Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Did You Know There Is A Real Empowerment Tool Hiding In Your Smartphone?

Los Angeles, CA--Do you have a cause, perhaps a beef with your government, school, employer, homeowners association or even the news media?  Do you have something you need to promote or sell?  You can unleash that beast in your smartphone and get results! 
If your voice is not being heard you’ve apparently found yourself helpless in calling attention to your situation.  Don’t expect others to speak up for you, but now you can speak up for yourself through technology.

Yes, you can tell your story to the masses on your own terms.  It’s far easier than you may think.  

Your smartphone has a powerful video camera and video editing system.  You just must be able to tell a coherent and compelling story.  You use that smartphone to shoot, write, edit and create your story just as any seasoned TV journalist or vlogger would.

You simply sign up for a free Youtube account.  An important part is creating the tags or search words that people will use to find your video.  If the names, places and subjects aren’t listed in the tags, nobody will find your video unless you first send them the link.  

If you put up a watchable video that contains solid and steady pictures, good audio, decent voiceover and perhaps some text or even music you will get your video noticed.

First and foremost always hold your smartphone horizontally!  TV and computer screens are horizontal!  

Keep your videos short and to the point.  Speak naturally as you would to a friend.  Always obtain interviews from witnesses whenever possible.  

Find a pleasing news story or a vlog that you can emulate in monkey see, monkey do fashion and your good to go. 

There’s lots of internet training videos out there.  I highly recommend taking the on line course offered by thevj.com because they train video journalists worldwide.

Imagine that you’re inside a business or at the scene of an important news-making event.  If you can put a news video story together you can sell it for a tidy sum!  

You too can become video literate.  Once you begin, there may be no stopping you.  You may even find this learned skill is life changing and bring you unexpected wealth.  

When Conservative Blogger, Andrew Breitbart suddenly suffered a heart attack and died, I wanted to do a simple story for my blog.  

There was a belief by many that Breitbart was murdered because of stories he was publishing about Barack Obama

I went to the scene and just by chance I ran into an eye witness that saw Breitbart fall and die on the street.  I included that interview in my video and made a bundle! 

Here is that story:

Friday, April 03, 2015

Traditional TV News is Watching it’s Final Sunset.

Los Angeles, CA—Journalism school may give you building blocks and give you the polish to craft a news story, but the future of traditional reporting is beyond bleak.
In the end journalist show us in print, photos, audio and video what’s going on in our world.  Can someone that never paid tuition to Northwestern or Columbia or sweated those final exams steal your job?  It’s already happening!
There is no special magic to TV news reporting.  At the most, it’s all about monkey see, monkey do!  
The way to get compensation for reporting has changed dramatically.  It’s your audience that determines how well you’re paid.  Balancing sensationalism with truth to gain and maintain an audience is the difficult challenge.
This past January I took a part-time model and turned her into reporter to cover the Shooting, Hunting Outdoor Trade show in Las Vegas.
I could have done this all myself but it’s much easier when there are two people sharing the duties. 
There has been movement by news organizations to force the reporting, photography, producing, writing, audio and video editing on one person.  Juggling and keeping the equipment is no small challenge.  Adding the hairspray and presentation duties makes for an overload.
Ariel Vitale had zero experience but looked pretty good on camera and could follow simple instructions. She looked every bit the part of a reporter and I did the rest.
Ariel had minimal knowledge of firearms but I told her that she can ask a few questions and the company spokespeople would expertly explain their products.  As long as Ariel could look good, speak well and hold the microphone she’d win. 
I gave Arial a few hints and Arial took over like any journeyman reporter. Here is one of her many stories:
Next is Daniel Soulman.  Daniel is somewhat of a unique reporter.  Daniel armed with all manner of video devices has rained serious criticism on several South Bay police agencies.
Daniel’s work has been a bit rough around the edges. His gift is that that he uses his cameras to provoke cops he felt were abusive or acting unlawfully.  Needless to say many cops have targeted him for retaliation.  
Daniel has used a camera drone to report on DUI checkpoints and recently an officer involved shooting.  The paradox here was he praised the officer that killed the offender. 
I’ve talked with Daniel at length about keeping his credibility by letting his camera tell the story.  I explained to him about using voiceover video in post-production, as is the standard of TV news reporters.
Experience is Daniel’s teacher and his YouTube videos are getting better.  His YouTube channel appeals to an audience of both cops and cop haters.   Oddly enough I see him with a financially secure future doing his specialized reporting on YouTube.
Here is Daniel’s video multi-media (including camera drone) story on the police shooting:
TV journalism is dead.  Video journalism is what’s replaced it. The Internet has both unlimited channels and content providers feeding it.
You might think that Ariel or Daniel are a little rough around the edges but they both could present their stories in an understandable way. 
To be fair to Daniel he needed a little coaching in the editing process but he’s well on his way to improvement.
Imagine if everyone with a smartphone put up news stories with a hashtag on Twitter.  No news organization could begin to compete. 
Blogs like mine must be heavy with interesting video or it will die.  Successful monetization of content will determine is you can make a living.  Making good content alone is not enough.

Friday, August 29, 2014

My Music Copyright Infringement Dilemma is Troubling, There Must be a Solution!

Los Angeles, CA—Like most of my blog visitors I love music.  I have my favorites from Gershwin to The Doors.  The artists that have entertained me deserve all of the reward for their work.  Every musical recording is a labor involving numerous people that worked so hard to create.
The music industry exists because of intellectual property rights.  Without these rights so many of the hits we enjoy everyday may never have pleased our ears.
My video host YouTube has settled most copyright issues with the use of music within the USA.  Advertising and iTunes links have solved many of the problems.
There was also a surprising discovery made by the copyright holders in the form of increased sales when a video featuring their products was popular legitimate sales of the music increased too.  Old forgotten hits suddenly were reanimated into moneymaking popularity once again!
As many of my visitors know I’m into the camera drone technology.  My drones shoot amazing video but the natural sound is the annoying sound of the whirling rotors and motors.  I must replace the soundtrack with music or a voiceover.  Music is the obvious choice. 
There is lots of copyright free music out there but most of it sucks in a big way.  Of course I want to use my favorite material. The problem is that my videos are blocked out in Europe because of unresolved copyright issues.
I want so much to share some great music that matches the videos.  I’d be willing to pay a reasonable fee for the privilege to have these videos seen worldwide. 
I have many friends in Germany, Switzerland and The Netherlands where I can’t share these videos. 
I will give you two examples.
While I was in Carmel By The Sea I sent my drone up over the beach for the soundtrack I used my favorite actress on the planet.  She  is a multi-talented Dutch lady, Carice van Houten.  She sang this classic 1930’s American song in her terrific film, Black Book called 100 Years From Today. 
Late this summer I was asked to shot a scene in the Palmdale desert for a film for my film director friend, Pablo Lewin.  The film is in post production right now and I’m not sure what Pablo has in mind for the soundtrack covering my shot.
Pablo gave me permission to show this scene on YouTube and I immediately knew the music I wanted to use!  It’s from the film Baghdad Café but is sung by Patti LuPone and is called, Calling You.   How perfect it was! 
There has to be a way to solve this problem. 
Needless to say my European friends will not be able to see these.  
 Carmel By The Sea
The Palmdale Desert Scene:


Monday, February 17, 2014

You better think of a good teaser hook to make people watch your video!


Los Angeles, CA—As a blogger and multimedia journalist I occasionally put up videos here on Crimefile News.
Currently time and lack of funding precludes me from putting up more video.  Getting people to watch your video no matter how good it is challenging.  You need to tease people with hot button words we’ve all seen. 
“You better watch this video before the censors take it down!”  “Watch Ms. X destroy so and so in this video!”  “Watch Mr. X meltdown under tense questioning!”   “This video will make you break out the tissues!”   Frankly these are getting very old.  They’ve been used and abused and I refuse to fall for them anymore.
The truth is that Internet viewers are incredibly impatient and loading videos for some can be a slow process.  When you add in that many videos turn out to be a disappointment that don't deliver on the promised hype you better be creative rather than deceptive.
Putting in the proper key words or meta tags in crucial.  Having an exciting thumbnail or start image is important. 
Videos need to be clear with great audio.  They need to be short and always leaving the viewer wanting more. 
There are other rules regarding multiple angles and static shots that were established in the past few decades.   Are those rules evolving? 
GoPro cameras are high definition cameras in a tiny waterproof package.  They are incredibly for point of view video and action shots.  They go where other cameras simply cant.  Additionally people don’t shy from them like they do the more noticeable cameras they are used to seeing. 
I’m no expert on video but I have played with the equipment since it became affordable 20 years ago.  It’s getting better and cheaper every day.
Viewers really don’t want junk.  They want to be taken somewhere away from their surroundings and dull lives.
I put up a video a few weeks ago at the largest gun show in the world in Las Vegas.  It’s called the SHOT Show.  The video is not about guns but rather how the show is set up and my actual experience in Sin City.
The video shows my experience from my own point of view.  I broke lots of established video rules. 
My intent was to show you what those few days were like through my eyes.  Yes, I shot this all on a GoPro Hero 3+ .  I edited the video on Final Cut Pro X.  Along with post production, unscripted voiceovers.   I also added some copyrighted music for the mood. 
My pals that love guns would want me to stop and spend time with the actual products but the video would be four days long.  This was really a SHOT Show teaser.  There is little substitute for actually attending this massive show. 
A sign of a successful video is that people think it was shorter than it actually was.  So ignore the time markers until after you’ve seen the video.  Then compare your time impression with the actual time of the video. 
I kept it simple reducing four days into minutes.  I’d like comments on the video. 








Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Crimefile News Needs Reporters!

To my visitors:  From time to time I get requests to post the writings of others.  Unfortunately some of these people are really promoting their personal businesses rather than providing information suitable for Crime, Guns and Videotape.  I want more news in Crimefile News but I can’t be everywhere to do it myself.
This is where some of my skilled visitors come in. I want your stories.  They must be up to journalistic standards.  I don’t want rewrites of published news stories.  They should contain video or at least pictures taken by the contributors.
That means getting interviews of your newsmakers, vetting the information properly and avoiding libel.  Diligent use of public records is a must. 
There are few limits on subject matter if the material is compelling and interesting.  Submitting stories about government policies, crimes, courts, corruption or your latest gun are acceptable.  Perhaps the actions a local hero, or some inspiring person may be great material.  I’m not looking for commentary or opinion material from the contributors however I expect to see opinions pop up in provided interviews of newsmakers.
I want acceptable and properly edited video.  An iPhone can be used with iMovie can accomplish great things with minimal training.  May I suggest an E-book called iPhone Millionaire by Michael Rosenblum.  You can get this through Kindle, iBooks or Amazon.com. It will give you a great deal of information you will need. 
The bad news is I can’t pay for your material.  The good news is your work will be seen and properly credited.  Additionally of this idea flies there could be money down the road. 
I don’t want discourage your quest to report news but there are roadblocks and speed bumps.  CNN has had iReport out there for years.  It’s been a colossal disappointment. I would hope someone would be able to dazzle CNN enough to hire them.  I call that missed opportunities. 
Occasionally excellent raw and unedited video has come in as news was breaking at violent events and disasters.  But for the most part all that came in was unwatchable crap.   If you’re at a news-breaking event get some interviews.  Most people will talk if you bother to ask them. 
For your video editing you need to put in well-written voiceovers.  iMovie has the tools for this.  Added voiceovers are much better than trying to narrate on the fly.  That’s how the people you watch on TV news do this.  You can also do a stand up where you face the camera to tell a small part of the story.
For my cop, paramedic and fireman friends may I suggest that you use a pseudo name to avoid difficulties with your departments?   This is a great way of exposing the truth that too many government administrators can’t handle.
Below is a simple video news package I did on the death of Conservative Blogger Andrew Breitbart’s death in the Brentwood neighborhood of L.A.   It contains a voiceover, graphics, an interview and a standup: 






Thursday, July 11, 2013

Why I Delete Many Comments From This Blog


Covington, KY—A federal court jury just awarded former Cincinnati Bengal’s cheerleader, Sarah Jones $338,000 over anonymous third-party comments posted to a Scottsdale based website, thedirty.com.
The site operator, Nik Richie took a well-deserved litigation beating when he did not screen or delete the nasty comments.  The posts defamed the woman with malicious and unfounded allegations of sexual activities with the entire football team.
Richie’s unsuccessful defense was to suggest that Jones should have take the unknown third part posters to court instead of him.  Bloggers everywhere have been watching his case.  
Jones had a rather sticky brush with the law related to a sexual relationship with an underage student when she was a teacher.  Reportedly Jones is still in a relationship lad who is now 18 and plans to marry him.  
Often people post allegations about others that I cannot or won’t try and verify.  Some are true and some are malicious and defamatory.  I delete them immediately.  I don’t do that over fears of being sued, I do it because it’s the right thing to do.
When I publish information on this blog I take care to vet, verify and investigate.  I won’t compromise simple decency to those people whose activities I chronicle here.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

The Sun Times BGA Story on The Police Blog with the Name They Can’t Repeat


Chicago, IL—When I learned the Better Government Association took up an investigation of the infamous and wildly popular (among cops) Detective Shaved Longcock blog, I knew it was going to get interesting so I wrote about it.
Without quoting or even paraphrasing a single passage or story DSLC was branded by the Sun Times and BGA as racist.  But is it racist to call attention to the reality that murder, rape and armed robbery is almost the exclusive province and behavior of Chicago’s African-Americans? Is that disturbing and sad truth somehow racist?
DSLC was biting and edgy as he used off color satire and humor to express his opinions.  It was in fact only the shock factor of DSLC that gained readership, attention and finally now some debate.
A polite and politically correct society avoids the discomfort of discussing touchy problems that could possibly offend anyone.  Until we can discuss and debate the African-American culture of ignorance, depravity and carnage we can’t make the necessary repairs.
How many more innocent little Black boys will we allow to be programed straight to prison or a violent death rather than the American Dream?  How many millions of babies will be born into abject poverty and violence because it generates income for single, ignorant and idle Black women? 
I guess we have to trust the Sun Times and BGA in their judgment that DSLC is racist since they didn’t provide a scintilla of evidence that the readers can judge for themselves. That would be comical if it was not so blatantly lame. 
The usual suspect credited for the blog is a Chicago cop on duty disability.  He’s severed from the department by virtue of a serious injury that the city deemed too severe for him to return to work. 
The injured officer is not performing any function whatsoever for the department his controversial publishing cannot be a concern to the department unless or until laws are broken.  The DSLC message is far more offensive to the City Administration over the avalanche of their corruption that is killing Chicago and it’s inhabitants.
The BGA and Sun Times is well aware that for several years the Chicago Police Department blocked access to the blogs like DSLC or my own.  That was done because of our criticism of official corruption, cronyism and mismanagement of the entire city government.
DSLC has the right to think, write and publish what he wishes.  We can only guess who has authored the blog that has attracted so many readers along with the attention of the media. 

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Paul Huebl is Always Available for an Assignment from a Blog Visitor

Los Angeles, CA—As a private investigator, investigative documentary producer/film-maker I’m always waiting for one of my blog visitors or their businesses to send me out on a special assignment.

As a result of this blog I’m often retained for various professional assignments. Most of the time I can’t share the details of those assignments with my readers. However there are times when I can.

My visitors are my assignment managers and they have the ability unleash the Crimefile News monster on a story. Technology and the Internet forced the new media and bloggers to find non-traditional funding sources. Blog visitors can pay their favorite bloggers to cover and profile whatever they like.

I’m ready to take my state-of-the-art sophisticated video tools on the road to cover any event for anyone. Contact me for details and I can provide cost estimates and give you an idea of what to expect. I can do a single story or a series depending upon the nature of the assignment.

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Hate Mainstream Media Propaganda? Getting the Truth Out has Never Been Easier.

Los Angeles, CA—With the death of that young Internet giant Andrew Breitbart people are discovering what gave this genius the power and those financial rewards.

At a young age Breitbart began with two startup blogs, The Drudge Report and The Huffington Post taking them to incredible heights and readership. Those sites are user friendly, technical marvels that have all but destroyed TV news and mainstream paper publications. They began with the printed word, then soon added photographs and now there are significant amounts of quality video.

Those wonderful flat-panel TVs we own can now deliver Internet content that’s far more diverse and reliable than what CBS, NBC or ABC brought us. Unfortunately there are still not enough ordinary folks have the equipment and skills to deliver video content. That’s rapidly changing.

All that’s needed is someone with minimal skill, $5,000.00 worth of equipment and a decent broadband Internet connection. Now that really enables and facilitates democratization of a truly magical form of mass media. Yes, even you can do this.

Cameras are smaller, better and cheaper than ever. That creates vast opportunities to locate, document and expose government abuse and corruption. Government workers are in a position to see how billions of dollars are wasted and can pull a really tiny camera out, shoot it and and show the world once the video is uploaded.

Need training you say? There’s lots of it out there free on YouTube. There is hardly a piece of equipment in existence that someone has not created a tutorial to help you learn. There are schools that offer both classroom and on-line instruction such as the New York Video School.

Andrew Breitbart was a Conservative political bomb thrower that was either loved or hated. There was no middle ground with this icon. No matter your political beliefs you can learn from Breitbart’s accomplishments. Breitbart should be an inspiration to everyone that they too can have a voice.

If you want to avoid that political intrigue, conflict and discord you can help the world master skills that have benefitted you. Of course you can develop your skills as an entertainer too.

Age is a huge issue with the Internet since millions of older people don’t think they can learn. They’re dead wrong. They can overcome technophobia if they bother to try. They include too many doctors, lawyers and other educated professionals. They are our parents and we need to help them with this aspect.

Here is a video about video production equipment I put up a while ago...

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Andrew Breitbart was an Internet Genius

Los Angeles, CA—They either loved or hated Andrew Breitbart subject to their particular political orientation.

Breitbart began as a behind the scenes creative force behind both the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post.

Soon it was his very own Big Government and Big Hollywood. Breitbart was a master at throwing hot blog content bombs and making waves on the World Wide Web.

Breitbart rallied against the formerly all-powerful liberal and politically unified mainstream media in America.

Breitbat made a huge difference in the information world during his short life.

When you create an Internet news site the most difficult task it to publicize your offering so that the visitors learn of your existence. That can be painfully slow process.

I’ve watched great writers and reporters come and go that could only establish double digit hits per day. I have watched less talented quickly gain tens of thousands of hit per day.

It’s all about figuring out old-fashioned publicity stunts or for that matter any method that will get you noticed. Breitbart knew where and how to generate viral content. That is the secret to success publishing on the Internet.

Phone calls and mouse clicks made by a web promotion expert like Breitbart make some bloggers rich. If you can garner 300,000 hits a day you can quit your day job since advertisers will support you.

I’ve not figured out how to do that yet. There are millions of people out there that would love my content but they don’t yet know I exist. Of course if I break news rather than just report it that’s always helps because others will point the way to me.

If the masses either love you or hate you it will bring success in blogging. The expected relative safety of measured and moderate blogging is a guaranteed slow and painful Internet death.

My readers tend to be either cops, gun rights advocates, lawyers and some TV news folks I’ve worked with over the years.

I’d love to have the funding to travel to where news and history is being made. That’s just not happening for me yet. But I continue forward every day. I will continue as long as it's fun.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Chicago Cop Bloggers are The Knights of The New Media.


Chicago, IL—Local government here had a solid lock on any information published. The criminal mob that runs the city somehow managed to turn the local media into City Hall lap dogs.

In the past seven years cops in the Windy City found their voice on the Internet. They have the freedom through the cloak of anonymity and can expose corruption, nasty rumors along with bad government.

These Knights of the New Media have shown little mercy as their own existence and exposure has grown dramatically in the last two years.

In the beginning local politicians did not understand blogs or Social Media’s impact. Their public relations professionals soon understood the ramifications of actions by the police bloggers.

The two most read police run blogs are Second City Cop and Detective Shaved Longcock. They both gained significant readership far beyond the ranks of Chicago cops.

A peek at SCC’s web counter on a slow Sunday, show 900 visitors per hour. With that kind of readership advertising pays well. However you won’t find a single ad.

The web counter of Shaved’s site is hidden but he (or she) boasts 10,000 visits per day.

Shaved recently exposed how city officials were snookered by a 15 year-old Hispanic gang-banger. The kid entered and won a contest to design the City’s Vehicle License window stickers. What the red-faced officials found out reading Shaved’s blog was there were street gang hand signals in the design. Shaved’s story went national and got the sticker design yanked.

Shaved pulls no punches on the issues or the culture of African-American and Hispanic crime. He’s unapologetic as he showcases the massive amount of violence committed against Chicago’s White population by these minorities.

News reporters have called Shaved’s site racist. The truth is the long covered up hate and racism is against Chicago’s White population, not the other way around. The Cook County jail has a staggering population of hateful, dangerous African-Americans and Hispanics.

I guess telling the truth about African-American hate and violence is racist to some people.

I also suspect that America’s Federal Thought Police will eventually end Internet Free Speech. Hopefully Americans will wage war against anyone tampering with the Constitution before that happens.

In the mean time city officials can count on getting exposed when they get caught with their pants down. City insiders are beginning to tip these guys off to shenanigans by the criminal mob running the city and county government.

The cop bloggers need is to get with technology and bring video to their sites. Of course that may endanger their anonymity along with their police careers and pensions.

I’d rather see these guys out in the open attending news conferences. These knights of the new media would have the courage to ask tough questions. They need to be out taking pictures, shooting and editing video.

The fact is it’s just a matter of time when mavericks like SCC and Shaved will have the video tools and its related knowhow. I think there may be some smart advertisers out there to fund these guys.

Shaved can be found here.

Second City Cop can be found here.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Crimefile Video is Undergoing a Makeover!

I get a lot of questions from fans of this blog about production on a shoestring budget. It’s not easy to take the time and commute to where the stories are and creating compelling content. At Crimefile News we are upgrading equipment so this is a great time to talk about this subject.

Today the costs are only a tiny fraction of what it took to accomplish decent video production even a decade ago. Better and cheaper equipment is available everywhere.

Costs:

Blogging software: Free
Camera: $150 to $4,000.00
Computer (MacBook Pro) $1,400.00
Video Editing Software: Final Cut Pro X: $300.00
Blue Snowball Microphone: $60.00
Camera LED light: $100.00
Tripod: $50.00
Training: Free via YouTube contributors.

You can be in business for less than $2,000.00 or go whole hog getting a great camera like my JVC GY-HM100U, extra lights and a couple of good quality wireless microphones and still stay under $5000.00 in equipment costs.

The goal here at Crimefile News is to give the special people that are my visitors the best I can.