… but Videolicious does it really well
By Bradley Wilson
CMR Managing Editor
My session on Videolicious was at 9 a.m. on Friday, on a cold and drizzly day in Louisville. I expected about five people to show up. After all, Videolicious has been around for a while. Either you’ve heard of it and are using it. Or you haven’t heard of it and don’t care.
When I got to the room, there were already five people. Perfect.
Then five more. And five more. And, before you know it, there are about 25 people there. So much for a hands-on demonstration. But we tried. And we played.
I believe it when the folks at Videolicious say, “Video is the most popular content in the world.” And it’s growing.
My students at Midwestern State University published a 44-second video on Twitter of football players doing pushups in honor of a player that died last year. Within seconds it had received hundreds of views. They were the first with content from the event. That helped. But so did having a short-form video that has now registered more than 3,350 views, so readers, listeners and viewers could feel like they were there. A clip of students a rally for U.S. Senate candidate Beto O-Rourke visiting our North Texas town, whew, 5,297 views, more than the related tweet with 2,400 likes.
Consumers love short-form videos full of content — audio, visual and solid reporting — not talking heads.
All in the palm of a user’s hand, the app allows a producer to combine still images, video with audio produced on the spot in a product that can be distributed via social media without having to download anything or use expensive cameras and video-editing software.
It’s really quite simple.
STEP 1: Take some photos and/or video.
STEP 2: Choose your shots
STEP 3: Do the stand-up / audio combining the photos and video as you go.
STEP 3: Add music (if desired)
STEP 4: Distribute.
If you want to see what the app can really do beyond that, the website has an extensive library of how-to videos.
With the paid version, there’s a lot more you an do such as adding lower-thirds, add logos, add watermarks and produce videos of unlimited length.
The folks at Videolicious advertise their app as the “Newsroom of the Future.”
“Will the future newsroom have five microwave trucks – or 50 journalists armed with iPhones?”, they ask. “High-quality mobile phone cameras plus Videolicious let your team create broadcast-quality news packages in seconds, to give your audience the up-to-the-minute reporting they expect. Videolicious doesn’t replace high-end video production – instead, it gives your team the flexibility and efficiency to create more content, more quickly.”
Flexibility and efficiency, two words not usually associated with video production. But Videolicious does one thing — in-phone, short-form video production — and does it really well. Flexible. Efficient.
ATTENDEE COMMENTS
- Austin Romito, California Baptist University | I like that Videolicious is applicable in various situations and easily teachable.
- Michaela Crittenden, Marshall University | This will be a great tool to get my reporters into video because they get so nervous with the big cameras.
- Kevin Christopher Robles, Fordham University | The most interesting about Videolicious is, well, the idea that there’s a way to cover breaking news in a lightning fast and efficient manner than can attain high viewership like that on social media.
- Kelly Messinger, Capital University | It’s easy to use. I will share this for breaking news and social media.
- Cassidy Richardson, Campbell University | Videolicious is a great tool for broadcasting classes to cover campus events quickly and easily.
- Samantha Aguilar Hernandez, Southern New Hampshire University | What I liked the most about Videolicious is that anyone is capable of using it. Staff writers will now be able to create video content and to use it as a plus for the articles.
- Sebastien Mehegan, Keene State University | This app is great in an organization where getting people to do breaking news is like pulling teeth. Another great aspect is that it takes very little editing experience, so any social media manager won’t need someone else to edit.
- Matt Brown, Florida Atlantic University | I learned that Videolicious could be a great tool for mini sports packages for my Twitter account. I could do a quick standup and then record a little video on my phone and not waste time dumping footage off SD card onto computer.
- Sacha Bellman, Miami University | I learned how to do stand-up videos using video and pictures in an easy way on my phone. I want to practice this and have my students do a video in my feature-writing class for their final project.
- Ellen Schmidt, University of Minnesota | Videolicious uses include breaking news videos for non-multimedia reporters and quick Instagram videos. The business department has been begging my department to make marketing video. Now they can do it — themselves.
- Lori Dann, Eastfield Collge | The coolest thing is that the reporter/photographer can upload the video on the scene quickly and easily. I see a lot of uses for social media in breaking news and media writing/reporting classes.
- Amelia Mauldin, DePauw University | I love how user friendly Videolicious is. But on top of that, it’s quick to download and allows for quick and easy video production. I can definitely see myself using Videolicious in the near future and hope to share the program with other back at my campus.
- Robert Wright, Georgia Southern University | My favorite aspect of it is that it is free and is a good app to quell the masses until an actual video package is made.
- Daniel Gilliam, North Carolina State University | Seems easy for inexperienced videographers to use, but seems too limited.