How Video Shares Our Stories

The advancements in video technology over the last few years have been amazing. From Ultra HD cameras, to aerial drones, the field has greatly developed from the days of bulky film projectors as the only option for capturing movement.

For that reason, it has gone far beyond what perhaps anyone could have imagined. In the early days of moving pictures, the equipment and processing were so costly that only movie studios could afford to produce anything. As home movies–and later home video–became more affordable, the average family began using them, but it took the creation of digital video to make it possible for almost anyone to produce and share their videos.

Now that it’s so easy to make, produce and share videos, you might think that every available channel would be clogged with meaningless footage. While there probably are too many funny cat videos out there, there is still plenty of room for video production that matters. It’s coming to use for several different purposes.

To Teach

Some tasks are difficult to learn with verbal instruction, and some learners are more successful when they learn by watching instead of by reading. And the same goes for teachers; some don’t do well verbally expressing how to do something.

Video makes that simple. It’s no longer necessary to pound out excruciating details about how to trim an apple tree, replace a fuel pump, or hit a softball. As long as you can perform the task, you can create and handle the video production yourself, showing others how to do likewise. Your completed instructional clip can then be shared on video sites or via social media.

To Advertise

It used to be that television advertising was the only way to showcase your product in a physical way. The clever new kitchen gadget or innovative tool had to get through several expensive hoops in order to get in front of a prime-time audience and start getting sold.

That has changed. Targeted ads on social media can now direct potential customers to videos of products that have been chosen for them based on their online activity, all at a far lower cost than traditional television advertising.

To Entertain

Perhaps the earliest intentions of any type of film production involved the aforementioned Hollywood efforts. With video production so easy today, people are not only creating their own entertainment, they’re also satisfying their creativity and creating new endings for movies, either just for fun or in order to create a more satisfying ending. Of course, if they like the alternate ending better, other people will too, so it gets shared online.

Other home-based filmmakers are creating comedies, musicals, documentaries, and investigative pieces all with little more than a camera and a computer.

To Inform

In the earliest days of cinema, viewers would usually see a couple of items before the featured presentation. Those included a cartoon and a newsreel, which was a short film update about world events, especially widely used during World War II. It wasn’t as in-depth as today’s 24-hour news networks or even a 30-minute evening news broadcast, but it hit the high points and kept citizens informed.

It seems that the newsreel is back. Citizen journalists in every corner of the globe are capturing news as it happens, then posting it via social media (or even sharing it live). When time allows for editing and proper video production, they’re getting dead air or problematic noise removed, cutting it down to a manageable and accurate length

There are as many ways to use video as there are people to create it. With so many opportunities, the impact of video is impossible to imagine.