YouTube UK Blog
YouTube: Edinburgh's Virtual Venue
Friday 29 August 2008
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has a deserved reputation for featuring the best the comedy circuit has to offer. From first-timers to established names, every August the talent heads to Scotland to improvise, present new material and brave late-night variety shows in pursuit of laughs, ticket sales and critical acclaim.
This year some of the key festival venues, including
The Underbelly
,
The Gilded Balloon
and
The Pleasance
enabled performers to film their sets and upload them to YouTube. These have been pulled together at the
Edinburgh Comedy
channel (introduced by the inimitable
Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre
:
The page includes excerpts from Funny Women Fringe Award winner
Bridget Christie
, 2008 Malcolm Hardee Award recipient
Edward Aczel
and finalist in the hard-fought if.com Best Newcomer category
Pippa Evans
. So what are you waiting for? Get clicking for some of the best stand-up on offer at Edinburgh this year.
Have fun,
The YouTube Team
New Captions Feature For Videos
Thursday 28 August 2008
Here at YouTube, we're always trying to find new ways to enrich your viewing experience and to help video creators reach a wider audience. As part of this goal, we've added a new captioning feature which allows you to give viewers a deeper understanding of your video. Captions can help people who would not otherwise understand the audio track to follow along, especially those who speak other languages or who are deaf and hard of hearing.
You can add captions to one of
your videos
by uploading a closed caption file using the "Captions and Subtitles" menu on the editing page. To add several captions to a video, simply upload multiple files. If you want to include foreign subtitles in multiple languages, upload a separate file for each language. There are over 120 languages to choose from and you can add any title you want for each caption. If a video includes captions, you can activate them by clicking the menu button located on the bottom right of the video player. Clicking this button will also allow viewers to choose which captions they want to see.
Some of our partners have already started using captions to offer you a better understanding of their videos (even with the audio turned off):
-
BBC Worldwide
: captions are provided in five different languages on
this clip
from Top Gear.
-
CNET
: tech
product reviews
from CNET's Crave blog.
-
UC Berkeley
: footage from the
Opencast Project Open House
.
-
MIT
: full lectures on subjects like
Physics
.
-
Gonzodoga
: English subtitles on this awesome Japanese
animation
.
We hope captions will serve to tighten the YouTube community by bringing together international users from different cultures.
We're excited to see what kinds of fun and creative uses for captions you'll be coming up with for your videos!
For more information about how to use captions, visit
this page
.
The YouTube Team
Video Annotations Now Display On Embeds
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Just so you know, the same annotations feature shown on YouTube videos is now visible on our embedded player. We're excited to finally release annotations on embeds, especially since this feature has been requested frequently in your feedback since our initial launch. Annotations bring an interactive element to your videos, and now you can reach an even larger audience when you embed your annotated videos on other sites. You can give your viewers more background and add commentary with speech bubbles, notes and spotlights, and by adding links to any YouTube video, channel, or search results page.
'
Hug the world
' is a stellar example of the many different ways you can use annotations to optimize your videos:
We've already seen an extraordinary amount of creative uses of this feature and we encourage video creators across all YouTube sites to continue using annotations.
For more information about how to use annotations on YouTube, visit
this page
.
The YouTube Team
London 2012: Join The Celebration
Saturday 16 August 2008
On Sunday, August 24, the Olympics will officially transfer from Beijing into the hands of
London 2012
. In order to mark the occasion, the organisers are staging parties up and down the country – including a 40,000-capacity event on The Mall in London.
As part of the planned entertainment for the day, London 2012 is offering YouTube users the opportunity to take part in this historic event by “Partying Like It’s 2012” via video.
All you need to do is record your finest celebration and upload it as a response to the callout above. The most impressive performers will see their antics relayed onto big screens at the handover events for all to witness. So, whether you’re a fist pumper, a finger-pointer or a lap-of-honour kind of celebrator, commit your cheer to film and you could be part of one of the country’s key events this summer – and become part of Olympics history.
Have fun,
The YouTube Team
Beijing From All Angles
Friday 8 August 2008
For the next 16 days, the eyes of the world will be on Beijing and the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Several of our premier news providers will be there, too, on the ground in China creating feature pieces, photo montage videos, human interest stories and cultural tours of the city. If the athletic competition isn't necessarily your thing but you're still curious about what's going on over there, we've created a central hub of Summer Games content from these providers
here
.
On the Summer Games channel, you'll find the latest news from
Associated Press
, daily round-ups and a photographer's journal from
Getty Images
, in-depth feature pieces from
Reuters
,
Euronews
,
France 24
and
The New York Times
, and unique, up-close-and-personal views of life in Beijing from
Travel Channel
,
GroundReport
and, of course,
SexyBeijingTV
.
Here's a preview from Getty Images:
When the Olympics end on August 24, check back to our Summer Games channel in early September for video from the Beijing
Paralympic Games
, where the magnificent
Oscar Pistorius
will be running in a hotly contested 100-metres and other athletes will be competing for gold on the world stage.
On top of this, in order to celebrate TeamGB's presence in Beijing, we've filled today's homepage with videos featuring athletes poised to test themselves against the world's best. Good luck to them -- and enjoy!
Cheers,
Andrew B.
YouTube Sports
Portishead's YouTube Treat
Saturday 2 August 2008
Today we are pleased to feature "Portishead In Portishead," a special 31-minute concert presentation from British musical group
Portishead
. These seven songs, from their new CD
Third
(which is actually their fourth album – go figure), were performed in multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrows' former drama school classroom. Enter
here
.
Along with this extended concert video, Portishead also put together
a list
of their favorite clips on YouTube. Their selections reveal an eclectic taste in music, including a nod to current YouTube
Living Legend honoree
Chuck D's band
Public Enemy
. (Earlier this year, Chuck D reciprocated the fandom by freestyle rapping over Portishead's single "Machine Gun" on stage at a festival in Barcelona.) After you watch the band's favorite YouTube clips, check out their own animated video for new single
"The Rip"
.
Enjoy this inside look at the enigmatic Bristol trio.
Cheers,
Michele K-Tel
YouTube Music
The YouTube Screening Room: New Features, New Films
Friday 1 August 2008
With over five million views and counting, the films featured in
The YouTube Screening Room
since its
launch a little over a month ago
seem to be holding your attention as much as they've held ours. This program, designed to connect those of you looking for original, compelling film content with talented filmmakers seeking out new audiences, continues to grow and we thank you for your many comments, ratings and messages.
Today, we're pleased to announce two new features, based on your feedback, and four new films. First up: we've launched an easier way to leave comments on films. You'll now find that you can directly link to a film's comments from The YouTube Screening Room landing page by clicking on the blue hypertext Comments number. Second: those of you who wanted a reminder to check out new films every two weeks can now subscribe to The YouTube Screening Room and get updates in your Subscriptions box when new films are featured. To subscribe, just click on the button on the top right side of the "Featured Films" box.
On to the new round of films! This diverse selection of shorts tackles wide-ranging subjects, including how mannequins contribute to female body image, the journey of Polish émigrés, avian interstellar conquest, and the interconnectedness of urban life. They include an Academy Award winner, a Palme d'Or winner, and a Tribeca Film Festival Honorable Mention…
And if you missed a previously featured film, no need to fret! Visit The YouTube Screening Room archives, located at the bottom of the page, to catch up.
Don't forget the popcorn,
Sara P.
YouTube Film
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