Don’t take that picture the wrong way. Glenn Beck and I have our disagreements. He’s just got a funny mug. So how come he has a vlog and you don’t?
A vlogging app for you doesn’t exist yet. Everything else you need does, though. If you bought an iMac or MacBook recently, there’s a camera facing you. If we’re honest with each other, you probably have a funny mug, too - but you have more interesting views! :) Yeah, Glenn has people working for him, but so do you. Right now a full development team is listening to you for ways to make your ideal vlogging app.
Here are some of my particular visual ideas for the app. Afterwards, please leave a comment on yours.
Images of people cuter than Glenn Beck from vlogyourface.com by Meerkat Media.
Animated text overlays
You’ll likely want to start a vlog entry with a timestamp or title. One current PC app puts in a silent blue screen (no joking) with big white text on it. We can do leagues better with core animation. Scrolling, sliding, fading, any kind of unobtrusive yet cool effects for textual info that won’t take attention off the vlogger. Nothing showy, just slick. Present the information and get it out.
Think of how feature films display text on the bottom of the screen when a scene changes to a different city. After it’s gone, you barely knew it was there.
Graphical adornments
Further personalize your vlog with your favorite touches. Import custom images of any size and shape like a personal signature. It can also be informative, like a national flag to identify the language spoken. A logo could go in the corner of the screen, much like how cable and television channels use their logos. You could even add something to a headline on the bottom of the screen to make a newscast. Or have some fun with other classic imagery, like those Star Trek-style panels, and have a good old fashioned “Captain’s log.” These can be animated as well and adjusted for transparency.
iChat-style presentation abilities
Phil has described my app as “PhotoBooth for videos” but that’s not quite how I think of it. I don’t have any particular want for those wild image distortion effects in my vlog, but, if feasible and desired by others, they can be implemented. I’d much rather think of iVlog eventually being an “iChat for mass distribution.”
That slideshow and presentation ability in iChat is very nice. It would work even better for mass distribution, so you won’t have to repeat the same presentation to every one of your hundred family members. I’m thinking of using it for showing some sketches - or for criticizing someone else’s. Maybe narrate a Photoshop tutorial. The possibilities are much greater for vlogs than they are for chats.
The “weatherman effect”
iChat’s “weatherman effect” would also be very fun - especially since it can do video!
Here are Apple’s lame examples for that effect. They’re interesting for about two seconds. Enough time for your semi-girlfriend to laugh awkwardly and say, “haha, you’re funny.”
Vloggers can utilize this technology much more creatively. Themed vloggers can use corresponding artistic backdrops. News vloggers can use footage from recent events. Political vloggers might use footage of a seemingly empty House of Representatives so often seen on C-SPAN.
iVlog will even be able to import recorded chats from iChat and publish them as interviews.
iGlasses support
There is a killer iSight utility out there called iGlasses. I definitely don’t want to be without it for late-night dream journaling! To me, it just seems like dream journaling is what iGlasses was made for. It supports other programs and could support iVlog as well. On the business side both developers could benefit from a bundle deal.
In this post I’ve focused on the actual video presentation. Some of these effects require video re-compression for general public viewing online, but offline they would display immediately.
In future posts I’ll elaborate on the interface and archive. The goal for publishing support is one-click uploading to sites like YouTube and podcast support.
Is the app starting to look complicated? If so, I might have a surprise in store for you. These are just my ideas, remember! I’m eager to hear yours.
