Let me know what you think of our new intro.

Ted

Skip to the third paragraph if typography bores you

Now for the life-type connection

Ted

It has mainly been motion graphics work so far, but there is some other video-related stuff that I’ve been working on for them as well. Hopefully this summer we will begin doing some really cool stuff merging Vlogs, Tutorials, and Community Building. They’re based out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and so since I’m in Waco, Texas it’s hard to help with any of their in-house videos and live shows for now, but it’s a great company that you should definitely take a look at! Anyway, I’m happy to be able to work with them and here are two of the promotional videos I have created so far for their Builder Theme (This is the Theme I have for my site) and Flexx Theme.

No. Don’t read this yet. Watch the video above first.

Alright now that you’ve gotten that out of the way:

I mentioned on Twitter the other day that I’ve noticed a recent trend in video/film in the emphasis of ordinary sounds – taking normal, minute sounds and making them the most audible parts of the clip.  Now I may be wrong, but I honestly think this is partly due to the way we currently like to participate in media. We expect response when we engage and so when we see visuals of earthy things, we expect an overly earthy response (such as the beginning of the video above) and we are able to attain this if the sound matches the engagement.

The film I noticed it in most recently was Shutter Island, which I saw over the weekend. Martin Scorsese used a very intricate interaction between imagery and sound in the direction of this film. Robert Richardson also did an absolutely incredible job with the cinematography as his images made the emphasized sound relative.

Anyway, I’m interested in trying this in the next short I make. What I’m going to make – don’t ask me yet.

Believe it or not, Youtube’s search engine is much easier to “play” than the super complex Google algorithm. Here is my ordered top five list for the most important parts of your video in optimizing for youtube search:

1) Title – Your video’s title is incredibly important. Not only does a title often score (or lose) you a view, but it also is the biggest factor in determining keywords for the youtube search engine to pick up on. Be very keyword heavy and don’t feel as if a lengthy or awkward title name is always bad. Something like “How to throw a football – The Process Step by Step” may be long, but it is dang effective in encompassing key words.

2) Inbound Links – Have you embedded your video on your personal site or blog? Have you shared it on social networks? Are others sharing it as well? This is important to the algorithm because it is a huge factor in determining if the video has good and worthwhile content.

3) Description – Your description should be thorough. Should it be line for line what was said in the video? No. But! It should be a very good keyword based summary of what happens in the video. There is no point in being misleading either.

4) Views – Yes, unfortunately for those who are just starting, not only does the number of views on the video you have uploaded matter, but also the number of views your channel and other videos you have uploaded have. This is sort of the community impact factor of the search. It helps answer Youtube’s question, “are you actively involved in the Youtube community?” This really makes a lot of sense – especially for Youtube (well Google since they own it) – including this as a factor encourages us Youtubers to frequent the site.

5) Tags – The tags are third on the list of text based Youtube SEO (ranking behind the title and description) because these are what I like to all “catch all” key words. Most often this is where I include my name, my website’s name, the city I shot it in, and/or some other random things people might search if they can’t remember what the video was called.

There are other factors and all of the above can be further explored, but this is a general list to get you started.

Never forget that if your video has good content, it will get found and viewed, but you could do yourself a huge favor if you just do a little consideration of the above!

- Ted

As I’ve watched clip after clip of his comedy remaining relevant to this day, and after being frequently amazed by his ability to set up comedy, I’ve begun to really appreciate what Chaplin contributed to film development. I’ve also begun to appreciate the liberties he took within the creative process. He was producing movies in a time when people were still acclimating to shot sequences with multiple edits rather than just one shot takes, but managed to create complex humor based off of complex editing that controls what the audience is viewing and understanding. It’s incredible to me that his ingenuity and creative ability propelled him into his now American icon status (even though he is British). Charlie Chaplin new that moving pictures moved people.

Maybe not quite on the same scale as Chaplin (haha), but hopefully I can do the same at one point or another.

Here is a Desktop Wallpaper that I created, feel free to download it if you would like: click here to download (1680×1050)

The more I find myself browsing through the increasingly infinite web, the less I feel I can come up with something unique.

Or, I should say I thought this.

I was wrong. This beautifully done video turned that idea on it’s head and then some. Is the video entirely original? No. Is the animation the best there is? No. The world has already been created (everything from ideas and thoughts to trees and oceans) so creativity is rarely (if ever) in developing an entirely new concept, but rather in finding a way to contrive something new out of the old. Those who can make what already exists relevant are the people who are going to find success. The one who spends his/her time trying to be outside of the self will only find frustration and disappointment.

This whole post may not be a new concept, or something you have never heard, but you have never seen it presented this exact way. You have never been presented with this combination of video, words, and minimalistic blog design that I hope is an invitation to go create something. Seriously, go do it.

Don’t get stuck 91 centimeters away from creating something.

It’s plain. It’s simple. Writing makes for better ad-lib on set.

Often when aspiring filmmakers set out to create a short film or video they start shooting with limited knowledge: only having about a quarter of the audible script in mind and not even necessarily on paper. Sure, they’ve got it in their head what most of the video is going to look like, but they think that because of shows like “The Office” and especially the once popular “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” that improv-style comedy/acting is an effective way to fill your story. What they forget is that 1) “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” has a buzzer to stop the actors when they stop being funny and 2) “The Office” has an incredible set of writers that make improvisation better (the point of this post), and there is actually not as much ad-libbing as people assume.

So what makes this claim true, Ted?

Well let me see…. I’ve been creating video for six and a half years, and I’m the classic example of, “hey, let’s go make a video and see how it turns out” only to have the video turn out to be interesting/funny to… well, no one.

Alright, so then why does it make it better?

Think of it this way: when you go out for a jog (if you are into that kind of thing), do you just go running along any which way? No. Instead, you go on a predetermined course, and then if you are still feeling good you “go the extra mile.” If you just went wherever your feet lead you, you would end up 5 miles away from where you started and wondering how you are going to get your exhausted (and probably dehydrated) self back to your place of origin.

This same concept can be applied to video making. When you set out to shoot your footage, you set your predetermined parameters, and then if you are still feeling good after you have gotten all of your shots, then you can expand and play with the actor becoming the character that was once only on paper.

People often say, “the book was better than the movie” and while I wholly despise this statement, there is some truth to the idea that text appeals to people because it allows their imaginations to be free. When an actor (or typically in my case someone I have conned into being an actor) has some guidelines and some text to associate with his/her character it provokes their imagination and helps shape the image they have of their new on-camera persona.

When all else fails, write. (you can quote me on that)

- Ted