Learn from the 'Net! It's Free and Easy!

By Leonard Aaron Caplan

There’s a new learning phenomenon on the internet. Well, maybe not new to you or most people but definitely new to me. And that’s YouTube Tutorials! It’s amazing how anytime you might have a question about Photoshop, a non-linear video editing program, or basically any program, it’s a safe bet you can find the answer from some generous, knowledgable amateur. Results vary, of course from the 13 year old computer geek with the squeaky voice who knows everything about everything you could want to know about how to chroma key a weather map, to the mature, professorial grey haired type who SHOULD be able to give you the answer you want to know, but really only says a lot of nothing!

These tutorials are mostly unsanctioned by the companies of the software they teach. This is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because nobody has an agenda other than sincerely teaching you what you may want or need to know. It’s bad because being unregulated and unsanctioned, you don’t know what you’re getting! If you’re discerning enough to be able to tell the difference between valuable information and MISinformation, YouTube, Google or other online video tutorials can be a fantastic way to save money and learn. If you want a more consistently reliable source of learning, bite the bullet and pay for it. When it comes to learning, the best thing is to always have an opened mind and believe that you are capable not only of learning a new skill, but excelling at it. Try one and you decide!

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The Business Side of Video-TV to the Web, How Advertising/Sponsorship is Changing

Recordable video has been around since the 60’s, beginning with Kinoscope, which was more film-like than video and today we preserve our memories via harddrives. We’ve talked about how one day video will be available primarily on huge servers, YouTube being the most popular “world-server” today.

What does this mean for the business side of television? The traditional system of selling ad time for commercials seems to be giving way, or at least making room for a system of posting a video online and simply having clickable boxes or banners take you to the advertiser’s website.

Is this good or bad for the video business? Looking at it one way, less commercial production means less video contracts for production companies as computer/web technology merges and in some cases takes the place of video production.

Looking at it another way, the opportunity for video production is beginning to head into another “boom” period! Though the above scenario of web clicking is in some cases taking over from video production companies producing commercials, other opportunities are arising.

Streaming video, that phenomenon where video is broadcast “live” across the web, is growing! People love the idea that their relatives can see their wedding ceremony even as companies teleconference to people on the other side of the world to people who can’t make it to a meeting at a business’s home base.

What about the profitability of video being streamed online? Say you have a cable TV show or simply a show or segment produced in your home with industrial or consumer video equipment? What if not that many people are finding your video on YouTube or blip.tv?

Sites such as tubemogul.com allow you to upload a video there and they will in turn automatically transfer your video to a plethora of other video uploading sites! This will surely translate into more “hits” for advertisers and more cash for both advertisers and web/video content creators. Today is a very exciting time for not only video producers and companies, but for consumers and businesses who have more opportunities than ever to make video work for them!

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