How and Where to Publish Your Home Videos

Publishing your digital video projects once you are finished can be one of the most rewarding parts of the entire process. When you allow the public to see your work you can get a sense of the importance of what you just did. It used to be that only large film and television companies with the financial backing to broadcast and distribute your work could be the gatekeepers to a global audience, but now the Internet has given the power back to the average home digital video producer.

You Tube is the most well known of all personal distribution outlets available on the Internet. Users create a profile and upload videos so that anyone has access to view them. There are size restrictions as to how large the video file can be, so this often makes the You Tube environment only available to shorter video projects. The best way to cut down the size of a larger video project is to compress it. There are many types of software for this, one of the most popular being Apple’s Compressor. This program comes packaged in the Final Cut Pro editing suite, though it is available for purchase on it own. What you do is either take a final video, or a sequence within your editing program, and you change it to a video file type that is smaller than a normal QuickTime file. It will reduce the quality somewhat, but it will allow you to put much larger files onto sites like You Tube. You also have the option of breaking up your film into multiple parts if it is substantial in length, and then upload each clip separately.

One resource that was created exclusively for independent filmmakers is MySpace, though you would hardly know it now. The popular social networking website was originally designed as a network for “do-it-yourself” filmmakers but eventually was opened up to musicians and the public because of its popularity. What this site allows you to do is create an entire profile for you as a home filmmaker or digital video producer, and you can put up clips or whole videos on this page. You can then add friends, post bulletins and blogs, and generally network yourself as a way of getting your videos to an even higher number of viewers.

It is always great when there is a commercial opportunity for your work and the new experience of this happening to you. A great place to begin is submitting pieces to broadcasting organizations like "Current TV." This channel is designed to broadcast student and viewer generated news and documentary content. You either set up a phone pitch with a representative or simply submit it to the website. People vote online for what videos they prefer, and the most popular are broadcast and the producers are financially compensated. Though it may not be much (Usually around $1000), it is nice to see some money for your work and if you are looking to create a career out of digital video work this is a nice starting point.

You may want to only produce DVDs and send them to those who want to view the film, and that can be an easy process. Simply use a DVD authoring program, such as DVD Studio Pro or DVD Architect, and produce a full DVD for your video project. Once completed you can create copies of that DVD using software like Toast or by taking it to a local business that offers disc duplicating services.

Like anything with home digital video production, the way that you publish your project depends on how you want it to be viewed. If you just want to make it available to as many people as possible you can focus on sites like You Tube or MySpace, which makes it accessible for everyone from family and friends to the average internet browser. If you are looking for a little cash you can home in on resources like Current TV, but really the options are endless. The Internet has given everyone a voice, and thankfully that has now extended to digital video production as well.