Posted by tgeller on December 28, 2010 at 8:34pm
During the meeting today about D7 launch public relations, we noted the need for a launch video to go on the home page of drupal.org. Bojhan has already created a dummy video, as you can see at http://sandbox.stevekarsch.com/d7/announcement.html and http://vimeo.com/18160688 .
I took the liberty of writing a script and taking a couple of passes at the audio.
- The script is on a wiki page at http://groups.drupal.org/node/115339
- I can't attach audio files here, so here's take 1 (upbeat) and take 2 (lower-key) on my own site. Do not use them publicly: They need to be edited re-recorded.
Here's what it needs now to become a reality:
- Discussion to modify the script as needed, or reject it outright. Do so directly on the wiki page. Proposed deadline: 11:59pm, Thursday, 30 December.
- Professional re-recording of the audio. I'll arrange this once we have a finalized script. (If you decide to have a different voice do it, that's fine too.)
- Volunteer with video editing experience to create the video part. Proposed deadline: 11:59pm, Sunday, 2 January
Please comment. Thanks!
Comments
So I haven't been clear
So I haven't been clear communicating this! But since I got no responses earlier, I asked a few people and jjef chimed in he would dedicate some time making it - I will forward him all this amazing work and hope we get some feedback soon.
It's fine if he doesn't want to use it
Sounds good. Just to be clear: He's welcome to use as much or little of this as he wants, and I'd be happy to do the voiceover whatever the plan is.
--Tom
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
Tomorrow
I've blocked out time to work on this tomorrow. I'm getting really excited looking at the materials you have put together. I think this is going to be a great video.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
I posted three ideas on your script page
hope that's ok
Jim Caruso
MediaFirst
Jim@MediaFirst.net
@jimcaruso
(M) +1.404.788.0188
http://MediaFirst.net
That's what it's there for!
:)
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
Responses to your three ideas
Good show, Jim! Here are my thoughts on your three ideas. (I commented on them on the wiki page.)
I think that's harder to parse than what's already there; "and" appears three times in your version.
Where would that go?
I'm a little afraid that your figure of 1000 contradicts the "thousands" in the first sentence, but maybe it could be integrated well. The question is where.... ideas?
Good idea -- IF someone with d.o. write access takes responsibility of replacing the video with a version without that line after 7 January. Kieran? Are you here? Bueller? ;)
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
I'm available
What do you want posted and where?
Kieran
Two versions of the video (should it be produced)
Hey, Kieran. I'm hoping someone will step forward to produce the video. (jjeff, any ideas for that?) If so, there will be two versions -- one with the "party" line and one without.
The "party" video should run until 7 January, then be swapped for the "non-party" one.
There's nothing to do until the videos are produced. But if it happens, will you be able to make the swap?
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
I'm working on the video now.
I'm working on the video now. I'm nervous that we want this video to be too many things. If we want a party announcement, we should do a party announcement. That being said, I'm happy to stick a graphic at the end which says something like: "Drupal 7 Worldwide Release Party - January 7th 2011. Join the celebration near you: drupal7releaseparty.org" And it's easy enough to output two versions, one with the card at the end and the other without.
And while we're at it, I could really use a graphic for the beginning too. Where can I get one of these: http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-7-link-to-us which is 1920x1080, or better yet vector-based?
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Hey Jeff you can download the
Hey Jeff
you can download the PSD source files for banners from: http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-7-link-to-us
also there is a PSD source of wallpaper calendar we made that is 1920x1200 here: http://mogdesign.eu/blog/drupal-7-wallpaper-calendar-psd-source/
twitter: @jojototh
drupal.org user: mogdesign
CEO http://mogdesign.eu
Agreed re: focus
Hi, Jeff. I like your solution regarding the party announcement.
I'm really glad you're doing this!
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
I will do my best to squeeze
I will do my best to squeeze the PSD's out of mogdesign
Vector graphics coming soon
Hi Jeff, it's more important to have the D7 video than a party video.
Jozef and I are working to get the source files for the graphics out ASAP.
Kieran
@tom: great to have a
@tom: great to have a professional speaker in this :) Listening to the upbeat and less upbeat audio, even the less upbeat could maybe be a bit less enthusiastic to me :)
Listening to your voice, I pictured this as a start with an actual person on the screen like the the psd2html ad video: http://www.psd2html.com/ (left side small video to click upon). Only we would be less over-smooth than that guy.
I see there will be not sufficient time to produce a video like this now, but the getting started video will be there for quite some time and could be exchanged for a better version later. Some people already have made video-drafts of something similar... http://vimeo.com/16740294
Life is a journey, not a destination
I'll do several versions
Thanks for the comments @eigenator. I'll record several versions and open it up for voting.
Yeah, it would be great to do a video version. Next time!
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
Scheduling recording time
The period for commenting on the script has closed. Thanks to all!
I left a message with the professional studio here in town. (Sadly, the college is closed for winter break; if it wasn't, I could get it done at the music conservatory's facilities.) If I don't hear back from them by Monday, I'll try to make a cleaner version at home.
So: We'll have audio by the end of Monday, Eastern Time. @jjeff, does that give you enough time to do the video?
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
Wait I am confused, I am
Wait I am confused, I am pretty sure jeff does both audio and video? We don't have to make this more complex?
Oh! That's fine, too.
In point 2 of my original post I offered to arrange for re-recording of the audio, and assumed that I'd voice it. If Jeff wants to do it, all the better! I leave the choice to him. Jeff?
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
I'm doing both audio and
I'm doing both audio and video. Will have something to show later tonight or early tomorrow.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Excellent
Excellent -- can't wait.
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
Need some stats
I'm looking for some statistics to put over the introduction slide. I'm hoping to just collect some numbers and then use what seems most appropriate. So I probably won't use all of these, but does anyone have these numbers:
# of new features in D7? (general is okay: "hundreds"? How many are listed in the changelog?)
# of patches which went into D7?
# of changed/new lines of code?
# of developers with code in D7?
% of the Internet using Drupal? (are we saying "over 1%" now?)
Do we know the actual number of days between the official kick off of D7 and the release?
# of developer sprints?
Are there other impressive stats around Drupal 7?
I'm hesitant to list things like the current number of D7 modules, because that number will change and I want this video to hold up for the life of D7.
Okay, back to editing.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
some stats
select sum(lines_added), sum(lines_removed) from cvs_files cf where cf.nid = 3060 and cf.cid >= 99596 and cf.branch = '';Look at http://drupal.org/cvs?commit=99596 where there are no line number changes.knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
Seeking Photo of Community (DrupalCon Group Photo)
I'm also looking for a photo representing the "immense Drupal community". I'm guessing that the group photo from DrupalCon San Francisco is the way to go, but the best one that I can find is this copywritten one by Anthony Hall on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49534559@N05/4545056878/
I feel like I've seen better ones used by others in presentations. Anyone know where I can find something better... or at least something that I can use!?
Upon further inspection, it seems like this image might actually be under Creative Commons (there's a link to download elsewhere), but if someone could help me research that, it'd be appreciated. And like I said, I feel like there might be better group shots from SF out there too.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
what about this one from
what about this one from CPH?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nidhug/4923618478/lightbox/
It's CC for non-commercial use.
Great picture! I used
Great picture! I used it.
Thanks.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Almost done!
Okay, here's the almost finished video.
It's basically done except for the stats that I'd like to put at the beginning (see above). Pretty much everything else is in place at this point. I'm also tweaking some stuff like audio levels.
I've password protected it as a reminder that it's unfinished and not for public consumption yet.
http://vimeo.com/18344377
password: drupal
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Great job
Hi Jeff, this is really great. Here's some feedback.
The focus on the types of sites is really good. It let's people get what can be done with Drupal right away. I would emphasize three points: Drupal can grow from a small personal blog to a huge publishing site with tens of thousands of users. So the sequence could go from Dries's personal blog, to Dooce.com, to NPOs, to EDU's, to media sites, to Whitehouse.gov, to Examiner.com with 60,000 contributors. That ability to scale from one to very many is a key architectural difference and should be emphasized even more. I'd also consider adding a health care site since there's growing adoption in that industry. One of the ones from Florida Hospitals would be good.
I'd slow down and spend a little more time on the UX improvements. In particular, I'd focus on how complex dynamic websites have many pieces of content that make up a page, possibly one of thousands of pages. The overlay allows you to edit and return to the part of the site where you were so your content editors don't get lost. Second, I'd speak to in place editing which is in the video. Again, emphasize that in place editing means that more of your users can configure and administer the site without having to memorize exactly where in the Drupal administration that particular setting is. It's okay to acknowledge that Drupal is powerful and has a lot of administration and that in place editing makes it easier for non-experts. Third, I'd emphasize that the dashboard is spartan but is easy to configure and customize for your users to have access to their most common tasks and their most relevant content.
Next I'd emphasize Drupal is a platform for innovation. I'd specifically say that proprietary companies can't keep up with Drupal's features, and that because Drupal's community of thousands of developers are building some of the most advanced websites in the world there is non-stop innovation in features that will allow your website to grow and take advantage of these features in the future. In the video there's some good voice overs showing modules, but I think it's worth showing, or speaking to, that there's 7,000+ modules and almost 5000 contributing developers and tens of thousands of Drupal experts building websites for organizations. We really want to emphasize the momentum of Drupal and it's community.
I only watched the video once, and those were my initial impressions. Sorry the feedback was so late in the development but it's hard to comment until you see if all come together.
Kieran
Thanks for the feedback
Thanks for the feedback Kieran. However, it's a bit late in the process for me to make most of these changes. I'm a little concerned that you only watched this 2.5 minute video once and then wrote so much feedback. Several of your points are actually covered in the (admittedly fast paced) video. I'm probably about 25 hours into this and I really can't afford to start over and rearrange things in such an intensive way or change the script.
I do, however have some space for some statistics at the beginning. Want to scroll up and see if you've got any of the stats I'm looking for?
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Statistics
Hi Jeff, here's a statistic that might be helpful.
http://qa.drupal.org/pifr/statistics
You could say that Drupal 7 had almost 40,000 patches contributed to it. Some of those patches will be for contributed modules, but overwhelmingly it's for D7.
Kieran
Feedback part 2
Hi Jeff, I certainly hear you about almost being done and having spent your vacation working the D7 video.I do understand it's likely too late to modify this version, so I'll post my comments for someone who wants to do a second possibly longer version.
From 10-37 seconds you review the types of site and finish up with the message that Drupal provides the "speed and power they need for free in an easy to learn open source package". An alternate messaging could be that from simple personal sites to some of the biggest sites on the internet like Examiner.com with 50K users Drupal has the power and flexibility to get started on your new site." My emphasis is on the fact that Drupal will adapt to your size site and grow. But your messaging is solid.
from 38 seconds to 50, you do a good quick overview of UX. In my second viewing the visual emphasis is on the Dashboard, and you speak to the toolbar and shortcut bar but I don't believe I heard you mention the dashboard.
At 1:33 you address that there's thousands of modules in the pull back, so you did cover that. The number could be highlighted either verbally or in the video to emphasize, but it's likely adequately addressed.
At the end of this section you state that the there are thousands of modules to choose from and at 1:48 you state the list goes on and on. That matches the video scrolling well. An alternate messaging that the "Drupal developers are constantly building innovative features that websites need." The emphasis in my messaging is that Drupal is the platform for the future rather than it has everything you need right now. Again it's just slightly different messaging but they both get the point across.
At 2:04 there is a video of editing in place of a block, but the voice over addresses using another CMS.
It is a great video and I've shown it to non-drupalers and got really good feedback on it. Thanks for all the hard work, especially over the holiday.
Kieran
Great Job, Jeff! Some
Great Job, Jeff!
Some comments still...
Will you provide the source file so we can swap and translate the audio part?
The slideshow at the beginning is a bit show-offy in volume. One third of the sites would be enough. Drupal has no problem with lots of features and references, so the most spectacular ones in a bit of a slower rhythm would overwhelm in a more positive way instead of flashing you out.
The parts where you show the interface are recored very fast. I have problems to follow. It is probably meant to show how quickly one can navigate, but I grasped only the Taxonomy part, the rest just rushed past me.
The tone you speak in is very nice. Not to fast, not too slow, not to enthusiastic, not too boring.
About what should be included I am sure discussions arise. But keeping it short, as I am sure it is only meant to be a teaser to get people interested is probably best, keeping to the 2-minute limit.
Still while you're on it maybe you want to do a longer version also where you showcase more of the cool UI sexiness in a tiny bit more detail.
Hooray, we are ready!
Life is a journey, not a destination
Another video
I mentioned this to Bojhan when we kicked off the video production. This video can't be all things to all people. After reading Tom's script, my goal was to create a short (less than 3 minute) marketing video to basically try to sell Drupal 7 to people.
I quickly realized that we should also probably produce another "Introduction to Drupal 7" video, which is more like 5 to 10 minutes long and takes the user quickly through installation and then highlights the features of Drupal 7.
As far as translation, YES! That would be great. Right now there is no audio other than just the voiceover, so that should be really easy. I'm experimenting with some music underneath, but it still should be pretty easy.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Great jorb! My comments
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
When you have the stats, I'd
Agreed! I've already got this change in my production version. Just need the stats.
I'm uploading an export with music underneath right now. I think it does add, as you say, a nice sense of motion.
Well here again, I'm really thinking about the lifespan of this video. I was referring to the larger number of (mostly incompatible) modules, and I agree that's a bit misleading. However, I'm sure that within 6 months of the D7 release, we'll be back up in the thousands range of compatible modules.
Thanks. I kind of go back and forth on this, but I do kind of like the idea of overwhelming people with a lot of sites. People can always pause the video and go back to figure out what they just saw.
I'm not sure what you mean about the "feature" shots being cut off.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
D'oh! Bad timing
Gah, I just filed through some music files to find some that could work. Eh, your choice what to use: Here's what I just finished writing.
All have CC licensing; check to confirm that it's O.K. for this purpose. (IANAL, this is not legal advice, etc.)
Try playing these underneath the video to get a true feel. There are a few ways of using music:
Now -- the music.
All are at least three minutes: Just fade out when done.
Cheers,
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
"Cut off" section is 0:40-0:44
Looking back, I saw the issue I noted only appears once, between 0:40-0:44. See what I mean? It should be easy to reshoot that.
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
Stats Screen
Okay, here's what I've got now based on Kieran and Greg's help:
almost 40,000 submitted patches
over 6,000 code commits <-- I'd rather this were "X new lines of code"
by nearly 1,000 developers
spanning 3 years of development
hundreds of interface improvements
I'm still tweaking it.
Thoughts?
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
"Almost" vs. "Over"
Tiny thing: I'd suggest "Over 35,000" rather than "Almost 40,000". Blast away the ceiling! ;)
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
New rough with music
Here's one with some of my music underneath.
http://vimeo.com/18345929
password: drupal
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
I'm coming to this very late
I'm coming to this very late in the game, too late to be useful re the script, which strikes me as a bit heavy on features, light on benefits. Production is nice, simple, uncluttered. Thank you Jeff and everyone who worked on this! Nice work!
PINGV | Strategy • Design • Drupal Development
Pretty amazing work - thanks!
I think Laura has a good point - focusing a bit more on benefits - but I think that this is a fantastic intro. Truth is that it's not a bad idea to think about a video tailored to current users vs new ones - as Jeff says one video cant be all things to all people. I'd love to help with that and I'm sure others would too.
For a first intro though I don't think I'd change a thing.
Jason
Jason Pamental
[ @jpamental ]
I think this is great, I have
I think this is great, I have number of issues - some which can be addressed, some for which its probably a bit to late :
1) The overall video talks mostly about Drupal, we jump quickly into whats new in Drupal 7 but thats goes a bit fast - for those who want to see Drupal 7, we might really need that additional video showcasing the UI more in detail.
2) The pace of the screenshots/videos is very fast, I have trouble keeping up - I understand the need to show a lot, but we have to take into account the cognitive processing which simply takes a few seconds. Perhaps we can remove a whole bunch of screenshots in the start, showcasing the diffrent sites - people should be impressed by big sites they can recognize, rather than many which they can't recognize in time.
3) Once you jump into the toolbar/shortcut bar piece, can we have a 5 second or something overall view? Where you say something along the lines, we have revamped the user interface... and then jump into toolbar/shortcut. Primarily because users need a overall view, before jumping into detail to understand the whole - I have experienced this doing presentations on D7's interface.
4) I am not sure what the url shortener is telling? It seemed a bit odd in between UI shots. Same applies to Drupalcon CPH shot too much of a departure between the screens in the flow.
4) The ending! Awesome :) (All I had to say about this)
The music sounds fine, it seems to go up when you are not talking though - is there any reason why we want this? I can probably jump in and do some of the concept and script work of this.
It's Done!
I've done a bunch of re-editing incorporated changes from several of the comments:
Here's the video:
http://vimeo.com/18352872
I'm sure that we (including myself) could nitpick this for the next two weeks, but I'm simultaneously 1) pretty happy with it, and 2) out of time to work on it. So... I'm declaring it done! :-)
I'm happy to make the source ScreenFlow files available if anyone needs them, but it's about 1.5 GB of files and I'm not sure the best place to share them.
-= Jeff Robbins | Lullabot | Drupalize.me =-
Thanks Jeff!
Can I tweet this now? ;)
Jason Pamental
[ @jpamental ]
Just noticed an audio error
I hate to throw in again at this late date... think of it as the flood of "criticals" before RC. ;)
At 0:15 the audio is: "Many different types of businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, and individuals..."
It should be either:
"Many different businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, and individuals..."
or
"Many different types of business, government agency, nonprofit, and individual..."
Don't kill the messenger! Cheers,
Tom Geller * Oberlin * San Francisco * TomGeller.com
Author/Presenter, Drupal video series at lynda.com
Creator of materials for Drupal-focused companies
I think with everything
I think with everything slowed down a little and some pieces taken out, its really good now. I am going to put it in the announcement, there is nothing really show-stopping here - it introduces Drupal 7 in the tone and excitement that I think is the Drupal brand.
It was already noted the initial thumb might be a little bit too much for the announcement - I will work out what the right one would be, deliver it to you - and if you can find the time to change it, that'd be great.