-06-01T08:45:58-04:00

Hello! At the time of writing this VJIX Creative is a little company sorting it's self out. Until there is something worth watching on the site, here is a beautiful video by Pierre Michel.