Eyespot catching eyes with Web-based video editing

By: BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 12, 2008 12:26 AM PDT ∞

ENCINITAS -- Eyespot, a video editing company that has worked with entertainment giants, has put its technology on the Web where anyone can use it.

On Thursday, the Encinitas-based startup announced its entry into the so-called "white-label" video sector, a self-serve model that greatly expands the company's customer reach. Companies upload digital video, edit it online, then post it to sites such as YouTube or their own sites.

Eyespot rents its software to businesses and also offers it free in exchange for sharing advertising revenue, said Jim Kaskade, president and chief executive. Last year, Lucasfilm selected Eyespot's software to help "Star Wars" fans create videos based on the movies.

Eyespot also welcomes individual users, Kaskade said. They help the company by giving feedback on how well the video-editing features work.

Eyespot is capitalizing on the growing popularity of Web video. Editing video used to belong a highly specialized guild. Commercial software then allowed small-business owners and soccer moms to design, narrate and publish their own videos. Web-based video lowers the barriers even further, because users don't need their own software. They just need an Internet-capable computer.

"For the young consumer, video is really a new form of communication on the Internet," Kaskade said. "You know the saying, a picture tells a thousand words? Well, a video tells a million words."

As individuals get more used to creating and not just consuming video, companies are learning how to adapt their advertising and marketing styles, Kaskade said. On the Web, unlike television, people expect interactivity -- the ability to talk back, to do things on their own, not just be passive spectators.

Kludge Strategic, a Marina del Rey marketing firm, chose Eyespot for a skateboard Web site that it's creating. Eyespot's ability to create mixes of videos for fans to view and rework was attractive, co-founder Arturo Perez said.

Skateboarders don't want to just passively watch videos, Perez said; they want to create their own. And they're used to taking videos, with cameras or cell phones. With some video editing, skaters can appear in a video clip alongside their heroes for their friends to see, he said.

"Eyespot really made sense for us," Perez said. "All the skater kids want to share their tricks with their friends," Perez said. The ability to make and host videos on the site will keep viewers there longer, he said, or in Web-speak, make it "sticky."

Kaskade said Eyespot supports virtually all digital video formats. Users begin editing by using the standard drag-and-drop method to the Web site. Files can be cut up, reordered, captioned, and dubbed with music and augmented with other videos -- all of which is copyright-authorized.

Founded in 2005 by Kaskade and David Dudas, Eyespot received $3.7 million in venture capital funding in 2006. The company now employs more than 20 people in its headquarters, in The Lumberyard on the Coast Highway in Encinitas.

"It's a good environment for an early stage startup," Kaskade said. "Most of our staff are very athletic, whether it's biking or surfing, and we're not far away from the beach."

The company's Web site is http://www.eyespot.com.

-- Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.

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