Zach Legend talks about video blogging

Live blogging the BlogIN sessions at IUPUI’s School of Informatics, this one on video blogging

Zach Legend
* ISU grad – took name from “Larry Legend”
* didn’t like to write, but found YouTube was a great outlet for expression
* got a contract doing videos for the Colts
* keep it 2-3 minutes (“get it done”) – short, for viewers (“how short can you make a video”)

Capture sounds and images:
* Tech is great: small digital camera w/ mic – no lights, higher tech (“I don’t even know what an audio feed is”)

Get is off the camera:
* connect device (typically with USB)
* copy file to hard drive, into separate video
* import into a video editor (Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, etc)
* edit stuff – lots more footage than what is used
* save movie file to HD (Windows = .wmv)

Publish it:
* YouTube allows 100 MB max
* “The internet is a whole new beast.” – trying to capture things and get it out faster and faster
* get account, log in
* “Upload” link – title, description, select video category
* Tags are important
* browse to video movie file – click upload, “and go have a drink” (it can take a while)
* embed code, so you can blog it (but it may take a while longer until it is available)

Future
* looking for more opportunities, expand away from Colts (only 20-week seasons)
* “worked my tail off” to get to a point where I can ask for money
* a wedding video takes about 20 hours
* look for product placement – “It’s a new medium, trying to get money out of these things”
* Can edit tags – sometimes, change tags to people in the news (“sure, you make some people mad, but what do you have to lose, it’s just YouTube”, “try to keep hot”)
* you can turn off comments – “YouTube are mean people” (go to their page, and they don’t have a single video)
* You’ve got to have a thick skin – “you made it, it is your expression”
* video is under my control – if I stutter, trip, etc you’ll never see it on the video

* “At Notre Dame, I twice caught ticket takers not saying ‘Welcome to Notre Dame'” – head usher saw it and apologized, got to go through the tunnel and into stadium – usher had been using Zach’s videos for the last two years as a training video (“Notre Dame Blue Gold 2008“)