Americans continue to shift their video viewing habits in record numbers. New data from Nielsen report more than a 50% jump in viewer watching video on a mobile phone versus a year ago. Watching videos on a computer from the Internet also grew dramatically, up 13%. While most people still may prefer to watch video on the best device available – the research shows videos have a strong appeal on virtually any platform. The research reinforces that people want this video content at a time and on a device of their choosing. Even for those watching conventional TV – more than a quarter are time shifting using a DVR or other device.
The explosion of video on the web is taking a more central role in web development than simply added an embedded video player with a YouTube Clip. It’s hard to imagine creating a new, dynamic consumer-oriented site that doesn’t involve streaming video content in some way. Video is gaining prominence and importance over text content in many ways.
One of the best examples is the new Montreal tourism site. Montreal is going 100% online with its marketing this year. The tourism agency reports that 87-92% of all visitors are planning and booking their travel online – so it isn’t that hard to let go of traditional marketing.
The success of the Montreal campaign may raise questions for other marketers – to help them develop an e-marketing strategy. The answer may be to make 2009 a learning year for digital and online marketing because this technology is not going to go away.
My job in the past year has changed pretty radically with the invention of P2 media. We rarely shoot anything to tape, and instead we shoot HD video files to a P2 card…basically a hard drive inserted into the camera. This allows a fully tapeless workflow.
Downloading these raw HD video files is a critical process and it must be done with extreme care to insure that no media is lost. But I must download footage wherever the shoot takes me, and that can pose some awkward moments to be on a laptop.
Below are my top 3 most complicated places I have downloaded footage in the last year:
#3: In the sleeper cab of a semi truck.
I was recently filming a driver training video for Navistar in the desert outside of LA. We were shooting so much footage that day and I was constantly downloading to keep up with the fast and furious pace of the production. I was miles away from water, electricity, or even cell phone access. My only option was to download while riding in the sleeper cab of the truck as we made our way through the California desert.
#2: At a West Point, United States Military Academy football game.
The assignment was to create an advertisement for use during the USMA football game. I was there on the night of the first home game of the season. It was one of those crisp fall days perfect for a game. The stands were packed and the fans were showing full support. Me…I was on the front row on my laptop. To the untrained eye it looked like I was squeezing in some extra office work. But I was really hard a work downloading our raw HD footage.
#1: On a golf cart in the middle of a school bus factory, in Tulsa, OK.
I was recently filming a video for IC Buses in their mile-long factory in Tulsa. Here the busses are built entirely from scratch and the production line wraps a total of 3 miles around the facility. Our schedule was packed with no time to loose, so we didn’t have the luxury of returning to an office to download footage. Therefore, I made use of an available golf cart to download in the midst of all the welding, painting, and construction of these lovely yellow school buses.