I asked Dave Jacobs a few questions regarding his Video Spots and just video/web stuff in general.

Click below for Dave’s views on that stuff, and other info including the new time frame for viewing each video spot.

Dave Jacobs and friends. Jeff Z. pic.

THE MICREATION SITE IS BACK, BUT THE MAIN TALK REVOLVES AROUND THE VIDEO SPOTS. TELL US HOW THE PAY-TO-VIEW VIDEO SPOT IDEA CAME ABOUT?
To me it seems like a natural progression given the state of DVD sales. Unless you can put together a big budget team video, your bound to lose money. Between flights, food, hotels, rider per diem, and DVD duplication it gets really expensive not to at least break even. In order to continue doing trips and making videos a company needs to make money to fund future projects. So, this is the solution that I came up with. Focus on one person at a time, and make a really good video part for the web, and for them to get paid directly for it. You see, I view bmx as another art form much like music just a different tool. Most pro bmxers are starving artists, much like alot of musicians. So, the idea is to pair one of the Micreation riders with a musician, and create a platform for them to make the money they deserve for their art form. A majority of the money goes straight to the rider on a percentage basis, then a percentage to the musician, and a percentage into the video budget to fund future videos.

WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT HOW THE PEOPLE WOULD ACCEPT IT?
Well, I knew that some people would like it and some wouldn’t. I expected there to be haters, but bmx wouldn’t be what it is without that too. I’m open to anyones opinion, it keeps me grounded.

DESPITE EMPHASIZING THAT THE VIDEO SPOTS ARE ACTUAL VIDEO PARTS, PEOPLE ARE STILL CALLING IT A WEB VIDEO EVEN THOUGH THE QUALITY IS UP THERE. HOW DO YOU GET AROUND THAT?
‘Web’ video is an easy term for any video posted to the web, and people tend to jump to conclusions about the quality and content using that term. Thats why I chose to call them video spots, to emphasize the difference. I knew that for it to work, the quality would have to be really good, so I built the video player to utilize flash’s new H.264 capability. Its the same code that quicktime uses. Videos encoded with H.264 look way better then the traditional flash video format. Now there were some obstacles to overcome. One is that not everyone has a fast connection and two is that some of the footage contributed for the riders part is in DV format. So I built the player to play two different sized videos. One plays at a smaller size for slower computers, and the larger one to play the maximum 720px width that DV footage allows. This is maintaining the 16:9 aspect ratio. Given that most people don’t have a computer that could play a full frame HD video as a progressive download, this made sense to make sure that most people would be able to watch the larger video. To make the videos closer to what theywould play like on a TV, I added the full screen capability to the player. Then along with the main video, added other features like extra footage, and music/wallpaper downloads etc…so that its more like an online interactive DVD just for that rider, and to show the musician some love.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, SOME PEOPLE ARE PUT OFF BY THE FACT THAT THEY PAY, BUT DON’T GET TO OWN THE PART AT THE END. WHY WAS IT SET UP LIKE THAT?
DRM (Digital Rights Management) Its what brought the music industry to its knees when downloading music became popular. Apple has made a solution to this problem with iTunes and quicktime. They have written their own DRM for the music and videos that you buy from itunes to prevent people from copying. This is only for content that THEY sell though. Which means that there is no way to prevent people from copying a quicktime video that you try to sell online, unless its sold through itunes so that Apple can take their cut. This is how the pay per view solution came about. With the flash player’s built in security, I would be able to prevent people from copying the source video. It would have to be a online pay per view format, because if it was offered as a download it would easily be copied and posted all over the place. There would be no point in trying to sell it.

IM SURE YOU WILL GENERATE SOME MONEY FROM THIS, HOW WILL THE PROCEEDS GET SPLIT UP?
Well, the rider gets 70% of what comes in, 15% to the musician, and 15% to the micreation video budget. This is the standard for all of the video spots that we release.

WITH VIDEO SALES BEING UNPREDICTABLE, DO YOU SEE EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY BEING WEB BASED? OR DO YOU THINK THERE IS ROOM FOR BOTH WEB AND PHYSICAL DVD’S?
I see everything going the way of Apple TV, and similar devices. Your able to download full quality videos from the web and watch them on your TV. I think eventually there won’t be a need for physical DVD’s because movies will be stored on a hard drive. The only reason I think for it is to back up movie files in case a hard drive crashes. This is the way of the future like it or not, and its coming to BMX. I’m not the only person thats working charging for web videos in BMX. You will see it in the near future.

HOW ABOUT THE ECO-FRIENDLY ASPECT OF WEB VIDEOS ONLY? DOES THAT ENFORCE YOUR DECISION TO PUT THE STUFF ONLINE ONLY?
To be honest I hadn’t thought about that, but yes that would be another benefit. I think in this day and age the less stuff that we make the better.

WITH THE CREW YOU HAVE, YOU CAN PROBABLY PUT OUT A DVD THAT PEOPLE WILL BE PSYCHED ON. WILL YOU EVER?
Yeah, we will. I think it will probably be an HD or blue ray disc, and also make it available online in one way or another.

HOW LONG DID YOU GUYS GATHER FOOTAGE FOR THE BRAD SIMMS VIDEO SPOT? HE DOES SOME BEASTLY STUFF.
Yeah, Brad is definitely a beast. He came through on this part for sure. It was over about an eight month period filming on and off. He travels so much that it was hard to film with him. Some of it was contributed by Chad Shackelford, Justin Kosman, Ryan Navazio, and Mike Manzorri. Thanks to those guys for helping out with it.

WILL YOU WORK WITH SPECIAL MUSICAL ARTISTS FOR EACH ONE?
Yeah, thats the plan. I think people get psyched to hear good independent music, and its obviously good for the musician also. They get alot of exposure, and get paid for their music.

WHO’S GETTING THE NEXT VIDEO SPOT?
Well, we are doing one with Aaron Bostrom, Barney, and Doug Horton. Set to release sometime in the near future.

WHAT CAMERA EQUIPMENT ARE YOU USING?
I’m using the Panasonic HVX-200 with a Lens Bastard for fisheye shots.

WHATS NEXT FOR MICREATION AS A WHOLE?
To just keep moving forward, and being the best we can be at everything we do. We have a video called ‘Synopsis’ thats based on our trip through eastern Canada coming soon, and the new line of clothing is also in the works. Also, System Cycle is now the exclusive distributor of Micreation in the U.S.

ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD BEFORE WE WRAP THIS UP?
Yeah, I’ve changed the time period to view Brad’s video spot to six months for the $2. This includes the people that have already paid to view it. Thanks to everyone who has supported what we’re doing, and a big thanks to Joe Simon. Joe was the first person to pay to watch Brad’s video, even though he could have seen it for free. An especially big thanks goes out to Brad for busting his ass for his video spot.

Peace.

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