The high growth trends and convergence of social media, web video and real time internet communications tools such as Twitter will create a new demand for real time content producers.
There is an underlying meme for each trend that has a form of “viral energy” associated with the trending topic. For example, Twitter displays a list of “trending” keywords or topics based on text analysis of the real time conversations happening on Twitter. On Monday, there is a trend for posts tagged “#MusicMonday” and this is listed on the right sidebar on Twitter. When you click the link “#MusicMonday” you will see all all posts related to this trending topic. The Twitter community uses the “#MusicMonday” hash tag (adding the # sign in front of a word, makes it unique for searching Twitter) to spread the word about their favorite music. Often, other users with Retweet (RT) their friends #MusicMonday Twitter posts to share this with a new group of Twitter users. This is how messages spread like a rapid virus on Twitter and other social networks. Take a look for yourself for a Twitter search for #MusicMonday http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23musicmonday .
The opportunity here in the above use case is for bands to capture the meme and viral energy by posting their music videos for example and tagging them with #musicmonday as this typically trends on Monday on Twitter. Large consumer goods marketers such as Adidas could take this a step further by creating a #MusicModay Twitter contest that merges bands and consumer generated music video producers to create hundreds of different music videos with the Adidas brand integrated as part of the remixed music videos. Then they could let the community vote on the best music videos and give prizes out to the winning bands and remixed music video producers.
Traditional video production software is slow process as you have to align video clips along a timeline, add transitions and effect and then render out the final composition. This is very time consuming and does not fit well in the real-time internet model where speed is critical. TV news shows are more dynamic and mix between live feeds, hosts, graphics and other data sources on the fly. The issue is cost as prime-time news studios cost millions of dollars.
The internet is now a “real time web” or stream of live data and conversations. This then requires new outside of the box thinking for rapid media production. I am coining the term “Real Time Data Jockeys” RTDJ’s to describe a new job classification. RTDJ’s will be hired by all types of companies to serve in their social media operations.
Imagine a new toolset for real-time internet media production that uses the internet like a record crate. Just like a traditional DJ uses records, the Real Time DJ uses the internet webpages, blog posts, live skype calls, video feeds, audio feeds, etc. as sources of media. Next, there are new types of interfaces to “remix” the media on the fly.
They will use new media production software tools and controllers like the Jazz Mutant Lemur or Livid Ohm64 as pictured below. The video is from my friend Bryant Place, located in LA using the Jazz Mutant Lemur with Modul8.
Companies will have a digital library of music, photos, videos, effect and other tools that enable the RTDJ to produce media with branding elements and brand continuity. I also imagine that there will be outsource agency type of models where the RTDJs are located globally and connected to their customers via internet collaboration, so they are “on demand” for new media campaign development.
I am experimenting with new real time video media tools (Video DJ) to see how they would be used for other commercial applications such as viral media production for social media campaigns.
Traditional “linear” video production tools such as Final Cut Studio or Premier take hours to create and process HD videos. Then you often have to use a separate program such Adobe Premier or Apple Motion to create video effects. The new visual DJ software takes a different approach as they are designed for live performance. What is significant is that these program allow you to live mix as well as to record your live mixes and save them as movie files. I now use VJ software to rapidly create viral videos in the form of “video event invitations”. My production value is increased 300% while the development time is cut by 500% or more.
On weekends I have the pleasure to work with Seattle bands as a visualist. This means that I create video projections and remix them in real time to the beat of the music using a fast laptop, powerful visualization software, DJ style media controllers and an HD video projector. The visuals create a more engaging multimedia experience for the audience as I am able to set the “mood” for each music composition and “tell a story” using images, video and effects that complement the song lyrics and tone of the music.
The HD music videos that I shoot during the performances have a more interesting visual effect and thus become more viral as people are more inclined to share something that “look cool” in their social networks such as Facebook. Here is a recent shoot with Miss Solar System, Dabouge and Surrealized, all hot Seattle based bands. Look at the background behind the band to view my visual projections.
I use my weekend music and visual projects as a way to test new ideas for media creation using powerful visualization software, live camera feeds and other creative ideas.
Here is a sample of an HD music video that I produced live visuals as a back drop for the band Dabouge who performed in Seattle. The video was shot produced and edited, then syndicated across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Myspace in one day. Within two days the band had received 75 views and many positive comments (sentiment) because the video was in HD, well produced and had extra visual “eye candy”.
For this Miss Solar System video I created a visual set that matched their new album branding focused on outer space, NASA imagery, etc. I then used my visualization program and the HD video of the performace to create a stream of photos by grabbing frames of a multi-layered composition. The standard way of creating layered visual compositions in Photoshop would take hours. My process was 100X more efficient and the final product has a unique look and feel because of my new approach.
After shooting the videos I will often remix them again in Modul8 to add an additional layer of effects and production value. Then I load the videos up to my video syndication platform that will transmit the videos to 10 plus video hosting services such as YouTube. Next, the videos are posted to the band’s website, social networks and other channels.
Gear List: Macbook Pro Laptop, 4 gigs RAM, Modul8 VJ software, eMotion Particle Physics, Boxlight Projector, Canon HFS100 and Canon HV20 HD cameras.
Significance: Five years ago it would be very expensive and time consuming to produce a true HD video with live motion graphics. This form of rich visual communication is critical for the music industry as videos are the fastest growing form of internet media. In addition, videos are a great tool when used in concert with social media sites. Bands often have Myspace and Facebook Fan Pages and videos are the primary way to communicate with fans. Videos are also viral and may be used to promote an up and coming music concert.
Recently, I have developed a work flow that uses 12 customer provided images such as photos, date, time location slides, call to action slides, etc. that are all used in the final production. My VJ software has a time controller to jump to the next slide in the 12 slide set, thus allows me to time sequence the final composition. Next I have learned to transcribe the voice over audio used for the digital invitations into text. This is then scrolled on the lower third of the invitations so that the audio track matches the text scroll transcriptions. There is up to a 40% increase in video viewership rates when you have scrolling transcribed text. This is because in the workplace office, often the viewer has to turn the audio down. With text transcriptions, the viewer simply is able to read the text.
The new real time web and interlinking of web services APIs from social networks to discovery services such as Digg and video services such as YouTube have created a new real time marketing ecosystem.
I am interested to hear your ideas and what you think will emerge as new media jobs in the next five years?
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