Over the past 6 months, we have attended trade shows, conferences, and meetings that have discussed the course and direction of the evolving process of digital media. We’re all too happy to share some facts, trends, and even a couple of predictions. Please permit us to wax “new age,” to extend the metaphor of the crystal ball.

1. TO THE CLOUD!
Media storage is headed towards the cloud. Not clouds, The Cloud. If you are not familiar with what the Cloud is, it’s time for Cloud 101 in a nutshell: Data, storage, and resources live someplace OTHER than your computer, and you access them as you would a photo at facebook, or a video on Youtube. Plain and simple – it doesn’t live locally, but centrally.

2. CAMERAS – An OUT OF BODY experience!
It seems more and more that cameras are becoming chip-based digital devices as opposed to being comprised of an actual “body.” If anything has taught us about chip-based digital reproduction it is both the success of the iPhone and the Canon 5D Mark II. Be prepared for a device that look like an iphone connected to standard-sized lenses. It will look odd, but image quality will be determined by a pixel-lense ratio. In short, quality will be highly dependent on ‘the glass’ , as the professionals put it.

3. METAPHYSICS? NO ….METADATA!
Currently, when you upload a video, the search engine ‘crawlers’ have no way to identify what the content of that video is. Descriptions entered by the user can be unreliable and misleading. With the advent of speech and facial recognition technology, videos will be able to be searched by the words that are spoken in the video, as well as the faces that are in it. Scary? About 95% of searches entail those of public figures, so unless you are a politician or celebrity, you might be safe for now. Facebook and iPhoto already use some of this technology, and it is just a matter of time before Google finds a way to make videos searchable by its content.

So, based on practical field experience, research, and a little insight, we’ll predict a couple of changes of our own. These are based on current trends, demand, and business insights.

• VIDEO EMAILS: Texting  and emailing will be dwarfed by video emails. While the written word won’t completely vanish, it will be dwarfed by the “easy, quick, efficient” way – video. The proof is in the pudding with video conferencing, Skype,  and the ability of cell phones (currently, a functioning feature.) Video emails are here with cell phones, and likely to invade a computer near you!
• INTERACTIVITY:  One will be able to place a cursor across any part of the screen and view history, documentary video, facts, or anything else they might want to know. Imagine stopping the film ‘Braveheart’ with a voice command and finding out what actually happened in Scotland in the 13^th century. You might want to stop ‘the fiction’ and find out ‘the fact,’ and doing so will be as easy as saying ‘the truth.’  This has already begun to happen online, and one can only surmise how long broadcast TV has left (RIP, TV?)

Triple Spiral Productions is happy to help you get started with some top-notch content that will whisk you into the future! We can telecommute by shooting and/or editing footage and uploading the content to you, wherever you are! Our unique aesthetic has no limitations!

In our ongoing quest to keep you informed, we wanted to let you know about the first in what is sure to be a series of steps that lead to the death of Flash. Why is this important to you? FLASH video and websites are still quite popular, but ever since Steve Jobs and Apple refused to integrate Flash into their mobile devices, Flash’s days were numbered.

That fancy moving website with amazing visual functionality? Flash site. Youtube and the videos that were first hosted? Flash video. While it will take some time for Flash to truly meet it demise, its important for you to know that this beginning step will most likely lead to a migration to HTML5.

In short, if you have a website that is Flash, it’s time to consider a new one. If you host Flash video anywhere, it may be time to find another web program to create your site. Consequently, if new mobile phones cannot play Flash components, then it’s time to plan the funeral.

Flash, it’s been fun, and we wished you had succeeded. Alas all good things must come to an end, and HTML5 shall pave the way!

Read about it here; http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-11-09/mark-smith-adobe-flash-mobile/51135466/1

Director of Photography, Michelantony Dunston, spent the greater part of the spring becoming NAUI certified for Scuba Diving, and then applied his knowledge to provide his clients (Jamie DeWolf and Forrest Day) with some spectacular underwater footage.

Shot in the SF Bay Area’s largest underwater Studio (Studio Sea at Fathom Films,) this scene depicts a singer in a business suite who is sleepwalking underwater. The Mermaid (Iara Mandyn) lures, then scorns him. We would like to give thanks to Jack Gittings and Iara Mandyn (co-directors of  Studio SEA in Woodside) for their gracious hospitality.

Do you have an underwater idea for your project? Give us a shout and we’d be delighted to help!

Iara Mandyn with Forrest Day in "Sleepwalking"

Singer Forrest Day and Mermaid Iara Mandyn in "Sleepwalking"

• 82% of internet users view videos online – in the US
• 182 = The number of online videos the average internet user watches per month
• 924 million videos viewed per month on Hulu
• Youtube serves 1 billion videos per day
• 12.2 Billion video are viewed on Youtube per month

 Audiences now see online video as on par with television

Video is fast becoming the new, relatively free, “On Demand.” Studies have shown that advertising and/or displaying your business, skill, talent, or craft online reach just as many, if not , more viewers than traditional, local television commercials.

The new age of marketing and self promotion is in full steam. Quite simply, if you are not promoting yourself and advertising on the web with video, you are missing the boat.   If you do not have video online, what are you waiting for? Here’s a video (by Jesse Thomas) which might boggle the mind with how “plugged in” our culture has become.

JESS3™ / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

• How do you want the world to see you?  Professional or cheap?

Well, we are here to say that you may want to reconsider the D.I.Y. (Do it Yourself) “on the cheap” approach. No, not just because we want your business, but because there is much more that goes into a video then simply shooting, editing, and throwing it up on Youtube.  In contemplating this, you might want to ask yourself one question…..

• How important is your business, product, or skill to you?

When producing a video, there are aspects like pre-production, scripting, marketing approach, product branding, titles, casting, great lighting, clear audio, location scouting and/or building, and video release strategies that must be looked at and scrutinized. Remember, people judge you and your business in a variety of ways, but one of the biggest ways with video is as follows:  ”That looks like a professional presentation” versus “That looks like something my kid made!” (and there are a plethora of the latter on the web!)

• Remember, you gotta spend money to make money, that’s the way that advertising works 

A video is made once, and can be used over and over again. In short, if you DO NOT have a professional looking video on your website, you should seriously consider it! Streaming video and online promotion are here to stay!

Helpful links:

Here is a helpful link to marketing yourself online (provided by CNN money.) Not surprisingly, it includes both podcasting (with voice) and video.: http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/04/magazines/fsb/online.marketing.fsb/index.htm

Here is a past video we produced that demonstrates a simple way to make testimonials work with a marketing message. At a whopping 5 minutes, this is about the longest we would recommend for a video that uses only testimonials.

The Moldovan Academy – Excellence in Early Education, Sonoma, CA from Triple Spiral Productions on Vimeo.

#1 – If you entertain them, they will come!  Make your subject matter seem like a documentary, a funny episode, a music video, a fun invitation to a fun time!

#2 – Get shorty! No not the movie, the video. Keep it short! Web attention spans are short. We know you want to tell them a BUNCH about yourself and your service, but save that for later. For now, wow them with your best, and keep it around 2-3 minutes if you can.

#3 – Pass on the cheese! We know that flashy graphics and fast moving images can look fun, but keep the images tasteful and most of all, PROFESSIONAL! Use great lighting, sound, and content. After all, if the video doesn’t look good, you won’t look good!

Here is a fun promotional video for a children’s entertainment business that won a Bronze Telly in 2009. This was a LOAD of fun to make, and the children LOVE it! What’s more, so did the clients’ pocketbook!  (it was very successful for him.)

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/5430814]

Triple Spiral Productions presents: Sirenharp from Triple Spiral Productions on Vimeo.