Thursday, April 29, 2010

CEO Conversations: Seth Kenvin, Market 7 - Making the Video Production Process More Collaborative

Seth Kenvin is CEO of Market 7, a company that he says, "endeavors to provide environments for people to work together on making videos". Market 7 is a web-based collaborative video project management platform, available for any level of video production effort. Producers, video production teams and clients can collaborate on creative briefs, script writing, scheduling events and crew, assigning tasks, sharing files, video approval and resource allocation. I met with Seth earlier this year and he walked me through a demo of their platform. Seth and his team have put together a unique software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering that fills a niche and enhances each stage of video production, from conceptualization to publishing.
 
In this CEO Conversation, Seth talks about how and why he started Market 7, what were some of the challenges in the video production process that he and his team initially wanted to address and who are Market 7's current customers. Seth says that virtually any type of video production can benefit from a collaborative environment, and a central online project management platform for collaboration, decision-making and consensus is not only more efficient, but helps corporations and professional organizations to truly flourish. 



Seth described the common thread that ties Market 7's modules together as the following:
"We're striving to provide all the different ways that people have to work together in producing video. Whether working together is very organizational, or just logistical, setting a schedule, or more content oriented and strategic, accessing and communicating about footage or script, different content at different stages. We want one environment instead of having to go to different places, or go through different methodologies for the different aspects of video production."
The product consists of eight modules that are organized by project stages: Pre-production, production, and post-production:
  • Production Brief - a highly customizable and openly accessible question and answer forum that establishes clear and accountable direction throughout the project.
  • Collaborative Script - organizes script, storyboard and other key preparatory assets easily with multi-column video/audio layout and integrate rich media content within script like storyboard, photos, video clips.
  • Annotative Player - integrates annotation within the approval process of editing and post-production, integrating directly with the market-leading Apple, Adobe and Avid video editing suites. Upload video of any common format type, specify comments according to portion of clip, mark up on-screen, organize feedback for easy navigation and discussion. Select comments for editing which integrate with Apple, Adobe, Avid suites.

    • File Management - accepts and displays assets of many types, such as video, photographs or graphics in any popular format, or files of various computer applications. Any securely uploaded file can be accessed and discussed in the module.
    • Team Management - invite anyone any project with just an email, Assign roles and manage personal profiles, including photos and bios. Access the team directory easily with one-click email access, Direct attention of any team member towards any element of the project
    • Task Management - Point and click to create, modify, re-order or complete tasks Templates of typical requirements for certain kinds of projects Set target completion dates and track relative performance Assign tasks to single or multiple members of project team.
    • Event Management - allows for an organized schedule to be established at the outset and maintained throughout the process. Syncs with personal calendar systems to indicate availability and synchronize appointments.
    • Resource Management - tracks each person's tasks, events and other activities including comparison to foretasted effort and cost calculation based on hourly rates.
    Market 7 has four tiers of priced offerings available month-to-month, and each level can be further customized according to the level of storage and administrative control required. The first tier is free and then moves up to monthly rates starting with the Associate Producer level for $50, Line Producer for $100, Producer Pro $200 and Executive Producer $300.

    Seth says that Market 7 was born out of a classic scenario of the end-user trying to figure out how to alleviate with the pain points of the video production process. About 5 years ago, in as vice president of strategic marketing and corporate development for BigBand Networks, he managed the company’s corporate and product communications, and was commissioning video productions. He saw the inefficiencies in the video production process and wanted to make it better.

    Market 7 is privately funded and has raised $1.4 million from individual investors. Seth is encouraged by Market 7's customer base, in who it is and what types of organizations it is. Their platform extends across any facet of video production from the high-end - to traditional advertising, movies, television production - to what's considered low-end - independent producters and contractor shops, or emerging web studios. Some of the announced customers include Google, Solar City, Pixel Corps, Bars+Tone as well as motion picture, broadcast and cable television networks, advertising, marketing and education. Seth noted that the company launched during tough economic times and they had to manage their spending wisely while growing the company.

    Market 7 was recognized as one of the Top Online Video Company 2009: FierceOnlineVideo, Fierce 15 and as Fierce Online Video Editor Jim O'Neil noted,
    "Market7 is smooth enough to be a game changer. It's intuitive, engaging and really can make the difference between a business posting a high-end home movie or a video asset that will draw customers and generate ROI."
    As part of their product road map, Market 7 has developed a resource management module for tracking people's time, including ability to itemize that from tasks and events already tracked in our software (this is collapsed, so can't see the items), associate it with costs based on rates, and compare actual time spent with projections. It's the sort of functionality they're now extending to other project resources like facilities and equipment. Seth acknowledged that as a small company with an agile software development, they can be very responsive and effective in fulfilling market needs.

    About Market 7
    Business types making inspired creative contributions. Creative types fulfilling the highest business productivity standards. Market7 boosts the value from every participant collaborating to develop video and rich media for enterprises. The company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering enhances each stage of video production, from conceptualization to publishing. The Market7 team uniquely blends records of accomplishment in both technological and creative endeavors. We are dedicated to bringing these realms together, for the best efficiency, enjoyment and results in enterprise collaborations to build video content.

    For more information, visit: Market
    Follow Market 7 on Twitter: twitter.com/marketseven

    About Seth Kenvin
    Seth served as vice president of strategic marketing and corporate development for BigBand Networks from its founding, profitability and more than $200 million of revenues. While there, he managed financial transactions, certain customer and partner relationships, and marketing of the company and its network infrastructure platforms for rising quality, variety and volume of video services. Earlier, Seth was a principal for the venture capital firm Cedar Funds since its founding as well. Prior experience includes being an associate for the VC firm Venrock Associates, a consultant to the software company Check Point Technologies, a senior editor for The Red Herring magazine and a corporate finance analyst for the high tech group of Bear Stearns. Seth is a dedicated writer who has been a monthly columnist, blogger, by-line contributor to multiple magazines, and author of more than a dozen white papers published and phttp://www.reelseo.com/market7/resented at conferences. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Cornell and an MBA from Stanford. Seth occasionally quotes Elvis Costello lyrics and scribbles notes about what’s going on in his life at http://twitter.com/sethkenvin.

    Related: 

    Monday, April 26, 2010

    Upcoming Klessblog Sightings - Webinars, Meetups, Streaming Media East, Oh My!

    It's been an extremely busy year so far in the online video industry and in my own personal and professional life. I admit that I haven't been able to keep as current on this blog with news and information, and to that extent, I've been focusing my energy on other areas, including: webinars, meetups, and travel to new places. I recently attended the Streamy Awards in Los Angeles and ended up in the front row of the now infamous award show. I saw a lot of familiar faces, met many great new friends and shared some of those highlights in the last several posts. I have a lot more video that I may post to my YouTube channel, but for now, I wanted to share a few upcoming events over the next several weeks where you can catch me in the wild, so to speak.

    Encoding Video for the Web – Free ReelSEO Webinar, May 5thYou can catch me next week on the Encoding Video For The Web: Free Webinar on May 5th, which is produced by Reel SEO and sponsored by vzaar. I'll be joined by Robert Reinhardt, creator of the online video service videoRx.com, VP of the multimedia consulting company [the MAKERS) and noted author of a number of Wiley and Adobe Press books, including Video with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional StudioTechniques. See this related post of Robert's Flash Encoding Resources: Bit Rate Calculator and Optimal Aspect Ratios. Also, joining the webinar as moderator is my good friend and 2010 Streaming Media All-Star, Mark Robertson, Reel SEO Founder and Publisher. If you're a producer wondering what you need to know about video compression, then this is the webinar for you. You will have a chance to ask questions about the various video formats, codecs, bit-rates and more. You get tips on best encoding practices so your online videos look the best that they can. You'll hear what the pros have to say about H.264 and watch how to simply and easily apply high quality H.264encoding to your video. Register for this FREE webinar here!

    After that, my next big trip is to New York City in two weeks for Streaming Media East on May 11-12th, where I'll be moderating a panel discussion on Video Publishing Platforms. For that session, I'll be joined by Bismarck C Lepe, President, Products at Ooyala, Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura, Daniel Webster, SVP of Media at Synaptic Digital and Jason Liebman, CEO and Co-Founder of Howcast. A number of vendors offer video publishing platforms, the features and functionality-not to mention cost-vary widely. Some vendors focus their solutions on content management and monetization, while others are geared towards enabling syndication and interactive advertising campaigns. Adding to the confusion is the fact that different platform vendors have different metrics for billing, and costs rise as content owners become more successful.

    This session builds on the program that Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen and I put together for the Online Video Platform Summit and will lay the groundwork for content owners to better understand what type of publishing platform they need and what they should expect to pay for managing content.

    Following Streaming Media East, on May 14th, I'll be a featured speaker on a Ragan Communications webinar on How to produce Flip videos that inform, engage and entertain your employees. I'll be wearing my day job hat for this session discussing how at Kaiser Permanente, our employees are using Flip cameras to capture important employee news to post on the company's intranet. This 60-minute webinar will offer practical tips on how to use your Flip, Kodak or other pocket camera—and find out what kind of stories are best told with this camera. This session is not a free webinar and you can find out more about it and register here.

    I'll be joined by my colleague Elizabeth Schainbaum, Staff Writer, Corporate Communications, who was handed a Flip camera and found herself learning how to do photo essays and video on the job. Instead of writing an article about a group of employees that were conducting a critical events trauma training at our Health Care Innovation Center, Elizabeth produced a video instead. Since that first piece on the trauma center, she has worked on two other videos.

    Some of the topics we'll be covering are:

    Shooting tips:
    • How to frame an interview to give your speaker enough head room
    • When to use a tripod and why you should avoid zooming
    • How to select the best background for your interview
    • Tricks to make sure your video is always sharp and in focus
    Lighting:
    • What kind of lighting conditions you need for good picture quality
    • How to avoid producing grainy video
    • Ways to light your subject, without buying expensive equipment
    Audio:
    • How to avoid distracting background noise
    • Why you need to stay close to your interview subject
    • When to use an external microphone
    Editing:
    • Why shorter is always better
    • Types of free software you can use to create your video vignettes—and optional equipment you can buy if you want to kick it up a notch
    • A step-by-step process to edit your Flip video, including transferring the video, creating a timeline and uploading it to your intranet or YouTube
    How to produce stellar employee videos:
    • What types of stories are best told with a Flip camera
    • How to produce videos that your audience will want to watch—over and over again
    • Why clips produced on a Flip can be more engaging that polished, professional videos

    Finally, I'll be a guest speaker on May 18th at the Eastbay LocalPreneurs Meetup Group giving a presentation on how to Quickly and Easily Master Online Video Promotions and Watch Your Sales Skyrocket. Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities. I'll share tips on how to use video to become your own online TV to promote You, Your Products or Your Business!

    If you're in the Bay Area and you're an entrepreneur, it's crucial to understand how to make the right connections, get the tools and inspirational education in order to grow your business. Eastbay Localprenuers Meetup brings you fresh speakers, monthly training and networking to jump-start your projects and dreams. This Meetup group is organized by my friend and local entrepreneur, Jonathan Fleming. Join this Meetup group here or sign up using Facebook.

    Some subjects I'll cover include:
    • Creating a powerful video pressence using Flip Camera, HD, etc... 
    • The Importance of video online, Do's and Don'ts for your business 
    • How to use video effectively to market your product, company and increase sales 
    • Tools needed to get started 
    • Best practices for newbies and small business owners
    Learn how to make and produce attention getting video for "Low Cost" that jump starts your marketing efforts to help you get attention for your product, service, business or venture!
    Learn how to to get attention online using video on Facebook, Google, blogging and other social networks! In this fast paced hour,  I'll deliver low cost tips of how you can rocket up the ladder to get noticed and produce professional winning videos to help your business today!

    Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.

    That's all for now! I want to thank you all for reading, subscribing, retweeting, sharing, commenting and supporting me here on this blog. Stay tuned for more upcoming Klessblog sightings in the near future and more online video news and information.

    Wednesday, April 21, 2010

    Safety Geeks: SVI at The Streamy Awards, Season Two will go 3D and John Cleese to Join Cast!

    One of the highlights of my Streamy Awards adventure was to finally meet some of the cast and creative team behind the comedy web series Safety Geeks: SVI, which chronicles a CSI-like team that investigates safety accidents, leaving a swath of comedic chaos and destruction in their wake. According to Dave and Tom, the comedy team who created, wrote and produced the series, imagine Inspector Clouseau as a team of people, trying to make the world safe, and ironically making it more dangerous. Add in a dash of Adult Swim sensibility, and that is Safety Geeks: SVI.

    Season One of Safety Geeks SVI is directed by Roger Tonry and introduces P.O.S.H. (Professional Occupational Safety Hazard) team, which is made up of offbeat characters Dave Beeler as Reginald Syngen-Smythe, a retired at birth trillionaire, Tom Konkle as Budwin Yacker, a former head of O.S.H.A. with a safety-scared childhood and Brittney Powell as Dr. Randi Minky, a curvaceous and beautiful former stripper turned abnormal psychologist, Mary Cseh as Sparky Van Der Graaf, the computer expert hub of POSH control and Benton Jennings as Hopkins, the ever faithful and condescending butler to Reginald. In the first episode, the P.O.S.H. team intercepts an emergency call of an unfortunate accident at a warehouse, which sets off a series of more unfortunate accidents that are inadvertently caused by the P.O.S.H. team.

    The cast are all professionals in LA who put their heart and souls into this web series on deferred salaries because they believe in Dave and Tom and the project. Safety Geeks was a  nominee for Best Visual Effects and was a winner of two awards in Special Effects, Comedy or Drama Series and Special Effects, Comedy or Drama Series in the Los Angeles Web Series Festival 2010. The show was shot entirely on green screen and all of the backgrounds are either CGI, photo plates or 2D for 3D composites. The visual effects were created by Thor Melsted and Mike Smith who also worked for free and for long hours using their own equipment to create some 1300 visual composite effects shots – more than the first three Star Wars movies combined, very unusually, that's in a comedy. A number made more impressive by the less than $10,000 budget and post-production team of three people.

    The series premiered in HD exclusively on Koldcast.TV and was recently released as Koldcast's first web TV movie that reassembled all the episodes into a continuous web movie. Watch it in HD in it’s entirety on KoldCast.TV at: http://www.koldcast.tv/video/safety_geeks_svi_the_web_tv_movie

    In this short video from the 2010 Streamy Awards, I caught up with some of the cast and crew of Safety Geeks: SVI, including Dave Beeler, Brittney Powell, Benton Jennings, Mike Smith and Thor Melsted, who shared some exciting news about Season 2. They told me that they are repurposing Season One as a 3D and will be shooting Season Two as a full stereoscopic 3D experience. To their knowledge they will be the first web television series to pioneer this technology. The other exciting news is that new cast members will be joining show, including the great John Cleese, who is actually a fan of the show. Missing from this interview is Tom Konkle, who like Elvis, had already left the building.



    Since I missed Tom in this interview, I contacted him and asked him to share what's in store for Season Two, and his thoughts on the evolving web television space. He had this to say:
    "I think most important for the Safety Geeks show is exploring the characters now that we know them as an audience and build more absurdity into the situations they find themselves in while creating real relationships between them. This season will be about the team as family and how they work together as a dysfunctional one and how relationships might blossom, especially unlikely ones such as the one Randi and Budwin might find themselves in and destructive ones like the one Reg finds himself in over his head. Adding some exciting new characters and hopefully a few names you'd recognize might up the game as well.
    We have a lot of ideas that we are excited about with regard to the production, storytelling and character aspects of the new season. Will they be able to keep the team together? Will he see that he is being manipulated? Can Budwin and Dr. Randi stop more accidents happening and will they be together? Can an OSHA inspector shut down the team? Having to put aside petty differences with Sparky, and using Hopkins knowledge of Reginald’s past as a guide and trap, season two takes the team balls deep into industrial intrigue, a new arch nemesis, and possibly losing forever the founder of the team to the sexy allure of hazardous, workplace practices.
    The space is evolving fast. We want to stay in the game and make a decent enough income that we can still do this. Views aren't enough we need our fans and we want to interact and create new fans. I think before big business totally takes over our fans and creative spirit will be the only think that makes them take us at all seriously and we hope they do because we love doing these shows." 
    - Tom Konkle Producer/Actor/Writer/Director



    Tom also forwarded a few links for all the Safety Geeks fans out there:

    Tuesday, April 20, 2010

    The Gregory Brothers Perform "Auto-Tune the News #8" Live at the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards

    The Streamy Awards were more than a week ago and a lot of the web television community has moved on from the controversy surrounding the event. Apologies have been made, myths have been dispelled and the community got together and celebrated the web in an post-Steamy Awards event. I recorded a lot of video that evening from my seat in the front row of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles (thanks to Kodak for the Zi8 Pocket Video Camera), and I have a few more videos to share here on the blog before I get back to covering the online video news cycle.

    I was glad to be able to capture and share this performance of The Gregory Brothers doing a live version of  "Auto-Tune the News #8" at the Streamy Awards – which for me, was one of the highlights of the show. The orginal version of their video on YouTube has over 1.3 million views, which you can watch here. Enjoy!



    The Gregory Brothers are a professional band singing folk, soul, and pop music consisting of Evan, Michael, Andrew, and Sarah Gregory, who is married to Evan. The Brooklyn, New York-based group is most famous for their viral video hit series the Auto-Tune the News on YouTube and Next New Networks, which uses real video clips like news broadcasts, viral videos and other talking head content to create funny music videos. Interviewers, celebrities, and politicians alike break into song in these innovative comedy mash-ups.

    The Gregory Brothers won three 2010 Streamy Awards for Best News or Politics Web Series, Best Experimental Web Series and Best Original Music in a Web Series and have been nominated for two Webby Awards in Viral and Video Remixes & Mashups.

    Check their website and Wikipedia page for more background on the Gregory Brothers or visit these other links:

    Sunday, April 18, 2010

    Encoding Video For The Web: Free Webinar on May 5th

    Please join us for a free Reel SEO webinar on May 5th at 11AM Pacific Time to learn about online video encoding for the web. If you're a producer wondering what you need to know about video compression, then this is the webinar for you. You will have a chance to ask questions about the various video formats, codecs, bit-rates and more. You get tips on best encoding practices so your online videos look the best that they can. You'll hear what the pros have to say about H.264 and watch how to simply and easily apply high quality H.264 encoding to your video.

    You can register to attend this free webinar here!

    Sponsored by:

    Vzaar

    Presenters:

    Robert Reinhardt

    Robert Reinhardt

    Creator/Engineer

    Larry Kless

    Larry Kless

    Founder

    Mark Robertson

    Mark Robertson

    Founder


    Some of the topics we'll cover include:
    • What is video compression? 
    • What is bit rate? 
    • Video codecs vs. container formats?
    • Format considerations 
    • Shooting tips for web video
    • Why H.264?
    • How to create high quality H.264 encoding settings
    Did I mention that it's free? What are you waiting for? Register now!

    Friday, April 16, 2010

    Announcing the 2010 Streaming Media All-Stars

    Streaming Media magazine and Streamingmedia.com has announced the third annual Streaming Media All-Star team, a list made up of some of the most innovative, influential, and important players in the online video arena. The Streaming Media All-Stars are people who do their part to advance, evangelize, and expand online video and audio – unsung heroes, visionaries and industry veterans. Last year, I was honored to be recognized as a 2009 Streaming Media All-Star, and I congratulate this year's 2010 team – who are both familiar faces and friends in the online video community. If you read this blog or other online video blogs on a regular basis than you'll recognize this year's team. I was excited when I first read the list, and I'm pleased to present The 2010 Streaming Media All-Stars.

    Streaming Media Editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen noted:
    "The third annual Streaming Media All-Star team is made people who've done the most over the years to advance both new technologies and sustainable business models, as well as those who time and time again have given back by educating newcomers inside the industry and evangelizing about online video to those outside it. 
    As always, though, we selected the team members based not only on their personal successes, which speak for themselves, but also for their commitment to sharing what they've learned with others. If there's one common thread that ties all of them together, it's that online video isn't just a vocation for any of them; it's a calling, and one they want to share with as many people as possible."
    Here's this year's team of Streaming Media All-Stars:

    Steve Garfield: Pioneer Video Blogger


    Glenn Goldstein: VP, Video Technology Strategy
    MTV Networks
    Lisa Larson-Kelley: Web Video Consultant
    Flashconnections.com


    Rob Levy: Executive Producer; Production Operations Manager
    Discovery Digital Media

    Kevin Nalty: CEO, Nalts Consulting

    Jan Ozer: Editor
    Streaming Learning Center

    Andy Plesser: Founder and Executive Producer
    Beet.tv

    Mark Robertson: Founder 
    ReelSEO.com

    Anthony Soohoo: Senior VP and General Manager, Entertainment and Lifestyle
    CBS Interactive

    Mike Tedesco: VP Technology and Product Development
    WWE Global Digital Media
    Mike Tedesco has since left WWE to be the CTO of Venture Forth Software.


    Read the full article to find out more about The 2010 Streaming Media All-Stars - StreamingMedia.com
    Also read the 2010 Editors’ Picks - StreamingMedia.com to see the choices for their top 10 technologies, products, and services in the world of online video.

    Thursday, April 15, 2010

    The 2nd Annual Streamy Awards Highlights: The Gregory Brothers (Auto-Tune the News) Performs "Magical Streamys Remix" Live

    This is the first of several videos I'll be featuring from the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards from my view in the front row at the Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, California. This video captures Auto-Tune the News performing "Magical Streamys Remix" live on April 11, 2010. You'll see Shaycarl and his wife Katilette OlgaKay dance on stage for a cameo.

    See the original full version at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQmLnir2ho



    Auto-Tune the News won three Streamy Awards for Best Experimental Web Series  Best News or Politics Web SeriesBest Experimental Web Series and Best Original Music in a Web Series,and is nominated for 2 Webby Awards. Vote for them here: http://nxtnw.tv/goATTN and here: http://nxtnw.tv/voteATTN . If you're a fan, spread the word and get out the vote!

    This video was shot with a Kodak Zi8 video camera. Many thanks to my friends at Kodak for hooking me up!

    Also a big thanks Glenn Gutierrez and all my friends at Popscreen including Kevin Nguyen, Nick Palacios, Kenneth Sok and Vance Lawrence, for getting me into the Streamys!

    Look for more Streamy Awards videos coming soon!

    Monday, April 12, 2010

    The 2nd Annual Streamy Awards: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly... and the Winners


    By now, most of the Internet has in some way heard about, watched, commented on, or experienced the 2010 Streamy Awards first hand, which for many, failed to meet the expectations set by last year's awards show. I was excited to be a guest and attend the event in person, and actually ended up with a front row seat to what's been called, "the train wreck awards" or as Kevin Pollack called "the best rehearsal award show". The reactions have been vocal and varied, with several themes have emerged regarding the #streamyfail memes. People have been forgiving of the technical problems with the video playback, stalls and miscues, but less forgiving for the audio problems in the venue and on the live web cast and some outrage at the tone of show that came off as sophomoric,  tasteless and self deprecating humor. I know the organizers meant well and worked hard to make the Streamy Awards a success, but the overall execution of the show, which for many went from bad to ugly, set it on a collision course with the devoted web television community who want to be taken seriously.

    Other blogs have said it better already, and have generated a lot of great and thoughtful discussion, like Jenni Powell's Post-Show Community Feedback and Discussion on Tubefilter News and Liz Shannon Miller’s The Streamy Awards: A Producer’s Apology And Its Three Fails at NewTeeVee which Tubefilter CEO Brady Brim-Deforest apologized for the technical difficulties and how the show "suffered from a lack of cohesiveness". Check out these insightful posts from David Samuels, CEO of KoldCastTV , iJustine, Barrett Garese, Jace Hall, Jim Louderback and Miles Beckett who all shared their candid thoughts. Look for more reactions and also statements from Tubefilter and the International Academy of Web Television in the coming days.

    I'll also be posting some videos that I shot at the event.

    Now onto the good, here's the Fine Brothers video, HOW TO get Nominated for A Streamy Award,  that was cut short during the live show due to technical difficulties, and the list of winners who are all talented and top-notched web television creators. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!



    2010 Streamy Award Winners

    Overall Series

    Best Drama Web Series
    The Bannen Way
    Best Hosted Web Series
    Diggnation
    Best Reality or Documentary Web Series
    The Secret Life of Scientists
    Best News or Politics Web Series
    Auto-Tune the News
    Best Foreign Web Series
    OzGirl
    Best New Web Series
    Odd Jobs
    Best Companion Web Series
    The Office: Subtle Sexuality
    Best Animated Web Series
    How It Should Have Ended
    Best Branded Entertainment Web Series
    Back on Topps (Topps, Dick’s Sporting Goods)`
    Best Experimental Web Series
    Auto-Tune the News
    Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series
    Agents of Cracked

    Directing

    Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series
    The Guild
    (Sean Becker)
    Best Directing for a Drama Web Series
    The Bannen Way
    (Jesse Warren)

    Writing

    Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series
    Wainy Days
    (David Wain)
    Best Writing for a Drama Web Series
    Compulsions
    (Bernie Su)

    Performance

    Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series
    Zach Galifianakis — (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis)
    Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series
    Felicia Day — (The Guild)
    Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series
    Mark Gantt — (The Bannen Way)
    Best Female Actor in a Drama Web Series
    Rachael Hip-Flores — (Anyone But Me)
    Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series
    Easy to Assemble
    (Illeana Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)
    Best Guest Star in a Web Series
    “Weird Al” Yankovic — (Know Your Meme)
    Best Web Series Host
    Zadi Diaz — (Epic Fu)
    Best Vlogger
    Shane Dawson — (ShaneDawsonTV)

    Craft Awards

    Best Editing in a Web Series
    The Bannen Way (Zack Arnold)
    Best Cinematography in a Web Series
    Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)
    Best Art Direction in a Web Series
    Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)
    Best Sound Design in a Web Series
    Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)
    Best Visual Effects in a Web Series
    Fear Clinic (Jason Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Onstad, Jason Knetge, Erik Porn, Ikuo Saito, David Dang)
    Best Animation in a Web Series
    theGoob (Magnus Jansson)
    Best Original Music in a Web Series
    Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory, Sarah Gregory)
    Best Live Production in a Web Series
    Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show
    Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series
    Valemont
    Best Product Integration in a Web Series
    Easy to Assemble (IKEA)
    Best Mobile Experience in a Web Series
    Valemont

    Thursday, April 8, 2010

    Streamy Awards 2010 Craft Award Winners

    UPDATED: Last night the Streamy Awards kicked off the first of its 2010 awards season at the Barnsdall Theatre in Hollywood, California for the 2010 Streamys Craft Awards which was short and sweet and over in 45 minutes. Liz Shannon Miller commemorated the spirit of the event through giving a rundown of the the event through a series of bullet points on NewTeeVee. The Streamy Awards ceremony on Sunday kicks off with a live online Red Carpet Pre-Show starting at 4:00 p.m. PT, broadcast exclusively on Ustream.tv and streamys.org.

    The live online broadcast of the Streamy Awards Ceremony, hosted by actor/comedian Paul Scheer, begins at 5:30 p.m. PT on streamys.org. Or, you can download the FREE 2010 Streamy Awards iPhone app and watch it live on your iPhone. The app was developed by Metranome, the Official Mobile Apps Partner of the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards. Check the Streamy Awards blog for updates and be sure to vote for your favorite Audience Choice Award finalist. A full list of all the nominees is here, a big congratulations to all the nominees.

    UPDATE 4/10/10: Here's The Web.Files #35 – Streamy Craft Awards, which Web Files’ host, Kristyn Burtt, who is also a Best Web Series Host Streamy Award nominee, gives a NY shout out to the nominees and winners of the craft categories for the 2010 Streamy Awards hosted by Jim Festante.  The Web.Files is a weekly entertainment talk show that exclusively covers the "web celebs” involved in creating the best, most-watched, highest-rated, and most talked about series on the web. The show is created and hosted by entertainment reporter and media host Kristyn Burtt and produced and directed by Sandra J Payne.



    Without further ado, here are the 2010 Craft Award winners...

    Overall Series

    Best Reality or Documentary Web Series
    The Secret Life of Scientists

    Best Foreign Web Series
    OzGirl

    Best New Web Series
    Odd Jobs

    Best Companion Web Series
    The Office: Subtle Sexuality

    Best Experimental Web Series
    Auto-Tune the News

    Technical Categories

    Best Editing in a Web Series
    The Bannen Way (Zack Arnold)

    Best Cinematography in a Web Series
    Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

    Best Art Direction in a Web Series
    Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)

    Best Sound Design in a Web Series
    Fear Clinic Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)

    Best Visual Effects in a Web Series
    Fear Clinic (Jason Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Onstad, Jason Knetge, Erik Porn, Ikuo Saito, David Dang)

    Best Animation in a Web Series
    theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

    Best Original Music in a Web Series
    Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

    Best Live Production in a Web Series
    Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

    Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series
    Valemont

    Best Product Integration in a Web Series
    Easy to Assemble (IKEA)

    Best Mobile Experience in a Web Series
    Valemont U

    In other Streamy Awards news, Chad Hurley, co-founder and CEO of YouTube, has been selected by the International Academy of Web Television to be the inaugural recipient of the Streamy Visionary Award. Also, Streamy Awards technology partner Unicorn Media has announced that they will provide their Media-as-a-Service™ solution to power both the live and video-on-demand (VOD) broadcast of the 2010 Streamy Awards. For the Streamy's, Unicorn Media is integrating with PLYmedia for multiple language subtitling in support of a global viewing audience. Unicorn's dynamic media synchronization technology will also enable the management of live and VOD iPhone streaming.

    Tuesday, April 6, 2010

    Streaming Media East Here I Come!

    I'll be making my first trek to New York City next month to attend Streaming Media East, where I'll be moderating a panel session on video publishing platforms. Now in its 13th year, the Streaming Media East show is one of the longest running conferences and exhibitions dedicated to the business and technology of online video. Content owners, viral video creators, online marketers, enterprise corporations, broadcast professionals, ad agencies, educators, and others all come to Streaming Media East to see and hear the latest online video technology but, more importantly, to discuss the business models that are coming of age.

    With more than 100 speakers across 30 sessions, Streaming Media East is still the one online video show that is solely focused on real information you can apply immediately in your business. Streaming Media East combines cutting-edge exhibitors and intensive conference sessions, giving you the chance to hear and see the best and the brightest minds in the online video industry—at the podium, in the Exhibit Hall, and among the attendees. Nearly 75% of the speakers are customers who are buying and deploying these services and products today, and share what is and isn't working.

    I'll be moderating the following panel session on Tuesday, May 11th at 1:45 pm ET:

    Media Framework: Video Publishing Platforms
    Moderator: Larry Kless, Founder, President, OnlineVideoPublishing.com
    Bismarck C LepePresident, Products, Ooyala
    Ron Yekutiel, Chairman, CEO, Kaltura
    Daniel Webster, SVP, Media, The NewsMarket
    Jason Liebman, CEO, Co-Founder, Howcast
    A number of vendors offer video publishing platforms, the features and functionality-not to mention cost-vary widely. Some vendors focus their solutions on content management and monetization, while others are geared towards enabling syndication and interactive advertising campaigns. Adding to the confusion is the fact that different platform vendors have different metrics for billing, and costs rise as content owners become more successful. This session will lay the groundwork for content owners to better understand what type of publishing platform they need and what they should expect to pay for managing content.

    More on Streaming Media East 


    Keynotes

    Jeffrey Hayzlett
    Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President
    Eastman Kodak Company

    Erika Nardini
    VP, Brand Packaging
    Yahoo!


    Streaming Media East features sessions covering the following topics:
    • HTML5 Video
    • Inside the Cross-Platform Olympics Experience
    • Media Framework: Video Publishing Platforms
    • Using HD Video for Better Engagement
    • Bridging TV and Broadband
    • Streaming Production: Improving Your Video Quality
    • Content Syndication and Aggregation Strategies
    • P2P on the Flash Platform
    • Advertising Spending: From Trickle to Torrent
    • Streaming Video and the Television Landscape
    • CDN Pricing: The Going Rate for Video Delivery

    For the second year, the Content Delivery Summit will be held prior to Streaming Media East, on May 10th. The Content Delivery Summit was created to bring together customers, vendors, analysts, and Wall Street to discuss and define where the video delivery industry is headed.

    Click here to register online.

    Sunday, April 4, 2010

    I'm Going to the Streamy Awards!

    I'm going to the 2010 Streamy Awards! Thanks to my friends at Popscreen, I'm extremely excited to announce that I'll be attending the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 11 starting at 5:30pm PT. Presented by the International Academy of Web Television and co-hosted by Tubefilter and NewTeeVee, The Streamy Awards is the first awards program of its kind to recognize outstanding achievement in global web television arts and sciences for broadband distribution across 35 creative categories, from acting and directing, to editing and special effects. Now in its second year, the annual ceremony, and its live online broadcast, is at the focal point of the digital entertainment revolution and brings together top talent, decision-makers and influencers shaping the online entertainment industry.

    Streamy Awards excitement kicks off this week in LA with 2010 Web TV Week, a full week of web television and digital entertainment related events from April 5 to 11, in celebration of the 2010 Streamy Awards. See Marc Hustvedt's post, Web TV Week Kicks Off in LA: Babelgum, blip.tv, HRTS, Streamys!, for more information. The Streamys Craft Awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 7th at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood and will recognize that many editors, cinematographers, art directors, producers, and other artistic and technical teams behind the Streamy Awards nominees.

    The Streamy Awards live Red Carpet Pre-Show starts next Sunday, April 11 at 4 p PT, broadcast online exclusively on Ustream.tv and streamys.org. The live online broadcast of the Streamy Awards Ceremony, hosted by rising actor comedian Paul Scheer, begins at 5:30 pm PT exclusively on streamys.org.

    Over 175 shows and individuals were nominated in thirty-five award categories which includes The 12 new categories. According to Marc Hustvedt, Tubefilter News Editor and Streamy Awards Executive Producer, Academy voters had their hands full this year in pairing down the submission of some 2,000 web shows from over 100 different countries. Last year’s inaugural Streamy Awards received over 100,000 unique public submissions from over 89 countries, hundreds of thousands of votes for 10 Audience Choice Award Finalists, and a groundswell of support from both the traditional and new media communities. See Marc's post on Tubefilter News for a summary of this years nominees. Many web creators have produced Streamys Attack Ads to promote their series and grab the attention of web television fans. Laurie Percival collected a handful of them here.

    Voting has already begun for the 2010 Streamy Awards Audience Choice Award for “Best Web Television Series” and were announced on March 22nd in a special video presentation featuring comedian and actor Nick Thune, who also stars in the Web series Nick’s Big Show on MTV Network’s Atom.com. You can vote every day for your favorite Streamys  Audience Choice Award Finalists. Head to vote.streamys.org to support your favorite show.



    Audience Choice Awards Finalists
    The Streamy Awards Audience Choice Finalists for Best Web Television Series are:

    Keep up to date on all the Streamy Awards News by following @streamyawards on Twitter and become a fan at www.facebook.com/streamys. I look forward to seeing my web TV friends and meeting many of the creators and stars of my favorite web series.

    See you the Streamys!

    Friday, April 2, 2010

    Google Buys an Online Video Platform, Episodic Joins Search Giant for an Undisclosed Sum

    It was big news today for Noam Lovinsky, CEO and Co-founder of Episodic, with the announcement that his company has been acquired by Google. Following a day of April Fool's Day jokes, that included Brightcove had acquired Ooyala – this deal is no joke, and was actually being signed yesterday. This is Google’s eighth acquisition since September, and eleventh acquisition in nine months. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed and Google has released a generic statement saying they are impressed by the Episodic team and share the same vision for video. But on the Episodic company blog, both Lovinisky and his Co-Founder Matias Cudich, say they are thrilled about this new partnership and what means for their customers and the online video space, mobile phones and IPTV devices. The Episodic team starts work as a Google employees next week.

    The San Francisco, California-based company has been around for two years but had kept relatively quiet in stealth mode building the platform, officially launching the complete platform only last October. Last year Episodic focused on delivering video to the mobile devices starting with the iPhone and expanded to the BlackBerry, and even Windows Mobile. Now with the official launch as a “comprehensive solution”, Episodic differentiates itself as an all-under-one-roof platform rather than having a network of partners like its competitors in the space. Customers like Showtime Sports and other national cable networks, web publishers and small and medium businesses, use Episodic, for content management, delivery and monetization.

    I interviewed Noam Lovinsky for Reel SEO at Streaming Media West in November 2009, and he noted that our industry is barely 15 years old, and video monetization and delivery on the web and mobile devices have just begun to mature. You can see a longer version of the video and that post on Reel SEO here. Noam predicted that in 2010, we’ll see the rise of the promise of “TV Everywhere” and a shift in business models from ad supported content to paid content. He added that moving forward, video will be core for web site development as HTML coding was in 1999.



    Why is Episodic excited about joining Google?
    "Episodic and Google share a common vision for video on the Web. Online video will be ubiquitous, engaging, entertaining, informative and effective. Both teams place value on creating a great experience for viewers and on delivering a powerful and flexible platform for publishers, marketers and advertisers of all kinds. We’re very excited to join the talented team at Google and to continue creating great experiences for viewers and powerful platforms for publishers, marketers, and advertisers."- From the Episodic blog,  Episodic Joins Google
    Google issued this generic statement on the acquisition:
    "We are impressed by the Episodic team, the vision they have for Internet video, and the progress they have made in bringing a great video experience to the web. We look forward to working with this talented group of individuals, and the technology they’ve created, to continue to deliver a powerful and flexible platform to our partners."

    With the "shared vision" that both companies have, Episodic's technology integration YouTube could develop “YouTube Pro" of the service to expand into syndication on other video sites and devices, live streaming, paid content, advertising and monetization. See Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins's post, Episodic Acquired by Google, and What it Means for YouTube, where he provides interesting analysis into whether or not this was personnel acquisition or a technology acquisition.

    While it's been rumored that Google was planning to buy an online video platform, many expected that either Ooyala or Brightcove would have been the targets. But Google's purchase of Episodic and recent acquisition of video codec vendor On2, shows that Google is serious about expanding its video strategy. Another recent acquisition in the online video platform space was just a few weeks ago when KITdigital acquired Atlanta-based OVP Multicast Media, and with the saturated OVP market, more disruption and consolidation within the space is expected.

    For Episodic, and the online video, mobile and OTT spaces at large - this is big news.

    About Episodic, Inc.
    The Episodic publishing platform enables the broadcast of live and on-demand video to any web site, mobile phone or Internet connected device. With Episodic, content producers are able to push video to their web properties, showcase content via social networks, and even build custom-branded iPhone applications around their media. Episodic spans the video value chain, providing everything publishers need to manage, measure and monetize their content. Episodic is based in San Francisco, Calif., and is privately held. For more information visit www.episodic.com.


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