Travis Gordon is a video creator who manufactured the brilliant fantasy action web series Spellfury which has now amassed over 3 million views throughout its incredible existence! In addition to being a web series creator, he also teaches others on how to promote their videos to receive more views, comments, likes, subscribers, and love.

Spidvid has sponsored his latest video “How To Promote Your Videos –  Collaboration Edition” and it’s a worthwhile watch to learn how to collaborate with other talent to improve your production and entertainment quality, and how to leverage each other’s networks to drive more video views, and attract more overall attention for your team’s content.

If you create videos that may interest us to sponsor, please contact us and let us know how we can mutually benefit together.

Jeremy Campbell community, resources, video blog actors, boost numbers, collaboration, collaborative, community, contest, creation, creators, directors, distribution, episode, film, get, how, how to, howto, increase, Internet, leverage, marketing, members, more views, nalts, network, new media, newmedia, open, production, Promote Videos, promote your videos, promotion, secrets, social web, spidvid, subscribers, subscriptions, succeed with video, team, tips, traffic, tumblr, video, video success, viewers, viral, vlog, website, writers, YouTube

Comedy writer for FunnyOrDie, Scott Gairdner, recently retired from creating YouTube videos. He could’ve gone out with a bang by releasing one of his notoriously hilarious videos on his YouTube channel, but instead he chose to let his replacement, the “New Scott Gairdner”, enter with a bang of his own. Check out this hilarious vlog, which by itself, makes a statement about the current batch of vloggers who are dominating the YouTube charts these days.

The “New Scott Gairdner” is actually Stephen Grossman from Steezyluck Comedy, who also have a nice collection of original comedy videos on their YouTube channel that you should check out.

Perhaps vlogging can be seen as a cheap shot to hacky-editing, self-absorbed, “ce-web-rity”-type of individuals or even a ”cavalry call” to content creators for a new online video battle of vloggers vs. entertainment professionals, or maybe not, but either way this content is certainly good for a chuckle, so enjoy!

Do you create vlogs? Tell us below in the comments on how you create them, and what motivates you to be a vlogger.

Jeremy Campbell Guest Post communication, content, creators, expression, new media, producers, video creation, video production, viewers, vlogger, vlogs, vocal, YouTube

I recently tweeted out via Spidvid’s Twitter account that we were looking for talented web series creators and producers to do email interviews with. A few talented individuals fitting that description reached out and wanted to be part of the campaign.

My first interview was a collaboration with Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, the creators behind the web series “Broad City”. I took each of their answers, mixed them up, and turned them into content for you to learn from. Enjoy the interview below.

1. What are the biggest challenges in creating a web series?

Abbi – For one, it’s challenging to create a web series with no budget! I think the most difficult thing is figuring out the relationships between the characters, and how to maintain them in various situations. Being confident that you have a story worth telling is key to getting everyone on the same page.  Any collaboration can be difficult, and figuring out our process as a team has been both interesting and tricky over the last nine months. What roles do each of us have, and how do we brainstorm ideas and execute them to complete the end product.

Ilana – I think the biggest challenge was finding the right director and editor to round out our team. The series started as just the two of us, and so we decided to make the most of the situation by trying out as many directors and editors as we could, kind of like how Six Feet Under rotates directors. This was of course not optimal, but we learned a lot from that experience, and it led us to our third member, Rob Hugel. As much as we wanted to keep it purely us two and our own dynamic, we learned that shit is going to change. In fact, that’s still something we’re learning about, enabling us to focus on the core tasks we’re good at, and letting others do what we’re not quite as skilled at.

2. Was collaboration between team members integral to the success of your production projects?

Abbi and Ilana – Absolutely, collaboration is the project. This process started out as a conversation in a pizza shop by just bouncing ideas off of each other. Creating that dynamic between these two ‘characters’ was something we had figure out by spending a ridiculous amount of time together. About half way through, we changed the way the series is produced. We now meet about 2 times a week to go over ideas about future projects, and how we can reach more people with our story. We have worked with a bunch of different directors, cast and crew, and found those collaborations to be refreshing to the show by bringing in different perspectives. The last couple months have been very interesting, and our team is working better and better together to constantly improve the show with each episode.

3. Is finding talent which bodes well for web series hard to find?

Abbi and Ilana – I would assume that for the average web series creator it would be challenging to find the right talent to work with, but we are fortunate to be based in the middle of the most talented pool of actors and production crew in New York City. If anything, it has been hard for us to narrow down the list of who we want on our team, as we adore and admire lots of skilled people.

4. Is film school needed to become a star in the video or film industries?

Abbi and Ilana – Completely unnecessary, you don’t even need your own camera! However, film school may help with grooming students to understand the importance of telling interesting stories that viewers want to watch. The created content and delivery is most important, so not everyone involved necessarily has to go to film school. Every team needs some technical knowledge and experience though, so whether that comes from a formal education or not is up to the individual.

5. What will the web series landscape look like in 2015, and how will it evolve from its current state today?

Abbi -I think web series exposure will only grow from here, and more and more valuable platforms will become available for creators and producers to leverage. The challenging part is competing for viewer attention against the plethora of new web series released now and in the future. And with everyone’s attention spans increasingly diminishing, that’s another challenging element to take into consideration.

Ilana – I have NO IDEA. Actually, I think that mankind will be wiped out in 2012. If it isn’t though, then I think that 90% of all content on TV will have originally existed on the Internet first.

I thank Abbi and Ilana for the interview, for their insights, time, and kindness. If you aren’t already, be sure to have our future interviews and posts delivered to your email inbox, or get them through your favorite RSS reader.

Jeremy Campbell Lists, community Abbi, answers, Broad City, content, create, creators, directors, editors, email, experience, grow, Ilana, information, interview, knowledge, learn, new media, online show, online video, producers, questions, story, teach, video, web series, web show, web video

We’ve been getting the same type of question lately from potential future Spidvid members, and individuals who already have an account. Users are getting into their accounts, uploading their picture, and filling out their profile but then wonder, what is next?

It’s easy when you log onto Facebook or MySpace because you upload pictures and/or videos and then you are well on your way. While Spidvid is a type of social network, it’s also a platform for connecting with other like-minded individuals to form on-demand production teams, and producing videos together. This process is a bit more involved than uploading a picture so it’s understandable that it’s taking awhile for users to understand how to get started.

If you are a creator think up a production project, or better yet write a script for it and then post it on our site outlining the talent you need, what stage the project is in, and your goals for the video.

If you are an actor, videographer, or another type of talented professional wanting to join a production team, hang in there because projects are coming soon. Our creators are in the learning stage right now. In the meantime why not engage with others to see what they are interested in for working on in the near future, you may find some common ground to create a new project.

Nothing happens in life without taking initiative, so don’t be shy, learn to become a leader and just get started. Starting something is scary because we are all afraid of failing so we can be reluctant to try something new, but life is all about failing and then learning from those failures to do bigger and better things. We’re not saying you will fail in your first few projects on our site, but over time you will certainly understand how to improve your experience, and become an elite Spidvid member.

If you a current Spidvid member why not start making use of your account and start producing video content you couldn’t otherwise do alone. If you don’t have a Spidvid account then you should quickly grab one and show others how it’s done.

Stay updated on all future Spidvid blog posts via email or through your favorite reader via RSS.

Jeremy Campbell News actors, creators, Facebook, how, leadership, MySpace, online video, production teams, spidvid, videographers, web video

Video production has long been viewed as expensive but valuable, since video is the most engaging and richest form of content in our media world today. If a picture is worth a 1,000 words as the famous quote goes, then a video must be worth at least 100,000 words.

The problem for video creators and producers is that production is costly because traditionally, individuals want to be paid for their work. This makes perfect sense because to provide for oneself and ones family, money is certainly a necessity. For decades now we have witnessed an employer/employee relationship in the production space where one pays and one receives, but what happens when a partnership model emerges to provide a relatively new approach.

Many individuals work on company’s video projects for money, but there’s more to life than just money, and so personal passion projects are becoming more and more intriguing as hobbies.

So lets go over the two scenarios here.

Scenario #1

On the one hand creators and producers pay out money to obtain talent, retain 100% ownership in their content but that makes for a risky strategy since only a small percentage of videos go on to find a large audience, and turn a profit. Let’s also not forget that paying people for doing work usually means that a) they are nowhere near as passionate about the project as the payer is, and b) there is little incentive to do an outstanding job because a personal content ownership stake doesn’t exist.

Scenario #2

On the other hand if creators and producers choose not to pay their talent (or pay very little), but make each member a partner by giving them an ownership stake, then each individual is motivated to do their very best, the project is interesting to everyone involved otherwise they wouldn’t be part of it in the first place, and the project’s financial risk is vastly reduced.

Of course scenario #2 won’t work well for major projects that take months or years to complete, but for the evenings when the day job is over and when some free time on the weekends is available, then this option makes a lot of sense. A donation of time is given in exchange for a video that can be used as leverage to build up ones personal profile/brand, and a share in whatever credit and revenues result.

Scenario #2 is of course where Spidvid fits into. Our social platform was developed to empower new video project opportunities that are traditionally hard to create, discover, and be part of.

So if you are a talented creator, actor, writer, videographer, editor, or another production talent, and want to partner up with other like-minded individuals like yourself on collaborative projects, then you should join our community.

Also, if you are interested in sponsorship for your future project we are seeking investments into some original content. The stipulations are that you have to collaborate with at least four other individuals, and at least one team member has to be outside your continent to outline the true global nature of Spidvid’s platform. The video should also be between 2-5 minutes in length. If a sponsorship opportunity makes sense for your next project, be sure to contact us and submit a short proposal outlining how a deal is mutually beneficial for all involved.

Stay updated on all our future blog posts, subscribe via email or RSS

Jeremy Campbell News actors, animation artists, creators, editors, free, how to, individuals, join our community, partnerships, producers, production team, spidvid, sponsorship, talent, videographers