The Daily Online VIdeo Fix: eGUIDERS.COM BETA IS LAUNCHING

I am proud and honored to present my latest project: eGUIDERS.com. We have great people recommending great web videos. So, stop searching and start watching!

Over the last year, I have been working with a talented team of designers, developers, reviewers, writers and online media junkies who have given their best to make sure we have a successful launch. Today we are one step closer with the beta version going live.

Please take some time to check out the site, subscribe to the newsletter, watch some amazing videos and see what we're about. Please spread the word about the site to friends and family!

Thanks to the team at Plank Design in Montreal for burning the midnight oil to get us up for the holidays. Shout out to CatalystSF for their strategy and support. Evangeline Morphos for her great ideas and super-sharp mind. Adam Klein for saying the right things at the right time. And a huge thank you for all the incredible eGuiders who worked diligently to make sure we are kicking things off on the right foot. But most of all, thanks to David Milch, who with his unwavering support and vision has helped make this all happen!

So, what are you waiting for. Check out eGuiders.com and start spreading the word!

Thanks,
Marc Ostrick

The Daily Online Video Fix: Casanovas Web Seies

Casanovas at first glance seems like your typical web series aimed at young males in search of no strings attached sex.  But Casey Casseday and Geoff Bunch's series quickly shakes off this stigma by having good performances, decent production value and most of all a sharp script.     You almost wish that the episodes were serialized a bit more so we can dig deeper with the characters.  At the moment, it feels more like really good scenes.  But hey, I'll take it.   I thought the episode below was really funny and well delivered.  I'm just waiting for the women to strike back and knock some respect into these galavanting man-whores.

The Daily Online Video Fix: Future Shorts, Black Hole

British filmmakers Phil Samson and Olly Williams’s surrealist short, THE BLACK HOLE, is one of those great universal tales about greed.   I don't want to spoil the hook, but the precise execution of tone, pacing and production is nearly flawless.  Another intriguing aspect of THE BLACK HOLE, is that the short uses no dialogue.  Therefore, it is can be easily understood by anyone who watches regardless of what language they speak - talk about a virally charged. This short is ready to infect the web.  I wouldn't be surprised if this hit 2 million views in the next week (it is up to 450,000 now).

So, sit back, relax and enjoy!

The Daily Online Video Fix: Strike.tv's House Poor

Strike.tv just launched about 10 original online web series.  Some have real potential.  I just finished watching Mindy Kaling's HOUSE POOR.   I thought the concept is simple, but engaging and the cast of characters were excellent.   The best part about the series however is Mindy and her brand of offensive humor.   The other great aspect of the site is how they organized and displayed the cast and crew credits as well as the overall design and navigation.   Check out the site to catch the other series that have just launched.

The Daily Online Video Fix: Studio Visit

Here are some additional webisodes from my series STUDIO VISIT.  The series was originally created in 1999 for Eveo.com.   These videos represent one of the first web series created and explores the creative process of emerging artists working in NYC.    Eveo.com was a predecessor to YouTube.  These videos were to seed the site for launch so viewers could see what kind of stuff they should be making and uploading to the site.  It's unfortunate that Eveo.com was ahead of its time.  People didn't have broadband and the streaming was painfully slow.   The result was the internet bubble bursting in 2000.   

So, hope you enjoy this bit on online video history. Enjoy and please share your thoughts. 

The Daily Online Video Fix: Web Series, LOCKOUT

As promised, I wanted to share with you a bunch of webisodes from my documentary series LOCKOUT.  These videos were originally produced and licensed  to Eveo.com in 1999 during the first Internet boom.    They were intended to have a guerilla filmmaking style to inspire other video enthusiasts to submit videos.    The site was basically YouTube before there was a YouTube. I was one of the few people that were paid to seed the site with content for their launch.  Unfortunately, most people in 1999 did not have broadband connections and the streaming time was very slow.  Hence the dot-com crash of  2001.

The series focuses on the creative process of breaking bands in New York and Los Angeles.  I am posting these videos as a way to get a sense of what was being produced back then and how original content for the Internet created its own form.   

I feel the greatest success of this series was capturing the energy and passion of those individuals I was documenting.   It's up close and personal.     Out of the handful of artists I featured, Linkin Park by far was the greatest success.  That year they released their debut album and became the biggest selling act of the year (see the videos in my previous post about the series).

Below are the additional video clips from the series.  I hope you dig them and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts. 

The Daily Online Video Fix: Barely Political's Nadar & Obama Girl

I'm not going to say much about this video except that I think this show could be bigger than ALL IN THE FAMILY.  If you are following the viral political videos this election season, you will love this video.  Barely Political knocks it out of the park with this one!  Mazel-Tov!

The Daily Online VIdeo Fix: Zeitgiest, Federal Reserve

I thought the last post may have been a little too flip about the economic disaster facing our country at the moment, so I wanted to post a more sobering online video that may shed some light on one of the most mysterious institutions - The Federal Reserve. I think this clip from the film Zeitgeist does a great job of giving us a background on hot the reserve was formed and how it operates. Even though this film is labeled a conspiracy film, I think it holds a lot of valuable information. The word conspiracy is sometimes used to marginalize the truth and make people think that this type of content is fiction. Sometimes, I wish it was so... As Americans, this is a very rough time and I hope this video can help give us a little understanding of the forces that shape and drive this nation.

The Daily Online Video Fix: Dr. Horrible's Sing Along

This is going to be the future of online content. Professional, dynamic and originally web-centric. Love the pacing, performances, lighting and overall production value. It's evident that Joss Whedon really gets what makes the medium work. Hulu's site really is also easy on the eyes. The player is elegant and clean. This is a short blog entry since it is Friday, the debate is on and it's time to step away from computer. I repeat, step away from the computer. Hope everyone has a great weekend!