Here is the YouTube channel with the Christmas videos
http://www.youtube.com/plazanorthpetaluma
This project was very successful. I was able to increase traffic to the website. Now I want to capture that momentum and start profiling merchants and putting up online coupons
I put together a YouTube channel for the Petaluma Corps.
www.youtube.com/salvationarmycorps
All the videos were shot with my flip. There is definite echoing in the videos that Captain Scott did. That is the disadvantage of not having an external microphone jack. And the bell ringer videos have to be fairly close to get their voices. We were competing with traffic, with music speakers outside of stores, etc. Hoping that they can use these videos in next year’s campaign for volunteer bellringers.
Will be adding more bell ringer testimonials after the “thank you” party in February.
One of our assignments during the conference was to videotape ourselves and then upload the product to YouTube and then post it on Facebook. I already knew the YouTube and Facebook part. The hard part was feeling comfortable in front of the camera. We had done some videotaping activities in the conference hall where I looked tired and terrifying. I ended up doing my assignment in the pool area of the hotel where I felt comfortable and relaxed. Plus the outdoor lighting was better and the background was appealing and fresh. It made a big difference.
I can’t stop filming! Now none of my blog posts seem complete without a video. After doing the toy shopping spree on Friday with the car club, I decided to go back to the Christmas Cheer warehouse and have the site manager give a brief overview of the organization. It was great. He did a wonderful job. We did three takes. I always do three takes. By the third one, they always are perfect. There was a little bit of noise in the background, due to the fact that one of the volunteers was pulling some toys off the shelf, but I don’t think it affected anything adversely. My next camera purchase will include an external mic jack. Right now, the flip cam as it is works out fine, as long as I am close enough, the voice still comes through even with ambient noise.
Because I am so excited about this video project, I’ve gotten in touch with a couple of other non profits and will be doing some videos with them too. Will be releasing the posts every couple of days throughout the holiday season.
Last Friday, I had the privilege of accompanying some of the great folks from Cruisin’ the Boulevard during their toy shop at Kmart for local organization “Christmas Cheer”.
via Christmas Cheer-ful at The Plaza North | The Plaza North.
A few posts ago, I embedded a video I had done of Christmas greetings from some of the clients and staff of Petaluma’s OADS (Old Adobe Developmental Services). They had just completed decorating the windows of one of our available storefronts. I blogged about it, and the results have been wonderful. First of all, the clients involved in the decorating have been talking about the experience non stop ever since, and other clients and staff have come by to check the finished window out – some from other towns.
I put the blog post on my linkedin profile and it has gotten some great feedback and some thoughts from some of my connections about expanding this program next year to empty storefronts in other parts of town. Would be very cool if all our local non profits could strut their stuff this way. We’ll see what happens.
Regarding OADS, Executive Director Elizabeth Clary is running a drawing for her clients and staff. Whomever checks out the OADS window is eligible for a chance to win a Starbucks card. If you come visit me in my office, then you get two entries. As a result, I have been getting wonderful visits from wonderful people. Hugs, kisses, and I have been serenaded with “I wish you a Merry Christmas” and “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus”. Wow. The photos and the story are great enough on their own, the addition of video really brings it to life. I am very thrilled with this project and where it might go in the future.
Here’s the blog post.
One of the many wonderful features of Christmas in Petaluma is the Petaluma City of Lights driving tour, sponsored by the Petaluma Visitor’s Program. This holiday event and competition, which runs from December 3-27, brings both business and residences together in the spirit of the holidays.
A few posts ago, I embedded two videos that I did for work. One of them was a greeting from Sue, one of our Salvation Army kettle volunteers. I posted the blog post in the morning and that afternoon, when I walked by Kmart, Sue told me that someone coming into the store stopped and told her that they had seen her greetings online. Such is the power of video! Here’s the blog post.
One of the enduring and endearing sounds of the season are the bells of the Salvation Army, as bell ringers around the world stand next to red kettles during the month of December. Interestingly enough, the red kettle tradition began in San Francisco, in 1891. Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee, distressed by the poverty and despair he saw all around him, vowed to prepare a Christmas dinner for all who needed it. The big stumbling block was money.
Have started a fun project at work. We have a lot of non profit groups doing activities at the shopping center during the holiday season, so today I started videotaping their messages. I had Sue from the Salvation Army (in front of Kmart), and a group of clients and staff from Old Adobe Developmental Services. They just completed decorating one of our empty storefront windows (#289 N. McDowell by CVS).
This is a happy spontaneous project. I am enjoying it a lot.
I’m going to start blogging these events and posting on our Facebook page along with the photographs I have taken. In the meanwhile, here are the videos, done on my flip cam.
Last winter I filmed my square dance club doing a circle dance version of Cotton Eye Joe. I used my newly purchased Vado flip cam. Over 1200 people have viewed it. Cotton Eye Joe is a well known American Folk Song and this video shows this version of the circle dance clearly. It’s on my old youtube channel and I don’t think I tagged it or did anything special to make it search engine friendly.
I spent several hours editing all the footage the week before on Monday, so imagine my surprise when I came to PCA and we couldn’t find the finished product. It actually didn’t matter at all. I had taken the editing class on Thursday and wanted to practice some of what I learned, including doing the cutting and editing in the little screen at the top, which seemed way more efficient than how I had been doing it before. Also, this time I could whip through the material because I already knew what I wanted and didn’t want. In the end, it was a great experience and I’m glad I had to do it again. I now feel confident with basic cutting and pasting of footage.
The opening slide is too long, but it was already almost 9 pm so I didn’t care, plus the photo of the sign is very “squat”. Oh well, live and learn. Probably should have cut even more, but we’re not talking Emmy award winning footage here – just wanted to get the final product up in a timely manner, and I did.
It’s great to do both the filming and the editing, because in doing one, you learn about the other. In the video, I used a cross dissolve to separate scenes. There was also the option of using a black screen momentarily but since there were so many scenes, and it’s very short, I chose the cross dissolve. What that means, is that two scenes overlap in a transparent way on the screen. Even though I cut the footage, a cross dissolve grabs footage following the cut footage and uses some of that for the dissolve. Sometimes artifacts from the next scene stay in there. If you notice, in one of the last scenes – between facepainting and dancing Gumby, there is a phantom pumpkin from the subsequent scene. When we film, we have to remember to let the camera run a few more seconds after the scene so that if there is a cross dissolve, it doesn’t include the next scene. I think if we turn off the camera between scenes that could also work, but it’s a pain.
John Records, the Executive Director of COTS, Petaluma’s Homeless Services Program, recently filmed me using an iphone 4. I was asked to describe The Plaza North’s work program, which hires maintenance interns from the Mary Isaak Center for Homeless Adults. John has filmed many brief testimonials for COTS’s YouTube channel using his phone. I think that the video quality is excellent.