Hey there! I’m Lindsay Goldner, one of the interns at Howcast’s San Francisco office. Like our East Coast counterparts, we made our own video to be featured on Howcast.com. From our list of potential topics, we decided that “How To Play Twister” would be the most fun for us to film. The New York office sent us the script that we’d be using, and we got to work producing the storyboard that laid out each scene of our video.
After story-boarding, we got to work on filming the video itself. Tiffany acted as referee and main camera operator, while Nick, Sunil, and I played Twister.We filmed in the lounge of Sunil’s apartment complex in downtown Berkeley, and, just like any first-time filmmaking team, we ran into some obstacles along the way. The first was figuring out just how to get the right angles while using the camera’s small lens. Lighting was another challenge, since the lounge windows let in small, uneven squares of light, and it was too windy to shoot outside. Like Charlie (one of the NYC interns), I too had no clue how intricate filming a three-minute video could be!
Complications aside, we were ultimately able to set everything up to our liking and begin filming.I think we’d all forgotten just how much coordination and flexibility is involved in playing Twister, but we were reminded quickly enough! Despite whatever the final cut may show (and to the chagrin of Nick and Sunil), I wound up winning every round — although my sore muscles paid for it the next day!
While some of our friends spent their summer internships pouring coffee and sorting e-mails, we were lucky enough to have a hands-on role in producing content for our web site! I think all of us took away a new-found appreciation for everyone that produces videos, and the considerable effort involved in the process.
Look for the SF interns’ video, How to Play Twister, coming soon to a computer near you!
After receiving 150 amazing entries to the How-to Video Challenge, we opened the official voting period yesterday to help us determine the top 10 finalists that will be judged by our stellar jury. Within a few hours of the voting period opening, we noticed certain irregularities in the voting process that could impact the fairness of the voting for all entrants. We have researched the irregularities and are working on the necessary corrections to prevent them from recurring.
In the interest of fairness, we’ve paused the voting period and will be restarting it as soon as possible, with all vote counts set to zero. None of the contest dates, including the end of the voting period, will be affected by this change. We apologize sincerely for having to restart the voting period but our top priority is to ensure that the contest is 100% fair to all the filmmakers and video artists who worked so hard on their entries.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at videochallenge@howcast.com.
Howcast’s summer-long How-To Video Challenge is coming to a close…but that opens the door for viewers to finally have their say! Voting opens tonight at midnight (EDT) and runs all the way up to August 24th.
That’s twelve days to vote for the videos you think are the most creative and most original, or as we like to put it, the “coolest, baddest and flat-out flyest!” You can vote as many times as you like and for the same video once per day. That means if you’ve entered, make sure to tell all your friends and family to visit and vote. (Try using Howcast’s sharing tools for Facebook, Twitter, Digg and MySpace on the contest page to make it super simple.)
There are more than a hundred awesome videos competing to be in the pool of top ten finalists. Getting into that exclusive top ten means that our stellar jury panel including Peter Baxter, Slamdance Film Festival; Jeff Cooperman, The Colbert Report; Katherine Sharpe, ReadyMade Magazine; Tim Sullivan, Magical Elves (Project Runway, Top Chef) will decide who is first, second, and third for the entire Challenge.
Remember: $2000, a Sony Webbie HD camera package, and a Nano and Apple Store gift certificate are at stake — make sure you cast your votes and have your say in who takes home the loot!
At Howcast, we’ve grown with our users since day one, poring over data about how you use and interact with our site. Our tech team takes all this good data, adds some of their secret sauce, and turns out awesome new features. We now present to you the fruit of their labors: a new and improved experience on Howcast.com!
You can see the difference as soon as you land on the home page. We’ve streamlined our layout so you can find both how-to videos and text guides in one place. On the video and guide pages themselves, we’ve made it easier for you to share content with friends, and our voting button is front and center, so you can let other users know when you find a How-To useful.
One thing that hasn’t changed is our enthusiasm for content that comes from you, our users. With that in mind, we’ve made it easier to upload text, video, and–a new feature–images, all from a single page. The new upload interface automatically creates steps as you type, making it even simpler to share your knowledge with others.
Finally, we’ve taken our original, award-winning video player and given it a fresh look. The slow-motion and zoom controls have moved to the upper-left corner to make them easier to find, we’ve added a toggle in the player to turn HD quality playback on and off, and an icon that allows you to embed the video and the player on your own site.
Last night Jason, Heather, and Darlene showed off Howcast to the 250 participants (and even more people watching via the web on LivesStream) at the Web Video 2.0 Meet-up at Columbia University. One of only three presenters for the evening, talked about why we started the company, how we partner with content creators and even managed to squeeze in a video, all in under five minutes.
At the end of the three presentations, a text vote, a la American Idol, was opened up both the participans and web viewers to vote on the most compelling presentation of the evening. And… Howcast won! Pretty awesome, especially since the other two companies that presented, Brightroll and ZampMyTV, are super super cool.
Much mingling was done after the presentations and the Howcast crew was able to talk to a lot of people personally about how they can participle with Howcast. Everyone at the event was extremely nice and I think it goes without saying that we can’t wait until the next meet-up!
It’s not too late to submit the winning how-to video to Howcast’s How-To Video Challenge! We’ve received tons of requests to extend the deadline. It’s not something we planned for, but seeing so many competitive entries seems to have increased the frenzy around entering!
The new deadline for uploading the video that scores $2,000 is August 11.
That’s two extra weeks to put the finishing touches on your entry or two solid weeks to get started if you haven’t already. Spend a little time getting creative in these next two weeks and come September, you could be 2,000 bucks richer, playing with your new Webbie HD camera, or going on a little shopping spree in the Apple Store, all on Howcast.
Here are all the new dates:
Deadline: August 11 Voting Period: August 13 – August 24 Jury Deliberation: August 25 – September 3 Winners announced the week of September 7!
Good luck!
Check out these links to read the guidelines and rules, see the prizes, and meet the superstar jury panel:
I’m Charlie Gimber, the editorial intern here at Howcast. As my fellow intern Jack explained previously, we’ve been hard at work on collective how-to video projects as part of our internships. We’re doing absolutely everything – from writing the script and recording the voice-over to filming and editing the footage.
In New York, we chose “How To Stand Up For Yourself,” and I immediately started working on the script by checking out some related titles for inspiration (How To Stand Up To A Bully and How To Overcome Fear). Sticking to Howcast’s sourcing guidelines (all scripts are fact-checked), I researched self-improvement advice, chose a few key pieces, and transformed the information into a step-by-step script in the Howcast format. Once that was approved, we moved on to the voice-over.
Those who were brave enough to face claustrophobia head-on got a chance to try out the tiny recording booth. After analyzing everyone’s attempts, we decided that Morgan, an Emerging Filmmakers Program intern, was clearly a cut above when it came to narrating skills, so we proudly elected him to be the official voice of our video.
The next step was to start filming. The production intern, Kelsey, took the reins on the storyboard and served as our director. Prior to our shoot in Washington Square Park, I had no idea how much time and effort went into each and every shot. For example, if the sun disappears behind a cloud (which happened often), it’s vital to wait until it reappears, or it throws off the lighting of the entire video. It’s often the little things that make filming a challenge, which I didn’t realize till I was on set. The whole project has been a great learning experience, allowing us to participate in every step of the process – something that doesn’t often happen for interns.
Now the video is in post-production, where it gets edited and finalized. Look for Jack’s next blog entry, coming soon!
My name is Jack Mullan and I’m an intern here at Howcast. Welcome to the first of our summer 2009 Howcast intern blog posts. (I wanted to name the series something like — Amazing Posts from the Superstar Interns, but they tell me it’s a mouthful.) Starting today, the interns will be offering up a day in the life of a Howcast intern. Howcast’s New York office houses 10 all-star interns, who collaborate with four fantastic interns across the country in San Francisco. One lucky intern has even been promoted to an official position at Howcast — a testament to our status as superstars and to how cool it is to work at a start-up like Howcast!
Having completed our first few weeks of official intern duty, we’ve finally settled into the world of Howcast. Although the job title is “Internship,” our work hardly resembles the commonly perceived intern duties of fetching lattés and picking up supplies. Along with our daily Howcast assignments from every department — Editorial to Distribution, Production to Post-Production — we’ve even begun creating how-to videos of our own. How To Stand Up For Yourself is being made by the NYC intern team and How To Play Twister is in production out in San Fran. (Watch out for me when the NYC video goes live. I’m tackling a difficult, seen-but-not-heard role.)
Making the video opened my eyes to all the details and pre-production required in producing web video and my short tenure at Howcast has already taught me some of the skills needed to hit the ground running at a media company. From brainstorming sessions in the conference room to our work on the streets putting up fliers, being a Howcast intern so far has been a fast-paced, exciting glimpse into the work that goes into a rising media start-up.
Look out for our videos soon, and stay tuned for our next post from Editorial intern Charlie Gimber, who will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the shooting of our video in New York City!
Recently I had the opportunity to participate in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, otherwise known as the ultimate crash course in the military for ordinary non-military folk. Hosted by General Victor Renuart, the Commander of NORAD (think War Games) and the US Northern Command, the experience was absolutely mind blowing. From riding in an Osprey to hearing real stories from soldiers, I have a new found appreciation of the military and the people who protect us. I was given the amazing opportunity to be the first guest blogger on the Commander’s Blog, and write about my experience during the JCOC. Check it out.
I’m Charlie Gimber, the editorial 
