You have the camera, you've shot your film and now it's time to show it to the world. But how? Physical media is as good as dead and you don't reach a large audience by handing out optical discs to your mates. Time to put your new masterpiece online and see what happens.
The two major outlets are youTube and Vimeo. They do the same thing, make your video available to the world, but they do it in a different way. youTube has more reach and you will potentially get more views. It is full of funny cat videos and fans of varying skills playing songs by their favourite artists and your video is likely to be drowned out by the noise. Vimeo is more of an artist's outlet. Vimeo videos tend to be original work, uploaded by the artists themselves. You are in a better company, but the competition is just as hard, because the overall quality of the videos competing for the viewer's attention is higher. You can compare it to hanging your work at the McDonalds versus an art gallery. More people will be exposed to it at the burger place, but the ones that see it at the gallery may appreciate it more.
If you are after numbers and want as many people as possible to see your video, you are probably better off using youTube. The video quality on Vimeo seems to be slightly higher, so if you want your film presented in the best possible light, go for Vimeo.
Another thing to keep in mind is that youTube will initially limit your video to 10 minutes. It sounds crippling, but you really don't want to upload longer videos. If you're starting out and are generally unknown, keep your videos short, 3-5 minutes. By the time you have the skills and "fan base" to make longer videos, your youTube account will probably have been upgraded automatically. I recently received a message saying I could now upload videos longer than 30 minutes. Don't see why I should though. Vimeo also has a limit, but that has to do with file sizes. 500MB per week. You can upgrade to a Pro account, but that costs money.
It goes without saying that you should use original material. Both sites will flag your content if you use popular songs that are copyrighted by major record companies. They may even block your video in certain countries. If you are making a music video for an artist, this should not be an issue, as they can contact the video site and clear the matter. No such luck if you are making a short film with your mates and use a famous song. You are better off using stock music, sound effects or music your mates recorded. It is a good idea anyway. They may be the ones to write that perfect score for you when you make that full length feature, somewhere in the future.
My video, Salt as the Sea is reasonably known on those forums. It was featured in a past issue of EOS Magazine. It was originally uploaded to youTube, but is now available on Vimeo as well. See below for links to both so that you can see the difference in video quality for yourself.
youTube:
Vimeo:
The two major outlets are youTube and Vimeo. They do the same thing, make your video available to the world, but they do it in a different way. youTube has more reach and you will potentially get more views. It is full of funny cat videos and fans of varying skills playing songs by their favourite artists and your video is likely to be drowned out by the noise. Vimeo is more of an artist's outlet. Vimeo videos tend to be original work, uploaded by the artists themselves. You are in a better company, but the competition is just as hard, because the overall quality of the videos competing for the viewer's attention is higher. You can compare it to hanging your work at the McDonalds versus an art gallery. More people will be exposed to it at the burger place, but the ones that see it at the gallery may appreciate it more.
If you are after numbers and want as many people as possible to see your video, you are probably better off using youTube. The video quality on Vimeo seems to be slightly higher, so if you want your film presented in the best possible light, go for Vimeo.
Another thing to keep in mind is that youTube will initially limit your video to 10 minutes. It sounds crippling, but you really don't want to upload longer videos. If you're starting out and are generally unknown, keep your videos short, 3-5 minutes. By the time you have the skills and "fan base" to make longer videos, your youTube account will probably have been upgraded automatically. I recently received a message saying I could now upload videos longer than 30 minutes. Don't see why I should though. Vimeo also has a limit, but that has to do with file sizes. 500MB per week. You can upgrade to a Pro account, but that costs money.
It goes without saying that you should use original material. Both sites will flag your content if you use popular songs that are copyrighted by major record companies. They may even block your video in certain countries. If you are making a music video for an artist, this should not be an issue, as they can contact the video site and clear the matter. No such luck if you are making a short film with your mates and use a famous song. You are better off using stock music, sound effects or music your mates recorded. It is a good idea anyway. They may be the ones to write that perfect score for you when you make that full length feature, somewhere in the future.
My video, Salt as the Sea is reasonably known on those forums. It was featured in a past issue of EOS Magazine. It was originally uploaded to youTube, but is now available on Vimeo as well. See below for links to both so that you can see the difference in video quality for yourself.
youTube:
Vimeo: