Very rarely to do I promote and throw a website into people’s faces like I do when talking about the content that I am creating but when I talk about SpidVid.com I can’t help but through the URL into people’s faces. SpidVid has changed the way I look at the possibilities of video creation and brought my a little ways back into the days of film school in terms of creating video content.

    I came across SpidVid last year while working as the online media coordinator for the 2011 Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival. They offered to host and promote the short films that were picked to be Juror Picks. I realized that to in order to explain what SpidVid was going to do for these films I would have to figure out what SpidVid actually did. So I took an old film of mine that went a few film festivals and was a winner on an online film contest. Within a week I got 2,000 views. I was shocked, 2,000 in less then a week.

    I once was a online video creator for myspace when that site first launched a section for filmmakers where I was making around $400 a month from a web series I called The Nook. I averaged around 10,000 views a week but I had the backing of myspace as well as my friends and fan base. Plus on Youtube I averaged around 1,000 views with all my videos combined, so yes I was shocked that this website I never heard of could give me 2,000 in less than a week. At the time I was also working on a web series about my cats which was getting around 150 views a days by me resulting in hardcore promoting so I really enjoyed 2,000 views with no work put into it. SpidVid had me hooked and I couldn’t wait to share this with the Juror Picked filmmakers.

    That was my first experience with SpidVid, watching my film that I thought was once dead be given a new life online and one of the 2011 Juror Picks get over 5,000 views when the same video on YouTube get around 300. Someone once said that YouTube was crowded, they were right. YouTube has a lot of crap out there and it is hard to shuffle to the good stuff. Yes, I know I might be part of the problem but YouTube is a really easy way for me to share my dog videos with my family. Just wait till I have kids I’ll crowd it up even more. 

    My second experience with SpidVid comes after the 2011 Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival when they decided to front the money  for my next project Gen Y. Now I was going to get my hands dirty on the production side via SpidVid. I already knew how production worked on the traditional side of creating film and I knew a little bit about creating web content but I really wanted to create a web series with a continuing story. It really shouldn’t be that hard right.

    I found that the part I found the most fascinating about SpidVid would also be the most frustrating. SpidVid is a global social network of filmmakers, each with a talent gift to give to your project. Unlike production in traditional terms where I knew who I was working with, could meet with them on a whim, we all lived in the same area, and I pretty much knew their schedules, SpidVid was completely global and online. I brought people onto my team from all over the world. I have an editor in the UK and a composer in Australia for example. They all have different schedules and different amounts of time they can give to the project. All our communication is done online and even our file exchanges are done online. As I type this blog I have an editor from Canada uploading a scene she has completed this week for me to add to the rest of the episode.

    Also SpidVid has been very supportive in the process and even has brought knowledge to the tools we are using online to create this project.

    Even though our schedules are different and we live in different time zones SpidVid brings together people who want to form and a team and ultimately create better content than what you would find on YouTube. Yes YouTube might be an online video giant but the content on SpidVid is fresher and will have a lasting impact in the online creative world.

    As I read through this blog I see that it is  the worst blog to be posted due to it being all over the place but that is exactly how it is when using SpidVid and it isn’t good nor bad it is a change at how online videos are going to be made. There will be global collaborating and SpidVid is ahead of the curve. With this change you will need to adjust how you set your time structure in creating deadlines. Things are going to take longer. You are no longer swapping hard drives but uploading gigs of footage between each other and not everyone  has a high speed broadband connection. A benefit though is the Crocodile Mike can upload his work while you sleep and then while he is sleeping you write back his work needs these corrections. The days of looking over the shoulder of your editor is coming to an end.

I am really enjoying what SpidVid has to offer and the changes that they are a part of in the online film community. I am proud to have them be a sponsor again for the 2012 Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival.  Please visit their website www.spidvid.com and I will post next week about what SpidVid has to offer you are filmmakers and web series creators instead of rambling about my experiences with SpidVid.