Wednesday, April 12, 2017
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Demo Reel Captions on YouTube and Facebook
You should add captions your demo reel on YouTube and put your demo reel on Facebook in a good way. Uploading your demo reel video well is your last mile, your last step, of getting your work where it needs to be. If your demo reel (or showreel if you're from the British Commonwealth) is uploaded well, then it can to lead to good things for your career.
Today I'll focus on YouTube's captions and uploading to Facebook. I can delve into other areas, like demo reel titles and descriptions another time. I can also cover other places, like casting sites, another time if you'd like.
Sidenote: in 5 months you'll want to know how to post your reel on Twitter so you can be a part of the #DemoReelDay event I created and host. #DemoReelDay is a great free chance for actors' work to get seen. Last month's #DemoReelDay, during pilot season, had great success: agents, casting directors, producers, and multi-hyphenates watched our reels, engaged. New friendships, collaborations and fresh connections were forged on the first #DemoReelDay March 29, 2017:
The next #DemoReelDay is September 13th, during episodic season. On #DemoReelDay, uploading your reel directly to Twitter will make it easier for industry to watch it, and for your reel to be a part of other features like moments. End sidenote.
Today, I'll touch on YouTube captions and uploading your demo reel to your Facebook page.
YouTube takes a little while after uploading a video to make automatic captions, their computers' best guesses. Here's how we make captions work for us:
- Correct and replace the automatically generated captions. I used their built-in tool for this.
- Watch your demo reel, with the captions on, to make sure they are right. We are helping search algorithms and people who can't hear the video understand it with captions inside the video.
- Download and save the .sbv file of your YouTube captions. This file will be useful for uploading elsewhere, like Facebook, and you don't want to lose all your work making them right.
Now to upload it to your Facebook page (not your personal profile, but your fan page). I posted mine in a post like this:
And here is how we make it work for us:
- Upload the same video file you uploaded to YouTube.
- Fill out the fields on the basic tab, and add a custom thumbnail. I used the same thumbnail image file I used on YouTube.
- In the Captions tab, you'll need to upload your captions from step 3 above as a .srt file. Use a website that can covert your .sbv captions file into a .srt captions file. Facebook may complain about your .srt file unless it is named [filename].en_US.srt (I'm assuming your reel is in American English, if it isn't and you want guidance for yours, let me know).
- Don't need to do anything with the Advanced or Crossposting tabs.
- Watch your demo reel, with the captions on, to make sure everything is right. We are helping people and machines understand your video, and captions will display when people are scrolling through their Facebook feeds, making it immediately more intelligible.
That should put your demo reel on Facebook in a pretty good way. Hope this helps and let me know if you've any questions in the comments, on Twitter, or something like that. Good luck!
Labels: acting, technology, trends, youtube
this posted by David August at 6:01 PM - 0 comments - 
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
How to Launch a Video - Intro to Video Uploading
I wrote this as a guest post for We Make Movies' blog:
How to Launch a Video - Intro to Video Uploading
Just putting a video online does not guarantee it will get seen by the people who would love to see it. The internet is not a "if you build it, they will come" place, at least it isn't anymore. As of today, the largest video site has more than a 100 hours worth of video getting uploaded every minute. That's more than 4 days of new videos every minute. And that's one site. And that amount is only going up in the future. How can you help your show, short, reel, or anything standout among the ocean of videos? How do you help your video get seen? This is an overview, an intro to online video best practices.
Every video is different, even if only a little. Every audience is also different. But some things tend to stay basically the same. For instance, the main goal has been the same since the stone age:
Connect the video with the audience that will be delighted to see it.
The audience that will be thrilled to watch your video is out there, and your task is to put the video and them together. Easy to say, not quite as straight forward to do. Some ways you can help any video are:
- the video itself
- the title
- the timing
Video Itself
The most important thing for any video's success is: what happens when the audience presses play. Obviously, better videos are more likely to be shared. Make the video great, whatever that means for your video. What's less obvious is: have no intro or as short of one as possible. In a movie theatre, the audience has already decided to sit down and basically just watch the film they came to see. Online, the audience has not: if in the first few seconds they don't like what they see, they'll click on to something else.
Writer and television producer Rob Long points out in his podcast Dessert First that on TV, "...the audience won't wait, they're hungry now...don't serve them appetizers first, serve them dessert...dessert first. Fun stuff first, sweet stuff up front. Start passing out the treats the moment it starts. Ask yourself...is the audience getting dessert first? Because if they're not, someone, somewhere...is serving it up, a thumb push [or click, or touch] away." This is even more true online than it is on TV.
Titles
Titles matter. A lot. A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but it would be very hard to find on the web. Videos are more likely to be watched when titles are meaningful. On a computer or mobile device, people don't tend to have the patience to read every word in a title. Eye tracking studies confirm this. So choose your titles carefully. The first 2 words by themselves, or even the first word by itself, should give someone an idea what your video is and what it is about. The title tells me what will happen if I press play. If you don't like the title, or feel like the video behind it will disappoint you, you won't watch.
It is tempting to use attention getting or controversial words in a title. Don't, unless they truly do describe the video well, you'll be deceiving your audience if you do. Misdirecting usually disappoints the audience and hurts you. Here is an example:
- Bad Title:
- "Check It Out! Watch This, the Best Ever Demo Reel of John Q. Public"
- Better Title:
- John Q. Public Cinematography Demo Reel
The first title carries almost no meaning, and takes far to long to reveal what the video actually is. 10 years ago putting as many words into a title may have helped it get found and watched, but keyword stuffing now works against you. It can also damage a video and channel's quality score, making it and every other video on the channel get shown less often in search results and lowering the money it and the rest of the channel's videos make from ads.
The second title reveals that the video may solve a hiring problem a producer has, and those are the people you want watching this video. It may not feel as flashy to communicate clearly, but do you want to feel flashy or meet your goals? Better to have your video watched by 1 person thrilled to see it, than by 100,000 disappointed and now hating you for tricking them.
Timing
A great video, that someone will love at one time, they may hate, or not watch, at another. People in New York tend to watch short form content during their commute on subway trains and buses. So if your video may resonate with New Yorkers and is less than 4 minutes, you may want it to be available to them between 6 AM and 10 AM Eastern Time. Long form content tends to get watched more in the evening hours in most markets. So for TV shows and films, the evening is primetime.
It is always prime-time somewhere, as people live in every timezone on Earth. Generally, make your video live and ready to be watched before you invite the audience to actually watch it. It works against you to send people to a video that isn't available, doesn't work, or is otherwise unready (like no thumbnail or placeholder text for its title and description). You can read some fairly timeless superficial ideas about timing in Video Release Timing: Go Live Early, Announce Late which I wrote a while ago but still mainly applies. Plan when you want to launch, and be totally ready for the audience before they get there.
These are broad concepts, each video is its own special case. With planning, videos can be more successful, whatever your goals are. Please let me know if you have any questions, and best of luck with your videos!
Bio
David August is an actor, producer and director. He just won an award for 127 Seconds (which he stars in, wrote and produced) at a festival in NYC adding to awards and commendations from festivals around the world. He performed in his scripts Bring the Funny and Corporate Dialects, produced by We Make Movies at YouTube Space LA, and just completed dialog recording for his role in the upcoming film Dependent's Day. Earlier this year, a producer renewed their option on a short horror/thriller script David wrote (that had been workshopped at We Make Movies under the title Color TV, and is now under the working title Room 314 at Try Film Productions). A few weeks ago, he performed in a parody of the film Divergent for Witness Pictures and off screen he is currently working as a Production Finance Executive at a production company in Hollywood. Online, he worked on the team redesigning video pages on a major studio's site, multiplying video views many times and the site went on to win a Webby Award. He has guest lectured to graduate students at USC's Marshall School of Business about the internet. You can find him on twitter, facebook, youtube, imdb and his website.
Labels: technology, trends, youtube
this posted by David August at 11:14 AM - 0 comments -
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
New Triple Threat is Writer-Producer-Actor
actors are becoming the new triple threat: Writer, Producer, Actor.
(from Backstage). I agree: I'm happy to report a short film I'm in and produced is in its 4th festival on February 8th, and also lead to the excellent commercial reps I'm now working with.
Labels: money, technology, trends, youtube
this posted by David August at 1:51 PM - 0 comments -
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Google Funded Entertainment Changing Paradigm
So far the TV industry has done exactly the wrong thing. Instead of embracing change, it's fighting it. The problem is it's defending the indefensible. The TV model has gone rotten from all sides. On the content side, writers and producers hate dealing with bloated studios that have appointed themselves gatekeepers for what shows can be made. On the consumer side, nobody wants to pay $150 per month for 500 channels of stuff they don’t want, which is why more and more people are unplugging their cable subscriptions, and why an entire generation of young people have never bought into TV in the first place. From the business side, advertisers realize TV makes less sense than it once did and are moving away.
(from The Daily Beast).
Labels: technology, trends, youtube
this posted by David August at 8:49 AM - 0 comments -
Sunday, June 07, 2009
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Video Release Timing
If you are self-producing for the internet (web shows, viral videos, etc.) I have put my recommendations for the timing of the upload in a post 'Video Release Timing: Go Live Early, Announce Late' on my Details blog which has other ideas about online video and internet promotion. If you need online promotion and/or distribution, Vicious Concepts may be able to help.
Labels: technology, youtube
this posted by David August at 7:03 PM - 0 comments -
Thursday, May 21, 2009
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Google In Upfronts
New media is now indistinguishable from old media (TV/Film). Google is now buying and selling TV ads in a big way, just like the biggest TV networks do: in Upfronts for extended periods of time. Residuals as of last week, Old fashioned residuals, applied to broadcast and cable TV (not internet/digital). Keep this in mind while considering your vote on the ballot for the new SAG Theatrical Contract mailed 2 days ago.
Google TV Ads has begun booking upfront deals with major agencies and advertisers for the first time.
Marketers are committing upwards of seven figures to buy ads through the TV spot buying system in the year ahead, with agencies like Deutsch and Saatchi & Saatchi and advertisers like Coldwell Banker coming to the table, said Mike Steib, director of Google TV Ads.
They [major agencies and advertisers] can also buy ads on YouTube now using Google TV Ads
(from The Hollywood Reporter, via my Details - Video, Social Media and the Internet blog).
Labels: contracts, money, technology, trends, unions, youtube
this posted by David August at 2:43 PM - 0 comments -
Friday, January 30, 2009
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
YouTube and William Morris Said to Be Close to Video Deal
YouTube and the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent agency, are close to signing a deal that would place the company's clients in made-for-the-Web productions.
By becoming a partner with a talent agency, YouTube is demonstrating that it wants to be a major destination for Hollywood content. Its sponsorship of a live concert in November, YouTube Live, sent the same message
(from The New York Times).
this posted by David August at 12:35 PM - 0 comments -
Friday, January 23, 2009
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Broadway 'West Side' Cast Maria from YouTube
Arthur Laurents needed a Maria for his upcoming Broadway revival of "West Side Story." The 91-year-old director, who wrote the libretto for the legendary 1957 musical, found her on YouTube.
Josefina Scaglione was an Argentine stage actress working in Buenos Aires. She spoke English with a rich Spanish accent, was unknown to American audiences and was exactly what Mr. Laurents had been searching for
(from The Wall Street Journal). You can read about video and social media on one of my other blogs.
this posted by David August at 7:21 PM - 0 comments -
Thursday, December 11, 2008
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
YouTube Videos Make Real Money
One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become "partners" and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site
(emphasis added, from The New York Times).
Labels: technology, trends, youtube
this posted by David August at 12:27 PM - 0 comments -
Friday, August 01, 2008
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Video Changes Online
lg15 [LonelyGirl15] shutting down is symbolic of web video's changing landscape. When the show first started in June of 2006, the web video world was ruled by the users. Fueled by credit-card debt and filled with DIY spirit, Bre was going to lead a revolution, inspiring everyday people to rise up and smash the Hollywood machine. It was going to be freaking beautiful, man.
But in 2008, the story is much different. Hollywood has struck back. While YouTube is still top video dog, Hulu is the new belle of the Internet ball. Every major network has full episodes of their shows online (some of which are even in higher-def), and web videos now feature stars like Will Ferrell, Rosario Dawson and David Spade.
(from newteevee.com).
I think independent internet shows not only can still happen, but they are. There are now ways to pay your bills and find your audience that the first shows didn't have way back in 2006. Like Dr. Horrible has. Do you think the indy net show is dead, or that there remains untapped potential; please leave a comment.
this posted by David August at 5:36 PM - 0 comments -
Monday, January 14, 2008
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Internet Video Booms During Strike
According to new figures from Nielsen Online some online video sites have doubled their audience since the strike began.
According to Nielsen’s figures, YouTube’s audience was up 18% in the two months after the strike started and Crackle doubled its audience from 1.2 million users to 2.4 million users(emphasis added, from TechCrunch). The audience is finding alternative entertainment. It's unclear if TV audiences will return when the strike ends.
Labels: trends, unions, youtube
this posted by David August at 4:18 AM - 0 comments -
Monday, October 29, 2007
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Short Films Selling Online
More people than Pixar are now making money with shorts online.Creators of short films (40 minutes or less) have finally found an audience through such online sites as iTunes, Revver.com and San Francisco's Frameline Films and Caachi.com, which specializes in distributing independent films. And those sites are even starting to bring a revenue trickle to older shorts that audiences are unearthing online(from SF Gate). I've made money with Revver. There are some YouTube partners with whom Google shares the ad revenue from made from views of the partner's videos. Perhaps the shorts we've all done will come out of the woodwork and go online.
Labels: technology, trends, youtube
this posted by David August at 6:34 AM - 2 comments -
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
Lonelygirl15 is YouTube Fiction
She's a fictional character living in a fictional world distributed completely through YouTube and MySpace (and soon some other online venues).
this posted by David August at 3:08 PM - 0 comments -
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
As of 2025, please go to stuff.davidaugust.com, my newer blog. See you there!
YouTube Shops/Saves a Pilot
The defunct WB comedy pilot Nobody's Watching showed up on YouTube.com about a month ago, and has now been "discovered" by NBC. The network is expected to announce today that it has ordered six scripts and will create a series of viral videos to promote the show, says Variety. The videos could be seen on the internet as early as this fall. The pilot stars Paul Campbell and Tarran Killam as two fans of sitcom TV who end up in a reality show(from Cynopsis). First part of the Nobody's Watching pilot on YouTube, and more info in this article.
this posted by David August at 10:30 AM - 0 comments -
