Written by jakilevy at 7:07 pm on December 1, 2011
Lately, I’ve been spending alot of time over at Arrow Root Media. But today, I realized this metablog was feeling a little lonely. “Update me” it said, whispering to me in my subconscious. “But – but – what do I update you with, dear blog? My loyal readers must receive only the highest quality internet content.”
And so, dear readers, I bring you this amazing video. If you remember the 1980′s, you’ll recognize this – it’s the intro to the television show, The Office, done in the style of Dallas. Enjoy!
Written by jakilevy at 9:09 am on January 22, 2009
I attended the inauguration with a great group of folks (about 2 million of them). We couchsurfed in DC with Dan, who hosted about 15 other couchsurfers from around the world. There were many other people in DC who hosted 10+ people.
Written by jakilevy at 1:42 pm on January 14, 2008
As lots of videoBloggers know, YouTube is great because of the large audience. However, the quality lacks, and users can’t download any of your videos directly from the site.
(You can however use a service called DownloadYouTubeVideos to do this – but the quality is still poor)
What else is out there? I’ve briefly reviewed some good video solutions that I personally use. If you see something missing, or have a question, please let me know + leave a comment. My goal is to compile a comprehensive resource for content producers, hosts, designers, and curators of video content. Hope this list helps!
Vimeo
Great for programmers, developers, bloggers, and others who want their videos downloadable. Nice design + social networking capabilities. The nicest feature I like is the friend updates. Whenever a friend of yours leaves a comment, or gives some ‘net love to another video, you’ll see the instant feedback on your account. Good way to discover new video.
BrightCove
A Great solution for internet television, but not so great for video bloggers. Allows you to create your own custom channel. Here’s an example.
Another great feature is the customizable upload forms. You can create these custom upload forms and embed the form into your site. This way, visitors can upload videos to your custom channel without leaving your webpage.
BrightCove offers desktop software to help you manage your online media. Part of the software includes a batch uploader which allows you to upload multiple files at once.
Revver
Revver is also popular but I do not use it. They allow visitors to download video, but I don’t really know enough about Revver to be writing about it.
Blip.Tv
Blip.Tv is probably one of my favorites. They offer visitors and content producers high quality video, downloadable content, and the ability to create iTunes podcasts. They also offer content producers the ability to create a custom channel. Here is an example I created a while back.
Blip.Tv helps your content go beyond the web. The site helps you convert your videos for viewing on cell phones, video iPods, and many other formats.
Like Brightcove, Blip.Tv also offers a batch uploader, so you can upload many files at once, saving content producers and publishers LOTS of time.
I’ve embedded a video to give you a taste of the quality :
Pando
What if you just want to send video back and forth without hosting it publicly?
Use Pando. Pando allows you to send 1GB files & folders via any email or IM.
Think of it like YouSendIt, but for video and way cooler.
In this article, Natalie pulled out some facts from a recent survery by Dance/NYC, Her research shows that, “Small modern/contemporary companies collectively reach as large an audience as do the 3% of New York companies with budgets over $1 million. That’s an impressive 50% market share.”
While these numerous companies have a huge collective market share, they do not have a huge share of the resources. Even when they are working, dancers usually do not expect to make a living off of dancing alone. Many work other jobs to make ends meet. Choreographers face similar financial problems.
The difficult questions are:
“How do you support your work? In other words, how can you create work if you or your dancers are expected to lose money on a show?”
“How do you present your work with limited financial resources?”
There are no simple answers here. However, there is a great opportunity in showing excerpts of work online. Or simply create work for an online venue. Currently, there are a few online “venues” (think YouTube) but they do not focus on the arts.
What if there was a place to see the performing arts online? Why are the performing arts so behind the curve technologically? Is it a money issue? A skill issue? Do companies and artists know how to use webtools to show or document their work online?
It’s time artists begin creating work for an online audience. With enough artists doing this on a consistent basis, there would be enough content to create regular programming for either an internet audience, or an IP Tv audience.
This July, I am working with Misnomer as a video blogger and documentarian. This week, Chris Elam (the choreographer for Misnomer) is teaching a class at Concord Academy as part of Misnomer’s residency there. Dan Wagner (a former dancer for Merce Cunningham) is also teaching a class. I was lucky enough to be able to take his class. Here are some my first impressions:
Overall, it gave me a very different sense of what it is to be a dancer – you must really learn movements on whole: physically, emotionally, and mentally. I was having a very difficult time marking out the movements and remembering the choreography, so he suggested that I take note of what each movement felt like. That was a very different approach than I what would think from the outside.
To celebrate the 34th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Knitting Factory hosted a benefit for Planned Parenthood. Bands playing that night included World Without Magic, Takka Takka, and The Wrens.
This is the final edit I put together for Planned Parenthood. Watch for more music from The Wrens and World Without Magic (including a few bonus tracks from the Wrens and World Without Magic) on my YouTube page. I’ll be uploading certain songs from that night’s set.
