Sometimes our high ambitions go beyond our actual talent level needed for a video production project. This is sure to happen if you think big when it comes to creating new video entertainment. Nobody can do everything themselves, so why not find video collaboration partners who share your passion and vision for the project, and fill in the talent gaps that are lacking.

The challenge is how do you find and connect with talented individuals who can add value to your video projects? There are many places online where you can accomplish this goal, so I’ve outlined some of the top destinations below.

Meetup is a useful site because it allows you to join local video and film production groups, have conversations with those group members online, and then take those relationships offline to connect on a deeper level. If there isn’t a local video production group in your town or city you may want to consider organizing one to bring your local community together.

LinkedIn is the web’s largest social network focused primarily on establishing and maintaining professional contacts and relationships. It’s easy to add new contacts on LinkedIn, but it means virtually nothing unless you actually reach out and spark a discussion with these people.

Craigslist can work wonders if you clearly outline your project’s details, goals and objectives, and what kind of individual(s) you need to collaborate with. Many users on Craigslist are looking for paid gigs so if you just want to partner up and not pay upfront for their time be sure to mention that important bit of information. People are always looking for new worthwhile opportunities so if your video project fits that description you may want to submit a posting on Craigslist.

Facebook is the world’s largest social network but many users just use the site for sharing pictures, “liking” stuff, and messaging. There are many excellent fan pages though, so look who’s active on them and don’t be shy to shoot them a quick message to see if a joint collaboration makes sense.

Twitter is where we get a lot of new members for our community, and we have established some wonderful friendships over the past few months despite frustrating battles with the infamous “fail whale”. Follow actors, directors, producers, editors, or whoever you may need on your team, and whoever follows you back send a custom direct message to see what kind of interest is out there.

Google has to be mentioned because this is where you can track down blogs, forums, and communities that focus on video production. Leave comments on blog articles, reply to others in forums, and be human to show you are capable of being an effective video production partner. Listen closely to the needs and questions that people have because you have to properly address those before anything will happen.

YouTube is where the most video creators and filmmakers hang out due to the fact that it has the world’s largest viewing audience.  It may be a good idea to establish connections on YouTube, but don’t forget that creators go there to upload new content so don’t distract these individuals with long messages. Move the discussion to email, or wherever you are both comfortable communicating.

Last but not least, Spidvid is the social network where individuals go to connect, collaborate, and create video entertainment together. So when you send a message to someone on Spidvid you can be sure it will be well received because of the hyper focus around creating new video content.

There are many other sites out there for the purpose of connecting with potential video collaboration partners. Just remember that how you engage, why you want to engage, and most importantly who you engage with are the key elements to every successful partnership.

Jeremy Campbell Lists, resources actors, collaboration, collaboration partnership, craigslist, directors, editors, Facebook, filmmakers, LinkedIn, new media, partnership, producers, production team, social media, spidvid, talent, twitter, video collaboration, video creators, video partnership, video production, videographers, YouTube

If you are into business technology you likely know that the only way to compete with an established, large, but closed player is to open things up. A couple prime examples are: Internet Explorer having a dominating lead in the browser space until the open development community Mozilla with their Firefox browser came along to take significant market share away from Microsoft’s product. And now we are seeing Google’s Nexus One smart phone taking a run at Apple’s iPhone using an open strategy to be compatible with software other than iTunes. In the end, theory tells us that open should win out over closed.

Traditional studios are so closed and protective of their employees and contractors, and content. To us it didn’t make sense to form yet another video entertainment studio to compete with all the others, so instead our goal has always been to assemble what we hope in time will become the largest video production ecosystem via an open model. Where anyone can join the network, form on-demand teams, and create video content outside of corporate constraints.

Many industries are now being disrupted thanks to social movements based upon openness and transparency, and so with Spidvid we want to prove that this model also applies to video production. Innovation is slower in traditional industries like video production, but it’s our strong belief that a big shift is coming soon as open seeks to challenge the status quo of all that remains closed.

If you want to be an early key part of the open video production network, then visit our site to get an account, take a few minutes to setup your profile, and leave your digital foot prints behind for the next generation of filmmakers to build on.

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Jeremy Campbell Visionary actors, collaboration, connecting, directors, editors, movement, new business, new hope, new media, next generation, online video, open model, open vs closed, social media, studios, video creators, video production, videographers, web video, writers

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.

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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.

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

Last week I wrote a post on how to post a video production project on Spidvid. Today looks at how to bid on a video production project if you are an actor, director, writer, videographer, editor, music artist, animation artist, story teller, or a marketer/promoter of video content.

It all starts by visiting our projects page to find interesting projects that match your specific talent. Our platform is still very new, and people are just now learning how to use and leverage it, so there are no projects to bid on just yet but that will all change very soon. It all starts with one project so other video creators can see how things work and move on to post their own. If you want to feature the very first project on Spidvid, be sure to get a creator’s account and get one posted. Our admin team will review and approve it shortly after. Within a couple of weeks any creator will be able to post their video production project right away without approval as we are opening up our platform to new projects, and uploaded videos.

Here is how a professional easily bids on a production project on our site

Bid Description: Outline why you would be an ideal fit for the project, and why your talent makes you an ideal candidate. Also be sure to share links or information of previous experience, because that can go a long way towards getting accepted for your role on the team.

Skills/Value I Can Offer: In this section you should list specific skills you have for the project. For example if a creator needs a videographer you can tell him or her all about the videos you have shot in the past, the quality camera you have at your disposal, and even send links so the creator can view your previous videos online.

Talent I’m Offering: Here is where you choose from a drop down list what talent you are offering for the project. So if you an actor and an editor but want to bid on the project just as an actor then be sure to select actor from the drop down list.

Estimated Completion Time: If you work fast on video projects be sure to indicate that here, if you work a bit slow then also be sure to tell the truth and communicate that to the video creator. If you are an individual which plans to be involved on the video shoot (and not in post production) then you can select the earliest completion time option which is “1 day” from the drop down list.

Relevant Files Towards My Bid: If you have any files on your computer that relate to your project bid you can share them with the video creator here. These files can be downloaded by the creator from the bids submitted page in their account.

You can also preview the project bid before you submit it to ensure that it includes all of the details you want to communicate. Expect to hear back from the creator in the hours or days ahead, good luck with being added to the creator’s team, and cheers to the successful completion of the project and video.

Ready to start bidding and collaborating on Spidvid projects? First you need to sign up as a professional, and wait as creators post projects which interest you. Good luck on your future projects, and the produced videos that go live for viewing audiences.

Jeremy Campbell News actors, bidding, collaboration, directors, editors, filmmakers, how to, new media, online video, social media, story tellers, video creators, video production, video projects, videographers, web video