How To - where to upload your film
There's a lot out of video-hosting websites out there so here's some advice. Make sure you check the terms and conditions of each of these sites so you know what might be done with your film, with and without your consent.The most widely-used is YouTube which accepts most video formats known to humanity and means your film might be viewed by millions. Equally, it might look terrible due to this open upload format policy and you'll be squished amidst pranks and shaky footage of playground fights, so it's not for documentary purists.
Another widely used place is MySpace Film, a devoted film portal for the social networking site.
Often, smaller means more nippy and innovative when it comes to uploading your video, plus there's a load of potential for taking distribution into your own hands out there. We heartily recommend Blip.tv for instance. Most importantly, your video can be seen in high Flash quality and it's all Open Source software so you can build exciting websites and video channels on your own using it. They've got links to Archive.org which comes from related people interested in Open Media. We also recommend uploading your video here – it's an intelligent community of media-makers who'll treat your video responsibly and you won't be sifting through spam comments.
You can find more Open Source video sites and lots of advice on how to get your video seen widely on From Here To Awesome and The Workbook Project.
Metacafe is nearer the YouTube end of the spectrum but you can earn money from your videos there, as you can on Revver. In both cases, you just have to decide whether you're happy with the advertising surrounding your doc.
Current TV is dedicated to factual content only, just like FourDocs, so it's a good place to upload and get feedback, plus you might progress to their TV channel – and they've changed their rights structure so if this happens, you can now still have your film elsewhere.
At the high-resolution end of things, you might like to try Vimeo which screens your film beautifully in full-resolution HD quality – although if you shot on mini DV, that won't be as much of an attraction.
Finally, don't forget about developing your own website or video channel, whether using the tools above or a facility like Miro – you just need to have some basic web skills or know someone else who does.
Remember, you can (and should) put your film on all or some of these sites to get the widest exposure. And this isn't even scratching the surface of all the video sites out there. There's no right or wrong, just the ones you find the most useful. And remember too that uploading your film to these sites is just the start – after that you need to get spreading and embedding – on blogs, and everywhere else.