Chris Pirillo » edit

Picnik

Chris — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:54:44 +0000

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

I recently attended the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum & Technology Showcase. The conference featured two dozen of the of the hottest technology companies in Washington presenting their business in a competition for “Best In Show”. Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames.

If you already use Flickr for your photos (here’s what I do with mine), you’re only a click away from taking a Picnik. That’s how I discovered it, and it’s worked fairly well for me to this point.

An added note is that Yahoo has rolled out some new services recently, to hopefully cut down on the number of additional sites that patrons will ever need to visit. One of these is called Edit Photos by Picnik. This app provides users with a quick way to crop, touch up, add effects and more to any of the photos located in their inbox or online. How much easier can it get?

Picnik is a great service, one that I myself use frequently. If you haven’t checked it out – you’re absolutely missing out!

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

How to Produce a Successful Video Shoot

Chris — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:49:11 +0000

How to Produce a Successful Video Shoot is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is Keegan Blackshear’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Whether it is a live video stream, or a video that you are going to put on YouTube, there are many things that you have to keep in mind. Through my trial and errors in making videos, I have found many important items that need to be addressed to make an all-around decent video. I have arranged them according to what I think is the most important first, to the tip that affects you the least.

Video Quality – Good video quality is a must for almost every type of video that you may plan to shoot. In the case of showing small items, you need to make sure that the audience can see what you are holding or showcasing. If you appear as a blur on the screen, you should adjust the video quality. This can be achieved by adjusting the focus. Good video quality is a goal that you need to work towards each and every time you shoot video. Try finding out what quality your device has, and attempt to use it to its fullest. If you can use a video camera or photography camera that can record video, then try to use that. If possible, stay away from webcams as they can have a lower quality picture than that of a video camera. If you must use a web camera, purchase one that is of higher quality instead of one that is less expensive.
Lighting – Lighting, along with video quality, is important. If you do not have good lighting for your video, then your audience will not be able to see what you are trying to show them. Placement of lighting is important so the viewer can see what you are showcasing. For example, if you place a lamp to the side of you with the shade taken off, then the viewer will typically be able to see only half of your face. If you can move the lamp in front of you as much as possible, it should cut down on the shadowing of your face. Another example of this is if you are standing in front of a window that is open. The light coming in from a window can darken the things in front of and around it. A simple solution would be to close it, or put a sheet, towel, or a curtain over it. If it is necessary for the window to remain open, then you can brighten the area in front of the window with some artificial light from a lamp or ceiling lights. If there is a brighter window behind the camera, then you could let light in from that window to combat the light in front of the camera. Remember, too much light can be a bad thing. The video can become washed out, where it is hard to see what is on the screen.
Sound – Sound is another key item that you need to take into consideration when you are setting up, recording, or streaming video. The placement and surroundings can effect your decision greatly. If you have a microphone on the device that you are using to record or stream video, then you may want to think about getting another microphone. The most convenient spot to place your microphone may not always be the place that you should put it. If the easiest place to put the microphone is behind you, you should automatically think about a different place. If you can not find another spot for the microphone, then you can attempt to make the best of the original microphone on your video recording or streaming device.
Information – The information that you give in the recorded or live video is an important factor, because it will help you express your message to the audience. You have to be able to convey what you’re saying to your audience properly, or they may not be able to understand what you are trying to get across to them. You will want to take some time to plan out what you will say ahead of time to prevent the need to redo the shot. Before you stream live video, take some time to look at the material that you will present… rehearse it, then shoot it.
Editing – Editing is important mainly to recorded video, as it is difficult to edit a live feed. However, you can record the live video that you streamed, to edit later. Some people prefer to upload raw footage and do nothing with it. That is understandable, because it can be a hassle to edit video. However, it is a good idea to edit video in the event that you made mistakes. Editing may also come in handy if you are unable to get the same camera angle again, because of the time of day, position, or equipment change.

These are the five tips I find most important for beginners to have a successful video shoot. It is easy to incorporate these tips into your video-making routine. If you have any other suggestions that you find helpful, you can find me on Geeks, or leave a comment here.

Do You Have any Online Video Tips?

Chris — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:46:12 +0000

Do You Have any Online Video Tips? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

The videos that we typically record are not always super high quality. However, consider that the video you’re watching now is done live. Our chat room is open and hopping, as you can see in the stream. Nick wrote in and asked if I had any recommendations on software to help him make better quality videos. He currently uses Windows Movie Maker, and is looking for something cheap or free.

I think he should stick with Movie Maker. If he’s on a Mac, I would recommend Final Cut Express, or even iMovie. However, if you can download demos and try them free, I would do that. You can experiment with different programs, to see which produces the best results for you. I unfortunately don’t know of any open-source programs that will work for you. If anyone else does, please let us know.

Nick also threw in a few tips of his own, when it comes to doing videos online.

Be original! If you’re going to make a video, don’t stage it. Staging it just makes it useless, and not so funny.
Mooching off of someone’s fame came help. He based a film off of Leroy Jenkins that gained over 100,000 views in under a month. Put your own twist onto something.
Don’t take insults personally, or even seriously. Some people just get a kick out of trying to bring someone down, even if your work is good. Someone saying “your video is no good” isn’t even constructive!
Making videos is an art, and practice makes perfect. If you make a video that sucks… just redo it! You’ll get the hang of it, and be making quality videos in no time.
If you’re serious about making videos, put some thought and effort into it. Take the time to properly edit your work. Also consider exploring different camera angles, lighting, etc.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

Edit Video with a Video Editor: 5 Tips

Chris — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:41:42 +0000

Edit Video with a Video Editor: 5 Tips is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

MrBogosity from our live chat room sent in five excellent tips to share with you all about video editing, especially when it comes to YouTube. These are definitely ones you’ll want to pay close attention to. Keep those Top 5’s coming in!

shanedk on YouTube, MrBogosity in the chat room.
Tighten your edit. You may have worked hard on those several seconds of clouds, or bizarre color-cycling patterns, or whatever, but the rest of us are going to be bored watching it and may very well click away and watch someone else’s video. Make things happen all the time. Give us a title card on the screen, or come on and talk, or cut to the next thing, but do it quickly. Here’s a guideline: once the content for that part of the video is finished, start counting. If you can count higher than 1 before the next part of the video, edit it down! Exceptions might be a pause for comic or dramatic effect, but don’t pause too long.
Make text readable. White or yellow text on a light video doesn’t do it; select a contrasting color. Take advantage of whatever features your software might have, such as outline or drop-shadow, to make it stand out from the background. And if it’s going on YouTube, remember that they’ll compress the bejeezus out of your video so make the text sufficiently large, too.
Turn down the music. It gets your voice all muddled. You can keep it at full volume when there’s nothing else to listen to, but turn it down when there’s stuff going on, especially if you’re talking. If you’re accustomed to using a graphic equalizer, then you might want to turn down the levels in the 100-200Hz range and the 4-5kHz range. That’s where most of the important voice stuff happens. If you do that, you shouldn’t have to turn down the overall volume as much and we can more clearly hear both music and voice. You can also boost those same frequencies in your voice track.
Cut out the “fillers.” These are words like “uh,” “um,” and “you know.” Sure, there’ll be a little jump-cut in your video, but that’s not as distracting as those filler words. Your video will go faster, and you’ll sound smarter, too. You can do very quick crossfades instead of jump-cuts if they bother you. Oh, and drop the volume if you cough or clear your throat. We don’t want to listen to that.
Don’t use wipes. Don’t EVER use wipes. Don’t ever, ever, ever, EVER use wipes. Cut or crossfade to the next shot. On rare occasions you can do a dissolve where you use solarization or do some other effect, but use it VERY sparingly and only when it enhances the transition. And NEVER use wipes. And if you ever even THINK about doing a page-curl you should be hunted down and shot.
There you are, advice from a completely self-taught producer and editor. Editing is a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding when you come up with something that’s pretty good, and you start getting great comments. And above all: have fun with it!

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.