Mike Vogel

Cartoon faces I drew in May

mikevogel — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:03:02 +0000

I decided to draw a cartoon face every weekday in May. Here’s what it ended up looking like…

I messed up the last one.

My new bike movie: Doored – Fracture Skull, Broken Hearts

mikevogel — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:26:15 +0000

I made another movie that was shown at the Filmed By Bike festival! It’s sort of based on this craiglist Missed Connections where a guy fell in love with the woman who doored him.

A little demo of my first app, Phrenic

mikevogel — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:35:31 +0000

I’ve been working on writing stories and scripts for Phrenic lately, but I realized some people have a hard time understanding what it is. It doesn’t help to say things like “It’s a transmedia app series where– wait, where are you going? Don’t walk away!”

So here’s a quick demo of Phrenic, which you can download on the App Store.

Getting closer to launching Phrenic

mikevogel — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:45:46 +0000

I’m getting closer to launching my transmedia project, Phrenic. The app is being reviewed by the App Store and I’ve got an idea in the works so people who aren’t on Apple devices can watch as well. My hope is to have a story I can continually add to in different ways over the course of the next year or longer. An interactive story here, a five episode video series there. I’m looking at some options for additional video games (there are three mini-games in the app). It’s an exciting project that allows me to be creative in many different ways.

And if you haven’t checked out Life Identical yet, please do, although it is vaguely spoiler-y.

Here are a few screenshots of the app…

Another terrible storyboard

mikevogel — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 04:51:52 +0000

I am filming another short for Filmed By Bike. It’s about someone who gets doored. It’s hard to storyboard in general, but I’m really terrible when I need to draw bikes and cars (and people). I can draw trees okay though.

This will be a movie you can see sometime in April.

I started another blog… This Is Transmedia

mikevogel — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 05:47:11 +0000

I decided to start a new blog dedicated to transmedia. While working on Phrenic, I realized that there aren’t a lot of sites covering transmedia projects. My goal is to write about transmedia the way tech blogs cover startups or the way movie blogs cover new releases. I’ve got a few interviews lined up with transmedia producers as well as some other ideas in the mix. It was a lot of work in December, but I’m excited because I think transmedia is going to get big this year.

The first post is off to a good start and hopefully sets the tone. If you’re not really sure what I’m even talking about right now, I’m going to have a video explaining it soon. If transmedia is interesting or intriguing to you, head over to the site and follow it on Facebook or Twitter.

If you’ve got a transmedia project (or are working on one) let me know on the Submit page.

D.B. Cooper – BUSTED

mikevogel — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 18:47:07 +0000

In 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane and parachuted out with $200K in cash. And he’s never been found. Until now. This is the first interview with legendary hijacker D.B. Cooper.

Find out more about D.B. Cooper at Kick Ass Oregon History.

How much money can you make from a YouTube video?

mikevogel — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:20:22 +0000

I always hear about people making six figures a year from YouTube. I know a few people who make good money because they’re in the Partner program and they get a larger cut because they consistently drive views. But if you’re not a YouTube Partner and you don’t consistently drive views then how much can you expect to make? I have no idea, but I looked up a couple of my top videos and thought I’d share my own experience.

Here’s a video I shot on my iPhone during a lunch break. At one point, it was a Featured video alongside a much more popular video, which brought the views up to 34,394. But the video only ended up earning $17.06, which comes out to .0004 per view.

This video is a scene from my last feature film, Did You Kiss Anyone? There’s a link to buy the video in the description (marketing!) but I can trace exactly one sale back to this clip. How much did I earn for almost 75,000 views? $10.58 or .0004 cents per view.

Okay, here’s a big one. This video has over 850,000 views total. It’s three seconds long and we filmed it as a joke in one take on a point and shoot camera. The reporting won’t let me go back to 2007, so I got a report for the most recent 654,341 views. $35.84. That’s .00005 cents per view (note the extra zero).

I’m posting these for transparency, not because I’m trying to discourage anyone or call out Google. If you want to make money from YouTube, go read their Creator Playbook and try to become a YouTube Partner.

First look at Phrenic

mikevogel — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:41:45 +0000

Here’s a first look at Phrenic, the app series/storyworld/transmedia/BBQ project I’ve been working on. (Okay, there is no barbeque. Three stars.) Hoping to have it launched by Halloween (pray to app store approval gods).

A Portlandia and Grimm lunch break

mikevogel — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:53:15 +0000

I love that I can go for a walk at lunch and watch two TV shows filming within two blocks of each other. All the trucks and lights mean a lot of Oregonians at work.

Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen at City Hall on set of Portlandia

Some giant lights on cranes. Probably to make it look more sunshiney inside.

David Giuntoli and Russell Hornsby filming Grimm