Interactive Open Video with Popcorn.js

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Are any of you using Popcorn now?

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update and the group is, I admit, quiet.

 

I am seeing Popcorn.js projects in a lot of places around the web, possibly inspired by Mozilla's Dev Derby and Journalism Learning Lab.   I'm wondering if any of you have a Popcorn project that you'd like to share!  Just come to this page and leave a comment (the button for adding a comment on P2PU is above the post).

 

If there's interest in your project, P2PU recently added chat directly to the course page so we might be able to try that again.  Anyone bold and want to share a project?

Task Discussion


  • Deiren   July 25, 2011, 10:50 p.m.

    Hi Nick,

    Honestly I'm a bit floored by the question. 3 weeks ago I offered a project and expressed exactly this offer for collaboration and in return I had the overwhelming sound of crickets come back to me. Sound of Silence! Thank you Simon and Garfunkel.

    Anyway, I've since changed and refined a concept that I'm happier with, so maybe that was good but because this group has turned out to be so dead! I went outside of the group to find help! I thankfully found a programmer who happens to be one of the Seneca College students working on the Butter.js stuff with David Humphreys - name is David Seifreid. Context: I'm a filmmaker, musician, interactive producer - I design (HTML, CSS, baby steps HTML5) but javascript is not my thing, I'm here to learn but to realize my new idea I need to 'customize' popcorn.js to work with another jquery template I'm basing the concept around. I need PROGRAMMING HELP.

    The idea I'm working on comes out of my contacts that lead to Clarence Clemons and Bruce Springsteen. I've been making videos with Clarence's nephew who plays sax also; he plays with the E stree band sometimes and probably will become Clarence's replacement in the future. Anyway I have a really compelling music/ video concept I want to Popcornify. I don't want to make it look boxy or compartmentalized. I have a fleshed out idea but I NEED A PROGRAMMER/ CODER. David Seifreid at first said YES! and he was pumped about the idea but now two weeks into it he's had to pull out because of the time pressures and duties he has to creating Butter.js   So I'm giving this group another shot. I have a cool interactive music video experience I want to make - it's story based not some single song music video. I have an out of the box idea of making it flow / interactive.  My needs are in this order:

    1. Gung ho programmer - you can adjust popcorn.js to work outside of the 'compartimentalized' look and experience of some of the templates. You also want to get this done pronto - create a compelling prototype - not some 3 month masterpiece that never get's done.

    2. Graphic Artist/ Designer - I'd be happy to have anyone come on board to help with the visuals, style and graphic design.

    Can we wake this group up! Let's go people. Let's get some fire under our rumps...Let's learn something. Do something. Make people feel something. Let's go!

    Cheers,
    Deiren

  • Nicholas Doiron   July 26, 2011, 12:49 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Deiren   July 25, 2011, 10:50 p.m.

    Hi Deiren,

    Totally see where you're coming from on this.  I haven't written much after I switched to a phone for my internet outside of work.  Two reasons I asked about Popcorn are:

    * new people signing up!

    * the Knight-Mozilla lab ( http://p2pu.org/en/groups/knight-mozilla-learning-lab/ ) has many, many project ideas revolving around Popcorn.  Are these business opportunities?  Dreamers?  It's hard to tell.

    If you have time for only one of those Knight-Mozilla posts, make it this one, Understanding Popcorn.js: http://opensourcebroadcasting.blogspot.com/2011/07/understanding-popcornjs.html  

    Also check out the short (256 character) project ideas submitted today: https://ova.wufoo.com/reports/z5p8w8/ and http://p2pu.org/en/groups/knight-mozilla-learning-lab/content/final-project-description/

  • Deiren   July 27, 2011, 6:04 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Nicholas Doiron   July 26, 2011, 12:49 a.m.

    Hi Nick,

    Thanks for your reply and links. I've gone through them all. Here's my situation and perspective. I've been in this course from the beginning. Through our excerices I've been introduced to and got a hang of the basics of how Popcorn operate and how to use and incorporate the plugins, but this has been based on the basic template of the boxed Popcorn interface where a video runs in linear time and off of that  plugins are activated that offer the user other layers of information. That's fine.

    Like others I also came to the course with no Javascript background but from the beginning in our online chat's with the organizers of Popcorn.js it was communicated that not knowing Javascript was not an issue - Popcorn made it easy to use and there would be developers who we  "creatives" could ask questions or collaborate with. ( I've also started a Javascript P2PU course to learn the language but that means I'm a novice - not a Javascript/ Popcorn developer). 

    I've been following Popcorn closely here and on the sites/ blog. Brett Gaylor wrote a piece called "An Aesthetic for Web Made Movies" in which he highlighted the 'problem' with the boxy look and feel of the Popcorn template. I totally agree with that. I've got a project idea that break out of the boxy look- in the spirit of http://www.visionsofstudents.org/   But if you were not a developer/ programmer, tell me how would you use Popcorn - out of the box , from what we've studied so far, to realize this. You can't - unless you're a programmer. But that's the whole point. Programmers have strengths and programmers also have weaknesses. I thought the purpose of this course was to unite the strengths of programmers and the strengths of filmmakers/ designers, the creatives. If this course is meant to be limited to experienced Javascript programmers, we need to know this.  I think you'd end up with a slew of boring projects that might be technically interesting but creatively dull  but at least things would be clear.

    I'd really love to hear what other people think - let alone who is here. What are other people's thoughts on this?

    That said, I have a cool video, music, narrative project I'm ready to realize. I have some jquery templates I'm working off that give the basis for a cool and effective 'non boxy' interface. I've done some trials and basic proof of concept it there - ready to be fine tuned now. It's not a massively complicated project. I expect someone who knows javascript could help realize it in a couple of days - but I say help - the coder is not the be all and end all of this or any project, particularly interactive narrative projects.

    Nick what is your suggestion about how to go forward? Who can help? How can we facilitate collaboration here so that we can learn by doing. 

  • Michael McCarthy   July 28, 2011, 2:57 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Deiren   July 27, 2011, 6:04 p.m.

    Hey Deiren,

    I wanted to reply to your message and share that I've had a few of your frustrations, but more importantly, to explain my perspective of popcorn's development. I've been following along with popcorn and webmademoves since late last year, and got in contact with everyone a little earlier this year in order to show my support.

    From my vantage, we've all taken up interest in the beta phase of these technologies. As creators, it has been frustrating for many, because all the heavy lifting is still being done by the developers who are hard at work to make sure that the features and functionality of popcorn are robust and bug-free. I've sat in on technical discussions about popcorn, and it has become obvious that from a non-developer standpoint, popcorn has only until recently been made ready for the truly adventurous and code-savvy creators who had the gusto to dive in regardless. I, for one, didn't feel like I knew enough about the structure of web-technology (javascript, CSS3, etc.) to be of much use. I've sent myself back to school, so to speak, and I've come a long way in a few short months. On the other hand, it would seem like you're ready to rock and roll on something.

    As far as getting help is concerned, I feel that there are many ways to get a project realized. You seem to have gone further than I have in actually drawing together some resources and preparing something for launch. I would suggest putting together the best proposal you can manage, and submit it to the folks at WebMadeMovies. In addition, direct developer support is available on irc.mozilla.org, #popcorn (get Firefox, and the Chatzilla Add-On, type /attach irc.mozilla.org, then /join #popcorn, and you're ready to go. The best and the brightest are in there) The guys at bocoup (and elsewhere) who have devoted their expertise to popcorn have done an amazing job, and are ready to help anyone with technical difficulties.

    If you want to get in touch with me, so that I can forward you to some of these folks, email me at drawalong [at] gmail [dot] com.

    Looking forward to seeing what you've got going!

    -Mike

  • Deiren   July 28, 2011, 7:52 p.m.
    In Reply To:   Michael McCarthy   July 28, 2011, 2:57 p.m.

    Hi Mike,


    Thanks so much for your feedback and perspective. It's great to get your p.o.v. and understanding of my frustration at my own novitiate understanding of javascript, coupled with my readiness to go! on a project that I'm ready to realize. I'll definitely take you up on your kind offer to help with bridges to soem of the people you mentioned. I've visited the IRC channel recently but was in a position where a developer was ready to answer a question but my knowledge of the js wasn't advanced enough to just ask and get an answer - i.e. it was like I needed someone to see the code I'd written and point out the errors I've made.

    I've started the Javascript 101 course here - but progress has been slower than I hoped. Study resources have felt a bit disjointed. My plan like yours is to learn javascript - at least to a moderate competence - question is the route. Can I ask what you've followed in your 'study' development? When you say you've come a long way in a short few months - how confident are you now with javascript? I'm trying to get some perspective on what my expectations should be. 

    Thanks for your input and help. 
    All the best,

    Deiren

  • Nicholas Doiron   Aug. 3, 2011, 1:27 a.m.
    In Reply To:   Deiren   July 28, 2011, 7:52 p.m.

    I wrote up an overview of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for my blog and thought it might be connected to the discussion in a way:

    http://mapadelsur.blogspot.com/2011/07/making-delicious-web-soup.html

     

    The Popcorn system is making the JavaScript part much easier.  If you're willing to bear with HTML and CSS, you can make a lot of interesting web pages and drop Popcorn in however you need it

  • RupertOwen   July 24, 2011, 7:13 p.m.

    I'm slowly investigating putting together a Popcorn website for my video portfolio, not sure how it needs to be formatted at this stage as I'm a videographer not a coder.