I’m an independent filmmaker and puppeteer in Toronto, Canada who blogs about puppetry and film.
If you haven’t already heard, YouTube has been busy upgrading. First they switched to a new 16:9 (widescreen) video player a few weeks back and now YouTube supports uploading of high definition videos. If you want to start uploading your videos in high def, YouTube has a guide to optimizing your video...
In my opinion Blip.tv is the absolutely best place to host your videos if you are producing puppet podcasts (or any other kind of video podcast). The basic account is totally free and they offer a great set of features, including the ability to make a little money and can automatically post your videos to...
I spotted these green screen tips from Brian Richardson (he of WhatTheCast and Dragon*Con TV) in the famous Yahoo Videoblogging Group. I think they will be helpful for anyone doing puppet podcasts who is a little mystified/frustrated by the green screen process: The main trick is even lighting across the screen and the people in...
The open source Miro video player (I last wrote about it back in June when it was still called The Democracy Player) is out of beta testing and it’s a fantastic application. Miro can automatically download, manage and play videos from RSS-based “channels” and popular video sharing sites like YouTube. It’s a great way to...
Using video RSS feeds is a great way to help promote video podcasts. If you create a puppet podcast – or any other kind of video podcast at all – you should make sure you make use of Video RSS feeds. They work the same as the RSS feeds (or “newsfeeds”) that blogs use, except...
I recently started using the open-source Democracy Player (it will soon be renamed the Miro Player) and I really, really like it. Not only can Democracy play just about every kind of video imaginable – Quicktime, WMV, MPEG, AVI, XVID, etc. – it helps you find some of the internet’s best video podcasts via its...
Good Friday seems like an appropriate day to mention puppets on GodTube (link via TechCrunch), a new video sharing site dedicated to Christian audiences. There’s only a few puppet videos posted so far and the quality is middle-of-the-road, but hopefully this site will provide an opportunity for the Christian puppetry community to showcase some really...
Despite all the great puppetry content on YouTube, there still hasn’t been a true breakout puppetry star emerge yet. It’s probably a matter of when not if that happens and with that in mind it’s interesting to read that the newest wrinkle in the online video wars is that apparently YouTube’s competitors are trying to...
Phil Vischer is a pretty inspiring guy and anyone who dreams of being the next Jim Henson or Walt Disney can learn a lot from him and his experiences. Phil founded Big Idea Productions in 1993 with the motto “Sunday morning values, Saturday morning fun” and the idea that he would teach the Christian bible...
The excellent Spanish language puppetry site Titerenet is sponsoring their first ever Viral Video Online Puppetry Festival. The only rule is that to eligible for the contest your video must be made with a puppet. Awards will be given for the most watched video, the highest rated video, the most commented video and the most...
Muppets Harry and Professor Madcliffe help sell Esskay Meats in a commercial from the early days of television. As long time readers of the blog know, two of my big influences are Scott McCloud and John K. Neither of them are involved in puppetry, but their respective art forms (comics and animation) have traditionally faced...
Today while I was working there were five videos I wanted to see on the web. They were all formatted as Quicktime videos and while I wanted to watch them very much, clearly the creators didn’t want me to. At least that’s what it seemed like because it was nearly impossible to watch them in...