This week features MediaSilo’s Evangelist Dan Green. Dan talks about saving money and time, the importance of metadata, and how to improve the video production work flow. He also discusses his podcast Work Flow Junkies.

Topics covered in the show:

- The story behind MediaSilo.

- The video production process through MediaSilo’s platform.

- Who can benefit and get value from MediaSilo’s solutions.

- Text transcriptions and extracting metadata from your video assets.

- Why metadata is the future for online video.

- How far collaborative editing has come over the years.

- How producing videos has changed and evolved.

- What comes after YouTube?

- How Spidvid community members can improve their production process and video content through MediaSilo.

- Why to get a free demo account at MediaSilo.

Full Text Transcript

Show Introduction: Hi. I’m Michael London and welcome to Spidcast, the future of collaborative video production brought to you by Spidvid.Com. On this episode we’re visiting with Dan Green, evangelist from MediaSilo.com. MediaSilo is a wonderful video content management and collaborative platform.

Dan, welcome to the Podcast. Tell us a little bit about the MediaSilo story.

Dan: Well, MediaSilo actually started out for the production environment several years ago. It started from a company called Producturials which did a lot of work in video for the web and most of the clients actually were banks. Getting them to agree on anything or even just all of the stakeholders involved to actually view some content and approve it was a nightmare. So what the guys did was they actually started to piece together that they knew a little bit about the Web and online video. So they pieced together a system that enable those stakeholders involved in the production of the online videos to go from their own computers and actually view that content and make comments on the time line, and then approve or disapprove the content.

It was such a big hit that some friends of theirs and other production companies were like, “Hey, man, can I use that?” One thing went to another and gosh, a lot of people might be able to use this. The platform has really grown from there. It started just as an online approval system and really grew beyond that to become a fully-functional full-collaborative online video platform.

Michael: Well, it certainly is that. Now is this a real-time experience?

Dan: No. MediaSilo is not live. MediaSilo gives you the ability to collaborate on your own schedule. So you’re able to control who has access to any given workspace and that’s what we call them. We break them down into workspaces which are like folders or if you’re an avid person, maybe like a bin, and you can break those workspaces down into projects, or into clients, or however you want to break them down and then you can assign people that have access to those workspaces and determine what they can do in those workspaces. So whether or not they have the ability to actually make comments on video in there, view it, share it with other people, or work with that video, or embed it onto their websites, you control all of the things that they’re able to do in a workspace with video. And you’re able to do it on your own time with notifications via email.

Michael: Got it, got it. Now take us step-by-step through the MediaSilo process.

Dan: What happens is you can just upload any video directly through your online login. Click one button and you choose the file that you want to upload or you can upload it via FTP direct out of your system if you like and it will go directly into that workspace where we take not only the source file. So we’ll take the source file. If you upload it in QuickTime, we’ll take the QuickTime. If you upload a Windows Media file, we’ll take the Windows Media file and we store them online so that you can access and download it at any time. So if you’re uploading from New York, you can download that exact same file in Los Angeles.

But at the same time what we do is we create a Flash proxy of that video which you can view online and work with online. So when that video goes up and it’s encoded into Flash, that’s actually what you see and that’s what you work with through the MediaSilo platform.

Michael: Oh, I love that. Now, your content stays untouched and then we work using a Flash version. Very, very nice. Now Dan, who exactly is using MediaSilo at this time?

Dan: We have a lot of clients in the reality TV space; some of the network talk shows are using us. For example, one of the big prime time talk show’s is using us to brief talent that they want to get involved in some of their bits. So they’ll have producers for example do a mark up of that bit or do a run for that bit and then they’ll send a sample straight to that client’s iPhone or their agent’s iPhone example. Directly right to their phone or make it available online, or they can actually give them access to the system within MediaSilo if they want. So you can collaborate within the platform if you like or outside the platform if that’s what you want to do as well.

Michael: Well, I’ll tell you what. The flexibility and customization possibilities are very, very exciting indeed. So Dan, share with us a little bit more about the actual working parts and pieces of MediaSilo.

Dan: Well, we call them “modules” in MediaSilo and those modules give you the ability to do different things. For example, we have the ability for you to create your own channels online that you can program on the fly. So for example if you want to have a broadcast channel that has a number of videos like let’s say for example, you want to do your reel and you have different versions of that reel. So you have commercials, you have documentaries and so on. You can actually break that up into different channels within your overall MediaSilo channel. So you would go in and build that within MediaSilo, take the embed code and put it on your website. You can actually program that on the fly simply by dragging and dropping content into that channel and it will change automatically. You’ll never have to go back in and re-embed it or change the code in the website ever again. All you’ll have to do is drag and drop and you can move all of those things from within MediaSilo and it will control it.

So the broadcast feature is one that’s particularly popular because of the ability to program it through Alliance. We also have a transcription mode which gives you anybody who has ever sat there and had to sit there and knock out bytes and transcribe bytes for log tapes know how tedious that can be. We’ve got a very affordable option where if you go out and you do your shoot, you can actually upload that content from MediaSilo, then drag it into the transcription feature, and request to transcription. You can add any notations that you want, names, or specific request, or i.e. time code and things like that, and send it off and within 24 to 48 hours for $5 a file and a $1 a minute, you’ll get a full transcription back on MediaSilo that you can then cut and paste and work with and create your piece together. Those are couple of the modules that we have and we’re working on several others.

In addition to those we also have an interface with Final Cut Server which gives you the ability to take that metadata. Metadata like transcriptions, metadata like adaptations on the timeline and comments on given files, and write them back into your Final Cut Server. So we’re able to make a full loop so that you can work with an asset within Final Cut Server and then upload that content and make it all available online and update metadata that’s relevant to you and move the production process along within your non-linear editor.

Michael: Now you just mentioned metadata. There are some old school editors out there who have painfully made that transition from recorder to Beta, to DV cam and then from linear to non-linear editing. Talk a bit about that process.

Dan: I think that metadata is clearly the future in the direction that we’re moving in. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But making the transition from linear into non-linear, I think most people have made that jump. What happens is where to go from there and the ability to really catalog your assets and make those assets available to other people to be able to work with those assets outside of your non-linear editing platform. That is a process that is sort of like crack, I think. You get a little bit and you just want more because it really streamlines your work flow and it makes your time far more productive, and you’re able to work on projects and know exactly where you are on those projects – on approval – with all the stakeholders that are involved. So you can bounce from project to project and still be up to date and keep you informed just to where you are and gets your approvals and move along.

Michael: Indeed. For my money, one of the coolest features is the ability to be editing in New York, get instant feedback from my client in L.A. and with the client’s partner at O’Hare Airport in Chicago as well.

Dan: Yes. And you can do it on your phone. In fact you can access your entire catalog on the phone if you want to – on the iPhone. But the mobility that we are demanding in this new environment, particularly with the Smart phones and the flexibility that we have in the software that’s coming through non-linear editing systems whether it be Avid or Apple. And then through Avid server system or Final Cut Server gives us tremendous flexibility in that regard and all of these things are merging together. MediaSilo really has positioned as an online component for those things.

Michael: Ah, great position to be in. Now how has producing videos changed and evolved over the last couple of years?

Dan: Well, I think that the biggest change that we’re seeing is a movement particularly in Hollywood towards work flow that it’s not just about editing anymore. It’s about total work flow from acquisition all the way through the post-production process because the biggest change that I think I’m seeing anyway is the need to take any content that you have and be able to use it on a number of platforms. So we’re seeing a lot of our clients particularly in the reality space take a piece of video that it’s going to be used for a show, but it also has to be re-purposed for the Web. It has to be re-purposed for promos so that they can be sent to newspapers or tabloids around the world; and they have to be able to take that content and put it on the Web, or edit it into their own systems. And the relevant metadata that’s going to be coming with that video is going to be very important because it’s going to add to your ability not only to maximize that content on a number of different platforms, but then as you move forward to also be able to track that content and see what it’s doing for you online.

Michael: Now, speaking of online and stepping away from that traditional Hollywood studio model, what does the future hold for online video content in terms of the production model?

Dan: I think it’s what comes after YouTube now. Because YouTube certainly has its place, there’s no doubt about it but YouTube was the great repository. And when you have a great repository like that, it doesn’t give you the ability to really set yourself apart. So I think people are demanding now the ability to have more control of their content, to be able to stand apart and have a unique delivery system beyond the standard things that are out there. Does that mean there’s not a place for YouTube? Absolutely not. There’s no doubt about it.

But the days of being a production company and putting your stuff on YouTube makes you kind of look cheesy. Let’s be honest. So people want to have the ability to have an incredibly professional look on their Web sites to be able to have an incredibly professional work flow and do that online at a very affordable price. I think that’s where MediaSilo really comes in.

Michael: Which then of course takes us to the bottom line – tell us exactly how do your clients save money and time using MediaSilo’s platform?

Dan: Well the first thing that’s going to save them a bunch of money is that they’re not dubbing DVDs all day long and shipping them out to clients for approval and then waiting days to get an answer back. The money that they saved on FedEx alone pays for the MediaSilo platform, or systems that are incredibly ineffective for video like YouSendIt and FTP delivery systems where they don’t even know what they’re looking at. They just got a file and they have to download it and maybe they don’t even want to look at it in the first place, or maybe it’s not even the right file.

So this is a visual platform that gives you a lot of flexibility and saves you money through delivery, it saves you money through time and the ability to collaborate and get an answer and use our time as an editor and a producer far more effectively. We have casting agents in Los Angeles that are using MediaSilo and we have one recent project where we had a casting director do a project in half the time it took him before and normally he would have three or four casting assistants on the project, and instead he had one. So it’s a money-saver in terms of efficiency and giving you the ability to focus on the project that you’re working on or multiple projects that you’re working on, and move them forward in a pace that’s going to be profitable to you and make a difference on your bottom line.

Michael: And in this age of the bottom line being just that the “bottom line”, I trust that Spidcast listeners and the Spidvid community will appreciate the value of a hand-in-hand partnership with MediaSilo. And that when they assembled their production teams from literally around the world via Spidvid, they would then turn to MediaSilo to complete their projects or even use MediaSilo throughout the complete production process.

Dan: What we’ve seen is a lot of people integrating it piece-by-piece. Some will use this for casting and then start using it for research and put all the research content on there. Others are using it in the production process and then branching out from there. So there’s multiple applications for MediaSilo and if it fits into certain parts of the work flow, then it really works.

One of the things that we really try to do with the platform and encourage people to do is incorporate it into the work flow the way that they want to on their level because we’re not trying to set a work flow and say, “Listen, this is the way that you do it.” We have the flexibility for you to customize the system, customize the approval process, who sees what, when, where, and what workspace it goes into and then where it progresses to based off at the platform, not off of what we say. So you’re able to customize that platform to fit your work flow. So we’re seeing MediaSilo brought in different levels, then expanded from there.

Michael: A bit ago, Dan, you hit on the jump from linear to non-linear editing. Well, this takes the jump from linear to non-linear thinking and this is just today in the present. Now, what do you see in the near future?

Dan: The future is clearly about metadata. There’s no doubt about it and that’s what we’re committed to and we want to make that interaction as seamless and as painless as possible for people. In fact we work with a company called, Focus Enhancements who has a product called the FS-5 which gives you the ability to put metadata onto a file and acquisition, and then you can upload that content and import that metadata up to MediaSilo and into your non-linear editing system and it stays with the file. So it can be good take, bad take; it can be day shoot, night shoot; it can be accurate information, it can be whatever; it can actually be a script. And that information then stays with the video all the way through. It’s searchable, it’s findable, it’s something that you can then put into your library and seek through and have your hands on that video whenever you need to. And that’s going to improve dramatically video production as we move forward.

So if you can get your hands and search in a matter of seconds whether it be on MediaSilo or within your own system using some simple metadata, you’ll be able to get your hands on the video content that you need immediately and it’s going to save you a fortune. It really will and I think we’re going to see metadata incorporated into work flows, in production so that actual approval and the sorting of content is in a reality space where you will have producers sorting through content and picking bodies, and picking the cut-away shots that they want to use, that those selections are with the video as it sits on a server. So whether you go and find it through MediaSilo or you go and find it in your editing system through your production work flow, you’re able to find every shot of John and have your hands on every cut-away of John that was ever shot during the entire production, and have it in seconds. That’s really going to change everything in the way that we do it.

Not to mention the facts and there are other things to come into it. That metadata could also be color, it could be settings, it could be other variables, GPS, it can be what temperature Kelvin were we shooting at. So if you have to go back and do a re-shoot, that metadata is always going to be there and you’re going to be able to change it. Think about the ability to actually do that instead of renting an EVD of a movie, to be able to rent all of the video that we shot for that film and the ability just with metadata to re-cut it the way that you want to, that those scenes are there. That’s the kind of things that we have in the future.

Michael: It sounds like the future is bright indeed. Dan, I sure appreciate you being on Spidcast today, but you also have a Podcast. Tell us a little bit about Work Flow Junkies.

Dan: Well, Work Flow Junkies is sponsored by MediaSilo. We touch on MediaSilo from time to time but really the podcast is about work flow in the production environment. We spend a lot of time talking about metadata there and the potential applications for metadata in the video production space and where we’re going. But at the end of the day what we like to do on Work Flow Junkies is just talk about ways to save yourselves some time and save yourself some money in video production and have fun doing it.

Michael: And to me that has to be the ultimate bottom line. Have fun doing it. Dan, where can the Spidcast listeners go to learn more about your solutions, get a demo and get connected with MediaSilo?

Dan: We’re online at MediaSilo.Com. Podcast is at work WorkFlowJunkies.Com. That’s work WorkFlowJunkies.Com but you can go online to MediaSilo and get a look at the system, sign up for a demo and it’s all free. There’s actually a free account. You can sign up and get your hands on MediaSilo right off the bat and not pay anything. There are limitations in terms of total volume of files that you can upload and so on. It’s a great chance to just sign up for free account at MediaSilo.Com and start up loading some video and see how the system works and see how practical it is for your work flow.

Michael: Wonderful invitation. We will do that, Dan. Thank you so much for joining us today on Spidcast.

Dan: All right. Thanks for having me, Michael.

Michael: Dan Green, evangelist from MediaSilo.com. I’m Michael London. Thank you for listening. You can join the conversation now by visiting Spidcast.Com. We welcome your thoughts, opinions and feedback, and you can also get access to the full-text transcript of this week’s show at Spidcast.Com.

This week features Hip-Hop music artist K-Fresh aka “The Nem-s-iss”, and insightful tech geek Jason Seifert. K-Fresh talks about new opportunities for music artists through online video content, and how the Web is an effective low-cost business medium to attract valuable attention. Jason talks about Windows 7, Snow Leopard, and how he can save you valuable time.

Topics covered in this episode:

- How online video is great for music artists to find new business.

- How the Internet has surpassed clubs and bars as a way to promote  music.

- The benefits of music artists collaborating with video creators.

- Tapping new revenue streams.

- What the new Windows 7 operating system is all about, and why to be cautious on upgrading from Vista.

- Why upgrading to Apple’s Snow Leopard is a good idea.

- Which newsletter to subscribe to so you can knock time off your day.

- How Spidvid is a solid niche social network offering benefits outside of the mainstream sites like Facebook.

Full Text Transcript

Show Introduction: Hi, I’m Michael London and welcome to Spidcast the future of collaborative video production brought to you by Spidvid.com. On this episode, we’re visiting with K-Fresh, an independent rap artist from Toronto, who has some insight into the changing face of the music business via the Internet. And we’ll also visit with Jason Siefert, owner of JMS Technical Solutions of Orange County, California. Now Jason will share with us some great technical information but not too techie for the casual computer user.

So let’s jump right in to this week’s Spidcast.

Michael: We begin with K-Fresh aka “The Nem-s-iss”. Welcome to Spidcast.

K-Fresh: No problem. Anytime.

Michael: K-Fresh, tell us a little bit about some of your current projects.

K-Fresh: I just released a project called “K-Fresh: The Nem-s-iss”, which was a street-orientated album and now I’m actually making an album called “Radiogenic”, which is going to be directed to the radio genre of music. It’s a full CD of radio music because I am an underground artist but I’m trying to break into the mainstream and this is my way of doing it by making a total CD of all radio-friendly music. It’ll be easier for me to submit because the more commercial my music is, I’ll be able to send it to places like Spidvid, and I can also get my stuff into movies or any other video productions that would be profitable.

Michael: Let’s hope so. Now, tell us a little bit more about K-Fresh.

K-Fresh: Well, I go by the name Nem-s-iss and K-Fresh is also easy to find us. We’re talking about the Internet right now because if was on the radio and I said Nem-i-iss, they wouldn’t be able to find the way I spelled it, so K-Fresh is my way of getting people to find me easier. So you can search K-Fresh on Google. You can search K-Fresh on Youtube. You can search K-Fresh on Myspace and my profile is actually MySpace.com/kfreshtherapper.

Michael: Well, hopefully, they’ll have the ability to find you easily. Now, K-Fresh, as an independent producer and artist, do you see online video as the new way to gain exposure to attract new audiences and to pursue new business opportunities?

K-Fresh: Oh, yes. I would say that for sure. I’m going to answer that because it’s like I’m finding that more people are on the Internet more than they’re actually watching TV. I find myself on the Internet more than watching TV. It’s the best way to actually gain exposure especially for independent artists to attract new audiences and get business opportunities from other Internet businesses and so on because the Internet is so used in all this.

Michael: Wow. It used to be that clubs were the big breakout spots for the new underground artists. Are you saying that the Internet has now surpassed that?

K-Fresh: Yes, for sure. The Internet is like the most inexpensive way to do it especially for independent artists that even the major artists are benefiting off the Internet. I find that it is more than the clubs now because the DJ’s can only play so many songs in the club. The Internet is the way to go for sure.

Michael: So, let’s follow that logic and talk a bit about collaborative relationships between music artists and video creators. Do you see this as a beneficial way to build each others brands and overall content and quality?

K-Fresh: Yes, for sure because I also believe it’s kind of like cross promotion in a way where the artist can be viewed from the video’s audience and it will be a vice versa for the video and the artist. Both audiences will basically combine together to have a solid fan base for the artist and also the video production.

Michael: Win-win. You got to love that, right? Now, let me ask you this, does the idea of providing songs to video creators who are using their projects in exchange for say a percentage of that video’s revenues excite music artists as a way to explore untapped revenue streams?

K-Fresh: Yes, for sure. It’s like an equal benefit for both artists and the video. That’s very good because the artist and the video production can also benefit especially if the artist is presented with a proposal for a percentage of what the video revenue makes, then I’m sure that almost every artist, if any artist who wouldn’t want to do that I don’t think they would be very serious about their career because it’s something that they can benefit from just by getting a buzz from the video and also getting a percentage.

Michael: Ah, which brings us to Spidvid.com. Tell us how you see Spidvid benefiting the music artists?

K-Fresh: Well, I see many benefits because a lot of artists – it brings every artist from different genres all into one fan base so audiences actually see them there. It’s always good to cross promote and network. So I think Spidvid is going to be something that every artist of every genre can benefit from and basically bring everybody a step forward in their career that they want to pursue and do it properly.

Michael: Great advice, K-Fresh. Thank you for joining us today on Spidcast.

K-Fresh: No problem.

Up next the owner of JMS Technical Solutions and one of the coolest tech geeks I know, Jason Siefert up next.

Intermission: You know how challenging it is to produce quality videos without the help from others who have the skills and talent you need. Well Spidvid let’s you find the individuals you need for your video production project so you can create the Internet’s next big viral hit. Visit Spidvid.com. Click the sign-up link and reserve your spot within our collaborative video community today.

Michael: Jason thanks for joining us on Spidcast.

Jason: Thank you very much, Michael.

Michael: Tell us a bit about how you became the go-to guy of Orange County for tech issues?

Jason: Well, I’ve got about 23 maybe 24 years in the technical industry under my belt. I’m kind of one of those people that was practically born with a keyboard in my hand. I ended up owning one of the very first Apple Home Computers that you could back when they were $4,000 in 1981 and kind of fell in love with it almost immediately, took it apart the second day it was there, which thrilled the heck out of my parents, and kind of just been a technological addict there ever since when I realized that most people didn’t kind of understand intuitively the language of computing. I realized there is a definite market and a definite need for people who could succinctly and accurately explain how a computer works to a person who’s not technically savvy. That’s kind of the focal point of my business nowadays is acting as sort of a liaison between the non-technical consumer who must use a computer to survive in the modern world, and the computer itself that is trying to tell people what it needs and to never really get it’s point across accurately for most people.

Michael: Well, I tell you certainly have filled that void with your knowledge and expertise and to that end, tell us a little bit about the new Windows 7.

Jason: My idea of Windows 7 is I think it is a viable operating system and by viable I think it an operating system that people should not be afraid to run, which was not true of Windows Vista. It was an operating system that I think was nothing more than a cautionary (tail) in Microsoft’s very long and illustrious history.

I think that Windows 7 definitely offers some very friendly, very exciting new interface options, but I think that the buyer must beware whenever they’re upgrading with an operating system because if they assume just because the system is “better” that it’s going to be easier without any form of training or introduction into the interface for that new system. Most people are going to be solely disappointed.

I think that what I am the most disappointed with Windows 7 is, again, Microsoft has chosen to release just this very strange, slew of versions of their program that I think really kind of plays against the market itself in a way that I think is kind of (piratical) there’s a version of Windows for the “home user”. There’s a version of Windows for the “professional user”. And then there’s a version of Windows for the “ultimate user”, I suppose. The range of cost is $100 from the cheapest one to the ultimate version and to me, not releasing a full featured operating system in just a single succinct package, I think a very unfortunate choice that Microsoft made.

Michael: Well, that being said, let’s jump over and talk about some real computers now. I’m reasonably certain that a good portion of our listeners at least the editors and graphics folks are on Macs. Talk a little bit about Snow Leopard?

Jason: Well, I think Snow Leopard is extremely exciting because what Snow Leopard has done as it has brought to the table what Leopard should have had in terms of its back-end features. Snow Leopard is not exciting news for an end interface and it’s not something that’s throwing at you a hundred new front-end features that you’re going to appreciate, but what it is it’s the build for the future. The infrastructural support that for those of us who want high end systems, if you’re on a Mac for instance and you’re running more than 4 GB’s of RAM, these changes that have come up with Snow Leopard are really what are going to allow you to take the most the advantage of those higher end resources.

In that regard, I think for a $30 price tag, Snow Leopard is a pretty trusted beat and I think it’s a very exciting beat. I think it’s a very exciting that they – as for an apology for 10.5 not having the features that Snow Leopard comes with. They said, “Okay, we’ll give it you for a nice, cheap price.” In that regard, I picked up the Snow Leopard the day it came out. I love it. I think that every Mac user who’s using a mid to high end work station should consider buying it. The price is just right. There’s no excuse not to get it.

Michael: Very good. You know, I trust not only your opinions but your real working knowledge as well. I guess there is a Snow Leopard in my future. Jason, let’s talk a little bit about your newsletter. Now, I fancy myself an expert computer user and I always find something not only interesting but useful in each issue. In fact, recently, you reminded me about all the cool things that the simple, right mouse click can do. Some of these things I’ve forgotten. Tell us a little bit about your newsletter.

Jason: Well, the newsletters are pretty much the way that I intend to keep my users’ learning at all times and subscribers’ learning at all times about the features of their computer. You know, computers are very, very powerful tools and if not a uni-tasker, it’s really built to do a tremendous number of things and sometimes those very sort of core functions, those very rudimentary functions become overlooked and they become real productivity losses because if you’re digging through as many as every which way and things like that, for instance with the right click, you really can just speed up your overall production and something that took you an hour and twenty minutes to do, maybe will take you an hour and five minutes and added up over the course of a work day those savings can be pretty significant.

What the newsletter is and is going to continue to be in the future is really sort of my encounters in the field with my various customers, the lessons I teach them – the little tidbits and tricks that I show the individual, the really great nuggets of wisdom that I share with the individual, I’m going to try and propagate out to my newsletters so that everyone can benefit from those.

Michael: Very cool and how does one subscribe to the newsletter?

Jason: All you have to do is go to my website and it is a double opt-in system which means you submit your email address and your name to the form on the front page of my website and then it will send you an email after you confirm that subscription, you merely respond to the email, click the link, confirm it and you will be on my mailing list until you choose to remove yourself from it. Hopefully never and I will be sending out the newsletter as close to on a weekly basis as possible.

Michael: And what is that website?

Jason: The website is www.jmstechnicalsolutions.com.

Michael: And as long we’ve gotten under the subject of websites, let’s talk about Spidvid.com. What value do you see at Spidvid.com for techies?

Jason: Well, I see Spidvid networking the same way that I see almost all other networking especially in the sense that though Spidvid really has a tight focal point where it is for video editors and high tech individuals. In that regard, I think that there’s a great deal more value than say a Facebook would have where every one of the members this is something where it’s creating a genuine community.

I think that having other people who are in the know, other people who are using the tools you’re using means that you can always look for assistance, you can look for technical tips and resources. You can also just kind of find people to help you with projects if you need to outsource work and other things like that.

I think there’s a tremendous number of values to the site, I think that it is something that there’s not a video professional that couldn’t find a way to benefit from it.

Michael: And Jason, how can folks get in touch with you directly?

Jason: The easiest way to get in touch with me is either to call me, my phone number is 714-585-9267 or contact me via my website – I have an email address that is hotlinkable from the website – it’s Jason@jmstechnicalsolutions.com or if you’re a member of my newsletter, all my contact info will be at the bottom of that.

Michael: Very good and now a trick question for you – a bonus question – just off the top of your head, give us the best, hottest, coolest, neatest tech tip of the week.

Jason: Best, hottest, coolest tech tip of the week is be very cautious if you decide to buy the upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 because having just been in one of those installs last night, I can tell you that it is not a seamless process in my experience and the majority of the applications that you have installed in your system will probably still have to be reinstalled. So tip of the week is be very cautious when you believe Microsoft saying that everything is easy.

Michael: Alright, Jason. Thanks for joining us on Spidcast.

Jason: Thank you very much for having me.

Michael: My thanks to Jason Siefert and K-Fresh, the Nem-s-iss for joining us on this week’s Spidcast. I’m Michael London. Thank you for listening. You can join the conversation by visiting Spidcast.com. We welcome your thoughts, opinions and feedback and you can also get access to the full text transcript of this week’s Spidcast. Until next week.

This week features Seth Kenvin, who is the CEO of Market7. Seth talks about collaborative environments so individuals located all over the world can work on video production projects in real-time, improving the overall process.

Topics covered in this episode:

- Seth’s vision for the video collaboration space.

- How individuals can benefit using new social and collaborative platforms.

- How budgets for production projects can be managed in a more effective way.

- When it became evident to Seth that better technical tools were needed for producing quality video content.

- How collaborating and communicating in real-time with team members works.

- How video creatives are from Venus, and producers are from Mars.

- What the future challenges and opportunities are for video production.

- How Market7 impacts the business side of video production.

- How Market7’s collaborative tools improves video production for every team member involved.

Full Text Transcript

Show Introduction: Hi, I’m Michael London and welcome to Spidcast, the future of collaborative video production brought to you by Spidvid.com. On this episode, we’re visiting with Seth Kenvin, an Internet entrepreneur and CEO of Market7.com. Seth will discuss his vision of the future of collaborative productions and his part in that arena. Market7 is a superb tool for everybody – from producers to grips and it’s all about keeping it organized and keeping it profitable for everyone. So let’s jump right in to this week’s Spidcast.

Michael: Seth, thank you so much for joining us today.

Seth: Thank you for the opportunity.

Michael: Tell us if you would a little bit about Market7.

Seth: Market7 is a company that endeavors to provide environments for people to work together on making videos. So the different ways that we work together on content creation, coming with an idea, getting it scripted, storyboarded, moving on to post-production when there’s footage to look at, how do people review it and provide their feedback that got the editing process and ultimately approve of that content and throughout in addition to the content collaboration that has to happen, different aspects of project management for people to work better together whether that’s scheduling events, assigning tasks, sharing files and the like.

Michael: Man, there’s a lot going on with what you just said and you somewhere, somehow saw the need for Market7. What was that, let’s say, the a-ha moment for you when you realized that this was needed to be created?

Seth: I’ve been in high-tech marketing and a few years ago, the marketing activities in which I was participating expanded from what they had been. Things like developing websites and public relations and events, white papers to include video alongside those other activities. I was more frequently commissioned video production projects working with producers and finding that the utilization of software and technology to make communications clear and to make processes more efficient in video was lacking compared to a lot of those other sorts of projects.

If I could give one example, if we’re working together on a document, presentation, a paper, and we take the software into something like track changes mode, you or I can look at each other’s comments right within the context of the content on which we’re working so I can see that you have a comment or suggested that it is exactly where it would appear. In video and contrast, conventionally, what people do is they’ll look at the video in a player, that player doesn’t have a mechanism for feedback so they have to either scribble down their notes for later exchanges or maybe toggle between the player and email or compile their feedback. Once there’s feedback from multiple parties, there could be confusion as to who’s attending carries the day are people who are waiting to the right file or is everybody being good about indicating with the timelines.

So getting that capability to sort of very intuitively integrate ones feedback within the content itself was something that I’ve found lacking in video production projects. The more I explore it, the more I realized that there were a number of elements the whole way through from conceptualization to completion of video production that could stand to be done more clearly and more efficiently with the right software.

Michael: Let me clarify this in my mind. You’re saying that you have a video on your site and we’re working on it together. We’re discussing the added points and save the music cues and we can work on those elements and be communicating in real time as well?

Seth: That does happen. And actually, there’s an equal advantage if we work asynchronously. In terms of real time, if you and I are both looking at the video and you post a comment to a Web browser on your end, I will see and my client that comment dynamically appear while I’m making my edits. I can reply to it so we can essentially have a real time messaging session while we’re both watching the video together.

Similarly, if we are in completely different time zones or have completely different schedules, and need to coordinate our efforts without being able to be together, this can have correct for the kinds of issues that frequently arise through the ambiguity of how to think about video. If you want to make a comment about a particular portion of the screen and instead of having to describe “you know that part in the upper left where there’s some pixelation or something like that”, when you leave your comment, you can actually highlight that portion of the screen.

Your comment is going to specify where in the timeline to change to what’s in the video. So if your comment pertains from 0:01:14-0:01:19, you’d be able to demarcate that. So whether we’re working together simultaneously, under the gun and we’re trying to communicated as efficiently and expeditiously as possible, we can have a real time session with the same thing or for reasons we can’t coordinate being available at the same time, this actually makes up for some of the frequent ambiguity that exist when we’re working asynchronously.

Michael: Now, I got to tell you, Seth. I have worked video production for close to 20 years and I’m telling you that aside from sitting side by side in an editing suite with your client, this is just fantastic for the producer.

Now, you’ve often said that creatives are from Venus and folks who commission projects are from Mars. What exactly do you mean by that?

Seth: If I could actually go back to the episode in which the company started, one of the things I did that I sure think of there may be a company who are doing this better because I went to producers I’d hired and first thing I would do given the opportunity to talk about the potential for this new company is complain to them about “Why did you service me so poorly? Do you realize how we work in an enterprise the way we collaborate on projects, the way we deal with our bureaucracy and coordinate our communication and you’re just handing off a stack of DVDs or pointing us to an FTP site doesn’t suit our needs if you don’t provide the framework in which we can clearly communicate and reach consensus and provide you with organized feedback?”

And then as the conversation procedure, it got to be their turn to kind of complain to me about how I who was a poor correspondent to them in my role as a client. For example, one of the things I heard from producers we hired is the fact that we would show up for a shoot and essentially had done no preparation and made no allocation for effort or budget for pre-production.

So we would show up for a shoot and then at times would be half a dozen people there on crew, they didn’t know how they’re supposed to set up their gear to shoot because the thing hasn’t been storyboarded. There was somebody with a teleprompter while we were still hacking at the script. The person who was going to read the script that they were a company employee was hardly prepared with their lines and was inept to do multiple takes and this producer/director person was stressed out about the fact that they had a client who was not adequately prepared that right in the middle of the process, there was a shoot to do and I think that kind of illustration of where those of us kind (add) the organizational side, the corporation tend to fall down in our execution on video.

We’re used to sort of 80/20 rule in situations in which if a paper or a presentation is due tomorrow and it’s hardly started, not an ideal situation, but we can probably pull something out that’s at least going to be good if not very good by being kind of resolution enough about getting it done the right way. While if in video, there’s only so much you can do in the eleventh hour because whatever content you have is already there. There’s only so much you can salvage in editing.

And the client’s frequent lack of understanding of that imperative is one example. Like others include the fact that producers tend to be more creatively-oriented. Their clients are the people commissioned the video tend to be more sort of structured in their orientation maybe more bureaucratic versus more freelance in nature. Even down to the sort of “I’m a Mac” “I’m a PC” type of element where one party used to working with that they’ll be creating the suite software and that kind of interface within a Mac environment and the other is possible more like going to be spending most of their time computing in Microsoft Office on Windows.

So what we’re trying to do is allow those people to work together and whatever we develop from pre-production to post-production and project management throughout every single feature we push out, we’re constantly putting ourselves in the minds of the person who’s sporadically involved in video production, who’s more corporate in their orientation how are they going to experience it and how’s it going to feel most intuitive and powerful to them and likewise the person who’s constantly engaged in video production more creatively-oriented, how do we provide the right interface for them to feel equally at home and able to be productive.

Michael: Excellent points there because getting the suites and the creatives on the same page can be such a challenge. I’m glad you’re trying to bridge that. I really appreciate that piece of it. While we’re in the area of the suites or the (bean counters), how does Market7 impact the business end of video production?

Seth: Much of what we talked about has to do with the content collaboration of we’re involved in. Our modules included a creative brief of production brief in which people can layout what is the strategy and what might be some of the key tactical to getting this project done. We have a scripting module which can layout the actual content. That includes advantages like being able to assess how long that content is likely to run based on the length of the script. It also supports integration of visual elements like viral footage, storyboards, headshots of actors, etcetera.

We got our post-production player that supports integrated feedback and commenting in order to guide the editing process. Really throughout the process, those are more staged around content collaboration throughout the process, we enable functionality like task assignment, event scheduling, and one of the modules that we just released in the last couple of months actually pulls from those for resource management. A frequent issue – in video production, as we’ve talked to people is just given the creative nature of both the process and the people involved, there’s often an oversight over how much time went into this. Did it line up with projections? Did we make or lose money on this project?

So one of the things we do that endeavors to basically fold than in very conveniently is we take the information we have from tasks, we take the information we have from events and we compile a sheet of how much time each participant in the project spent.

For example, if a task is assigned to you within the project, when you check a box to indicate you’ve completed that task, there’s actually a processing how much time did you spend on that and two pushes of the keyboard, you can press 60 to indicate that you spent an hour on it and you’re done with that.

When someone schedules an event and scheduling events within our software flow right through the people’s personal calendaring, whether they used Gmail or Outlook or Entourage, whatever systems of email and counter-management that you use. There’s no double work here. When you want to schedule an event and invite people from your organization or involved in your effort, you can schedule it within Market7, push it through their personal calendars. We have some functionality already for checking people’s availability and we’re enhancing that as we speak.

Again, these resource measuring pieces will pull the information for which task you completed and how long it took you, what events you participated and how long they are scheduled for, allows you to add other items very easily like click a button and indicate, I spent 10 hours editing and 2 hours on the storeroom and then compile across all that how much total time did you spend in your project and with just two more fields, you can enter OK and the projected time for this person was so many hours and the hourly cost of this person is so much and then basically get a practically automated report of how much time and money did each participant in this project spend versus what was expected and for someone in the production, the responsibility get an understanding as the project is progressing. Is this again a profitable or unprofitable project for me? Is this a client that tends to work with me towards my time goals or not? Next time a project comes up with this client or maybe even time before it’s over, confront the fact of where we are in terms of real time, effort and implied finances by going to this project compared to what was anticipated.

Michael: Wow, the updates in continuing audits of production costs and expectations are very, very useful. And since we’re on that topic of finance, it’s no secret that the economy has been quite harsh for businesses over the past year. What has Market7’s experience been especially being such a relatively young company?

Seth: First of all, we’re a small company, so to a degree, we’re fortunate that our spending was already at a low level when the time got to a period where there was good reason to keep it at a lower level. Second of all, this is a really fascinating time to start a company. For myself, my prior startup experience was in a router company. A company that actually made gigantic telecommunications equipment so by necessity, a lot of funding was required to both engineer and to manufacturer of that equipment, in this case web-based software in 2009.

Due to those factors, a lot of things conventionally, one had to ascertain to put in to the software are not there anymore. We don’t need to run our own servers and systems and have an extensive systems administration staff. Also because it’s web-based software as a service, our requirements for supporting users are different that they might have been otherwise. All somebody needs is a browser. They don’t have to maintain the software on their premises. And for us, we can incrementally get a functionality which keeps us on target and also lessens the drama around any particular feature release.

In fact, we can get it even better by to a degree of relaxing. We talked to our users about how they’re using our software, currently comprehend where the wishes for enhances are and build towards that enhancement and iterate again. Get it in front of them and often within days or weeks, comprehend just how well does a suite what they’re looking to get out of it. So instead of overly accessing on our own side and frankly being inefficient by anticipating how people are going to use it, we can get it right into peoples hands, get that feedback in real time and go from a good to a great implementation within days or weeks instead of taking weeks and months to get a pretty good implementation out.

Michael: So the fact that changed rapidly for your clients certainly speaks well of Market7 and your commitment to customer satisfaction. That’s great.

Now, technology and behavior is constantly changing, so what are some of the challenges and opportunities did you see coming down the road for collaboration around video production?

Seth: Well, we at Market7 at the moment are very focused on the actual production stage from conceptualization to completion. There are important endeavors both before and after that that I believe can probably be that are addressed through some of the same approaches that we’re bringing to the production process. Once video is completed, how do people access it within an organization? How do they publish it out to the world and monitor its performance in the world? How do they utilize it internally if somebody has a meeting about a particular topic coming up with somebody? How do they find what content might we have within my organization about that topic? Who’s had experience with it and what did they thought?

Likewise, before the video is produced, generally, video is taken on by sort of like a transient team – a group of people that kind of form together and disband once the project’s done. Maybe people come back together in the future, but often in different combinations. I think likewise, a lot of these technologies that are very flexible and web-based and rapid can enable the identification of what’s the right team for this particular project. How do we convene those people – assure that they have the right availability and that with things are lined up for them to collaborate and build expediently that the best possible team of skills and abilities toward working together in advance of the project.

Michael: Seth, as a media producer, I love your philosophy. I love your product and I love your attitude as well. And you seem to have solved a lot of the problems that I’ve encountered as a producer. Thank you for joining us today.

Seth: Thank you.

Michael: And how do people get in touch with you?

Seth: Well, our website is a great place to connect with us. It’s www.Market7.com. We’re fairly active on Twitter which you can also get through to our website, but our Twitter handle is “marketseven”. We’re based in San Francisco. You can look up our address on our website and you’re free to visit us, and we’re reachable at anytime by phone as well 415-981-8000.

Michael: Again, Seth, thank you so much for joining us on Spidcast.

Seth: Thank you.

Michael: Seth Kenvin, CEO of Market7. I’m Michael London. Thank you so much for joining us today on Spidcast.

This week features the President and Executive Producer of The Show Channel Stephen Brown, and Owner-Operator of ELO Video Productions Erica Lynne Owens. Both discuss finding the talent they need for their video production projects, discuss the evolution of the Web, and give props to Spidvid’s new media model.

Topics covered in this episode:

- Finding the production talent you need for your videos

- Building credibility and a personal brand through collaborative video production

- How podcasting as a medium has evolved over the years

- How Spidvid benefits video creators

- Spidvid as a hybrid social platform

- A few websites that you may want to check out

Full Text Transcript

Show Introduction: Hi, I’m Michael London and welcome to Spidcast, the future of collaborative video production. This week, we are fortunate to have the President and Executive Producer of The Show Channel, Stephen Brown. Stephen has been delivering video content via the Web from the very beginning and he has stories to tell.

And we’ll also visit with independent filmmaker, Erica Lynn Owens. She’s also made use of the Internet to facilitate her productions. So, let’s jump right in to this week’s Spidcast.

First up is the President and Executive Producer of The Show Channel, Stephen Brown. Stephen comes from a traditional video production background with credits ranging from directing the Dick Cavett Show to live productions featuring Kenny Loggins, Three Dog Night and so many others. In fact, we could spend the entire show today, just going over his credits. Stephen, welcome to Spidcast.

Stephen: Hey, thank you, Michael. Good to be here.

Michael: Now, Stephen, as way of introduction, could you share with us a bit about The Show Channel?

Stephen: Well, let’s see. We’ve been producing videos both live conventions for large organizations like the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters who’s an association in Hollywood of top people in the broadcast industry and five times a year, we will produce an event where they will honor someone in the industry.

Last year, for example, we had Robert Wagner honored. Just recently, Sally Kellerman. So we’ll do a big tribute. It’s almost like a roast, but it’s more of a tribute than a roast for top Hollywood people.

Then we’ll do big concerts for giant corporate events. One, we’ve done for many years is the Western Association of Food Chains, which is a giant organization of all of the major supermarkets on the West Coast. And they will have a convention and they’ll bring in entertainers like the Beach Boys or somebody like that. We’ll produce the big concert as well as all of the general sessions where people come and speak. We’ve had Norman Schwarzkopf. We’ve had Colin Powell. We’ve had a lot of big name speakers come and speak.

So we get involved in writing those, producing those and then of course, crewing those can be a really big job because you would have everybody from roadies to lighting directors to cameramen that you have to find somewhere and since these are in various cities across the United States, we typically can’t fly all of our people from California or Nevada all the way across the country. So we usually pick up local crews.

Michael: And what processes have you used to find those crews?

Stephen: Well, it depends on the type of person I’m looking for. If I’m looking for a cameraman, I would go to a site called Mandy.com or ProductionHub.com. Sometimes on ProductionHub, you can actually post your project and then people can bid on it. More on Mandy.com, you go through and read the ads of what guys have. “I have this particular digital camera package.” Then you send that guy an email and you communicate usually through email with these people or some communication tool on the side. I also use Guru.com, but that’s more if I’m working with guys in animation or computer-oriented person. I would go to Guru. I would go Mandy or ProductionHub if I was looking for a skilled technician.

Michael: And now as an independent producer, do you see Spidvid benefiting you and The Show Channel?

Stephen: Yes, I think in looking at Spidvid, the brilliant thing they’re doing is they’re taking a little bit where I have to go to multiple sites now to achieve what I’m looking for. Spidvid put it all together in one site for me. So it’s almost like I have Facebook. I’ve got a ProductionHub, a Mandy, a Guru; everything rolled into one. And we create a community of creatives and technicians all in one place that I can get to quickly. Because as you know, when we’re bidding a job or where specking a job, we need some answers and we usually need them very fast. And so you either go to multiple sites or Craigslist or wherever you’re jumping around or you now can just go to Spidvid and get it all done in one place. I like that.

Michael: That’s great to hear. And I want to remind our listeners just how much of an expert you are on Web-delivered content because you were trying to do this when it was really next to impossible.

Stephen: Yes. I was definitely a computer geek with the Commodore 64 back in the 70’s before there even was an IBM PC. The Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1998. That’s when he actually in Cern Switzerland invented what we know as the Web today, which was really HTML pages and websites.

When I saw that, because I was involved on sites like CompuServe before there was a Web, they were bulletin boards. Then we saw the Web. Now, originally, the Web, remember, all of us were on dial-up modems. There was no such thing really as broadband in the late 80’s, early 90’s. We we’re all dial-up modem people.

I remember going to the White House website in like 1990 or something like that and they had a big beautiful picture of the White House on their homepage and it took five minutes for the picture to download so I could just see a photograph of the White House. That was how slow the Internet was.

I think it was around 1995, a company called Progressive Networks, which later became RealNetworks invented RealAudio, which was here you and I are talking on a podcast now two decades later. But way back then, they actually came up with the first way to distribute audio on the Internet. It was called RealAudio 1.0. So we started playing with that in 1995 the minute it came out.

Two years later, they actually came out with video on the Internet. It was called RealVideo and it’s still really was watched by people on modems, so when they talk about postage stamp video, we’re talking about 160×120 pixel video image with really low quality audio and that was 1997. That was when it first came out and we of course because we were television producers already back then doing television commercials and things. We immediately jumped on board because we felt we could use it to show our clients samples of rough cuts.

Now think about that in 1997 and where we are today where you can watch high-definition movies on the Internet and now with the Spidvid, you can edit your video or a rough cut, throw it up on Spidvid and your clients can view it, your collaborators, animators, and graphic artists can work with you on it and they can be anywhere in the world. To me, that’s so exciting because I’ve seen it from the very beginning.

Michael: Yes, you have. So let’s jump back to the future and beyond and tell us about Show Channel and what’s next?

Stephen: Well, the Show Channel, we work primarily now on the Internet. Most of our projects are audio and video programs that are created specifically for the Internet. And our clients are primarily magazines. The vision we have for audio and video on the Internet – see magazines and newspapers are in deep trouble. They just financially are not getting the advertising to support the printing costs of publishing their magazines and newspapers. So they have to go to the Internet. But they really don’t know what to do with the Internet because they were really print people.

What we’re doing is working with a lot of industry trade magazines of various industries; the medical industry is really out front more than anybody else. What we’re trying to do is help them turn their website into a CNN-type website where it has news reporters. So instead of an author or an editor for a magazine writing a story and publishing it on the Web, we actually have them go out with a camera, interview the person, we’ll help them edit it, encode it, and of course, our company doesn’t just help them produce it, we also host it and do all the streaming for them. So we’ve done live events from trade shows where we will go in with the publisher and go around and interview all the top keynote speakers and industry leaders and publish it on their website so people the next morning can be up to date with what’s happening at the trade show without actually being there.

Michael: Virtual attendance – you got to love that. Stephen, if the folks would like to get in touch with you, how would they do that?

Stephen: Well the best way is email or through our website, www.theshowchannel.com. We’re always looking for good graphic artists, audio guys, cameramen, directors, even segment producers. Of course, we’ll be part of the Spidvid community too. So a lot of people will be able to find us through that.

Michael: Yes, they will. Thanks for being here, Stephen. It’s great to have you on Spidcast.

Stephen: Absolutely! Thank you, Michael.

Intermission: You know how challenging it is to produce quality videos without the help from others who have the skills and talent you need. Well Spidvid let’s you find the individuals you need for your video production project so you can create the Internet’s next big viral hit. Visit Spidvid.com. Click the sign-up link and reserve your spot with our collaborative video community today.

Michael: Next up, we welcome Erica Lynne Owens, an independent filmmaker and Owner-Operator of ELO Video Productions. Erica, welcome to Spidcast!

Erica: It’s great to be here, Michael.

Michael: If you would, Erica, tell us a bit about your body of work.

Erica: Over the past few years, I have gotten to shooting from shorts and commercials and just anything I can get my hands on. Right now, I’m in post-production on a full-length feature that I wrote, directed, and produced called When Love Comes Home.

Michael: And tell us a bit about that process? How did you find your cast and crew for When Love Comes Home?

Erica: Well, for When Love Comes Home, I posted on different websites, from Craigslist, to Southern Casting Call, which is a local website, which also carries national auditions. But anywhere I could find there’s a bunch of local stuff in Charlotte and then basically any Internet site I can find I posted on there and received hundreds, actually a thousand head shots.

Michael: So going through all those head shots and all those websites, how would Spidvid help you as an independent producer?

Erica: It would be a huge plus. The one really good thing I saw about Spidvid right away was the fact that it’s a social networking site as well as a contact point. So, from being on the site as both the producer and a person out there freelancing and looking for work, it’s great because it’s just not immediate-one-stop-oh-here-is-a-job-listing. You can actually get to know other people on that website which a lot of job sites don’t let you have that capability.

Michael: Now, Erica, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there a fairly high flaky factor with sites like Craigslist?

Erica: Yes, most recently I’ve actually used Craigslist looking for music. And I have a song composer I’m working with currently, but we’re also wanting some band music to be in there with lyrics and everything that showed a couple of different themes and I have received hundreds of just really bad bands.

You have to fish through everything and there aren’t ratings on Craigslist and you don’t know who you’re getting and then to of course ask for CDs, you end up with a huge pile of CDs from people you will never listen to. And then of course, for me, I feel horrible big into the Green Movement to deal with and listen to all the stuff when there’s really not a good way to weed out people. You’ve got to listen or read their resumes or look at their websites in order to figure out who is quality and who you really want to talk to.

Michael: Now, speaking of that, if people would like to talk to you, how would they get in touch?

Erica: Well they can definitely check out my website. My phone numbers are on there www.ericalynneowens.com.

Michael: Erica Lynne Owens, thank you so much for joining us today on Spidcast.

Erica: Thank you, Michael. It’s been a blast.

Michael: That’s it for this week’s Spidcast. I’m Michael London. My thanks to The Show Channel’s Stephen Brown and Erica Lynne Owens. And thank you so much for listening. We’ll see you again next week on Spidcast.