thoughts on ipod video

[Brandon Adams]

I was curious if anyone had any thoughts about ipod video? To me it seems like an incredible opportunity for short film makers.

[Patrick Neary]

Howdy-

 

if your film is made up entirely of extreme close-ups, it should play pretty well on the "iPod?s brilliant, 2.5-inch color screen" (interestingly a 4:3 screen to boot- maybe they'll release a 2.35 letterboxed "Lawrence of Arabia" for ipod, wouldn't that be fun.)

 

I don't follow the music business at all, and maybe it's not a fair comparison, but was the original ipod an incredible opportunity for independent musicians? I'm guessing not...

 

Maybe if a filmmaker can exploit the limitations of the player, and crash through all the usual commercial distribution gauntlets, it might be an interesting new medium to play with- you sure wouldn't have to upgrade your cameras and post to HD!

[rik carter]

On several message-boards and in person with my movie making friends I'm hearing a hopeful look to the future for the makers of short films.

 

All of them thinking they may finally have a place to sell their shorts. Yet not one of them has said, "Cool. Now I can buy some short films to watch." If the makers of shorts aren't excited about spending money to watch short films by other filmmakers, I wonder if the general iPod user is interested in spending money to watch short films.

 

As Patrick mentioned - the availability to carry thousands of songs around with you didn't exactly boost independent bands.

 

-rik

[Joseph White]

i think its an example of marketing genius and public folly in a lot of ways. the fact that they're selling music videos for $2 a pop is hilarious - music videos, while artistic at times and often very interesting and innovative, are produced largely as commercials for musicians/record labels. the fact that we are buying them to me is equivalent to people spending tons of money to advertise a company's clothing by buying their clothes with HUGE logos on them.

 

the screen on the new ipod is nice - and i think works in the 4x3 realm as discussed, but yeah try watching any 2.35:1 music videos even and its rough on the eyes. i'm still waiting for apple to develop a small chip they nail into your head that carries your entire record collection, movie collection, etc so that everyone is walking around like madmen, constantly entertained.

 

that being said, i love my ipod photo - and the cool thing about the ipod with video is that for us dps- in a random pinch - you can show someone your reel super fast at the drop of a hat no matter where you are! not exactly hi-res, but it beats being caught emptyhanded the next time you run into Jerry Bruckheimer at Jamba Juice.

[Tenolian Bell]

This is still primarily a music device, the video is a secondary function. Its not so much a Video iPod, as it is an iPod that can play video.

 

In a recent interview Steve Jobs stated that he still doesn't see a market for video on small portable devices, but enough people have requested it that Apple is giving it a try.

 

Podcasting, a development of the iPod has become a hit with the regular internet user. A short film community may develop around the the iPod videoalso.

 

The only real profitable market I can see for the iPod video though is porn.

 

I'm sure a great short film community can develop around the iPod video, it can become a great way to showcase talent, but I doubt many people will buy unknown short films.

 

But yes I am going to buy one as a portable device to show my reel and other short films I've shot.

[Brad Grimmett]

I'm considering buying one as an onboard recorder for steadicam. I'm not sure whether it's a good device for this yet or not....there are other digital video recorders that other operators use already, but I'm not sure the IPOD will be a suitable device yet. It's certainly not going to be good enough for my reel, but it may be good enough to watch a shot to see if a light or a stand was in the shot when everyone is unsure. Plus, it would double as a nice toy for me. Anyone know if there's a video input?

[Adam Frisch FSF]

People don't really change consumer habits that much. Remember how internet was going to kill off every printed newspaper? Today they're stronger than ever. Same goes here - nobody is going to watch movies on an Ipod other as curiosity, I think. Not even shorts.

[Guest Charlie Seper]

Just another dumb Dick Tracy toy. As if people walking around in stores or standing behind you in-line yapping their fool heads of on cell phones wasn't bad enough. Apparently the world came to an end while I was sleeping and hell has officially started. Can you imagine being stuck on a train with a person on one side of you talking in full voice on a phone and someone on the other side with a mini speaker turned up on this ipod thingy with a yap artist screaming away....

[Tenolian Bell]

I'm considering buying one as an onboard recorder for steadicam. I'm not sure whether it's a good device for this yet or not....there are other digital video recorders that other operators use already, but I'm not sure the IPOD will be a suitable device yet. It's certainly not going to be good enough for my reel, but it may be good enough to watch a shot to see if a light or a stand was in the shot when everyone is unsure. Plus, it would double as a nice toy for me. Anyone know if there's a video input?

 

The only video in is through USB. It has video out through its stereo mini port. It was built for encoded video and not live video. It is primarily a music device not a television monitor.

 

As far as showing your reel on it. MPEG-4 at 480x480 looks as good or as bad as the original video it was encoded from. I already have my reel as a small MPEG-4 Quicktime movie encoded from Digibeta and it looks fine. I can enlarge it as much as four times before it breaks up from pixilation. On the iPod video the image will be displayed on a 2.5 inch screen, it would look perfectly fine.

 

People don't really change consumer habits that much. Remember how internet was going to kill off every printed newspaper? Today they're stronger than ever. Same goes here - nobody is going to watch movies on an Ipod other as curiosity, I think. Not even shorts.

 

I agree that there have been some wild predictions about a new technology based market killing an old blue chip market. Those predictions so far have not come true.

 

Now with the internet and technolgy there are more magazines and books about technology than there ever were before.

 

But consumer habits are different by time and generation. My buying habits are not the same as my father's, his buying habits are not the same as his father's. My father does not regularly download music from the internet, while that is the way my younger sisters gets practically all of her music.

 

Digital point and shoot has gradually out sold film point and shoot, now quickly and quietly cell phone camera's are out selling digital point and shoot camera's.

 

Video on a portable device will not kill the current broadcast market. If anything it will be used to support the current market. In the short term portable video will certainly become a niche market, where maybe a few million people use it regularly, as people figure out how to use it and build content for it.

[Tenolian Bell]

Can you imagine being stuck on a train with a person on one side of you talking in full voice on a phone and someone on the other side with a mini speaker turned up on this ipod thingy with a yap artist screaming away....

 

New York in the 80's it was common for people to come on the train with giant 100 amp boom boxes (portable steros) with 10 inch woofers and blast loud music. The City of New York banned this and is now a finable offense.

 

 

Right now actually in New York dozens of people surround you on the train listening to their iPods, and you cannot hear what they are listening to.

 

Its made for and is most convenient with headphones.

[Guest Charlie Seper]

Its made for and is most convenient with headphones.

 

Sure, I know. I'm just looking at the worst case scenario. I remember that boom box thing in New York. I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it. The thing about cell phones is that in a crowded place where everyone is talking, everything just becomes a blur of noise. That's actually less annoying than having just one or two people standing beside you talking away. You know what's really annoying is when people bring those dopey things into bookstores! Don't they have glove boxes? I do a lot of research at the main library branch in St. Louis and I've even seen people bring them in there until some librarian tells them to keep their traps shut. Why anybody would take those things around in public is beyond me. Hell, I don't even answer the phone when I'm home most days. :) It just doesn't seem like a very manly thing to do. It kind of goes against our tall, dark, man-of-few-words temperament. I can't imagine John Wayne walking around with a phone hanging off his pants. I can imagine him shooting one out of somebody's hand though. Now "there" would be a nice cartoon image!

[David Silverstein]

Like my dad said when I told hima bout it...

 

He would get sick watching a movie on that little screen. I cant argue with that, the little screen can be annoying watching a movie is my guess.

 

Who knows whats next though. A full video ipod?

[Guest Ian Marks]

It probably presents less of an opportunity for producers of short films, and more of an opportunity for producers of porn. I predict that a big market for $2 downloadable porn movies will spring up - or maybe that has already happened?

[K Borowski]

iPod video makes VHS look good. . .

[Tenolian Bell]

^ Not here too.

 

I've had to explain to some in the unwashed masses that resolution does not tell the entire story for the quality of video.

 

Video at 320x240 can look vivid and sharp, while video at 1920x1080 can look like crap.

 

This depends on a quite a few factors. There are a lot of people out there who assume just because video can fill 1280x720 pixel space you are looking at a superior image. This is not necessarily true.

 

I have one of the new iPods and have put clips of my work on it to show. I've actually gotten interviews for future work this way.

 

320x240 if encoded from a good video source looks great on the iPod and if viewed at proper resolution on a computer monitor.

 

320x240 looks ok but not great on a basic 20" television. It will not look good on a 60" consumer HD television, and will not look good at full screen on your 1280x1024 computer monitor.

[Eric Steelberg ASC]

I bought one as soon as they came out. Never had much use for an iPod UNTIL it came with video. I've put most of my commercials, all music videos, different versions of my reel, and trailers on it. It is a perfect sales tool for me because I always carry my work around with me. I also use it for phone contacts and calendar.

 

I encode all of my work in mpeg 4, but use Apple's Commpression Codec instead of H264 because I can get a much cleaner image. When I plug it into a TV and play my work from it for people, it looks just about as good as a dvd...even from a 320x240 image.

 

Can't tell you how many people I've had meetings with lately that have been gald I brought it because I can show them a style they're talking about that may not be on my reel. I can't say enough about it. In fact, I know 3 people who bought after seeing my work on mine.

 

As far as widescreen videos go, they are small but totally watchable. You do get used to it. I downloaded Kanye West's Diamonds of Sierra Leone (2.35 b&w shot in Paris) and it looks stunning.

 

Regarding Brad's question above to recording with steadicam, no you can't do that...yet. I would suggest anyone looking for that capability to look at the products from Archos.

Edited December 21, 2005 by Eric Steelberg

[Brad Grimmett]

A slight change in topic here. I just bought a PSP and want to put my reel on it. I've seen a few peoples reels like this and thought it was a great idea. What's the best way to convert the video to the PSP format? I downloaded a program called PSP video 9, but haven't been able to get it to recognize the PSP yet. Any tips would be appreciated. I've transferred stills with no problem, but video is a bit tougher for some reason.

[Landon D. Parks]

Personally, you would not catch me dead watching a movie on an IPOD or a PSP or anything else with a screen smaller than 7" for that matter. I own a nice Portable DVD player with a 10" 16:9 screen, and thats bottom of the line for me.

 

No professional filmmaker is gonna get anywhere making videos for IPods. Although Hollywood seems to be cashing in on the "Not Much Better" PSP, which they are alreading releasing movies for the PSP :-(...

[Eric Steelberg ASC]

Really Landon? I wonder why then every network and studio wants to partner with Apple to provide content for the iPod video. The other day HBO mentioned they will be offering content for it soon. iPod upgrades have been consumer driven and they continue to be sold out so you figure it out.

 

You can't whip out a 10"portable dvd player and at a couple rotations of the thumb be showing your latest video. And by the way Hollywood isn't "making videos" for the PSP. They see another distribution channel and are exploiting it, just as they are the with the iPod. People want convenience and are willing to pay and compromise for it.

 

I also remember a time when people said they'd never "make" videos for cell phones. Now you have news "channels" and videos created specifically for cell phones like Verizon's VCAST.

Edited December 25, 2005 by Eric Steelberg

[Tenolian Bell]

I just bought a PSP and want to put my reel on it. I've seen a few peoples reels like this and thought it was a great idea. What's the best way to convert the video to the PSP format?

 

The short answer is, I have no idea.

 

What I do know is that Sony will make a great product and then shoot itself in the foot. One problem is that Sony is bad at developing easy to use software for its hardware.

 

The other problem you will have with the PSP is the fact it doesn't have a hard drive. The only way to input media is through UMD disk or memory card. Sony in its infinite wisdom did not make UMD compatible with minidisk or offer blank UMD media. Your only option left is memory stick that last I've heard only holds a maximum of 256MB.

 

The PSP is great for playing video games, but it doesn't seem to be the easiest device for showing your work.

[Tenolian Bell]

No professional filmmaker is gonna get anywhere making videos for IPods.

 

Actually I'm surprised to hear you say that Landon.

 

Don't be so elitist, there are good things about the prospects of video devices like the iPod.

 

In general its a new way of distributing video that is not controlled by major multibillion conglomerates. No one holds the keys to the gate like television or theatrical movies.

 

Anyone can shoot a film, encode it for the iPod, and have it on the internet for others to download to their iPods.

 

The limits of the medium can actually be used to your benefit.

 

First with such a small screen it would be best to stay with more close up and medium shots, lower budget films generally depend more on acting than action or high concepts. Which is fine because low budget film generally can't afford elaborate production design or to shoot on a medium that can resolve fine detail needed for shots of wide landscapes.

 

The small screen gives you a good reason to make small files. Small files give instant gratification, because they don't force the user to wait a long time before they can watch it. Empowering people with the ability to easily download your work to their own iPod and show it to others. In marketing word of mouth is still considered the most effective means of advertising.

[Marek Stricek]

A slight change in topic here. I just bought a PSP and want to put my reel on it. I've seen a few peoples reels like this and thought it was a great idea. What's the best way to convert the video to the PSP format?

 

As it was mentioned in previous post you can put the video only on Memory Stick, though the highest capacity available today is about 2GB.

 

For the video conversion probably the easiest way will be to use the PSP Media Manager from SONY (check out http://www.sonymediasoftware.com) for about $20.