Tubefilter News

A discussion about the current state of YouTube view counts being ‘stuck’ started up amongst some online video professionals and it prompted me to rattle off some personal experience and knowledge on things that can help place your YouTube videos ahead of other. These tips are meant to help boost views on YouTube but ultimately ‘great content’ is the major thing that will help most.

Joe Wilson who created the web series Vampire Mob brought up the discussion on the forum – so I used his latest video as an example of some things to do to help increase his chances of moving up on the viewership ladder—here’s how my forum post went down with direct suggestions to him but also can be applied to everyone out there creating content and syndicating it on YouTube.

NAMING IS HUGE
Abbreviate when you can and make sure to lead off with something catchy. The title of the latest Vampire Mob episode was called ‘Vampire Mob Season Two – Episode Two – I suggested he change it to ‘Hitman’s Best Friend – Vampire Mob 2.2′. This leads off with the episode name and still retains numbers in it (which will help YouTube recognize it as some type of series).

It’s been a little while since we’ve done a Quick Clicks, our round-up of online video news of the day. Thanks to a few readers for pestering reminding us about this semi-regular feature here on Tubefilter.

Web series and online video news worth clicking today:

Rebecca Black’s Newest Single—Un Auto-Tuned: We should put a warning in front of this one, it’s something not far from shoving acid-dipped Q-Tips into your ears. Break.com had a little fun with “Friday” singer Rebecca Black’s latest single “My Moment” by egregiously turing off the auto-tuning. [Break Originals]

Yam Roll comes to the US on Hulu: Technically, the popular animated comedy series is called The Very Good Adventures of Yam Roll in Happy Kingdom, but most fans call it Yam Roll for short. Hulu (and Hulu Plus) now has all episodes of this 2006 vintage story of an exotic land of sushi and how one of its inhabitants, a super-powered cab driver named Yam Roll, braves monsters and bad guys all in the name of unrequited love. [Yam Roll on Hulu]

If you’ve been around YouTube for any of the past four years, there’s a very good chance that you’ve seen or heard of the series called,Is It a Good Idea to Microwave This? The show, created by Jonathan Paula, Jory Caron and Riley McIlwain (all members of Ideo Productions) is a simple concept: microwave hundreds of various items to see what happens. And often that concept produces entertaining – not to mention explosive – videos.

A mix of science, comedy and curiosity created the first episode of The Microwave Show back on July 1st, 2007. In that first video (embedded below) Jory Caron places a lightbulb in a microwave after having seen the same thing done online. The bulb unexpectedly breaks, leading Caron and Paula to realize that they could microwave all sorts of objects for the viewers at home. Four years later, the series finale shows Caron, Paula, McIlwain and guest-star Ryan Lewis as they go out with a bang. Not only does the team microwave a propane canister and fireworks, they also douse the entire structure with gasoline, and then proceed to shoot the propane tank with a rifle.

What would you do if you found yourself trapped in a room with only your Facebook friends to help you? Such is the premise of a new social interactive experience starting July 25th.

Inside, which is billed by its producers as “the first interactive social horror film experience” is directed by former, Steven Spielberg protégé, DJ Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) and stars Emmy Rossum (Shameless) as a girl trapped in a prison like room, yet somehow is still equipped with a Toshiba laptop. Not surprisingly, the project is sponsored by Intel and Toshiba. Through social media she enlists her friends (the audience) in helping her plan her moves and plot her escape.

The Inside experience begins July 25th, with short clips posted online. The audience will be able to tweet clues, post advice to her Facebook wall or simply comment via YouTube. The editing team will then select the best tweets or comments and integrate them into the final film. For those wishing to make the cut, good commenting is a must; chances are the Internet stalwart, “show us your bweebs” will not make the cut.

MSN and the producers of NBC’s The Biggest Loser have teamed up to produce an original reality online series about crazy families.

A casting notice on non-scripted casting site Reality Wanted is seeking “the Chelsea Handler of moms” for an original series about families with crazy traditions:

Are you a family that bickers and argues, but still knows what it means to be a tight-knit family unit? Are you a mom who loves her family, but still needs a little “me time” every once in a while? We want to hear about your fun family traditions. Whether it’s a yearly hunting trip, a monthly motorcycle ride, or just a quirky family picnic, we want to hear your stories!

Whether Handler is attached to the project is unknown, but for the stand-up comedian, humorist, television host, best-selling author and Playboy cover model, online video isn’t unfamiliar territory.

Since 2007, Handler has appeared in In the Motherhood, an MSN online original starring Leah Rimini and featuring other Playmate-turned-mommy Jenny McCarthy that was picked up by ABC and starred Jessica St. Clair, Megan Mullally, and Cheryl Hines. Handler had to drop out of the project due to her show on E! Chelsea Lately.

3 Ball Productions, the company behind the series, is currently casting two reality shows with ABC. Question: Given MSN’s track record with ABC, its relationship with Handler on In the Motherhood, and the fact that Handler’s name is all over the casting notice, do you think she’s involved? Sound off

This has become an annual tradition for us here at Tubefilter, and it’s been a popular one as we sort through the hundreds of panels, screenings, signings and parties at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 to bring you fine readers our best picks for web series and online video specific events. It all starts this Thursday, and some don’t miss events this year include The Guild’s (possible final) appearance at SDCC, The Mercury Men’s panel with Syfy, a Dr. Horrible sing-a-long, ElfQuest, and, oh hey there, a little Tubefilter-sponsored New Media Meetup in San Diego.

And if this is your first time braving the teeming masses at SDCC, be sure to check out this handy video on What to Pack for Comic-Con from Elisabeth at TFAW.com.

WEB VIDEO RELATED PANELS, EVENTS AND SCREENINGS AT COMIC-CON 2011
(As always, we’ll keep updating this list as we hear of new events or schedule changes. Check back often.)

THURSDAY, JULY 21:
11:00-12:00p The Evolution of Web Series: The Guild to Dragon Age — Writer/actor Felicia Day (The Guild), actor Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth), Dragon Age: Redemption director Peter Winther (Leverage), and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah discuss the secrets to The Guild’s success and what happens when you take that winning formula to the dark fantasy video game universe, Dragon Age, for the upcoming web series Redemption. Room 7AB

We’re on final countdown to Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego this week and for that matter, so is the much-anticipated noir sci-fi web series The Mercury Men. The series readies for its online debut a week from today on July 25 on Syfy.com,

It was January when fans finally learned the fate of this indie series, as creator Christopher Preksta secured a paid distribution deal with Syfy.com. The 10-episode series is set in an alternative history version of 1975 where aliens inhabit the other planets in our solar system. When pure-light beings from the planet Mercury invade earth, it is up to him and action-hero Jack Yaeger (Curt Wootton) to stop them.

We at Tubefilter talked Syfy into letting us show you an exclusive, never-before-released scene from The Mercury Men, and it’s a good one. All we really can say is, Light Bullets!

If the internet was made for something aside from supercuts and animated gifs it was made for condensed versions of otherwise lengthy political speeches, highly abridged editions of multi-season television shows, and very much abbreviated screenings of major motion picture franchises.

In other words, the internet was kinda made for recaps. Every politically relevant event lasting 60 minutes or more and pop culturally relevant entertainment property stretching over a few seasons or a few movie titles is a great target for this particular genre of online ephemera, especially if those properties are in the business of making hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.

With this weekend’s US theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the internet is in no short supply of recaps of the first seven Harry Potter flicks made by prominent online video outlets. And like the great race to the Zero-Minue Abs workout series, one is roughly 60 seconds shorter than the other.

Benny and Rafi of The Fine Bros. dress up in their best white-collar Harry Potter prep school garb and give you the lowdown on the first seven HP flicks in seven-minutes and 37-seconds by way of a single camera, a single take, more than a few remarks about movies’ questionable plot points (Editor’s Note: That’s so Ravenclaw! LOL!), and lots of lower- and upper-third bugs and animations.

But if the The Fine Bros can recap the Harry Potter movie franchise in seven-and-a-half-minutes, the online video gurus at Slate can do it in six minutes and 16 seconds. Chris Wilson scribed and Andrew Bouve edits and narrates this Cliff’s Notes of the Wizarding World, cut together by way of pithy clips from the films.