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.

Jeremy Campbell Rant, community creating content, creating videos, filmmakers, filmmaking, get it done, just do it, make something, ship it, talent, team building, video content, video creation, video creators, video production

More and more traditional and newbie filmmakers are jumping into the web series production world, faster than ever before. You may already know why creating a web series is a good idea, but below I list some reasons that you possibly haven’t considered on why creating a web series is definately a solid idea!

1. You can do a lot with very little – Creating a web series is extremely low cost compared to creating a TV series. With more options than ever before for financing and funding a web series, Kickstarter and other donation sites are becoming (some) filmmakers best friends. Sure, raising hundreds or thousands of dollars is never an easy assignment, but if you have a compelling story to tell and can emotionally connect with funding individuals with money to burn, then crowdfunding may work especially well for your project. If you can’t raise the ideal funding you’re looking for from the outside world, then consider hustling for a few bucks from your friends, family, and out of your own pocket to send things into motion. Be scrappy and creative because entertaining videos can be created for little or no money at all, and have the potential to reach millions of viewers across the world.

2. Cross Promotion – Individuals in the web series space are very open to cross promotional ideas if it means growing their audience. If you create a web series look for other shows in your genre and reach out to the creators/producers to strike up some top level marketing conversations. Don’t go overboard though otherwise your viewers will feel used and abused. Try to come off as offering them value for discovering new entertaining content that may interest them to watch and share. Be authentic, and listen.

3. No gatekeepers –  It seems pretty fun and exciting to think about creating a TV series doesn’t it?! The truth is it’s a tough business to get into, the chances of your show getting picked up are pretty much zero percent, and if it does get picked up the chances of it staying “on air” after just one season are slim to none and slim just left the station. With a web series you have lots of freedom, so put together a tight script, and start building your team with members who can visually execute your story and fulfill your vision. If you need to build a team, then consider posting your project on Spidvid to leverage our community’s unique talents and skills.

4. No rules – You don’t need to worry about securing FCC approvals, or bureaucratic stumbling blocks. As long as you don’t break video sharing website’s terms of agreements, then you’re fine. You may want to read up on them real quick before you film anything to make sure your content will fit within their relatively loose restrictions. There may come a day when more red flags are raised forcing you to tone things down a bit, but that time isn’t happening anytime soon so get creative and push the envelop.

5. You may actually succeed – Let’s be honest here; not many web series see big time success. The ones that do have hundreds of thousands or millions of regular viewers, and manage to secure deals with top consumer brands to bake their products directly into the content. Branded entertainment is a fast growing market, so be sure that your content is “brand safe” and that you can easily accommodate a product in your story without disrupting it.

Have a 6th reason to add on why to create a web series? The comments are all yours below!

If this post inspires you to create a web series, then please contact us and share your story!

Don’t miss another Spidvid blog post or article! Get our content delivered to your email inbox, or to your favorite RSS reader.

Jeremy Campbell Lists, resources filmmaking freedom, funding, new media, new opportunities, new possibilities, no gatekeepers, TIFF, video creation, video production, web series, web shows

If someone told me a couple years ago that it was possible to create videos without any cameras I would have thought they were nuts! Fast forward to 2011, and we are seeing new innovative tools being built so new video production possibilities can become realities.

xtranormal is a startup company that’s giving the power to anyone with a computer and internet connection to create video entertainment very quickly, easily, and in a fun way too. How it works: A user selects their desired set, actors, sounds, and writes a script to tell a story then out pops a video. xtranormal even has their very own film festival as sponsored by Microsoft’s Bing product.

While what xtranormal is doing is very impressive for 2011, I believe it’s just the tip of the iceberg for what tools can be built for creating video entertainment with essentially nothing. I heard a quote a few months ago from a studio executive who believes that a future Toy Story movie will be created by a collaborative “amateur” group over a summer. That may be a bit of an exaggeration but truth be told he may not be that far off. Only time will tell!

Below are some short and entertaining animated videos created by xtranormal’s users.

Singles Bar for Bears – A bear tries to pick up another bear without success

Celebz Ranting – Charlie Sheen Goes Off About His Brain and Life (custom created)

Decisions Decisions – iJustine talks to herself inside the Internet

Rainbow Bear has a Frowny

If you are creating a video, or want to create one that can’t currently be done using an online tool, then be sure to get a Spidvid profile and post your project for our community to collaborate on with you. Or if you don’t have a project to post right now, then bid on one that interests you.

Jeremy Campbell Mention, product, resources actors, bing, Charlie Sheen, entertainment, film festival, filmmaking, ijustine, Microsoft, new media, new media platform, production platform, scripts, scriptwriting, sets, story, storytelling, video, video creation, video entertainment, video platform, video tool, videomaking, xtranormal

A few talented filmmakers from our community have posted new projects over the last few days on Spidvid. See them below, and be sure to bid on any that interest you to collaborate on.

1. Hello Future, Music Video Challenge by Richard Boehmcke is looking for a videographer with equipment capable of filming a three and a half minute video for this contest http://vimeo.com/saatchiandsaatchi. The basic storyline revolves around a couple having a fight soundlessly as the only sound heard is the song. Looking for a videographer to shoot the entire thing in HD and possibly an editor capable of adding in some after effects to give this project a very polished feel. Shooting can be accomplished in a day as it will be 4 or 5 locations including a cab, an apartment, a restaurant, a bar, and a train. 1 videographer, and 1 editor needed, and just 4 days left to bid!

2. Hot on the Red Carpet : Backstage at Showtime’s The GreenRoom with Paul Provenza by Erin Brown needs a talented editor. Erin has hours of footage on Vegas 10 that need to be cut into Hot on the Red Carpet episodes. Can be broken up into a few 3 minute pieces or more smaller ones. Here is a 1 minute sizzle reel of the series. It’s a spoofy red carpet that’s been featured on Funny or Die homepage. This is low budget but there are major comedic celebs in this like Lewis Black, Kathy Griffin, Ron White, & John Corbett to name a few.

3. Poker Girls Season 2 by Jewelle Cowel needs a promoter/marketer who can sell product placements within each episode. Poker Girls is about: Winners and Losers can Still be Friends … Right? Undercover cop, Summer, uses Poker to get close to unsuspecting criminals. Friendships happen and relationships become intertwined on the journey to Healing and Redemption. What happens when Kathryn’s boyfriend is behind bars due to Summer’s current case? Can Summer’s need for a judge on her side be satisfied by the alcoholic Teresa? Summer’s best friend, Vicki, returns to an abusive relationship. Pain killers are leaned on, characters face their dark sides. A Character Driven Series, positioned between “Desperate Housewives” and “Criminal Minds”.

4. Person to Person Message Transfer needs a writer, composer, editor, and a marketing person. What it’s about: Heard of this game before…. where you have a group of people and you start with a simple one line sentence. The sentence is whispered from person to person until the last person hears the message, when he or she then announces the message aloud. The message ends up nothing like how it started, and a huge group laugh usually ensues! Will have a group of sexy friends (not actors) sit around a circle and play this game to see where things go.

Need someone who can edit this video to visually show what’s happening to the viewing audience, so someone who’s good with effects and fast cuts would be ideal. Someone who can write funny and short sentences that could turn out really funny when announced by the group’s last person in line. Someone who can create ear gripping audio for background sound. And someone who can promote this video so that it finds a big audience. Blogging about it, using social media to spread the story, and anything else possible to maximize views and attention is needed!

If you have a short film or web series project that you need help with, then get a Spidvid profile and post your project for our community to have a look at, and bid on!

Jeremy Campbell New Project, community actors, collaboration production, collaborative community, composers, film community, film production, film projects, filmmakers, filmmaking, new media, new media production, open film production, open video production, production projects, video community, video creation, video creators, video production, video projects, writers

I’m going to start writing about new Spidvid projects created by our community that may be of interest to the amazing world-wide video creation talent that reads our blog.

Today we have a project posted by author Rodney Bartlett who wants to see a film about Star Trek about becoming reality. If you are a Star Trek fan and happen to be an actor, producer, writer, director, editor, story teller, or a videographer, then this collaborative project may be for you. See the project details below, and bid on it if you want to join Rodney’s team.

Title: 10 Steps To Convert Star Trek Into Reality

Ideas:

1) In July 2009, electrical engineer Hong Tang and his team at Yale University in the USA demonstrated that, on silicon chip- and transistor- scales, light can attract and repel itself like electric charges/magnets (Discover magazine’s “Top 100 Stories of 2009 #83: Like Magnets, Light Can Attract and Repel Itself” by Stephen Ornes, from the January-February 2010 special issue; published online December 21, 2009). This is the “optical force”, a phenomenon that theorists first predicted in 2005 (this time delay is rather confusing since James Clerk Maxwell showed that light is an electromagnetic disturbance approx. 140 years ago). In the event of the universe having an underlying electronic foundation (hopefully, my summary will make it clear that this must be so – also … an electronic universe is a necessary precursor to scientific fulfilment of Star Trek’s “magic” which becomes clear as these steps are read), it would be composed of “silicon chip- and transistor- scales” and the Optical Force would not be restricted to microscopic scales but could operate universally. Tang proposes that the optical force could be exploited in telecommunications. For example, switches based on the optical force could be used to speed up the routing of light signals in fibre-optic cables, and optical oscillators could improve cell phone signal processing.

2) If all forms of EM (electromagnetic) radiation can attract/repel, radio waves will also cause communication revolution e.g. with the Internet and mobile (cell) phones. I anticipate that there may be no more overexposure to ultraviolet or X-rays.

3) In agreement with the wave-particle duality of quantum mechanics, EM waves have particle-like properties (more noticeable at high frequencies) so cosmic rays (actually particles) are sometimes listed on the EM spectrum beyond its highest frequency of gamma rays.

4) If cosmic rays are made to repel, astronauts going to Mars or another star or galaxy would be safe from potentially deadly radiation.

5) And if all particles in the body can be made to attract or repel as necessary, doctors will have new ways of restoring patients to health.

6) From 1929 til his death in 1955, Einstein worked on his Unified Field Theory with the aim of uniting electromagnetism and gravitation. Future achievement of this means warps of space (gravity, according to General Relativity) between spaceships/stars could be attracted together, thereby eliminating distance. And “warp drive” would not only come to life in future science/technology … it would be improved tremendously, almost beyond imagination. This reminds me of the 1994 proposal by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre of a method of stretching space in a wave which would in theory cause the fabric of space ahead of a spacecraft to contract and the space behind it to expand. Therefore, the ship would be carried along in a warp bubble like a person being transported on an escalator, reaching its destination faster than a light beam restricted to travelling outside the warp bubble. There are no known methods to warp space – however, this extension of the Yale demonstration in electrical engineering may provide one.

7) Since Relativity says space and time can never exist separately, warps in space are actually warps in space-time. Eliminating distances in space also means “distances” between both future and past times are eliminated – and time travel becomes reality. This is foreseen by the Enterprise time-travelling back to 20th-century Earth in the 1986 movie “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and by Star Trek’s “subspace communications”. Doing away with distances in space and time also opens the door to Star Trek-like teleportation. Teleportation wouldn’t involve reproducing the original and there would be no need to destroy the original body – we would “simply” be here one moment, and there the next (wherever and whenever our destination is).

8.) Another step might be to think of “… the grand design of the universe, a single theory that explains everything” (words used by Stephen Hawking on the American version of Amazon, when promoting his latest book “The Grand Design”) in a different way than physicists who are presently working on science’s holy grail of unification. Recalling the manmade Genesis Planet in the 1982 movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, we might anticipate that the future will actually see a manmade planet (literally forming a planet is merely an advancement of terraforming, where a planet is engineered to be Earth-like and habitable). We might even free our minds from all restrictions and imagine science and technology creating every planet in the universe. The universe’s underlying electronic foundation (which makes our cosmos into a partially-complete unification, similar to 2 objects which appear billions of years or billions of light-years apart on a huge computer screen actually being unified by the strings of ones and zeros making up the computer code which is all in one small place) would make our cosmos into physics’ holy grail of a complete unification if it enabled not only elimination of all distances in space and time, but also elimination of distance between (and including) the different sides of objects and particles. This last point requires the universe to not merely be a vast collection of the countless photons, electrons and other quantum particles within it; but to be a unified whole that has “particles” and “waves” built into its union of digital 1’s and 0’s (or its union of qubits – quantum binary digits). If we use the example of CGH (computer generated holography, which is reminiscent of the holographic simulation called the Holodeck in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), these “particles” and “waves” would either be elements in a Touchable Hologram – demonstrated by Japanese researchers in August 2009 (search for “Touchable Holography” in Google or You Tube) – or elements produced by the interaction of electromagnetic and presently undiscovered gravitational waves, producing what we know as mass (in September 2008, renowned British astrophysicist Professor Stephen Hawking bet US$100 that the Large Hadron Collider would not find the Higgs boson, a theoretical particle supposed to explain how other particles acquire mass) and forming what we know as space-time. Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves, and measurements on the Hulse-Taylor binary-star system resulted in Russell Hulse and Joe Taylor being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993 for their work, which was the first indirect evidence for gravitational waves.The feedback of the past and future universes into the unified cosmos’s electronic foundation would ensure that both past and future could not be altered. (I’m disagreeing with Einstein’s view of weights [mass] causing indentations in a malleable “rubber sheet” called space-time, but the system I’m proposing can yield exactly the same measurements as his and I think Einstein would welcome the chance to consider a different interpretation.) (Our brains and minds are part of this unification too, which must mean extrasensory perception and telekinetic independence from technology are possible.)

9) Elimination of diseased matter and/or eliminating the distance in time between a patient and recovery from any adverse medical condition – even death – would also be a valuable way of restoring health. With time travel in an electronic universe, people who have long since died could have their minds downloaded into clones of their bodies – a modification of ideas published by robotics/artificial- intelligence pioneer Hans Moravec, inventor/futurist Ray Kurzweil and others – allowing them to “recover” from death (establishing colonies throughout space and time would prevent overpopulation). Or if the distance between recovery and a patient is reduced to zero before illness or accident occurs (we might call this “eVaccination” – electronic vaccination); prevention of any adverse medical condition, including that of a second death for those resurrected, can occur. Science’s real-life conquering of all disease, and even death, would certainly make the technology employed by Leonard “Bones” McCoy, the Enterprise’s doctor, appear non-futuristic.

10) These paragraphs imply the possibility of humans time-travelling to the distant past and using electronics to create this particular subuniverse’s computer-generated Big Bang (but there’s still room for God because God would be a pantheistic union of the mega universe’s material and mental parts, forming a union with humans in a cosmic unification). We’ve seen several examples of how science fact could equal, or surpass, science fiction. A final example of surpassing is that, in Star Trek, there are many military conflicts with Klingons, Romulans, the Borg, etc. In a real-life cosmic unification, there are no wars between the stars but peace is normal – even on Earth – since nobody can attack anyone in any way without knowing they’re attacking themself.

Story:

The video begins with somebody reading an article in a science magazine about light being able, on microscopic scales, to attract and repel like electric charges or magnets. At first the reader merely thought the article was interesting but, over the next few hours, it develops into ideas for things like e(lectronic)Sunscreen, protection from cosmic rays, a basis for new treatments in medicine, intergalactic and time travel. During the next few months, the reader combines those ideas with his or her love of science fiction (”Star Trek” and Doctor Who’s “Face of Bo”, who is 5 billion years old and can teleport around the universe without any technology), as well as combining the thoughts with his or her love of the idea of an electronic and holographic universe. Then more ideas came – notions about eternal health for everyone who ever lived and thoughts regarding the implications of unification. Reluctantly at first, the reader realised that the later conclusions agreed with what Jesus said in the Bible and supported the concept of God. But he or she still would not go to church, preferring to tackle these new ideas from a scientific perspective.

Additional Information:

Rodney hopes to see this film created as soon as possible. The 2 free ebooks he’s written ( “A New Earth and A New Universe” + “Humans and their Universes” and a video he put on You Tube may be of assistance.

You can learn about the complete project details on its Spidvid project page, and connect with Rodney via his Spidvid profile.

Jeremy Campbell New Project, community actor, collaboration, director, editor, film, filmmaker, idea, New Project, new video, Star Trek, story, talent needed, TV, video, video creation, video creator, video production, videographer, writer