All our posts on Internet.

grace

Beyond The Trailer’s Oscar Mania!

Posted on January 27th, 2009
by grace

After the horrendous snubs of “The Dark Knight” and “Gran Torino”, it’s pretty clear The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences doesn’t really care about the opinion of moviegoers.

But Indy Mogul’s Beyond The Trailer does!

That’s why BTT is having its own Oscar Vote. Head over to our website and vote for who YOU think deserves an Academy Award. If you think someone’s been overlooked, we also have a write-in section for each of the six main categories we’re covering: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.

And yes, we even have swag! One voter will be randomly selected to win a brand new blu-ray player!

To help you cast your vote, over the next few weeks BTT’s Grace Randolph will be giving you a closer look at the nominees in each category. In fact the Best Picture profile just went up today:

And be sure to watch “Beyond The Trailer: The Audience Oscar Vote” on Sunday February 22nd for the results!

Justin

New in November, an experiment in video

Posted on December 19th, 2008
by Justin

November has passed us by. It’s gone, never to return again. Most Novembers are perfectly normal … people go about their daily grinds, accomplishing the tasks before them, doing what needs to be done and then checking out.

Thanks to prodding of a few friends, however, this November was much more than the usual.

If you’re familiar with the “how-to” realm of online video, you’re probably aware of the silver-crested fox that is Bre Pettis. He created the wonderful Weekend Projects for Make Magazine, and has now moved onto some great stuff over at Etsy. I caught word from him of a new challenge, a new adventure, called “New In November,” the goal being to create a NEW video every weekday throughout the entire month.

Initially, I balked. EVERY WEEKDAY? Don’t these crazy fools know that I’m already making totally fun video already every day for work? How ridiculous to make MORE video when obviously my plate was already well-stocked with such things. I stuffed all that contradiction in the back of my mind and said yes. I would try this wild experiment.

Battling alongside me were Bill Cammack, Emmy award winning editor, and Clintus, a popular video blogger.

To keep things somewhat simple, I created rules for myself. The first rule being that from concept, to shooting, to final render, the video shouldn’t take longer than an hour. The second rule was that it should be fun. The third rule was … well, I guess I only had two rules.

It’s not like I need an excuse to make a video, but goshdarnit, having an excuse was fun! Shooting an interview with Justin from Muxtape (for WEPCtv) turned into a fun little watercooler skit with Rob from ThreadBanger. I profiled people at the office, I even burned the place down, in my final episode.

All in all, having that excuse, and the peer pressure of Bill, Bre, and Clintus lead to me creating a handful of fun clips that would have never existed otherwise, perhaps just to stew in my head and then flutter away without consequence.


For his month finale, Bill put together this great video showing some highlights from everyone. Enjoy, and maybe you’ll see round two next November!

Tim

The Tao of Micki

Posted on July 7th, 2008
by Tim

Micki visits NNN
Micki Krimmel with the team. Photo by Pulp Secret’s Charles Schneider.

The one and only Micki Krimmel was recently visiting New York for the first time in years, and we asked her to come and do a workshop with our team about building better community features for our audiences.

Besides being the only person I know of who has a photo of herself with Al Gore up on Flickr, Micki has been a web guru to countless people in her work at Participant (where she helped Mr. Gore build the massive grassroots movement at climatecrisis.net), Revver, WorldChanging, and most recently as a social media consultant and entrepreneur.

Out of our two hour brainstorming session about our networks and shows came a number of suggestions that would be great for anyone building an offering around video content on the web:

1. Everybody should be a community manager.

It doesn’t matter if there’s a person in your company with a title of community manager, or director of community. Every person on the team should be involved and responding and keeping the conversation going.*

*Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody, is required reading for anyone in our space.

2. Whuffi can be more valuable than money.

Cory Doctorow’s novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom describes a future where all material needs are met, so people are incentivized by reputation and social capital - Whuffi. This is something that happens in communities all the time — people can often get things done by virtue of their social reputation or prestige that money can’t. Tara Hunt’s new book is all about it. [Micki added on her blog: "My point here was about incentives. It’s common for people to want to provide material incentives to people for participating in their community. People don’t talk to each other for prizes. They do it for other, more personal reasons. They do it for social capital, for whuffie, or as Clay Shirky says in Here Comes Everybody, Love."]

3. The most scalable way to respond to people is openly and publicly.

Micki cited tools like Get Satisfaction as a way to respond to customer questions in a public, easy to access way, as well as elements in our networks like Indy Mogul and ThreadBanger that turn responses to viewer questions into content for the whole audience.

4. Consider ending every video with a question.

This is pretty self-explanatory, but a simple way to get audience responses that not enough video creators do. Ze Frank did it brilliantly. We recently ended our breakout Ultra Kawaii hit (2mm+ views), “Animal Idol”, with a question that’s garnered over 30,000 comments and counting across the web (according to TubeMogul, we’re still averaging over 750 comments a day on that episode, despite it being up for two months).

5. The easier you make it to participate, the more people will.

It’s easier to favorite or digg something than rate something, easier to rate something than comment or review — which is consistently why less people do each of those things. You could follow a question (see #4) with a simple thumbs up/thumbs down polling widget. Our new Nite Fite site is going to include a simple tool to poll people during and after every episode, and it’s going to be interesting to see if people use it more than they use comments.

6. People put something on their blogs because it says something about them, not because they want to promote a product they like.

Think about that one for a while.

7. The difference between your YouTube channel and your site is often like the difference between a public and a private space.

We talked about this for a while: for instance, how comments on a YouTube video tend to be about the creators, where comments on your own site tend more to be addressed to the creators. The difference between one place and the other can be like the difference between watching a movie in the movie theater with a bunch of strangers, and watching it at home with a group of your friends.

8. Don’t just reward the top participators.

Having all kinds of participation is valuable. Look for ways to welcome the newest people who post for the first time or join the community.

9. If you don’t have the tool, that doesn’t mean don’t do it.

Engage people with whatever tools you have. A great example from our own world is the Indy Mogul “Request an Effect” page, which addresses rule #3 above with a pretty basic tool: a blog post with a super long comments thread. However, with over 1000 comments page has gotten so hard to use, we’re probably not getting as much participation as we could (see rule #5) — if we replaced this page with a browsable, searchable forum of some kind where people could vote on favorites, it would get even more use.

10. Don’t worry about exclusive content for your site.

Content goes where it wants. What’s exclusive about your site is the community experience you offer — it can be a safe place, where you can get to know people with common interests. Making that the best experience possible is the real key to building unique value in your site.

Thanks, Micki! So I’m curious — anyone reading out there: useful? What would you add to Micki’s advice?

Tim

Justin and Gary’s Internet Adventure

Posted on June 27th, 2008
by Tim

As Allen Stern noted on his blog, earlier this week The Media Kitchen held the Digital Media Venture Conference, introducing their clients to innovative VC-funded startups that are changing the media plans of tomorrow. The Media Kitchen’s Darren Herman approached us about helping them create an icebreaker video to kick off the spirit of the day, and we jumped at the chance to work with them on it, as Darren and The Media Kitchen have been big supporters and cheerleaders of our work.

After a bit of brainstorming with Darren and MK’s president, Barry Lowenthal, we came up with the video embedded above (here’s an HD version), featuring Gary, Indy Mogul’s incomparable puppet co-host (mostly because he’d be available for all the shoots) in a whirlwind tour of some of the better-known companies in Silicon Alley. All glory due to the amazing Justin Johnson, NNN’s superstar associate producer and first hire, who wrote, directed and produced the piece in a couple days’ time with no budget and a supplemental crew of one, which to me is just incredible.

Special thanks to Barry, Darren and Nicole DelVecchio from The Media Kitchen, David and Marco from Tumblr, Richard Blakeley from Gawker Media, Jake and Amir from CollegeHumor, Erik Beck, Derek D, Rob Czar and Corinne Leigh from Next New Networks, and Lindsay Campbell and Julie Alexandria from CBS Interactive for being such good sports, and to all the other people from NNN and Frederator who helped out as Rock Band partygoers or Gary stand-ins (especially Ben Ross). And special props to Kyle Fassenella, who DP’d and contributed all the amazing steadicam work; Rachel Garcia, for coming up with the idea to have Gary be the star; and Liam Collins, our super-nice VP of Finance and Business Affairs, for playing against type as the jerk who tells Erik to get back to work.

Michelle DeForest

Michelle’s Recap: Internet Weeeeeek!

Posted on June 16th, 2008
by Michelle DeForest

What a crazy, fun, intense, and exhausting week it turned out to be! There were parties, meetups, conferences, and endless meetings to be had, and it all concluded with the Webby Awards. I didn’t make it to the Webby Gala, but I did hit up the Webby Film & Video Awards, and had an amazing time with Tim Shey, Rachel Garcia, Erin Flood, Derek DeAngelis, Roy Weissman, and Vanessa Pappas!!


Vanessa Pappas, Kenyatta Cheese (Rocketboom), Erin Flood

The night started off with a cocktail reception, which I remarked felt like some sort of a high school reunion. Just about every person I adore from the Video 2.0 industry was there, and I felt at home.
We drank champagne, posed for pics (That’s Webby Award Winner Derek D and myself), and caught up with old friends as we readied ourselves for a three hour ceremony hosted by 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander. As Derek D accepted the People’s Choice Award for Sports, we cheered him on from our seats (which happened to be next to where Lorne Michaels, Michel Gondry, Rosie Perez, and Seth Meyers were seated!!)


Derek D Accepts the FLD Webby Award from Michelle DeForest on Vimeo.

(more…)

Michelle DeForest

Michelle’s Video Rundown: Superheroes and Campy Throwbacks

Posted on June 2nd, 2008
by Michelle DeForest

There are a few things that most of us at the company have in common: We like to have fun, we wish we were rock stars (well, we’re already rock stars, but I mean actual rock stars), we love movies, and we are superhero fanatics!
To my delight, I was able to catch the Superhero Fashion & Fantasy exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this weekend (which I highly suggest), and it reminded me of a fantastic series that I saw a trailer for a few months ago.

Italian Spiderman Trailer

Italian Superman was something of a mystery to me after I watched the trailer. I thought it was a brilliant, campy one-off, and nothing more. To my surprise, I saw an episode featured on Yahoo! Video last week, and was psyched to find the first two episodes up on YouTube, MySpace, and Yahoo!. The story that accompanies it is just as outlandish as the series, explaining that Italian Spiderman was adapted from the novel, Death Wears A Hat, and filmed in 1964 by Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Gatti, and produced by Alrugo Entertainment.
(more…)

Michelle DeForest

Michelle’s Rundown: Internet Week NYC

Posted on May 30th, 2008
by Michelle DeForest

I’m pumped for next week. Why? It’s Internet Week in NYC! Imagine SXSW Interactive, minus the panels, and set in the most lively city in the US. Sure it’s a bonus that I live here, and I have an excellent excuse to hit the parties at night and come in to the work late, but correct me if I’m wrong, NYC seems like a perfect setting for celebrating what we are all devoting our careers to try and make the most of.

*Brief History Lesson* It all started when the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting called up the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (aka the Academy behind the Webby Awards), and asked them to help rally companies to throw parties and make their meetups and conferences a part of the festivities.

The events start this Tuesday, June 3, and run through Tuesday, June 10 concluding with the Webby Awards Gala. And in case you hadn’t heard, Fast Lane Daily picked up a Webby Award so we’re ready to celebrate BIG TIME!

(more…)

Michelle DeForest

Michelle’s Friday Rundown: Remixes & Mash-ups FTW!

Posted on May 23rd, 2008
by Michelle DeForest

I’m a sucker for a good mash-up or remix. OK, really I’m just a sucker for music. Add a kickin’ soundtrack to any video footage, and all the sudden, “it’s my favorite video, ever!” Now Weezer’s put their spin on the “mash-up/remix” for their latest single Pork and Beans. They’ve basically pulled an Internet People, and paid homage to a TON of our favorite YouTube stars! (Weezer has even released footage from the shoot featuring Kelly and Dan!)

What a smart move on their part! Nothing gets the “viral” web going like engaging the community that promulgates it. And seriously, who wouldn’t want to help out Weezer? While you try to name all the web stars in this video, I’ll leave you with a few other super-sweet remixes and mash-ups. And if you have a favorite, link it up in the comments!

(more…)

Lindsey

Erik Beck = Hottest Male Web Host

Posted on April 25th, 2008
by Lindsey

Have you ever watched Indy Mogul and thought to yourself, “Hey, this Erik guy is one sharp looking dude”? Well, you’re not the only one. Daisy Whitney from TV Week thinks so too. She’s compiled a list of The Hottest Male Web Hosts, and our very own Erik Beck is up against Eric Gunnar Rochow from Greenhouse. So if you’ve ever entertained those thoughts, now is the time to let those feelings rush forth. Vote Now! Polling ends Friday, May 2nd.

erik

GO ERIK!

Fred

Next New New Year.

Posted on December 31st, 2007
by Fred

nyc_new_year_aethlos-716812

To paraphrase an old blues, “it’s been a good year, but a long year.”

15 networks launched, YouTube’s #1 content partner, 100+ video views. Colleagues in New York and across the country, viewers and friend across the globe. Whew!

I’ve been lucky enough to be part of a number of once-in-a-lifetime experiences during my life. All year I’ve known Next New Networks is one of them.

It’s hard for any of us here at Next New Networks to figure that it’s only been a year since we ‘officially’ opened. Sure, for the founders we’ve been at work getting the company together for twice as long, but we started bringing on our colleagues last January and I, for one (though I know we all heartily agree), have to marvel at what they’ve all accomplished. Like any start up everyone here came into an office space that was literally being built while the work was trying to make sense of itself, and we were trying to explain exactly what the company was up to and what a specific job would entail (we’re still working on that). And even as the paint was going on the walls and the computers were being debugged, we were launching networks and cajoling communities of viewers to come take a look.

We couldn’t have even begun without an incredible group of investors and board members who’ve become Next New Networks’ friends, advertisers who’ve kicked the tires and bought a ride, and a large audience of loyal viewers who’ve spread the word in every way now known to humankind.

More’s coming, good stuff too, I assure you.

Thanks everyone –our colleagues, our investors and board members, and our audiences– for an awesome first year. Here’s to hundreds more.