National Archives tests Google Video

The largest moving image archive in the US has started to provide access to some of its materials through Google Video. Read about it here.

Go to the films here.

It's a start! There are millions of hours of historic footage that can be accessed this way. It will be interesting to see how schools make use of this material. The end of the A/V specialist? Somehow, I doubt it. We might even see demand for this footage grow, to be inserted into news reports or advertising, which would increase the licensing fees generated by the National Archives.

Good Morning America asks for video submissions

Participartory journalism is rising in various forms, and ABC has now started to ask viewers to submit materials.

This reflects a movement that is evolving beyond "reality TV" productions into lots of new productions targeting niche audiences. For example, Bravo TV now reports on "viral videos".

"It's almost as if networks have cheap labour now for creating new shows and concepts," said Tim Hanlon, senior vice president of Starcom Mediavest Group, a Chicago-based advertising agency.

Video over the Internet... WSJ

The shift is coming where TVs get content from internet sources. Until then, many video sources are being displayed through web sites. This article notes several players in the middle of the shift: Reuters, Brightcove, Roo Group, Blinkx, YouTube, and thePlatform for Media.

And example customer for Brightcove is the National Lampoon's site: Toga.

Google Video goes embedded

This shows a Google Video embedded into a web page. Growing up, I used to watch the Mike Douglas Show on a friend's TV (we didn't have one). I remember how grainy the black and white image was, and also how compelling it was to watch young prodigies display their talents. Now Google Video is grainy but it's getting great content (from the NBA: you can buy the game with Kobe Bryant scoring his 81 points for $4).

Google Video release of "Waterborne" Feature film

"Waterborne" - Feature Film - Google Video: This is a first. Read the story behind the publication here. You can buy it now, or buy the DVD at the end of February. This story mentions the production credits the Google Video release for increasing DVD pre-orders to over 15,000 after three weeks.

UPDATE: March 21, 2006

CinemaTech has a great take on reports from The Hollywood Reporter. Bottom line, the project sold 22,000 DVDs after some great exposure through Google Video.

Olympic productions in Torino

Three formats will be used simultaneously at the winter Olympics. I'll just have to see it to appreciate the complexity.

Excellence... Super Bowl XL

This year, the Super Bowl is all HD and wired. There are virtually no budget constraints, so managing the production is a huge challenge.

Excellence... Current TV segment

Current TV // Video

What seems obvious to me in this piece is what a "citizen journalist" captures, and what "professional journalists" miss. Do you see it too? Yes, that's right, you see how real people live as real people, even in horrific circumstances. "Caves of Tora Bora" does for me what Current advertises as their mission: it brings a human voice to television. By doing so, they cross the boundaries of "mass media" and become a leading example of "video publishing".

Domino effect on TV landscape

As TV Networks Use Web, Affiliates Seek Piece of the Action

It's the Wall Street Journal's subscription site, but worth reading. A similar article recently appeared in the New York Times (also a subscription site). They both cite a new company called Decisionmark. A segment from the NYT article:

"Under federal law, a subscriber to EchoStar's Dish Network in Decisionmark's hometown, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for example, can receive network affiliates only from that area, because, after all, those stations own the regional rights to the networks' programming, sell advertisements against them and promote them within their own programs, such as local newscasts.

Jack Perry, the chief executive of Decisionmark, has come up with a way to limit the geographic reach of broadcast signals online, too. It is roughly similar to the way satellite companies determine where you live: by credit card billing address, although Mr. Perry adds that he can also limit a computer's access to a signal based on its Internet Protocol, or IP, address."

The impact of this on publishing and production methods is profound. If local stations web sites end up delivering national shows to their local audiences, will they also be inclinded to (fund and) deliver local productions as well?

Furthermore, these new opportunities require delivery methods beyond the current mpeg2 feed to local transmission towers and cable head-ends. How will local stations transcode and stitch on advertising to the shows they deliver?