LESSON 01 – HISTORY OF VIDEO

INTRO

The different tools and technologies related to video production and distribution have advanced so much that it is irreversibly impacting the world that we live in. While the recent growth rate of video is incredible, it is fair to say that video has been affecting our world for a long time.

VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR

“Video Killed The Radio Star” is a famous 1979 song and music video created by the Buggles. It was the first music video shown on MTV in the U.S. at 12:01am on August 1, 1981. It discusses how video has become the premiere method of communication over radio.

Trevor Horn in the music video.

Group member Trevor Horn has said that his lyrics were inspired by the J. G. Ballard short story "The Sound-Sweep", in which the title character—a mute boy vacuuming up stray music in a world without it—comes upon an opera singer hiding in a sewer. He also felt "an era was about to pass." The theme of the song is thus nostalgia, which is also echoed in the tone of the music. The lyrics refer to a period of technological change in the 1960s, the desire to remember the past and the disappointment that children of the current generation would not appreciate the past. In the 1950s and early 1960s, radio was an important medium for many, through which "stars" were created. (source)

IMPRESSIVE STATISTICS

According to You Tube’s website:

• 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day
• Over 3 billion videos are viewed a day
• Users upload the equivalent of 240,000 full-length films every week
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010
• 800M unique users visit YouTube each month (source)

VIDEO CHANGING THE WORLD

Let’s see just a few ways that this growth in video production and manipulation is affecting us:

• Many countries in the middle east have recently went through revolutions. In some (perhaps many) cases, existing governments have used military force to end the revolutions. One of the greatest tools for the revolutionaries has been to film such “crack downs” and share them with the world. These clips have forced other nations to pressure the affected countries to stop using force.
  
  
• News stations such as CNN are now including video clips from ordinary citizens in their broadcasts. This allows them to cover more news and acquire more “interesting” videos. On the down side, such videos don’t usually have the reliability associated with regular news agencies – in other words, they can be faked or exaggerated with little consequences.
  
  
• Ordinary people are springing up on You Tube sharing their many talents and interests. Some are making a living off of it. Some are even becoming famous. Does anybody know Justin Bieber?
  
  
• Ordinary people are replacing specialists in some cases. Many people having taken up doing their own news program. Many now do sports analysis. Ever listen to covers sang on You Tube? Companies that produce “real” programming are concerned as some of their market share is going to unqualified people. Furthermore, these people often do not adhere to copyright laws giving them a competitive advantage.
  
  
• Of course, films continue to increase in complexity every year. From special effects to new additions such as 3D, the film industry has never seen so much advancement in so little time. Furthermore, some talented everyday people have produced videos that compete with Hollywood – at not even a fraction of the production cost.
  
  
• Recent disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan have received more coverage than ever seen before courtesy of individuals caught up in the event filming different occurrences.