We’re happy to announce the chosen videos for each of the three BAT assignments on Poptent. We had some amazing entries and you guys did an excellent job analyzing the Creative Briefs and creating some compelling messages. The winners of $1000 each are:
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Poptent is our new community site where brands and independent video creators connect.
Archive for November, 2008
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BAT Announces Winning Videos
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Your Poptent Portfolio is Good for Business
[Editors note: in lieu of an interview, our Creator Spotlight, Zack Scott went ahead and wrote his own guest column]
Yesterday was my first opportunity to utilize my Poptent profile page as a portfolio and business card of sorts. A potential client contacted me through YouTube about an opportunity to create videos for his future website. As we discussed some details, he took note of the After Effects work in The Dogs video series. Samuel Seide and I both work on that series, but Samuel is primarily responsible for the graphics and animations. Since the client liked what Samuel did, I wanted to pitch the possibility of us doing ad-style videos to promote his upcoming site.
I decided to link him to my Poptent profile page so he could see our latest ads. The good news is that he liked them. The great news is that Poptent really came in handy during that particular moment. Now that I think about it, neither my YouTube page nor ZackScott.net would have sufficed for that occasion.
My YouTube page is primarily for entertainment. I try not to inundate my viewers with our ad creations unless I think they will truly enjoy them. Also, I don’t put professional information about me on that site because I don’t want to bore. That just isn’t how you grow a subscriber base. ZackScott.net is different because its primary purpose is a hub. If someone watches one of my videos, they will see “ZackScott.net” at the end. That way, there is always a centralized place for people to go if they want to see more. Once they get to there, they can contact me or go to my accounts on YouTube, Facebook, and even Poptent. It does contain some professional information, but it’s not the site’s focus.
That’s why Poptent makes perfect sense. If you go to my profile page, I showcase only my most popular videos along and my ad work. All of this is customizable and is targeted towards people interested in having people like Samuel and me create ads or other video content. It is a perfect portfolio for any video creator. This became most evident to me just yesterday. If you’re a professional or amateur in the online video work, I can’t recommend Poptent more. I suggest making a profile, listing your accomplishments, and posting your work. That’s just a start, because there’s an excellent community there too. It’s a professional place, but it’s also a blast, so join the fun.
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Last Week to Upload Nattyisms
We’ve got some great Nattyisms in for Natural Light Beer, but we’d always love to see more. Do you have an idea you’ve been waiting to produce? Now is the time - there are only a few days left. Pick up that camera and make it happen this week. We’ve got $2000 in awards, plus thousands extra if your video gets purchased.
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The Poptent Tour Part 5: Using Search
The main architecture of Poptent is built upon Search. Whenever you want to see something new, or find something old, chances are you’ll start with Search.
Say, for example, you’re working on a video project for an Assignment on Poptent and you’d like to find an editor in your area to collaborate with you. Search for ‘Creators‘ then refine your search to your area:
The search results will bring up a list of Creators in your geographic location.
Look at the summary of information in each listing. Below, you will see my listing. I come up in that search because I’ve told Poptent I live in Philadelphia and that one of my skills is Editing.
If you’re curious to see what kind of work I do as an editor, there’s a drawer on my summary that shows quick links to my media. Hover over any of those thumbnails and you’ll get even more information. Click them to go watch them.
Now, say you’re really needing some good music for your video, but you’re not much of a musician. No problem, there are lots of musicians here on Poptent. First click ‘Media‘ in the drop-down menu, then click Search.
After you get results, filter them down by Media Type and you’ll pull up all the audio files on Poptent. (By the way, check out our awesome new music player!)
Lastly, if you’d like to check back on a particular search result you can create a ‘permalink‘ by clicking that cool orange thumbtack. Use that link on your blog or to send those results to a friend.
Be sure to read the rest of the Poptent Tour posts here on our blog! We’re rolling out new tools and features all the time so stay tuned here and we’ll keep you up to date.
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Vote for Poptent
If you have a moment to spare, why not throw a good ol’ fashioned vote our way? Simply add your email (don’t worry, they won’t spam you), and voila! Let’s win this thing! You can vote with as many emails as you’ve got.
More about the Open Web Awards from Mashable:
Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories. This year, we’re partnering with over 100 blog partners, Poll Daddy for extra security and ease of voting and extending the nominations period and voting rounds for greater participation.
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Announcing October’s Reel of the Month
At Poptent, we love to see you show off your best work. Last month we started a campaign to reward you for uploading your current Demo Reel as a way to build your portfolio with us. We’re excited that in the first month, over 65 of you did just that!
The results are in. We had our panel of experts (read more about them below) pick their favorites. After crunching the numbers, here is their top choice is the reel submitted by goodnightsmoke!
This reel was chosen from a pool of 5 outstanding finalists:
Our judges panel this month is
Derek Hewitt
Senior Vice President of Marketing at TracFone, the fastest growing cell phone company in AmericaLance Weiler
Founder, the Workbook Project. Writer and Director of “Head Trauma”. Recently named one of “The 18 People Who Changed Hollywood” by Business Week magazine.David Schoneveld
Senior Digital FX Artist at Dreamworks Animation. Particle and Fluid Dynamics Instructor at The Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood.Chris Paine
Owner of Papercut Films. Writer and Director of “Who Killed the Electric Car?”.Denise Zimmerman
President and Chief Strategy Officer of NetPlus Marketing, a digital agency based in greater Philadelphia. She has authored numerous articles and white papers on developments in the online world, and speaks at iMedia Summits and Shop.org conferences frequently.John Shanley
Creative Director at NetPlus Marketing, a Top 50 Interactive Agency -
The Poptent Tour Part 4: Importing YouTube Videos
We’re launching new features all the time on Poptent because we’ve got big plans and dreams to be a super useful platform for your independent video business. One cool tool we just launched last week is a new favorite of mine: the ability to import media from other sites you already use.
If you click the new Account Settings link at the top right of the page when you’re logged in, the following dialogue box will pop up and you’ll be able to make changes to your account. Easy!
One of the first sites we wanted to give you ability to import from is your YouTube Channel. Got a great video you made that your clients and Poptent friends should see in your commercial portfolio? Don’t re-upload it, just let us import it from where it lives on YouTube.
As you see above, you can also currently import items from your blog and your Twitter account to Poptent.
To add a video from YouTube, all you have to do it tell Poptent where to look for your videos, then tag the videos you want imported with the word ‘poptent’.
Voila! They will magically appear in your media library.
The other things you can do in Account Settings are pretty straight forward, but important. We have granular control over what email notifications you’d like to receive under the “Notifications” tab.
On Poptent, people will sometimes add you as a credit, ask you to join a discussion or invite you to a project/group/team. If they don’t already know you’re on Poptent, they might invite you via email. To be sure we don’t double up on you and that they find you, you can also associate more than one email address to your account.
Don’t worry, we won’t expose your address, it’s only for our servers to know you’re a part of the system when someone invites you.
Be sure to check out all of my Poptent Tour posts here!
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Designated Drivers are Green
We all know carpooling is a great way to save gas and lower your carbon footprint. So doesn’t it follow that driving your friends to and from the party as the Designated Driver is a cool way to help save the environment as well as keep your loved ones safe?
Budweiser keeps rolling out new assignments on Poptent. Designated Driving: Protecting the Environment is their fourth assignment with us to date. They’d love to see the great ideas that you can produce to convey the positive green message about responsible driving.
Don’t forget, they’re looking for Heroes, too!