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Video, Part III

March 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

video-3The more I think about the possibilities surrounding video in  your VO marketing plan, the more inspired I get.

I promise, I’ll get off my soapbox after sharing this last little bit, which is actually a pairing of two favorites:  Video & LinkedIn.

If you’ve already read “Are You Ignoring the Value of Video?“, and “The Anti-Mantra Motivator“, then you’ve heard my case for the use of video in promoting your voice and your freelance business in general.

I’ve also never been bashful about saying I think an active LinkedIn profile is also a critical piece of your social media presence.  In January of this year, LinkedIn reported more than 200 million worldwide users.  That global component is big.  More serious-minded than it’s informal cousins — FaceBook and Twitter — LinkedIn has been sprucing up its image, and getting critical praise for the role it plays in enabling business relationships.

Putting a VO video on your LinkedIn profile is painlessly easy.

1)  Click on “Edit your profile”
2)  Scroll down to the “Backgrond” heading
3)  Click on the blue square with a “+” in it across from the word “Summary” (see screenshot below)
4)  Add your YouTube, Vimeo, or other video provider URL in the dialogue box
5)  Scroll up to the top of your profile, and click “done editing”

LI-vid

It’s even easier to place that same video link in Pinterest.

On your Pinterest home page, click on your profile drop-down menu in the top upper-right corner, and click “add pin”.  Paste your YouTube link in the dialogue box, and your done.

BTW, Pinterest just re-vamped their interface to display even larger pictures, now, so the stuff you post there potentially has even more impact.

CourVO

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Anti-Mantra Motivator

March 21, 2013 By 6 Comments

video-aResist this maxim:  “Do as I say…not as I do”.

In other words, your mantra should be:  “Do as I say, ’cause I’ve tried doing it, and it works!”

The three reasons I write this blog:
1) It serves as my own repository of information.
2) I love sharing good ideas.
3) I get a kick out of paying it forward.
4) I’ve tried most of this stuff and it works.

Most everything I write about here I’ve checked out. If I think the idea/product/service is lousy I’ll warn you…if I like it, I’ll endorse it….if I haven’t fully evaluated it, I’ll tell you.

The other day as I was writing ARE YOU IGNORING THE VALUE OF VIDEO?, I realized I was ignoring the value of video.  Not entirely.  I post videos every day in my “other” job, and in that sense there’s always an example of my on-camera work.  But that’s perhaps not the best use of video in my voice over business.

The point of  my Value-of-Video blog article was to tap into the potential of video as a marketing/promotional tool.  To that end, I humbly submit the following video as my first-gen attempt to get going in this area.  It’s simple…to-the-point, and even displays my voice.  I hope to splash this (or a version of it) all over my marketing materials.

Let me know what you think.  What are YOU doing in video?

Dave Courvoisier video from Dave Courvoisier on Vimeo.

CourVO

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Are You Ignoring the Value of Video?

March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

camera.jpgVoice. Voice. Voice.  OVER.

Guess what?…what you’re voicing OVER is almost always video…some sort of visual presentation.  Of course, you make it complete with your voice (wink, wink), but since we humans are mega-optically gifted and sensitized… the message you bring is the window dressing to what people are SEEING (hate to break it to ya, but your voice is NOT the big draw…not usually).

OK, so then here’s the thing:  If video is SO big (YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world), then why aren’t you utilizing it in your marketing?

I admit it — I’m not maximizing that factor either…and I’m on TV!

I know, I know…you claim you have a face for radio (old joke).  Are you kidding me?  Have you seen some of the jerks producing viral videos lately?  99% of the people I meet at FaffCon could do a better on-camera job than that.

Not sure where to start?  Check out a site I tailor-made just for you:  OnCamTips.

But let’s assume that you REALLY don’t want to put your mug in front of a camera.  OK, then create a video montage of some of the videos you’ve voiced…it could almost be a voice demo for you.

Take some video of your studio, and narrate underneath it how much time, effort, and money you’ve dedicated to your art.  Slap it on your website.

Finally, if you haven’t taken a look at all the bells and whistles YouTube has added lately, you really should make a quick visit.  While you’re at it, create your own channel, and gussy-it-up with the new “One Channel” features.  It’s free, and offers you wide latitude in showcasing your videos in the configuration, and with the colors and customization you like.  YouTube One Channel Start Page.

I wrote this blog for myself as a kick in the pants to do this.  You too!

CourVO

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Video’s Value

October 17, 2012 By 1 Comment

‘Can’t remember how many times I’ve mentioned here on Voice-Acting in Vegas that as a voice-actor, you can’t afford to ignore video in your marketing.

I’m not saying necessarily a video of you voicing something (although many people seem fascinated with that)…but by using videos you’ve voiced to promote your work…on your website, on FaceBook, on Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, a blog and more…much more.  The only caveat is to make sure you have permission from the people who paid you to do the spot….especially if it hasn’t aired yet, or wasn’t supposed to air in your market.

Over the last several months I had two experiences that spanned the spectrum of voicing to video.  One I was paid handsomely for by a commercial client, and the other I did pro-bono for a student in Romania who needed to complete a video for a college degree exam.

You can see them both below.  Honestly, I think I’m more proud of the student project…probably because it felt so good to do it.  I think the quality of the video production compares favorably to the commercial project (with doubtless a much smaller budget).

The student approached me out of nowhere with hat in hand.  Not having much on the calendar that day, I voiced his script on the spot, and sent it off to Romania.  He was unbelievably grateful…did a wonderful job with the presentation, and I made a forever friend.  Who knows, he may really make a commercial success of his student project, which you can see here on the TimeIn website.

I’d love to know what you think of the comparison.

First, the commercial spot:  (double-click to play)

Now here’s the student project:

CourVO

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Collaboration Comics

March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Man oh man, I loved listening to this!

VO pro and pal Dave Deandrea posts the following video on YouTube:  Axe Cop, Bad Guy Earth Trailer

The artwork is sensational, the writing very cheeky, and the voices!….oh yeah, the voices!…done by some of the best:  Bob Souer, Rowell Gormon, John Taylor, Dave DeAndrea, Sam Mowry, Mark Irwin, and Herb Merriweather.

It’s just over 2 minutes.  You have two minutes doncha? 

Very nicely done Dave!

CourVO

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth Trailer

Filed Under: Cartoons, Friends, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Caring is Cool

March 3, 2011 By 2 Comments

VO pro and friend Donovan Corneetz brands himself as “The Voice of Cool”. 

It really works for him, and his VO career, which got started at about the same time as mine on the VO-BB is taking off in all sorts of productive directions.

But the video below is not would you would think of as the mystique of “cool”.  Instead, it’s a story of someone else’s success…millions of miles away.  Donovan says about this video he voiced:  “In Cambodia a local NGO -called CDMD- strives for an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for people with disabilities. Active in five provinces, they reach almost four million Cambodians. Of whom more than 180,000 have a disability. These are four wonderful stories of success.”

While watching, take a listen to Donovan’s smooth take on this copy. 
Nicely done, Donovan!

CourVO

CDMD – Everyone Matters – Original video

Filed Under: Documentary, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Doing WaterMarks Right

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Grats to my social media partner and VO pro Terry Daniel for directing me to the following video posted on his VoiceOver Club site.

Fellow Voice  Actor Mike Elmore makes an easy-to-follow explanation about watermarking your auditions.

Also, be watching for an upcoming podcast on the Voices.com Expert Series regarding Social Media.  Recording it with Terry Daniel today!

CourVO

Filed Under: Techniques, Video

Take Charge of Your Video

December 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Rain Computers and I have had a long, mutually-beneficial relationship.   According to their website:  “…Rain Computers designs audio and video computers, tested and certified for use with your creative software and hardware.”

Over the years, I’ve written a number of articles for them, mostly on VO topics.

Recently, though, they asked me to build on a theme I’ve railed about before: needlessly rotten webcam videos.

The result is an article called “Take Charge of Your Video” featured in their latest newsletter, and on their website.

As the article mentions, this augments the information I’ve supplied on this topic on my site:  OnCamTips.com.  Check it out, and let me know if it helps, or if you have additional suggestions.

CourVO

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Video & Audio

October 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

More and more, I find myself editing video.  I don’t know why I find that worth mentioning…I’ve been in TV 30 years…but never have I felt the incursion of video in my world like I do now.

In a previous life, video was always something on TV, and one could always choose to turn it off.

But there’s almost no opting out of video these days.  It’s all over Social Media sites: esp. FaceBook, and Twitter (YouTube, duh!).  But it’s also in blogs, all over the regular websites I use, and on my smartphone.

EDITING!

Which means a guy almost has to be proficient at EDITING video to get by these days.  At last count there are about 5,453,678 video editing software suites out there.  A certain (ahem) Adobe product keeps getting mentioned, or Sony Vegas.  TechSmith’s CamTasia is the undisputed king of capturing on-screen video…and Version 7.0 is a very full-featured video/audio editor too.

All of the above allow audio editing in a dismissive sort of way.  Sony Vegas will let you pop out the audio and edit it as a wave file in Sony SoundForge, which is nice.

UNMITIGATED ENDORSEMENT

But in my experience,  none of them hold a candle to Serif MoviePlus X3 in terms of features/price.  I’ve mentioned Serif a number of times on this blog.  The UK-based firm has excellent Desktop Publishing, Photo-editing, Web-Authoring, and Digital Drawing programs that in my mind are hands-down the best bargain anywhere.  I don’t say that lightly.  I’ve used ALL those programs for years, and for the price, nothing comes close that I can tell.

Serif Movie Plus X3 is rich with features, and very intuitive to use.  Output goes to DVD or file, or YouTube…extremely customizable…I could go on and on.

MATCHING AUDIO & VIDEO

But HERE’S a great program if you need to save yourself the time-consuming labor of matching sound to video accurately without having to painstakingly do a frame-by-frame match over several video cuts: PLURALEYES by Singular Software.

According to its own website, PluralEyes: “…saves hours in post-production for multi-camera edits, dual-system audio or multi-take workflows such as music videos. It automatically synchronizes all your audio and video clips without the need for timecode, clappers or any special preparation…”

PluralEyes comes in versions compatible with FinalCut Pro, Premiere Pro, and Vegas Pro.  I have NOT used this product, but if it works half as good as they say it does, it’s probably worth the $149.  You can go to their website and get a fully functional version to try for 30 days.  Not bad.

Let me know if you’ve used it.

CourVO

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,