David August

Push a Whole Season Live at Once

2012-02-02T01:02:00.001-08:00

As I have suggested to many a web TV producer when discussing video release timing, no reason to fight to get people back for subsequent episodes if you already have an entire seaosn shot. Show them all at once:

As Netflix debuts its first original series, "Lilyhammer," on Feb. 6, the video subscription service has settled on a scheduling strategy suited for the digital world: making every episode available at once.

Signaling that it's embracing users' preference to watch multiple episodes of their favorite programs as a "marathon," Netflix won't be spacing out the eight shows of its first season of the comedic crime series over several weeks.

If you love the first episode, there is no need to wait until next week, or to set a DVR, to catch the next one, Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said in a statement Tuesday

(from Los Angeles Times).

Cave Treasure Vlog

2012-01-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

Stumbled on a cave, and naturally had to explore.

between callback and audition

2012-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

Autocorrect is a Punk

2012-01-15T21:49:00.001-08:00

I just had this exchange over text message:

Scout Sledgehammers

2012-01-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

Like you do. Possibly for "Things I Like with My Sledgehammer."

Brands Come from Actions Not Words

2012-01-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

BP - pollution.
Enron - stolen money.
Firestone Tires - car crashes.

Possible associations. All 3 mean something to their customers and prospects that is not what the companies would chose for it to mean. The brand is in the customers' mind. It is influenced by the company's activities even more than messaging. Who someone or something is, regardless of intention, is what brand is.

Any person, or group of people (a company) that disappoints you through their actions will never fully win back your trust through marketing messages. The soul of a company, the filter through which their decisions and actions are made, is the closest to the brand the company itself will ever get, and those decisions and actions are as close to branding as they can come.

Marketing messages are ideally a reflection of a company's soul. If the heart of the company is sick, then the best marketing messages can do is confuse and conceal it. A company that hurts people for instance, can only try to distract from this reality through marketing; being who you say you are is required, especially in the age of the internet. If a company's heart is healthy, and the marketing doesn't reflect that, then the marketing is broken. The impression the customers and prospects have of a company is "the brand" out in the world. This may differ significantly from what the company intends. Truth can be changed, but truth is truth whether or not we want it to be.

Flapper's Comedy New Media Film Festival

2012-01-09T20:07:00.001-08:00

I produced "Snowman Holiday - Mr. Bear 6" (also lent my voice) and it screened last night as a selection at the Flapper's Comedy New Media Film Festival. Me introducing my work:

and during the screening:

Prop Badges

2012-01-07T16:01:00.001-08:00

Possible props for the western short "Vengence"

Core Users and Threshold Paywalls

2012-01-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

There has never been a mass market for good journalism in this country. What there used to be was a mass market for print ads, coupled with a mass market for a physical bundle of entertainment, opinion, and information; these were tied to an institutional agreement to subsidize a modicum of real journalism. In that mass market, the opinions of the politically engaged readers didn’t matter much, outnumbered as they were by people checking their horoscopes. This suited advertisers fine; they have always preferred a centrist and distanced political outlook, the better not to alienate potential customers. When the politically engaged readers are also the only paying readers, however, their opinion will come to matter more, and in ways that will sometimes contradict the advertisers’ desires for anodyne coverage

(from Clay Shirky).

Don't Advertise

2012-01-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

For years Google didn't run any ads on TV, in magazines, radio or anywhere. Probably for at least the first 5 years of their existence. This was a deliberate choice. They knew that their search engine was getting better and better. Tomorrow it would be better than it is today, and next week even better than tomorrow.

So since the first time someone used the search engine would set that person's first impression, they reasoned that it was better for someone to use it for the first time in the future than it was today. Better to have them not come today, but come tomorrow. Even better for a first time user to come next week than tomorrow. So the further in the future you came to use them for the first time, the more you would like it.

Advertising, asking people to come today, would lead people to have a not-as-good expeirence their first time. So, they didn't advertise and counted on, preferred, that people come later, when they were better, more ready for the audience.

Many things improve with time, get better with each iteration. If something you are doing is such a thing, consider not advertising. While getting a crowd to show up on day one might feed the ego, pacify investors or otherwise sound like a good idea, a better idea may be to be glad people haven't come in droves today. Keep working to delight those that may come tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and so on. No advertising is sometimes the best advertising.

Kermit the Frog's Desk

2012-01-01T18:29:00.001-08:00

Kermit the Frog's desk from his office in the El Capitan.

Corriganville and Rock House

2011-12-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Scouted the old Corriganville movie ranch, and the nearby rock house.

Corriganville panorama (click to enlarge)

rock and tree used as the entrance to a valley in many films (click to enlarge)

path in the forest (click to enlarge)

path in the forest near Robin Hood lake (click to enlarge)

camera building used for underwater shots (click to enlarge)

the camera building and bridge (click to enlarge)

back of the camera building in canal (click to enlarge)

tree roots (click to enlarge)

camera building from lakebed (click to enlarge)

view of the mountains (click to enlarge)

path into the mountains (click to enlarge)

rock house entrance (click to enlarge)

me in the rock house with the "window" behind me (click to enlarge)

panorama from the rock house balcony (click to enlarge)

sunny path (click to enlarge)

Genie's Lamp

2011-12-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

Just saw this lamp, tucked away on the bottom shelf of a store...

Happy Holidays

2011-12-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

My Happy Holidays video, have a great holiday season and a wonderful new year!

Christmas Skyline

2011-12-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

(click to enlarge) Los Angeles Skyline.

Oregon Trail: Zombie Edition - reloaded

2011-12-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

An educational game about resources, travel and the undead. Trailer for "Oregon Trail: Zombie Edition" which I'd recorded ADR earlier (and shared a screenshot).

World of Color

2011-12-12T21:05:00.001-08:00

At California Adventure, Disneyland.

Hero Shot

2011-12-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

(click to expand). Picture of the screen during ADR for "Oregon Trail: Zombie Edition"

Cogito Ergo Napkin

2011-12-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

Black Eye, Fat Lip

2011-12-08T17:58:00.001-08:00

(click to expand)

Beverly Hills Vlog

2011-12-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

I vlog from Rodeo Drive; welcome to the 90210.

Beautiful Reds in the Sunset

2011-12-06T17:10:00.001-08:00

(click to expand)

Fire Engine Red

2011-12-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

(click to enlarge)

Average Video Ad Revenue

2011-11-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

The average cost per 1,000 views (called average CPM) for an advertiser running ads with online videos is below. Remember these average video CPMs are what the advertiser pays, the publisher may make far less.

Average CPM for Premium content, broadcast content online: $21-$30
Average CPM for Mid-Tier, professionally produced content: $11-$20
Average CPM for User Generated Content: $0 - $5

(from Online Video Ad Budgets Expected To Rise Sharply In 2012). The video owner definitely makes less if there is an ad broker making the deal happen, like Google AdSense on YouTube.

Mr. Bear Boogie

2011-11-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

Mr. Bear dances on a laptop-keyboard stage, featuring All the Stars (DJs from Mars club mix) by Bobby Blue. The most recent of Mr. Bear's videos. Buy the track from iTunes and Amazon MP3.