If you’ve decided that one of your major New Year’s resolutions for 2012 was to grow your business, consider using video on your website. Even the smallest businesses can benefit from online video marketing.

Video marketing campaigns have proved extremely successful for large and small businesses alike, no matter what you are selling. You can use video to introduce a new product, highlight the benefits of your service, showcase customer testimonials, or provide information on how to use your product. Videos can also be shared a number of ways, making them an accessible form of communication for your clients and customers. These include video on your website, video blogging, video in your email newsletters and sharing video on social media or on websites such as YouTube.

In addition, videos help create a better relationship with prospective clients because they’ll feel like they’ve already met you and your business.

Keep in mind that your video needs to be high quality in order to impress your potential clients or customers. This means that lighting, sound and visual equipment all need to be considered. If you have no video experience, it can be worthwhile to hire a video production company to create your video for you. While it is an added expense, it can be far cheaper than having to buy or rent the equipment on your own, and will also guarantee that the video has a professional edge – something that’s needed to stand out in today’s online world.

http://www.heatherrosewriting.com/

If you are planning a big conference or meeting in the new year, a videographer is a much more powerful way to get your message across and show people what they missed compared to using nothing at all or even just a few photographs. If you’ve got room in your budget for a photographer, consider going with a videographer instead. Here’s why:

- A video helps the participants of an event relive the event as opposed to just looking at photos of it.

- A video is far easier to look at than a multitude of photos. The fastest way to grab the attention of your customers and let them know why what went down at your conference is worth their time is through a short video, which will quickly convey your message and sales pitch. This effectively does the work for them, instead of making them sort through a slideshow of photographs and eliminating the risk of losing them due to a short attention span.

- Sharing video is much easier than than sharing hundreds of photos online. It’s much more convenient to share a link to a YouTube video than send or share a bunch of large photo files online.

- Using a professional videographer takes the stress off of you. Video is a much different medium than using photographs, and things like lighting, sound and editing all need to be taken care of. By hiring a professional videographer, you’ll know that everything is being handled by someone who knows what they are doing – using state-of-the-art equipment and expertise that the average hobbyist just doesn’t have.

- Professional videographers have the ability to create videos on computer files as well as on DVD, neither of which will degrade or fade over time unlike VHS tapes.

http://www.heatherrosewriting.com/

Betamax 

If one can stretch their memories back to just a few years ago when HD DVD and Blu-ray were battling it out over who would become the newest video format for the home consumer, a similar war was waged in the mid 1970s between good old VHS and Sony’s Betamax for the next best broadcast-quality camcorder. Obviously, VHS won out and even today some of us are still clinging to our beloved copies of VHS movies that haven’t been made on DVD even though most of us have nothing to play them on. 

Betacam 

After the failure of Betamax, Sony introduced the Betacam format in 1982 and it was a resounding success in the professional video production industry. Betacam tapes were available in small or large and had 300 lines of horizontal resolution. The Betacam was portable and while they would be considered quite clunky today, for the time they were light and convenient. Best of all, Betacam gave us the television show COPS because of it’s low-light capability and ability to make things look “gritty”. 

Betacam SP

Betacam was short-lived, soon being replaced by Betacam SP (Superior Performance). The horizontal resolution of the Betacam SP was between 340 and 360 lines, and the tapes were metal-formulated instead of using oxide.  Betacam SP became the go-to format for much of the professional video industry, especially news media that needed to record on location. The picture quality of the Betacam SP was markedly better than Betacam, with brighter and more vibrant colours. The majority of videotape recording in the professional industries that have not yet moved over to completely digital formats are still using Betacam SP because of its superior video post-production qualities. 

Digi Beta 

The Digi Beta or Digital Betacam was introduced in the early 1990s. Later, Betacam SX was introduced and was more efficient than the original Digi Beta, allowing camera operators to tag scenes among other features. Digi Beta used much smaller metal magnetic particles compared to the Betacam SP, which resulted in a smoother tape surface and higher-density digital recording. 

MPEG IMX 

The Digi Beta and Betacam SX gave way to the MPEG IMX in 2001, which offered more emphasis on video post-production features. MPEG IMX allows for the better transporting of video data over a network, which is needed for video production that requires file sharing between people, such as in a large news organization. 

Betacam Today 

Betacam formats are still used today, mostly by television news stations and other media that still use analog video, as well as independent filmmakers or film students working with older equipment for various projects. Archived footage and other stored videos kept by organizations are also most likely to be on Betacam SP if they have not been transferred over to a digital format.

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Image http://mediagoldshop.com

HDCAM and XDCAM are both professional video cassette formats. 

HDCAM 

HDCAM is a version of Betacam. Digital Betacam, or Digi Beta, is a video digital recording format in standard definition, while the HDCAM is the high definition version of it. HDCAM was introduced in 1997, and it was the first HD broadcast format at the time. 

HDCAM SR (Superior Resolution) is a newer version of HDCAM, introduced in 2003. The HDCAM SR is more commonly used in HD television news today as a master recording format, although television shows across the world still use HDCAM for shooting. 

Like other Betacam tapes, the HDCAM is colour coded – they are black with an orange top, and HDCAM SR tapes are black with a cyan top. 

One of the major differences between the two types of HDCAM is that the HDCAM requires a lower data rate to record the HD footage, thereby squishing the image. The HDCAM SR does not squish the image, allowing all of the HD data to be recorded. It achieves this with a smaller particle density that allows more of a recording density. 

The HDCAM carries more data than the XDCAM, discarding less and affecting image quality and colour less. 

XDCAM

 The XDCAM comes in a variety of generations, including the XDCAM HD422, XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX. Each of these generations is meant for a specific use and budget, and all have different specifications when it comes to recording media types and frame size. For example, the HD422 has double the chroma-resolution as other formats, while the DS does not support MPEG HD, whereas all of the other types of XDCAM  do. 

Both XDCAM and HDCAM are expensive HD formats, ranging into the tens of thousands of dollars. 

When choosing a high definition video camera, there are a number of things you should consider so that your money is invested wisely: 

Make sure the camera and format is compatible with your computer so that shooting and editing are easy to handle. 

While everyone will have their own and sometimes differing opinion, ask around and talk to industry professionals to learn which camera and format may best suit your needs, especially if you are new to the industry. 

Decide on which features you need. Don’t spend money on a camera that comes with all of the bells and whistles if you won’t use them. Instead, focus on choosing an HD camera and format whose manufacturers put in the effort to make the features you will use exceptional.

http://www.heatherrosewriting.com/
Image http://www.simonwyndham.co.uk

 If you’ve already got a website and blog for your real estate business, you may still be missing something: video.

 Any business can benefit from an online presence that includes video, but this is especially true when it comes to real estate.

 Online sales videos on your real estate website can help you reach a wider clientele base and help you show off your listings in a whole new way:

 Old-fashioned real estate listing photos simply don’t show enough of a home, or adequately convey the flow, size or set-up of a home or individual room. As well, a video tour of a home for sale can have a huge impact on who is actually seeing a home – especially those who wouldn’t bother to go to an open house, are unable to get to an open house in another city or simply can’t fit an open house into their schedule. 

You know you’ve got to catch attention to build you client base – and there’s nothing more attention-grabbing than video. Clients will more likely gravitate towards listings with video – they know you can carefully take photos to hide undesirable elements or make something look better than it really is. 

Start with a detailed video tour of your newest listing, complete with voice overs. You can also expand your website with video testimonials from past clients, or home buying and renovation how-to tips. 

You can even go one step further and create video tours of whole neighbourhoods, including parks and local hotspots. 

Since your video will reflect on your business, don’t take shortcuts. Use professional video editing for better playback and quality, as professionally-produced videos have a higher impact than those you’d make yourself, and are easy to upload to YouTube and search-engine optimize so more people will find them – and your website.

http://www.heatherrosewriting.com/

News & Media in Toronto written by Ian Chow:

It has been brought to my attention that many people believe that Occupy Wall Street is a bunch of poor people complaining that they can’t make money and that they’re trying to find blame on someone – the blame falling on the richest corporations and banks that are “screwing” them over.

Understandably, through no fault of our  own (well, a bit), that many of us would accept that the protests are about just that – to varying degrees. “A bit” because we are all capable of doing more research to try and learn and understand what the protest really is about – but this article is to address the changes in narrative of OWS.

A suggested watch to educate yourself about how the narrative can change: OWS: Mocked: US media backs the banks, by RT. (OWS acronym for Occupy Wall Street. RT; Russia Today)

The most moving and explanatory statement about the relationship between the media and the protest is this: “Political machines and their PR slicks taking control of the protest message.“

It’s nothing new to realize that news has always been a little lopsided. But to what extent was changed in OWS narrative? There are many different reasons why the protests are happening, but the “dumb – down” and the easiest straw man argument to pin onto the protest is that: the people are frustrated because they are poor.

Using that argument, it’s so easy to say “go get a job” which 1) shows the protesters to be incompetent and can’t secure a job 2) shows they only whine and complain 3) they don’t understand how the market works and should not complain, amongst many other responses.

That argument (of being poor and complaining) holds little veritas, as there are many things that OWS stands for. But one thing OWS has been unable to do is to provide a clear message of what it’s actually about. It’s just so big, this entire protest. A few things I feel that can be covered spans from the bail outs, misuse of influential powers to control policy makers, to as far as conspiracy theories about the Bilderberg Group. 

Essentially it has been broken down to this: OWS protest stands, in a nutshell, against Wall Street’s abuse of their monetary power (with many extended implications on the geo-political stage). Media portrays the protests as: poor people not making enough money and complaining about it. It has maligned, misinformed and censored the real reasons. From that change, OWS’s message has significantly decreased in power resulting in less organization from protest groups and unions and de-bunking any more potential resistance, change and reformation to the system.

With this type of power to change the message and narrative of one of the most profound movements in the past decade, it’s not surprising the media institution has been manipulating the message of OWS. We should keep in mind though: there is more than one side to every story.

 Transferring film to DVD yourself is possible, although it is time consuming and requires additional equipment you may not have, such as a film projector. In actuality, the majority of fly-by-night companies or individuals who sell film to DVD transfer services do it this way too.

 Do-It-Yourself Film to DVD Transfer

You will need:

 A piece of paper (preferably matte photo paper)
A film projector (preferably a variable speed projector, but these can cost several hundred to a thousand dollars)Camcorder
Tripod
Scotch tape

 Tape the piece of matte photo paper to the wall.

 Aim your projector and digital video camera (camcorder) at the paper. You may project the image onto the wall instead of on matte photo paper, but any subtle textures on your wall may affect the picture quality in the end.

The projector should be head on with the wall, while the camera next to it may be at a slight angle. This will unfortunately add a bit of dead space around the final project, but this can be cropped out with video editing software later on.

 Ensure the digital camcorder is zoomed in and properly focused on the piece of paper. Unfortunately, attention will have to be paid to the film with regards to the white balance on the camera, which will fluctuate as the film is played.

 Put the film into the projector, press play and record. Afterwards, the file on  the digital camcorder can be transferred onto a DVD using your computer.

 As you can see, transferring film to DVD using this method is time consuming and requires a lot of effort – and the result isn’t even that great.

 The film that is played may have a slight flicker that can be distracting, but this can be solved by speeding up the frame rate on a variable speed projector.

 In order to get sound on the video recording, the audio will have to be played at the same time. Care should also be taken to ensure that the audio and video line up exactly.

 Other devices are available that project film to DVD for over about $1000, but they will project the film directly into the video camera, which is then uploaded into a capture device, and the distance between the camera and projector results in lost quality.

 While you can transfer film to DVD at home yourself, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Transferring film to DVD using the above method degrades the quality of the picture, sharpness and colour significantly. If you are transferring a large amount of film to a DVD, it might be best to use a professional (and reputable) film to DVD transfer service.

http://www.heatherrosewriting.com/

News & Media in Toronto written by Ian Chow:

Libya is Harper’s new project to continue and follow in the wake of the military industrial complex. In my previous article, I mentioned the military industrial complex. This should briefly be explained to understand more of what is happening in Libya.

The term was first used by Dwight D. Eisenhower on his exit speech on January 17, 1961which can be found here . He warns us of the misuse of this power at 8:30

The modern-day term “military industrial complex” can be simply put as: government, corporate, military and financial institutions all playing a role in creating a conflict (lest it be true or imaginary) for mutual benefit of financial gain. The model would look something like this:

The government creates an issue; perhaps a “dictator” that the world must be rid of. They “free” the people of said dictator via military power. After the war, a country is completely torn up – enter corporations. They come in and help “re-build” the nation under the command of “freedom and democracy”. The financial institutions play a vital role in monetary investments so that all the investors back home would get their money. The victims of these countries are all strategically picked out for one main resource: oil.

In Libya’s case among the oil, there is also the domination of a new and powerful currency that challenges the US Dollar; the dinar, and speculation has it, the taking over of their financial institution to a central banking system controlled by people from the Bilderberg Group. But that all spans the scope of this article.

With that said, how does this model fit into Libya and Canadian relationship? First it must be shown that NATO countries in part created and exaggerated Gaddafi’s image as a “dictator”. As we are well aware, the news and media institution is the perfect tool for this. What was hidden? Here’s a video that might help put things in perspective: Truth about Gaddafi Libya that NATO, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera & CO. keep hidden 

From this video the point is illustrated that Gaddafi’s image as a dictator is easily manipulated by the media institutions as this video manipulated him to show that he is indeed a great leader. But from all the Western news we read, he has been hailed as a corrupt and brutal dictator. Whether he was or not, or to what degree of truth is behind the news is not the point. The point is the creation of the image of who he is. (More on message manipulation via media: Occupy Wall Street: Media Control)

First hurdle jumped: the creation of the issue. Now we have a reason for invasion in the eyes of the public. The public can now justify this invasion. Without public support the war is good as nothing. The military gets involved and we know what happens, we win the “war” to rid an “evil dictator”. It must be included that NATO always “reluctantly goes into this conflict as a pre-emptive war to stop a global catastrophe” but we know that is just a façade.

Next the corporate companies come rolling in to help re-build the nation as many war torn countries would suffer the loss of infrastructure. What companies are involved? Let’s take a look:

•  SNC Lavalin, a Montreal based engineering firm is in charge of building and airport, man-made river project and a prison.
•  Pure Technologies, a Calgary based company in charge of inspection and monitoring technologies put in place by SNC Lavalin.

And of course we have the oil companies; as that is the main reason of “intervention”.

• We have Caradan Chemicals provides products used in oil and gas industries.
• Sonde Resources, a Calgary based oil company owned by Libya and Tunisia.
• And finally we have Suncor who merged with Petro Canada; one of the dominating oil companies in Canada who also is responsible for the Oil Sands.

Moreover, Libya has been a member of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) since 1962. 95% of their export revenues come from oil. All these companies have a hand in Libya to help re-build the nation after it was deliberately torn apart by the same (NATO) countries that wants Libya’s resources.

The analogy can be drawn as this: You destroy your neighbors’ house saying it was not safe. Then you take your construction company and charge your neighbor for the re-building services. Or more simply put: we are stealing their resources under the name of “freedom, democracy and globalization”.

When we look at Suncor, one of the major oil companies from Canada in Libya, their stocks dipped when they announced in their 3rd quarter that their production has stalled in Libya. However, they made grounds in October maybe due to the gaining ground of  NATO participation in the civil war which has turn the tides in the country allowing more stable oil production. This shows that Suncor‘s monetary worth responds to military intervention in Libya. Libya represents 23% of their international oil production.

RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), BMO (Bank of Montreal) and TD Bank are some of the major shareholders of Suncor. So it’s not implausible to see when Suncor needs more money, the banks will lend it to them as they will all profit from these endeavors. Suncor will then re-invest the profits back into itself to continue to expand. Through this, politicians, policy makers, and other people of influence (to the matter) would have stocks and bonds with Suncor allowing the corporation’s influence dictate what policies should be changed or made. And those people are the same people who create “issues” and tells the media to sell it to the public to gain support for a war – oops, did I say war? I meant humanitarian aid.

Libya has been one of the most prominent examples of the military industrial complex at work since Harper has taken the majority government.  This shows how the government and military, corporations and financial institutions all play a role on the world stage for mutual benefit of financial gain. Albeit, that’s not to say that people gather and plan these out deliberately either. It is just the nature of what has become of our Western system.

Most recent application of this misuse of power of the military industrial complex can be reflected through other involvement with the Middle East, namely, Iraq and Afghanistan among other historical situations and now speculated, Syria will suffer the same fate

Our now-majority Conservative government has deemed it appropriate to exercise the right in this military industrial complex and taint the image of Canadian peace keepers as we have established our image as Peacekeepers from the Suez Canal crisis in creating the world first UN Peacekeepers under Lester B. Pearson in which he was award the Nobel Prize in 1957.

We are now following in America’s destructive path of crusade and global domination under the tarnished flag of “freedom, democracy and globalization”. If there is any moral fiber in your body, we can agree to these few simple statements: War is bad, lying is bad and usury is bad. Those are the realities in which NATO countries are making profit.

Now you know.

News & Media in Toronto written by Ian Chow:

In response to the CBC article written about the occupation Occupy Economics; is the system broken? Posted Oct 17, 2011, written by Don Pittis:

There were some important issues raised here. Especially about bailing out banks. But there are many more that couldn’t be covered under the span of the CBC article. But first to answer the bailing out question: “So was it a good idea to spend $800 billion in taxpayer cash to bail out the U.S. banks? Is it a good idea for the Europeans to do it all over again now?”

It is inherently bad economics to bail out banks. Yes it’s understandable that it is to save the economy, but it goes against the “rules” of economics. In that respect, it’s not fair that banks are being bailed out. Why are they more “special” to be entitled to a bail out? I don’t see bail outs handed out to individuals that are starving and can’t buy food due to high inflation rates and static salary income.Two major issues arise with this. And both show the inconsistency and flaws of a capitalist system. 1) If things fail (market crashing), they should fail and thus shows maybe the system has a flaw. 2) Bailing out goes against economics and “equality”. Why are they being bailed out and not us? (I suppose the answer is obvious; to save the economy, but you can also save us! We are the economy!) Favourism shouldn’t flow with free enterprise, exposing another flaw.

This article is written surrounding the idea that the economy should be saved. I say for true capitalism, it should go laissez faire – we’ll really see how good the system is then, instead of extended debt, bail outs and high tax rates for the poor and tax cuts for the rich. Even Warren Buffet, one of the richest man, had said to raise their taxes to help save the economy.

To answer the question from the title: Is the system broken? That’s a difficult question. There are certainly many flaws (inherently placed by the creation of the system itself – there is NO PERFECT SYSTEM)

BUT there can be reform to help ease it.

Aside from that some other major things the protesters are standing against is the mis-use of their tax money. Not everyone would like to support wars that are being waged overseas; these wars that are raged are to bring oil from the Middle East. This military industrial complex completely spans over the CBC article and what is written here – but understand that is one thing the protesters are standing for as well. In short, it’s war for profit.

(For more information on what is a “military industrial complex”)

Another one would be the hypocritical statements of free speech. Democracy SHOULD allow free speech, yet there are riot police arresting peaceful protesters. They haven’t done anything (at the time of writing) and they are being peppered sprayed and beaten with batons and dragged to the confinement area set out by the police. Why does Obama, Harper, Hilary Clinton all stand for freedom of speech, support the riots in Egypt and Libya and many many other countries YET they still allow the arrests of peaceful protests in North America. This is one thing the protesters are standing for as well. A faux image of freedom of speech.

Moreover, speaking of Wall Street (and implied American politics), politicians are no longer voted on, but they are not supported by corporations. The big budget election campaigns are all funded by corporations to try and get the public support to elect the President who will pay them back via policy making and regulation control. This creates extreme bias to who has more airtime during the campaign, who can go across the country and show their face, and who can win the elections. The business and governments are sleeping in the same bed. Take business out of politics.

These are just a few huge things that the Occupy Movement represents. It is not only against the big banks and corporation, but also the ideology of the faux freedom of speech our country seems to spew out and the governing of our world in general. It covers a wide span of things and each individual there has their own reason.

An easy fix? Be transparent and accountable with everything. Ie. With the G20 – have an official release of what is discussed in those rooms, instead of having media blackouts. But of course that won’t ever happen. Being transparent and accountable can allow what the public has to say about how the state of things is being run. That is true democracy. But that extends over the scope of this piece.

There’s an abundance of at-home movie-making software available these days, and depending on the type of computer you have at home, some of this software may seem state-of-the-art. But do you know what you’re doing?

The availability of this software can provide any small business owner the equipment to create a video in order to sell a product or inform their clients. But if it’s not edited properly, it may not have the impact you’re looking for – or provide the return on your investment that you had intended if you spent time and money creating the initial video.

So what should you do?

Consider the difference that professional video editing can make. Whether it’s a small film, a how-to video, a marketing video designed to bring traffic to your website or to increase your brand awareness and draw in more customers to your business, any video will benefit from professional editing.

The professional editing of any video project creates the proper flow from shot to shot, can incorporate voiceovers if necessary, cross over to other areas of the business seamlessly – perhaps to interview various staff or show off your new production area – and overall, create a video with a powerful statement and clear message to your clients, customers or even family, depending on the type of video or special event you’re covering. Titles, credits and even special effects can also be incorporated into the video, giving you the best possible return on your investment if you took the time and effort to shoot the video yourself.

Treat your project with the respect it deserves and have a video editing company streamline it for you and give you the professional edge you’re looking for.

http://www.heatherrosewriting.com/