Here is a quick response to a question a reader asked the other day about how to green screen.  He wondered how far the on-camera person should be from the green background.    He said he was very frustrated because he had searched for an answer and everyone said something different.  There was no consensus so he was confused.

I explained that the reason no one seemed to agree is because the proper distance between the background and the on-camera talent is entirely dependent on the particular situation under which you are videotaping.

On a technical level, the distance is totally irrelevant. What matters is that the green background is an even color.  No variations.  Shadows are one of the chief problems that cause variations in color.  The darker color of the shadow will cause the green screen effect to be uneven.

If the on-camera person is standing very close to the background, chances are her shadow will fall on the background.  But if the on-camera person were twenty feet from the background, the same shadow would fall harmlessly on the floor, which is cropped out of the picture.

Problem is, most people do not have the luxury of that much room.

In an ideal situation, most professional videographers would place the on-camera talent at least five or ten feet from the background.    This gives the talent a little breathing room and helps ensure an even background.

However, when I took a tour of ABC news studios, I saw them videotape a news update and the anchor person was smashed up against the wall.  They shot the news update from her office, which was tiny.  It looked great on the air.  I could barely tell it was a green screen.  It looked real!

The lighting in her office was extremely diffused so there were no shadows.  The green behind her was homogenous in color which gave a beautiful green screen effect.

So if you have some room to play with, go for a distance of about ten feet.  If you don't have the room, do not worry about it.  Just make sure your lighting is diffused so the shadows will be minimal or non existent.

If you have a video production question you'd like answered, drop me a line a videoproductiontips@gmail.com  I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for being a subscriber.

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal

Technorati Tags: green screen, Internet Video Gal, Video Editing, video production, videoproductiontips@gmail.com

Man, you have GOT to check animoto out. I was blown away and I do not blow easily!

Animoto is a new web service that lets you create killer videos in just a few minutes. I finished this one of my pets in under 10 minutes. And that included a trip to the kitchen! (Too many snacks!)

To do this pet video the traditional way would have taken HOURS.

With animoto, not only was it quick and easy, but it was FREE!

This is a second animoto video, it's of my friend I am living with, and her critters.

All I did was log in, upload some still pictures and music off my hard drive, then click one button. Animoto does the rest!

Animoto analyzes your images and music and then edits the stills together to the beat of your music. All by itself.

You get fancy digital video effects and cool looking highlights without lifting a finger. The final product beats the bajeebers off a traditional slide show type video made from still images. See More Examples! in Tomorrows post…

Then, it is easy as pie to upload the finished video to YouTube or any other site you want. You can email it, download it or embed it on your blog.

And it is so darn easy my puppy could do it!

Animoto is the most automatic and high quality video editing available. I can not image it being any easier.

The animoto software that does this magic was invented by a bunch of professional video and film producers who managed to infuse lots of creativity into their automated system.

Creativity and automation usually do not co-exist, but with animoto, they do.

So if you want to make a video but do not want to go to any trouble, check out animoto dot com! Not only is it easy but it yields professional results and is a lot of fun too.

Thanks for being a subscriber,

Lorraine Grula
Internet Video Gal

Technorati Tags: animoto software, digital video, final product, Internet Video Gal, Lorraine Grula, web video

It's not politics I find aggravating; it is the TV news coverage that drives me up the wall.

I worked for about twenty years in TV News and developed very strong opinions about what news should be, as opposed to what we actually see.

Observing this presidential campaign and the deep divisions affecting our country, I can not help but blame much of the animosity on the failure of TV News (and talk radio) to be true to the tenants of JOURNALISM.

Journalism is supposed to be fair, unbiased, and based upon facts.

Unfortunately, most TV news is the exact opposite. It is sensationalistic, biased, superficial and often based on rumor, or "spin."

The result is a poorly informed public. But worse than that, I think many people have been misled into believing falsehoods, myths and outright lies. Yet they THINK they are well-informed. There is probably nothing more dangerous than someone who is convinced that a lie is the truth.

I am disturbed greatly by the cumulative effects of poor TV News coverage and feel it can lead to irreparable harm to our country.

OK, if that sounds a bit extreme but think about it this way.

Take the current economic problems. There has been such a flood of misinformation on this very complex topic that it is impossible for the population at large to understand the root causes. So how can anyone make good judgments about how to fix the problem?

If everyone is convinced that X is the problem when really the problem is Y, rushing out to eradicate X lets Y continue to flourish. So instead of solving the problem, it only deepens.

The current economic situation is extremely complex. To understand it fully one has to have a good grasp of half a dozen variables, including not just economics, but history, politics, banking, investing and consumer trends/ habits. But such complexity and nuance don't play well on TV where the ten-second sound bite rules.

Getting back to the presidential election, I think one of the biggest reasons you see such emotionally driven divisions and arguments among people is because people rely on vastly different news sources for their information.

No one wants the economy to tank. No one wants freedoms to be eroded. No one wants the U.S. to lose respect in the world. We ALL can agree on those principles.

But due to the corrosive effects of bad TV news, no one has any agreement at all about how to get there from here. Sadly, it's not just that people disagree cordially, but rather I see people who are ready for a slug fest because they are convinced the other side is leading us all down the road of destruction. Again, they are driven by the emotionally laden TV news coverage they see. Tension makes for good dramatic TV, but it also makes for huge misunderstandings and divisions that will not easily heal.

Obama/Biden supporters think McCain/Palin policies will ruin the economy, erode freedoms and make the U.S. lose standing in the world.

McCain/Palin supporters are convinced it is the democratic ticket that will take us down that same dark road.

Obviously, both sides can not be right. There is an ultimate truth, but it has been obscured by misinformation.

I do not see these deep divisions as being caused merely by people having different philosophies, like liberal and conservative. Rather, I think it goes way beyond that and people have completely different realities. Where do these vastly different realities come from? The vastly different stories and themes you see repeated by the TV news.

People look to TV news for FACTS. They expect the TV news to give them an accurate picture of what is going on in this crazy world of ours. People then based their thoughts and opinions upon this "reality" presented to them by the TV News.

Guess what? When the "facts" turn out to be false, then the foundation of people's beliefs, (their reality) is also incorrect.

The two competing sides are both working hard to get out their version of the truth. People tend to listen to whatever validates their pre-existing beliefs.

Due to the fact that different news outlets present such vastly different "facts," the end result is a huge chasm between people who essentially want the same thing.

We all want peace and prosperity. But with the emotionally charged deep divisions separating us, that ideal goal might very well remain elusive.

I blame the fact that TV news sucks so badly.

IMHO The Internet Video Gal

to read Part 1 go here: Why TV News Sucks So Badly

Technorati Tags: banking, Internet Video Gal, McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden, TV News, United States, VOTE

Uploading videos to the internet can take TONS of time. Video files are huge and upload speeds can be slow. It takes longer to upload than to download a file of the same size, that’s just the nature of the beast.

It can take fifteen minutes to upload ONE hefty video file. Five minutes for a small file. That’s with a broadband connection. Pity the dial-up user.

Here is the video, please Vote 08:

If you do a lot of video uploads, you HAVE to come up with a faster way or you’ll drive yourself crazy. Not to mention the fact that uploading videos one at a time to the net is a hopelessly inefficient way to spend your time. Boring too!

For me, a Traffic Geyser account has been a lifesaver. Traffic Geyser is a paid service that zaps your video out to multiple sites at once. They have two levels of membership. The $47 level that gives you access to about ten video sharing sites and the $97 level gives you access to about 40 video sharing sites. They also include some social networking sites and podcast channels.

You upload only once. Traffic Geyser does the rest.

EMERGENCY STRIKES!
I just experienced a freak-out emergency where Traffic Geyser made the difference between being able to get my videos uploaded and not being able to. It literally saved my video production life!

My home broadband connection went OUT. It wasn’t going to be fixed for an entire week. Crap! No Internet for a week.

I had just stayed up all night producing a funny video spoofing the 2008 presidential election. I was dying to get it up on the web because I thought it had the potential to be very popular. The election was getting close and I was running out of time.

Without a connection at home, I ran down to the local Kinkos to rent out their computer by the hour. Kind of a drag, but I was grateful the option was available.

With my video masterpiece copied over to a DVD in MPEG 4 format, I logged into Traffic Geyser at Kinkos. BOOM! I was able to upload the video, type in all the necessary information for each site, and zap it out to every site available to me all within about ten minutes.

IF I HAD TO UPLOAD THE VIDEOS ONE AT A TIME, I WOULD HAVE BEEN AT KINKOS FOR ABOUT TEN HOURS.

Seriously.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A BORING, TEDIOUS, TEN HOUR JOB TOOK TEN MINUTES.

Plus, I set Traffic Geyser to re-send out everything one day later. Traffic Geyser will automatically change the file format of the one MPEG 4 I uploaded to make the video sharing sites think it is a completely different video. Plus, I altered the titles and keyword tags slightly to further that little trick.

So, that effectively doubled the amount of video I was sending out over the internet but it only took an extra minute or two with Traffic Geyser.

SO, I REALLY ACCOMPLISHED TWENTY HOURS OF WORK IN ONLY TEN MINUTES. THANKS TO TRAFFIC GEYSER.

Holy File Format Batman! I can not think of anything else in the world that can save so much time.

If I had to upload them one at a time, I’d still be down there at Kinkos, frustrated and bored. But as it is, I’m about to call it a day and crawl in bed.

If you are serious about using video in your web marketing, you simply have to get a Traffic Geyser membership.

It’s not a gimmick; it’s not hype. Traffic Geyser saves you TONS of time and increases your efficiency by leaps and bounds.

Yes, there are some free services that do a similar thing. But they do not provide nearly the number of video sharing sites that Traffic Geyser does. And the ability to re-send the video a day or a week later is unbeatable. Traffic Geyser also helps you produce simple, videos with easy to use, over the web tools.

I love my Traffic Geyser account. I could not efficiently run a web video business without it.

If you haven’t checked out Traffic Geyser yet, do yourself a favor and go see what saving time and money with internet video upload is all about. You will definitely be glad you did.

Technorati Tags: broadband, internet video upload, Kinkos, MPEG, social networking sites, web video

Some split testing research emailed to me from Internet marketer Russell Brunson’s website, Dot Com Secrets, shows an incredible 98.9% chance that video will outperform any other method, text, images, or audio.

So it’s clear that video works well. The only problem is that video can be a lot of trouble and many small business owners don’t have time to learn how to make video.

I have a solution.

Video Marketing Express is the new website I am going to launch within a month. If you sign up, you will have access to download any one of twenty or more videos I have produced for you. I will constantly be adding more and members will have access to them all.

The videos at Video Marketing Express will be designed specifically for squeeze pages, sales pages and customer relations. Each one is flashy and impressive. (If I do say so myself.)

Many of the videos at video marketing express will be 100% complete, all you have to do is download them and use them however you want. Professional narration, royalty free music, sound effects, graphics, images and backgrounds are all edited together in a neat package using a proven sales theme.

You can also customize the videos so they will look like they were made especially for you. If you want, you can add your own narration and speak directly to your customers. But if you do not have the capacity to record your own narration, the videos can be downloaded with either a male or a female voice track already in place.

You can also add your own graphics to give your web address, or you can just use the ones I provide, which are generic. It’s your choice, it just depends on how much video production you want to get into.

In addition to fully completed videos, video marketing express will offer lots of video “pieces” that could be used to enhance any video you produce yourself. Let’s say you want to make a talking head video of yourself to introduce yourself to your customers. You will be able to take the graphics and other pieces I provide, slip them on top of your talking head and PRESTO! You have a slick-looking, snazzy professional video with no hassle.

I have several squeeze page videos posted here at video production tips. Take a look at them and let me know what you think, I’d be happy to hear your suggestions.

Thanks for being a subscriber!

Lorraine Grula

Technorati Tags: Internet marketer, video production, web address

EASY TIPS

Anyone who owns an Internet business knows they need to use video in their marketing efforts because video increases sales so dramatically. Video has also been proven to be one of the best methods to foster personal trust and build better relationships with your customers.

Problem is, the average small to medium size business owner has enough to do without worrying about being Cecil B. DeMille.

Video production for the Internet CAN be easy… depending on what you want to do. It’s also true that video can also seem horribly complicated to someone unfamiliar with the process and I think it is unfair for people selling “How-to Make Video” courses to promise it’s all a piece of cake. Then, when people run into trouble, it’s too easy to get discouraged and feel stupid. It’s not you! Video production can definitely be confusing.

Luckily for us all, the easiest videos to make might also be the most effective for business owners. It’s all about trust, right? Easiest way to build that with video is to put yourself on camera and speak sincerely. You don’t have to sound like a TV announcer, in fact it is probably better if you don’t. People are sick to death of slick-talking Barbie and Ken dolls pushing whatever flimsy, plastic gizmo is popular this week.

EASY STEPS TO MAKING YOURSELF A VIDEO STAR

First, decide to do it and take a deep breath. One of the beauties of video is that there’s always Take #953 if that’s what you need to get it right. If you mess up, who cares? No one will ever see it. (The cutting room floor is a dandy place to leave your messes!)

Next, wear clothes that are either solid colors or large patterns. Tiny details like dots or hounds tooth are simply too much information for a digital video signal and will cause an ugly glare.

Wear about 20% more make-up than usual.

Professional men on TV ALWAYS wear make-up, at least foundation. But if you don’t want to, don’t. (The gay ones loved having the excuse!)

Make sure the light falling on your face is brighter than the background light. This is a very common mistake that is easy to correct. Light coming from behind your face will make you look like a silhouette.

Modern cameras do well in low light, a 60 watt bulb a few feet in front of you and a touch off to the side will be enough. Turn all lights behind you off.

Using window light is also an easy way to light video but DO NOT stand in front of the window, place the window in front and to the side so the light falls on your face.

Lighting for video is usually best if it is diffused, or bounced. (White paint inside a light bulb is there in order to diffuse the light which makes it more visually appealing.) If you have no other way to diffuse your light, point it toward the ceiling and let it bounce down on your subject.

Here is a picture I took the other day of a lighting set-up I used during a webinar over the www.covideo.com conferencing system. You can see my web cam on top of the monitor. The 100 watt bulb in my lamp was pointed away from my face and was placed in front and slightly to the left of center. All lights behind me were off. It looked great. That’s me in the red shirt on the far left with the camera in front of my face. The guy above me, Dave Kaminski of www.webvideouniversity.com, stands out even better with his black background.

For sound, it’s always best to use a microphone that can be close to your mouth. That usually means you need to plug a supplemental microphone into your camera as you record. But if you don’t have one, go ahead and use the mic on your camcorder. Turn off ALL extraneous noise. Put the camera no further than 3-4 feet from you and speak loudly, directly into the camera. If you do all that, the on-camera mic will pick up decent sound.

So there you have it, starring in your own internet marketing video is not that hard and it is sure to help your business.

Videos that go beyond a head shot can be trickier and more time-consuming to produce. That’s why I am busily putting together some that you will be able to download and put on your website. Instead of merely teaching you to make fancy videos, I decided you might like it if I just went ahead and put the things together myself so you didn’t have to bother.

In other words, here’s a fish, honey… on a silver platter. Don’t bother baiting the hook yourself, this fish is cooked and ready to chow down on.

Here is a sample video and a favorite of mine:

If you want to see a preview of all the videos, go check out my You Tube channel where I have posted eight squeeze page videos.

VideoProductionTips on YouTube

Drop me a line at VideoProductionTips@gmail.com and let me know what you think.

Thanks for being a subscriber!

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal

Technorati Tags: Cecil B. DeMille, Dave Kaminski, digital video, Internet Video Gal, Lorraine Grula

No wonder. It’s the hottest form of communication EVER.

Tons of information exists for you to learn how to make your own internet videos, but when I look through a lot of it, I can see why people complain that it’s too complicated.

So much of the info I see does not do a good job of explaining the practical things people really need to know. You really do not need to get bogged down in techno mumbo jumbo but so many of the articles I see do that…no wonder people get frustrated. How cool would be, to simply push the:

The mission of this blog is to help you learn video without turning it into a major hassle. I’ve got lots of articles and free video tutorials. My two free ebooks will help too. Click here to sign up for How to Make Web Videos Like a Pro and the bonus ebook, Video Editing 101.

But in addition to all that, I have been planning on putting together a comprehensive course with about 15 hours worth of material.

Problem is, I haven’t gotten around to it yet. ?

You probably need to learn NOW, not whenever I get around to it, so here’s what you can do. Check out Web Video University.

Web Video University has an incredible course you can take online that will teach you everything you need to know about how to make marketing videos for the web. Web Video University has hours and hours of high quality, easy-to-understand video tutorials that you can watch anytime you want over the net.

The price is reasonable at $397. For the amount of training you get, it’s worth it. Go check it out. If you want comprehensive, in-depth video production training, Web video University is some of the best you will find.

Technorati Tags: Make Web Videos Like a Pro, videoproductiontips, Web Video University