The guys at 37Signals have a great post on clothing company Madewell who are using video on their website in a very simple understated way. Each garment has a video that shows a person wearing the clothes and moving around so you can see how they really look on someone. Yes, they’re a good looking model but it definitely adds something to a just a photo of a pair of jeans!

Also shows that not all video has to be inside a rectangular video player.

Check out some more photos from our filming of the new Progression Kite Landboarding Beginner DVD in Cornwall on the Synergy website.

You’ll be able to see a full write up on the production trip in the next issue of Power Kiting magazine - we’ll let you know when its released…

According to industry bible, eMarketer, within five years, viewers will spend eight hours per day in front of video screens. An increasing amount of that time will be spent with online video. Time to sit back and wait for the jobs to roll in! 

To read the full article, click the link below:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006381&src=article1_newsltr

Myself and Will (the newest Fat Sand recruit) are off on the road filming for our next Progression DVD. We’ve hooked up with Lewis Willby and Dom Moore down in Cornwall and though today had some pretty light wind things are looking really good for the next few days. Anyway the photo below should give you an idea of the content for the new Progression…

The use of video on the internet is obviously a BIG thing at the moment, but things are still changing and moving forward. Though we might all think that short 2-3 minutes clips are the main stay of online video, the day of long form shows (30 minutes - 2 hours) is taking hold. YouTube just announce their screen room for short films and options for selective partners to offer videos longer than 10 minutes. Then you have Hulu offering episodes from loads of the popular TV shows, just not in the UK yet. And another US only site is a Fat Sand favorite - all episodes of South Park, officially available through South Park Studios!

This move to long form content offers a different view on how websites need to interact with their viewers but also does well to make us think again about how we interact with our viewers with short form content. Adam Berrey, SVP of Marketing at Brightcove, has a really great post outlining alot of these considerations, well worth a read.

We ask clients regularly “Why are you putting video on your website?” and the answer is often the same “Because everyone else is!”. Which is valid but with out much further thought you’ll be just following the pack rather than giving your viewers the best experience possible, one that fits them perfectly.

Our favourite telecoms magazine, Mobile Europe, took us to the WiMax show in Munich last month. As well as filming a series of interviews with industry leaders, we managed to squeeze in some local pork and beer but avoided the Christ Schmuck.

As with the previous 4 years Aaron Hadlow, the 4x Kitesurfing World Champion, is kicking ass on the world tour (2 wins out of 3 events so far) and just won the Red Bull Kite Punks event in Spain. Keep it up Ron!

Check out his site for updates on his travels and his regular videos showing his latest trick inventions!

We worked with Aaron to rework his website, at the beginning of 2007, filming and editing video content and hassling him to keep writing posts! But its working as his unqiue visitors has double over the past year.

Also check Aaron out in our lastest Progression instructional DVD - Kiteboarding Progression Professional.

Fat Sand were commissioned by Brighton Festival to produce a promotional video for this years event. Shooting took place in January andFebruary all over the city. The idea was to incorporate some of the more unusual venues that feature in the festival so we found ourselvesin the empty Dome, St Bart’s church and Fabrica to name a few.

We worked with Sussex based corporate entertainment company, Adventure Connections, to create a series of videos for their new website showcasing some of the activities they have on offer. Due to the size of some of the props involved we rented out the green screen at the Brighton Media Centre for the day and shot ten short vids.

Check them out here: http://www.adventureconnections.co.uk/default.jsp

Fat Sand has been commissioned by women’s style bible, Cosmopolitan, to shoot some vox pops for their new website. Using our superior persuasion skills we had to stop ‘handsome’ chaps in the streets of London and ask them everything from who their ideal woman is to what their favoritepart of a womans body is.

My favourite is the guy who when asked what his ideal date is answered, ’spliff and some hiphop?’ Romantic!

Stay tuned for the full video.