It’s always an incredible thing to be recognized for what you build and contribute to the world! We were recently notified that we were voted Best of 2011 by Daddy Van Productions. Daddy Van Productions produce amazing concert videos each year, and do many other video productions as well. These guys love what they do, respect other companies who contribute to the industry, and as such want to publicly recognize those contributions and efforts.

Spidvid was firmly on their list this year, and here’s what they had to say about us:

Spidvid.com is a necessary resource for filmmakers. Young filmmakers. Filmmakers that want to make it in the industry. Their online community and blog feature some of the better insights into how to build a career as a filmmaker. Video production is an industry that can take you a number of places: directing TV spots, acting, dramatic film, and even concert videos. Spidvid offers those producers who are just starting out an otherwise unattainable resource.

We are honored that Daddy Van Productions thought of us, and really love what they do in video production as well. They have collaborated with some of the world’s biggest bands including: Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith, Maroon 5, Motley Crue, Rascal Flatts, Dave Matthews Band, and countless others, so it certainly is humbling that they gave us the big nod. Thanks guys, rock on!

Techstars, YCombinator, and a few other startup company incubators have launched since 2007. As a result, many amazing startups have been conceived, built, grown, and in some cases sold, including: SocialThing, DailyBurn, SendGrid, OnSwipe, BrightKite, EventVue, Filtrbox, IntenseDebate, Oneforty, Graphic.ly, Next Big Sound, Like.fm, Posterous, and many, many others.

Just recently, I got great news that I was accepted into the very first INcubes incubator based in Toronto. I was instantly thrilled because I knew it would be very beneficial to Spidvid, and it’s parent company (Socially Collaborative Media, Inc.) which I founded. INcubes is a 3 month program for startup entrepreneurs, with the purpose of helping to grow and get young companies that strive to change the world funded.

My goals for the program:

- Raise angel funding shortly after completing the program.

- Connect, collaborate, and hopefully partner with the entrepreneurs and startups in the program.

- Grow Toronto’s startup ecosystem as a whole.

I have graduated from a previous entrepreneurship program, so with that valuable experience I know I can get so much more out of this higher stakes program, be a leader of my class, become a mentor for future classes, and help strengthen/evangelize the program going forward.

With Spidvid 2 being built right now, INcubes starting on December 5th, and continually growing traction in our active Spidvid community, I feel like 2012 is setting up to be a huge year!

To our US subscribers, followers, fans, and especially our community members: Have a fun and entertaining Thanksgiving, and thanks for being part of our new media movement!

Big things are happening at Spidvid! Stay in the loop by getting all new Spidvid blog posts delivered to your inbox.

I love sharing content that I feel has value to filmmakers, video creators, and members of our Spidvid community. Russ Pond recently reached out to me to give me the inside scoop that he was releasing a new ebook to help video creators in the marketing video area, an area where so many individuals struggle to produce successful results.

This ebook is packed full of research, stats, stories, and of course juicy tips and advice for creating marketing videos that cut through the clutter and get your brand in front of targeted viewers. To get it, all you need to do is visit the ebook’s page, and send out a tweet to download “6 Steps To Producing a Successful Marketing Online Video” for free!

6 Steps Ebook Teaser:

1. Conveying a clear message.

2. Creating a persuasive call to action.

3. Focusing on production excellence.

4. Maximizing video optimization.

5. Considering multiple distribution channels.

6. Tracking your videos across the web.

Now that your interest has been piqued, go download the valuable ebook now, and if you have something to say about its content then please comment below. Or you can reach out to Russ directly via his website.

About the author, Russ Pond (in his own words)

Since the mid 90′s, I’ve been producing and directing corporate video projects for a variety of clients, including a handful of Fortune 500 companies. Other producers often contact me with questions about budgeting, client relationships, workflow, cameras, equipment, crew structure, contracts, business structure, accounting and other questions. So, I decided to share my resources for those interested in the business of corporate video production. My hope for this site is to provide a stream of resources to help those in the freelance production business or those interested in getting into this business.

I’ve worked on both sides of the fence. I spent 16 years working for two Fortune 500 companies in their marketing department. I was the one hiring video production companies for a variety of projects. I’ve worked with high-end ad agencies, marketing consultants and the smaller production companies. In 1996, I bought my first editing system — a Media 100 — and started learning the art of media production. Shortly after that, someone actually paid me to produce a short presentation for them. My first paying project! That excitement sent me down a path of learning where today I now run my own production company, Top Pup Media.

Since launching into the corporate video production business, I have produced projects for Nokia, AT&T, MasterCard, Haggar, Uniden, IndyCar, and a handful of other large clients. I’ve also produced, directed and edited a full-length, feature film called “Fissure“. I also recently finished work on a new television show called “Marry Me Again” that we are starting to shop around to networks.

A couple years ago, I took an assessment called “Strengths Finder” and with the help of a certified Strengths Finder coach, I learned quite a bit about the way I’m wired. My top five strengths are Learner, Relator, Responsibility, Individualization and Belief. Why do I share that? My top strength is Learner. I love to learn. I get a buzz when I learn. I look for opportunities to learn. And, I hope that this site will be an outlet for me to share all that I’ve learned about corporate video production.

Announcing the 2nd annual Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival which we are proud to sponsor again this year!

What is this film festival all about? The Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival is a young film festival that will highlight independent films from around the corn fields of the Midwest. The film festival is to honor the independent drive Film Makers of the Midwest have to create films without the support of the Hollywood machine. All the films shown will have no funding from Hollywood and will have a completely independent voice. The Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival will also be a chance for film makers of the Midwest to come together and network together, thus improving their ability to make impressionable films.

The 2012 event is on April 15th in Urbana, IL, submissions are free and will be accepted until February 20th, 2012. If you have a web series, a short film, or a feature length film, you can submit your content here. There are some great prizes to be won including a feature across our entire network for all winners! Here are the winners from last year, and below is our personal favorite entitled “Bedtime For Timmy” which is a very cute short animated film by Thomas Nicol.

Bedtime For Timmy from Thomas Nicol on UnleashVideo

We are proud to be a sponsor of this fun, new, and exciting film festival, not just because of the event itself but because of the wonderful people behind it too. Cheers to the filmmakers, viewers, organizers, and everyone else involved with Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival, 2012.

Over the past few months we have been internally debating what Spidvid 2’s product should do and look like. And now we open the debate to you, what would you like to see in the 2nd version of Spidvid?

We are rewriting Spidvid 1 from the ground up, improving and simplifying video project work flow, making it easier to connect to like-minded talent, adding social and collaboration features, coming up with a slick creative design, and have some other intriguing ideas baking in the oven too.

We already have a unique collaborative product and fast growing community, but need your help to continue to revolutionize and fuel our open video production movement. If you want a feature added, want a feature removed, have a user interface design opinion, or anything else that’s inside your head for the future of Spidvid, then let your voice be heard.

If we add anything to Spidvid 2 which you suggest, we will send you a Spidvid gift bag full of goodies!

Add a comment below, tweet us, add an update to our Facebook fan page, or email us. We are doing something truly special within the new media space, and hope you’ll join us to continually innovate collaborative video production on a global scale.

Spidvid 2 is set to launch in style early this Fall!

Over the last week and a half, Spidvid.com has been going through some growing pains. Specifically, moving all user profiles, projects, and content over to new servers to improve the performance of our social network for collaborative video production.

95% of all platform functionality is operating perfectly, and 98% of all content has been restored. We expect everything to be fully normal by the end of the week. If you have been affected by this server migration we sincerely apologize. If you are deeply saddened, then send us your mailing address by emailing us so we can send you some of our special Spidvid stickers to cheer you up.

Thanks for understanding, and for being part of our open and collaborative video production movement.

If you don’t yet follow our tweets @Spidvid on Twitter you should because we are always looking to provide value to our followers with video production tips, resources, advice, entertainment, and other 140 character golden nuggets. Here’s our best over the last few days.

• When did he stop acting, he’s in politics after all! 3 Confusing Things About Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Return to Acting
• 3 tips to help your films get seen
• Top Tips for Short Filmmakers
• Acting Tip: Focus on the “other”
• You Can’t Stop Online Video Production
• Q: Are you into online video? Then you HAVE TO attend the SXSW party by TubeFilter
• @CharlieSheen says who needs TV when you have the Web! Sheen’s Korner Already Raking In the Dough
• How to make your very own Film Noir videos
• Humor! The newest YouTube partners video with the Smosh guys
• The ABCs of Tripods: Video 101
• Interested in attending the YouTube Creator Institute?
• Get 33 Final Cut Pro and After Effects Plugins from CoreMelt for Free
• Tutorial – The Basics of Flash Animation

This week’s top video produced by Spidvid’s community is by Thirsty Girl Films with a sweet, romantic, and remarkable stop motion video, enjoy!

A Lost Love Story from Thirsty Girl Films on UnleashVideo

If you don’t yet follow our Twitter page you should because we are always looking to provide value to our followers with video production tips, resources, advice, and other 140 character golden nuggets. Here’s our best over the last 7 days.

• Get more views and attention! How To Promote Your Videos via Spidvid
• @nalts went all out on this post: Models for “Signing” YouTube Creators; Tips for Advertisers, Studios & Stars via Will Video For Food
• 3 Ways How To Become A Filmmaker via Filmmaking Stuff
• New Generation of Filmmakers Turning to Internet, Fans to Finance Projects via The Hollywood Reporter
• The 12 Step Process To Web Series via Spidvid
• Felicia Day breathes fire into ‘Dragon Age’ web series via USA TODAY
• What Video Production Pros Need To Know About Marketing via REELSEO
• Google is in talks to acquire Next New Networks to improve the content quality on YouTube via REUTERS
• Top 5 Tips For Shooting Video Outdoors via YouTube
• How to Make Your Own Short Film via YouTube
• Learn how to shoot a driving scene without needing the assistance of car mounts via FilmRiot
• Are you a corporate video producer? How To Create Videos That Get You Customers via Mixergy
• How to add music and graphics in Final Cut Pro via YouTube
• Apply this knowledge to your Spidvid team! How My Virtual Team Collaborates via Web Worker Daily
• Production Tip of the Day: Oscar award-winning and nominated directors discuss the challenges of marketing a film via YouTube

The top Spidvid project completed/video uploaded this week goes to the team behind “THE BIKER – It’s Okay To Be a Cat Guy” as embedded below. This is the bravest cat ever, a true biker cat!

THE BIKER – It’s Okay To Be A Cat Guy from Michelle Cameron on UnleashVideo

We are proud to sponsor the fabulous New Media Film Festival! They released some big news recently, and so we want to share that information with you today. If you have any questions, feedback, comments about the NMFF event, the comment section is yours. Or you can reach out to the organizers directly by using the contact information listed below.

The New Media Film Festival (NMFF) announced today that this year’s festival will be hosted by Los Angeles Film School (LAFS) featuring two days of events with screenings, panels and red carpet premieres at the new RealD 3-D-enabled main theater. The festival will run from May 20th-21st, 2011 and will feature categories ranging from features to web series, socially responsible content to 3D, and will also include animation and music videos.

The New Media Film Festival is an IMDb qualifier festival helping filmmakers with distribution, monetization and exposure to a wider audience while being judged by top industry leaders. With over $12,000 in prizes and a wide variety of categories for filmmakers to submit to, the Festival highlights the winners in a “Best of” tour while curating their content for future reference and other opportunities.

Industry support for the festival include entertainment and technology professionals from Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar, Summit Entertainment, and United Talent Agency to name a few. “We’re excited to be hosted by the leader of film education at the LAFS this year in their newly equipped 3D-enabled theatre,” said NMFF director Susan Johnston. “We were looking for the perfect venue to showcase this years winners so it was very important for us to have the right facility with the right technology.”

The New Media Film Festival’s list of categories include Mobile, Web Series, Shorts, Animation, iApps, Documentaries, Features, (SRC) Socially Responsible Content, Audience Choice Awards (Online Competition for Web Series), Music Videos, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender), Digital Comics and projects shot in RED or in 3D. NMFF’s deadline for submission for the Los Angeles Festival is April 15, 2011. A list of categories is available at their site www.newmediafilmfestival.com.

The New Media Film Festival is also accepting sponsorships for the festival that will give brands visibility to cutting edge filmmakers, festival audiences and industry professionals via monthly newsletters, social media marketing, red carpet events, industry panels, gift bags, media coverage and visibility on the festival website. Prospective sponsors are encouraged to connect via email info@newmediafilmfestival.com. Sponsorship options are listed at: www.newmediafilmfestival.com/Sponsors.php.

People Are Talking About the New Media Film Festival: “The New Media Film Festival is the Sundance for the Facebook crowd” (Crystal Clear Culture Rehab). The New Media Film Festival has also been recognized by industry leaders for “bringing together top-shelf social media entrepreneurs… for the next decade’s ways of digital, immersive storytelling” (Jay Randy Gordon, Associate Director for the Northern California ScreenArtists and “the future of new media for storytelling is limitless… New MediaFilm Festival… will open your mind to mutiple possibilities” (Frank Colin, Gulture Enterprises).

About New Media Film Festival The New Media Film Festival brings together Industry Professionals and Content Creators across Film, TV, Games, Publishing, Mobile, Web and Tech. Founded by Independent Filmmaker, Susan Johnston and launching in Los Angeles, June 2010, the two-day event features the Best of New Media and includes Short Film, Mobile, Games, Web, iApps, Animation, Technology Platforms, and New Film Technologies. Past screenings have included Sundance, Cannes, Los Angeles and World Premieres as well as the best local Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area talent working in new media. Panel discussions and demos highlight New Technology, Financing & Monetization, the Convergence of Media, and where Traditional Media meets New Media. New Media Film Festival is produced in partnership with Producers Guild of America, NATPE, and other Entertainment Industry organizations. New Media Film Festival is currently accepting submissions at www.newmediafilmfestival.com.

For more information about the Festival and/or sponsorships, please contact Susan Johnston, the Founder, and Director of the New Media Film Festival, at 310-288-1100 or info@NewMediaFilmFestival.com. Visit their website for more information at www.newmediafilmfestival.com. About The Los Angeles Film School The Los Angeles Film School (LAFS) is an accredited college with a campus located in the heart of Hollywood that includes the historic RCA Building at 6363 Sunset Boulevard. The private post-secondary educational degree-granting college, which has quickly become a leading academic center for aspiring filmmakers, offers degrees in film, computer animation, game production and audio with an exceptional curriculum in state-of-the-art facilities. Its campus comprises of over 250,000 square feet dedicated to labs, studios and theaters equipped with the latest technology including Avid, ProTools and Digidesign. Its faculty of industry professionals has earned credits on a number of major motion pictures, video games and albums. Graduates have also been honored as winners in numerous Independent Film Festivals throughout the world and some of their credits include GRAMMY awards and nominations, engineering multi-platinum albums and placing the final touches on theatrical releases. In addition, The Hollywood Reporter named LAFS “One of the best-equipped private learning centers in the country.” For more information about LAFS, please visit www.lafilm.edu or call (323) 860-0789.

Of note, the 2nd Annual New Media Film Festival will be taking place at Los Angeles Film School May 20-21st 2011 (6363 Sunset Boulevard, CA 90028, www.lafilm.edu) SUBMISSIONS: accepted until May 10th REGISTRATION/INFO: www.NewMediaFilmFestival.com New Media Film Festival is dedicated to the creation, development, and distribution of new media content in all forms across platforms. New Media Film Festival: The Best of New Media…Honoring Stories Worth Telling” Contact: Leslie Harris Publicist, Key Practices, Inc. (310) 729-2997 direct pr@keypractices.com

We are always looking for good communities, shows, videos, films, and events to get behind. Damian Pelliccione is heavily involved within the new media scene, and video production world. He successfully organizes a monthly mixer event in downtown Los Angeles called New Media Vault, which brings together hundreds of like-minded individuals working in and around new media.

Damian informed me that he was coming to Toronto in August and mentioned he wanted to do a New Media Vault Toronto event, and wanted me to help him co-organize it. I was on board from that moment on and since then all of the details have been worked out for a Monday, August 23rd event in downtown Toronto. If you reside in or will be in Toronto on that date, then you should definately come out because you will meet some extraordinary people who share the same new media passion you do. And if you’re lucky you may win a door prize, discover a new yummy drink, or meet what could turn out to be your future husband or wife. This isn’t a match maker event, but roof top patios in the summer can be pretty magical at times.

If you have a new media event that we should get behind then please let us know about it on Twitter, Facebook, or in the comments below.