Australia Blog
News and rising stars from YouTube Australia
Project: Report -- YouTube's First Journalism Contest
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
In partnership with the
Pulitzer Center
, YouTube presents
Project: Report
(www.youtube.com/projectreport), a journalism contest (made possible by
Sony VAIO
and
Intel
) for non-professional, aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be covered by traditional media.
In each of the three rounds of Project: Report, reporters will be given an assignment to complete. Each of these assignments gives you an opportunity to report on the important individuals, issues and communities in your life that most people do not yet know about.
The assignment for Round 1 is to profile someone in your community in three minutes or less, highlighting a story you think deserves to be heard by a wide audience. Submit your video entry for Round 1 by midnight EST on Sunday October 5, and a panel of journalists from the Pulitzer Center will narrow the field to 10 semi-finalists. The assignment for Round 2 will then be announced, and the judging for this round will be opened up to the YouTube community to determine the five finalists who will move onto the third and last assignment. Winners of each round will receive technology prizes from Sony VAIO and Intel, and the grand prize winner will be granted a $10,000 journalism fellowship with the Pulitzer Center to report on a story outside of their home country.
Even if you did not participate in or advance past Round 1, you may still complete the assignments for Rounds 2 and 3, though you will not be eligible for the grand prize. With
Project: Report
, YouTube and the Pulitzer Center hope to highlight as many of your stories as possible and draw attention to important topics that have been under-reported, misreported, or not reported at all.
So, it's time to pick up that video camera, take on this assignment, and start reporting your stories to the world.
Yours,
Olivia M.
YouTube News & Politics
Metallica's Favourite YouTube Shredders
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Heavy metal rockers Metallica have inspired countless musicians on YouTube – think extreme guitar soloists, pounding drummers, violin trios, hard-edged vocalists and even animated kerrang-ing Lego musicians. Turns out the band itself has noted this phenomenon. Here's drummer Lars Ulrich revealing his favourite Metallica-inspired videos and wondering if some of these talented musicians might even out-play his own group:
Some of the videos the band chose for YouTube.com include an eight-year-old
guitar phenom
from Sweden, a Spanish
violin trio
performing "Nothing Else Matters," teenagers banging out
"Master of Puppets"
in their bedroom, and Canadian "Shred the Web" winner (and uber-fan)
Francisco Meza
. Lars shares the whole playlist on the
MetallicaTV
channel and today we are featuring them on YouTube's home page. Also featured is the new Metallica
video
, "The Day That Never Comes," an epic guitar-solo journey through the desert during wartime.
Happy Headbanging,
Michele K-Tel
YouTube Music
YouTube: Edinburgh's Virtual Venue
Sunday, 31 August 2008
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has a deserved reputation for featuring the best the comedy circuit has to offer. From first-timers to established names, every August the talent heads to Scotland to improvise, present new material and brave late-night variety shows in pursuit of laughs, ticket sales and critical acclaim.
This year some of the key festival venues, including
The Underbelly
,
The Gilded Balloon
and
The Pleasance
enabled performers to film their sets and upload them to YouTube. These have been pulled together at the
Edinburgh Comedy
channel (introduced by the inimitable
Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre
:
The page includes excerpts from Funny Women Fringe Award winner Bridget Christie, 2008 Malcolm Hardee Award recipient
Edward Aczel
and finalist in the hard-fought if.com Best Newcomer category
Pippa Evans
. So what are you waiting for? Get clicking for some of the best stand-up on offer at Edinburgh this year.
Have fun,
The YouTube Team
New Captions Feature For Videos
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Here at YouTube, we're always trying to find new ways to enrich your viewing experience and to help video creators reach a wider audience. As part of this goal, we've added a new captioning feature which allows you to give viewers a deeper understanding of your video. Captions can help people who would not otherwise understand the audio track to follow along, especially those who speak other languages or who are deaf and hard of hearing.
You can add captions to one of
your videos
by uploading a closed caption file using the "Captions and Subtitles" menu on the editing page. To add several captions to a video, simply upload multiple files. If you want to include foreign subtitles in multiple languages, upload a separate file for each language. There are over 120 languages to choose from and you can add any title you want for each caption. If a video includes captions, you can activate them by clicking the menu button located on the bottom right of the video player. Clicking this button will also allow viewers to choose which captions they want to see.
Some of our partners have already started using captions to offer you a better understanding of their videos (even with the audio turned off):
-
BBC Worldwide
: captions are provided in five different languages on
this clip
from Top Gear.
-
CNET
: tech
product reviews
from CNET's Crave blog.
-
UC Berkeley
: footage from the
Opencast Project Open House
.
-
MIT
: full lectures on subjects like
Physics
.
-
Gonzodoga
: English subtitles on this awesome Japanese
animation
.
We hope captions will serve to tighten the YouTube community by bringing together international users from different cultures.
We're excited to see what kinds of fun and creative uses for captions you'll be coming up with for your videos!
For more information about how to use captions, visit
this page
.
The YouTube Team
Video Annotations Now Display On Embeds
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Just so you know, the same annotations feature shown on YouTube videos is now visible on our embedded player. We're excited to finally release annotations on embeds, especially since this feature has been requested frequently in your feedback since our initial launch. Annotations bring an interactive element to your videos, and now you can reach an even larger audience when you embed your annotated videos on other sites. You can give your viewers more background and add commentary with speech bubbles, notes and spotlights, and by adding links to any YouTube video, channel, or search results page.
'
Hug the world
' is a stellar example of the many different ways you can use annotations to optimize your videos:
We've already seen an extraordinary amount of creative uses of this feature and we encourage video creators across all YouTube sites to continue using annotations.
For more information about how to use annotations on YouTube, visit
this page
.
The YouTube Team
Beijing From All Angles
Friday, 8 August 2008
For the next 16 days, the eyes of the world will be on Beijing and the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Several of our premier news providers will be there, too, on the ground in China creating feature pieces, photo montage videos, human interest stories and cultural tours of the city. If the athletic competition isn't necessarily your thing but you're still curious about what's going on over there, we've created a central hub of Summer Games content from these providers
here
.
On the Summer Games channel, you'll find the latest news from
Associated Press
, daily round-ups and a photographer's journal from
Getty Images
, in-depth feature pieces from
Reuters
,
Euronews
,
France 24
and
The New York Times
, and unique, up-close-and-personal views of life in Beijing from
Travel Channel
,
GroundReport
and, of course,
SexyBeijingTV
.
Here's a preview from Getty Images:
When the Olympics end on August 24, check back to our Summer Games channel in early September for video from the Beijing
Paralympic Games
, where the magnificent
Oscar Pistorius
will be running in a hotly contested 100-metres and other athletes will be competing for gold on the world stage.
Cheers,
Andrew B.
YouTube Sports
The YouTube Screening Room: New Features, New Films
Saturday, 2 August 2008
With over five million views and counting, the films featured in
The YouTube Screening Room
since its
launch a little over a month ago
seem to be holding your attention as much as they've held ours. This program, designed to connect those of you looking for original, compelling film content with talented filmmakers seeking out new audiences, continues to grow and we thank you for your many comments, ratings and messages.
Today, we're pleased to announce two new features, based on your feedback, and four new films. First up: we've launched an easier way to leave comments on films. You'll now find that you can directly link to a film's comments from The YouTube Screening Room landing page by clicking on the blue hypertext Comments number. Second: those of you who wanted a reminder to check out new films every two weeks can now subscribe to The YouTube Screening Room and get updates in your Subscriptions box when new films are featured. To subscribe, just click on the button on the top right side of the "Featured Films" box.
On to the new round of films! This diverse selection of shorts tackles wide-ranging subjects, including how mannequins contribute to female body image, the journey of Polish émigrés, avian interstellar conquest, and the interconnectedness of urban life. They include an Academy Award winner, a Palme d'Or winner, and a Tribeca Film Festival Honourable Mention…
And if you missed a previously featured film, no need to fret! Visit The YouTube Screening Room archives, located at the bottom of the page, to catch up.
Don't forget the popcorn,
Sara P.
YouTube Film
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