Home & Jeff's Blog

Video on the 3rd Floor

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:54:00 -0500

Just like Robert Downey Jr., I was giddy with joy when I was able to round up a few people on my dorm floor that wanted to be in my next video!! As I continue along the path of a collaboration/guest star route, the videos are gaining a fresh vibe to them so you don't know what to expect and from who! While I am a fan of character development (mainly for the "Sketch Comedy" series), it's fun to just let loose and explore more plot-based style videos. It gives me a chance to do more jokes with as little stretch as possible, haha! With that being said, let's talk about the newest video to call home here on the site!

I've been living in the University Village Suites since August of 2009. 3rd Floor, to be exact. That's an inside joke (well not really). Also, that's a spiffy name for a blog post, which is mainly why I just wrote that, teehee. Since my roommate, Victor, lives with me, he obviously knows a little bit about what I do here, and ever since college started he's shown interest of making a video with me! It's a shame that it has taken this long to finally make a video, but it's finally happened! I contacted some people on my floor via facebook and gave them the opportunity to collaborate on a video for the site. You know, I guess I could have just walked to their door and asked them personally... HAHA! Well actually, it was quite difficult to get a hold of these people, ironically enough! Nevertheless once I recieved an overwhelmingly positive response, I went ahead and wrote out the lines for everyone in the video... yes... that's right. I WROTE A SCRIPT. JEFFREY VEGA HAD A SCRIPT PREPARED. SOUND THE ALARMS!

The video is about me going around, asking people what they think of this website... and well, let's just say things don't go so well for me. HOWEVER, in reality, things went VERY well, filming wise. We're all so busy during the day, all the filming took place literally at 1 in the morning... not exactly the most practical time to film, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?! I was so excited once everything was finished with all the guest stars, thanks to one of my closest friends Onelia for helping to film and putting up with my pickiness! (: The one thing that brought me down during editing was... well, the whole process. I planned to film 2 scenes for every person I worked with, and I would seperate the clips throughout the video with the other people so it had the effect of like going back to that person as if we never stopped talking. I was bummed to find out, however, when putting all the footage together that the video would be close to 15 minutes. OUCH. You could probably guess how hard it was to cut some things out... so many funny things will never see the light of day, and even after the difficult editing decisions, the video is still a lengthy one at right under 6 minutes, but at least I was able to get everyone who was filmed into the video! I've watched some people watch the video and they say the time passes by so quickly because the video is actually entertaining and doesn't drag on... yay! So, why don't you tell me what YOU think, hmm? (;

Click here to watch it in our video theater! | Click here to watch it in HD on YouTube! |

Click here to watch it on Facebook in case you would rather "like" it than comment on it... haha!

Blog, Pogs, and Nintendo Boy!

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:54:00 -0500

Do you ever read blogs and think to yourself "Who the heck reads this?". I can also safely say that Nintendo Boy will read this and say "Hey, that's not true! I 100% of the people who visit the site will read this!" And you, Nintendo boy, would be correct! You are the only one who will read this, and you will also have been the only one who will have realized this has been posted. The Ironic truth is that the more popular the site is doing, the less it gets read. This may seem like a problem to you Nintendo Boy, but I have two easy methods to improve your situation! They are:

1) The drastic method would be to make it so no one ever reads anything ever anymore. The solution would be to make video blogs from now on. But to be realistic about it, nothing over 5 minutes gets watched, we all know that; using the same point, if it takes more than 5 minutes to read, no one will read it. That brings us to point 2.

2) No one ever reads blog posts from head to toe ever, not the long ones anyway. Instead, just give a spark notes version that people will want to read. Face it, us Americans are big and lazy slobs. We also like shiny things like watches... But thats beside the point. So instead of having a post like the one I just wrote, spark note it and highlight/underline/make in a different color the most important things. For example... this post could be reedited as follows:

"Do you ever read blogs and think to yourself "Who the heck reads this?". I can also safely say that Nintendo Boy will read this and say "Hey, that's not true! I 100% of the people who visit the site will read this!" And you, Nintendo boy, would be correct! You are the only one who will read this, and you will also have been the only one who will have realized this has been posted. The Ironic truth is that the more popular the site is doing, the less it gets read. This may seem like a problem to you Nintendo Boy, but I have two easy methods to improve your situation! They are:

1) The drastic method would be to make it so no one ever reads anything ever anymore. The solution would be to make video blogs from now on. But to be realistic about it, nothing over 5 minutes gets watched, we all know that; using the same point, if it takes more than 5 minutes to read, no one will read it. That brings us to point 2.

2) No one ever reads blog posts from head to toe ever, not the long ones anyway. Instead, just give a spark notes version that people will want to read. Face it, us Americans are big and lazy slobs. We also like shiny things like watches... But thats beside the point. So instead of having a post like the one I just wrote, spark note it and highlight/underline/make in a different color the most important things. For example... this post could be reedited as follows:"

See, now this site will become slightly more popular because I didn't make people read a LONG boring post. This is Andrew once again saying Stay Classy internet!

Not Yet Bored of Board Games

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:33:00 -0500

At last, it has finally arrived. That's right, the blog entry detailing the events of Board Games is finally being typed up! Well, I guess since you're reading this and it's already published and such, that doesn't matter or anything and well I say that because I'M typing this up NOW and uh- ANYWAY! Today, we will briefly discuss Board Games (mainly because it's been so long and I don't really remember...teehee) as well as some interesting background factoids that went into to publishing this video. As I transition to the body paragraph of this essay, I will go ahead and try to connect the animated .gif by saying that the "interesting factoid" was a decision that I made so I wouldn't have to keep trying to figure out why I have no views on YouTube (even Lenny doesn't know... ha!)

So. Board Games. Where do I even begin? Oh boy, this is going to be one awkward blog entry. Alright, remember that one random scene in Takeover where I called a meeting but only three people showed up to an event where I tried to get Josh to admit he likes Nintendo? Yeah I know, so random, haha. Those three people were in my Communications Learning Community last semester, and I became pretty close with them (and I will add them on the collaboration page soon... I know it's long overdue but eh, you probably didn't notice)! They knew I did videos (because I never shut up about it!) and were quite interested when I asked them if they were willing to help collaborate on a video! You know I think I actually already talked about this in a post about Takeover last year... ah well. Anyway, as we all returned from winter break I contacted them all about a video idea I had. After I received an overwhelming positive response, I went immediately went forward with my idea and came up with a rough outline (in my head of course... *nervous laugh*) and was super excited to get it done! We all moved back into our dorms the weekend before the first week of spring semester and reunited and had fun as we improv'd the entire video! So, there really isn't much to say. I mean, we literally improv'd it. I wish I was a little less annoying (I'm not like that in real life... *cough*), I wish Lauren (the girl on the far left) wasn't so mean to me, I wish Aubrey (the girl in the middle (wasn't so annoyed by me), and I wish Jason (the guy on the far right) had more lines, because he was hilarious! But yes, it was a very nice collaboration that I'm very proud of, but I don't think there will be any more videos with them since they got mad when I spit chocolate milk on them and everywhere (without telling them what I was going to do, I might add)... HAHAHA, just kidding. Or am I? No no, I am. They were terrific guests and look forward to working with them again. We will see... (:

Alrighty, and now for interesting factoid time! Not a huge deal, but definitely worth mentioning. This video was given a different kind of treatment for publishing: YouTube EXCLUSIVE. That's right, for one week, I decided to only upload the video to YouTube (and not on facebook just yet) to force everyone to go through the popular video site to watch my latest episode! Why did I do this you ask? Well right off the bat, YouTube HD is FANTASTIC! Facebook's... or really anywhere else... is not so much. I wanted everyone to see my new video in a beautiful resolution... that's a harmless wish, right?! (: With this, I also conducted an experiment: How many people *actually* watch my videos? I know, crazy right... who would EVER want to know that? The reason why I may not have the best estimate is that my views are skewed because of facebook. Grrr, I'll get you popular social networking site! *shakes fist* The only reason I post my videos to our facebook fan page is because people have a better, easier option to comment... and you guys know how much I love feedback! I repeat: this is the only reason... so if I don't get any likes/comments than I assume no one's really watching it.. or people are just lazy. Eh. But anyway, my experiment actually resulted in me now knowing that people really do watch my videos because, in the week that Board Games was only on YouTube, it garnered unusally high views compared to the others. In fact, as of writing, the video has more views than most of my videos that have been out for more than a 2 months! Now there's the kind of thing I like to see! Now what will I do with this new found information? Not sure yet... I may continue to make the videos exclusive for a week for the sake of YouTube views, but at the same time the facebook video suffers because no one watches/comments because they'll be like.. "oh that's not new, I've already seen that!" My case is proven with Board Games on facebook, which has only a comment by one of our actors... :/ SO. It's a hard choice. Perhaps I'll just continue to upload them to YouTube & Facebook at the same time so neither suffer but at the same time the views will be more spread out... BUT, as long as I receive feedback, I can live with that! *looks at you* (;

Click here to watch it in our video theater! | Click here to watch it in HD on YouTube! |

Click here to watch it on Facebook in case you would rather "like" it than comment... haha!

Showing Love for Facebook & iTunes

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:12:00 -0500

It's time for a long-awaited update, don't you think? It's not that I'm avoiding you guys, it's just that there isn't much to say sometimes, despite me loving to write in the blog... know what I mean? Well I have some good stuff for you today, and I'd like to talk to you about them! Since the beginning of the year, we've had one blog post (although it was a flashback post), and a new video, and some subtle changes, as well as some not-so-subtle changes. Let me walk you through them so you don't get confused (much like the people watching that automatic toilet)! ;) If this post becomes too long, I will spill it over into another one, because I don't want you to leave because it's too many words... yikes!

First off, let me just thank you all for your continued support. If you're on the site right now reading this, that means you. I can't thank you enough. While unfortunately our site community here has remained stagnant, we continue to grow on a website that people actually go to, facebook! As of writing, we have 169 fans on our fan page. Although sometimes the number goes up & down (who removes themselves as a fan, I mean really?), we have a strong fan base. I'll admit that probably 90% are people I know, but hey, you got to start somewhere right? It's nice to know that 169 people like what you do. It's what lets me sleep soundly at night, haha! In the quest of trying to get our own community sparked with life again, I have re-vamped the forums, renamed it "Discussions," and cleaned up the place in general with some re-organizing! I'm also looking to add more categories to appeal to a wider audience, so if you have any ideas, please let me know! The Discussions area is just one of several planned updates to grow our community again. So def keep on the lookout for new stuff... because if you think about it, this site is actually very awesome. Not being self-centered or anything, but I honestly think we have quite a snazzy online home right here. So why let it be covered it cobwebs? I can't think of a reason.

Next item of business, is iTunes. Wait, what's that? You didn't know we were on iTunes? Well we are! I don't advertise as much as I should, and really, I don't know how many people actually download the episodes because Apple won't let you see stats and insight for your podcast. So this could be a great success or a huge disaster. I mean, no, it doesn't cost money to actually do, but in order to make it happen, I do spend money on space to host the videos on my server so I can provide it to you, and the whole process takes time, and we all know time is money. Obviously what I'm hoping to get at is that people have another outlet to see the project and may check out our stuff if they like what they see. Almost everyone has an iPod of some sort, and if not, at least iTunes, and so there is no way you can't see our stuff, whether it's on YouTube, Facebook, or even on your iPod! SO. OKAY. That was too long of intro, so let me cut to the chase. Up until about a week ago, the episodes on our podcast were at low "converted for podcast .mov" file, and yet they were still a little chunky in size. I'm pleased to say that I have found a better solution, in which I render the movie project in .mov instead of converting it, then adding it to iTunes and then from there "create iPod / iPhone Version," which results in a beautiful, much clearer HD video (in a .m4v format... iTunes-specific!) to have on the go! And what's the best part? The size is actually down a few MBs! So it's a win-win, and after playing around with all this stuff and making sure it works, I updated & re-uploaded all of the HD videos on the podcast (except for The End) so now you should do the same! I'm telling you, there is a huge difference to what it was before, so if you are currently subscribed to the podcast and you click update, all your files will probably have an error sign next to it (since they have been all replaced). I know it's a bit of work, but I recommend clearing and deleting the podcast entirely (or at least just from Hiatus and above... ie all the HD videos) and re-subscribing so you can get all the new files. And if you're new to the program, just go ahead and subscribe for free and you will have the new high definition videos! YOU'RE WELCOME. Haha just kidding, but really, though... I'm happy to do this and glad improvements are always being made, no?

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT. So I realize this blog post is getting rather lengthy, so let me just wrap it really quick. There are some other things that need to be said, but I will continue it in a later blog post as mentioned at the beginning of this entry. I wanted to officially announce the newest video, Board Games. I never had a chance to make a post about it, but here's a quick nod. Yes, it is a bit late and you have probably seen it already, but if not, you definitely need to! There is MUCH to say about this video, and I will save it for the next blog post, so stay tuned... thanks for reading this far and listening to me ramble! (:

Looking back at 2009... video-wise, at least!

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:38:00 -0500

Okay, so right off the bat, I know this is going to be a long post (but I'll do my best to keep it short) because I want to take a look back at the past year. I think this is good for a number of reasons, but it's a secret for now (err yeah I have no idea why I'm doing this honestly). I'll do my best to cover what so far has been our best year for the site, and give justice to the videos in a somewhat laid back blog post that hopefully won't be TOO long. So, with that being said, let's take a look back on how 2009 was a spicyyy fun year for us, video-wise! (yes, I only said 'spicy' so I could justify my image choice for today...haha!)

Let's begin. 2009. Our best year yet... but really things didn't get rolling until the summer... sooo, our best half-year yet? After Rock Band Documentary at the very end of 2008, we took a long hiatus... and not by choice either, it's just the way it happened. I received a veryyyyy nice Sony HD Handycam as a high school graduation present from from my parents mid-May, and it caused me to blog with excitement! With the summer, there's a lot of people busy with different things, so we weren't able to get together until early June. From there, we created Hiatus, an appropriate name, we thought. Not the best video ever, but it was definitely a start!

The team and I (mostly me) were so excited about the new top-notch HD quality for YouTube viewing but we didn't realize how subpar the video was. It was too long, really random, and you could tell we were just showing off the camera. We were so young then, tear. After this, we spent a lot of time planning but never got anything done. This was also during the time that the site had no activity and sparked a scare of closing the site. After much thought, we decided to keep going. We jumped off the hype of the closing of the site with The End, a sort of fictional extension to real events on the site. This was again, really random, and I was really only in love with the ending of The End (ha), where I show off my editing skills... one of my favorite NB moments for sure! This took place right at the end of July, almost making a release date of August 1st because of editing problems. Then we realized that it was August and Josh and I were heading to college, and Andrew to finish his senior year.

About a week later, we did not disappoint with perhaps one of my favorite videos of the three NintendoBoy guys (really, this is one where we are all together and in scenes, so..fun, haha), Wishful Thinking. I love this video because of the various colorful different kinds of settings that took place over the three-and-a-half minute video, and I think it was a legit video. The only problem I had with it was the Rock Band Documentary reference, which was my idea actually, but Andrew was against it because some people (really, a lot actually) wouldn't get it... I wish I had taken his advice but we really didn't have any else of an idea for a replacement sketch. xD Oh well, nevertheless, it was a great video and was a perfect farewell video as we left for college just days after it was released.

Since we were all busy with school, it really hurt the site as we didn't have new content to push out, except for the occasional blog post here and there. That's why it was awesome when I planned a comeback in October with a friend who was visiting me at school. It was almost November when I released probably my favorite video to date, Hardly Working, just because of how well it was done and really the emphasis on legit comedy: ADD... but honestly I don't really act like that, HAHA. Ironically, I had to do little-to-no editing (except for the trimming the beginning/endings for when I start/stop the camera), yet this was a favorite and I've received great feedback on it! It was a sad because it was the first video I'd done without my NB team, but it spawned the idea of a "Special Guests" series where I can invite interested people to particiapte in the project and help it grow and become more successful!

Winding down to the end of the year, we got together over Thanksgiving break and filmed Facebook Fans, but many problems with editing arose and I wasn't able to release it until perhaps two weeks later, which I was unhappy about, but ah what can you do? But, it was a special video because it was our first try at pop culture, and I really like (and still do) the idea of it, so I might turn it into a series, so don't be surprised if you see a "FBF 2," etc... it's all ideas for now! Coming back to school for about a last regular week and a week of finals, we headed back home again and meet very frequently, thanks to the help of Ellie for driving the crew around as well as Josh for letting us come to his house at the most craziest times.

I had the idea to use the entire winter break to create a two-part suspense episode to end the year and we managed to do it in what I called Takeover (I ended up not liking the name... it seemed like a good idea at the time but then I was like... eh)! Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun to make, and it made me want to explore more different types of genres instead of just sketchy comedy. But don't worry, we're not getting carried away just yet. Despite it being my idea to create a two-part video, with the ending of the story in Takeover Part 2, I had reservations about how both videos might not be seen, etc... but oh well, I guess it worked out since I did received a good amount of feedback on facebook on both videos.

WELL. THERE IT IS. 2009 in a very small nutshell, and really only talking about the videos... ha. Hmm, it seems as though I made a big deal about the success of this year at the beginning of this post, but as I write it all down, it's not THAT great. HA, just kidding, that's kinda depressing. But really though, it was DEF a fun year and a great site to the further fueling of this project. We have sooo many things planned for 2010, and I'd like to make it known that not only will we be improving our films a lot in many different ways, the site is getting moved up to the top of the list. I mean, it's the most important thing or you wouldn't be reading this! It has so much potential, and I will be doing some heavy re-constructing and organizing of the site, so I will update you when things change and blah blah. A sneak peak for the site is a re-vamp of the forums. It's the best app ever and we never use it! So look out for that soon, as well as more videos! Perhaps maybe with a theme song or ending chime? Hmm. I guess you'll just have to stick around and find out!

Thanks for reading, and thank you for supporting us. We're nothing without you. :)