Dazzled by New Media Options? You Still Need the Same Good Ideas

Have you wondered how "new media" can benefit your company's communication needs, but are confused by the plethora of new options? Those choices are broader and deeper than ever before. Streaming video, interactive CDROMS, DVDs...these technologies offer rich and diverse audio-visual presentations that can dazzle and engage your audience - while delivering increasingly sophisticated messages to more people.

So you've been asking -"Just what are these tools...and how do you harness them?"

There are now so many choices, the answer that best addresses any question about new media is a definite "well - it depends"! This phrase and similar remarks were so commonplace in researching this article that from now on, just for fun, I'll refer to this phrase as Dave's Digital Law. As readers of this magazine, you may have a background in and understanding of video production and transmission. Perhaps you've heard those catchy buzzwords - but don't know how they apply to your communication future.

Without becoming needlessly technical, this article intends to clarify those phrases being tossed around - describe how these new methods can be applied today, and take a glimpse at what's around the corner. Defining these advantages - and limitations - will provide a solid foundation for you to make content and production decisions in your travels down the digital highway.

Since it's becoming increasingly challenging to make informed and wise choices in spending your company's time and money, some of Denver's leading media production professionals offered to share their knowledge and insights with this magazine.

No longer is there just video... graphics... photography...or print copy. They're merging into a maelstrom of pixels and paintboxes, broadband and bit rates. Digital technology is capable of reducing practically all information into messages that can be manipulated, compressed, transmitted, and decoded in many ways, allowing what were once very different media to overlap and morph into new creations. Understanding that interchangeability - and it's opportunities for viewer interaction - is key to capitalizing on it's enormous potential.

Describing the converging future of media, The Works' Jon Wickre believes that "broadband will do to the whole world of media what cable did to broadcasting...which was create unlimited media choices, on demand, for businesses and consumers"

Launching some type of digital communication strategy is fast becoming a standard practice of many individuals and businesses, assuming you and your company wish to stay on the forefront of your field. Tailoring those new approaches for many corporate clients is Steve Gray, CEO of BVP Media. "When you show the technology to companies, they quickly understand the benefits", he says, "They can measure the return on investment in communications, sales, marketing, HR training, and quickly measure how they are more effective - and efficient". Investments in digital communications, according to Gray, "both save money and make them better".

It soon became clear to me that Dave's Digital Law "It depends" reflects not only rapidly changing technologies - but new ways of thinking and communicating.

While almost everyone is familiar with websites - which currently present written copy, some kind of animation, photographs, and questions to solicit information from potential customers, those uses barely scratch the surface of a website's digital communication potential. With the ever-increasing speed of computers, greater Internet bandwidth, and souped-up CD's and DVD's, it's now possible to connect all of those tools together to deliver your sales, training, marketing, or entertainment message directly to your audience's computers at home or work. You can lead them down a path you determine...let them choose their own interests...or a combination of both.

The technologies to deliver new media messages, according to Visionary Video's Steve Cox, "are fragmented right now...there's not a one-size-fits-all standardized format". As a result of those uncertainies, comprehensive production planning has never been more important. What was once a TV / billboard / direct mail campaign, with similar design elements and messages, can evolve into richer, more powerful and persuasive interactive presentations. But which ones to choose...and how to send your message most effectively?

A common theme cited by digital designers is the need to conceptualize and integrate all media options at the start of your campaign. Digital Metropolis Inc's. Clayton Waddell suggests a thorough storyboarding and flow-charting process to predetermine what messages your viewer will see - and how they will be experienced. As DMI's Director of Motion Media, Waddell encourages clients to take advantage of the links and interaction of multiple formats, which create a "broader revenue base to develop more business opportunities, with greater selling and communication potential" That big picture approach, says The Works' Jon Wickre, "will blow the lid off creative opportunities in accessing information in a non-linear manner"

Currently, the main types of "new video" transmission and distribution methods are "Streaming Video"; the familiar CDROM; the newest hybrid, C-DVD; and DVD's. Stay tuned. All of those could change faster than you may think. Following Dave's Digital Law "It depends", each format has it's own assets and liabilities; each sends different quantities of information at different speeds in different ways.

Now...this is where it gets tricky. Every one of the formats mentioned above contain many different types of software that compress, decompress, and read digital audio and video presentations; common examples of these "plug-in" programs are Apple's QuickTime, RealVideo, and Microsoft's AVI (Audio-Video Interleave). Used primarily for streaming video over the Internet, each software plug-in has inherent degrees of efficiency, offering different picture quality depending on your bandwidth. Typically these plug-ins are part of software packages that accompany new computers - they will identify the signal's source trademark and activate your computer to play the presentation. However, a common problem for many viewers is frequent software updating; without the current version of the plug-in, the presentation may be flawed and your computer will play a poor version of the video. It's important to note each of these plug-ins has a unique format that requires the decoding software on the viewers end.

There are also the standardized formats MPEG 1, 2, 3, and 4, distinct from the unique formats mentioned above; playable on most PCs and Macintoshes, the first two are used primarily for recording and playing video on deliverable disks, with video quality increasing with the number designation. While MPEG numbered formats are often recorded onto CDs (MPEG-1) or DVDs, (MPEG-2), they sometimes cross over formats, thanks to innovative software design. The newest incarnations, MPEG 3 and 4, are more commonly used for streaming; for audio transmission there is MPEG-3, (noteworthy example, MP3 music playback) and the newest standardized video streaming format, MPEG-4. Sometimes production companies that generate CDs and DVDs will include the current version of player software, such as WinDVD and Apple CD / DVD player onto the disk you receive, which ensures it will play back properly even if your computer doesn't have the latest version loaded on your operating system.

Briefly, "Streaming Video" offers on-demand presentations of variable quality, most often through a website; the image resolution and screen size depends on the speed of your connection, its bandwidth, and your plug-in's compression standard. Your modem speed is the primary factor; increasing in speed and quality, the designations are: 28.8k or 56k baud connections, usually phone lines to homes; ISDN; Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), also via phone lines, becoming more common in home use; and the fastest, typically found in corporate situations because of it's high cost, are large bandwidth T-1 and T-3 lines, capable of carrying higher resolution video (though still not current broadcast quality) with a minimum of distortion.

Streaming video is a method that most industry professionals agree is "not quite there yet". It seems articles appear almost daily in the business and technology sections of magazines and newspapers describing battles of the corporate titans - how very large companies are laying fiber-optic cable, installing cable modems, and launching more satellites, paving the way for "broadband" to enter every home, business, cave, and treehouse. As companies around the world commit billions of dollars to these networks, there's no question they are the future of many types of communication.

However, in the short term, six months to maybe 2 years, the limitations of streaming video need to be carefully observed to ensure the message doesn't get lost in the medium. Visionary Video's Steve Cox recognizes those shortcomings. "I think that the nature of visual communication depends on emotional impact - when someone has to sit, stare, and wait, you lose the emotional impact, the message gets mixed up with frustration - and frustration is the last thing you want to evoke in your presentation"

Keeping most streaming video presentations visually acceptable usually means treatments that work on the lowest bandwidth your client or audience is likely to use. While much of Colorado Production Group's film and video content contains visually rich graphics and animation, Marketing Director Peter Thron reminds clients that not all projects translate well in new media. He says it's important to know how content will be delivered. "Many of our high-tech clients have advanced, higher-end transmission access, although we're still a generation or two from being able to see full resolution, uncompressed, DVD streaming quality." It's vital to observe a different set of shooting, editing, and visual guidelines for web delivered video, says Thron, "You need to keep the visuals simple. Activity doesn't translate well in lower bandwidth streaming video." Many production companies like CPG that offer streaming video to their clients include several bandwidth choices to demonstrate transmission quality and speed, so viewers can tailor their reception to best match their line resolution and computer capabilities.

Zipping along the road of digital complexity, we next encounter deliverables such as CDROMS, C-DVDs, and DVDs. These are more than just newfangled replacements for VHS dubs. Each format offers big differences in storage capacity, (determining program length and picture quality) the transfer rate, (affecting how movement is displayed), and availability of hardware to view their content. Perhaps most importantly, unlike current streaming video presentations, these disks offer a high degree of interactivity. That interchange can happen in two ways: the user's exchanges are confined to information already on the disk; or, in a more pivotal role, the user links messages pre-written on the disks to ever-changing information on a website - with opportunities for the homepage to drive elements of the disk. Several digital professionals interviewed believe that linkage to and from websites is an important interim step in new video. That potential will be examined after disk technologies are explained in greater detail.

The first leg of our disk drive tour features the now-familiar CDROM. It's been a star performer, playing to millions of computer owners with a CD drive. That widespread "playability" makes it a valuable choice for delivering content to a mass audience...but following Dave's Digital Law, "it depends", well, it does have limitations. Just like a short videotape, a CDROM can store only 700mb; these days, that's not really a big presentation, maybe 15 minutes of video, with some associated graphics, menus and links. And since the technology's been around a while, it's circuitry is a little pokey. This "bit transfer rate" is inherently slower than it's more muscular sibling, the DVD; yet, for a wide variety of projects, it's an ideal choice, offering the user considerable interactive control. One of the more recent styles of CDROMS is the "IBC"- Interactive Business Card, an oval mini-disk, literally the size of a business card. It's been a hot item lately for BVP Media's clients, according to Steve Gray. "You want to do everything you can to drive people to your web portal", and IBC's are an engaging and novel way to do that, he says, a distribution method that "gets a customers name into your database - the technology allows you to identify the source of the website visit" and track their interests.

"A DVD is a CDROM on steroids", says Digital Metropolis' Jerry Sexton. The fastest and sleekest sports car on the disk drive highway, the Digital Versatile Disk has considerable storage capacity, up to 25 times more than a CDROM, and their speedier bit transfer rate allows them to play high resolution, full length, full motion video with numerous additional features like multiple video and audio tracks, interactive menus, and more. Not enough for you? Well, currently, DVDs come in two types, DVD the home version, and DVDROMS, used in computer drives, offering menu interactivity with a mouse. Neither version are as common as CD players; but they do offer state-of-the art video presentations on computer screens.

While DVD video is currently the highest quality available on disks, some production companies in Denver have devised a solution that, as mentioned above, bridges the gap between high-quality deliverable video on DVDs and "almost-there" streaming video. DMI's Sexton illustrated the direction they are taking the DVD - web interface with an on-line training example. Let's say your company now has employees receive their training - and take tests - on line. After reaching a certain point in the on-line curriculum, the website activates the readers computer, sending a signal to start the DVD, already loaded in the drive. Upon viewing a high resolution video presentation with stereo sound, complete with fully animated, illustrated graphics, the DVD re-activates a return to the on-line page, where reading can continue - or maybe start a test to determine if the person understood the material. New types of sales presentations can be created from similar interaction; your company makes eye-popping videos about your products and puts them onto the DVD; those are mailed to sales reps and customers. When each video is done playing, the viewer can link to your website for the latest prices, availability, and updates. That kind of information would be very costly to keep current by re-mastering DVD's everytime the product and price change...so this solution combines the power of the DVD's image with the immediacy of your home page. Several production houses also offer similar DVD interactivity with Microsoft PowerPoint presentations; DVD videos can be cued from any point in the computer presentation - and in fact, the DVD can flip functions - with PowerPoint bullets and menus pre-loaded on the disk as a video, revealing on your cue.

Think you know more about video on CDs and DVDs now? Think again. What would be the result if the universal playability of CDs and the impressive image quality of DVDs were combined? Can the two formats be merged? Ah-ha! Flaunting Dave's Digital Law, the answer is a definite yes. "C-DVDs", says New West Television's Jim McConnell, "are huge for distribution", because their hybrid technology encodes DVD software into a typical CDROM, so it can play high resolution MPEG-2 images on millions of existing CDROM drives. McConnell cites this newly found functionality as a boon to consumers and corporations that are unwilling or unable to spend the money for new DVD drives. While the software can't overcome the lack of storage capacity on a C-DVD, McConnell believes that C-DVDs will quickly fill an important niche in new video presentations.

All the techno-wonders just described have immediate useability and relevance...but aren't so widespread to serve as complete substitutes for traditional media. In fact, time-tested outlets like broadcast television and print currently play valuable roles in directing viewers to new media. "In the last six months, projects I've done that do go to the web have a higher number of requests for interactivity", says Visionary Video's Steve Cox, firsthand witness to an increasingly educated media marketplace. "Bringing the public up to speed, increasing awareness and the greater learning of benefits equals greater demand."

Does that greater demand translate into more revenue? While there aren't well established models of success, apparently enough money is flowing through Internet and new media portals to maintain the keen interest of corporations that wish to invest in the future. Advising clients how their communication dollars can be directed - and re-directed - is essential to the process, says BVP's Steve Gray. "Helping them understand how to make it work, what dollars are available, how they are invested now, and how best to invest in the future - there are clear payoffs in reducing expenses such as travel and training that come from other departments" "That type of re-orientation - bringing new approaches to traditional tasks - is clearly a key element of new media thinking," says The Works' Jon Wickre. He sees, "More cooperation and collaboration than competition", articulating several methods of sponsorship, each serving a different purpose - banner advertising, pay per visit, licensing content to companies, and custom content production, to name a few."

Ultimately, this jazzy jargon of pixels and paintboxes, broadband and bit rates is no substitute for creative ideas and sound concepts. A mediocre idea shown in new media may have a temporary wow factor - but in the end will fail to engage and persuade your audience. To stay competitive in the current media production world, local companies are making consistent investments in hardware and software, but everyone I interviewed agreed that their staffs' talent really make the difference. Regardless of the medium, CPG's Peter Thron says "Our job is to make content as creative, interesting, and well-structured as possible."

If anything, these rapidly evolving technologies have created increasingly complicated audio-visual presentations that require more sophisticated talent to manage them. No doubt that will drive a need for more imaginative content - to meet as yet unknown needs. Dave's Digital Law "It depends" will certainly be in effect for quite a while - allowing people and companies with foresight to journey in almost any direction.

Where once our approach to visual communication was mostly linear, with flat roads taking us North, South, East, or West, the digital highway can now vector our attention up, down, sideways - in any direction on the compass - and in any combination. You can now travel virtually anywhere on the information highway- leading others down a path you choose - or allowing them to discover their own. The possibilities are endless.

Media Producer-Consultant Dave Bowden is a 20 year veteran of broadcast journalism and corporate video production. Currently specializing in producing and writing medical and scientific communications for corporate, PR, and broadcast clients, Dave's credits include numerous documentaries for NYT-TV / TLC's "Trauma: Life in the E.R." and "Paramedics", HBO's America Undercover series, and 4 years on the staff of PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour covering major national and international news stories. Active in Minneapolis prior to arriving in Denver, Dave created videos for corporate clients such as Northwest Airlines, Honeywell, the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, and the Wisconsin Lobbyist Association. He spent 9 years in the widely recognized Investigative / Documentary Unit of WCCO-TV (CBS), and was selected as a Knight International Press Fellow in 1998. His work has received numerous national broadcast journalism awards.

He can be reached at 303-715-0200 or davepic@earthlink.net.