--- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "damiensomerset" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Guys, > > I wanted to tell you guys about our new green show called ZapRoot. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlP_1MSDK_U > > ZapRoot is an unconventional bite-sized news show that covers the fast > changing world of the modern Green Revolution. With sarcasm, > silliness, & sanity, ZapRoot encourages you to have a better time > while making a better world. > > We got our asses handed to us by NewTeeVee, see here: > http://tinyurl.com/ynmu7r
Nice work on the show, Damien. Congrats, and good luck with it. :) Here's the reply I posted to the NewTeeVee article: ===== I didn't mind the production values, though I do see your point that some people will see ZapRoot as being too highly produced not to be the `front' for some sort of entrepreneurial interest. I'll be interested to see how the viewers react to jump-cutting a small character over a moving greenscreen background. I've done my own jump-cut videos against a static background or even a static background with changing depths. I've seen Damien Somerset's work on "Ask A Ninja", which is jump-cutting over one solid color and in a confined space. Of course, Ze Frank utilized jump-cuts again, in a confined space with a certain size/space/distance relationship between the character and the camera. What I haven't seen and maybe this is the next big thing is jump-cutting over a moving background where the character's so far away from the camera that they completely physically disappear from one location and arrive somewhere else on the screen several times within the same sentence. Having said that, I think the writing's fascinating and they have the niche subject matter to create a very popular show. They definitely have the elements of that formula that's worked so well for other video blog shows. ZapRoot seems ambitious and edgy Definitely one to keep an eye on in the coming months. ===== I think the show is very well done and is going to turn a lot of heads with the style and the edginess. Personally, I found it hard to watch with the on-air-talent hyperspacing all over the place, but that's partially because I tend to watch videos full-screen. Even if they're small, I zoom them with my macbook pro zoom feature. In trying to focus on the talent, I found myself looking at empty green space very often, and then during the time I spent re-locating the character, I wasn't listening to the dialogue so I was missing the point of the sentences. Then again, I was looking at the video for checking out the style of it, not to listen to the message of it. It's possible that your actual viewers, who are specifically interested in whatever you're talking about, will be more in-tune with the audio than the video and you'll be very successful in getting your point across. However, like I said in the post... Maybe hyperspacing the talent is the next big thing, and you're about to set a trend. :) Either way, you definitely have the proper elements in place to have a highly-viewed and popular show, like http://webbalert.com or http://wallstrip.com or http://textra.podshow.com/ or http://9.yahoo.com/. -- billcammack http://BillCammack.com > The show is produced by me (Damien Somerset) & Sarah Szalavitz. I was > the Executive Producer of TreehuggerTV, producer for Ecorazzi, a web > video consultant for GOOD Magazine, and I edit Ask A Ninja. And if > you don't know who Sarah Szalavitz is, your just not running in the > right circles of nerddom. She is the Director of Content Development > for Veoh Networks, Produces Alive in Baghdad and controls the > trajectory of the stars and planets in her spare time. > > We're big fans of the VideoBloggingList and hope you guys like the show. > > Damien >
