I found this really interesting Google Labs thing called Squared. What is the first thing I did? Enter the term Filmmaking, “Yeah man” (as Baloo would say it). What was returned was a neat table of popular film makers and some interesting information. The generated table has columns that are cleverly relevant to the context of film makers – although I must say that I was expecting something more related to filmmaking as a process than filmmaking people.
Besides the information immediately obvious, google also supplies other options to choose from – probably the next most relevant sources – in the form of a drop list. Also you can add your own columns that I think google uses as a search term related to the squared term (in this case: filmmaking).
Of course I tried synapticlight, which did not return anything until I added my own keywords, click here for the result. And Visual Effects, which resulted in a list of filters. Alas nothing for “post production”.

Here is a screenshot of the Google Squared Filmaking result:

8b6cafebb6c74d3bb37a8a69a3bbd983
e07e309f10a843c4859827815a5bf963

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I think that this is very cool. In a way it is a perfect movie to feature here on this blog because I am into filmmaking and social networking – this is a Film about Social Networking. Will it be a good film? I leave that judgment to when I watch it. But for now here are the details, followed by the theatrical trailers after the jump.

The Social Network is a story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook.

Director: David Fincher
Writers: Ben Mezrich (novel), Aaron Sorkin (screenplay)

You can see the full cast on IMDB, but there does not seem to anyone notable other that Justin Timberlake – he acts in film? (well, didn’t he start off on a TV show? The Mickey Mouse Club House?)

I see that the screenplay was adapted from a novel by Ben Mezrich, hmm – maybe I’ll read that.

[Movie Poster by: trailershut]

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SynapticLight and me as the primary author (you can be a contributing one if you like – hint hint) have other channels where connections are made. They may be social networks outside of this blog, but they are places where discussions and sharing on filmmaking related topics can happen as well.
The goal is not to put together numbers and counts to inflate my reputation, the goal is to connect, engage and make friends. In connecting and ultimately making friends, we can learn from each other and others can learn from us as they read.

So I encourage you to check them out, to help share and discuss, and to join/friend.

Facebook

There are actually 3 difference and sometimes overlapping parts:
Be a Facebook Fan : There is a SynapticLight Fan Page to which blog posts are streamed via RSS. On the odd occasion I post updated and calls to actions. Here you can start off discussions or just post on the wall.
Like the blog: You can just Like the blog (as you can at the moment in the header of the blog)

My Facebook Profile : And of course, my facebook profile. You are more than welcome to befriend me if you don’t mind all strange updates I post, lol.

Twitter

Besides all the stuff I tweet about myself and SynapticLight blog entries, I also have a lot of filmmaker friends whom I RT and engage with.

Google

Buzz and Google Profile: You can follow me here. I try to share interesting stuff I find in my collection of RSS feeds, this can be anything odd, funny, social media or filmmaking related.  Or you can just subscribe to the blog here.

Digg

There does not seem to be dedicated channels to filmmaking, although there is Technology and Entertainment – Movies. Here I obviously spare my own posts and try to promote others to also digg them. I am still in the process of connecting with people with the same interests as me. Here is SynapticLight’s Digg Account.

StumbleUpon

This is the Social Bookmarking that provides me with the most hits. It is also more flexible in topics, so I am able to stumble links that are more closely related to filmmaking than Digg. Here is SynapticLight’s StumbleUpon Account.

Of course there are a few other, as you can see in the header, feel free to check those out. And of course on my Google Profile.

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1. Filmmaking Squared by Google
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Never before has there been such great distribution of independent and low budget content. People of every level of expertise, talent and budget are able to promote and distribute their content almost at will. There are both positive and negative aspects to this, you can see it as the Win and the Reversal. I thought I might talk about this in a way that would lead to what I hope to achieve in in this blog – that of using social media and networking to make connections, relationships and build trust with filmmakers that are on any level. That way we can learn together and perhaps even work together.

Equipment

We know that Computers, Software and Cameras are becoming cheaper; well it seems like a slippery slope with Software and even new Cameras making more demands on other hardware. Be that as it may, anyone can make a film now. It does not really require a RED Epic, an 8 core Mac Pro with Media Composer 5, NukeX and Cinema4D – that’s just what you end up dreaming about. Do a search on Google and you’ll find hundreds of suggestions on cheap cameras, editing software and computers. If you are reading this then you are probably somewhere between that and whatever you dream about.

Distribution

Here is where the power is. Online channels like YouTube and Vimeo do not make any judgment on content quality or the way the content was created. They do seem to be able to locate and filter out content that makes use of copyrighted soundtracks and they do highlight certain videos that they like (popularity based?). Regardless of that, anyone can upload anything. Before online video distribution like this, it was next to impossible to get your content out there. Short of conforming to 35mm and renting cinema time, you were stuck with handing out tapes or DVDs.
Now a filmmaker can upload his/her content and put it in sight of millions of possible viewers. It does not mean that many of those millions will see it, let alone approve of it. It does mean that there is a lot of junk out there. It is a pity, But that is a possible reversal of a good thing like free online distribution services.

Advertising Through Social Networking

Social Networking is on the rise with no end in sight. Not only can you share with every friend you have on every network you are part of, you can also bookmark links to your movie and let everyone else share and spread the word. However, while there are millions of possible people to share with through the concept of pyramid connections, not many people take notice of the links (not even friends). The tactic here is to build trust over the long term; establishing relationships with people who value your input, then – when you share your video link – people will take is seriously.

Monotization

Apart from the few people who have been noticed online by there amazing video content, there is little chance in making money by hopping for the best. YouTube seems to have come to the fore, by putting together a great opportunity for filmmakers to make money from their online content: YouTube Rentals. Ok, Google will be taking a shaving off whatever price is charged, but kudus to Google for finding a way to earn money from YouTube.

Conclusion

There is a lot of positives to be gained by taking part in online video distribution. The channels over a way to distribute content that was only available to the rich. The fact that the distribution medium is over the internet opens the doors to things like social networking and the possibility to advertise to the world.
The downside is that it can be taken for granted and the quality compromised; poor content and editing for the sake of putting something out there. Another threat is that people with the right finances will take over the opportunity and once again make it harder for the lessor known and lessor financed filmmaker to make inroads into the online market. A kind of Hollywoodizing where the film moguls are calling the shots and we are back to stage one – where the enthusiast filmmaker can’t get into the networks that were originally made for him/her.
It is almost as if it is a reversal of the original intent. However I doubt that that will happen because if there is one thing that makes the online community what it is – it is the online community, not just a few high powered individuals. So it behooves us, us filmmakers that find ourselves trying to make it in the online world, to stay connected and help each other out with Sharing, bookmarking, advertising etc in social networking channels. Maybe; and this is what I strive for, connections will be made that will create relationships that lead to films being developed in real life.

[Image by: believekevin]

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Another month has gone by and it has been interesting, what with the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup held in South Africa, coming off the back of a 31 Days to Building a Better Blog group project and the second month of my daughter’s life. Needless to say there were some posts on the World Cup and there has been a lot of juggling. Unfortunately there was a drop in traffic by 17% – maybe people were just more interesting in the soccer matches
anyway, here are the top 10 posts of June 2010 :

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First Offline Local:

• Mainly because I need to make sure that the Theme that I use does not have hicups.
• Secondly for all the plugins I have – to make sure that things run smoothly.

In both cases I need to see if there are any required updates

Wait at Least a Week

• Wait for the updates (Theme and plugins)
• As well as for any minor fixes for WordPress 3.0
• Let others feel the pain and find the work arounds – if any required. Or if you find them locally – to be the hero and post them.

I have a very cool and exciting project for a personal blog that will let me express myself in a way that will be more engaging with people.

So I will be looking for a good theme that will be supporting wordpress 3.0 nicely.

Are you jumping in head first? Or do you have a strategy?

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Top posts are a great way to see just what people are reading here on SynapticLight . So I’ll be starting with May 2010 and will post the previous months hot[slash]popular posts at the beginning of every month. It not only gives me a sense that I am heading in the right direction but also helps me to keep my readers up to date with what they find interesting. Agree? Disagree? What do you think?

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Most of what SynapticLight.com is about is to make connections with people in the spheres of Film-making, Social Media and the Church. I try to maintain an overlap of those three areas in the kinds of people I engage with. However there are exceptions, as always, and some of those exceptions lead to great friendships

Anyway, one of the ways to create those connections and foster those friendships is to be useful. In my mind that means to provide content that readers (dedicated and new) will benefit from. Sometimes I can’ always discern what is useful content; not being a mind reader and all So I am asking you to ask me questions.

I am opening the door here, so to speak, to any question that relates to my blogging (and more than that – Social Media), my attempts at filmmaking and where those elements interact with the Church.

The two ways to ask these questions:

• Comment on this post
• Fill in  the content form: Contact me.
• Direct Message or Tweet me on Twitter.
• Write on my FaceBook Wall

I will endeavor to answer them directly and may even write a post about them.

So what question would you like to ask me?

[Image by crystaljingsr]

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Another good looking mobile video editor. Now if you could connect a decent video camera to your iPad and stream it directly then you could really get going. lol, well, the more I think about the more I think that the iPhone is just so much more convenient to carry around. The screen is just so small to edit video on, however I would just be top and tailing the video – more than anything.
Vericorde has this really neat mobile video editor for the iPhone and of course the iPad. It looks like something that can make you the true community news gathers in this time of new media. If new media is throwing around video clips onto ever video sharing site

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We have all been there, even Darren agrees in his 31 Days to a Build a Better Blog; that place where you cannot find something to write about. In some way, it is comforting – that we are not alone. The question is what can you do about it. Here are a few things that I think will help:

Listening Posts

One of the fundamental ways to see what people are talking about on certain topics is to setup listening posts. We had a discussion in our 31DBBB project on setting up Alerts. Ways to do that can be to set up keyword watching on words and phrases that are in your niche or area of interest:

• Google Alerts
• AlertRank
• Twitter Search
• UberVU/

Reading Rooms

Subscribing to blogs of interest that are similar to you and actually reading and contributing. Who knows there is an opportunity for collaboration or furthering a discussion on your own blog with your own thoughts on something that you read.

Tutorials/How-tos

Writing these so called Pillar Posts can always be useful. There is always something that you are learning; be sure to document it and “wa-la” there’s a post. It’s cuts two ways though; while it give you something to write about, it can will build reputation and it can break it – so make sure you know what your are talking about.

Experience

Half of the reason you are blogging is to talk about the things that interest you. So when you do them in Real Life then write about them as well. For me it is filming; it has been a while because my world has become smaller with my baby daughter, but soon I will be back on track.

Offline

There are movies to watch, News to see, Books to read, Magazines to peruse and discussion to be had. All real life activities that can take place and initiate an idea to write a blog post.

Be Prepared for the Ideas

Keep a notebook, moleskin, or even a voice recorder on hand to jot down or record ideas as they come. We all know that ideas seem to fade like a dream after waking up; keeping track of them will be invaluable. Perhaps I should do that as well
Another way is to construct quick drafts on your blog that you can flesh out later and publish when complete.

• How do you go about finding ideas?
• Do you use any gadget to help you remember.
• Do you have a routine or schedule to prepare upcoming posts or do you write them on the fly?

[Photo by: Auntie P]

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As part of the 31 Days to Become a Better Blogger project that is currently running on Christian Web Trends, I am asking for feedback concerning my blog. While this is aimed at the 60 plus participants in the project it is not a close process. So please, let me know what you think.



Here are some guidelines in what to look out for when reviewing:

1. Layout and Design

In terms of look and feel; does the blog appeal to you, look professional and is well put together? Do you think that the colours and images have some form of consistency that contributes to a theme and does not look random or wishy washy? If you want to go into more detail here you could look at at header, main page, sidebar, and footer separately.

2. Speed

How long did it take for the page to load? Did it feel quick enough on your connection or hopelessly too long?

3. Functionality

Do you find the links and widgets useful? For example the top and random posts, the facebook connect and search fields. Is there something that you’d like to see.

4. Engagement

When you arrive here, do you feel inclined to comment or to dig deeper for other information. Is the content engaging in a way that will keep you longer on the blog? If not, can you recommend something that could help in that regard. How about the social bookmarking buttons; do they help you to share with others and hence extend the engagement beyond yourself?

You can really say anything you like, you are not bound by the above. However if there is on thing that I would like to see improved above all else it that of engagement. I would like to improve the blog in a way that sees more comments, longer visits, more sharing and more clicking on internal links.

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In two days time (14 May) it will be the 2nd anniversary of my blogging life. I started with my first post, just showing the first TenBefore (10B4) we did. GreenScreen, keying, all that stuff. It has been a fun time, I leaned a lot.
And now, 2 years later, as I look back at how I have progressed, how my blog has evolved and how so many good people have been a part of my life.

I remember last year, when I celebrated my first year, things were just starting to ramp up in terms of visits and comments. I was reading Tribes by Seth Godin and taking part in my first group blogging project. It was then that I started developing the notion and drive to connect with Christian FilmMakers as Christians who volunteer in Video related tasks at church. Inspired by Tribes and my interest in Video, I wrote Building a Christian Video Tribe. Between then and now I have certainly made a lot of connection with Christian Filmmakers; in particular, Tom Khazoyan who was involved with The Enemy God, and the Daws Brothers who did Dangerous Calling.

Currently most of my efforts have been to get more Page Views and Comments. I think that when I reach year three I want to tell the story of how I became involved with Christian Filmmakers (IRL) and worked with them to create great content to Glorify God.

What is the story you want to tell at your next Bloggerversary?

[Photo by: ponsfrilus]

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I have joined up with Christian Web Trends for a great group blogging project. There are over 60 bloggers currently engaged in the project, so suffice to say it is very engaging. More information can be found over at Join Us and Become a Better Blogger in 31 Days . This is not the first time I have participated in this project, the first being when Darren Rowse started it before it was an ebook. Because of that I have been able to look back and gauge how far I have come. What a ride
Today is my opportunity to contribute to Christian Web Trends on Day 6 of the project:27 Must-Read Tips And Tutorials For Bloggers and to talk about what was of interest to me in all those articles.
It is a lot of articles so I have narrowed them down to the 5 that I have found of most importance to me:

1. First, ten : Collaboration is key in just about everything and Seth Godin knows that, especially on startup of projects. With everything geared to Social Media mechanisms, networks and applications, nothing provides a better kick start than a group of people marketing as apposed to just one person.
2. Let Content Improve Your Rankings : You can’t get around it, if you want your blog to go the next level and have the posts grant you hits long after they have been published, yet need to consider some technical aspects like SEO.
3. More on Why You Need ProBlogger the Book [Video Tips and Bonuses] : Some good principles from the experts, even if you just watch the video. Hard work and patience stand out. As for the book, I myself am very tempted to buy it.
4. The Secret to Massive Digg/StumbleUpon Traffic Without Spamming : This is something I have tried to apply and to certain levels of success. Digg not so much, StumbleUpon a lot. Yet it results in a lot of visits and not much carry over to more page views than visits.
5. How to Grow Your Google Authority : Trust is so important, even to Google. So how can you get as much traffic to your blog and still maintain that trust?

What articles can you think of that can be important in raising the bar when it comes to blogging? What have you read and applied that has made a difference?

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1. Tools and Utilities for FilmMakers
2. The death of celluloid… yes and no
3. Arri Alexa and Mysterium-X…
4. Review: MC Color control surface
5. Production and Post Wars (or Why Red Should Buy Final Cut)
6. NAB 2010 Wrap-up: Winners and Losers

If you have any other interesting links that I could have a look at, please, feel free to share them.

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Analysis and Demographics Of South African Twitter Usage

Glad to see that there are some interesting pie and bar charts for South Africa Twitter users . Also good to see what us South Africans are tweeting about. The report was put together by fuseware.net (Strategic Social Media Integration) and look quite complete; a couple of interesting things about it …

South Africans are not that Big on Twitter

With only 55000 users tweeting 1.5 million times a month (the USA is easily more than 200% more) and with Cape Town and Johannesburg having the biggest Twitter user count, it seems that South Africa is slow on the twitter uptake.

Some Things are the Same

Yes we seem to tweet mostly during working hours, no matter where you are in the world. Cos that’s where you are strapped to your desk and like me then you’ld not want to tweet while out and about. Besides, it not as practical here to tweet on your mobile as it is in the USA. However there is a peek between 6pm and 8pm – seem that South Africans are good enough to limit there tweeting while they drive home

Most Twitter users are Designers

Really, is that because it fits their way of thinking?

Second are Students; tweeting in class are we? lol

South Africans are more Happy than Sad

Well that is promising

I wonder if using twitter can be of help to sad people?

Images are from the actual Report.

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