This past Wednesday the school of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University was proud to welcome Burnie Burns, creator of Red vs. Blue, a comedic online miniseries based on the XBOX game Halo. Burns gave an informative speech regarding how online video has become what it is today and shared his take on where it’s headed.

As a proud founder of Rooster Teeth Productions, Micheal “Burnie” Burns is well aware of the strong presence online video has developed over the years. During his presentation Mr. Burns discussed how he got his start in video production and editing while working to get his computer science degree at The University of Texas. Before Rooster Teeth Productions, Burnie Burns contributed to a website called Drunkgamers.com, which was a site all about drinking while playing video games and rating them in hopes of getting free games—an unsuccessful attempt according to Burns. Eventually Burns’ obsession for Halo led him to create the machinima series known as Red v. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. A huge fan base was created soon after and Rooster Teeth Productions has since then claimed the cover of The Wall Street Journal and was also featured in the New York Times.

During the presentation Burns illustrated how online video went from only five minute flash videos here and there to the development of youtube.com and the popularity of people producing their own videos.

“Online video really didn’t take off until youtube utilized their flash player. This reduced file sizes and fixed compatibility issues.”

Burns also made sure to give some helpful tips for aspiring filmmakers on how to get started and becoming a success. According to Burns, the greatest challenge is building your own presence and maintaining an audience. It is also vital to learn how to promote yourself, but the key is to be consistent.

“Consistency can be the most powerful weapon you have because there is a lot of noise out there right now.”

Burnie predicts that the future online environment will be even more centralized. Everything seems to be coming together at a fast pace—networks are now posting full episodes online.
For those of you that were unable to attend the presentation, you’re in luck! A live video of the speech has been posted for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to post comments about the video on the forum.

Watch the archive of Burns’ presentation.

The Journalism and Mass Communication department would like to thank Burnie Burns for giving such an interesting and inspiring speech about online video. We hope to see you again!