Unique Media

We had a presentation by Unique Media, who are based in Bristol. For the first part they talked about general issues to do with encoding and media formats on the web. One point was made that although the quality on the web of video is not as good as on TV the consumer doesn't generally mind because they can choose what and when they watch something on the web. However, if that quality of video was on a dvd or on tv, then the consumer would mind. I think there is alot to be said for consumer choice - if we feel like we have a choice of what to watch, then we will accept that the quality of the picture is not as clear as on tv.

Having said that, Unique Media did go into some detail on how to encode well, and the importance of correct formats and compression, to give the user the best experience.

One point was that when shooting, obviously continuity is very important, as if you retake a shot the speaker and props must be in the same place. This is obvious, but easily overlooked. Another point is that you can start on a wide shot for an intro, and then stop the person talking and zoom into a tighter shot and then they can continue speaking. Cutaways are also vital to a completed piece. Unique Media like the Windows Media file format to export the video as it is good quality and has a wide hosting support. I personally like the Flash format, but it can be more expensive to host and difficult to scale up.