a new website and a stolen documentary

Back to work, and charged with new ideas. This year is going to be a year for growing and outsourcins. I’m going to try to take on more work (ressession permitting) and have other people working on my projects too so I’m not doing everything myself.

First step towards that has got to be bringing in customers, so I’ve re-instated my web advertising. I’ve also got someone in from elance to re-write my website.

Why?

Because, apparently, sites written only in Flash (as mine currently is) show up on google as just a single graphic. Which seems to be why I don’t get listed on search engines (except when I pay for sponsored links).

To put that right, I have to re-write my site as html and though I could probably learn the skills and do that myself, I’ve decided to start my new year’s resolution of outsourcing by outsourcing my web design.

In my quest for more visitors, I’ve done a little research and had a bit of a think about it, and the results are:

Apparently in search engine optimisation (SEO for short), content is king. In other words the more words you have on your site, the more important and useful google thinks it is.

Also, if you’re looking to appear in searches for targeted things (like “documentary filmmaking” or “3d animation”) you’ve got to keep mentioning those phrases throughout your text – crowbaring in keywords to your text every five minutes (actually more than that – I’ve seen recommendations which say to have at least 250 words with 3 keyphrases repeated 3-4 times each!).

Well, Ok – it’s put a bit of a strain on my writing ability, but luckily, writing to tight briefs in terms of style, content and wordcount comes pretty easily to me since I’ve written for dozens of magazines, newspapers, etc.

Anyway, it turns out I have to write a lot more words in my site than I thought – 250 being a good chunk for each page, so I’ve done an intro, packed with keywords, and an “about us” section – again with keywords woven into it.

I’ve also done a whole section of past projects – detailing about 15 projects where my animation work has been featured, and mentioning key-words for different sections of the motion graphics industry (I’ve also used google adwords keword tool to find out the most popular kewords and tied them in to my own advertising clickthrough rates – oh, yes, this is all very scientific!)

In addition, I’ve written a series of articles – about 1000 words each – aimed at different types of customer who are likely to use my work. These (packed with the requisite keywords, of course), offer what I hope will be helpful advice to people trying to get motion graphics, visual effects and 3d animation into their work.

I’m doing one for documentary filmmakers, one for music video makers, one for web designers, one for museum curators, etc….I’m hoping other sites will want to link to this content – because apart from anything else, links are part of the way search engines judge the quality of your site….

Anyway, more on the new site when it’s up and running in a couple of weeks.


Vegas
In the meantime I’ve also started planning for the documentary shoot in Vegas at the end of the month. This project, funded by Carlo, the hotel owner and trilobite collector, is going to be a fossil hunting road movie – and I’ve no idea what to expect when we start filming!

All very exciting, but I’m going to need some new equipment: primarily a new camera (a small solid state HD camera I can chuck about in the desert without worrying too much), some kind of apparatus to allow me to get steady shots with it, and a microphones system.

After reading a lot online, I’ve opted for the Rode Ntg2 shotgun mic (more on that when it arrives) - £250 including a boom, a shock absorber and what’s known in the trade as a dead cat (a fury microphone cover designed to stop wind noise – unavoidable in the desert).

I’ve also ordered a flycam – basically a frame with weights on the bottom – from India. It’s designed to keep light cameras steady and give shots a graceful floating motion even when you’re running over rough terrain. I’ll believe it when I see it, but it’s costing about £130 so it won’t break the bank.

Finally, the camcorder I’m leaning towards is the HF11…. But not decided yet. If I get it, I’ll get a wide angle lens too….

UPDATE: ok – I’ve gone with the HF100 – why? Because it’s £250 cheaper and is basically the same model but without the super high quality mode. As it turns out, the super high quality mode as far as all the reviewers are concerned has made no descernable difference to the quality of images. Saving £250 means I can now add a wireless mic (if I can find one) to my setup.



Can you believe it?

My previous documentary – the one about extinct sharks – has been out for about a year now and happily being distributed by Electric Sky. They’ve sold it to 5 TV channels, and not made me much money, but it’s certainly getting a fair showing.

I got an email from one of my interviewees today. It appears the programme is now on sale on DVD in WHSmiths – probably the UKs biggest DVD selling store.

Great.

I dropped a line to Electric Sky to say thanks.

It turns out they know nothing about it.

This is absolutely shocking! - Somebody, it would seem, has taken my documentary and decided to distribute it without telling me or getting permission. The company (Pinnacle Vision) is now in receivership, so what’s going to happen next isn’t clear. Someone is in deep trouble.

I’ll have to find a copy and take it from there. Luckily, Electric Sky are showing every intention of taking the case on for me (after all, it’s in their interest).

More on that story as it unfolds!