The Friday Roundup – Oprah, the Failure of 3D and Some Lighting Tips

To be honest it has been kind of a quiet week in the world of video… either that or I have been too busy watching cute kitten movies to have actually noticed what was going on!

Nevertheless I did come across some interesting and informative stuff kicking around those interwebz so here we go!

First up we have Oprah! How could you possible go wrong there?

Many of us have a wide range of reasons for making video and even posting those videos online. I guess for most the aim is to get as much exposure as possible and in this article there are some very good pointers as to what it takes to get famous.

What Has Oprah Got That You Don’t Got????

“What did Oprah have that allowed her to climb to such astonishing success?

Well, she had an engaging personality, that’s for sure. But I know a lot of people with engaging personalities.”

I was watching a rerun of Enemy of the State last night and although the technology shown in that movie is a tad… shall we say, overblown it does raise interesting questions about just how private our lives are and what degree of privacy we should expect when out in public.

PRIVACY

“Is Big Brother watching you? When is my private life private? How can I be assured no camera is watching my every move?”

From the guys at ReelSEO some good info on “Vine” and the inroads it is making in their user base and some predictions for the future.

Vine Making Waves for Video Sharing, Obviously Lags Behind Photo Sharing

“While Vine isn’t available on all devices yet, and that’s important for the adoption numbers you’re about to see, it still has been rather slow to adoption. However, as far as the world of video sharing is concerned, Vine went past other services like Viddy and Socialcam pretty quickly.”

If you have an account at YouTube and have monetized it through Adsense you may have noticed (or like me, may not have noticed!) some changes there. Again the guys at ReelSEO explain what is going on and why.

YouTube AdSense Will No Longer Be Your Source for YouTube AdSense Earnings

“Well, this is a curious move mainly because it’s just kind of a strange thing for YouTube to change. But I guess because AdSense was only telling partners half the story, since they didn’t include the “reserve” ads in the reporting, and they felt like it was rather pointless to be showing just the AdSense earnings. So now, AdSense will report the total earnings (AdSense + YouTube), but it won’t break it down any further.”

One of my pet peeves for the past few years has been 3D. I don’t like watching it and feel that the technology has never actually matched the hype. On top of that I have also been dismayed at the way most of the video editing software makers have touted it as a “must have” feature when in reality the results are rather underwhelming. Apparently Bob Zitter agrees with me!

3D a proven failure, 4K unlikely to succeed – HBO

“HBO’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Bob Zitter is one of the most prominent TV industry figures to voice his belief that 3D and 4K are not suited to home viewing.”

Good little tutorial from over at the muvee blog on cleaning up some “less than desirable” footage and getting it up to scratch… or close to it!

How to use video editing software to highlight video clips

“Unfortunately not all of your video footage is share-worthy. You generally have to capture many moments of boring to end up with those priceless pieces of video perfection.”

I always take a look at image editing tutorials when I can given that a lot of home movie projects will require the addition of stills taken during an event that may have also been video’d. There will always be degradation when adding stills to video to at least some degree due to the loss of resolution so any tips on improving images before they are added is time well spent.

Enhance colors in Photoshop Elements

“Bob Gager, Group Product Manager for Photoshop Elements, responds to a fan question explaining how to brighten water in Photoshop Elements 11”

Another great post from the WebVideoCrew on some useful lighting tips that can improve the look and feel of anyone’s video.

3 Crafty Video Lighting Tips Everyone Ought to Know

“A good sense and placement of lighting are crucial to make a video truly appealing. However, not everyone can afford to pay an arm and leg or give up their firstborn child just to get the most efficient lighting equipment.”

And that’s about it! See ya next week!

Refs:

WebVideoCrew
Adobe on G+
muvee
ReelSEO on G+
www.eoshd.com on G+

Lance Carr

Lance is a fully qualified video editing tragic and renowned techno-struggler. He has put in the hard yards working out all manner of things technical... so you don't have to!