With advancements in home media technology improving, the question could be just how long is it before the public start entertaining one another greater then any television network? In recent years websites like YouTube have been a hosting site for public videos of any description. Every now and then a video is uploaded which is viewed by millions worldwide, sometimes even higher ratings than popular television shows.
If we were to compare amateur with professional productions, we would see the following. Budgets for prime time television can reach up to £2 million which obviously leaves a hole in the production company’s pocket with a risk of not making the money back. On the other hand, domestic productions are virtually free to make (excluding the prices of the camera and software). With high budget productions also comes a time consuming process with location finding as well as setting up every scene to the directors choice. However, with amateur productions this process can be done in simply five minutes wherever the camera operator chooses to be. Of course the quality of footage on YouTube may not be as high as a professional production, it all comes down to which ever the public find most entertaining.
Equipment and software have now reached a professional and industry standard which makes it possible to create good looking low budget videos. The current home movie camera trend is the HD technology. These cameras allow for a much higher resolution then old cameras and with the right light settings, it can make for a professional looking production. In the professional industry, there are many types of camera which are recommended for different uses. An example of this would be the ‘Red One’ system that can record up to 4k footage onto data files or flash storage devices. A popular editing software for the Mac system is ‘Final Cut Pro’ which is also used for the post production of many films and television shows viewed every day. This software can also be bought and used by anyone with the right money so it can allow for an amateur production to look at the least, semi professional.
In conclusion, I do not feel that online content has lowered the standards of television production. While clips from YouTube can be found amusing and entertaining, it just doesn’t match up to watching a professional production with a professional crew and talent. Television is still at a creative level with keeping fresh to the audiences. For now, the internet is a second and lower option.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
How has the digital world changed the way we consume and create TV?
In the world of digital technology, there are a number of ways of viewing media products. The most common is for the consumer to view digital broadcast systems such as Sky TV, freeview etc that allow the audience to be comfortable. An alternative is the internet. The internet allows consumers to stream videos from popular video sites like YouTube or the BBC’s iplayer where content can be found on demand. A reason for this being popular is that the viewer can choose when and where to watch their favourite shows. The different sites can also be used via game consoles such as the Nintendo wii which allow to be watched from the comfort of your living room.
With video camera technology advancing continuously, we have advanced to using digital equipment in productions. Old cameras would require a large amount of film which would not only cost a lot, but would require a lot of attention to make sure each tin of film was marked right and didn’t get lost during production. With the new digital cameras, we are able to use memory card devices that record the video straight to a high quality format that can later be easily transferred onto a computer. Digital cameras are also commonly smaller then old film cameras which is an advantage for making room on set.
In the last 10 years, editing has played an important role in the way people consume television and film. The movie side of media requires CGI to bring in audiences to the cinema. It is a widely accepted fact now that CGI improves the gross of a movie with a thirst from the consumers for an unreal escape from every day life. In recent years we have also seen the commercial success of 3D entertainment. Of course all of the 3D parts for these movies are done in the editing stage. You could argue that a director could direct one of the best films ever, yet the outcome of the film would all come down to the post-production editing. In TV, editing is a much simpler process although each episode of a program must be edited down to a select duration so the content will fill the space given by the broadcast provider.
With video camera technology advancing continuously, we have advanced to using digital equipment in productions. Old cameras would require a large amount of film which would not only cost a lot, but would require a lot of attention to make sure each tin of film was marked right and didn’t get lost during production. With the new digital cameras, we are able to use memory card devices that record the video straight to a high quality format that can later be easily transferred onto a computer. Digital cameras are also commonly smaller then old film cameras which is an advantage for making room on set.
In the last 10 years, editing has played an important role in the way people consume television and film. The movie side of media requires CGI to bring in audiences to the cinema. It is a widely accepted fact now that CGI improves the gross of a movie with a thirst from the consumers for an unreal escape from every day life. In recent years we have also seen the commercial success of 3D entertainment. Of course all of the 3D parts for these movies are done in the editing stage. You could argue that a director could direct one of the best films ever, yet the outcome of the film would all come down to the post-production editing. In TV, editing is a much simpler process although each episode of a program must be edited down to a select duration so the content will fill the space given by the broadcast provider.
A Brief history of TV in the UK and abroad.
Television in the UK began transmitting in 1936 via a system called the VHF Band I, which was an experimental radio frequency first used by the BBC. By 1964, analogue terrestrial television had begun transmitting which allowed radio waves to be transmitted and received by antennas or aerials. This method was free to the consumers and was able to transmit up to six broadcast channels although in the end only five were used. Due to providers such as freeview, freesat, BT vision, virgin and Sky TV, analogue television is currently being replaced by digital terrestrial television and should be completed by 2012.
In 1936, the television industry saw the arrival of the RCA’s iconoscope camera which used a video camera tube that would convert a video image into an electrical signal. By 1946, RCA had created the TK-10 which was commonly used as an outdoors camera for roles such as news reporting. The evolution of cameras and quality have now ended up with studio HD cameras being used more commonly to the demand of high definition television. These days, transmitting an image is achieved by the provider sending a signal to a satellite before the images are converted into signals that are received by the satellite dishes of the consumers. Cable television is transmitted by radio frequency signals underground through optical fibers or coaxial cables.
Worldwide television is broadcast in three different standards. The UK (and most of Europe) use PAL which transmits with 25 frames per second. SECAM is the format used by France, Russia and part of Africa while NTSC is used by North America and part of South America. NTSC uses 30 frames per second and has a video scale size of 4:3. This can sometimes look odd when converted to PAL as we use a scale of 16:9. Other differences between the three systems is that the colour depths are different therefore giving a different result.
Below are the technological advances in television history and how they changed the way TV was consumed:
In 1936, the television industry saw the arrival of the RCA’s iconoscope camera which used a video camera tube that would convert a video image into an electrical signal. By 1946, RCA had created the TK-10 which was commonly used as an outdoors camera for roles such as news reporting. The evolution of cameras and quality have now ended up with studio HD cameras being used more commonly to the demand of high definition television. These days, transmitting an image is achieved by the provider sending a signal to a satellite before the images are converted into signals that are received by the satellite dishes of the consumers. Cable television is transmitted by radio frequency signals underground through optical fibers or coaxial cables.
Worldwide television is broadcast in three different standards. The UK (and most of Europe) use PAL which transmits with 25 frames per second. SECAM is the format used by France, Russia and part of Africa while NTSC is used by North America and part of South America. NTSC uses 30 frames per second and has a video scale size of 4:3. This can sometimes look odd when converted to PAL as we use a scale of 16:9. Other differences between the three systems is that the colour depths are different therefore giving a different result.
Below are the technological advances in television history and how they changed the way TV was consumed:
- 1936 - RCA's iconoscope camera developed: was the first camera to be able transmit video signals to consumer.
- 1946 - RCA's TK-10 studio camera developed: was widely used as a Field camera.
- 1950 - The Vidicon camera tube invented making smaller cameras possible.
- 1953 - The first colour television invented (RCA TK-40) making television viewable as we would see things.
- 1965 - Philips design the ‘Plumbicon pick up video camera tube’ making picture quality cleaner. This lead to higher quality in later years.
- 1970’s - hand held cameras developed progressing with smaller cameras and home movie cameras.
- 1980’s - cameras with on board recorders developed meaning the usually separated lens and tube pre-amps with the rest of the electronics were now combined.
- 1990’s - HDTV invented (today’s media is now surrounded by HD quality).
- 1998 - Sky television imported to UK (300+ channels with much more non British programming being shown).
- 2002 - Freeview invented pushing new free channels to consumers (the first of similar providers to follow such as freesat).
- 2011 - digital switch over - This will change how people will have to consume television.
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