video Archives - Steve Stockman

Steve Stockman In Video Marketing, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Should You Be a Film Major?

I am an aspiring film director from the UK. I have always been passionate about storytelling, and was part of countless productions in school. Although I decided that performance wasn’t for me, two years ago I began to develop an interest in filmmaking. There is no better feeling than when you come away from a film with an emotion, feeling or thought playing on your mind. I read your book over summer and it has given me so many new perspectives on filmmaking and creativity as a whole.

Next year I go to University and I am currently deciding on

… Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Teaching and Training, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Video Boot Camp Lesson Guide– Free Download!

It’s the start of the school year. Coming up: a year of student video projects. And hours of misery for viewers. If only there was a way to make student video better. Hmmmmm….

Wait– I’ve got it! How about this free 5 hour lesson plan to help your students do better video? Teachers and trainers have been downloading it in droves, and why not? It’s free! Nothing to buy, no email address to leave.

If you’re a teacher or trainer, or know one, check it out. And if you HAVE used the Video Boot Camp lesson guide in your classroom … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, Video Marketing, Television

Every Video Needs a Hero

When somebody asks you what a movie is about, you probably say something like this: “It’s about a guy who decides to say ‘Yes’ to everything he’s asked to do” or “it’s about a girl who gets flown to another world in a tornado.”

Great movies are about someone. So are great videos. The person your video is about is your hero. By hero I don’t mean that they have to kill bad guys or become a vampire—rather, they’re simply the focus of your video. They’re the person who does something, or that something happens to.

Why are … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In For Pros, Press

Video and Travel and Beer and Non-Profits

***UPDATE 2/15: If you’re in the neighborhood and want to come out, RSVP by email: info (at) stevestockman.com and we’ll see if we can squeeze you in.

Travel and Beer

I’ll be appearing with Patricia Schultz, author of 1000 Places to See Before You Die in a cool we-just-made-this-up “Video and Travel” talk and book signing February 17. Better still, we’re going to be at Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, the home of Anchor Steam Beer.

There’ll be post-talk complimentary tastings and tours of the Anchor Brewery too. Anchor tours are a tough ticket in their own right– if … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Video Marketing

How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck: Official Book Trailer

This took a while, since doing a book trailer for a book about video that doesn’t suck is risky for obvious reasons. But in the end, I decided that putting my money where my mouth was was a better idea than selling the house and moving to a hut with no phones or electricity in rural Kansas.

My friends Jared and Chris at Redtail Media (production) and Jay Rose at the Digital Playroom (sound) did an amazing job.… Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Video Marketing, For Pros

A Business Video Advantage?

It’s common wisdom that technological leads are always short-lived. They are. But a “great video” advantage isn’t technological. Entertainment value and quality video are not commodities. An entertainment advantage builds a business brand in a way that’s not easily overcome.

Brands are proprietary. Once we establish formats and personalities that work for a brand, they’re ours to grow. Nobody can steal Lady Gaga’s video image. Nobody can steal Blend-Tec’s Blender brand identity.

And nobody can steal Bounty’s white-nerd-scientist-paper-towel-rappers. “Would they want to?” is an open question, but hundreds of thousands of people have watched each video in this series– and … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Video Marketing, For Pros

Why Shoot Better Video?

Why shoot better video? A history lesson:

All technology starts in the “Gee Whiz” stage. That’s where you get points just for having something that can do that…whatever it is. The first working escalator was installed at Coney Island as a tourist attraction. Yet today you hardly ever hear someone say, “Let’s go to the mall! They have escalators!”

And once upon a time streaming video on the web was so amazing that people would watch anything. Sure, the video was amateurishly shot, and it was smeary and flash-y and didn’t look that great, but hey! It was video! And … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Video Marketing, For Pros

Rethinking Business Videos

The web accelerates cultural trends. Movies took almost 30 years to transition entirely to color. TV took about 5 to go from black & white to color, and more recently took 6 years to transition to HD. Web video was born in color, and HD is the norm now.

If you did business videos a few years back, you need to upgrade. It would be nice to imagine that the videos you created for next to nothing a couple of years ago will continue to work. But they won’t, for the same reason that most 1980s TV shows and 1940s … Read the rest