Creative Times

The media world is changing around us. In a short space of time, we’ve moved from having a small amount of content channels governed by a handful of creative overlords to a multitude of platforms where the latest footage of happy-slapping from the Kersal Massive can enjoy equal billing with The Godfather.

The online revolution is tearing up well-worn distribution channels and opening up global audiences – which has got to be good news for creatives with an eye to getting their work seen and their reputation enhanced. CT got the low-down on some of the new technologies and platforms that are appearing on a screen near you soon.

The iPhone, in the eyes of many, represents a tipping point in mobile technology. The handset promises the whole of the web in your pocket - although the more tech savvy amongst the commentators are quick to mention there’s no support for Flash or Java applications - navigable via ultra responsive touch-screen technology. It certainly looks impressive and initial reviews from the States have been positive, with special mention going to that all-important web browser.

Apple’s latest high profile release may not support Flash, but their deal with YouTube means every single piece of video content on the site will be available via the handset. YouTube’s dealings with Apple don’t end there. Apple TV, the magic box that allows you to play all the audio, image and video content stored digitally on your computer wirelessly through your television has a YouTube option built into the menu. This means that when fire up your Apple TV box, along with options to access your stored photos, music and movies you can go straight to YouTube and watch uploaded content right then and there on your television screen.

Technology like Apple TV and other forms of IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) mean that, more and more, content consumers are watching what they want, when they want it.

The brains behind Skype and Kazaa (that’s quite an internet pedigree) have been working on an IPTV platform called Joost. Although still in its beta stages, Joost has secured content provider agreements with the like of Viacom (whose operations include MTV and Paramount Pictures), Endemol, Warner Music, VH1 and the UK’s Aardman Animation. The Viacom deal is especially significant since the media conglomerate failed to reach an agreement with YouTube over licensing content, resulting in more than one hundred thousand videos being pulled from the site.

What’s most interesting about Joost though, is that content is free. The service will be ad-supported but subscribers won’t have to pay to view any of the channels. A possible future advertising model for IPTV? Well, you’d guess that they’re not the only ones looking at how they extract a revenue from all this free content; and with YouTube owned by the undoubted ‘daddy’ of advertising on the web, how long is it before the Kersal Massive “…are brought to you by the makers of Reebok Classic”?!

In a step towards more intuitive responses from your IPTV channel, Babelgum offer a similar service to Joost, but it’s developers promise that over time Babelgum will learn what you like to watch. In the same way that Amazon recommends books based on your previous purchases, Babelgum will flag up content it thinks you’ll like based on what you’ve seen already.

At the end of last year Channel 4 launched their on demand service, 4oD, making archive material available to watch and download for a relatively small cost – or free up to seven after transmission - and it’s available to Virgin Media customers through their television sets. Mac users miss out however, as the DRM software used with 4oD is not compatible. BBC are hot on their heels with the iPlayer which if all goes to plan should be with us at the time of publication, but not without controversy – Aunty Beeb has been lambasted because only machines running Microsoft operating systems will be able to access their archived content at launch. The BBC are promising to upload all of their transmissions, apart from films, and make it available, at no cost, up to seven days after it’s been aired.

So what happens after those seven days? Well, the BBC have been in groundbreaking talks with ITV and Channel 4 over the cryptically named Project Kangaroo; a platform that will allow you to download content from all three broadcasters in one place. Rumour has it that the platform will generate income for the BBC by selling access to programmes not available via the BBC iPlayer.

ITV has been releasing bits and pieces of its digital offering over last few months, with more to follow in the near future. There’s not doubt, that ITV like Channel 4 and BBC are committed to offering content digitally – highlighted by the fact that when the furniture store Harveys recently took over sponsorship of Coronation Street, online and mobile broadcast rights were written into the contract.

Mobile features heavily in Channel 4 and BBC’s digital developments too. Channel 4, for example, are offering unseen episode of ‘yoof’ drama Skins straight to your mobile, whilst last year ‘Tardisodes’ (mini Doctor Who episodes) were made available via the BBC mobile website. The latter is the UK’s leading mobile site and comprises BBC television and radio portals. Proof, if proof were needed, that broadcasters are serious about how they engage their viewers beyond the television screen.

It’s not just archived and previously transmitted content that’s being made available digitally. Channels like VBS.tv are creating brand new content specifically for the web. VBS.tv is an offshoot of Vice Magazine, the fiercely unapologetic free glossy dealing largely with the youth issues of sex and drugs and rock n roll. While the content might not be to everyone’s taste, the site is a great example of a multi channel IPTV platform airing brand new content created specifically for the web and with a specific audience in mind. Promising to ‘rescue you television’s deathlike grip’, VBS.tv hosts news, interviews, mini-documentaries and brings to life the magazine’s infamous ‘Dos & Dont’s’ with commentary from the likes of actress Chloe Sevigny and musician Albert Hammond Jnr.

Independent filmmakers (of a more committed nature than the multitude of lip syncers on YouTube) are embracing these new digital channels too, in part to broaden their potential audience but also to bypass the difficulty associated with getting a movie into the cinema.

Take UK film distributor Peccadillo, who specialise in art-house titles, who have launched a video on-demand service for its titles called Moviepol. The service allows users to either stream or download featured movies from its catalogue. While you can still see Peccadillo films in selected cinemas, Moviepol dispenses with them completely – partly because of the restrictive costs involved and partly due to difficulty in actually getting movies through the selection process and onto the screen. There are three screens in Moviepol’s online cinema, each showing a different independent feature selected by the site’s apparently well qualified judging panel. Once a movie has been selected for the site, it will go straight into Screen 1 and can stay there for up to six weeks. If it’s still in demand after that time it moves down to Screen 2 or 3, making for new titles - just like a traditional cinema model.

It’s obvious that the broadcast, music and film industries have been furrowing new digital channels, and in the case of music, have been for some time now (whether the industry approved or not) but there are applications and context for other creative sectors too.

Ra Page of Comma Press has been working with new media artist Deyan Raykov on developing an audio version of hypertext for audio books?. “Basically,” explains Ra, “it’s a facility that allows you stop an mp3 you’re listening to, mid-sentence, with a voice command, and ask for a footnote, an explanation, context, definition, rewind and so on. A facility for clicking and through on an audio level. Mobiles and mp3 players are going to drive breakthroughs like this.”

So if all this is available on the web and now the web is available on mobiles does it mean we’ll be accessing a multitude of rich content on through our phones? Dr Simon Harper from the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester doesn’t think so.

Simon believes that because of limitations on screen and keyboard size that users will only use bits of web pages they want. In the same way that digital distribution has deconstructed music albums into a series of individually available tracks, websites are being pulled apart to free up a favourite feature and leave the rest. Predictions are that website mash-ups like this are going to feature heavily in our new mobile web world, so on a mobile web home screen there can be different elements of a number of website, as designed by the users. These bits – widgets – are far more likely to hold a functional rather than entertainment value. Train times, tube maps, weather forecasts and directories will all no doubt have prominence but there is no reason why gallery listings, gig guides and theatre season programmes shouldn’t be on hand too.

So, as a creative producer, there’s an ever-expanding range of routes to new audiences. If you’re a theatre company what’s stopping you getting parts of your productions online? As an illustrator you might want to give people an insight into your creative process, or let the whole world see a day in the life of your sleek design agency. Give some thought to the return you want from your efforts – is it a marketing opportunity, or is it a new way of selling work (and if so, how are you going to get paid)?

What’s for certain is that nothing’s for certain: if the Kersal Massive can get 100,000 views on YouTube anything can happen…please adjust your set!