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Sweet! This is looking very fascinating. It’s all the stuff I had hoped would be possible with the iPhone… Here are four videos produced by Google that do a fantastic job introducing the platform. The first is a overview by Mr. Brin himself, followed by a 3 part overview of some of the technical details. The last video (part 3 of 3) is really the most interesting in showcasing the cooler aspects of what will be possible with the platform.

Intro and Overview:

Part 1 of 3:

Part 2 of 3:

Part 3 of 3:

Some good ol’ friends of mine are about to go live with a project they’ve been working ridiculously hard on. It’s turning out to be really quite incredible. Hat’s off to Stevie, Tom and Brad, you’re guys are doing great!

An early review from ReadWriteWeb explains a lot. They even made this video to showcase the technology:

Most of my experiences with YouTube involved being sent a link, clicking on it, and viewing the movie. Otherwise, I’d played around just a bit looking at most viewed videos in different categories.

I was surprised the other day to realize there is a whole other level of experience in YouTube which is not really exposed to you until you browse around the community groups and profiles in depth: through the profiles, through the comments on videos, through the videos themselves, people are engaged in conversation! Rich communities are emerging around particular topics, often through asynchronous video clips that refer and build on each other. Here’s an example, a YouTube group about: mental health . This woman is responding to another video post, and she has a lot of comments responding to her.

Communities built around asynchronous video based communication! Yah.

Well, all I have to say is something tells me there is going to a whole flurry of research papers on this topic next year at CHI. Any graduate students looking for a new and exciting topic in social computing?

I have made a few mini movies lately, YouTube style, for RealityAllStarz. In the process I searched around online for tips for making short movies for online consumption and was surprised by how sparse the advice is! After going through the process a few times and reading what advice is out there, here are the basic steps for beginners with simple tips for creating short movies:

General Tips

• Keep the whole video five minutes or less. People have a short attention span online.
• Get straight to the point. People decide in the first 15 seconds if they will keep watching.
• Good movies have a rhythm: have short clips, about 10 seconds each.
• If you have a head shot narrative that is taking too long, mix in video or pictures and use the head shot narrative as a voice over.
• Use text overlays to provide context.
• Avoid always putting the primary object of your video in the center of the screen.

Steps

1. Create video

• Use your digital camera, it has high enough resolution for online movies.
• Take a lot of short clips, rather than one long continuous one.
• Tell people what you want while you are recording, knowing you can remove your voice later.
• Give yourself a few extra seconds of recording before and after the action for easier editing later.
• Use strong lighting, angled from the side.
• Expect that for 20 minutes of recording, you will crop the video down to 3-5 minutes.

2. Import video and still pictures to a movie making editor

• I use Movie Maker for the PC, it is very simple to use and you can get it free online. My Mac friends use Final Cut but I do not know anything about it.

3. Put your videos and images in the time line in desired order.

• Movie editors come with a timeline where you can arrange your clips by time and play them. Put your videos in all together so you can have a feel for the overall picture.

4. Crop the beginning and end of each clip, and remove the boring middle parts.

• Crop crop crop. Seriously, if you are remotely bored or not interested, your audience will definitely be bored.
• To crop middle sections, you “split” the clip into sub clips and delete the ones that are boring.

5. Add transitions

• Fades are most common. Fades connotate the passage of time between clips. If you want to give the impression there was no passage of time, do not use a transition.
• Avoid getting too fancy with the transitions.

6. Add text

• Add the title, credits, and text overlays.
• Text overlays are good for adding context.

7. Add sound

• Music is key! Find anything that fits the mood you are trying to create.
• Ideally, find music that is “open source” so you do not make anyone mad.
• Add in more narrative or voice over if needed.

8. Save as movie, and upload!