So you heard the buzz: Vlogs are the hip new frontier of the rapidly expanding blogosphere, and Vlog It! is the killer app for making them. Having a pioneer spirit, you rushed to buy Vlog It! or download the trial version. Now that you’ve installed the program, it’s time to move beyond the buzz and get a handle on what exactly a vlog is, what Vlog It! can do for you, and what you need to know to start vlogging.
In a nutshell, a vlog is a video that’s streamed from a server so that people can view it over the Internet. This definition points to the three key steps in vlogging:
As for what Vlog It! does, simply insert “It makes it easy to…” in front of the three steps above. From the earliest brainstorming sessions, our prime directive was to keep it simple—more specifically, to eliminate the need for any special training or knowledge. So Vlog It! makes it easy create a professional looking videos without knowing the first thing about video editing, to upload it to a server without even knowing what a server is, and to create a link to it without knowing what html code looks like much less how to write it.
While the latter two steps are so straightforward that no elaboration is necessary, it’s worth expanding on Vlog It’s power to produce great videos. It lets you combine video clips, photographs and other still images, and music, sound effects and other audio files with audio and video recorded live for the vlog. And you can knit the various graphics together with scores of effects from subtle cuts and dissolves to advanced, eye-catching peels, curls, and over-the-shoulders.
Having achieved the desired easy and simplicity of creating, hosting, and linking vlogs, we realized one barrier remained that could stymie some customers: selecting and subscribing to a hosting service. To clear that hurdle, we partnered with PlayStream, a leading hosting and streaming provider. You can set up a free trial account through Vlog It! by simply entering a username and password. When the trial account expires, subscribing to one of PlayStream’s plans is a snap. While using PlayStream as your hosting service is particularly convenient, Vlog It! also gives you the option of uploading your vlogs to the server of your choice.
This section covers what you need to know to install Vlog It!, set up your studio and camera, get oriented to the user interface, and produce a Vlog in just eight easy steps.