Vimeo is a superb place to view HD content. LIke a decent youtube, a great community and loads of great videos. My page is www.vimeo.com/philipbloom. Take a look, I only discovered it a couple of weeks back and love it!

But, now there is a new kid on the block. It is www.exposureroom.com. Although it is a lot more than just another Vimeo. It aims to become a marketplace, a showcase, a community and much more.

Here is an ichat conversation with Shiv Kumar, the founder of Exposure Room.

Hi Shiv, tell me what exactly is “Exposure Room”?

In a few words…. It’s a place where people like you can get “Exposure” and Opportunity. On the hosting front, we support all media (Photos, videos, music, blogs, articles, tutorials).

What sort of people and what sort of level of experience, basically who is the site for?

But the real meat is you guys (the talent) and getting that talent visibility and providing opportunity. Providing a place for the cinematographer, director, actor, composer etc. to find each other and make productions

These productions can/will be sponsored by XR

That’s in a few words

What are the main features of the site?

The site is build to “market” you and your “assets” (assets being photos, videos, music) as well as your blogs, articles tutorials. So it’s a highly optimized search engine friendly system

The member simply has to do some sensible things to your videos – Title, description, tags, equipment etc.

The more friends you make, the more people “focused in on you” the more “popular” you become with search engines.

The more you interact, the better it is for you.

Members you “shine” are more likely to be found not only by search engines and others looking for such talent, but by us (XR) when it comes time for us to sponsor productions proposed by you

So it’s about interaction, sharing, and becoming famous

We’ll also be providing e-commerce so you can buy/sell used equipment as well as your own DVD productions etc.

A one stop shop.

OK. You are a user of Vimeo, like me. I think it is brilliant. Is exposure room something that takes the basics of Vimeo and makes it a commercial workplace community on top of that then?

Eventually, we’ll have online shows, episodic shows, and stuff like that. XR will provide the platform, marketing, function and delivery mechanism while members provide content.

It has EVERYTHING Vimeo has and a whole lot more. The point and shoot versus Sony XDCAM HD EX1 for example.

Profession / Social we like to call it

On the surface it certainly seems more complicated but you say perseverance will be rewarded?

Yes of course

There is a lot to gain from being on XR. One very clear difference is that we at XR care for this community, we’re not here to provide you with a website and sit back and watch. We’ll be actively participating.

Our aim of course is to provide a platform for the talent to get exposure and opportunity.

How long have you been going?

3 of us at XR (the principals) recently took on videography earnestly (as a hobby, but serious hobby)

We enjoy it a lot

But what I found was that this talent didn’t really have a platform a stage upon which to stand and be seen

Things were scattered all over. A news group here, a Vimeo there We started actually building XR in the beginning of this year We put 10 people on the project, full time, day and night. The idea has been festering for about 4 months prior to that

So would you say XR is for people like me as well as newbies starting out? Anyone can be a member, right?

Yes, exactly, I’m a member too  I like to learn from the master. I don’t plan on becoming a cinematographer like, but I like to get better. I believe the XR member is those wanting to learn and those wanting to help and at the same time be found.

XR will be the monstor.com of people in this industry

But on the other hand a school for those wanting to get to that level

So how many member do you currently have?

We’re inviting members on a one of one basis. Personally, I’d say its you, Steven and Kevin. There are about 50 members signed up. They “found out” about XR and signed up.

But we’re in beta currently.

We plan to go live in a month or so

So someone who goes on today can’t sign up?
There is be a marketing campaign, but we’re hoping our initial members invite others and draw a crowd.
No they can and they have.

Cool, so tell me about the quality of the HD streaming XR has two types of people using the site
Or will have

1. People like you
2. People like me
3. People who want to watch

The quality of HD….
We have a ton of bandwidth and can expand that to any extent at the drop of a hat.
Our issue is finding the right balance between great quality and user hardware capability
In order to fine tune this I had asked you, Steven and Kevin to help (but it didn’t really go anywhere)

As user I want potential clients to look at my work in the best quality possible with no wait times. That is the holy grail for me.

The short of it is we’ll do what it takes for quality. There will be no scrimping on that front

Can I create a tailor made homepage on exposure room with photos, videos, blogs etc?
Not at the moment, but eventually yes.
From our end we can literally stream full 720p (very high bitrate) in really time, but the end user may not have the bandwidth or hardware.
But like Vimeo, they’ll have access to your original too.

That would be great. Something I would most likely use so I can direct people to the videos I want them to see, not have to wade through all of them.
Oh that part you’ll have way sooner
We’ll be providing you with two things

1. A “portfolio” that you can manage (sub set of videos you’ve uploaded to XR)
2. Albums so you can group your assets (photos, videos music) into album.

Your portfolio shows up as the first thin on your XR home page

XR is multimedia really but is it really more for videos than stills?
I’m not sure we have a preference. But Videos are the most demanding, in terms of the technology required for us to build XR, hosting, bandwidth and besides, that’s the future

It certainly is an ambitious project. What made you do it?
I believe, a video doesn’t just come of of thin air. I mean yes, you can make a landscape video by your self. But the productions we have in mind will require a full production team. So editors are members of XR as well
You guys!
I saw this tremendous talent having a hard time finding the limelight.
So from a need came a solution
From my perspective (a learner, hobbyist) I wanted to find everything in one place too

What is the Screening Room
This is the area where members can post their work (videos, photos, music, artwork, etc.)  in order to get constructive criticism from members who wish to be considered critics. The member submitting an asset  determines what aspects she’d like criticism on (such as lighting, composition, editing,etc.) Those members who criticize, in turn get a “critic rating” by the member whose work is  being criticized.  Thus, member “critics” get recognition and exposure while the other   member gets to learn the trade.

So, there you have it. I urge you to take a look. This could be a great place in addition to Vimeo for people to show their work but more importantly Shiv is trying to do something much more ambitious. It is works it will be an amazing place for filmmakers, DPs, editors etc to use, something Broadband was made for.

My page is http://exposureroom.com/members/philipbloom.aspx/videos/