Verdi March 19th, 2007
Why Videoblog?
Comon’ every web 2.0 geek has a videoblog - you should have one too! Seriously though, we know it’s super simple to put videos up on YouTube and for many people (okay a kabillion people) that works just fine. The nice thing about a videoblog is it’s like your own little corner of the Internet. You control how it looks, whether it has ads on it or not, what format(s) the videos are in and how long they are. Plus, because it’s built on a blog it has all the advantages of a blog - it’s easily found in search engines, it’s automatically archived, and it’s easy to subscribe to.
So if you’re into it, the real question is what do you want to do? Document your life? Make some sort of show? Make art? All of the above? You can really do anything you want. Here’s just a few examples of some of our favorites:
Swajana
Wreck & Salvage
pouringdown
Missbhavens
Sustainable Route
Next To Heaven
Video Pankakes
How To Use This Tutorial
Just start here at the top and work your way down. Click on the videos and they’ll open in a pop-up window. You can move the video over to one side if you want and follow along in another browser window. If you use Windows, skip the Mac specific videos and if you’re a Mac user, skip the Windows videos (unless you want to see how the other side lives). Yes, Step 3 - basic video tips - is missing. We’re working on it along with a few others. If you get stuck or have some questions, email us.
Looking for this tutorial in another language?
Try these:
Español
Português
日本語
Italiano
Deutsch
Verdi March 19th, 2007
Before we get started we need to make sure we’ve got all the latest and greatest software. You won’t get very far on Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 3.
Links in this video:
Update Windows
Firefox Web Browser
QuickTime
Flash Player
Ryanne March 19th, 2007
If your Mac is beige you’re outta luck. If you’ve got one built in the last 8 years you can probably just update the software and you’ll be good to go.
Links in this video:
Firefox Web Browser
QuickTime
Flip4Mac
Flash Player
Verdi March 19th, 2007
Now that completed your videoblog masterpiece it’s time to compress it for web. Uncompressed, a 3 minute clip will be about 660MB. Here we’ll show you how to slim that same 3 minute clip down to about 15MB. That’ll help keep the tubes from getting clogged!
Ryanne March 19th, 2007
There are literally a gajillion ways to compress your video for the web. This is just a good, quick, one-size-fits-all way to get it done. So if you’re feeling adventurous, here are a few more:
H.264 iPod (iMovie & Final Cut Pro)
Ryanne’s Favorite Settings
3ivx Dual Pass
P.S. Be sure not to do what I did in this tutorial by naming your file with spaces: “Videoblog Extreme.mp4″ should be “Videoblog_Extreme.mp4″ or “VideoblogExtreme.mp4″, the internet kind of hates spaces in file names. DOH! What was I thinking?!
Verdi March 19th, 2007
So this is how you do it in Windows XP. I guess now that Vista (is anyone using that?) is out we’ll have to make another version of this tutorial. Hopefully it won’t be such a convoluted process. Just a note - there is a little goofup near the end of the video that I mention. It doesn’t change the steps that you’ll do or anything, it’s just a byproduct of the fact that we made all of these Windows screencasts on a Mac. The only time that’s been a problem is during this screencast because Macs don’t have a print screen button on their keyboards. Pretty exciting stuff huh?
Ryanne March 19th, 2007
I know you may be thinking, “Hey, these here videos are not shown in a media player!” Damn, we can’t pull one over on you. The cool thing about setting up a videoblog is that it’s yours. You can do pretty much whatever the hell you want with it. In this case we decided to not take our own advice. Remember these aren’t the “rules” of videoblogging, they’re just some friendly tips to get you started.
Ryanne March 19th, 2007
That’s right, we said “Blog” not “Vlog.” Is a blog a vlog if it doesn’t have video on it? Are all blogs with video, videoblogs? If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if no one is around to hear it?
Go Further –> Customize Your Blogger Header
Links in this video:
Blogger
Verdi March 19th, 2007
Okay, the big moment has arrived. This is where we get some video mixed up in your blog. It’s kind of like mixing chocolate and peanut butter - each is great by themselves and together they’re even better. At about 9 minutes this is the longest step but don’t worry, it’s all pretty easy stuff.
Go Further –> What is Creative Commons.
Links for this video:
blip.tv
Creative Commons
Blogger
Ryanne March 19th, 2007
Lot’s of people seem to skip this step for some reason. We really really think this is an important step because only your Mom is going to remember to check your videoblog on a regular basis. Everyone else is going to want to subscribe in an RSS reader or video aggregator. Plus the whole RSS thing is like magic; why would you want to skip that?
Links in this video:
Feedburner
Miro
FireAnt
iTunes
Windows Media
