March 10, 2010
Viral video doesn't always happen by accident.
By J.R. Bookwalter
“Viral videomaking” has become an industry buzzword, although few content creators can actually put their finger on exactly how it works or what’s entailed in doing it successfully. Craig Lieberman, on the other hand, is one of the few who can.
A self-proclaimed “car nut” with a marketing & advertising background who first put his knowledge to use as Technical Advisor on two Fast & The Furious feature films, Lieberman combined those elements in 2004 to create videos for the automotive aftermarket sector, and a new business model was born.
“I remember a moment of enlightenment when an ad sales guy approached me to buy print ads in his magazine,” Lieberman recalls. “I saw that in the automotive sector, there was an untapped opportunity to reach large audiences over the Web. YouTube had become a dumping ground for crummy videos related to my exotic car hobby. From poor gear to poor post production values, the bar was set really low. 
“What if,” Lieberman asked himself, “someone created videos that were compelling, cool to watch, provided good branding for the company and provided a call to action so that advertisers could track the results? My business took a new direction and it changed my life.”
The first hurdle Lieberman had to overcome was one of perception. “The challenge with making viral videos is that [they] need to be broadcast quality. [Based upon] people responding to CraigsList ads, there is still a perception that videographers are only worth $100 a day or ‘work for credit’ or the promise of new work. Combine that with a ‘race to the bottom’ — whereby amateur videographers proclaiming to be professionals are responding to such ads — and you can very quickly see that costs are up while the perception of what we should charge is going down. There was the challenge: How do you break through this perception?”
As it turns out, it wasn’t that hard, actually. There are plenty of horror stories to convey to potential clients, as Lieberman notes, “ranging from wedding video failures to full-blown productions that never got finished. You get what you pay for, always. That said, we work as economically as possible...we're new to the game, so we have to.”
To that end, Lieberman relies on modern, low-cost HDV hardware such as the Canon XH A1 and the Sony PMW-EX1 as well as “a dozen support cameras” in addition to a full range of support gear including a Steadicam and a boom with jib arm.
As a die-hard PC guy, Lieberman started out learning on Sony Vegas but expanded to Adobe Premiere when he first opened his business. With his PC unfortunately too outdated to be used in an efficient workflow, Lieberman switched over to the Mac and initially struggled to learn Final Cut Studio sans formal training.
“Too broke to go back to school, I learned over the Internet, reading the manuals and with tips from other professionals who had taken me under their wing. Internet forums provided the missing pieces,” he reveals.
After mastering the basic software, Lieberman soon discovered the joy of templates and plug-ins — but didn’t relish the exorbitant price tags attached to most of them. “With a few more clicks, I found Noise Industries,” Lieberman says. “I downloaded their trial version of the FxFactory engine, and I was hooked.” Noise Industries’ flagship product, FxFactory, powers hundreds of plug-ins for Final Cut Pro, Motion and other host programs. The innovative developer of visual effects tools for post-production professionals allows potential buyers to install and try out hundreds of their plug-ins before committing to a purchase.
“Here was a range of options available that were competitively priced — really, far less expensive than other software I had come across,” Lieberman gushes. “The user interface was incredibly simple to master. Their Web site is packed with tutorials on how to use every plug-in or filter, and they are constantly updated. Their support was superb, their pricing was even better and my customers delighted in the results.”
Despite such glowing praise for the tools available to him today, Lieberman also has a few choice words for some of the companies providing them, as well: “The current challenge of dealing with multiple codecs, formats and proprietary media has a profound effect on the industry and forces us to spend money needlessly as videographers and production professionals,” he explains.
Lieberman’s earliest interest in film came with a viewing of the 1970 World War II classic Tora! Tora! Tora! on television as a kid. “This was before special effects,” he explains. “Everything was shot practical: The battleship was a 1:1 mockup out of plywood, the airplanes were real, the history was real. The story was told visually in a way I never thought possible. From that day forward, I wanted to be in the business — I wanted to tell stories visually in a compelling way.”
The fledgling videomaker first cut his teeth on the family’s VHS camcorder after being handed the assignment to document their vacation. “I was fascinated by it and how it worked, but deep down, I thought it was a silly dream to pursue it,” he laughs.
Flash-forward to 1999, where Lieberman’s obsession with cars landed him a Technical Advisor job on an episode of the TV show Titus, which eventually found him on the set of 2001’s The Fast & The Furious as well as its even more high-octane 2003 sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious.
“Someone at Universal asked me to film what was going on at the facility where the cars were being built,” Lieberman reveals. “As a car nut who had long since become distraught by the lack of authenticity in car flicks, here at last was a chance to show this process through the eyes of a car geek.
“The footage I shot was just a small part of the finished Behind the Scenes featurette, but apparently, my on-air commentary somehow persuaded Universal to allow me to host a special feature on the DVD release. With a great face for radio,” he says with a chuckle, “I had already resigned myself to the notion that I'd be able to be more creative behind the camera than self-conscious in front of it.”
While Lieberman enjoys his occasional flirtations with the film and TV industry, he seems to prefer the broader freedom that his corporate work brings him. “Often times, I'm asked to write the script and to control the project,” he explains. “I sure as hell don't see [Quentin] Tarantino handing me that kind of freedom should I ever work on one of his projects. With corporate work, you have to work with a small team to execute effectively, primarily as a financial consideration. This sparks the creativity — how do you deliver something interesting yet affordable? It forces us to think.
“On the film and television projects on which I've worked, I've usually been enlisted as a technical advisor,” Lieberman concludes. “Just like a psychiatrist, you can counsel in one direction all you want. Ultimately, the producer and director are running the show.”
In an often rare scenario, Lieberman’s professional work has intertwined nicely with his childhood love of automobiles: “I never grew out of it,” Lieberman exclaims. “My network of personal connections includes exotic car owners, aftermarket parts companies, tuning companies, print publishers, you name it. My work with these folks has ranged from marketing and branding to product placement, licensing and events management, among other roles.
“It's exciting to me because the cars are the stars — they are canvasses on which people create images of speed and beauty. When filmed from certain angles, in certain settings, it has become for me a form of pornography...it is that arousing,” Lieberman says with a sly grin.
Turning back to his other skill in viral videomaking, Lieberman is quick to remind us that it’s finally being taken seriously as big business. “Even Lamborghini is making videos targeted specifically at the Web,” he reveals. “Think of it — you buy an ad in a magazine...a month later, the ad is gone. But what happens when you enhance your print ad buy with a supporting video? Perhaps even the print ad drives your customer to see the video. Not only is that traffic trackable, it provides a more engaging experience.
“Smart print publishers would push their clients in this direction,” Lieberman advises. “Smart clients would insist upon it. If a picture says a thousand words, than a video says a million. The viral video's shelf life is far greater — it may garner views online for years. Try that with a billboard, a Facebook post or a banner ad on a Web forum. Dollar for dollar, it does better at building an image, creating brand awareness and promoting trial of one's products than any other form of promotion.”
The videomaker is also not shy about his own footing in the market: “Viral video is where it's at for the next decade and beyond,” he announces. “Television is so bad these days and so expensive, it's a matter of time before this country shifts their entertainment [viewing] to the Internet. Before long, we'll be streaming videos into our home through a Hulu interface, Apple TV and other devices.
“Big networks have to see the handwriting on the wall,” he adds. “They're about to become as extinct as newspapers. This will mean productions can be done for less money, reach more money and even provide better tracking of results for advertisers. It's in the cards and we'll see it in my lifetime, I predict. This is the ‘right now’ generation: We want and get everything right now, online.”
Lieberman concludes: “For most of us, this is our passion... we don't want to make our living any other way and thankfully, this is one industry that will see little shift of outsourcing to foreign countries. This is a time of opportunity — perhaps even the calm before the storm as the world of viral video sits poised for growth.”
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