It’s worth mentioning that this blog was the runner-up in the 2010 Seven Days “Daysie” reader’s choice awards again this year. The sisters LeMay took the top prize for the second time in a row. I was shocked to have made the runner-up spot despite the utter lack of any serious blogging around these parts lately. Thanks, if you voted for Candleblog!

I’m a filmmaking fool these days, having just completed the Baruth campaign film (see it in the previous post), and now I’m deep into a short web video for an environmental start-up. Also, the Pants projects are rearing their heads and gaining some slight momentum. I hope to have something good to report on that front soon.

You must now go and vote for my SXSW panel proposal! You have to register to vote and comment, but I swear it’s really quick and easy. My thirst for hanging out with alpha nerds and rock stars must be slaked.

And if you’re not already following Emily’s Tumblr blog, you should go there now and subscribe. It’s a continuous linkdump of cute awesomeness.

And look at this crazy shit!

• Justin Bieber slowed down 800% sounds ethereal and awesome. They should have used this in Inception.
• Wil Wheaton has quit W00tstock in a fabulous way.
• This short film teaches you How to be Alone.

Some time ago I switched my work schedule and began working primarily day shifts at my job, and the blog took an immediate hit because I was just busier than I had been working nights, and my Internet surfing and posting schedule couldn’t be maintained. A big part of producing content at Candleblog relied on my ability to spend a fair chunk of time surfing around and finding things to link to and write about. That time is just harder for me to come by these days.

Also, social media and micro blogging via Twitter and Facebook has replaced much of the online interactivity that the blog used to provide me. And it’s not just me that’s been affected by this shift — my readers are mostly engaged in these social media outlets too, so Candleblog largely stopped serving the purpose it once had as a link filter — those links being disseminated faster and more efficiently via these other means.

I’m not going to stop blogging. Candleblog still serves one important function for me — it’s a place where I can post longer pieces that wouldn’t be as appropriate on Facebook or Twitter — it’s a place I can write. However, if I can barely find time to surf the ‘net, you can bet my writing time is fairly precious too. So don’t expect a high volume of output from me from here on out at this address. Subscribe to the RSS feed or my Friendfeed to stay up to date, and of course my blog posts get auto-updated on FB and Twitter.

Now please join me as I enter this new, more mature phase of Internet content-creation: the I-used-to-be-a-blogger-when-blogging-MEANT-something phase. Also, get off my lawn.

This bad blog was begun in the wee hours of April 15th, 2004, making us six years old today. Please send cake.

Still, watching the video, made by the folks at the social media marketing online magazine, Social Media Examiner, it occurred to me that one thing I do know a thing or two about is film & video production. This thought occurred to me because I found myself rolling my eyes and making some snarky judgments about the video I was watching. Then it occurred to me that if was so smart I should stop muttering judgmental comments at my monitor and use that energy for an entertaining (doubtful) and useful (hopefully) post about something I actually know about.

So here’s the video:

Darren Rowse Interview from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.

First off, let’s talk about what’s right about the video. Technically speaking, there are two main things that are good about this particular production and they’re both biggies: The picture is clear (decent exposure, in focus, not back-lit, etc.) and the audio is excellent. I tell my students this all the time and even though I’m more of a cinematography nerd than an audiophile it’s true: the secret to good web video is good audio. Viewers will forgive all kinds of bad picture before they’ll suffer through bad, muffled or echo-y audio. The other kind words I have to say about this video are content-related. Social Media Examiner has interviewed some big names in web content and social media, and while I haven’t watched all of their videos, if this one is any indication, the content is actually fairly useful — in other words, they’ve taken Darren Rowse’s advice to heart and are delivering content that their readers and viewers want.

Okay, now onto my nitpicks (and for the Social Media Examiner folks who will inevitably read this post [nobody can trackback like a social media blogger], I intend these remarks to be constructive and useful, not just snark-filled rants filled with invective):

*First off, there’s :34 of lead-in before any content starts. That’s even long for TV these days, let alone the web. Get to the content, we’re busy web surfers out here.

*Secondly, the title of this piece is “How Bloggers Should Use Twitter.” The length of the entire video is 12:27 but it’s minute five before Twitter is even mentioned and minute seven before anything resembling the subject of the title enters the conversation. If this was a written blog post I’d accuse the writer of burying the lede.

The basic problem here is that the interview is simply unedited. It’s a 12-minute talking head without a single cut, which is fine as an archival document of the conversation, but it leaves the work of finding the relevant bits of the interview entirely in the viewers’ hands. Imagine if this was a text post containing the same interview, but written out instead of being a video. You’d expect the writer/editor to provide some context, highlight the relevant parts and get rid of the deadwood — that’s what editors do. You might even expect the questions to be re-ordered so that the really meaty, interesting stuff is up front. There’s a reason video editors and text editors share a verb — they’re very similar jobs.

*Another issue is the on-screen graphics. It’s a good idea to use on-screen graphics to add meta-information to the video you’re making, but in this case, all we get is an occasional standard lower third identifier, telling us who it is we’re looking at. But this information is already available to us. This isn’t TV. There’s a contextualizing web page that the video is embedded in that almost certainly contains the same info in multiple places. In the case of a Vimeo embed like this, it’s right under the video frame! So use the lower third convention to give us useful info at points in the video where it makes sense. For example, when Rowse (finally) talks about getting addicted to Twitter, throw his twitter ID up on the screen! Maybe we want to start following him.

*As long as we’re talking about visual content, I’ll point out that video is a visual medium. I know it seems obvious, but when you produce a video for the web (or anywhere else) it’s a good idea to consider how the content is enhanced by having a picture rather than just being an audio track of someone talking. If all you’re giving us is a talking head for twelve minutes, there’s not much purpose in me continuing to look at the picture. The video frame is a different medium of information into which you can channel all sorts of useful stuff without breaking up the flow of the audio content. Ideally, the picture and sound complement each other — like showing cutaways to images that relate to the content being discussed. Without leveraging the visual part of the medium, all you’ve really done is made a podcast that won’t play very well in iTunes.

Of course, all of these issues take time to correct. Video editing is nothing if not time consuming.

To be fair, Social Media Examiner is not a video blog, per se. The video content is added value to an otherwise list-heavy social media magazine. I’ll also add that the issues I’m discussing here are not unique to SME — they can be found in video all over the web. This just happened to be the video I was watching when I decided to write about web video dos and don’ts (thanks, Darren Rowse!).

Two quick bits of cool news to report:

1. Nathan (Mal Reynolds/Capt. Hammer) Fillion tweeted about Emily’s frog and even took a picture of one, which I can only assume is the one that belongs to Alan Tudyk.

2. While my panel proposal didn’t rate a full panel at SXSW 2010, I have been asked to do a 15-minute lightning presentation/pseudo “TED-talk” at the conference about my panel idea on building community media scenes.

As a security measure, I just deleted any user account I wasn’t 100% sure was owned by a human. If your Candleblog subscriber account was nuked, my apologies, but it’s easy to recreate. This was just Candleblog. Once this is fixed I’ll have to get busy upgrading the other 7 WP blogs I administer. Ugh.

Congratulations also goes to the excellent wonks over at Green Mountain Daily for claiming the Best Vermont Blog (political) Daysie. They were also in an active run for this award last year so it’s nice to see some folks rewarded for all their efforts. Philip Baruth’s Vermont Daily Briefing is this year’s runner up despite actively encouraging his readers NOT to vote for him (because he’s busy seeking an altogether different sort of vote). Congrats all around and I’ll see all you wonderful bloggers on Friday at the big shindig.

The writing is on the wall, I argued, because Candleblog’s readership has never been all that (indeed, it has declined somewhat over the last couple of years) and because as more and more Vermonters spend more and more time online, another blog is sure to become legitimately popular (as opposed to just popular enough for a few well-placed pleas for votes to scooch it over the top to victory) and when that happens, Candleblog won’t even be in the running.

All of which is to say I will not be actively seeking Daysie votes this year for Candleblog. By which I mean you won’t find me repeatedly shilling for votes here on the blog and I won’t be sending out any emails to friends and colleagues and I won’t be pestering my family members and associates, reminding them to fill out their ballots (and honestly, with Twitter all the rage these days, I’m surprised there’s even still a category for “blogs” — it’s so 2005).

I’m not saying “don’t vote for Candleblog.” If this really is your favorite Vermont blog, go ahead and vote for it, but my time actively competing for a Daysie is all done (short of, you know, trying to publish a blog that someone like me would enjoy reading).

I’ll note that Vermont Daily Briefing blogger (and perennial Daysie winner) Philip Baruth is also explicitly not seeking Daysie votes this year, but his reason for staying out of the Daysies fray has to do with the fact that he’s actively seeking an altogether different kind of vote — the kind that gets you elected to state senate. Instead, Philip has thrown his Daysie support behind the excellent group political blog, Green Mountain Daily, and I think it’s a fine pick for Best Vermont Political Blog. Odum and the rest of the GMD crew are committed deeply to Vermont politics and provide a valuable public service to the state. They get my vote too.

On the non-political side, I have a few friendly suggestions to throw out there of some very worthy Vermont blogs for your Daysie consideration (note: I absolutely will accept bribes for an outright endorsement, make me an offer!)…

*Nobody wants the non-political blog Daysie more sincerely or obviously than The House of LeMay. At last year’s Daysie party at the ECHO Center, the Sisters threw down their fabulously ornamented gauntlet and vowed to take home the 2009 prize. If either desire or glitter is a metric by which Daysie worthiness is measured, the Sisters should have it wrapped up this year!

*I mentioned these blogs as worthy choices last year as well. Undead Molly and SR Wild are my kind of bloggers. They are both creative and funny and wry and awesome. If you have to pick one, I suggest Molly’s, just because Scott’s last post was in March announcing he’d been laid off. Where are you, Scott? Doesn’t losing your job mean you have more time to do other stuff? Like blog? Molly is a Vermont treasure. If you’re not reading her blog constantly, you should be.

*I don’t know if this one is eligible or not, but Blurt, the Seven Days staff blog, is a daily stop for me. I wish Cathy Resmer was personally blogging more often, but now that other staffers are picking up some of the slack, it’s becoming a must-visit blog in my routine. This is a blog that actually breaks news. And while the comments can occasionally get heated, the 7D staff does a very good job of setting the tone so it doesn’t devolve into stupid troll-baiting… often. (note: 7D has several great blogs but rather than make this post a love letter to the paper, I’m limiting my recommendation to this one blog — it doesn’t mean the others aren’t also full of win.)

*Speaking of daily stops, Dear S is a Tumblr blog kept by a friend of mine (I’m honestly not sure if it’s intentionally anonymous or not, so I’m not spilling the author’s name). It’s a Vermont blog and one of my primary sources for crazy shit online.

*And speaking of crazy shit, Matty the Greek (AKA Magister Matt G. Paradise) holds court at Diabologue (runner-up for a blogging Daysie in 2006) where he shares cynical insights, hilarious links and schlock horror movie reviews. If his blog wasn’t published in unreadable white-text-on-black-background it would be almost perfect!

Any of these fine Vermont digital publications would be deserving of recognition. If I didn’t mention your Vermont blog, it’s obviously because I think it’s stupid and worthless. Wait, that’s not what I mean. I mean there are lots of great blogs and If I’m not going to yours often enough to make me promote it for a Daysie it’s because I’m an ignorant jerk. Send me some cash and I’ll gladly openly endorse your blog on this site too (still waiting for my check, Satan Boy).

Well I’m ready to try another little experiment in blog sharing. Emily (who is my wife, for you n00bs) will be signing on as a co-author here at Candleblog for the foreseeable future. Emily’s own blog, Stán Cynedóm, will still remain for now, but we’re experimenting with blog cohabitation. (If we ever get divorced we’ll have to argue over whose links are whose.)

Welcome aboard, Emily! Feel free to put your stuff anywhere, just don’t ask me to part with that old ratty recliner… I love that thing!