In case you have been living under a rock the last month or so, the above video is of 6th grader Greyson Chance singing Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi which has amassed over 20 million views in just over a month since its initial YouTube upload.

Greyson has went from being an ordinary 12 year kid, to appearing on the Ellen Degeneres show, to inspiring her to create her own record label eleveneleven and signing him as its first artist.

Before online video came along this kind of thing never happened, as it took years to build a brand and attract mass attention. In today’s world this is happening on a fairly regular basis, and I believe talent will come more and more from online video breakout stars.

What company needs an entire talent recruiting department now that anyone can discover a star in the making from their home computer? The talent landscape is certainly changing faster than ever before, so if you want to get noticed, forget about the egotistic dinosaurs who say “sign with me and I’ll make you a star kid” and get yourself out there for the world to see.

Perhaps you have individual talent, but still need to surround yourself with others who can help create your video and effectively tell your story. If you feel you are an up and comer in the entertainment industry, then grab a free Spidvid profile and let us and our community help you reach your goals.

Jeremy Campbell News Chance, Ellen Degeneres, Greyson, Greyson Chance, Lady Gaga, music, online video, Paparazzi, performer, piano, singer, song, talent, The Ellen Show, web video, YouTube

I recently had the opportunity of interviewing Adrian Pedrin Valencia, who is an award winning director from Big Road Media. This is part one of a three part series.

1. How is video production evolving in this new media world?

Production is evolving faster than ever before, and is getting pretty fun too. Right now there are so many options for every type of budget using multiple techniques, every day we are getting a wider selection of cameras to experiment with, and better quality compression codec’s to utilize. The key to cameras is to figure out their strengths and weaknesses so you can choose the optimum tools for your projects. We now even have a 3D camera for 21,000 dollars on the way, and to think that just a few years back you needed at least two $100,000 cameras side by side to get even a little bit of that effect. 3D cameras are changing the production world as we know it, and it won’t be long before the average video creator can afford to purchase one.

2. How does access to low cost tools, equipment, and software make video production easier?

They make creating your vision on screen very easy and affordable, it also makes experimenting easier due to the fact that you can figure out cost effectively what a camera can do or can’t do without spending a fortune. The video production business is getting a lot more accessible to many more people, and the business economics are opening up new possibilities and opportunities.

3. How important is collaboration to video production going forward?

It’s key, because I believe that if everyone does their job and concentrate all their energy on their specific responsibilities, the team will get a much better result collectively. Most importantly collaborating helps you network, and no matter how much you know in this business or how much equipment you own, you are nothing without connecting to others. Networking gets you new project opportunities, and when done effectively collaborating makes everyone’s life easier throughout the entire production process.

4. Is creating videos becoming more of a hobby than it used to be?

Yes, going back to the reality of ever more affordable tools and software, you can buy a decent HD camera for roughly 600 dollars, buy a Mac mini for another 600 dollars, and that’s all you really need to make decent video content as a hobby. Good editing software comes pre-installed on the Mac, and software for editing also comes on standard PC’s too. The technology practically comes free, and these free pieces of software make it very easy for anyone to edit and output polished videos to please all types of audiences.

5. If a video production team only has $100 to spend on their short film, how should they allocate those very limited funds?

That is a tough question because every project has different needs, so I’m going to answer this question the way I would spend $100 on one of my shoots. I would rent lighting equipment because lighting equipment is, apart from audio, one of the most important aspects of video production to make it look as professional as possible. That’s just me, but someone else may say to use the funds on props for their shoot, or rent costumes, it all depends on what the project specs and end goals are.

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Jeremy Campbell Lists, resources adrain pedrin valencia, answers, hints, how to, interview, online video, production, production hints, q & a, questions, tips, video production

The definition of “crowdsourcing” according to the collaborative writing community over at Wikipedia is: a neologistic portmanteau of “crowd” and “outsourcing” for the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to a large group of people or community through an open call. In a simpler form I would say it’s the aggregation of talent completing a task together as a team without corporate restriction.

However you want to interpret the meaning of crowdsourcing is up to you, but just understand that the model is changing every form of business in today’s world. Need to crowdsource to raise money for your film, or another important project? Then check out KickStarter. Need an answer to a question you have? Tap the community at Yahoo Answers, or if you have an engaged following then Twitter can work quite well for this too.

If you want to crowdsource video production where do you turn to? I was at an event last night called Startup Drinks which brings together investors and entrepreneurs, and I was trying to explain what Spidvid was all about to a lawyer. I kept my explanation fairly simple (or so I thought) but the concept still alluded him, so I simply said “Spidvid uses a crowdsourced like approach so individuals can create entertaining videos together.” He pretty much picked up on that right away, so I thought what better post to write today than sharing that story.

If our community, and the media want to think of Spidvid as a crowdsourcing platform for video production that’s fine with me. All I care about is that the idea of Spidvid is understood well enough so that it can be effectively spread from one person to the next, and eventually become a meme.

If a crowdsourcing approach interests you for your next video or film project, then quickly grab a Spidvid profile and tap into our production community for the talent you need.

Jeremy Campbell Visionary, community actor, aggregation, community, concept, crowdsource, crowdsourcing, director, editor, filmmaker, model, new media, platform, production, social media, special effects, video collaboration, video creation, video creator, video production, video project, writer

Do you and your friends create videos together as a team for recreational purposes? Maybe you’re in a film college and you create a new video every week, month, or semester with your classmates? If you create video entertainment within a team structure then you either can’t likely manage the project very well online, or fairly credit your team members for the work they do, or both.

I keep rethinking about the value our platform provides to collaborative teams and their video content, and it seems like many individuals out there understand the impact Spidvid can have on their hobby or career, but fail to lead a project. I believe it’s because we have been trained that all we can do online is get a YouTube account and upload a video to our account, and then share it with others. This pretty much neglects and fails to give credit to our team members who helped to create the video with us in the first place.

A large percentage of videos out there on the web today were created by teams, but from the outside looking in it appears that one person did everything. When studios do this kind of thing we understand that there were lots of people behind the show or movie, but when we see an unknown “By: creator name” we assume they are some sort of mega solo talent or something. Sure videos have credits but names and associated titles don’t do much to fairly credit or acknowledge anyone really. Heck most viewers don’t ever see the end of the video.

Spidvid provides the framework needed to fairly showcase everyone behind the project, by allowing the team to release the video together as humans versus using an obscure username that nobody cares about. If you are looking to release your video entertainment in a more effective way by properly partnering with your team, then get a Spidvid profile and manage your next project through our platform.

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Jeremy Campbell Visionary, community collaboration community, collaboration team, collaborative team, community, framework, new media, new media model, new solution, next-gen media, platform, social media, spidvid, team released video, team vs individual, video community, video production, video production team, video team

There has never been a better time in the history of mankind to create videos, and there has never been a lower cost way to market your videos to viewers across the world than now.

Most of us are on the popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, but from the updates and tweets I read on a regular basis, very few people leverage these marketing outlets effectively.

I’m not saying that I’m a social network marketing genius or anything but I pay close attention to the links my followers click on, and which ones they don’t. I think that promoting your videos via social networks is a great opportunity to take advantage of, but perhaps the biggest tip I can offer is to not always be pushing your own content, you need a mix of other’s work too. In order to receive attention you need to provide attention, so your posts can’t be about you constantly shouting out to the world “look at me, look at what I’ve done, look at what I’ve created.”

Some key benefits for promoting your videos through social networks:

• Increase awareness and interest in your videos
• Establish and develop positive word of mouth
• Grow your viewing audience
• Save money on advertising, the main cost is a time investment
• Develop a grassroots following and fan base.

When promoting and marketing your videos through online social networks you need to really focus on using good metadata. Your title is the most important piece of metadata for each of your videos, so you will want to choose a title that’s so irresistible that viewers can’t help but click on your link. Video descriptions are also very valuable pieces of content so provide interesting information, and be sure to include a back link to your website or blog. Tags usually get overlooked by many video creators but can have a dramatic impact on view count. I know of a video creator who tagged their video “thriller” the day before Michael Jackson died and the very next day the video reached 1 million views. That was purely luck and timing, but this should help you understand the importance of tagging your videos. Take the time with metadata because what many video creators do is spend hours creating their video, and then spend less than a minute on their metadata which is bad because this is how most viewers discover new videos to watch.

For maximum effectiveness it helps to use a solid team approach when promoting videos through multiple social networks. If you want to build or join a team to help create and market a video, why not get a Spidvid profile and leverage the talent of our production community.

Jeremy Campbell Lists, resources audience, exposure, film production, marketing, new media, promoting, social leverage, social media, social networks, team production, video collaboration, video production, viewers