switchburn

Video has established itself on the internet as the future. It is everywhere, with the catalog of footage and outlets growing at an astonishing rate. Despite this, the delivery and utilization of video is, as is the internet itself, still in it’s infancy.

High transfer speeds have helped allow video to saturate the web, but still the majority of delivery options are sadly more or less “static”. Videos are embedded in a page, and you click “Play”.

Additionally, the quality of content has been so diluted that almost anything not falling under the category of “America’s Funniest Home Videos”, has been pulled (or stolen) from Cable Television or Feature Films. So where is this “web video” at again?

Simply said, “web video” is for the most part just video viewed on a computer screen- instead of something else, when it could be so much more.

When we start to explore the possibilities, we are met with an infinite number of ideas and concepts, so where do we begin? We started by marrying some of the other major driving forces behind the web today with video, such as Music and Social Networking. More specifically, the relationship between Independent Music and Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook- where, all over the world, Bands are exposing us to new music every second.

Now to tie in video you simply just make music videos right?

Well, contrary to what everyone else seems to be doing, No.

That just isn’t enough. Clicking a mouse may be interaction but it is not interactive.

So, keeping that in mind and working within certain constraints (which are good!) we developed a simple initial plan:

Shoot Live Multi-camera footage out in all the Local Clubs and Venues with as many up and coming Bands as possible (being based in Austin, Texas, one of the major live music hubs in the world helped extremely!) .

Then, delivery all the videos in this wide-angle multi-camera format.

(Hmmm.. Never seen anything quite like that, which is a good start…)

Next, provide an Application where users can manipulate and edit these camera views into their own personal music videos. Allow users to add other video clips to their edit, share and even download their videos.

(Ok, now we are getting closer- the video has now become more dynamic and the User now has some actual interactive options.)

*Note about the “mash-up” sites: We mean editing when we say editing. not the sorry excuse given to us by so-called online editing sites

So there’s a little information about what we are trying to do. This is just the beginning.

The video revolution will not be televised but it will be online.

-z