CreativeLive:向大众提供免费教育课程

CreativeLive is using live streaming video to build a successful online 业务 and disrupt the education space. The company produces five 24/7 live video channels just like a TV network. 编程的特点是高度生成的交互式类, helping viewers learn creative and real-life skills from top instructors in their fields. 任何人都可以免费观看直播. 学生只需付费观看点播或下载课程即可. 到目前为止, CreativeLive has educated more than 2 million people while streaming more than 1 million learning hours per month. 创始人说他们才刚刚开始.

The company was founded in 2010 by photographer/ director Chase Jarvis and entrepreneur Craig Swanson. 首席执行官是米卡·萨尔米, who founded AtomFilms and was president of global digital media at MTV Networks/Viacom.

CreativeLive started out from the founders’ frustrations with the higher education system. Jarvis had a passion to be a photographer, but that didn’t fit into the traditional education model. He found it hard to get started as a professional photographer because there weren’t any formal education programs available that would teach him what he needed to learn. So, he taught himself, learned from the school of hard knocks, and found his own mentors.

After 10 years, he had earned a well-respected name and 业务 as a photographer. 回顾自己的职业生涯, 他说, “I realized there was nothing out there that was providing this kind of skill-based lifelong learning, 一旦你接受了高等教育, 你知道它有多坏. So I thought that if I was in a position to change that, I would.”

Advances in streaming technology also played a role in launching the company. 贾维斯说，Ustream上线的第一周, he bought a webcam and presented the world’s first live streamed photo shoot. Twenty-five thousand viewers showed up to watch, which was quite a surprise. 在那一刻，他意识到，“天哪，这就是未来.”

The 500-plus classes offered on CreativeLive are not your typical single camera or computer screencast training videos. Instead, the team at CreativeLive takes a broadcast TV mentality to the education world. They have two robust production studios in each of their offices in Seattle and San Francisco. 大型工作室超过12个,000 square feet and look more like a television production set than what you would expect for an educational video.

The studios are equipped with four to eight Sony EX3 cameras 包括一个大三角架和一个鸟瞰图 for bumps. Some are manned during the classes, while others are locked down. 西雅图的一家工作室也使用了机器人摄像机.

互动性的重要性

摄像机不只是对准教练. One of the key features of CreativeLive’s different approach to online learning is that each class has a studio audience that also appears on camera. 演播室学生, 通常是3到15个人, ask questions of the instructor during the class and act as a proxy for the viewers at home. The viewers watching online can also participate using a proprietary chat tool to ask questions and discuss the class with fellow students.

A community moderator from CreativeLive monitors the questions and passes 信息 to the on-air hosts who are also on set. These hosts read the viewer questions to the expert instructor and help emcee the show by keeping the discussions lively.

Studios used for CreativeLive classes are equipped with multiple Sony cameras, 包括一个大三角架和一个鸟瞰图.

This important ability to have an interactivity community is one of creativeLIVE’s keys to success that drives its high engagement. If one student has a question, it’s likely others may have the same question. Also, many ideas for class topics and instructors have come from the community.

幕后故事

回到控制室, 一个导演操作一个新泰克Tricaster高清切换器, mixing the camera shots with the screen captures from the instructor’s laptop. An audio operator runs a PreSonus digital mixer, managing all the wireless mics. 另一名制作人员监督直播流编码, which is done using Wirecast software to make a single bitrate 720p stream that gets sent to Ustream. Ustream then transcodes the stream to multiple bitrates and formats. Finally, CreativeLive embeds a Ustream player on its live channel pages.

While the live class is underway, attention is still being paid to the future show archive. A production staffer in the control room creates a real-time log, making editorial notes and keeping track of any technical issues. 如果需要任何更改, the post production editor can use ISO recordings made on each camera via a Ki Pro to improve the line cut. Editors create a final version for video-on-demand playback and also cut highlight clips to help promote the classes on CreativeLive’s YouTube channel.

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