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- Production Guide
Media Skills & Support
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What kind of product?
So you want to make a digital media product? But what kind of product would be right for you and your audience?
• A static website with pictures text and links
– like this one. This is the easiest kind and you can learn how
to make one with small amount of training.
• A rich media website (which includes video, audio
and animations) – remember ‘streaming’ video or audio
needs a streaming server (not the same as an ordinary webserver) and you’ll
need to size and compress your clips appropriately.
• A ‘dynamic’ website where your interaction
with the information or data changes what is presented to you (e.g. Amazon.co.uk).
• A DVD which works on TV and computer DVD players.
DVDs are like VHSs but allow some interactivity and text information to
go with your video clips, and as a data store they can store 12 times
as much as a CDROM.
• A CD-ROM - of which there are many types: some
just store files, much like a folder in a computer; some operate interactively
like a website or a DVD, using buttons or other forms of linking mechanisms
to navigate the DVD. You can also put a limited amount of video and audio
clips on them and they can be very visually compelling. So they can be
as simple or complex as you like if you have the right skills and budget.
• A VHS video is only a good idea if you are going
to distribute to people who haven’t yet got DVD players. VHS is
a low quality video format: when played 3 or 4 times a VHS begins to degrade
in both sound and vision terms.
It’s essential you have a good idea of what kind of product you
are going to end up with and who it is for as this affects every stage
of the production and you will need to bear it in mind when thinking about
costs, the content and tone of your production, technical constraints
of the final format, and so on. It might be worth doing a needs assessment,
checking:
• What else of a similar nature is already available
• The likely size and profile of your market or audience
• How the product would be used.
Also think about other uses e.g:
• Will a video clip be shown on the web for promotion? If so, be
careful about any music used in the clip or you will be paying a lot extra
for worldwide rights.
• Would screen shots be useful for publicity? If so you should make
sure they are good enough quality for print and if unsure, take extra
high quality photos separately.
• If it is a VHS should you make it in such a way that makes it
simple to turn into a DVD at a later stage, e.g. by making sure the music
doesn’t run over the inter-titles, as you may want these to be chapter
markers on your DVD.
• Is it likely to be shown on television one day i.e. do you need
to shoot on a better format e.g. DVCAM, DigiBeta, DVCPro, rather than
MiniDV, Digital 8, Hi8, or SVHS?
Many of these parameters will be pre-determined by either a brief from a client or the conditions and project plan as agreed with your funders, or the needs of your audience. It is however worth thinking through any implications to the project at an early stage before definite plans are made.