StudioNow - A Cut Above

Artbeats Offers Free HD Stock Footage

Artbeats announced today that they are offering one FREE, downloadable HD clip every day at artbeats.com. In this “no strings attached” program, visitors to the Artbeats home page can access a different free clip every day simply by registering or logging-in to their online account. The clips, valued at up to $299 USD each, are pre-selected directly from the Artbeats and Artbeats FootageHub libraries and are available as a free download for 24 hours. Those who take full advantage of the Daily Free Clip program can quickly enhance and build their stock footage cache with over $8,000 USD in royalty-free HD content each month.

Check it out.

Amazon is Running an Ad Contest

I wish I'd seen this earlier, but there is still plenty of time. 

One of our Senior Developer's, Patrick Altman, forwarded the info on Amazon's 'Your Amazon Ad' Contest to me last night, and I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of it.

The basic idea is to create a short video advertising Amazon.com for a chance to win $20,000 in Amazon.com Gift Cards.  We'd be proud to have the winner be a Member of our Network, and we know you have the talent to do it.  Click here for the details.  Good Luck!

StudioNow and The NewsMarket Launch Custom Video Production Platform for PR and Marketing Pros

NASHVILLE, TN and NEW YORK, NY - March 3, 2009 - StudioNow (www.studionow.com), the premier online video creation platform, and The NewsMarket (www.thenewsmarket.com), the leading video marketing and distribution platform for corporate marketers, today announced a partnership to create a Custom Video Production Platform for companies and organizations seeking to produce and deliver high-quality rich video content to the media and consumers.

The partnership will provide NewsMarket's clients access to the creative talent of StudioNow's global network of video professionals and its proprietary online production management system, enabling companies and other organizations to shoot, edit and create original video content for distribution and syndication through The NewsMarket's platform.

"More companies and organizations than ever are using video as part of their marketing strategies, especially in this tough advertising market, and we are pleased to now be able to offer our customers an easy way to produce more content," said Shoba Purushothaman, CEO and Co-Founder, The NewsMarket. "Coupling StudioNow's market-leading platform for creation of high-quality video content with our global distribution network enables us to deliver a cost-effective, powerful solution to corporate marketers."

"StudioNow is excited to be pairing our new-era, web-based video production capability with The NewsMarket's ability to distribute video content for the world's leading brands and organizations to news and video consumers around the globe," said David Mason, CEO of StudioNow. "The ability for customers of The NewsMarket to quickly produce exciting, professional-grade video content for distribution to their target audiences will be greatly enhanced through this agreement with StudioNow."

StudioNow creates custom, online production platforms for customers like The NewsMarket. The StudioNow production platform provides dynamic management of the entire content development and production process from start to finish, connecting the customer with thousands of expert videographers, editors, directors, producers, animators and voiceover artists. StudioNow quickly and efficiently creates top-quality digital content at a fraction of the cost normally charged by traditional production/post-production houses.

StudioNow Partners with Sony Creative Software

StudioNow has a large contingent out here at the NAB for an announcement that we are very excited about:

StudioNow and Sony Creative Software's Vegas Pro have formed a partnership that we think is a tremendous win for both sides.  Sony Creative Software will be promoting StudioNow as a service through which their Vegas Pro users can access video projects for on-demand work and in turn, Vegas Pro users will have a customized, branded profile and interface that will allow them to access projects and showcase their work.

We are currently accepting registrations through the a co-branded StudioNow-Sony Vegas page at vegas.studionow.com.  We expect to launch the customized, co-branded experience for Vegas Pro members within the next 21-30 days.

If you are at NAB and would like to learn more about what we're doing, feel free to email me at john at studionow dot com.  I would welcome the opportunity to meet up with you.

-John

Is 2008 The Year of the Editor?

Happy New Year to everyone who has contributed StudioNow's success to date.  We appreciate your hard work, and look forward to a successful 2008.

To get the new year kicked off, I wanted refer you to a blog post by one of our fellow entrepreneurs here in Nashville, Jackson Miller.  Jackson weighs in on the potential importance of editors - of all kinds - to the future of content online with a mention of StudioNow. 

There is such a demand for quality content out there, and it is only growing. As you might imagine, we agree that the future is bright for editors online. 

Here's to Jackson being right about 2008 being the year of the Editor - especially the StudioNow Editor.
 

John

How big is this opportunity?

An interesting post on video creation and automation showed up over at MediaPost's Video Insider

http://blogs.mediapost.com/video_insider/?p=135

We feel that it highlights the opportunity and the market that is out there for the services that we and you, Our Network, provide.  Is automation the answer?

We feel like StudioNow strikes the right balance by offering the benefits of the human creative genius (I mean can you really recreate that with a line of code?) but in a scalable platform that enables mass production.

But we're biased, what are your thoughts?  Where do you feel like we (and you) fit in?

Look forward to your feedback.

Thanks,

John

Apple Releases Final Cut Express 4

In case you missed it, Apple released its latest version of Final Cut Express last week.  And as if that wasn't exciting enough news, they sweetened the deal by dropping the price from $299 to $199.

For our novice video editors out there, we think this is a great opportunity for you to try something with a few more features and grow your skill set without dropping the big bucks on Final Cut Pro.