For the last few months, we've been "foundation building." For us, this means taking the time to focus on the business behind Common Craft and how we communicate our business to you. Our goal is clarity - if we are clear about the exact business that we run, then we're more able to illustrate our value to potential customers. It's hard work and something we're excited to see come to fruition. Now that it's in place, we can really focus on videos.
The elements of the foundation:
Licenses - We've had a great experience reviewing our licenses. For the first time, a legal team worked with us over a matter of weeks and learned our business from top to bottom. They asked questions, they challenged us, they made suggestions. We came out of it with a new license agreement that:
1. Matches exactly with the business we want to run
2. Matches our plain English style (it fits on one page!)
3. Gives us confidence that our licenses are solid.
These are our snazzy license icons that appear at the end of each video:
Education - Coming out of the review process gave us new insight into the big ideas we must be able to communicate about our licenses. We updated our FAQ, created a Licensing Guide and a new video that describes how to share Common Craft videos responsibly. It's now on the front page and on the Store page - and below:
Equipment - We've reinvented our studio to make video production more comfortable and efficient. You won't see big changes in the videos, but you might notice smiles on our faces thanks to having a studio set up that makes production a joy. The big change? We moved the whiteboard off the floor and onto a table, mounted the camera from the ceiling, added a connection to a TV and clamped on smaller lights with less heat. This is hopefully our foundation for years of videos to come.
New Commercial License - As a result of our review, we're now offering a new Commercial License. This license is for companies that would like to display Common Craft videos on their public-facing web site. We ask these customers to fill out a form to apply for a Commercial License.
New School Program - We want students to benefit from our videos. We're now offering a special deal for schools of all types. Entire school districts (K-12), independent, and post-secondary schools only need to purchase a single Site License to use licensed versions of our videos. Further, the Site License is offered to schools at a 50% discount. Apply for the discount here.
New Format: Kindle Books - We've started to adapt our videos into Kindle books that are availabe for purchase from Amazon's Kindle Store. More on this later.
So, we've been busy behind the scenes, but now we can focus once again on videos for you. We've been receiving some great suggestions for future videos. If you have one to add or have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
People often ask for a look at how we make the videos. When we were putting together the the "Electing a US President" video, I made a special point to take photos of the process. Here's how it works:
Every video starts with a script. If there is "secret sauce" it happens in writing the script because the script drives the video. We use Google Docs to collaborate until we feel like the script is close to finished. Then, we start looking at a thumbnail storyboard.
I draw the scenes for the thumbnail storyboard. It's our first attempt to represent the visuals.
After a couple of rounds of thumbnails and lots of talking between us, we make a list of all the elements that need to be drawn for the video. At this point, I start drawing and digitizing the images. Of course, with the maps in this video, I resorted to tracing.
Once the images are drawn and digitized, we set up a new storyboard using purely digital images. This way, we can manipulate sizes easily and see how everything fits together. Once we feel confident, we print out the materials and start cutting and coloring.
Sometimes, we leave things laying around and our dog decides to put them in his mouth.
Before shooting the video, we assemble all the materials and take them to the studio. We iterate at every point in the process. The script and visuals change every day.
Once production begins, we follow the storyboard and slowly lay out each scene. Often, scenes are revised on the fly. You can never really see how it will work until you see it on the screen.
Each video is different. Sometimes we go down a road, only to find a dead end. We are both prepared to throw away our work and start over if it doesn't feel right. It's painful, but necessary.
Sachi takes over control once we get to the studio. She runs each scene, the camera, lights, etc. She manages the voice-over and all the post production work. Editing is a huge part of what makes the videos work and those decisions are Sachi's. While she's doing that, I start this process over for the next video.
All these elements come together to create this video (on Vimeo, YouTube and dotSUB):
Our big transition is almost complete and we need your help. The new Store is up, we're finishing up the last custom projects and now is the time to plan what videos we'll offer in the Store over the next year. We have lots of ideas, but we really want to know what you think.
We want to make videos that:
Help professionals and educators increase awareness and create change at work
Have a positive impact on the Web
A good example of this is our video "Wikis in Plain English", which is part of our our Social Media series. We've heard from schools, corporate training programs, individual professionals and bloggers that this video has helped them influence others. Ultimately, our goal is to make videos that have similar appeal.
Like our current videos in the Store, our future videos will be offered with these license types:
Individual (personal professional use)
Site (organizational use)
Free (non-commercial, online use)
So, what video subjects or themes would have a positive influence in your company or school?
Another way to think about it... "My company or school would be better-off if people had a quick and easy way to learn about ______."
In honor of the start of the Beijing Olympics, we've decided to make it "China Week" here on the Common Craft blog.
In a lot of ways, China was where we first started to experiment with video. We bought our first video camera (a Sony DCR - PC 1000) in Hong Kong, just before spending about a month in mainland China in 2006. Over the time in China, we edited and posted our first "real" videos.
This week, we'll share a few of those videos and some stories from our time there. It's stuff you won't see on NBC, I promise.
To get us started, here is a 3 minute video that focuses on local food from Chongqing, a giant city in the Sichuan Province. Please note that what I call "rodent heads" may actually be rabbit heads (rabbits aren't rodents). Anyway, enjoy...
