1. Who?
Who is this for for? Last week it seemed geared for corporate lawyers in Japan, but this week Bangledeshian micro brewers. Know who your core audience is before you start. Could be you. Could be your mom. Just know and stay true to them.
2. What?
What did they say? Ouch! Turn it down. Audio needs to enable the viewer to pay attention to the content of the show. Use external mics. Your volume level should also be consistent, both within an episode, and between different episodes.
3. When?
Wasn't that show once a week for a while? But lately, not so much. What's up with that? Are they going to once a month? Taking the summer off? Blip and the rest of your fans want to know!
4. Why?
That's not a show! It's a bunch of videos. We love your cat, but your cat is not a show. Your cat chasing the same mouse every week, now that could be a show. Does the cat catch the mouse? Tune in next week to find out!
5. Wobble?
Earthquake! Or maybe it's French Avant Guarde film? Use a tripod, any tripod. If you have to do handheld, do it well for a good reason.
6. Branding?
It's a good thing I don't know what this show is called because I certainly don't want to watch it again! I'm also glad I'm not tempted to watch individual episodes due to their interesting descriptions. And thank Zod there's no catchy theme music stuck in my head.
7. Clones?
Hum-mm, lets see, all the thumbnails are identical, so that must mean all the shows are identical! Users like to be able to get a feel for an episode's unique content from the thumbnails. Use the same logo, but different graphics that give the tone of the content. See Kodak's top ten tips for photographers.
8. Yuck!
Hey, I've been teleported back to 1998 and postage sized video for dial-up Internet connections, cool! For about 10 seconds. Make nice high- resolution, wide .mov versions of your show to upload. This is what iTunes and Apple TV will access. Buy Quicktime Pro if you're on a PC so you can make .movs. Bandwidth is increasing and Web video is sneaking into the living room. Be prepared. And if you're not a graphic designer, don't try to be. Keep things simple or find help.
9. Composition?
Hey look, it's a video by amateurs. Compose using the rule of thirds and look space. Rarely center. Pros do it. If you do it, you'll look like a pro.
10. RSS?
What if I could just subscribe to this show and get it whenever it uploads a new episode? You know, like the other shows. And by the way, what is RSS? RSS is gibberish to most non-geek humans. Put "subscribe," or "watch with iTunes on Mac or PC" to get subscribers. Do usability tests. Use blip.tv's built in subscribe buttons on the Show Pages.
11. De-interlace?
You know those horizontal lines you see in videos when there's a lot of movement? They're easy to get rid of. Use the De-Interlace filter. Or, if you can, shoot in "Progressive" mode.
(C) Æliens 04/09/2009
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