Interactive Media Guide

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SHORT FILMS

Any film that is not long enough to be considered a feature film however no consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn. They are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals. They can be and are mainly by indie filmmakers to prove their talent in order to gain funding for future films from private investors, entertainment companies, or film studios.

Short films can be included as adverts on websites such as YouTube and are also used as cinema trailers. Platforms for delivery include the world wide web, DVD, mobile devices and presentations like film festivals.

Here is an example of a short film that was uploaded to YouTube and has gained popularity with over 700k views : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_cdkpazjI

PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS

Is longer than an advert and is mainly used to promote a product from small businesses and even charities such as colleges.

Examples include modern music videos which are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sales of music recordings. A lot of music videos being produced now also include products from a business that has paid to have promoted in the video such as the Beats Pill Speaker in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco

These are different to short films as the main purpose of a short film is to entertain whereas here we are advertising. Platforms for delivery include world wide web and mobile devices.

FILM TRAILERS

A series of selected shots from the movie being advertised , used as a promotional feature to persuade people to pay to see the film at the cinema. They are shown on TV during advert breaks, in the cinema before a film plays and now as well as being shown on YouTube and shared around social media.

Here is an example of a new film trailer for a horror movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBbi4NeebAk

These are very similar to promotional videos and only differ in the product they are advertising . A film trailer strictly advertises the film itself whereas a promotional video advertises a specific product for a company such as the Beats Pill Speaker example used in the previous slide. Platforms for delivery include world wide web, DVD, Blu-Ray, presentations and mobile devices.

USER-GENERATED CONTENT (WEB 2.0)

User Generated Content is a persons own created media, that can be uploaded and shared online mainly through social networks. It is used for a wide range of applications, including problem processing, news, gossip and research and reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public.

A Web 2.0 site may allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where people are limited to the passive viewing of content. Examples of Web 2.0 include blogs, video sharing sites and social networking sites and applications.

Here is an example of a user-generated blog made by a popular celebrity: http://kimkardashian.celebuzz.com/

Platforms for delivery include world wide web and possibly email attachments and mobile devices.

VIRAL MARKETING

A method of product promotion that relies on getting customers to market an idea on their own by telling their friends. Uses pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to produce increase in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes.

Notable examples include one of April 2008, a European motoring company sold a car for 13000 cucumbers instead of 13000 Euros. As well as In 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment promoted the return of Chris Jericho with a viral marketing campaign using 15-second cryptic binary code videos. The videos contained hidden messages and biblical links related to Jericho, although speculation existed throughout WWE fans over whom the campaign targeted. The text "Save Us" and "2nd Coming" were most prominent in the videos. The campaign spread throughout the internet with numerous websites, though no longer operational, featuring hidden messages and biblical links to further hint at Jericho's return.

Platforms for delivery include world wide web, DVD, CD, Blu-Ray, kiosks, presentations and mobile devices.

ADVERTISING

Is a form of communication for marketing and used to encourage, persuade or manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behaviour with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common.

Can come in many different forms such as printed in magazines or newspapers but also online in magazine articles and social networks. And of course broadcasted on TV and radio. This means the platforms for delivery come under world wide web and mobile devices.

Here is an example of a broadcasted advert that was ran on US TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLXklOiXCpM

Advertising and Viral Marketing really go hand in hand as all advertisers are aiming to have a viral campaign, just not all of them reach the goal.

VIRTUAL REALITY TOURS

Is the simulation of an existing location shown through a video as if you were actually walking through a location. Virtual tours are made up of a number of shots taken from a single vantage point. The camera and lens are rotated around what is referred to as a no parallax point (the exact point at the back of the lens where the light converges).

A well known example of this would be the Google Earth feature. The platforms for delivery are via the world wide web and mobile devices as well as possible kiosks and presentations.

GAMES

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The input device primarily used to manipulate video games is called a game controller and varies across platforms. For example, a controller might consist of only a button and a joystick, while another may feature a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks. Early personal computer games often needed a keyboard for gameplay, or more commonly, required the user to buy a separate joystick with at least one button. Many modern computer games allow or require the player to use a keyboard and a mouse simultaneously. A few of the most common game controllers are gamepads, a mouse, keyboards, and joysticks.

Video games typically use additional means of providing interactivity and information to the player. Audio is almost universal, using sound reproduction devices, such as speakers and headphones.

The platforms of delivery can be the world wide web, CD-Rom and on mobile devices. An example of a recently released video game would be the hyped GTAV.

E-LEARNING

Is the use of technology used to educate. E-learning includes numerous types of media that deliver text, audio, images, animation, and streaming video, and includes technology applications and processes such as audio or video tape, satellite TV, CD-ROM, and computer-based learning, as well as local intranet/extranet and web-based learning.

Therefore the platforms of delivery come under DVD, CD as well as presentations and mobile devices.

An example of an E-Learning device is the interactive whiteboard systems that have been installed into most, if not every educating facility within the UK in the past few years.

TECHNOLO

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DIGITAL VIDEO CAPTURE

A way to transfer media from a device e.g. a TV or a video camera to a computer. Converting analog video signals, such as those generated by a video camera, into a digital format and then storing the digital video on a computer's mass storage device. Video capture from analog devices requires a special video capture card that converts the analog signals into digital form and compresses the data. There are also digital video devices that can capture images and transfer them to a computer via a standard serial or parallel interface.

AVI format is more suitable for this platform as it a lossless format. The three main disadvantages from using digital video capture is the size of the video window. The larger the window size, the loading time increases. Frame Rates can be a problem if there is not enough time to move the data from the hard disc to a screen. And image quality which will depend on the quality of the original source as well as the compression used. An advantage of this technology is that it is becoming cheaper and easier to do this through new systems.

COMPRESSION

Lossy compression is a data encoding method that compresses data by discarding some of it. The procedure aims to minimize the amount of data that needs to be held, handled, and/or transmitted by a computer. Lossy compression is most commonly used to compress multimedia data (audio, video, and still images), especially in applications such as streaming media and internet telephony. The main disadvantage for this method is the loss of certain parts of the data possibly resulting in a lower quality end product however an advantage to this is that the finished media will not take as long to load or take up much free space on hard drives.

Lossless data compression allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data. Lossless data compression is used in many applications including the ZIP file format. A benefit of this is that your data is exactly how you intended it to be however once extracted will take up significantly more free space than a lossy file.

DIGITAL VIDEO FORMATS

MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s (26:1 and 6:1 compression ratios respectively)[1] without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.[2][3]

MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 is a digital multimedia format most commonly used to store video and audio, but can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, it allows streaming over the Internet which is a definite positive.

MOV is a QuickTime File Format which is a computer file format used natively by the QuickTime framework which could be a disadvantage as it can only be used on this program.

Audio Video Interleaved, known by its initials AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback.

DIGITAL VIDEO FORMATS

Windows Media Video (WMV) is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format was designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo.

Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–11. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files.

SWF is an Adobe Flash file format used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript.[3] Originating with FutureWave Software, then transferred to Macromedia, and then coming under the control of Adobe, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.

3GP is a multimedia container format defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project for 3G UMTS multimedia services. It is used on 3G mobile phones but can also be played on some 2G and 4G phones.

Advanced Systems Format (formerly Advanced Streaming Format, Active Streaming Format) is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media. ASF is part of the Windows Media framework.

STREAMING METHODS

To download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a web server, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems. A download can mean either any file that is offered for downloading or that has been downloaded, or the process of receiving such a file.

A progressive download is the transfer of digital media files from a server to a client, typically using the HTTP protocol when initiated from a computer. The consumer may begin playback of the media before the download is complete. The key difference between streaming media and progressive download is in how the digital media data is received and stored by the end user device that is accessing the digital media.

Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. To stream, refers to the process of delivering media in this manner; the term refers to the delivery method of the medium rather than the medium itself.

DATA TRANSFER RATE

In telecommunication, data signaling rate, also known as gross bit rate, is the aggregate rate at which data pass a point in the transmission path of a data transmission system.

Bit rate or data transfer rate is the average number of bits, characters, or blocks per unit time passing between equipment in a data transmission system. This is typically measured in multiples of the unit bits per second or occasionally in bytes per second.

FILE SIZE

The display resolution of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed.

A data frame is an aggregate of numerous, partly overlapping collections of data and metadata that have been derived from massive amounts of network activity such as content production, consumption, and other user behavior

Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems.

Video compression uses modern coding techniques to reduce redundancy in video data.

ASPECT RATIO

The aspect ratio of a display is the proportional relationship between the width of a display and its height. The aspect ratio is expressed as two numbers separated by a colon.

Until about 2003, most computer monitors had a 4:3 aspect ratio. Between 2003 and 2006, monitors with 16:10 aspect ratio became commonly available, first in laptops and later also in standalone computer monitors. Reasons for this transition was productive uses for such monitors, i.e. besides widescreen movie viewing and computer game play, are the word processor display of two standard letter pages side by side, as well as CAD displays of large-size drawings and CAD application menus at the same time.

In 2008, the computer industry started to move from 4:3 and 16:10 to 16:9 as the standard aspect ratio for monitors and laptops. A 2008 report by DisplaySearch cited a number of reasons for this shift, including the ability for PC and monitor manufacturers to expand their product ranges by offering products with wider screens and higher resolutions, helping consumers to more easily adopt such products and stimulating the growth of the notebook PC and LCD monitor market.

MEDIA PLAYERS

The Adobe Flash Player is freeware software for viewing multimedia, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming video and audio, content created on the Adobe Flash platform. Flash Player can run from a web browser or on supported mobile devices.

QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple, capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity.

Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system only which could be considered a disadvantage to consumers, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices.

MEDIA PLAYERS

RealPlayer is a cross-platform software product created by RealNetworks primarily used for the playing of recorded media. The media player is compatible with numerous formats within the multimedia realm, including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime and Windows Media which is a generous advantage to the user.

DivX player offers the DivX Codec which became popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality. It is one of several codecs commonly associated with ripping, whereby audio and video multimedia are transferred to a hard disk and transcoded.

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSDigital rights management is a class of controversial technologies that are used by

hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyrightholders, and individuals with the intent to control the use of digital content and devices after sale; there are, however, many competing definitions. With First-generation DRM software, the intent is to control copying; With Second-generation DRM, the intent is to control viewing, copying, printing, and altering of works or devices. The term is also sometimes referred to as copy protection, copy prevention, and copy control, although the correctness of doing so is disputed.

The use of digital rights management is not universally accepted. Some content providers claim that DRM is necessary to fight copyright infringement online and that it can help the copyright holder maintain artistic control or ensure continued revenue streams. Proponents argue that digital locks should be considered necessary to prevent intellectual property from being copied freely, just as physical locks are needed to prevent personal property from being stolen. Those opposed to DRM contend there is no evidence that DRM helps prevent copyright infringement, arguing instead that it serves only to inconvenience legitimate customers, and that DRM helps big business stifle innovation and competition.Furthermore, works can become permanently inaccessible if the DRM scheme changes or if the service is discontinued.

The clear disadvantage to using these systems is that they are frowned upon and may lead you into legal trouble if you breach copyright laws.