filmmakers Articles

How To Make Money On YouTube: Successful Stars Recommend Patience, Persistence, and Hard Work

ABC News has cracked the code on online video riches, and now they're sharing it with the world in a piece called Top YouTube Earners Share Their Strategies.  It's a great read (seriously) and contains insight gleaned from their interviews with several of the top ...

Viral Video Lessons Round Up - Great Plays, Crude Jokes, and Another Creative Proposal

It's Friday, which means I've got another batch of the week's most popular viral videos for you, just in case you had too busy a week to keep tabs on the viral marketplace.  We'll try to break each one down a bit to determine what ...

Viral Video Lessons Round Up - Tributes, Controversies, and Amateur Filmmaking At Its Best

Every week I scour the web, searching for the most popular viral videos.  And because of this weekly Viral Video Lessons Round Up column, I get to claim that it's all in the name of work.  Outstanding.  This week saw some fine examples of viral ...

The Vimeo Festival and Awards – An In-Depth Look At What To Expect

You might have notice our contest announcement yesterday regarding the Vimeo Festival+Awards—we're giving away 4 pairs of tickets to the event for free, and all you have to do is submit a video with a tip for using Vimeo.  I though it might be a ...

YouTube and The Guggenheim Announce Finalists for YouTube Play

You may remember us writing about the announcement of the YouTube Play initiative back in June of this year.  It's the art-focused contest sponsored by the video portal and the Guggenheim museum in New York that's seeking to find video creators who are pushing the ...

How Web Video and YouTube Are Driving A New Age of Innovation

Chris Anderson, the curator of nonprofit organization TED, has written an op-ed piece today at CNN.com, and I think it's well worth a read.  Titled "The Secret Power of YouTube," it's a bit of a defense of the online video portal, but it's much more ...

Viral Video Lessons Round Up - Wordplay, Time-Lapse, and Rare Storms

Welcome to another Viral Video Lessons Round Up.  It's our attempt to have some fun by watching some of the week's biggest viral hits.  But we also attempt to learn something.  By reverse-engineering these clips—analyzing them to see if we can determine why they got ...

Viral Video Lessons Round Up - Rockets, Collaborations, and Camera Glitches

Every Friday I like to share some of the week's biggest viral video hits with you.  I also like deconstructing them, trying to put our finger on what it was about each video that hit the viewing public just right enough to make them share ...

YouTube and Ridley Scott's Life In A Day Project Releases Raw Submission Footage

I've been following the Life in a Day project for some time now, because it's incredibly fascinating to me.  The project—a joint venture between YouTube and Hollywood producer Ridley Scott—asked YouTube users to film upload footage of themselves going about their normal daily routine, and ...

YouTube's Life In A Day Experiment Nets 80,000 User-Submitted Videos

The YouTube Life In A Day experiment appears to have gone very well, at least in terms of participation.  You might remember the project, in which the video site partnered with Hollywood directors Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald to create a documentary film out of ...

Viral Video Lessons Round Up: Hip Weddings, Stop Motion Jeans, and Soccer Celebrations

It's Friday, and that means it's time for another Viral Video Marketing Round Up. This week we saw some truly exceptional viral stories, and I'm looking forward to discussing them and breaking down what helped them get so popular. Without further ado, let's begin:

Online Video Marketing Basics Part 3 - Self-Produce or Hire A Professional?

Once you've made the decision to get involved in online video, and picked the video style that you think fits both your personality and your goals, it's time to start thinking about production.  And in online video production, there are really only two choices:  self-produce, ...

YouTube's Ponies Up $5 Million To Help Partners Produce Better Videos

YouTube has a lot to say this week.  First they announced a new mobile version of their site—and it rocks.  Then they officially released Leanback into the wild—it's also very cool.  Now they've announced a new grant program designed to help members of the Partner ...

Hollywood Directors Team With YouTube To Launch Historic YouTube Film Experiment

Everyone wants to leverage YouTube, and the professional film community is no different.  We've seen unknown directors land big Hollywood gigs because of a video they uploaded.  We've seen major film studios reap the benefits and word of mouth for new releases by adding the ...

Friendly Music Service Lets YouTubers Buy Licensed Songs for Use In Video

One of the most common ways that YouTube users violate copyright laws is by using unlicensed background music in their video.  Unfortunately, this act also tends to get videos pulled, after copyright holders are alerted to the infringement via YouTube's Content ID service.  And to ...