Guerilla Gear Thinking of Digital Video Expo

I was looking for upcoming video industry conferences and came across the Digital Video Expo in Pasadena, CA from September 19 – 21 at the Pasadena Convention Center. This expo has been going on for over ten years and offers opportunities to network with over 6,000 video industry professionals. The expo also offers a wide variety of conference sessions that cover pretty much any angle of creating HD digital content.

Now when I stumbled upon this convention, it had me very interested and immediately wanted to try and get Guerilla Gear entered into but I wanted to find some feedback from attendees as to what the expo is like. I found a couple of interesting articles that didn’t really paint it the glamorous event that it was made out to be.

The first one I found came from an individual named Radraven and was written in 2009. When she first starts talking about going to the DV Expo, she sounds excited to finally be getting back to her roots of video conventions. She goes on to say how the convention as a whole has dwindled in scale from what she remembered. It had been three years since she had last been there but the difference was noticeable.

The second article I found came from Fred Ginsburg and was a review of the DV Expo from 2011. He even talks about how much smaller the convention has become but despite that, there is still quality information and products that are there.

Both of these articles talk about how the convention circuit has been getting smaller and smaller each year but yet there are still companies out there that are willing to show at them. Even so, will there come a time when these conventions are no longer put on? Radraven says, and I have to agree with her, that there is no comparison with physically holding a product in your hand and looking it over with your very own eyes versus looking at numerous photos of something. Even if every angle was pictured.

Personally, I’d like to think that these conventions are invaluable. Who’s to say that the person you strike a conversation with doesn’t become your next biggest client/buyer/business investor/accountant? To me, the chance to network with so many professionals carries more value then the $1000 it costs to attend and around $4100 it costs have a vendors tent. Either way…you can write it all off come tax time.  

Good Video SEO Tips

As my business, Guerilla Gear, starts to break into the industry, I figure that the videos we will use to demonstrate our equipment will need to be found easily when people search for them or videos like them. I wanted to get some information on how would be an ideal way to get my videos to the forefront of search engines and found a couple of really helpful articles.

The first article had some really good information but what I found the most helpful were the three tips on optimizing hosted video on SEO; Delivery, Content and Links. Not only do we plan on having videos on You Tube but we will have videos hosted on our own website as well.  I want people to be drawn to our website as much as possible and these tips were very helpful but the one tip that stuck out to me the most of the three was Delivery.

By having our website be flexible and accessible to many different formats and readers, we will cast a bigger net and catch the eyes of more viewers. As of right now, our website is built to use Flash and I’ve found out that Flash based websites aren’t really search engine friendly and that they rarely work when trying to be viewed on a mobile device.

The second article talked about a number of different things as well and what I found most interesting was that with video SEO, a website’s age isn’t important. Google doesn’t take age into a video SEO so even small companies can compete at the same level as the big guys when it comes to using video to generate business.

The main theme I found between these two articles, as that content is paramount. The better you describe your site with Long Tail descriptions or submit more meta data, the better your business will fit search engines’ algorithms. When our website can start doing that, I’m sure we will notice a big difference in our orders.

              

Film Festival Help

Getting a movie submitted to the South-By-Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival is a goal a videographer friend of mine has. I have been working with him in getting a business formed for the camera mount we want to produce and sell. His business is called Guerilla Gear and can be found at http://guerillagear.net/. We have a good team of writers and are close to completion on a script, but we need to make sure we have everything we need before we submit to SXSW.

While looking around, I came across a really good site to help me with, not only SXSW, but any other film festival. Film Festival Secrets’ site is really helpful in that it’s pretty much a one-stop shop for getting any question you may have about film festivals answered. The website’s creator, Chris Holland, has written a book called “Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers” and he offers the first to chapters of it downloaded for free as long as you sign-up for his newsletter. Not a bad deal in my opinion. The first two chapters deal with what you need to do before you submit and then when you do submit, however, the book covers a number of different topics like selecting the right festival for your film, preparing the screener for the festival, saving money on festival fees, creating marketing collateral and more. At $24.95 for a print version and $9.99 for Kindle or from the iBookstore, it’s priced quite reasonably for the amount of information it gives you.

The one thing that I thought really stood out on this page was that Mr. Holland offers his professional consulting on the film your company is planning on submitting. Having a your film screened by a festival programmer is very appealing because it gives you a direct sense for what the judges will be looking for when viewing submissions.

This site is definitely going to be of great help when our production company gets going. We have a lot of plans in the works and we all realize that film festivals will be an intricate part of our operations. Not only will we be able to showcase our films but gives us a chance to perform one of the most important aspects of this business…networking.

Useful Tips for Getting Your Script Noticed

I was wondering what some good tips for getting a movie script noticed are and I came across this article by Billy Mulligan of Jane Startz Productions. He says that he has worked for a high profile feature film company in New York City for six years so, in my opinion, he has the credibility for speaking on such matters.

Tip #1 – PUT YOUR BEST SCRIPT FORWARD

Have your writing skills perfected and have more then one fully developed script. When these two objectives are met, you have a better shot at getting noticed. By having your writing skills perfected, you come across as professional which translates into someone a film company would more want to work with. When you have more then one script, it is also a demonstration of your professionalism. If the studio likes your first submission, they could very well ask for more material. On the other hand however, you may have to provide the studio with other work if they aren’t immediately sold one your initial proposal. After getting everything prepared, then it would be time to send your queries.

Tip #2 – ESTABISH YOUR TARGET

When the time comes to start submitting your script, be sure to target agencies that have handled the genre your film falls under. Also, have a name of someone who works at the agency who you can address it to. Mr. Mulligan had a great suggestion of targeting your work at the low men on the totem pole (i.e. development execs and assistants). These are the ones who are fighting to show how valuable they are to the agency and thus are the most eager and willing to read your script.

Tip #3 – THE QUERY

Mr. Mulligan suggests that when submitting your query, the best way to go is either email or a one-page fax. Producers can sense an unsolicited query letter and even having to just open the envelope makes some producers feel like its taking valuable time away from projects. An email can be easily deleted and can reach them anywhere and a one-page fax is just that and can be viewed quickly in a short amount of time.

Tip #4 – ONE PROJECT AT A TIME

Don’t start mentioning a list of work you have ready and are shopping around. It gives the notion that you have a lot of projects that no one is interested in thus seeming that what you are tying to sell is nothing you would be interested in. Keep queries short and with enough information to grab the reader’s attention but not so much information to answer all their questions.

Entertainment Law Lessons to Behold!

As I was looking for some podcasts on entertainment law, I came across a couple really good ones at www.entertainmentlawupdate.com. The first one I listened to was Episode 17 and it talked about an interesting case, UMG vs. Augusto. This dispute revolved around Mr. Augusto who was taking cut out CDs, which are used for promotional use, and was selling them to third parties. UMG insisted that they were strictly for promotional use only and that they were never truly “given out” which would make them fall under the For Sale Doctrine. This case went all the way to the 9^th Circuit where they ruled that not only did UMG transfer the license but the title as well when they sent these CDs out.

Another interesting aspect to this case was that when the judge ruled, they cited Postal Statute Title 39, US Code 3009; if you get something in the mail that you didn’t order, you get to keep it. I thought this was a great twist ending on UMG’s argument. Whether or not this was the ultimate reason, UMG decided that they will no longer send out promotional CDs anymore and instead direct potential investors and marketers to their website.

Next, I listened to Episode 26 where they were talking about SOPA, the new anti-piracy act that Congress is trying to pass. This bill sounds like it would be a good thing but the fact is, it would allow a lot of online businesses to be unfairly targeted for potential copyright infringement. This bill allows the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop businesses from collecting revenue from oversea companies who they believe are infringing on copyrights. Whether or not they even are, it doesn’t matter.

A big problem with this is that it lacks due process. Someone can just claim that a site is embarking on copyright infringement and they can get that site shut down. This new bill even offers immunity to claimants from being sued by companies who are found of no fault. This is just ridiculous! A company that is only an online business that solely gets its revenue from Internet sales could be devastated from such a claim.

The last podcast I listened to was about IP law in Rio de Janeiro. They are so backed up with patent applications, a backlog of 8 – 10 years, that they are now doing preliminary examinations before the actual examinations. They are hoping that this will weed out anything that isn’t actually patentable.

The really interesting thing I got from this podcast is that since Rio is hosting the 2016 Olympics, they have enacted the Olympic Act. This law is to curb ambush marketing and they passed it the day that Rio was announced that they would be hosting. This law protects ANYTHING that is trademarked, patented and copyrighted while it is being involved with the Olympics. This includes but isn’t limited to; flags, mottos, logos, anthems, graphically distinctive signs, mascots and emblems. It also protects names; Olympic Games, Para-Olympic Games, Rio 2016 Olympic and Para-Olympic Games, 31^st Olympic Games 2016.

Interesting Intelectual Property Lawsuits

Searching around on the Internet about some recent legal activity that relates to intellectual property, I came across some interesting cases. The first case was an interesting article about a $21 million lawsuit that Nintendo lost. The case states that Nintendo’s designs for certain Wii, Wavebird and GameCube controllers were imposing on the copyrights that Anascape, Ltd. has on the controllers that they came up with. The argument from Anascape isn’t about the motion sensors in the Wii controllers but rather the design that the GameCube controllers have as well as the classic controller attachment for the Wii. What I like about this case is that it shows that the judicial system can work in favor of the little guy. There are plenty of examples of how the corporate giants get away with infringements like these but on this go around, they lost and had to give the small company their dues.

The second article was a case involving the artist Drake and his ex-girlfriend, Erika Lee. This case is still going on and presents an interesting topic. The case revolves around Drake’s hit song “Marvin’s Room”.  Ms. Lee claims that she and Drake co-wrote the song and that she is entitled to part ownership in the copyright of the song, copyright in the sound recording and payment of songwriter royalties. She is basing her claim from the fact that the first 30 seconds of the song is a recording of a phone call between her and Drake and that the two had initially intended on writing the song together and that her contributions were supposed to be included into the final version. What I find interesting here is Ms. Lee’s assertion that she owns part of the copyright due to her claim that the two had INTENDED to write the song. Where is her proof that the two collaborated? To me this becomes a he said/she said argument. Her voice recording at the beginning is the only real proof she has ownership to anything. I believe she should be compensated in that regard but other then that, she doesn’t have a legitimate claim.

Lastly, the third article is about a class action lawsuit against Google, Inc. over copyright infringement. The claim is that Google illegally scanned millions of books and other publications that contained copyrighted images and allowed them to be viewed by the public without regard to the rights of the works’ creators. The main complaint is over Google’s Library Project. When you look up a book or other publication, the book cover as well as pictures, if there are any, is displayed and this is where the argument is stemming from. When I looked up what the Google Library Project is, they claim that they are “carefully respecting authors’ and publishers’ copyrights”(http://www.google.com/googlebooks/library.html ¶3). If they truly have this in mind, then why aren’t they taking care of these artists? I believe Google not only has a legal obligation but a moral one as well. If they are trying to create such a large project they should have known that they needed to compensate the people who created the work. The only thing I can think of why they didn’t was that they weighed the cost of the possible lawsuit versus how much revenue they would generate. Having to buy so many licenses might have been more monetarily costly then just putting them on the site. However, this cost them face value in the eyes of authors, photographers and other artists they failed to give credit to.

Online Piracy's Future

I came across this great article about online piracy and how it is shaping the future of online entertainment. The battle between the entertainment industry and consumers has been going on for years and yet, only has a slight end in sight. According to the article, 70% of 18 – 29 year olds still download unauthorized music, TV shows or movies, compared with 46% of all adults who’d done the same. With those wide of margins, what can be done to change peoples’ minds about doing the right thing?

Fingers are being pointed at both sides for not trying to nip this problem from the get go. Law enforcement has handed down penalties ranging from fines to jail time, yet the piracy has continued. However, Apple has proven that if you charge a minimal fee, the consumer can download as much as they want without fear of penalty and they are more then willing to do so.

I’ll admit, when Napster first came out, I was all over that site, getting all the music I could get my hands on. The one thing I loved about it was that the whole experience allowed me to try out music that I otherwise would have never given a chance at. Napster allowed me to broaden my musical palette while at the same time, finding older music from some of my favorite artists. I never gave a second thought that what I was doing was illegal. I just thought that it was a great way for unknown artists to finally get their chance to be in the spotlight.

I believe that if more of the entertainment industry were to follow Apple’s business model for online downloading, they would see a great decline in the amount of illegal activity. Sure there are going to be some people that will still try to get it all for free but the majority of the population, in my opinion, would much rather go the legitimate way. When you download illegally, you have to go to sketchy sites that more then likely will give your computer a virus. However, when you download from iTunes, you know that what you are getting will not come with an extra present. So the consumer gets peace of mind on two fronts; their downloading is completely legal and that it isn’t going to have any detrimental effects on their computer.