Hey Everyone,

This is the discussion section for my blog post about content.

I said in short:

1. Content is NOT King
Keep your videos short. If a time limit is 30 seconds or less then don’t feel like you have to fill it up with 30 seconds of video. If your content ends up being 15 to 20 seconds then by all means submit it. If you have a great idea for a video then make the brand fit into it.
Check out Lunch Interrogation

2. Get that $*%! out there, man!
Post it on youtube, Craigslist, facebook, I would NOT be afraid of spamming my friends because those are totally the people that should be supporting my passion for video.

3. Don’t make an outright ad!
No one wants to be sold to. Make it as subtle and out of the norm of your all-the-great-reasons-to-buy-this-product list. No one wants to watch that. However, keep the brief in mind. If the client wants an ad, an ad they should get.

4. Tighten up!
If you hold onto a shot for more than 2 seconds, it’s too long. Cut it in the editing process. Cut cut cut! Quick quick quick shots!

I want to discuss this with everyone and see where we take this conversation.

@Manny,

I think there are good points here and on the links that you provided. There are a few variances when it comes to creating content for these sponsors. It can get really sticky and extremely frustrating for filmmakers. This isn’t just a Zooppa thing, it’s a web contest thing as a whole.

In the last contest for NCAA and Buick, I created the first clip for the early submission prize. Less than 48 hours later, I found that my clip was deleted from the page. I followed the rules…no cursing, no brands, and I told a story from the field coupled with playing a song that he wrote about issues that are affecting the world. It’s frustrating that I could create a video with 1, 10, or 200 people and be excluded even after following the rules. I went back and beefed up the part about his community effort via songwriting later. However, in many ways the money isn’t the key issue. Many people can take the fact that they weren’t selected but when the hard work isn’t displayed on the site, there’s no reason to submit content. It would help the filmmaker to submit earlier just in case the host decides that the content isn’t aimed correctly at the consumer but it can be viewed as an unfair gesture for the client to suppress these films by deleting them. I think if the general etiquette rules are taken care of then the creativity of the films should be left up to the filmmaker. Allow other people to comment on them and move on with the selections.

As for voting and comments, it’s good practice for the judges not to take that into consideration as much. If it’s a popularity contest, then it’s cool to look at comments and judge by those. However, most of the people that comment on Zooppa are friends and family who want to see that person win. The real comments probably go to their inboxes. They aren’t judging that piece against the others that are in the competition for the most part. Also, comments can go wrong (ex. Crash the Superbowl contest). Sometimes people comment to bash vids and point viewers to another video. Votes should strictly be left up to the committees (if they aren’t already). If you want to continue to give a people’s choice, then it’s cool. I wouldn’t make those the big earners though. If there’s a way to show the vids to a community that’s almost guaranteed not to be friends of the filmmakers (ex. going to malls with DVDs/tvs or going on roadtrips with surveys and demos) then you would get a true sense of community voting. They would be a better gauge for the companies. Honestly, companies are concerned about their brands but they don’t always know what good publicity is. Like people have mentioned before, sometimes you have to take chances to succeed. The filmmakers are taking chances with their submissions and sometimes that new blood can spark something that companies miss (ex. Budweiser Wassup Ads. Those began as consumer ads.)

Also, the comment about 2 second shots really depends on the person watching it. I also believe that the music tempo makes a difference. I intentionally made a few vids about Earth Day weeks ago and there was so much content that I wanted to add in 30 seconds that a couple of people said that it was too fast for them. I believe that others understood the cutting though.

Tieuel Legacy! Motion

Another thing that I forgot. Who determines the size limits of the vids? The last one was 50mb and I saw another one over 100mb. There’s a certain amount of quality that may be sacrificed depending on the encoders that are used. Tieuel Legacy! Motion

I certainly agree with spirit of these tips and I’ll add my 2 cents. Some folks may or may not agree…

Quote:

1. Content is NOT King
Keep your videos short. If a time limit is 30 seconds or less then don’t feel like you have to fill it up with 30 seconds of video. If your content ends up being 15 to 20 seconds then by all means submit it. If you have a great idea for a video then make the brand fit into it.

Sure, why do a 60 if you can get the message across more effectively in 30, or less? (This ties in with tip #4). The nice thing about content intended for social media is there are no hard and fast rules in running time – unlike television where you have to have an exact :15, :30, :60, etc. spot. My background is in television so if the brief says “create a 30 second spot…” that’s what I create – no more, no less. I’m only aware of one Zooppa contest in the last year where the winning entry aired on TV – maybe there were more. If there’s no real requirement for an exact length then hopefully it will say so in the brief (“Up to 30 seconds” or “up to 60 seconds” or whatever).

Quote:

2. Get that $*%! out there, man!
Post it on youtube, Craigslist, facebook, I would NOT be afraid of spamming my friends because those are totally the people that should be supporting my passion for video.

Absolutely! Just make sure there isn’t some restriction on where and when videos can be posted outlined in the brief. There’s a contest right now for Microsoft and there are restrictions.

Quote:

3. Don’t make an outright ad!
No one wants to be sold to. Make it as subtle and out of the norm of your all-the-great-reasons-to-buy-this-product list. No one wants to watch that. However, keep the brief in mind. If the client wants an ad, an ad they should get.

Agreed. But this is where briefs might need to be worded a little more carefully if the client doesn’t want an outright ad with all the traditional trimmings. Sometimes a brief contains a laundry list of talking points or items that “should be covered”. We might see more creative, non-outright ads if the client’s objective was simply outlined with ample latitiude in mind.

Quote:

4. Tighten up!
If you hold onto a shot for more than 2 seconds, it’s too long. Cut it in the editing process. Cut cut cut! Quick quick quick shots!

Tight editing is good – no doubt about. It’s also possible to over-edit something so be careful with this tip. I think I get what Manny intended but tight editing does not necessarily equate to quick shots in my book. To me it’s more about pacing and timing than a series of quick shots. Sometimes it’s a matter of shaving 1 or 2 frames from a shot. Sometimes it means shaving a lot more. The material, subject matter, and message should really dictate the pacing, not some arbitrary rule that anything over 2 seconds is too long. I’m sure we’ve all seen 30 second entries though that ‘felt’ painfully long.

Editing is certainly an art. There’s a great book titled ‘In The Blink of an Eye" by Walter Murch. It’s geared towards film editing but it’s an interesting (and short) read written by a guy who’s worked on some big movies over the years.

Hey guys I’m going to respond to all of these as soon as I get the chance. I did want to address Tieuellegacy’s concern about the early entry video.

The thing that wasn’t followed in that particular video was a cause or a charity that the athlete was helping. The mission was to get an athlete that was making a difference in people’s lives in one way or another. In the first version of that video that wasn’t clear. We talked to the client about it at length. It wasn’t an easy decision. It was still considered for the early entry prize because everyone was watching those first 20 or so videos very very closely. We’re sorry about removing it and were happy to see it back at the end along with the 3 others you made.

And yeah I suppose how many cuts and how long each shot is, depends on the video you’re making.

Over editing is a concern ApertureStudios, def. I wonder if I can dig up an example of over editing and an example of under editing from youtube or somewhere.