The Anvel strikes again
The Anvel has just released 10 more free After Effects project files. This set’s theme is abstraction. I especially like the fractal noise-generated cube.
Of a more interesting note, Dean Velez is offering subscriptions to his CD collections for $99. It’s a steal. The collection currently features 12 disks of projects and 12 disks of royalty-free materials. These are not tutorials, but already completed and modifiable projects. I actually learn better this way.
I’ll be ordering a subscription.
iPod video not gaining traction
Years ago Panasonic’s consumer electronics division used the tag line, “Just slightly ahead of our time.” No one would dare use that today. Something like that is the kiss of death. The video iPod might be suffering the same fate. It seems nobody’s watching. In the year I’ve owned my video iPod I must say that I’ve produced more video podcasts than I have watched. I could never say that about television programs or DVDs.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
Owners of Apple’s ubiquitous portable media device spend far more time on it listening to music or audio podcasts than they do using it to watch TV or movies. That was among the findings in an unprecedented preliminary study conducted by the audience-measurement service in October — about one year after a video window was introduced to iPod and its corresponding Internet platform, iTunes.
The iPod research conducted by Nielsen, which is owned by VNU Group, parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, is the first publicly available independently published data on consumption habits for the device. Nielsen monitored a panel of 400 iPod users in the U.S. from October 1-27 as part of its new initiative, Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement, or A2M2, which aims to measure audiences on myriad emerging digital platforms.
Among the findings: Less than 1% of content items played by iPod users on either iTunes or the device itself were videos. Among video iPod users, that percentage barely improves, up to 2.2%.
Even measured by duration of consumption, where 30- or 60-minute TV shows might seem to have a built-in advantage over three-minute songs, video comprises just 2% of total time spent using iPods or iTunes among iPod owners. Video iPod users consume video 11% of the time.
There’s no surprise here. Once again Apple’s hype trumps market reality.
Here’s what these findings mean for the would-be video podcaster.
- Realize that the overwhelming majority of your viewers will continue to watch your video through a browser. They will not be going mobile with it. Your content will not end up at the gym, in the subway, or on a transcontinental flight.
- For now, the video podcast is dead. The video blog isn’t. This is where Steve Garfield and company get it, and so many analysts don’t. I’ve lost count of how many industry pros I’ve encountered who use video podcast (vodcast) and video blog (vlog) interchangeably. They are different beasts.
- The ideal video podcast length is the same as the ideal web video length, from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Again, Garfield gets it, while so many media types don’t.
So why are audio podcasts so darn popular, and video podcasts so unpopular?
- Users can get something done while listening to an audio podcast. Not much can be accomplished with their eyes glued to the screen.
- TV really is radio. When you get right down to it, you really don’t have to see much of what’s going on to know what’s going on. Next time you’re in the same room as a TV blaring Two and a Half Men, close your eyes. Promise, you won’t miss a thing.
Going forward iPod video will gain traction in the instructional space. The iPod might also begin to break into the DVR’s space, provided there are viable docking possibilities and the image quality improves. Just don’t expect your audience to be seeking entertainment on the 3.5-inch screen.
DFT 55mm filters updated
My favorite plug-in set of all-time has just been updated. From Marco Paolini’s press release:
55mm 7.0 adds 12 new filters as well as tuning existing filter algorithms. Chromatic Aberration, Color Infrared, Cool Mist, Defringe, Double Fog, Edge Glow, Old Photo, Pencil, Split Tone, X-Ray, and the new Two Strip and Three Strip filters are just some of the highlights of 55mm 7.0. The Three Strip and Two Strip plug-ins were created under the direction of Academy Award Winning Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Legato, who used the process to great effect in The Aviator. The Technicolor® Two Strip process was the first stab at producing color motion pictures and consisted of simultaneously photographing two black and white images using red and green filters. This look creates an odd but pleasing hand-painted look where faces appear normal and green takes on a blue-green quality, while the sky and all things blue appear cyan.
Personally I found the look of the Aviator distracting over the length of the film, but it’s a cool look I’ve tried to emulate in shorter form work. It’s toned down a little in the tralier I lifted the above image from. Now it’s a mouse click or two away along with a great Bleach Bypass look and the best Infrared simulator I’ve ever seen.
Nice work, again, Marco.
Caroline Collins
My first mentor in the business passed away earlier this month. The Globe had a nice obituary today.
Some colleagues likened Caroline Collins’s energy to bubbling champagne , others to a lightbulb always on. Whatever the metaphor, in her role as director of creative services at WGBH-TV, Ms. Collins brought to the station a vigor and style that helped define its image during the 1980s.
She had the greatest laugh, a well stocked bar in her office, and an intellectual curiosity like no one I’d ever met. How many creative directors could discuss theories on the origin of the universe in detail? A visionary, she understood the potential of the Internet before Mosaic 1.0 was released.
We all have those special people in our lives who years after we’ve been together continue provide a frame of reference. More than 15 years since I last worked with Caroline Collins and Mark Halliday, I still try to emulate their style. And I still think I have a long way to go. They simply knew how to make words, pictures, and music connect with people.
NB: The TV Weasel was a character doodled during a meeting in Caroline’s office after she had made clear the importance of meeting a deadline because those “weasels in brown pants are nipping at my toes.” The TV Weasel became the unofficial mascot of our last few projects.
If this doesn’t get high tech workers to unionize
From USA Today
Employment lawyers are warning companies they could face liability or workers’ compensation claims related to employee injuries from personal digital assistants.
The American Physical Therapy Association in Alexandria, Va., and other occupational organizations warn that improper use and overuse of personal digital assistants (PDAs) can lead to hand throbbing, tendonitis and swelling, a condition known as BlackBerry Thumb, named after the popular PDA.
Not since they had eight-year-old kids in coal mines has corporate America so brazenly ignored worker safety. Further evidence of OSHA’s complete abdication of its responsibilities.
Having spent summers during my undergrad years working in a lumberyard, I can’t believe what yuppies can find to complain about. There are real problems in this world. How about the fact that well over 90% of the people using Blackberrys don’t need them? Just put the stupid thing away already.
