Online video practice research

Over the past few days our group has been researching and investigating about online video practices. From this initial research we have learnt and discovered a myriad of information and theories on online video practices and how they have changed, adapted and been utilised over time.

Online videos can be produced, published and distributed on an array of different platforms. Each platform pertains its own affordances which impacts the way in which the content is produced.

A lot of the online video content we view today is considered to be “narrative” (Brasier 2017) in its form, compared to more traditional videos.

Traditional video practices are generally linear in form meaning they transition from the development stage to pre-production, production, post production and then the sale.

The boom of online video has been attributed to: the creation of Web 2.0, cheap cameras of quite high quality, free hosting websites, fast internet for uploading and editing purposes and social media sharing which allows videos to go viral and gain views within online social communities. Basically, the process is a lot quicker and there has been a decline in financial and quality barriers concerned with online video practices (for example the ability to create, edit and share videos from mobile devices).

Video accounts for the majority of all internet traffic (Netflix, Youtube). There has been rapid expansion in infrastructure that allows online video viewers and users to watch videos without interruptions. buffering or long loading times (Wong, 2016). The change is due to content delivery networks (CDNs), which are private networks owned by large companies such as Facebook and Apple. These networks work in parallel to the internet’s main traffic routes.

Decades ago the internet was mainly created through a hierarchy of providers with numerous big networks making up the backbone. However, the internet now is no longer in this pyramid structure, instead it is become “flat” (Wong 2016) which refers to content owners are gaining more control and ownership to dictate how content is distributed and how it will get to the end-consumer.

This proliferation of online video creation and consumption is a huge indicator of the importance of authoring, publishing and distributing online video content in a professional context. Further, considering the growing ease and affordability now associated with online video content makes it an increasingly viable option for practitioners to utilise in a professional context.

For this reason it can be argued that online video, more so than other forms of online production, is an important aspect of the online space to study and engage with.

In a professional context it is important to be aware of how online video works, how it is utilised on the different social media platforms, and what style of content is necessary for each platform in order for it to be successful.

In his article for ‘Music for Makers’, Logan Nickleson identifies that in order to create successful, positive, and visible online video content, it must match the ‘tone and culture of the social media platform you’re using’ (Nickleson 2016).

This will be of increasing importance as we progress with our project and begin to consider what platform we will produce content for and what content we will produce.

In the most recent lectures, Hannah discussed the differences between the different video platforms that we may choose to work with. The sites in particular that she spoke about, were, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. Each website having the same general use, that being the ability to post video content online, also have very different formats. For example, on YouTube, the most common video form is a video blog, more commonly referred to as a ‘vlog’. When using this platform, we are in control of what we view, making use of the search bar.

This is opposed to a site such as Facebook, where as viewers, we are less in control of what we view. Videos on Facebook automatically play, and often have text on top of the video in order to draw viewers in. Videos posted on Facebook need to be engaging within the first few seconds of visuals, as they are competing with all of the other content being displayed on individual news feeds.

The final site, was Instagram. Instagram, originally being exclusive to photo sharing, introduced the option to share 16 second videos, as of June 20th, 2013. Unlike videos made to share on Facebook, and Youtube, the short time-frame often means videos are shot on the go, and show a more personal insight into the creators life. It will be important for us as a group to consider these different qualities when we decide which platform to create our final video on.

The different aspects and qualities of the videos on their respectful platforms, play a huge role in what makes them successful, meaning something that may be a success with a video on Instagram, may not work at all for a video on Facebook, or YouTube.

Outlining the differences between platforms and what is successful on each platform will be key to guiding our decision making throughout the process.

Some questions we will need to consider throughout this process include:

• What is the optimal length of a video on this platform?
• Do videos on this platform tend to be played with or without sound?
• How heavily edited and produced does content on this platform tend to be?
• What are our aims for our video content?,
• What kind video do we want to produce?

These questions will aid to guide us in our consideration and research of online video platforms for this course.

References:

Brasier, H 2017, “What is online video?”, RMIT University, Viewed April 18 2017.

Nickelson, L 2016, “The Secrets of Successful Social Media”, Music for Makers, https://musicformakers.com/social-media-video-strategy/.

Wong, I 2016, “The Internet Has Been Quietly Rewired, and Video Is the Reason Why”, Quartz, https://qz.com/742474/how-streaming-video-changed-the-shape-of-the-internet/.

Brasier, H, 2017, “From traditional to mobile video”, RMIT University https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B6gK5gz_qKhzaHRTcnVpZGJMRXM

Chaykowski, K, 2017, “Why Instagram Extended Its Video-Length Limit To 60 Seconds” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/03/29/why-instagram-extended-its-video-length-limit-to-60-seconds/#48747c45a04a