2011 was a year when online video took another big step forward. Just a couple years ago you couldn’t talk about online video without hearing the word “user generated content.” That term seems to be on the way out as more and more quality video entertainment is getting created for distribution.
Video production value is starting to matter more and more to viewers online, which bodes well for our collaborative video production community who create and produce “mid-tail” video entertainment.
Some videos are shot on a mobile phone, uploaded, and go on to find large audiences, but unless you have a talented cat or capture a remarkably random life moment then chances are your unedited videos won’t get many views. If a video creator and his or her team don’t spend a decent amount of time on their content it really shows through, and audiences don’t spend much time watching their content as a result.
It’s now 2012, a new year, and an opportunity for a fresh start to explore new and interesting video projects. I got an email from a video creator on January 1st stating that his new years resolution was to create videos that viewers love and are proud to share with their friends and family. This guy has a perfect mindset heading into 2012! Don’t waste your valuable time developing video projects that you aren’t proud of, and aren’t passionate about as you will create a video that even you don’t want to watch. Delete your worst project ideas and stories, and leave them behind in 2011 where they belong!
If you have a killer video or film project you want to launch then get a Spidvid profile and post your Spidvid project, or you can join teams who are collaborating on Spidvid projects by bidding on them. 2012 holds tons of potential for developing new and original video content as audiences are exploding and eager to consume it. If you need to build a team of partners and collaborators then keep our Spidvid platform and community in mind, and don’t be shy to tap into their super powers.
We wish you and your video projects a very prosperous 2012!
All too often video creators and producers want to use the same production teams over and over again. Is talent recycling a good long-term strategy? I explore this often overlooked topic below.
4 reasons why switching up your video production teams is a good idea:
1. Safe is risky – Quite honestly it’s a big pain and challenging problem building teams around video and film projects. So what many video creators and producers do is save time by just using their same local talent, without exploring opportunities outside their city. Call it a “team building comfort zone” or whatever term you want to use, but bottom line is that having a core team is perhaps a good idea for stability reasons, but learning to be flexible for attracting outside talent can be very beneficial for your projects. Sometimes good things take time!
2. Fresh perspectives – Teams can get stagnant, so bringing in even one or two new members for every project can help liven things up a little, and ignite more conversations that ultimately beat a better path towards the end goal. Individuals who challenge the status quo should be at the very top of your list.
3. More resources to draw from – Raw human talent is a wonderful thing, and so too are the assets which each member brings to the table. Some examples are videographers who have their own cameras and lighting, producers who have money to invest, composers who have sound equipment, etc. When bids are made on Spidvid projects we always urge the talent who are bidding to specify what they can contribute in terms of skill set, and any equipment, tools, props, or software they have at their disposal.
4. New connections – When you attract new members to your teams the chances are good that a few of them will be valuable connections beyond video projects. As a small non video production example, I’ve been offered places to stay should I decide to visit San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London, New Zealand, and even Australia. Harness these relationships, and never burn bridges if things don’t go according to plan.
Build the teams you need for your video entertainment projects, join our Spidvid community to gain access to a vast pool of talent from across the world that wants to collaborate with you on developing your content!
Do you have a 5th reason to add? The comments are yours below!
You could watch videos and films for hundreds of hours and study each of their elements into exhaustion. You could read dozens of books on filmmaking. You could listen to podcasts on how filmmakers made their first feature film, and what they learned along the way. Or you could write a script, grab a camera, team up with some actors and other talent you need, and get out there and start creating content.
Far too often we want to learn everything we can before jumping into something new. The best thing you can (likely) do is learn the fundamentals of the craft you seek to master, and simply get out there to make something and then as Seth Godin says, ship it.
It`s scary starting something new, but to get good at anything I believe you must fail, learn, fail, learn, and then ultimately break through towards finding a path to success. Malcolm Gladwell believes it takes 10,000 hours before mastering anything.
Stay foolish, stay hungry, and get out there and create some entertaining videos, starting with one that`s 1 minute or even just 5 seconds long.
If you need some partners or collaborators then get a creators profile on Spidvid, post a project, connect with our community, and build the team who can help you execute your story`s vision.
Some video creators and filmmakers who post projects on Spidvid wonder why after a week or two only have a couple bids from our community of talent, or none at all. Sometimes it’s not how many bids are received, but the quality of the bid and the individual offering to partner up with you. Just like anything else in life you get out what you put in, so if you don’t invest much time or effort, then in all honesty you shouldn’t expect much in return either. I offer some Spidvid team building tips below.
4 ways to get more and better quality bids on your Spidvid projects
1. Hustle – We offer a built in feature when posting a Spidvid project, where an email gets sent to every relevant individual that may be interested in your project. For example if you need actors for your project, then every Spidvid member with an acting profile gets notified. This has proved to be a fast and effective way to get the word out on new projects, but it’s sometimes not enough. You can easily search for targeted talent on Spidvid, and then reach out to those members or automatically invite them to bid on your project. Do your research and start engaging in conversations and making valuable connections for active, and future Spidvid projects.
2. See Who’s Active – Look at other Spidvid projects to discover who’s bidding, what they are offering towards the project, and what they want in return for their efforts. If you see someone who fits your criteria then send them a message to gauge their interest on your project.
3. Use Social Media – You likely have a few: friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, and contacts on LinkedIn. Our community loves to collaborate with video creators and filmmakers, but sometimes your personal network of connections may be better suited as team members. Tap into your “social graph” and gauge interest from those individuals, in addition to our community to maximize overall results.
4. Ask For Referrals – OK so you’re reaching out directly to the amazing members on Spidvid, but are perhaps having little luck finding ideal fits for your team. If this happens then politely ask for referrals, because someone may very well have the ideal contact in mind for you. It never hurts to ask, don’t be shy, as we have a very friendly community to engage with!
These are just 4 easy ways to improve your team building efforts on Spidvid, both short and long term.
I connected with Matthew Giegerich recently, who’s a talented co-creator (along with Chelsea Mize) behind the “Home At Last” web series which debuts later next month. Watch the hilarious trailer below! So how this post came together is Matt reached out to us via Spidvid to help promote his web series. I get lots of these kinds of requests every day but most don’t excited me. This one really did, and I was most impressed with the fact that Matt attracted many top actors for his web series including William Russ, who many of you know from Boy Meets World, and Jeff Lewis who is best known from The Guild.
I pleaded with him to put together a post so our community could learn how to attract top acting talent to their videos and shows. He graciously did and I’ve posted it below, so big thanks to Matt, and huge congrats to him for getting top tier acting talent in his web series! We anxiously await episode 1 of Home At Last next month.
I think the most important thing we did to get big actors attached to the show, was to have the idea that maybe we could do it. I think that the reason it doesn’t happen more often is probably because creators don’t think it’s possible to get good, recognizable actors to work on their projects.
We actually didn’t even consider it either, until a few recognizable faces sent in their head shots and info through Actor’s Access. At that point, the seed had been planted. What if we could cast whoever we wanted (within reason) for a couple of these roles?
So once we gave ourselves permission to allow ourselves to think that way, we were off. We made a list of all of the actors that could possibly play the role of “Bob” (the homeless guy) on the show.
William Russ was at the top of the list. We all grew up watching him on Boy Meets World, and he’s incredible in American History X. Obviously, we thought it was a long shot, but we contacted him right away. We used IMDBPro to get his contact information. This is a big tool that might be under utilized. Basically you pay 20 bucks a month and you have access to contact info for most actors (well, usually for their representation).
So we got in touch with Russ’s agent, and the agent was a very straight forward guy. He just said “send the script and if he likes it we’ll get back in touch.” I think it was only a couple of days. William enjoyed the script and said it made him laugh out loud, and he wanted to meet with us.
So we met. We didn’t officially have him on board yet, but we had lunch. And we talked about the script, and his involvement, and the kind of tone of what we were going for. He wanted to get some exposure to new media, and we obviously had a ton of knowledge to gain from him (he’s directed a few shows, in addition to having starred on BMW all those years).
But I think William’s curiosity for new media production and the fact that he liked the script are almost entirely why he did the project. And once he came on board he was just as amazing to work with as we all expected. He has such a good sense of timing and rhythm and pacing and blocking – pretty much everything that goes into making a show.
Those contributions were almost bigger than his acting itself. Of course his acting was phenomenal, but between takes he had tons of nuggets of wisdom to share. One thing in particular, and it’s small, but lots of small things really add up… One thing was a problem we were having with an entrance. We needed a character to enter the apartment and close the door quickly. But having him turn even slightly to close the door was messing up the flow of the scene. We were kind of clueless as to how to solve the problem. Then William suggested that he just close the door with his foot. It’s the kind of thing you see on TV all the time and you don’t even notice, but it makes a big difference in the show, and I think we used the foot close on more than one occasion!
Then it was pretty much a similar process for getting Jeff Lewis on board. We had a part that we thought he would be great for, we contacted his agent, he liked the script and took the role.
Another thing that may have helped us with bringing Jeff onto the project is that we were using a great director (Stephen Sprinkles) who worked on an IFC web series a couple of years back, and has made some really good shorts. We were also using a very talented DP (Chris Darnell) that Jeff had worked with before on both The Guild and The Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour. Darnell has worked a lot in new media, and his work has probably been seen by twenty or thirty or forty million viewers.
So when we contacted Jeff, we definitely mentioned that we already had Darnell on board. I think having that kind of quality assurance goes a long way. I think that actors are sometimes hesitant to work on an online project because stuff online is bad so much of the time. So if you can crew up with really talented, established people, better known actors might come on board because they know that you will turn out pro-quality work.
