Y Combinator by the Numbers | Hacker News Reader

Y Combinator by the Numbers

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93 pointsjwang81517 comments

Is there a service to produce video like that? Where you'd choose your music, say the texts, and automatically that'll create a couple sample of it?

http://animoto.com/ does a reasonable job of automating simple video production. Looks a bit generic, but it's a hard problem to solve - things like voiceovers and tightly animated text like in the posted video seem simple but require a fair amount of time, equipment and skill to get right.

Any video graphics people disagree? Anyone want to pitch the idea of an automated videographic generator to the next YC? :)

I think it's a ripe field for experimentation at this point, as it's a very entertaining way to present information. There is/was a series in Australia called Hungry Beast, which produced "Beast File" segments that used kinetic typography in the same manner as this video:

Stuxnet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0pi4J8auQ

Google: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfV6RzE30

Apple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj9JVXzoOYQ

There are more of these segments, but a lot of them have to do with Australian politics / corporations. I've watched them all because I adore the style but it might not be for everyone :)

In addition, there have been several labours of love which really showcase what's possible when you make a full production out of such a work, such as this amazing piece of kinetic typography / video done to Jonathan Coulton's Shop-Vac: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4sOfO8Ei1g

Any potential company would have their work cut out for them to allow user-generated content to even get close to the above segments, but as the current crop of tools are general professional-level tools (Adobe After-Affects / Premiere or related) there's definitely a specialized gap here.

RSA also adapts a lot of their talks into animated videos, such as the well-known:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc (Dan Pink - Drive : The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us)

The difference is that they use "real drawings" instead of computer animations / kinetic typography.

The first time I saw this style of video (kinetic typography) was Gnarls Barkley. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAV0XrbEwNc This is also another good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAuQmJzt_q0

The first time I saw kinetic typography was Mos Def's one of Bush Knocked Down the Towers in 2006 I believe on Google Video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bdr_2IAJWU

oddly timely.

Well it's design, so it would be the equivalent of trying to write software to replace the need for a programmer or any worthy craft. If you want unique quality work you'll have to pay it, otherwise you'll have to settle for a generic template and build on that.

I don't know but am also interested. I do know of services like GrumoMedia that make top-notch vids that lots of startups use to market and intro their product.

It looks like this may have been made using http://prezi.com . Zoom and panning seem similar.

Great, another interesting way to put the post into perspective. Also cool for anyone wanting to explain what YC is to non startup folk.

After reading that article on Orange and Teal colors being using in movies, I started noticing the color palette, especially in this one.

Which article was this?

This was originally posted on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2960235

Here is the article link: http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-ho...

Not to be negative, but what I get from this is that their hit rate is going down while their cost is going up. Am I wrong?

Yes, it takes time to build a successful company. A company doesn't exit for $200 million the year it is incorporated. Come back in 3 or 4 years, and I think you'll see the hit rate has gone up!

Well done. Love the kinetic typography effect. Guessing that you guys do promo/about videos?

Nice video!

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