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Ask Mr Video Weekly Newsletter Click Here for Membership Information! September 18th, 2007 Dear Friend, I hope you like the new format! This newsletter format will allow me to be more "creative" with the info I bring to you every week. Plain text is a bit limiting - now you get text, images and video too! It's back to school - by now all our kids are back in school and those of us who are finished with school (but not finished learning) are finding our local lunch haunts a bit less crowded. Let's get started with the Back To School edition of the newsletter: Found Video of the Week Every week I bring you a new video that illustrates great video, great marketing or both. Enjoy! TJ Maxx and Save The Children: Back To School - Since 1984, T.J. Maxx and their customers have been devoted partners to Save the Children, working to help Save the Children deliver much-needed monetary and merchandise donations. This unique partnership has raised over ten million dollars to help children here in the United States. This year, during the busy back-to-school retail period, T.J. Maxx will focus all marketing efforts -- including advertising, public relations, on-line media, direct mail and in-store signage -- on creating an awareness program for this vital non-profit organization. All children and teens featured in the marketing efforts are from the rural communities where Save the Children works. This is a 'behind the scenes' look at the photo shoot in Mississippi. Mr Video says "Great Video - great cause, and great use of behind the scenes footage." "Audio - 60% of the Video " by Perry Lawrence Sept 18, 2007 Audio is very important to your video production - more so than the video! Do this simple test: Watch the 6 O'clock News tonight. Close your eyes What was the lead story? Now, next test: Watch the 6 O'clock News tomorrow Turn the sound down What was the lead story? As "Mr Video" this might sound strange but the number one way to improve your video productions is to focus on getting better audio. This means NOT using the on-camera microphone. The on-camera microphone is too far away from your sound source - usually your talent or speaker. The on camera mic is OK for NATSOT (Natural Sound on Tape - a news term for the natural audio vs. a VO - Voice Over). By investing in a good quality lavaliere microphone, you will dramatically improve your videos. If you are on a budget, I recommend a wired lav mic from RadioShack. If you want a great all around, all purpose mic - get a wireless lavaliere mic set. Also, for those of you producing Video Info Products, your audio is very valuable - use the audio track to produce an audio CD, a podcast, a transcribed book or manual, etc. Try doing any of that with just the video track! So I really do think that Audio is important to your Video production. You will be amazed at the results if you : Record audio using a Lavaliere Mic Always monitor audio while recording video using headphone Use a musical intro to your clips Keep background noise to a minimum Did you like this article? Emailing it to a friend is easy. Just click below! Video Gear Review Here we go! My favorite part of every "Tip of the Week". This is where we get to look at some neat toys tools! I've been looking for a video podcasting tool for a very long time. Due to the intricacies of iTunes (the most widely used podcast reader) you need to 1) Have your content tagged correctly and 2) Have your media compressed correctly. I recently tested out two podcasting solutions. Podcast.com is Adam Cury's creation - Adam Cury of MTV fame and stardom. Adam has put together a full range of podcast services. Everything from free music for your podcast to podshow.com - a podcasting platform. I created a profile http://askmrvideo.podshow.com and created a show called Ask Mr Video Show. You can create multiple shows that are each "entities" which is a bit confusing at first. You must first create a profile that represents you and then create a show that you host your video from. An episode is different than a simple video and that again causes some confusion. The interface has a lot of bloat and is non intuitive. Here is episode #001 of Ask Mr Video Show at Podshow: http://amvshow.podshow.com Another service I tried is PodBean.com. Podbean is based on WordPress. Don't let the simplistic interface fool you however. The beauty of the familiar (to us WP users) interface allows you to get up and running almost immediately. Where Podshow is bloat and confusion, Podbean is pure efficiency. Podbean understands the iTunes idiosyncrasies and tags and provides an easy to understand blog-based solution. Podbean offers a free service as well as a paid premium service. Additionally, Podbean allows you to charge a fee for membership if you so desire. Check out episode #001 of Ask Mr Video Show at Podbean: http://askmrvideo.podbean.com And, here it as a link (will open in iTunes if you have it installed): click to play Neither of these services will transcode your video. You must upload an iTunes compliant video. This is easily created on your desktop with Quicktime Pro ($29.99). I really like the ease and simplicity of PodBean. It's not trying to be all things - just a great place to host your podcast with only the essential bells and whistles. It does that quite well. Click HERE for more information on Podshow Click HERE for more information on PodBean   Do you know somebody who would find this review useful? Email it right to them. AskMrVideo.com Forum Highlights Every member has complete access to the AMV discussion forum, which is constantly being accessed by members sharing information, knowledge, insight, and fun. With an active community that's growing daily, this is one heck of a valuable resource! Here are some recent posts on the forums: Perry: Spy on the competition and download the keywords they use in their Pay-Per-Click Campaigns. KeyCompete.com AVAMan: Just a quick post to let you know I was able to run two mics wired mics from one camera. I bought the mic's that Perry recommended from Radio Shack (part #33-3013). I also bought a stereo splitter. Simply plug the mics into the splitter, and the splitter into the camera. jointventure: Ken here, and after thousands of dollars, and months of programming, I've finally got my video submitter software up to par, and as I promised, I would like to get a few people from here to help me test it before offering it for sale... ...In exchange for your help, you will get a free copy of the software, as well as free lifetime upgrades, even when we get it up to 60+ sites! Join the discussion today! CLICK HERE TO JOIN NOW! Closing Thoughts Member Feedback: Some of the best ideas, tips and thoughts come from other AMV members just like you! So if you have something you'd like to share with the rest of us, please don't hesitate to send me a message. Click Here for Membership Information! While not earth-shattering news, the video blog, the new newsletter format and the free FAQ player, and the new DVD have been keeping me busy - and I hope the students members happy! This "Back To School" edition is just that - I'm Back to Video School, answering all video questions - raise your hand! As always, if I can't answer your question, our numerous video entrepreneurs will jump in and share their experience. One member captured the entire AMV vibe when he recently posted: ---- I'm looking forward to being part of this community, and helping each other make better videos and more money. Jason ---- Couldn't have said it better myself Jason. Thanks! Perry Lawrence "Mr Video" http://www.AskMrVideo.com Merchant Services The AskMrVideo.com Website uses 128-Bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to transmit your personal information to our secure servers. Still not sure you want to do this over the internet? Well, just give me a call at 800-531-5718.