Web: BillCammack.com
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Phone: +1.347.767.5922
Justin Johnson’s “Holiday Sweater” Song
Title: “The Holiday Sweater Song”
Directed/Written/Edited by Justin Johnson
Music: Steve Nelson
Vocals: Patty DeArteaga & Justin Johnson
Lyrics: Justin Johnson and Steve Nelson
Vimeo Permalink: [link]
YouTube Permalink: [link]
The Holiday Sweater Song from justin on Vimeo.
What says HOLIDAY COMFORT AND FUN more than a festive sweater, adorned with all manner of snowmen, snow women, dogs, snowflakes, and more. Let’s celebrate the beauty of holiday sweaters with some music combined with video!
HUGE thanks to all the people who submitted their videos for this, couldn’t have made it without all your support.
STARRING:
Jodi’s Kids
Alan and Wife
George and Nintern
Erik, Jared, and Lee
Giancarlo Florentini & Jon Grimm
http://wiseguypictures.net/
Amanda Ferri and Alex
http://bustedtees.com/
Shawn Pearlman
Ramon “The Iron Dove”
Steve Garfield
http://www.stevegarfield.com/
Josh Leo
http://joshleo.com/
Veronica Belmont
http://www.veronicabelmont.com/
Hayden Black
http://goodnightburbank.com/
Tim and Rachel
http://nextnewnetworks.com/
Streeter and Amir
http://collegehumor.com/
Michelle and Felicia
http://youtube.com/
Andrea Feczko
http://fastlanedaily.com/
Dave Seger
http://www.a-okfilms.com/
Dan Meth
http://methminute39.com/
Marissa Nystrom
http://celebzaredum.tumblr.com/
Erik Beck
http://indymogul.com/
Bill Cammack
http://reelsolid.tv/
Gary the Puppet
Nick and Richard
http://gawker.com/
Nick Douglas
http://valleywag.com/
Blame Society Productions
http://www.splu.net/
Erik X Raj
http://njfilmcore.com/
Kyle Fasanella
http://vilekyle.com/
The Thread Heads
http://threadbanger.com/
Halcyon
http://www.cockybastard.com/
ART BY
Ben Ross
MUSIC BY
Steve Nelson
LYRICS BY
Justin Johnson and Steve Nelson
DIRECTED / WRITTEN / EDITED BY
Justin Johnson
Bill Cammack to Team SCRIGGITY!
Effective immediately, Bill Cammack joins Drew Olanoff as a member of “Team SCRIGGITY“. :D
When I first got involved in videoblogging, a little over a year ago, I used to troll blip.tv‘s recent uploads to get ideas about shows that I thought were good. One of those shows was Jonny Goldstein’s “Reinventing Television” (reinventingtv.phovi.com). I got involved, immediately. => Text chat from Reinventing Television Episode 2 (October 12, 2006).
Another show that I thought was cool, interesting and innovative was scriggity (scriggity.com). Eventually, I met and hung out with Drew @ several NYC events, including Videoblogger Meetups, Network2 get-togethers and PodCampNYC.
Meanwhile, I was gearing up to do my own show… I mean, I *HAVE* my own “show” already, but it’s more like a feed of stuff that I do day in and day out. It’s not a actual show, but rather an indication of what it’s like to be me on any given day. So… I was gearing up to do an actual show and started filming episodes of “The Lab”.
What I found out, and outlined in my notes about the project… was that while I enjoy MAKING shows, I don’t enjoy the rest of the process. The “paperwork”, as I call it of all the stuff that has to be done PAST production and post.
Interestingly enough, Drew decided that he doesn’t want to edit. :D We chatted this morning, and I’ve joined “Team SCRIGGITY”, and we’re looking forward to big things. :D I always enjoy doing projects with friends, and I’ve been a fan of Drew’s concepts for a long time now. Thanks to Drew for the nod, and…
it’s ON!!! and it happens to be POPPIN’!!! :D
–
billcammack
Cruxy Presents Suzanne Vega (Virtually)
Tomorrow night, (Friday, July 13th, 7pm EST) Cruxy will host a one-of-a-kind event as Suzanne Vega returns to her avatar form for a special virtual listening party in Second Life. Vega will be celebrating the upcoming release of her new album BEAUTY & CRIME, out July 17 on Blue Note. I caught up with Jon Oakes to get the inside story. :)
What is Cruxy?
Cruxy is a media platform that allows any digital content creator (mostly emerging filmmakers and musicians) to promote and sell their works. Here’s a simple example: You’ve shot a short film. You put it in Mp4 format and upload it to Cruxy. We create all of the thumbnails, previews and promotional widgets for you. You set a price of $1 for others to buy a download of the film. We handle taking the money from the buyers and delivering cash to you (less a small fee that we charge).
Here’s a real world example of Cruxy in action. Some folks in the Midwest have a company called ShortTrackWorld. They go (in their cool van) to lots of small car races all over the Midwest where regular folks race their super modified race cars around… you guessed it, short tracks. ShortTrackWorld films the car races and then uses a satellite link to upload the videos from the event to their Cruxy page. They sell the videos of the race event to the drivers and fans and the videos are available just hours after the race. It’s pretty cool in action. You can check out the ShortTrackWorld page on Cruxy here: www.cruxy.com/stw
Recently we’ve been more focused on helping creators get their work into virtual world environments like Second Life. We see that as the next phase and our main focus moving forward.
What is the status of Cruxy as a startup, and who is team?
We are two full timers with a coterie of supporters, contractors, advisors and well-wishers. We are financed by our personal savings accounts, some paying engagements, anxiety and sweat.
Nathan Freitas and myself, Jon Oakes, have been working together for over eight years through three different (successful!) startups. We have built a ton of different technology, products, and solutions for people ranging from the government, to major corporations, and other technology businesses, but are most excited now to be applying our skills and inspiration towards creating new economic and marketing models for creative people, as well as the entertainment industry. Through Cruxy.com, we get to work with true indie talent and give them access to our entire platform. Working with a major artist and label such as Blue Note allows us to customize aspects of our platform, and create unique solutions, which also happen to help pay the bills. Its a good setup, and allows us to see the radical changes that are happening in this business from multiple standpoints.
What’s some of the interesting technology behind Cruxy.com?
As a startup, we need to be smart about how we spend our money so we use Amazon’s S3 and EC2 services for all of our server and data delivery needs. We pay on a variable basis (we did not have to go plunk down $25k for a bunch of servers and commit to a high monthly data service fee). This is really “on demand” computing and it allows us to scale in a pay that is precisely correlated ith our traffic and demand… rather than investing everything in infrastructure and hoping to fill up the pipe.
We’ve built a pretty robust system for syndicating media content. We built our syndication system to use the XSPF format which gives us unlimited dynamic playlisting capabilities.
We’ve also built a “virtual world widget” which allows people to distribute their music to their avatar in Second Life. They can then stream their music into their land or venue in Second Life so others can experience their music in a totally new and social way. Rather than just have a bunch of people anonymously visit a web page and listen to your stuff, with the virtual world widgets, you can hang out in your virtual environment in Second Life while a group of people check out and discuss your work.
Besides Second Life, are there other places where creators can syndicate their media?
Cruxy supports a variety of technologies that allow any media upload to our system to be republished and indexed by almost any standards-based service on the web. We’ve got flash widgets, RSS feeds, XSPF feeds, and even some microformats support. We also recently announced our deep integration with FaceBook so creators can get their work out to their FaceBook network more easily. We expect to launch this feature in August.
Looking towards the future, we see the growth of gaming and virtual worlds as online social environments to be a huge opportunity for creative artists to gain exposure and income. We fully intend to extend the Cruxy platform into these types of spaces and economic models.
What’s the story behind tomorrow’s Second Life event with Suzanne Vega?
We have built a virtual lower east side “Ludlow Street” circa 1990 environment to promote Suzanne Vega’s new album “Beauty and Crime”, which is full of songs about various aspects of New York. Suzanne will join us (in avatar form) for a live interview and take questions from her fans. Avatars who attend will also be able to watch video of some of her recent live performances and sample her new album.
Each attendee to the event will receive a Virtual World Widget that allows them to host their own listening parties and share the music with friends in their own land or club within Second Life.
What makes this event with Suzanne Vega different from her first appearance in Second Life?
We used the new Second Life voice beta software for this event. We also built the lower east side environment where avatars can come to hang out, drive taxi cabs, talk on pay phones and spray paint on walls long after the event. This event is about more than just the event… it’s about the environment where people can come whenever they want and sample the album while experiencing the New York that so inspires the album. We’ve got graffiti by Zephyr, the prolific graffiti artist of that era and guitars by Robbie Dingo, the renowwnded Second Life designer, at a LES guitar shop.
One other thing to note is that the MTV virtual lower east side is designed for the 18 to 25 crowd that might not remember New York pre-Guiliani. We wanted to recreate more of the grunge aesthetic that we so enjoyed in our 20′s in NYC.
How big is the market for what you are doing? Breakdancers and indie musicians don’t really make much money, right?
What everyone is realizing is that there is a growing appetite for independently created media content.
Cruxy is also one of those UGC filter sites. The higher end of the UGC market puts their stuff in Cruxy. We don’t get much of the teenage car surfing or flatulence type stuff (nothing against it as a… social… expression, but it’s not what Cruxy is about)
Thanks Jon. Good luck with Cruxy and Suzanne Vega’s event tomorrow! :D
“Graf art building on Virtual Ludlow Street New York”
Photo Credit: Nathan Freitas
Jonathan Oakes founded and managed his first start-up, a systems integration consultancy, at 24 years old. In 1998 Oakes co-founded ThinAirApps, where he served as CEO and Chairman leading the company to a successful acquisition by Palm Inc. in 2001. Oakes spent over two years at Palm, as Senior Director managing corporate and product strategy. Oakes earned a BA in American Studies from Skidmore College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Over the last ten years, Nathan Freitas’ career has spanned the academic, corporate, and non-profit worlds, solving difficult problems through the thoughtful application of technology. His work has been built into Palm handhelds, on display at JavaONE and SIGGRAPH, included in Wikipedia, and covered in media ranging from Boing Boing and Slashdot, to the New York Times and Howard Rheingold’s book “Smart Mobs”. He also plays a mean double bass.
Bill Cammack • New York City • Freelance Video Editor • alum.mit.edu/www/billcammack
Interview with Eric Rochow of Gardenfork.tv
This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Rochow, the creator and producer of Gardenfork.tv, his “internet show” or “videoblog”.
What is Gardenfork?
Gardenfork is an internet video show – iTunes video podcast about cooking, gardening, and other stuff. Other stuff can include car repair, or how to drop tree with a chainsaw. Its very eclectic; for example I’ve been doing a series of shows on BBQ, stopping at places whenever I can and interviewing BBQ experts, but then I’m also working on a show about how to repair cracks in your basement walls.
You can watch the show on our website: http://gardenfork.tv or subcribe to it through our page on iTunes.
Why do you do your show?
I’ve always been one of those people who wants to tell people about a neat thing I’ve learned, an interesting fact, a cool gizmo I just read about. This stuff swirls in my head and I’m just driven to want to share what I’ve discovered. Gardenfork is a great outlet for this desire to share information that our viewers, for some reason, like to watch.
And, its just a total blast to do. The viewer feedback is just amazing, and almost instant. Once we post a new episode, we start getting viewers emailing us with comments. The connection I have with the viewers is something you can’t buy.
Here’s a review on viewer posted on the gardenfork page on iTunes:
“Eric Rochow is not a self-promoting, self-congratulatory, larger-than-life celebrity chef. He’s the average guy doing an exceptionally good job putting together a podcast that entertains, informs, and encourages.
From the homey feel of his kitchen to the cutaways to watch the dog chew up a stick or yawn to the occasional multiple retakes as he flubs his lines, you can’t help but to love the show. Eric doesn’t pretend to be anything he isn’t and that is a breath of fresh air in today’s world of highly processed entertainment”
I think what appeals to people is that while I can talk in ‘Web 2.0 speak’ with the best of them, I can also talk about the benefits of a big block Chevy, ( FYI: that’s a specific type of engine produced by GM with dual quad carbs ) or how to keep flea beetles off your lettuce.
“Down to earth” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot when people describe the show. Its me doing a project, and that project may or may not come out they way I intended. I leave in the mistakes, because we’re all human, we make mistakes every day.
How did you get started doing Gardenfork?
I’ve worked in creative fields all my life: video, film, photography, design; and I had pitched several cooking-gardening shows to the lifestyle cable channels. The show ideas were always well received, but because no well known personality was attached to the shows, they weren’t picked up.
Last year I was on the web and ran across a video blog, crashtestkitchen, and the lightbulb went off in my head – I could produce and distribute my own cooking-gardening show – and I didn’t need the cable networks to do it.
Then we had our friends over for dinner one night, and I handed my friend Bill my video camera and said, “We’re shooting a cooking show tonight”. I made puttanesca, which is a favorite of mine, we had fun doing it, and that energy came through on the video. I had forgotten to turn on all the lights in the kitchen, so the video is pretty dark, so I called that episode “Puttanesca In The Dark with Bill”
How do you choose what to videoblog about?
Basically, whatever I’m doing on the weekend, I try to make a show about it. Last weekend I made Rhubarb Jam and tried my hand at canning, so we shot that. It was great. Sometimes I plan ahead, sometimes its just whatever project needs doing that weekend. Now we get viewer mail asking for shows on specific topics, like building a grape arbor, so I’ll do that as well.
I have to replace the clutch in my truck soon, so that will be the subject of a two part show. You can’t show how to change out a clutch in 8 minutes.
What’s your background? How do you know how to do all this stuff? :)
My parents are born and bred New Yorkers, my grandfather was a buliding super in the Bronx, but I grew up mainly in Wisconsin. We did a lot of hiking, fishing, hunting. When something broke, we didn’t call the repairman, we figured out how to fix it.
When I was 14, my father bought my brother and I a 1949 Ford Pickup. It was in pieces. We learned about cars by putting one back together. At the same time I started gardening, and when I moved back to NY, I started cooking.
I now divide my time between Northwest Connecticut and New York City, both of which are fertile ground for many episodes of gardenfork.
Is producing Gardenfork.tv paying your bills?
Not yet, but in the future that is a very real possibility. More and more advertisers are moving to the web, and gardenfork viewers are a niche audience that certain advertisers very much want to connect with. The advertising wont be obtrusive, it will be along the lines of how PBS thanks its sponsors, with short pre-roll and post-roll clips.
In the very near future, your TV and your computer will be one appliance, its the ‘convergence’ everyone has been talking about, its finally happening. Gardenfork is part of this convergence of traditional TV and the Web. I wear the “media disruptor” label proudly.
Gardenfork has also helped me in business, as my multimedia company, choplogic, is now helping corporations create their own internal and external video blogs, text blogs, and community sites. My wife calls me “Husband 2.0″
Going forward, we are also in pre-production on a new internet video show, Real World Green http://realworldgreen.com, which is about practical things you can do to lower your impact on the earth. The goal is to appeal to viewers who may not relate to the current crop of ‘green’ programming that’s out there, our emphasis is on practical; less talk, more about things you can do.
Thanks Eric, and good luck with Gardenfork / RealWorldGreen! :D
Bill Cammack • New York City • Freelance Video Editor • alum.mit.edu/www/billcammack
MasamiBillShow 005 – Yellow Pages / Chap-Et
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MasamiBillShow 005 – Yellow Pages / Chap-Et
Ghetto Night requirements:
Less than $4 paid for 80oz of beer
Window doesn’t work, so use the Yellow Pages to keep it open
Chap-Et instead of Chap-Stick
Laughter, Pictures and Video! :D
MasamiBillShow 004 – Country Club
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MasamiBillShow 004 – Country Club
Masami models the 40oz, while Masako & Letitia take more pictures!
You want some
I’m taking you…
Oh no, I don’t like this one. I like this one better
Bill… Bill… Hey
Hey
Now I got this camera from my brother…
What have we here?
Country Club… 1.59… Check this out
They are crazy, those two, I’m teling you… check this out
America’s premium malt liquor. It’s the premium. Representing East Harlem, Spanish Harlem, whatever you call it
hahahahahahaha
What’s going on over here?
Taking pictures
Oh, taking pictures
She’s always doing that, yes, look…
I look like what? It’s like I look like 12 years old or something
Yeah
[gasp]
…NO! hahaha… Not 12 years, but like 19 or 20, come on! :D
MasamiBillShow 003 – Pictures
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MasamiBillShow 003 – Pictures
Masami, Letitia, Masako & Bill hang out for Masami & Letitia’s last night in New York City. Masami’s on her way to Japan and Letitia’s returning to France. It’s time to take pictures! :D
Bill: hahahaha
Letitia: So funny
All: [Low Voices for the camera] HA HA HA HA HA
Masami: hahaha I ____ so bad.
Bill : hehe
Letitia: Yeah, this one… this one is good
Masami: Work it baby! Work it baby!
Bill: There you go! There you go!
Masami: Work it honey! Work it!
Masako: Oh, that’s nice.
Letitia: Yes… That’s nice.
Masako: What’s that?
Masami: It’s not the picture… talk.
Masako: Really?
Masami: Videotaping.
All except Masako: HAHAHAHAHA :D
Letitia: She looks good!
Bill: What’s that? Stage Fright, right? What’s that? Stage Fright? … “REALLY?”
Masako: What are you doing?
Bill: Nothing. Weren’t you about to sing?
[Masako fakes singing]
Masako: No… I don’t trust. :)
All except Masako: HAHAHA
Bill: … And you shouldn’t. :) hahahaha
Letitia: He was taping you
Masami: Are you taping, or the… do I have to speak low?
Bill: No… You don’t have to speak at all.
Letitia: But you can SMILE!!! :D
Masami: What did she say?
Letitia: You can smile, ohmygod!
All except Letitia: HAHAHA :D
Letitia: I can’t, hahaha
Masami: You were singing!
MasamiBillShow 002 – Deep Voices
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MasamiBillShow 002 – Deep Voices
Walking through the streets of New York City at night, Masami & Bill discuss recording procedures. After seeing “Night Vision”, Masami has decided her voice is too high/squeaky when played back from a tape, so this time, she’s elected to intentionally add bass to her voice and SPEAK LOW when the camera’s rolling. :)
Masami: You have to tell me so that
Bill: Yes, Well
Masami: I can speak low
Bill: That’s right, because your voice is not as high as it comes out on tape
Masami: Exactly
Bill: Is that right?
Masami: Yes. Yes. Night Vision…
Bill: Night Vision…
Masami: Night Vision…
Bill: hehehahahahahaha
Masami: I’m not drunk yet!
Bill: Not at all… but you will be… ha ha haaaa
Masami : ha ha haaaa
MasamiBillShow 001 – Pizza Shop
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MasamiBillShow 001 – Pizza Shop
We meet Masami & Bill hanging out in the pizza shop while Letitia orders pizza to go. Masami will soon be in Japan and Letitia will return to France. BillCammack.com / ReelSolid.TV prepares to go international!
Thank God for Technology! :D
Bill: Here we go
Masami: Here we go
Bill: It’s rolling
Masami: Heyyyyyy :D
Bill: I guess we’re on… Hey! :D
Bill: ReelSolid.tv … We have our new Japanese correspondent, Masami
Masami: That’s me!
Bill: Gonna be giving us all the new information… So we’ll catch up with her later on. Then we have our French correspondent over there, hahaha
Letitia: hahahaha
Bill: … ordering her pizza
Masami: Yeah, pizza after the Cosmo :)
Bill: That’s right, hahaha … So we’ll catch up with y’all later… PEACE! :D
Letitia: (singing) Open up your eyes, then you’ll realize…
Brogan getting filmed
Grace Piper & Chris Brogan
The Lab – Production Log Pickup 05
I wanted, and received, the understanding of what it takes to put together a weekly internet show absolutely from scratch. Before the ides of March, hehe, I had absolutely nothing….. I mean, besides outstanding equipment and infinite skillz. :D I had nothing. All I had was an idea to do a show based on films that adhered to certain parameters that friends of mine (who know who they are) told me were attractive features to have in an internet show. I chose films because I’ll never run out of them, and I chose the format because I could do everything myself and wouldn’t get hung up for shows if other people dropped the ball, like they always love to do. It’s Monday right now, and I haven’t even CONSIDERED doing a show for this Friday, except doing out-takes from “American Pimp”, and I could do that show in one afternoon. The point is that as I sit here now, I know what it takes to deliver a show four days from now that’s virtually indistinguishable from my other three episodes (Not counting the two BlogHerBiz episodes, 1, 2). That’s what I wanted, and that’s what I have.
I may or may not do a new episode of “The Lab” for this Friday. I haven’t had the chance to devote brain cell #1 to ANY of the fantastic ideas I got from BlogHer Business ’07, and I still have clips to upload from the conference. I have two very interesting ideas on the table to discuss with a couple of the BlogHer ladies, regarding text blogging, audio blogging or video blogging. I also have to start thinking about practical implementation of Justin’s ideas.
It’s also currently videoblogging week, 2007. There’s a wiki about VBW’07 @ http://videobloggingweek.pbwiki.com/, and you can search for videos tagged “videobloggingweek2007″. I might use this week to test out a daily version of “The Lab”, and STILL do my film show for Friday…
’cause I’ve Got It Like That! ;)
The Lab – Production Log Pickup 04
I had used the time between when I “finalized” my final revision of my dialogue script (as final as it was going to be until I actually started saying the lines and feeling them out), and when I was emotionally prepared to “attack” my lines to finish the rest of the edit. Everything was done except for saying and then loading my lines, color correcting them, tightening up the edit to work on the timing I felt was proper, then noise-reducing the drive sounds out from under my lines, watching the whole piece for timing, compressing and uploading. Everything went smoothly, like it’s supposed to, :D and I had my video uploaded by the time I headed out on Saturday around 4pm to play Ultimate Frisbee in Central Park.
I was actually a day late with my release, but there was nothing ‘good’ I really could have done about that. I had so much to do last week, including switching concepts entirely when I found out that “Witches of Eastwick” didn’t have what I needed to make a show, that by the time I got my final dialogue revision written, it was Friday evening or Friday night, and I had ZERO incentive or energy or DESIRE to read my lines AT ALL. Being a morning person, I woke up with ‘attack’ energy, prepared the set, then did my 45 minutes on-screen. It actually went pretty quickly, because I knew my lines, and it was only the break points that were tripping me up. Some of the takes I ended up using were the second or third ones, and I *KNEW* that I had aced them when I finished saying them, but I did several more takes anyway, for ‘safety’. That’s why it still took 45 minutes. I was going over the same lines, just in case.
Having internalized the process, I see that there’s an order I need to use when I to this format of a show. The MAIN thing is the clips. Until I have the clips I’m going to use, thinking about dialogue or writing dialogue is worthless. I have to make sure I have clips that are short enough that they’re all done in ~ 1:30. I have to have a punch-out, or I have to write one when I get to the dialogue. Part of what made the process tedious was looking through the whole film for clips to use. I probably ended up using 1/5th of the footage that I thought was useful from “Clerks”. I ‘wasted’ a lot of energy thinking about bridging clips that I ended up not using at all. Next time I do a show in this format, I’m just going to be looking for the short stuff that illustrates the point and sets off my dialogue. It gets easier every time. All the rest of it is cookie-cutter formula at this point.
Having said that, I don’t actually WANT to do it.
