We were involved in publishing an Enhanced eBook that was recently approved and has gone live as an iBook in the Apple iBookstore. We are calling this an “Enhanced eBook” due to the fact that there is a video included in the full version. The video is embedded in the pages of the book and can be expanded to full screen in landscape or vertical orientation. The title is available on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
The tricky part is actually finding the iBook. The only way to discover the title is to download the free iBook app and load it on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Once you are in the app you can browse or search in the iBookstore, make purchases or download free titles and load them into the library on your device.
One cool feature we discovered during this process is that Apple creates a sample that is free to download. It contains a limited number of pages and allows the user to purchase from within the pages of the book. This particular sample does not include the video, but we have seen other titles, like Nixonland, that contain several videos in their sample iBook.
During the final week of the 2010 Tour de France, ABC Nightline contacted VeloNews regarding an upcoming story they were producing about Floyd Landis and doping in professional cycling. ABC needed sound bites from John Wilcockson, a journalist who has been covering the Tour for the past 42 years. An interview was coordinated and John answered questions asked by an ABC point of contact via cell phone.
If you have been paying attention to the world of book publishing you may have noticed a dramatic shift starting to take place. The traditional model and relationship between publisher and author is changing due to the emergence of digital publishing technologies and electronic books. Devices like the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo eReaderand many others are being favored by readers instead of traditional print books and some are offering interactive elements like audio and video within the digital pages.
This mixed media approach to book publishing caught our attention earlier this year and several opportunities presented themselves to us soon after. The first project that we were involved in was an interactive digital comic book titled “Calling Einstein”, which is part of the “Adventures of Mr.Thompkins” book series. The digital comic has an interactive experience allowing the reader to swipe between pages, tap to expand panels and pinch to zoom in and out of each page. There is also an “extras” section that gives the reader access to several videos and transcriptions that are relevant to the digital comic. The title is an App available for the iPad.
We have also started creating iBooks for authors looking to get their titles into Apple’s iBookstore and onto digital devices. The iBook format can feature audio and video content within the digital pages and can be viewed on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
Stay tuned for more information on our digital publishing capabilities, offerings and titles.
Cyclocross season is fast approaching and we have been busy gearing up for some of the events happening this fall in Colorado. DBC Events will be putting on the 2010 Boulder Cup on October 31st in Broomfield, CO. The video above is a promo that we put together to help sell sponsorship for an upcoming 30-minute TV program highlighting the race. The show is slated to air on Altitude and Comcaast CET some time in November.
This is the third year in a row OnSight Media has been the official production company for the Muddy Buddy Boulder event. Columbia is the title sponsor this year in all 18 cities across the US. The production workflow consisted of a single camera and operator that followed the racers around the Boulder reservoir as they completed each obstacle. Post production took a couple of days to edit and encode the individual video clips for online viewing via the Columbia Muddy Buddy website. Additional video on DVD will be used for future event promotion.
3x Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington was in attendance in Boulder, CO as the official race starter. She also participated with the 10-year old Mini-Muddy Buddy field for a trip through the mud pit:
True to tradition was the costume contest, which takes place in the early morning before the official race start. Here are the best costumes from the Boulder event:
Mini-Muddy Buddy allows kids of all ages a chance to test their skills on an obstacle course and trip through the mud pit:
The 2010 Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race took place on August 14 under clear blue skies with over 1500 racers taking the start. We were contracted to provide video support for Singletrack.com. The idea going into the race was to provide “near real time” video throughout the race. The Singletrack team provided race updates via via CoveritLive for web and mobile viewers. you can view the replay here – http://singletrack.competitor.com/live
As for our workflow, video was gathered from the field at various spots along the course, brought back to the press room, quickly edited, compressed and uploaded to the site and then broadcast to the audience following the race via the text updates. We were able to get out and back a few times and the overall experience was successful. Since there was no live streaming option, this was as close to real time as we could deliver during the event.
Here is a link to a 9+ minute highlight from the race that was edited the day after the event: http://www.vimeo.com/14219982
The 2010 Tour de France marked our 5th year covering the event for VeloNews. This year the video content was showcased on a new endurance portal called Competitor TV. We were hired for field production duties and to work a daily routine of recording pre and post race rider interviews during each stage of the race. We were excited to be producing a Chris Horner daily diary again, and an added feature dubbed “the morning minute”, which featured Neal Rogers and Andy Hood discussing a single topic, usually decided on moments before recording began. Our workflow consisted of recording and then encoding the usable video and sending the files to the Competitor studios in San Diego for inclusion in the highlight and extras shows. You can see all of the content produced for VeloCenter during the 2010 Tour de France here – 2010 TdF VeloCenter
The Boulder County Business Report held the inaugural Remarkable Women event in late April. The event recognized the accomplishments of 12 women in 11 categories. The BCBR staff selected the winners from approximately 100 nominations. We were contracted to produced individual interviews with each winner and provide a DVD and digital files to be played during the event, and used on the BCBR Facebook video page – http://goo.gl/fbsS
Silver City, NM hosts the “biggest little bike race in America” in late April. This year was the 24th edition of the race and SRAM stepped in as the title sponsor. We were brought along to document the event and provide video material for The Road Diaries blog / social media channel. Here is on of the video highlights from stage 4 in Silver City, featuring SRAM neutral race support:
In February we attended the United Healthcare Pro Cycling team training camp in Tucson, Arizona. We were there to capture video from some of their training rides as well as put together individual rider interviews. The video content was used in a number of ways including web video, a TV commercial and during a team / VIP event on a flat panel display.
Here is a collection of shots from 2-days of training is Tucson. Elements of this video were used in a TV commercial that was broadcast during the 2010 Amgen Tour of California.
