YouTube Brings Sundance Films Out for Rental Until Jan 31st

YouTube Rentals is now live, and one of the offerings is a selection of films that screened at Sundance this year (and last). Dig it:

As you may have heard, we recently introduced YouTube Rentals. We’re very excited about this new offering as it will add to the great selection of movies already available on YouTube, including a group of independent films we’d like to tell you about now.

Until January 31st, you can rent five feature films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festivals on YouTube. From last year’s documentary hit “The Cove” to selections from the brand new NEXT Category, there should be enough to keep you busy through the end of the Festival. The films available are:

“Children of Invention” explores the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a Chinese American family living in suburban Boston.

In “Homewrecker,” a prisoner on work release and a live-wire kook take a day-long ride in a seemingly stolen vehicle that neither of them will soon forget.

In “The Cove” an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Japan, and shine a light on a dark and deadly secret.

When humble Linas, kicked off of his friends couch and spurned by his lover, finds a forgotten van on a llama farm outside Seattle, he begins lurching east with nothing to lose in “Bass Ackwards”

In “One Too Many Mornings,” Fisher and Pete are two dudes with dude problems — one drinks too much and one just got cheated on by his girlfriend — and few prospects of helping each other out.

Head on over and check out the rentals. They’re 3.99 a piece looks like.

FedFlix – National Technical Information Service Library of Commerce

FedFlix is a new initiative by the “National Technical Information Service (NTIS), a bureau within the Department of Commerce that operates on a self-sustaining basis without annual appropriations, and Public.Resource.Org, Inc.” The site allows you to peruse “588 Fine Federal Films” for your enjoyment. Some of the interesting ones include some pretty unintentionally hilarious docu-dramas called The US Postal Inspectors. There’s plenty of stuff to watch, so if you’re bored then headover to FedFlix.

Thanks to Hacking Netflix for the tip.

U2 Can Watch U2 Perform Live on U2ube

Sorry about that title. This Sunday the Irish rockers U2 will perform a show in California that will stream live on YouTube. From the BBC:

Fans in 16 countries, including the UK, the US, Australia and India, will be able to watch the show at 0330 GMT.

It will be the band’s penultimate concert of the year.

YouTube said it would place adverts around the video “in the normal manner”, and that clips from the concert would be available on the site after the gig ends.

The site will also offer viewers the ability to chat to one another using Twitter, or to give money to Bono’s RED charity via a “donate now” button, while they watch the show.

If U2 is your bag, enjoy the stream on Sunday. Read the full article on the BBC – U2 gig to be streamed on YouTube.

Stream Free Premium Quality Horror Shorts on YouTube

The latest in YouTube’s Screening Room showcase is a collection of short horror/black comedy films that have been featured in many film festivals over the past few years. Check out a quick run down:

Spider

In this shocking black comedy, it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. “Spider” was an official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Skeletons In the Closet

A woman and a man wake up on the floor in a musty flat, remembering nothing of who they are or why they are there. “Skeletons in the Closet” was an official selection of the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.

Beyond Words

In this thriller, a young, deaf woman finds herself being stalked by a mysterious man. “Beyond Words” was a 2009 Tropfest Finalist.

Morsure (Bitten)

Frightened and alone, Clara flees through a dark and sinister forest, pursued by a gun-toting man, bent on her destruction. Clara is taken in by a friendly farmer, but appearances can be deceiving. An official selection of the 2008 London Film Festival.

I’ve only watched two so far, but Spider is definintely pretty hilarious. Check ‘em out!

YouTube Now Features Trailers

In a further effort to stand up against iTunes, YouTube is now offering trailers for feature films. Dig it:

Summer is in full swing and that means summer movie season is right around the corner. Get a sneak peek at upcoming blockbusters by checking out our new Trailers page in the Movies section of our site. We have previews for some of the season’s most anticipated films, like “Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince” and the new Twilight movie, “New Moon.” We’re adding new trailers frequently, so check back often.

I highly recommend skipping those recommendations and checking out “Bruno” and “9″ instead. Click “continue reading” to see the trailers.

… Continue Reading

YouTube Gets Experimental with Ads

YouTube has recently flipped on the option to “choose your own ads”. It is an experiment for them to find out how ads can be better targeted. Check it:

Adding more fuel to the notion that there’s no one “sweet spot” for ad formats on YouTube, comes news that the video site is testing a “choose your own” ad feature. Viewers will be able to pick between watching a single pre-roll ad (usually 30 seconds or longer) or up to four commercial breaks (at least 15 seconds each) within a given clip. If they go with the pre-roll, there’s also a choice between two different ads.YouTube product manager Phil Farhi said that soliciting viewers’ opinions would help the company “find the right advertising formats;” the brands themselves would also benefit if YouTube ends up providing real-time data on which ads most users were volunteering to watch.

Thanks PaidContent.

Home Set to Debut on YouTube in T-Minus 1.25 Hours

Home, an environmentally driven feature film produced by Luc Besson and directed by Yann-Arthus Betrand, is set to debut on YouTube at midnight. If you recall, I first mentioned the exclusive over a month ago. Here’s a snip from YouTube:

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate.

The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

You will be able to watch the entire film for free on YouTube after midnight. Get the popcorn ready and check out the Home page on YouTube.

Sony Music Joins Universal on VeVo

Sony has hopped on the VeVo train. In case you forgot, VeVo is Universal Music’s and YouTube’s joint effort to help monetize the popular music video traffic through YouTube. Details:

Sony Music is joining the online video destination [...] though details on the terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Following today’s announcement there remains two majors who have not signed on to the service – Warner Music and EMI.

The news indicates that Vevo is not meant just to be a hub for Universal music videos, but an extensive online destination for music content from many different sources, much like hulu is for TV programming.  While it is not clear if EMI or Warner will join, the addition of a second major puts pressure on them to participate or be left behind.  If all the majors signed onto the service it would make growing a large audience along the lines of hulu more achievable since users could access a much wider catalog of content.

VeVo is still in development, but you can sign up for updates if that’s your thing. Story courtesy of PaidContent.

YouTube Welcomes the US Government to Their Service

YouTube has bagged another high profile exclusive: the US Government. In their latest blog entry, they go into detail on the new endeavor:

Our federal leaders and civil servants aren’t just on YouTube to distribute video; they’re here to engage with you in a way that only YouTube makes possible. So leave your comments, rankings, and ideas for these agencies on any of their videos to ensure that your voice is heard on the issues you care about. Reach out to your local government as well and encourage local officials to start posting footage to YouTube. By exposing everything from committee hearings to planning meetings, we can make our civic lives more open than ever before. Ultimately, it will help us hold public servants accountable for the jobs we’ve hired them to do. 

There’s already quite a bit of content available, from the President’s weekly addresses to the inner workings of a prostitution sting operation. Enjoy the “transparency”, and another pretty big precedent for VOD in general.

YouTube Adds HD Browsing for More Territories

A new YouTube release is out, adding some new features and expanding HD Browsing to the following countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and U.K. The new update also includes some options for uploading and display. Dig it:

* New Options for Uploaders: In our continued effort to give you ultimate control over how your videos are presented, uploaders can now tweak the appearance of their video when played on YouTube or in an embedded player. Just insert any of the hint tags below into the tags field of your video and voila! 

yt:crop=16:9 (zooms in on the 16:9 area, removes windowboxing) 
yt:stretch=16:9 (fixes anamorphic content by scaling to 16:9)
yt:stretch=4:3 (fixes 720×480 content that is the wrong aspect ratio by scaling to 4:3)
yt:quality=high (default to a high quality stream, depending on availability) 

For the full list of updates, check out the YouTube blog.