Sometimes I think we forget this. Although I’ve spent the last two years demonstrating ways to improve imagery, sound, editing, color, and so on, the most important thing to remember is that “content is king.”

This video has been viewed more than 30 million times. It’s not because of the lighting. It’s because of the content.

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

I’m going to do a free session called “Improve Your Online Video” on November 3rd at Podcamp AZ. The Podcamp is free. My session is free. You can follow this link to register. If you can make it to Phoenix on November 3rd, please join us. I’m hoping to see as many of you there as possible.

Following is the description for my session:

Aesthetically, most web video is pretty horrible. Because folks don’t know how easy it is to create good video, they make major blunders. They shoot up their own nostrils; they distort their faces with incorrect lens settings; they ignore audio quality. Avoid these pitfalls! Beginner or pro? Come join the discussion.

Oh, and by the way, I believe Podcamp AZ is going to be streamed live over the internet using Ustream.tv, so if you can’t make it to Phoenix on November 3rd, you can still enjoy much of the event.

Finally, my friend, Justine Ezarik (yes, the iPhone “Bill in a Box Video” Justine), is having a Photoshop contest to help promote Podcamp AZ. Maybe you’d like to participate?

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

I’m happy to announce the first premium-only episode of Izzy Video. Over the past two years, I have received many questions dealing with Compression. In Izzy Video 66, I do an introductory tutorial on the subject. I explain what compression is, what a codec is, conceptually how compression works. Also, I review some of the settings inside Compressor, Apple’s compression application which comes with Final Cut Studio.

Future tutorials will go more in-depth on the subject of compression.

Want access to this tutorial? Please visit the membership area to learn more.

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

*Update: Everything is working again. Andrew was right. The date in the system was wrong (I think this was a Dreamhost issue). Suddenly the date is correct and the system is working again. Sorry for any troubles…

Old Post:

For some reason, yesterday the membership software I’m using suddenly stopped working, so all of yesterday’s new subscribers may have issues when trying to access the premium area of the site. I will get this fixed as soon as possible. In the meantime, here is a workaround that appears to work:

1. Try to log into the premium members area, and you will get a message that says: “Access to this membership area is not allowed. Please go to ‘Membership information page’ to renew or add subscription”
2. Click on the words “Membership information page”
3. Inside the membership information page, in the upper left-hand quarter, you’ll see a section called “Your Subscriptions”. Click on the subscription called “Six-Month Premium Subscription to Izzy Video”.
4. Now you’re inside the premium area!

I will post once I have the problem fixed. Sorry about the problems!

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

I’m really enjoying myself at the Portable Media Expo here in Ontario, CA. If you’re here, and you want to connect over the next few days, please feel free to call. My mobile # is 480-980-1533.

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

Here’s my dilemma: More than a year after forming Glimpster, I continue to get requests from people with good ideas for shows, asking if they can join the network. I don’t know what to do about these requests. They’re tempting. Glimpster has four different shows, and only two of them actively produce new content, Paperclipping (my wife’s scrapbooking show) and Izzy Video. With only four shows, and two of them active, I can hardly call this a network and keep a serious face.

I admit that the thought of adding more shows to Glimpster thrills me. I can imagine how fun it would be to develop this into a network with ten, twenty, or more shows, all producing educational content and making it available for free. I think this kind of project could benefit people worldwide.

But the problem is, unfortunately, time. When I think about how strained I feel with only Izzy Video and Paperclipping as active projects, I wonder if I might become overwhelmed by additional responsibilities. Right now Glimpster is a spare-time project. Do I have time to do more? Honestly, I believe I do. But how far do I want to take it? I don’t know the answer to this yet.

I’d like to get your feedback. You are the viewers, after all. What should I do with Glimpster? If I accepted requests to join the network, would you want to participate? How would the arrangement work?

I’m curious to read your responses in the comments.

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

Okay, here’s the thing: I get zillions of questions via comments and emails every day, and while I’d love to answer them all, I can’t because I don’t have time, and because most of the questions are all the same, and answering the same questions over and over is a challenge for me, because I find that type of thing troublesome.

So I invented a new thing called a FAQ, which stands for “Frequently Asked Questions.” Okay, so I didn’t invent it. I’m just trying to prove to myself that I’m not a moron. For two years I’ve been answering the same questions over and over, and I just recently created an FAQ. I don’t know why I didn’t think of the FAQ before. I guess I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed after all. :-)

Here’s the other thing: I don’t want to be the only one answering questions. Many of you are geniuses. I know this because I’ve received messages from many of you. Because I think you all could really contribute, I’ve put the FAQ in the form of a wiki, which means that anyone can edit it. You can edit it to ask questions, or to answer them, or to link to answers, or whatever. That’s the beauty of a wiki. (You have to setup a profile first, but that’s my attempt to reduce spam edits.)

Without further ado, here’s the link to the FAQ wiki. Take a peek if you want. It’s three questions long at the time that I write this, but I’m sure it will get bigger.

Thanks for all your help! And I hope this new resource helps you (although admittedly it mostly helps me).

* * *

All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

I received this great request from Izzy Video viewer, Chance:

Can you repost your tutorial on capturing fireworks again, since it’s that time again, but in Revver format please?

Great, idea, Chance. Thanks for the suggestion.

I hope that everone in the USA has a happy 4th of July!

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

Many people have asked me to release an Izzy Video DVD. I’m considering doing that, but I have a question for all of you: If I created an Izzy Video DVD that had many of the most popular Izzy Video episodes (and maybe some additional original content), would you buy it?

I’d probably price it somewhere between $10 and $20.

If the answer is yes or no, please let me know in the comments, along with any of your thoughts on the subject.

It would be a time-consuming project, and I certainly don’t want to put in the effort unless there’s a fairly large interest in it.

* * *

All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

Hi everyone!

Today is my 11th anniversary with Noell, and I need your help. Please visit her blog at www.paperclipping.com, and leave her a comment wishing her a Happy Anniversary. It will only take a few seconds, and it would be such a nice surprise for her.

Thanks so much!

~ Izzy

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

If you’re on Facebook, please take a moment to add me as a friend.

I’ve been connecting with many other New Media folks inside Facebook. If you’re like me, and you have a large number of New Media personalities you like to follow, Facebook is an excellent way to do it.

What can you do with Facebook?

1. Add friends, and follow their updates.
2. Post and browse photos.
3. Send messages to other users.
4. Poke someone (This is one of my favorite features).
5. Find old friends from the past.
6. Join groups based on your interests.
7. Get to know people better than you do now.

Now that they’ve opened their platform to third-party developers, there will surely be more you can do.

Although Facebook is a social network, it’s very different from MySpace. There are some similarities, of course, but it has a completely different feel. I think it’s a zillion times better.

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

Friends, I’m sorry, but because I’ve been working on another video-related project in my spare time, I’ve had to delay Izzy Video temporarily. It should return shortly, likely within the next week or two.

Sorry about the delay…

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

PodCamp AZ Logo
Originally uploaded by podcampaz.

I’m really excited about this! I’ve read and heard about so many other Podcamps, and I’ve been jealous that I couldn’t go. Well now, it appears that Brent Spore, along with others, are busy planning one for September November. I’m certainly going, and I’ll try to bring all the other Glimpster hosts with me.

I think I might volunteer to do a workshop on video podcasting if they don’t have that subject covered yet.

I know from Google analytics that I’ve got a large number of Izzy Video viewers in Arizona, so I’d like to invite you all to come to this event too.

This is a current list of PodcampAZ resources I’ve found so far:

• The PodcampAZ Official Website
• The PodcampAZ Google Group
• PodcampAZ Virb
• PodcampAZ Flickr Group

Note: Don’t you just love the PodcampAZ logo?

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All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

Glimpster Stats as of May 6, 2007,
originally uploaded by israelhyman.

We’re getting close to the 2 million download mark!

Izzy Video and Paperclipping are the only active Glimpster video podcasts right now, so it’s taking a little longer to get to 2 million downloads than I thought it would. But that’s okay. 1.9 million impressions is still pretty good.

* * *

All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.

My goal in this installment of Izzy Video is simply to illustrate the fundamental differences between hard and soft lighting.

To do this, I light an orange using both a hard light source and a soft light source. The results are quite different.

By the way, the lights I use are a Chimera Small Video Pro light box (for the soft light), and a Lowel Pro Light (for the hard light).

* * *

All past Izzy Video tutorials are located in the membership area.
You can also watch free samples here.