If you want to learn the fundamentals of video, now is your chance to spend a day with me live. In connection with PubFilms, I’m holding a one-day workshop on April 17th, 2009 in Gilbert, AZ (suburb of Phoenix).

It’s a packed day, starting at 8:30am and ending at 4:30pm. These are some of the broad topics I’ll be covering:

• Operating a Video Camera
• Lighting for Video
• Audio for Video
• Shooting Video Indoors
• Shooting Video Outdoors
• Posting Video on the Web

I want to keep the group small, so I have time to answer questions. I’m limiting the workshop to 20 people. You can see more details and register here for the event.

Don’t know who I am? Check out my About Page.

At long last, I’m excited to announce the release of my first DVD. It’s a collection of 13 of the best Izzy Video episodes on the subject of lighting, and you can check it out here:

https://www.createspace.com/258849

Since you’re all video producers yourselves, I thought I’d share a few insights about the whole making-a-DVD process.

** The top five things I learned by making this DVD **

1) I love Final Cut Studio. (Okay, I knew this already, but making the DVD reminded me.) The whole process was much easier than I thought it was going to be. Having the right tools certainly helps. I used Final Cut Pro for editing the video, Color for color-grading, Soundtrack Pro for audio sweetening, Compressor to transcode, and DVD Studio Pro to assemble the DVD. These tools worked very well together and ultimately allowed me to assemble the DVD in a fairly short period of time.

2) I’m very critical of my work. Every time I watched the Izzy Video episodes included on this DVD, I found additional things I *wished* I would have said or shown. I’m my own biggest critic, but I noted several very important items for future DVD’s. For example, when I shoot Izzy Video episodes moving forward, it’s going to be with a possible DVD in mind. I’ll change the structure of them slightly, so they’ll work for both individual episodes as well as chapters on a DVD.

3) CreateSpace provides an excellent service for producing and distributing DVD’s. For a long time, many of my viewers have been requesting that I release a DVD, and the main reason I avoided it was because I didn’t want to deal with orders, inventory, and shipping. CreateSpace.com takes care of all of that for me. They take a large chunk of the revenue for their service, but I’m absolutely convinced that it’s worth it. If I’m not having to worry about shipping DVD’s, that frees me up to do what I like to do which is develop more educational video content.

4) I developed ideas for several more DVD’s. This is just the first one. You’ll see more in the future. I don’t want to set any expectations right now regarding specific topics, but I’ll just say this — I have some good stuff coming.

5) Anybody can make a DVD — especially you folks who watch my videos. You already know about video. If you have an expertise in something, or if you know someone who has some expertise, I highly, highly recommend you create a DVD yourself, using that video skill set you’ve developed. It’s much easier than you’d think, and the feeling you get when it’s all done is incredible.

Just some insights. Hopefully at least one or two are helpful to you.

And if you dig video lighting, check out the DVD. As I mentioned, it has 13 of my best Izzy Video lighting episodes on it. And lighting makes a huge difference in the quality of your footage.

You can see the DVD here:

https://www.createspace.com/258849

Oh, and all of the Izzy Video members received a coupon code in their email tonight which gives them $10 off the price. There are so many reasons to be a member!

Are you interested in winning a trip to Arizona to attend an Izzy Video workshop where you can learn LIVE techniques to shoot better video? If you are, then read on…

IzzyVideo and PubFilms Invite You To Compete In Our FREE Short Film Competition!

Your audience decides who wins!
The short film with the most votes will win the grand prize!

Grand Prize Winner Will Receive:
2 Plane Tickets To Sunny Arizona
3 Days And 2 Nights Paid Hotel Stay In Arizona
Free Admission To Izzy Video Workshop
1 Year Subscription To IZZY VIDEO
1 Year Subscription To American Cinematographer
1 I-POD Touch

Runner Up Will Receive:
1 Year Subscription To IZZY VIDEO
1 Year Subscription To American Cinematographer
1 I-POD Nano

To learn more, please visit:

http://www.pubfilms.com/competitions/izzy

* PubFilms is kind enough to sponsor this competition. They’re doing some pretty interesting stuff. I highly recommend you check them out.

P.S. If you have a short film already in the can, you might as well enter it here. If you don’t have one done, maybe this can help give you sufficient incentive to get going on it.

* Grand Prize is available to US residents only. There are other rules like this, so please read closely when you register.

Click here to watch the video.

Noell and I have never been this excited. In two weeks we’re going to be full time producers of online video. Izzy Video has consistently grown over the years, but I’ve only been able to work on it in my spare time. I believe that by pursuing it full time, I should be able to develop it into what I really envision it to be: a rich resource for beginning and intermediate video makers (Experts hang around too, but they usually already know everything I do).

Is it nerve-wracking? Of course it is, because it’s such a huge risk. I’m the sole provider for a family of five, so there’s certainly a lot of risk. But we’re both still fairly young. If we’re going to take some risk, now is the time to do it. Besides, it’s what we really WANT to do, so why not see if it’s possible?

And this brings me to how you benefit from the risk I’m taking. Because I need to maximize cash flow to help ease the transition from my day job’s steady weekly paycheck — to zero guarantee, I’m
posting a coupon code for 20% off an Izzy Video Premium Subscription. If you’re not currently a Premium Subscriber, you can use this coupon code to get a nice discount. If you are already a premium subscriber, then you have a couple options: You can use it to get a discount off a renewal, or you can forward this information to a friend with an interest in video, and they’ll immediately have an
additional way in which they will benefit from knowing you.

Here’s the coupon code for 20% off an Izzy Video Premium Subscription:

20B42

New Subscribers: Here’s where you go to use it, http://www.izzyvideo.com/membership

Current Premium Subscribers: Renew with a discount here, http://members.izzyvideo.com

Thanks for the support as always, and please wish us good luck as we pursue this exciting direction!

All the best,
Izzy

*By the way, the coupon is only good for six more days (through the 28th), so please act fast if you’re interested!

** Update **

Several people have asked me about renewing. If you’re already a premium subscriber, and you decide to renew to take advantage of the discount, then I will manually extend your subscription. So if you’ve only been subscribed for two weeks, and you want to extend a year, then I will extend your subscription by an additional year.

Also, you’re free to spread the coupon code to anyone you would like! It only helps us spread the word, and it gets your friends a nice discount!

Also, thank you everyone for the awesome support! It’s been a very exciting day seeing all the emails, new subscribers, and comments. I can’t tell you how much your support means to me (and us).

After struggling through many hours of technical difficulties caused by a conflict between Wordpress and Amember (the software that we use to manage the subscriptions), we finally moved all the files. This should prevent further conflicts in the future. The downside was that we had to move the subscription feed for the premium subscribers.

This is an easy enough thing to fix though. Simply log into the membership area and follow the instructions to subscribe (in iTunes preferably).

Thanks again for watching!

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?

I’m excited to announce a change to Izzy Video. I’ve launched a new Premium Subscriber program. Here is what a Premium Subscriber receives:

• The Archives — Premium subscribers get exclusive access to the archives of past Izzy Video tutorials (currently 55 episodes strong). The archives will no longer be available to free subscribers. However, I have made a few sample episodes available to help free subscribers determine if they would like to become premium subscribers.
• Two Members-Only Episodes Per Month — Premium Subscribers will also receive two members-only episodes per month. My plan is to continue to produce free episodes and publish them on the free feed, but they will be at a lower resolution and published less frequently.
• Higher Resolution Videos — The free tutorials will be low resolution, 320×240. The premium feed will be high resolution, 640×480.

A premium subscription will last for six months. During that time, you will have access to a members-only section of this site, where you can find the premium feed as well as direct links to the huge archive of Izzy Video tutorials.

The price for a six month premium subscription is $45.

When you add the 55 archive episodes, plus the 12 members-only episodes you’ll receive over the next 6 months, it totals to 67 episodes which will not be available to subscribers of the free feed. Let’s do the math: $45 dollars divided by 67 episodes = you’re only paying 67 cents per episode. When you consider the value of the content in the videos, I hope you’ll agree that $45 is a small price to pay.

Please click here to learn more about the Premium Subscriber Program.

I doubt that Yahoo will be closing its podcasting website because podcasting is not “catching on.”

I think it’s because iTunes is the aggregator people use. I don’t know anyone who uses Yahoo for that.

I just want to say ‘thank you’ to Philip Hodgetts and Michael Horton for having me on their show. It was a lot of fun!

I’m including a link to the show in the RSS feed, something I rarely do, but I think the Izzy Video audience would really enjoy “Digital Production Buzz.”

What a great show! Editing tips, interviews, and news. I’m certainly a subscriber!