The Platforms, Uses and Technology of Video Production for Interactive Media

The Platforms, Uses and Technology of Video Production for Interactive Media

In this essay I will be explaining the “Interactive Media” in Video Production also giving you examples as well.
Interactive Media really developed in the 1940’s and became more common in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When there was just one channel of the BBC to start which was then followed by ITV starting a channel. After this BBC was soon to release a second channel (BBC 2) which was the first coloured channel. All of the began back in the late 192 0’s when films came in, cinemas back then only showed 10 minute short films. However a lot later in 1980’s VHS recorders came in. This kick started the launch of DVDs, game consoles etc in the following years to come. The internet is full of information, videos, shopping, interactive books etc. Therefore there are many different platforms of media that we can view this media upon.

Platforms for Video in Interactive Media

The first area I shall be explaining is the Platforms of video production. These come in a number of different ways which I shall explain.

World Wide Web
The main platform for Video production is the “World Wide Web”. On the “World Wide Web” you are able to download and watch TV programmes, videos and films online sometimes at a cost but sites like the BBC’s “iplayer” offer there TV shows free of charge to download and view. Other channels such as ITV and Channel 4 also have similar things on there site. Furthermore sites such as YouTube and MySpace are places where you can watch just ordinary videos in your own time.

Email Attachments
Another key platform is Email Attachments, there are messages that are sent to your inbox from friends or companies which may contain either pop ups, virals or spam. A good example of this is the blender company “Blendex” the send round videos of there product blending numerous objects from iPods to golf clubs, people who are intrigued by this will send this around to there friends through attaching it to an email.

DVD’s
Also DVD’s are taking over email attachments as they are in the form of a disk which can show videos or films depending on size. The videos are a much higher quality than VHS and in some cases online videos. DVD’s have been updated recently thanks to HD TV so they released Blu-ray DVD’s and DVD players.

CD-ROM’s
Another platform in the form of disks are CD-ROM’s which are generally used for educational purposes. Companies can add there videos on to the disk to show examples and explanations making learning a lot easier for more visual learners.

Kiosks
In addition to the above “Kiosks” are becoming more and more common a “Kiosk” is a machine that holds information about the given location whether you are using one on Liverpool or London. “Kiosks have Video content, photos and internet access. This is very helpful for tourists or people who just generally need help finding something.

Presentations
Also there are Presentations these can be used for job pitches and in education, and are made on programmes such as PowerPoint and Flash. Presentations have mainly text but can have video content added in for explanations etc…

Red Button
The penultimate platform is the Red Button service on TV which comes in to use really only for TV adverts, multi choice TV and casting votes on live shows. For example Sports, x-factor etc… The red button can take the viewer to a new page on there screen showing additional information about the advert or offering the viewer the chance to vote on TV shows.

Mobile Devices
The final platform is Mobile Devices these are all portable consoles which are for easy viewing on the go. People can access some of the above such as the “World Wide Web” and Email Attachments. Straight from the palm of there hand.

Uses of Video in Interactive Media

There are a number of uses for video in interactive media examples of this are;

Short films
These are normally found on websites but also can pop up occasionally on certain TV channels around the world. They are basically Snippets of a film which will be out in the near future and are shown to the global public before it can be seen in cinemas. Short films can also be easily distributed on the Internet. Certain websites which encourage the submission of “user-created” short films such as “YouTube” and “BritFilms“ have attracted large communities of artists and viewers, whereas sites such as the “BBC Film Network” focus on showcasing curated British shorts.

Promotional Material
Consists of Adverts, editorials and have more content to show. They are pretty much shows as short trailers. They are used to promote certain products, bands etc…

Film Trailers
Film trailers are shown all over the internet and TV they are made to preview films and tempt the viewers into seeing the feature film. There are sites such as trailer.com which are made specifically for showing the latest film trailers.

User-generated Content
On YouTube alone there are thousands of videos which people have made or done there own comedy spoof on. These videos all vary in success.

Viral Marketing
Is where funny clips, adverts or film trailers which have been sent through email (usually through chain mail). This is for advertising purposes usually.

Advertising
Viral marketing has sky rocketed in the past couple of years due to the increase of household computers. Companies such as “Blendtech” use YouTube to show of there product globally.

Virtual Reality Tours
These are 360 degree tours of locations and buildings which can be accessed on “Google Earth”.

E-Learning
Is learning online purely through videos on sites such as expertvillage.com.


Video in Interactive Media Technologies

Video Compression
Is reducing the quantity of data used within images and also video to reduce the overall file size.

CODEC
Is a device that converts analogue signals in to digital signals. (Co=Compression & DEC=Decompression)

Streaming and Downloads
Streaming is where you watch or listen to the video/clips without having to download or pay any fees. However downloading is where you save the file to your computer and can view and keep the files freely.

Interactive Video Formats
MPEG otherwise known as “Moving Pictures Experts Group” carries out a complex routine which develops standard for digital file.

AVI or “Audio Video Interlace” is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file.

MOV is a movie for QuickTime for Microsoft windows.

WMV is and abbreviated version of Windows media video. A WMV is a compressed video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo.

Data Transfer Rates (Bandwidth)
“DTR” is the amount of digital data that is moved from one place to another in a specific given space of time.

Frame Rates
Is the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces consecutive images called frames. This term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS).
Screen Resolutions
The screen resolution of a digital television or other display devices is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed.

File Sizes
Simply measures the size of a computer file. It is typically measured in “bytes” with prefix. The maximum file size a file system supports depends on the number of bits reserved to store size information and the total size of the file system. These units are often described using the terms KB, MB, GB and TB respectively. For example the number of “bytes” in a “Gigabyte” (GB) is 1,073,741,824, this is equal to 1,024 “Megabytes” (MB).

Digital Rights Management
“DRM” is a type of hardware that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. Digital rights management is being used by companies such as “Sony”, “Apple”, “Microsoft”, “AOL” and the “BBC”.

Media Players

The biggest in my opinion is the common household DVD which can be played on PC’s and DVD players. A DVD is a hard disk containing videos or pictures. Furthermore there is QuickTime is a video/audio playing program which was made by “Apple” to be mainly used on the “Macs”. But when “iTunes” started the program came with it as a way to show its better than rivalling media players. Probably the biggest competition is Windows Media Player is a video/audio playing program which is used on PC’s to watch videos and listen to music and more.
However online we have the BBC’s iplayer this is an online TV programme/ film viewer, which anyone can use for free. Finally there is RealPlayer which is a cross-platform media player which plays MP3 and MPEG-4.

Embedded Video
Is where you purposely place a video on a blog or site to explain something in more detail or to back up a point you have made. On sites such as blogger people can upload videos of there own work or others depending on what they are talking about.