Hey,
I’ve just started a new personal blog called Flava Magazine and would really appreciate it if you could check it out and give any feedback or comments!
https://flavamag.wordpress.com/
Thanks
peace
How can Cahootify be used by film-makers to create a professional online presence.
What is Cahootify?
Cahootify is an online platform for project portfolios and team-forming tailored to the creative production industries like film, TV and video. Launched as a springboard for skills and crew productions, Cahootify aims to help creative production professionals make projects happen and thus market themselves as the definitive social recruitment programme for the new world of work. Founders Simon Starr and Peter Francomb felt that the world of work is changing and wanted to harness the explosive rise of collaboration and unique talent within the media and entertainment market. Cahootify aims to provide the platform for these creative to take charge and kick-start their own ideas with freedom to take the reigns and work free of restrictions. Cahootify is not just a one-stop resource for building and successfully launching your product, however. The beauty of social media is that various platforms can be used in tandem with each other to ensure your product has the best opportunities at visibility and coverage.
The importance of an online presence
The Internet is a huge wealth of content that can be difficult to navigate. Google receives over 2 million search queries every minute, meaning it is crucial to ensure your content is visible to the right audience. For filmmakers, due to the nature of their product and necessity of screens, the online realm is the best place to showcase and distribute their work. A strong online presence helps to build your name, your work and your popularity through connecting people to your product.The beauty of this digital age is that if utilised in the right way, the internet is the biggest stage in the world. Cahootify is designed to link filmmakers with the right people to enhance and build their project; it can help to get your name out there and build you a reputation which will attract talented people form within your field. However, whilst Cahootify has a real community-feel to it in that all of its users are interested in film-making, the real potential of the site is unlocked when used in tandem with other social networks.
Where other Social Media platforms come in handy
The more popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook tend to further already-existing relationships. Connections in life, as well as online, are made through similar interests and this is a fact that can be exploited in marketing your product. Taxonomies and Folksonomies are two hugely helpful tools in utilising social media platforms and maximising the rewards that can be reaped from their service.They help not only in providing order to ones own feed, but also in allowing your connections to see where your interests lie. A Taxonomy is a formal, hierarchical method of classification that, for example, would recognise that cheddar is a sub-category of cheese. A Folksonomy is a more crowd-driven and informal categorisation of information that can capture the personality of a collective or group. Folksonomies are used on Cahootify to help find people by their skill set as well as providing their location, whilst taxonomies are utilised to display past projects and portfolios. This allows those searching for potential collaborators to learn a bit about them and their work before getting in contact.
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With regards to Facebook, folksonomies are a lot more useful because they are created through the liking and sharing of items, which helps to create your personally tailored newsfeed. Facebook’s algorithm works by suggesting new and relevant content based on what you and your friends have liked. The trick for anyone looking to market their product is tapping into this by finding their target audience on Facebook and putting out content that will interest them. Facebook differs from Twitter in that it allows for more content to be posted than just 140 characters. There is no limit to how much one can post and Facebook also has the capability to host full-length videos. However, to captivate and cultivate an audience even further, the best strategy would be to post snippets and teasers to build hype for upcoming films. The comment section allows for users to give feedback or tag their friends and give your video more exposure; not to mention a share button that allows for users to post your video on their own profile if they really like it. The drawback of Facebook, however, is that videos can’t be tagged or categorised; meaning users cannot search specifically for a genre your video might fall under.
Twitter is undoubtedly the best platform to get people talking about your content/product/brand. The 320 million monthly active users can help to get you trending and spread your online presence faster than any advertising can. The nature of Twitter means that users want to join the conversation, and thus content is shared and spread through word of mouth, but simply through a screen rather than in person. When we discover something exciting, it is in our nature to want to share it so others can experience what we felt when interacting with a film, product or whatever we have been exposed to. Marketing your product on Twitter is as simple as getting a conversation started, whether this be through promotion or letting your work speak for itself. Cahootify on their own Twitter account have pinned a tweet inviting people to use their service. This in itself is a great example of utilising twitter in a self-serving way. This tweet stays at the top of your feed for all visitors to see, a feature which a film-maker could use by perhaps pinning a tweet containing a video or a trailer.
YouTube is the obviously the site best tailored for video upload and sharing. Although 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, the intricacies of the video hosting site enable users to ensure their video reaches the right audience. Tags can be added to your videos, as well as categories which help viewers.
Despite YouTube’s historical domination of the video-hosting niche, Vimeo, a video-sharing website started in 2004, has exploded in popularity of late. The sleeker, less cluttered layout of their website make sit preferential for film-makers.
The structure of the page gives Vimeo a much more cinematic feel and the box for a description underneath is a great deal more stylish than Youtube. Of course Vimeo also allows for sharing, downloading and of course an option to follow the creator. These choices in layout have made Vimeo very popular with independent and art-house companies and productions. Whilst Vimeo has only 100 million users, a seemingly meager number compared to YouTube’s 1 billion a month, they pride themselves on being the choice for this new wave of amateur film-makers and media producers and tailor their site to enhance that relationship.
Film-makers have long since been marketing themselves using the more popular social networks. Cahootify, whilst still a relatively small company is designed with the purpose of creating networks and partnerships between talented people in the film and media industry. The site in itself provides all the necessary tools for putting projects together, which is hugely helpful in lowering costs and centralising resources. To conclude, Cahootify wields enormous potential for film-makers due to its specifically-designed features which give these amateur’s tools which they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. In such a highly competitive and saturated field, Cahootify has revolutionised the way in which skilled individuals can connect and collaborate, hopefully setting a trend which other companies will follow.
Rory Suther-Jones
Word Count: 1,234
Content Schedule!
I have compiled a schedule of content that I will be putting out over the next 3 and a half months. As always I will be bringing you the hottest music, the freshest clothes and the most talked-about food spots so stay tuned!
If you have any suggestions for content or want me to review anything in particular let me know in the comments!
The Plan
Happy Hip-Hop Holidays
With Christmas just around the corner, I think it’s now acceptable to start blasting the festive tunes. We are used to hearing the likes of Mariah Carey, Wham! and Eartha Kitt on the radio, world-famous songs that truly are classics. However, pop music shouldn’t always dominate your seasonal selections. Hip-Hop has put it’s own spin on on Christmas music in the past, and although rap isn’t always what comes to mind when you think of toasty evenings around the fire with snow (hopefully) coming down outside, these songs deserve a place in your festive playlists:
A feel-good collaboration between Kanye’s GOOD Music artists with all of the featured artists giving a different take on the holidays. We hear about Kanye’s Bad Santa-esque sexual escapades and a characteristically lavish shopping spree from Dipset’s Jim Jones.
One of the most celebrated forays from the hip-hop community into christmas time carols, this 1987 classic takes us into the heart of Queens, New York as the pioneer M.C.’s regale us with their Christmas traditions.
One of rap’s first bankable solo stars, Kurtis Blow dropped this new twist on the christmas carol 36 years ago in 1979!
This festive cut from the otherwise sinister Death Row records features Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound and the late Nate Dogg getting funky. Who says gangstas can’t get into the Christmas spirit?
Aswell as featuring in the 2007 holiday film “Fred Claus“, Ludacris contributed to the soundtrack with this hit bound to get you nodding your head as you’re preparing Christmas dinner.
Juelz Santana didn’t stray far from the classic Dipset formula for this extravagant seasonal smash. Who wouldn’t want to go dashing through the snow in an all-white bentley?!
A typically vulgar Christmas anthem interpolation of “Jingle Bells” from the late N.W.A Legend. Fairly NSFW…
Tell me your favourite hip-hop Christmas hits, and if you’re feeling extra festive why not treat yourselves to a Christmas sweater to keep you warm whilst rapping along…
Show your support for 2Chainz with this number:
Or if you more of a Wu-Tang fan, this can help you “Protect Ya Neck”
An infographic on hip-hop and headphones to help you work out
Check the guide out and tell me your favourite workout tunes in the comments!
Midweek Munch
This is the first in a series of weekly posts I will be doing to show off the meals i’m whipping up with my friend James.
This week we opted for burgers. I love burgers because there is so much you can do with them, there’s acres of room for creativity and personal touches. After a trip to the wonderful Aldi for ingredients we got down to cooking. We cooked up some pulled pork and halloumi cheese whilst the burgers fried, filling the kitchen with some beautiful aromas. The cooking time was a total of about an hour because the pulled pork took 40 minutes in the oven. However, the end product was 100% worth the wait.
As the pictures show, the burgers were incredible. James even felt inspired enough to put some bacon streak crisps on his, whilst I opted for the tamer option of some rocket.
Let me know your staple burger topping in the comments!
Stussy 2015 Holiday Collection
Fusing our mutual passions for streetwear, James Adcock and I have deiced to do a collaborative post on Stussy’s latest holiday collection.
One of the pioneers of streetwear, Stussy, has been steady putting out great clothing since its conception in the early 80’s in Laguna Beach by surfer Shawn Stussy. With a reputation for high-quality, comfortable and affordable pieces, Stussy has survived for over two decades in an industry which has seen hundreds of brands come and go without anywhere near as much impact on men’s clothing and skater/surfer culture. Despite a foray into streetwear between 2011 and 2014, Stussy have now reverted to simpler, understated pieces with less emphasis on crazy colours and silhouettes.
The Iconic brands latest collection celebrates their 35th anniversary with some great garments for the upcoming colder months, with warm thermals and bolder outerwear featuring their OG logo. The collection dropped online on November 6th and is available at select retailers throughout the UK. Don’t Sleep!
Let me know your favourite pieces from the collection in the comments!
Kendrick Lamar-These Walls (Official Video)
The video for one of my favourites songs of of Kendrick Lamar’s Sophomore album “To Pimp A Butterfly” was released yesterday on the 28th October. This is the fifth video to be released from the album that came out on March 15th. Since the album’s release and it’s reception by fans and critics, there has been much speculation about whether or not Kendrick would be releasing videos to accompany the visually evocative songs. Thus far there have been videos for the album’s lead single “i”, the funk homage “King Kunta”, the politically-charged fan favourite “Alright” and the jazzy interlude “For Free”.
Each of those videos have been shot in Kendrick’s home state of California as a backdrop and taken place at different times of day to match the mood and settings of the songs themselves. The storylines of the videos have closely followed that of the songs and (in my opinion) have successfully recreated the environments Kendrick so vividly raps about.
Due to the subject matter of “These Walls” there was a good deal of speculation about how this would translate into a video. For those yet to listen, RapGenius says:
““These Walls” show the good and evil of the human mind. If walls could talk, what would they say?
In this song, Kendrick discusses the vaginal walls of a woman he’s having relations with before juxtaposing it with a man (discovered to be the baby daddy of the woman) who is behind prison cell walls, the subject of the third and final verse. He also talks about the walls of our inner conscience in the third verse as well. Kendrick uses this premise to explore the contrasts of sex, emotions, abuse, his own career, that of his enemies, and the human psyche/conscience.”
With such a typically taboo topic and differing interpretations, Kendrick could really have gone in any direction with this video. He opted for an 8 minute visual journey where the location switches up from a prison cell, a house party and an amateur talent show. The opening scene shows us a man in the cell telling fellow inmates how it was Kendrick’s fault that he’s there in prison, followed to a flashback to him arriving at this party we assume is being thrown by the accused. From there we are thrust into a seemingly crazy house-party. There are strippers, cocaine and a good deal of weed and liquor, all staples one could say of a party thrown by a rapper. Pioneered by Directors Colin Tilley and the Little Homies, the video uses some really cool camera techniques which allow us to follow the characters in both first and third person as the madness unfolds. We see cameos from other members of Kendrick’s “Black Hippy” cohort and a hilarious appearance from Terry Crews, as a juiced-up, dancing thug.
After 8 minutes i felt as if I had watched a film soundtracked by one of my favourite songs of the year, I loved it. Kendrick, having proven himself a while ago as one of the best rappers of thus generation, is now establishing himself as talented actor with a great eye for videos that have highly complimented his music.
The Video:
Check the video out and tell me your thoughts in the comments!
SWISH Marketing Podcast
I’m excited to share the project we have been working on for my Online Content and Research Generation Module. In this podcast James, Nick and myself talk about Kanye West’s much-hyped, upcoming album and the marketing strategies that he is using. #MFC4322
https://soundcloud.com/rorysj/swish-podcast-by-james-rory-nick-for-mfc4322
Let me know your expectations for the album in the comments!
The Taxonomies & Folksonomies of Facebook
Taxonomies are used by all organisations to categorize data in order to assist retrieval of information. On facebook taxonomies used could include events pages, business profiles, celebrity pages, open and closed groups. All of the above have to be ‘liked’ in order to receive their posts as newsfeed. This ‘liking’ system means the facebook user creates their own ‘folksonomy’ of liked pages.
A folksonomy on facebook is also created through liking and sharing items which then appear on your newsfeed. By tagging your friends, they will also receive newsfeed of these shared items. This is a type of ‘social book marking’ (Geeking Out at Fisher blog).
Facebook will give you suggestions based on the posts you have liked. They will suggest friends or people with similar likes and interests to you, or who have shared schools or workplaces. But Facebook doesn’t provide folksonomy tools – you have to create your own by tagging and liking. Which you could argue is the opposite of a ‘folksonomy’.
Many people now link facebook and twitter the companies are able to gain a more complex view of your social media usage which opens up new marketing opportunites and possibilities of meeting people with similar interests to your own.
Companies need to organize and categorize the influx of information from facebook. This taxonomic system, based on your personal folksonomies allows companies to appropriately target their marketing to your personal likes and dislikes.
To conclude, we have found that facebook doesn’t use folksonomies and taxonomies very wel,l as it is a platform to strengthen friendships and interest connections rather than to get known on social media platforms. Facebook’s internal classification system therefore doesn’t facilitate self promotion like other social networking platforms. The only ways to increase self promotion is to ‘like’ pages of people you do not know or to make your profile ‘public’.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.169547593084022.30313.106423689396413&type=3 facebook folksonomy page
blog about some uses of folksonomies
Rory's Culture Bump 