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Shoot Review: Serious Magic Vlog It

May 1, 2006 12:00 PM, Reviewer: Tom Patrick McAuliffe

With software this simple, video blogging is easier than you think.

Several technologies that will help change the way we communicate are coming together. They offer new avenues for video makers and necessitate new tools. Broadband Internet access, low-cost videocameras and webcams, and the blog/podcasting phenomena have all come into their own over the past few years. New software from Serious Magic makes adding video to your blog a simple affair.

As you probably know, a blog (from “web log”) is basically a periodic journal displayed on a website. Blogs cover nearly as many subjects as there are people. There are text-only blogs, photo blogs, blogs that make audio available for streaming or download, and most recently (thanks to the proliferation of broadband access and advances in video compression technology), video blogs or “vlogs.”

And if you think the blogging and podcasting thing is a flash in the pan, consider the stats. As of March 2005, there were more than 8 million blogs on the Web, up from only 100,000 in 2003. That's according to Technorati, a search engine that monitors the growth of the “blogosphere.” A new blog is created every 7.4 seconds, according to the 2005 Pew Internet Study.

Blogging and vlogging are no longer a novelty. Companies and individuals are making money and communicating directly with their customers and potential customers with blogs of all sizes. Now that you can load video clips onto iPods and cell phones, vlogs offer an easy way to provide content for an infinitely broad or narrow slice of the public. These new video-enabled devices are wonderful for playback of specialized content — especially for the daily, bite-sized feeds that blogs can host. (For more on such devices, see p. 68.)

Serious Magic calls its Vlog It the world's first video blogging software. Vlog It allows Windows users to add professional-looking video to a website. Similar to the company's fuller-featured Visual Communicator software product, Vlog It makes it all a simple affair.

With Vlog It, a videocamera or webcam, and a Windows PC, anyone can be adding video and audio to their blog in minutes — even those with no experience in video. You can create TV-like video productions that combine video clips, still pictures, music, titles, and voiceover narration or music. Everything happens in realtime.

Users simply write or import a voiceover script to the interface, hook up a webcam (or, for better quality, a DV camcorder), and bring all the media into a media bin that triggers the playback of those clips, images, and sounds as the script scrolls past, teleprompter-style. Just rehearse the program a few times and record it. Vlog It outputs a standard Flash, Windows Media, or Real file for download. For streaming, these clips can be exported to PlayStream or another streaming service provider for hosting multiple simultaneous web playbacks.

The Serious Magic website for Vlog It offers a wealth of information. There's a full-function demo for download, video examples, and a user forum. The software comes on CD, which has lots of free extras like fonts and backing tracks. There is no manual, but rather an embedded interactive help file. In addition to the help feature and the 24-hour user forum, tech support is available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. PST via phone.

I didn't need it; everything went relatively smoothly. I tested the software on a single 1GHz CPU Pentium 4 PC running Windows XP, and I tested on a dual-CPU Mac running OS X 10.3 using the Windows emulation software Virtual PC 7 (for my review of Virtual PC, see the November 2005 issue of Video Systems or digitalcontentproducer.com/videoedsys/prods/video_microsoft_virtual_pc). In both cases, I needed to go to the Microsoft website to get the latest DirectX media drivers (you need DirectX 9, which the folks at Serious Magic were kind enough to tell me via their software's prompt).

Software installed, and with a standard webcam attached to the top of my RGB monitor, I was ready to vlog. For mixing in a live video feed, I tried out an Apple iSight webcam and a Sony VX1000 three-chip DV camera. The software allowed me to use just about any media type, including MP3, WMA, WMV, RA, MOV, MPEG, MP4, M4V — even PDF files. I brought in some still pictures, some title screens I created in Adobe Photoshop 7, a bunch of video clips, and a few MP3 musical backing tracks. Users also get a library of what the company calls “TV-quality” graphics, titles, and transitions, half of which I thought were amateurish. Some were of network quality.

Serious Magic has laid out the interface very well. Vlog It's interface reminded me a little of iMovie on the Mac, only even more simple and with no timeline. A media window offers tabs for each bin, organized by media type below the narration, media, and preview windows. Though its interface looks like that of a basic video editing program, it's important to remember that Vlog It is intended only for webcasts. The output resolution (320×240) ensures that it will always resemble “web video.”

To edit clips, I dragged both ends of the picture icon representing the clip. The Vlog It interface is a left/right-column affair like a traditional audiovisual script format (like Final Draft AV produces). Voiceover narration is on the left side of the script page/interface, and the visuals are on the right side in what Vlog It calls the Action Area. It's a sort of vertical storyboard interface. Each media element combined with my modifications became an “Action Tray” with an icon representing the clip and an icon representing a transition, effect, or title overlay.

I wrote my voiceover script in Word and then cut and pasted the text into the narration window. When I was ready, it scrolled up the screen to a red highlight bar, much like a newscast-style teleprompter. As the copy scrolled, the media events in the Action Area to the right appeared in the appropriate place in the script as desired. The right side of the user screen provided the narration script, the directions for both the narrator and for the software (such as running another clip of video or displaying a graphic).

Vlog It's Wizard makes the program easy enough for almost anyone to use. Go to create a vlog for the first time, and the Wizard feature pops up. It offers six different template styles: Nature, High Tech, Spiritual, Financial, Contemporary, and Sports. Each has a different look thanks to title screens and lower-thirds, some of which feature semi-transparency and look very nice.

Vlog It has a lot of television-like features such as these, as well as over-the-shoulder stills. After a few dry runs, I was able to deliver a newscast-like production in very short order.

Another welcome feature, but one I did not test, is the optional V-Screen, a large blue/greenscreen that, when keyed out, allows on-camera talent to be superimposed over any number of background images. (Not coincidentally, perhaps, Serious Magic offers the popular ULTRA software that handles this keying out and provides virtual sets.) With a few adjustments, you can be in front of historical landmarks and scenic backdrops.

When I was done recording my presentation, Vlog It gave me a choice of one of three video file types: Windows Media, Real, and Flash. Any of these file types can be used for a vlog or podcast.

What about actually publishing the vlog on the Internet? Once Vlog It creates the output file, you can add your vlog to any standard text blog.

I had a few questions, so I opened a Help window and looked into “Publishing a Vlog.” This gave me basic information: vlog publishing options, quality settings, etc. For users without a blog-hosting service, Serious Magic has created a special relationship with PlayStream for Vlog It users. They can stream their vlogs with just a few clicks and also enjoy a reduced hosting fee (less than $10 a month for an average vlog). In addition to the low cost, PlayStream offers Vlog It users simple drag-and-drop publishing, turning your blog into a vlog in a few clicks. Playstream offers a 15-day free evaluation period so you can try it out. Vlog It, of course, can be used with other blog publishing software and service providers, and you can create iPod-compatible podcasts, as well.

For such a simple program, I could go on and on about its features. I really enjoyed using Vlog It. Personally, I can see the day when creating a vlog (quite possibly with this software) will be a necessity. There are a few more things I'd really like to see from Vlog It, though, picky user and reviewer that I am. First is to get it compatible with Apple's QuickTime. Serious Magic has indicated that if enough users request it, that enhancement will be considered.

The other glaring thing that I noticed is that the quality of the video codec could be improved. Sometimes I noticed that the video and/or transitions were fuzzy. In fact, as far as video signal quality is concerned, I found no real visual improvement switching from a webcam to a professional DV camera.

Compatibility with the AVI video file format would also be nice (it's available in the more expensive Visual Communicator), but I don't foresee Serious Magic doing that. After all, Vlog It is meant only for vlogging, not as a full-blown AV production application.

If you need a more encompassing toolset, you might want to get Serious Magic's Visual Communicator 2 software ($289.95). According to the company, by the time you read this a patch will give VC 2.5 users all of the Vlog It publishing options. Overall, though, users interested in adding the power of video to their blogs cannot go wrong with Vlog It at $50. With maintenance updates and new features added in future versions, this is software every Windows user should consider.

But remember, Vlog it! is a program designed for adding video to a blog. It does that very well indeed. For example, it's currently being used by Detroit Free Press reporter Mike Wendland, who previously covered stories the traditional way as a tech columnist. He now has his own video blog site, www.pcmike.com.

This is but one example of a countless many vlogs. Vlog It provides the power to capitalize on a new market reality — not only for those doing special-interest blogs, but also for video creators. That's because vlogging is both a tool and a vehicle for produced video content.

At this price Vlog It is a must-have, at least for those who don't yet have a simple vlogging workflow that they're happy with. Serious Magic has created a program that serves not only bloggers, but Windows-based video professionals looking to share footage and communicate with clients and crew alike. (Imagine the spur-of-the-moment training you could do — share setups with a lighting crew, for instance.)

The effectivenness of video programs in the inviting format of a weblog can not be overstated. With a workflow as simple as Vlog It's, you really have no excuse not to vlog.

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bottomline

Company: Serious Magic
Folsom, Calif.; (916) 985-8000
www.seriousmagic.com

Product: Vlog It

Assets: Easy to use, professional quality, good support, low cost, streaming hosting available.

Caveats: Low-resolution (320×240) video output. Feature set is basic.

Demographic: Anyone wanting to post video clips to the Internet.

PRICE: $49.95

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.