Video Production Trends

November 13, 2008 7:47 AM

What are "current trends in video production"?

The job I'm applying for calls for TV production experience (I have heaps, so that's not a problem) but it also calls for an understanding of current "trends in video production" with a particular emphasis on video for the web. Googling yields some limited information, but mostly a lot of useless advertising from video production companies. Can any MeFites help me get this job by shedding some light on web video production trends?

posted by anonymous to technology (4 comments total)

Hmm. Video compression for one, and adapting video for all the various cell phones and iPods and other portable video players out there. How to light and shoot for things that are going to be heavily compressed and played on a much smaller screen. I don't know if they mean more of the technical aspects or the stylistic ones.
posted by echo target at 7:56 AM on November 13, 2008

My experience in web video production leads me to believe that clients want something that is modular, that they can re-use and re-edit to get more legs out of it. We usually make a video that is going onto a website and also playing in a kiosk at some convention, or point-of-sale or something. If you're familiar with all the different flavors of deliverables out there (DVD, MPEG, Flash, as well as PAL and NTSC) you are in good shape.

The jobs I've been on have been mostly green screen shoots, either for a web ad in which the people are composited over the website, or placed in different environments. They have all been HD shoots, although they never deliver in HD.

I would imagine that your job as a producer would involve typical things like arranging talent, crew, locations, equipment, scheduling, etc...the biggest challenge to producers are balancing escalating client expectations with diminishing budgets. Technology can help in some regards, e.g. the new RED camera and tapeless recording, but it also introduces more challenges as well; perfecting a digital workflow can be tricky.

2nding the compression issues as well.
posted by pepcorn at 8:18 AM on November 13, 2008

"trends in video production" = video formatted for web and mobile applications/delivery.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:54 AM on November 13, 2008

As an art director, I'd say if I wanted a potential hire to have a sense of current trends I would be expecting them to be conversant with shared assets (many editors sharing common source material) and flexible output (medium-specific formatting, as mentioned above by others). I would consider an intimate familiarity with the demands of various standards to be de rigeur (i.e., able to answer a question about the technical differences between 720p and 1080i without consulting Google).

Trends in video production are largely technical (as I understand it), so that's where you ought to be well grounded. Trends in creative production can be tackled by simply learning which current films, television shows, music videos or advertisements today's clients are most interested in ripping off. To bridge the two, you might look into gaining a firm understanding of how various popular styles are accomplished from a technical point of view.
posted by CheeseburgerBrown at 1:09 PM on November 13, 2008