Staff Blog

Greetings, minions. Another weekend is upon us, which means we have another project for you to sink your teeth into. And with the onset of Halloween, we want you to consider all things spooky in this eerie world in which we live. Make a video that gives us the spooks!

Don't go running off quite yet. There are a few rules to this spooky project.

All videos must contain:
1: The prop: Fake Blood. There are many cool tutorials online that teach you how to make fake blood. Please, keep it safe.

2: The line: "Is it alive?" Make sure this line is said at least once in your video.

3: The setting: Night-time. The WHOLE video must take place at night to make it more spooky. Make sure your video isn't too dark, so that we can see what's going on.

Other than that, you are free to to use any means to make the spookiest video you can. Give us the spooks, or else!

Videos are due Tuesday, November 3rd, by the spooky hour of midnight. Make sure you add it to the Weekend Project Group, as well as to our spooky Halloween Group.

The winner will come away with a shiny new Plus account (for Basic users) or 25,000 HD Embeds (for Plus members.) The runner-up gets an extra 1 GB of upload capacity (for Basic users) or 10,000 HD Embeds (for Plus members.)

Have fun, please be safe, and spook it up,
Spooky Steve


UPDATE:

Great job this weekend, everyone! All of the videos made were quite spooky. We have some spooky winners.

For the runner-up, we have Trey Cook with his piece about a spooky figure in his kitchen. Trey gets an extra 1GB of upload space.

And for the winner, Mr. Oz Smith takes away a spooky new Plus account for spooking us with his piece, "TV Dinner". Spooky!

Congratulations, guys! Hope everyone had a spooky Halloween weekend and thanks for participating!

Hey folks,

You may remember that a few weeks back we announced that we were testing our new Desktop Uploader application. Well, we've squashed a lot of bugs (thanks, early testers!), made the app quite stable, and now we're ready to move on to a public beta stage.

This means that you no longer need an invitation to download the Desktop Uploader. Just head on over to the download page, and you can grab your very own copy.

The Desktop Uploader is based on Adobe® AIR™ technology, so it works on a variety of operating systems. It allows you to upload multiple videos in one batch, pause and resume uploading, add titles, tags, descriptions, and basic privacy settings to your videos. We hope to add even more features in the near future. For those who are curious about how it works, the Uploader communicates with Vimeo entirely through our new API.

After you've installed the application, if you have any troubles, please use the "Report a bug" button in the application itself to let us know. We'll fix whatever problems remain during this public beta period with your help.

We hope you enjoy how easy it is to post videos to Vimeo with the Desktop Uploader!

Yo Vimeo!

Time to announce our latest and greatest Weekend Project! Since our last two projects were somewhat light on the editing side, we decided to ask you guys to flaunt your knack for continuity and show us how you cut. Before I can go any further, though, please take a moment to watch this awesome short from our friends, French Cassoulet.

For this Weekend Project, we are looking for you to submit your own short film that only uses "black transitions."

We're putting an extra emphasis on creativity and originality for this project. As you already saw, French Cassoulet took a great concept and ran with it. We want to see you take that same concept and run in a completely different direction.

Since our last Weekend Project had such a great turnout, we're offering the same prizes as the last time, which means the winner will come away with a shiny new Plus account (for Basic users) or 25,000 HD Embeds (for Plus members.) The runner-up gets an extra 1 GB of upload capacity (for Basic users) or 10,000 HD Embeds (for Plus members.)

Your video can be any length and is due on Tuesday night at 11:59 PM. Also, make sure you add it to the Weekend Project Group.

Have a great weekend,
Sam

UPDATE:

Coming in a whopping four minutes before the deadline, this week's winner was last, but certainly not least. Fittingly, Adolfo Cantu-Villareal's video Offside is about another guy seriously running against the clock. This one's good for 25,000 HD embeds!

We also have two runners-up this week. Blackout by Saulo Valley and Death of Imagination by Stu. Both runners-up will receive an extra 1GB of upload capacity!

One last thing: We noticed that there may have been some confusion over the premise of this Weekend Project. Our original intent was for the videos to reinterpret the concept laid out in French Cassoulet's video. That said, we're sorry if we were not clear enough in our instructions and we will try harder in the future to make sure everything is clear, cut and dry.

Big thanks to ALL who submitted!

Another month, another Vimeo Offline event!

We’re trying a slightly different format for Vimeo Offline this week. Vimeo Artist, and long-time Vimeo member, Alex Itin will be taking us through his personal history on Vimeo using videos and spoken word. This screening will be part memoir, part screening, part conversation and part Vimeo time machine. Myself and a few others will be joining Alex during the conversation in the order we came into his life on Vimeo. Should be really cool and a boat-load of fun. So come and makes sure to say hi if we've never met before! Reservations recommended.

Monkey Town
Wednesday, October 21st - 8pm for free
58 north 3rd, Brooklyn

Hope to see you there!

Wow, time really flies! It was only a year ago that we launched Vimeo Plus. Sign ups started to roll in, and soon Plus badges were all over the site, showing us how much you guys believe in the service.

We were very pleased with the reception, and it motivated us to keep refining Plus. We took the amount of HD embeds that come with your account from 1,000 to 5,000 and then a whopping 25,000. We took the weekly quota from 2 GB to 5 GB. We also added even stronger privacy options, such as the ability to restrict HD embeds to specific domains, and hide videos on Vimeo while making them viewable on your website.

In addition to all of that work on Plus, we did a lot of work that benefitted all users, increasing overall video quality, supporting higher framerates for HD, building up the Groups and Channels features, adding support for more video formats, introducing categories so it's easier to find great videos, WHEW!

If you think we're out of breath, we're just getting started! We've got more great ideas for where we want to take Plus in the coming year. We'll continue building the "must have" tools for your videos, and we'll continue to make it fun and easy to use. If your subscription anniversary is coming up, we hope you'll stop by the Vimeo Store and take a minute to renew. If you haven't upgraded yet, now's a great time!

Thanks for all of your continued support and feedback! We love working together with this community to build the best site for awesome videos in the Universe!

Yo Vimeo!

For my first post on the Staff Blog, it is my profound honor to announce our latest weekend project. In the wake of the success of our last weekend project where we asked you all to make a 5 second video, we felt extra generous this week and decided to give you a whole minute this time! That's right, one minute, sixty seconds, or the amount of time it took Daniel Hayek to do 99 pushups and eat 7 saltine crackers. Honestly.

So what's the catch? There is no catch! Actually, there is a catch. Several:

-- Videos must be exactly one minute.

-- No camera movement (no dollying, tilting, panning or zooming.) So, leave the Steadicam at home.

-- Use original sound.

-- No editing whatsoever (no titles, no cuts, no nuthin')

For a little inspiration, check out Jelle Pothoven's video. Exactly one minute later give Antonio Lazarenni's a look.

We're also upping the ante! To the winner goes a brand spanking new Plus account (for Basic users) or 25,000 HD Embeds (for Plus members.) To the runner up an extra 1 GB of upload capacity (for Basic users) or 10,000 HD Embeds (for Plus members.)

Videos are due Tuesday night at midnight (EST.) Make sure to add your video to the Weekend Project Group and the 1 Minute Video Group.

Have fun,
Sam

UPDATE:

First of all, on behalf of the whole staff, I'd just like to thank everyone for the huge turnout for this week's project. We received about 160 submissions, which makes this by far the most successful Weekend Project to date!

That said, you can imagine how difficult it was for us to narrow our decision down to two winners.

Without further adieu, it is my pleasure to announce our runner up and winner of 10,000 HD Embeds: Oscar Wilde Quote by Cecile Davis & Floofie Films. A nice experiment to create the illusion of motion with a stationary camera, plus a little Oscar Wilde thrown in the mix, very nice.

And the big winner of 25,000 HD Embeds for this week's project is Lights and Water by James Adamson. Simple yet vivid both visually and sonically, I thought the colors were going to drip off the monitor. Really stunning.

We'd also like to very honorably mention a couple other submissions: Traffic light by John Wiseman. A beautiful composition with lots going on offscreen and anticipation ebbing and flowing throughout. And 1MV by Ibrahim Serra because spinning down the Ganges with a man playing sitar and the sun setting off in the distance is just that sweet.

Thanks again to all who submitted. We hope you enjoyed this project as much as we did and we look forward to seeing your submissions in future Weekend Projects!

We always try to be as transparent as possible here at Vimeo, so from time to time we like to give you guys a solid update on what we're cooking up. On the menu soon are a few BIG projects that we're very excited about and we think you're going to like them.

Desktop Uploader

You've been asking for it for years, and now it's coming: the Desktop Uploader is a fancy new way to upload your videos without ever launching your web browser. This should be perfect for those of you who sometimes have trouble uploading, and for folks who would like to batch upload a bunch of videos at once. Features include:

• More-stable uploading (no more frustrating browser time-outs!)
• Pause/resume features (Start. Stop. Get a sandwich. Start again. NBD.)
• Upload multiple videos at once (Up to 10 at once!)
• Edit titles, tags, and descriptions (more controls coming in future updates)
• Available for Windows, Macs, and Linux (it uses Adobe AIR)

The uploader will be in public beta soon, but you can get special access now by asking for it here.



Advanced Stats

As many of you know, we've been working hard on a new stats feature. It's taken us a while because we want to get it right, and so far it's looking great. The majority of the features will be for Plus users with a few key stats available for Basic members as well, so everyone can join in on the fun. Feature highlights:

• Extensive data on all videos in aggregate and individually
• Daily breakdowns of likes, plays, comments, HD vs SD plays, loads and finishes
• Awesome referrer data (where are your videos being watched?)
• Share and download stats (find out what video people download the most)
• Geo stats (see where people are watching your stuff)
• And more...

We'll be releasing advanced stats before the end of the year, but for now here's a preview:









* NOTE: We're tweaking these views a lot so what you see will change before it's done.

Larger videos

If you haven't noticed already, the video pages are now larger. For most videos they are 640x480! That means your SD videos are bigger and better than ever. And more often than not, your videos will play in their native resolution. For an example, just check out this video.

Featured Groups and Channels!

Looking for some inspiration? Check out these Groups and Channels we've been watching:

The Pictures Don't Move
Sometimes the best videos are ones where not a lot happens. Great for photographers or anyone else looking to celebrate the simple and beautiful side of capturing video, The Pictures Don't Move is a fantastic Group that celebrates the pure experience of capturing life on video.

FilmTools: How To
Not everyone has a couple grand to drop on the latest and greatest film accessories. We sure don't. Film Tools is perfect for you guys to share your DIY skills with step-by-step instructions for making all those fancy new toys everyone seems to be using. Learn how to make lend adapters, steadicams, glide tracks, and all sorts of other cool equipment.

Corkscrew Bootlegs
"Produced coaster videos are OK but, they fall short when you want to get an actual feel for the ride. This channel is dedicated to the true coaster video, when the rider sneaks a camera on board, straps in and hits record." Couldn't have said it better myself.

Enjoy the week, and as always, have fun and be creative!

Hey guys,

It's that time again, time for a weekend project!

The premise is very simple, create a film that is 5 seconds long in total, with a 2 second intro and 1 second outro. OK so it's really 8 seconds, my bad.

Just take a simple idea and make something funny and straight forward. You can check out the one we did, or the ones our friends over at 5 Second Films have done. Just remember, the whole video shouldn't be longer than 8 seconds!

The most interesting, creative, and overall awesome video will get you 250MB more upload space or 5,000 HD embeds (for Plus users). The runner-up will receive 100MB more upload space or 1,000 HD embeds (for Plus users).

Make sure you add your videos to the Weekend Project Group.

Your videos are due on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 by midnight (EST). Go forth and rock :)

-Matt

UPDATE:

Our winner is Guilherme Meneghelli for his video: Mamiya! He'll be getting 250MB more upload space!

We also have two runners up!

First, Allister Reynolds for his video, EYEZ. He'll be getting 100MB more upload space!

Next, Red Tape Pictures for their video: HAND WARS. They'll also be getting 100MB more upload space!

Congratulations to all, and be sure to check out the Weekend Project Group to view all the other entries, everyone did such a great job! Till next time, stay awesome!