This is my newest project: Lumiere Videos. Here are the rules: 60 seconds max., Fixed camera, No audio, No zoom, No edit, No effects.
To see my examples click on a picture above.
The brothers Lumiere were film pioneers, they did the first movie screening, what is considered the birth of cinema. In that time they had no sound, the film length was limited and editing and effects was not invented yet, neither camera movement. In Berlin they called the first movie screenings "Bewegte Riesen-Photographien" translated "Moving Gigantic Photographies".
I am originally a photographer and this style of filmmaking matches a ground rule of film shooting what I learned from my father: the action happens in front of the camera, you observe what happens, you don't need to move the camera.
"All the World is a Stage" -William Shakespeare
I don't need to direct or to stage the story, it is already there. Observing and the right timing lets you discover the story. Nothing else is needed.
After leading a couple of times a free workshop about web 2.0, now the real seminar and workshop is available. To create out of my experience as photographer, podcaster, blogger this workshop is real fun.
How can you apply the new media to your venture?
What are the right tools to reach your target market?
Find out which ones are most fun for you and best suited to your business.
How can you reach many people at once instead of just a few at a time?
podcasting,
internet tv,
publishing your own magazine,
self-distribution,
the long tail
read more here...
This is a music video produced by German Cowboy for Ronnie Caywood.
Ronnie emailed me after reading the Statesman article. I had so much fun with shooting and editing, Ronnie is absolutely happy with his first music video.
That is a direct business result from this well written article. Other results are people greeting me on the street, in the post office, ...
To publish the music video I started now also a myspace page, where you can see the video and also meet friends of mine.
Please click on the picture above, then click on a picture on the map, then click on 'play' at the upper left corner of the picture window and enjoy the show.
Austin American Statesman, July 5th 2007:
The German Cowboy drinks Americano
A chat with Sylvester Becker, the creator of Austin Business Babes.
It began not on the high plains or even down Mexico way on horseback. It started, really, on the face of a blank business card.
Sylvester Becker, an emigre from Stuttgart, Germany, in 2004 was moving to Austin with his wife, Dana Minney, and newborn twin sons.
He'd been living in New York, working on his own video production business and taking seminars on business with executive coach Martin Sage. If he were to list everything he wanted to do in his new life on a business card, nobody would understand it all.
"A friend of mine said, 'When you go to Austin, that's Texas; you become the German Cowboy.' I thought, 'That sounds not bad!' "
Read the complete article at the Austin American Statesman at www.statesman.com.
...pragmatic and cinematic, involve radio and tv... this is a quote from the documentary Route 66. Three German guys exploring Route 66 with an old Cadillac convertible. A no budget movie, sometimes very experimental.
Interesting is how I found the movie. It is a download from Jaman, an internet service where you can rent and buy independent movies from all over the world as a download. It is a very smooth experience and the technical quality is brilliant.
News from German Cowboy: the upgrade of the 'web presence' German Cowboy Adventures is done. Check it out: www.GermanCowboyAdventures.com.
News from real world media: Tomorrow you find an interview with German Cowboy in the Austin American Statesman life & style section.
March, 19th we celebrated the launch of our new online talk show at our studio in Austin, Texas. I just created a slideshow. Around 40 people visited and made a virtual venture an experience in the real world. Business associates, clients, friends and fans had a great time together. We all look forward to the next real world event, but in the meantime we can watch the show at www.AustinBusinessBabes.com.
Yesterday, March 21st was the start of our daily video podcast 'Austin Business Babes'. What I just realized today, it was the same day when Apple released Apple TV. What a coincidence!
During the next weeks I will add more functionality to the Austin Business Babes website. Check the site regularly or subscribe. If you like the show, spread the word and send feedback per email or in the comment section.
Many thanks to all our fans and guests of the previous shows who encouraged us to go online and continue!
Look forward to the next episodes, there will be some surprises...
Before the first episode gets released I am now creating the website, all the other pages, archive, resources, and a wiki. Dana is lining up the first guests and shooting dates, very exciting. Check out the preview page and invite people to visit: www.AustinBusinessBabes.com
This is my first post this year. Time is running fast. Since the last post a lot happened. During the holidays Dana and I reviewed our different projects and decided to make some changes:
After looking at our Austin Stars of Business video podcast, what we started in December and analyzing what worked and what did not work, we decided to stop the Austin Stars of Business talk show and redesign it. All our experiences from producing the show now since nearly two years will flow in our new talk show, which will be released around March 21st. It will be a daily video podcast published on different channels online.
You can see the second last show this Friday, 16th at 7pm on channel 10 in Austin and our final episode one week later.
Soon I write more about the new show, the new format and where you can find it on the internet.
This is my last post for this year, see my results:
You are Superman
| You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.  |
Last Sunday one of my biggest projects reached its launch phase: Austin Stars of Business video podcast. You can watch the show here: www.AustinStarsofBusiness.com or you can get the episodes as downloads in iTunes here.
In iTunes you can download each episode seperately or subscribe and get automatically the newest episode delivered. Independent from your internet connection you watch each episode uninterrupted, because its already completely downloaded.
When you go to the website, depending on your internet connection you may need to wait a little while to watch the episode without a stop. There you can also go to the archive and discover former episodes. I just published the 3rd episode.
On the main page you can also subscribe with your email address and you get each new episode delivered via email, like an email newsletter. Every 2 work days a new episode gets published.
Check it out, there is a lot to discover...
One of my beta testers, Steve Harper, wrote me this feedback:
"Execllent job on the Videopodcast! I want to be interviewed!!!"
Steve is the author of "The Ripple Effect" and writes a brilliant blog, check it out here.
After nearly a year of working on that project, I figured out how the whole podcasting and blogging works for me, I hope you enjoy it.
A German Cowboy get things done, even when it takes a while!
That's my problem as a German in the US: How to use this crazy tape measures. As Germans we are used to accurate craftsmanship. How can you do things right with this tools? What does a marker on the tape measure mean? A tenth of an inch? No, I figured that. My last guess was: One marker is closely to a twentieth of an inch. Now what an eye opener is this video, what I found accidentially: click here
A German Cowboy never gives up in figuring out what's important in life, in the meantime he works with what he got.
To shoot this video was real fun.
A German Cowboy enjoys life in Austin
Kendra Wright, founder and owner of a couple of companies was guest in our talk show "Austin Stars of Business". What gave her the courage to start her first own company? Her answer: I believe in 'leap and the net will appear', that means to her: People believe your great ideas only when you do it and go for it.
'Leap and the net will appear' reminds me of the ending of the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" where Harrison Ford solves a couple of riddles. The last one is he stands in front of an abyss and needs to cross. But there is no bridge. The riddle says something like 'trust and move on'. In the moment he is doing the first step into the abyss the bridge shows up. It is an optical deception, he could not see the bridge before he moved. Only when you do the first step, you can see the path. This sequence of the movie illustrates for me perfect this principle.
A German Cowboy trusts his mission and does the next step.
Watch the Austin Stars of Business talk show, fridays 7 pm, Channel 10, in Austin or soon you can see it on the internet as a video podcast.
When Dana told me she wants that I get a hair cut like George Clooney I laughed about that idea. When she gave me the picture of him, 'Sept/2006/In Style' "The Sexy Poll: Leading Man & Actor 40+" I took a deep breathe. The 40+ is for sure right. When she told me I should show the ripped out picture to the hair dresser at Master Cut I thought that will never happen. I thought that is too embarrassing. But I took the picture.
When I arrived in the shop, I thought why not? Let's see what happens. The hair dresser laughed and said she will do her best. It turns out she wants to start her own business. While she is turning me into George Clooney, we had a nice chat about entrepreneurship and she wants to know more about our The Soul of Entrepreneurship class.
A German Cowboy is doing what looks like crazy to him. Like minded people are attracted by that.
During the weekend I was working on an educational DVD for one of our clients, Jessie Renee Dingler. The title is "How To Touch Your Woman". Two men of the other office on the floor, came in during the weekend. They looked over my shoulder and got really curious when they saw what I am working on.
The product will be very entertaining, and everybody will learn something from it. Check the website www.HowToTouchYourWoman.com.
A German Cowboy is never done with learning.
