Nintendo, that lovable game console that most of us were raised on, will soon be revealing the winners of their Nintendo Short Cuts contest. Nintendo Short Cuts was created to give away $10,000…I mean, to attract filmmakers and creative types around creating a three to five minute Nintendo-themed film for submission into the contest.
As you can imagine, there are some craptacular videos posted on YouTube, but I wouldn’t recommend you watch ‘em. Instead, check out this amazing entry from Team Awesome. Simply genius and it really makes me want to walk down to my local Goodwill and snatch up a regular Nintendo for three fifty.
I love the idea of Etsy. I love that it exists. The site was started by young entrepreneurs for artists and crafty people to sell their creations to others. Etsy started in 2005 and has since grown to over 250,000 members with 50,000 sellers and there are over 500,000 items for sale. Etsy isn’t an auction site, or a sleazy affliliate, internet marketing, sell-you-something website. Etsy only accepts handmade items that will be listed on your own store on the site. It’s very cool.
Etsy has a great relationship with their members and they hold a monthly Workshop. This site and community around it is a great example of passionate people sharing and selling what they love.
The video below is a short HOW-TO created by Etsy for others. Check it out, you can even download the template, print it out, and tag-up Portland with Etsy’s logo Oh I kid.
Chad Hurley said, “We’re seeing the optimum length of a video is 2 minutes.” on YouTube and he doesn’t attribute this to something YouTube caused, but rather it’s the nature of video on the Internet.
Michael Robertson made a prescient statement that he doesn’t see the explosion of video on the Internet as a benefit to the middle-of-the-road video producer or talent, because he remembers the 90’s when most thought the Internet would allow the rise of “middle-class musicians” to make a living without being signed to a big label. So far, he’s right and those that dedicate their lives to playing music still have a hard time paying the rent - the only band I can think of that has done well without signing to the majors is Arcade Fire; could be wrong. To sum up, Michael suggests you should always reach for the top with your creative works, if you ever want to make money.
Richard Rosenblatt disagreed and tired to sell everyone that the only thing standing in the way of someone making an instructional video in their basement for $500, is for there to be a monetization system in place where he can sell it for > $500.
Blake Krikorian, founder-CEO of Sling Media, hates DRM. Not sure if everyone in the audience nodded their head in agreement when he espoused his dislike for DRM - I would be enthused if everyone agreed.
By Tim
Oh I kid.