Everything About Video Blogging, or Vblogging
It had to happen. First blogging - weblogging - catches on like
wildfire, and everyone is posting their thoughts, tirades, or
just minutiae online in their own blogs. Then podcasting came
around - the equivalent of blogging in audio form. Today, the
hottest new thing is video blogging (also called vblogging or
vlogging).
What Is a Video Blog?
In its simplest form, a video blog (vblog or vlog) is the
posting of serial videos to a website, with an audience response
encouraged. Even though this new form of web communication is in
its infancy, videobloggers have already started making regular
postings online.
Many vbloggers are using video blogging to create their own
miniprograms, using an RSS feed to deliver new episodes
automatically. Others are experimenting with the new technology.
Like any new community technology, there is no telling where
vblogging is going to go in the future.
Why Use a Video Blog?
You may already express yourself in a regular blog. Think about
all the communication you're not delivering by writing
everything down: the smug little facial expressions, the tone of
your voice, and the clever repartee between you and a
partner.
Besides this, video blogs are a fantastic tool to deliver
indescribable content. Being in the right place at the right
time can make your video blog take off. Or if you like to blog
about sporting events, a video blog can enable you to capture
the action and deliver it to your fans, not just describe it in
too-pale words.
If you're a long way from home, a video blog can also be a great
way to keep up with friends and family. Think of it as a great
new way to share the baby's first steps with his or her
grandparents.
And then, you may have harbored a secret dream to be the next
great television newscaster or reporter. A video blog may be
your perfect chance.
How To Make a Video Blog
Creating a video blog isn't as straightforward as regular
blogging. With an ordinary blog, you just have to be able to
type in a regular post. But with vblogging, you'll need to have
access to a good computer that can work with movie programs as
well as a camera that can take video as well as snapping shots.
The first part is the easiest: create your digital video on your
camera or camcorder. There are an infinite number of ways you
can put your vblog together; you're not tied to a studio and you
don't have to adhere to any rules you haven't made up yourself.
Once your video has been created, you should download it to your
computer in preparation for formatting and compressing it.
You can use a variety of different movie programs to work with
your video blog, but the most commonly used are iMovie (for Mac,
comes as part of the OS) or Movie Maker (for PC, comes as part
of Windows). Others widely used are Final Cut Pro and Avid
Free DV. If your camera or videocam create movies in
Quicktime format, Avid Free DV is a great idea.
Once your movie is downloaded, you can use your movie program to
make any video clip changes, insert new film, create titles
and/or subtitles, and even add music to your video.
After you've finished editing your movie, you'll need to
compress it in preparation for uploading to your vblog. But
here's the catch. You want the movie compressed as far as
possible so your audience will be able to download it and view
it quickly; but the smaller you compress your movie, the less
sharp your video quality will be. The idea is to find a happy
medium, with your movie as small as possible, but with enough
resolution left that your audience isn't squinting to turn your
grainy square-pixellated image into something vaguely human.
As you work with changing the compression of your movie, you
should be able to monitor the predicted file size at the bottom
of the dialog window (in any of the above programs). Ideally,
you want to compress your movie into no more than 5 megabytes
(5000 K, roughly). If possible, you should compress it down to a
single megabyte. Video blogs filmed with minimal movement and
with a solid-colored screen behind the vblogger's head will
compress the most, but they're the least fun type of video blog
to create.
After you've compressed your video blog, you're ready to post it
online. As a compressed Quicktime movie, you can just place it
on your website with a link directly to it, just as you would
with a regular web page. Or you may want to get involved in a
video blogging community; if you do this, each community will
have its own rules for putting your new vblog up and arranging
introductory information around it, and you should read this
carefully.
You should also read the users agreement carefully. Some video
blogging sites may not accept vblogs with certain types of
content; others may help promote certain types of content. You
definitely need to know what your chosen video blogging
community will help with and what they frown upon.
After posting your video blog, download it once and look at it
carefully. Does it download quickly? How is the video quality?
Anything you need to change?
Once you're happy with your new vblog, promote it. Set up a link
in your email signature line, or post links to it on bulletin
boards you frequent. Creating the vblog is only half the work;
someone has to view it now!
To help ensure your vblog is not lost in the shuffle, create
some text around it, too. The major search engines only search
text, not video. You must give them text to categorize your
vblog, or they will ignore it.
What Else Should I Know About Video Blogging?
A great additional tool you can use for your video blog is an RSS feed. This is a
technology that allows people to subscribe to your video blog
and have it download to their electronic device automatically,
(it can download to a computer, a PDA, a phone, and doubtless by
now other devices.)
Congratulations! You have become a video broadcaster now, the
star of your own tiny network.