Isopop

Some of the first round submission for Hooping Idol 2 look top notch and some look sub par. I feel like I’m going to wind up being the production quality critic throughout the competition so I’d like to express some expectations. Putting a video in this competition suggests that you want people to watch your video. If you want someone to watch your video, it’s appreciated when it seems like you put some effort into making it look good! More people will watch and more people will enjoy it!

We’re all so used to watching HD video nowadays that poor resolution video stands out like a sore thumb. Even the cheapest cameras you can buy today will shoot at 720p. For a video submission competition, that’s pretty much the minimum acceptable quality. Anything less than that will leave your video looking inferior. That said, much higher than that doesn’t add much. Also, if possible shoot at 30 fps. That’s ideal for the internet.

Youtube is now in wide format, as are most video cameras. If your video isn’t in 16:9 format, we’re all watching black bars on the side of the screen. And please please please… don’t shoot your video in portrait. A vertical image leaves me looking at two thirds blank screen. Boring.

Tripod! Shaky video is hard to watch and unsettling. A tripod is easy! If you need the camera to move, try using a tripod with only one leg extended. You can then pivot the camera off that point, allowing the camera to move, and the tripod helps greatly at stabilizing the shot. Another trick I’ll often use is to attach a tripod even though I’m not using it. The extra mass helps keep the camera from shaking.

Last, listen to your video once throughout. How is the mix? Is your music louder than your voice during a portion where words are important? Here’s a personal pet peave: Blank audio. There should be some sort of audio throughout the video, even if it’s just white noise. Here’s an invaluable tool I found making Hoop technique: if you have voiceover or a speaking portion, try running the audio through Levelator. It’s free, takes only seconds and really helps the audio quality.

Failing these simple things make a video hard to compare to the videos that succeed at these simple steps.

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An interesting aspect of this a dramatic and effective action campaign action is ability to hit right at the heart of so many people, particularly young people who are donating in small increments to make this happen.

This video is strikingly well done. Music is one of the ways videos grab us immediately. I knew I recognized the back ground track “I can’t Stop” but was so focused on the video it faded into the background as it’s supposed to. The track did add to my amped up, “Let’s do this”, fists pumping in the air feeling. I just looked up the track. It’s from one of my favorite dubstep artists, Flux Pavilion. I’ve used his tracks in workshops and posted them here on isopop in the past. I love hooping to Flux Pavilion because he really drops the beat grimey given me that jaw clenching pumped up energy.

Here’s the track from Kony 2012 video:

I think the music adds to the resonance this is having. I just watched a news clip from NBC and heard The Glitch Mob playing in the background.

Also, the Kony 2012 video featured a tracks by Mumford and Sons.

On a side note…

All the criticism about only a 3rd of their budget providing direct aid… I challenge the critics to find a budget that was as affective at getting the message out. I think their budget is dollar-for-dollar by far the most cost efective solution one could imagine. Well done.

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After watching the Kony 2012 video I went to www.kony2012.com . It’s great that they have sold out of the action pack but it left me wanting to take part. I made this stencil for myself from the poster and thought I’d share.

You can cut it out by hand, send to your local stencil cutter (which is fairly inexpensive) or run it through a laser cutter like I plan to at SF techshop.

Vector PDF Version: Kony2012

Jpeg below:

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I didn’t give them my email address but the video is funny.

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Dear Theme Camps,
The Burning Man organization has been listening to your concerns and feedback and has come up with a plan to address our current ticket problem that rewards our community in the best way we can. Our blog, http://blog.burningman.com/, will get you up to speed on the latest thus far. There will be a new post going up as you receive this announcement. It says that we will not hold an open sale on the remaining tickets to our event as previously planned. We are turning those tickets over to our committed community instead. That means many of you. Our core volunteer staff have already been notified that they will be eligible to purchase a ticket, and next we are coming to you. Your contribution to the fabric of our event is imperative. The outcome of our ticket process this year was completely unexpected and placed camps have taken the hardest hits. We need to make sure Burning Man stays whole and that means most of the remaining $390 ticket are going to be made available to you.

There are not enough tickets left to distribute to all of the theme camps that would like to come. We have already gone through the painful process of selecting those camps that will be awarded the opportunity to purchase more tickets. In the past we have only had to not place a camp that did not follow our process or was not interactive. Now we have had to figure out a process and make some very hard choices. This has been done using the following criteria:

1. _History_ – Your camp has to be in our database in past years.(We have ways to catch name changes for groups.) We looked for past participation.

2. _Demonstrated Community Benefit_- Your camp has been interactive in a way that has been experienced as meaningful. Your camp provides support for our Burning Man infrastructure. Your camp provides services for our community. Basically, your camp helps make the community and the magic.

3. _LNT_- Your camp has demonstrated adherence to and good practices around Leave No Trace and are committed to our community perpetuating the message of pack it in-pack it out/ Don’t Let It Hit the Ground and sustainability.

4. _10 Principles_ – Your camp fully embraces the 10 principles in their entirety at their core.

This must seem familiar. It is very close to our standard criteria used for placement since 1999, with the addition of consideration of the 10 principles.

Unfortunately we will not be able to reserve all the tickets needed for any one camp. There simply are not enough tickets. We have considered closely all of the variables associated with the production of your camps and weighed how difficult it is to set up, run, and take down leaving no trace. An allotment of ticket purchase opportunities has been made to accommodate the core members of your operations. Beyond this our hope is that tickets will loosen up with those that may have more than they need and the STEP program will provide the extra ticket that your theme camp would enjoy. You may also need to find other solutions such as taking in new people or changing the scope of your project. Changes like this are being made on every level and every area of Burning Man.

In order to discover if your camp has been selected for these tickets, you will need to register for placement using the standard process of filling out the questionnaire, although much sooner. Allocations have already been made there is no need to use the questionnaire to better your chances. Though we hate to say this, this may not be the year to grow your ideas and increase your size. It is the year to gather your resources, hone your message, and open your thoughts to how you can embrace a new era in our evolution.

If you are not planning on attending this year you may be allowing us to redistribute your ticket access to another camp. Proactive communication to us would be appreciated.

We are aware that some of you may be considering applying for low income tickets. That list will be cross-referenced with theme camps tickets so a requester can receive only one ticket. We would like to offer you ticket access through placement and take some of the pressure off of the low income process. Please fill out your questionnaire quickly – by March 8th – so we can let you know if you have been selected.

This year, more than ever, it is imperative that the person who fills out the questionnaire (our contact person) is in a leadership position for your camp.That is who we will be discussing ticket access with.

It is easy to want to find blame in the board, the lottery, the scalpers, but the truth is this issue is one of supply and demand.Our cumulative successes have created an event that has caught the attention of thousands that want to join us. This shift will be hard this first year, but if we plan well, we can turn this into our greatest success ever.

Take control of your subscription to this list! Look for an email with the subject line “Welcome to the placement-newsletter-announce mailing list”. Save it – It has your password. When you visit https://lists.burningman.com/mailman/listinfo/placement-newsletter-announce use your email address and password to review all previous announcements. Don’t miss a beat!
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placement-newsletter-announce@burningman.com

https://lists.burningman.com/mailman/listinfo/placement-newsletter-announce

Burning Man’s Online Policies for use of lists, aliases, and social media:
http://www.burningman.com/internal/policies/index.htmlcamp + what LNT for camp needs. We don’t know if we were selected yet or not.

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