Lesson 1:

The Beginning of Video Production

VIDEO PRODUCTION: A DEFINITION
What is video production? For starters, two concepts need to be defined: video recording and
production.
Video recording is defined as the process of capturing a series of images onto a medium and, as
such, it may be regarded as an offshoot of photography. It can also be defined as a multimedia
source created by combining these images with sound, be this music, a sound effect, or a natural
sound of an object that accompanies the images being recorded.
Production, on the other hand, includes the processes and methods aimed at transforming raw
materials and intangible inputs (ideas, information knowledge) into a perceptible and tangible
output (goods or services). Video production, therefore, is about the capturing and gathering
different kinds of media and applying processes which combine these to create a presentation or
output.
Video production is thus not just about pointing a camera in the direction of a subject, tapping
the record button, and hoping that everything works out perfectly. It also includes the necessary
processes, including the transferring of files, editing and publishing, which are needed to create
an output which can be presented, viewed and appreciated on various platforms and venues.
The scope of video production covers a wide range of productions in terms of scale and types of
equipment used. It can be a home video shot using an old camcorder, a video blog of a group of
students with a digital camera, or even a big-budget shoot involving professional actors and
actresses.
The most common form of video production today, however, is the kind done using a mobile
device— something made possible these days with a smartphone or tablet, thanks to
advancements in technology.
Modern mobile phones come with camera lenses that are competitive, in terms of the quality of
the images they bring, with those carried by point-and-shoot camcorders and digital single lens
reflex (DSLR) cameras. Apple iOS and Android phones now also host applications that can
perform simple editing processes, which include the application of music and voice-overs in
post-production.
ART AND SCIENCE COMBINED
As a branch of photography, video production can also be considered as both an art and a
science.
Video production is viewed as an art because those creating the output, the videographers, have
the creative freedom to do what they want with their videos—give them as much meaning as
they desire these to have, or make them as shallow and trivial as they see fit. Of course, the
content should be within rules and the boundaries of the law.
VIDEO PRODUCTION: A SHORT HISTORY
The beginning and growth of video production is tied with the invention of television, as that
medium requires the smooth integration of images and audio. Television itself has roots which
date back thousands of years, when ancient peoples from different parts of the world discovered
ways to imprint images of people, animals and landscapes onto various media like tree bark, clay
pots and paper. The first theaters of moving images were the interior of caves, the walls of which
were painted on by ancient artists who drew figures of animals and people that would appear to
move in the flickering firelight of torches and, perhaps, by the curious quirk of the eyes and brain
known as persistence of vision, a phenomenon wherein an after-image is perceived after staring
at something for a length of time.
The next milestone in moving images came thousands of years later with none other than the
Renaissance artist who painted La Giaconda, which is also known worldwide as The Mona Lisa.
This individual, of course, is Leonardo da Vinci, who is famous as a master in sfumato, or the
application of a smoky effect in a painting. This technique creates the illusion of subtle
movement, as demonstrated by the ambiguous smile and stare of the Mona Lisa.
Do the eyes of the Mona Lisa follow you around? If you look at the Mona Lisa painting, you
might notice that it does not appear static—that her eyes appear to follow you around and that
sometimes, her smile is obvious, but at times, not. It took a few hundred years after Da Vinci
before someone decided to actually try to make images appear to move. In 1832, Joseph Plateau,
a Belgian physicist, invented the phenakistiscope or fantascope. His device had a pair of
cardboard discs: one with sequential drawings, and the other with slits that the user looked
through. When the discs were rotated rapidly, the images appeared to move. In Austria, at about
the same time, Simon von Stampfer created a similar device called the stroboscope.
A more basic device made of paper, the flip book, was patented in 1868 by John Barnes Linnet,
who called it the kineograph, which means moving picture. To use the flip book, one had to flip
the pages of the book, which was essentially a pad of paper wherein a series of drawings or
images were printed.
Flipping the pages quickly depicted a progression of actions which gave the illusion of
movement.
Early in the 20th century, attempts were made to use technology to continuously transmit images
onto a screen—images which weren’t limited by the number of pictures that could be drawn on a
phenakistiscope’s disc. One of these attempts was made by a Russian, Boris Rosing, in 1902. In
the early 1920s, Englishman John Logie Baird and American Charles Francis Jenkins
demonstrated mechanical systems which scanned images using a rotating disk with holes
arranged in a spiral pattern.
The electronic television, based on a system designed by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a 21-year old
inventor, was first demonstrated to the press on September 3, 1928. Farnsworth’s system
involved capturing images in a form coded onto radio waves and transformed back into a picture
on a screen, and it is his invention which is the direct ancestor of the modern television set.
In 1967, Sony introduced the Sony DV-2400 Video Rover Portapack VTR, the first “portable”
video system.
TAPES AND CAMS
Up until the 1980s, the equipment used for video production were big and bulky. A modest video
production setup of those times required a camera hooked up to a separate recorder, which was
about the size of a desktop monitor and as heavy as a computer desktop unit. These were usually
carried in backpacks by cameramen. Simple camera coverage of the time required two
operators¬—one holding the camera, and the other operating the recording machine as well as
the lights. More complicated coverage required more people and more equipment.
Most video and audio recorders were tape-based, recording analog signals onto U-matic tapes,
which were video cassettes the size of hardbound books, with two or more of these being needed
for an hour’s worth of footage.
So, imagine what was required to do a complicated shoot: big cameras, big recorders,
humongous
switchboards, tripods, cables and an array of lights. The production of transmitted images
changed with the creation of the camcorder in the 1980s, which made previously bulky film and
television equipment more portable and enabled recording of both video and audio on the same
device.
This came about when developers, using feedback from end-users, began to shrink everything. In
1983, Sony released its first camcorder, the Betacam, which was a single camera recording unit,
making it possible for one person to simultaneously do both tasks of capturing the image and
recording the sound at the same time, on a tape cassette. Sony then released Betamovie, its first
consumer camcorder which could only record to a cassette and not play back footage. In
response, RCA and Hitachi produced their own camcorders which recorded on full-size VHS
cassettes (released by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), with three hours’ worth of recording
capacity. Sony then came up with the Video8 format, which had better quality and portability. In
1987, the full-size Super-VHS (S-VHS) was released, and Sony then responded by upgrading
Video8 to Hi8. Nevertheless, the use of the tape format went into decline ten yeas later due to the
release of the digital versatile disc (DVD) which is but one of a family of optical discs for storing
video.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
The battle for camcorder primacy soon shifted its primary focus from portability and
functionality to the technology’s capacity to store data when, in 1995, Ikegami introduced the
first tapeless video recording system, the Editcam, which used either a hard drive or flash
memory. Camcorders using DVDs briefly became popular, but interest eventually fizzled out
because of the format’s limitations when it came to editing.
In 2000, Panasonic launched its DVCPRO high definition camcorder and, in 2003, Sony, JVC,
Canon, and Sharp all introduced HDV as the first affordable HD video format, due to the HDV’s
use of inexpensive MiniDV cassettes.
In 2003, Sony also introduced the Professional Disc (PFD) and, in 2004, its P2 solid memory
cards. In 2006, Panasonic and Sony introduced AVCHD as an inexpensive, tapeless, high-
definition video format, and AVCHD camcorders were produced by Sony, Panasonic, Canon,
JVC and Hitachi.
The latter part of the decade saw a movement towards smaller wearable devices. 2006 saw the
introduction of the first wearable action camera from the company GoPro, the Digital HERO.
This
camera was capable of capturing 320X240 video at only ten seconds per video clip (without
audio), and had only 32MB internal memory. As limited as it may seem, the device quickly
caught on with surfers because it had a clear, waterproof housing and a wrist strap, allowing it to
be used in water.
DIGITAL FILES
Nowadays, video can be recorded onto different media, with the footage and other information
stored as digital files that can be accessed easily and simultaneously.
Efforts to further improve professional and consumer camcorders continue, mostly focused on
lenses and the capacity to operate under low-light conditions. There was, however, a decline in
the introduction of new models of camcorders in the past few years because of people’s
preference towards smartphones, DSLRs and action cameras.
Current smartphones and tablets can now shoot high-definition-quality video, some on par with
“broadcast” quality video even up to 4K resolutions (3840 x 2160 pixels or 4096 x 2160 pixels)
which are levels of image definition four times higher than a 1080-pixel vertical resolution.
Others offer image stabilization, which gives a smoother video and less blur due to motion.
Action (or vlogging) cameras, gimbal cameras and drones are the latest devices used in shooting
video.
A large number of these are now available on the market, and as a result, has brought down costs.
This is good news for students and people who have the budget to burn and quality of production
in mind.
Devices for video, such as camcorders and action cams, may include options for stabilizing the
picture, autofocus, automatic exposure settings and brighter, wider, and more adjustable screen
formats. In spite of all this, the device of choice for just about anyone interested in shooting
videos is the smartphone due to its widespread availability, relatively low prices and software
features that emulate the hardware features of professional camera gear.

VIDEOGRAPHY UNBOUND
Here are a few more devices which will play a big part in the evolution of videography

Virtual Reality (3D/360) Camera

Unlike a traditional video that only lets viewers see where the camera is pointed at, VR video lets
viewers see in every direction, looking up, down or even behind them. VR video is also called
360° video. VR video puts the viewer in the center of the action, so to speak. Look no further
than YouTube to get a sample of VR videos. The video sharing website has a selection of VR
videos from different content publishers available on their official VR Channel.
Ultra-Compact Camera
Freelance writer Kyle Schurman noted, in technology information website Lifewire, that “ultra-
compact” cameras that measure less than 0.5 inches in thickness will soon be the norm. This can
only be made possible by also further shrinking the powerful components inside these cameras
Lensless Camera
Engineers at the California Institute of Technology have developed a new camera design that
replaces lenses with an ultra-thin layer of light sensors called an optical phased array (OPA). The
OPA does, computationally, what lenses do with large pieces of glass: it manipulates incoming
light to capture an image on a flat surface.

Higher ISOs
Today’s clickers are capable of pushing up to ISO 409,600. Higher ISO settings allow shooters to
use faster shutter speeds (to eliminate camera shake and blurring) and smaller apertures (for
greater depth of field) for crisp action shots. These are also useful for shooting non-grainy video
in dimmer settings.
Smartphone cameras known for digital illumination or adjusting to low-light conditions include
the Nokia 7 Plus and Samsung S10. Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights, which are more portable
than conventional lights, are now used to accurately enhance lighting from natural sources. LED
lights may be equipped to work with digital features