Uses of Video in Interactive Media

Advertising is the biggest most widespread use of interactive media technology. Advertising is everywhere, on TV, on the internet, even through emails. Advertising is the easiest way of promoting a product and one of the cheapest, with advertising you can just show a quick video of what you are selling in action. On TV the adverts are mainly for products that are available in store such as; toys, food, or electronics. These always show the product and someone within the target audience of the product having fun and showing how it should be used, this will make the buyer want to acquire the product. On the internet, the majority of adverts are for downloads, and links to other sites. This can include charity websites or sites for music downloads, the sites that are being advertised will relate to the page you are on. For example if you are on a games website, such as Newgrounds, the adverts will most likely be for other gaming websites, or music/radio sites such as Jango the links will be for music download, or other bands.
There are 2 other types of advertising as well as the norm. The first of these are promotions, and promotional material. These can include things like free downloads or free trials to get you hooked onto the game, or program. Like World of Warcraft, you can download a free 10 day trial, but after this is over you have to pay the full amount if you want to keep on playing, this is a good way of promoting a product as if the person enjoys the trial they will want to keep playing.
The other type of advertising is viral marketing. This is a very sneaky way of advertising a product as most of the time you cant tell if it is meant to be promoting the product or is just a piece of user-generated content. Viral videos are put on sites for user-generated content sites, such as YouTube or Newgrounds. The videos will often only subtly hint at the product or just be a full blown parody of the product, the Bike Hero video on YouTube involves someone following a set track on their bike pressing the buttons to play the track. This was found to be a viral video after it was made by someone collaborating with the production company; these are very good ways of promoting products because they don’t require to be paid for seeing as it is free to upload onto these sites.

Short films are another use of video; these are films that are usually under 10 minutes in length. Short films are cheap ways of promoting the director, in the same way that a music video promotes an artist. Short films usually go straight to the point, consisting of a lot of action with a climax at the end. Film trailers are a kind of short film which is designed to promote a film, these are 3-4 minutes long and are action packed with some of the best parts of a film, but not giving away too much of the story. The film trailer for the film ‘Avatar’ is completely action packed and contains a little bit of drama, it shows you the basics of the film and the storyline, but doesn’t show you the ending as to not spoil it for you. These are good ways to promote the film and directors as, as long as they are good, will want you to know and watch more.

User-generated content sites are a good way to make a name for yourself as an up and coming producer, writer, or games designer. Sites like YouTube are free to use and free to upload videos too so if you wish to let people see videos etc that you have filmed and directed yourself, these are good ways of doing so. If you have a short film that you have filmed, with a low budget, you can put it on social networking sites so other people can view your work and you can get honest feedback.
If you wish to be a web game designer there are sites like Newgrounds which let you create and upload games for feedback from other designers and just members of the general gaming public. Sites like this can be very useful because if you have an idea for a game and you’re not sure how it would be received, you can upload it to these sites and get honest impartial feedback.
Blogs can be used if you have an idea for an article you are working on if you are a journalist of some sort, or even if you just wish to voice your opinions and ideas. Sites such as blog spot and blogger allow you to publish your own ideas so people of the general public can comment and see what is going on. There is also the option to comment on these which can help if it is a piece of work you are unsure about.

Virtual reality tours are primarily used on sites of estate agents and other property selling managements. With these you can go through a virtual tour of the house or property your thinking of buying from the comfort of your own seat. This can be extremely attractive to the buyer as if they live a busy lifestyle they can pick the houses they wish to view more carefully than from just a few select images. Also this is a clever thought by the realtor, as they can make the expensive houses look even better to persuade people to buy, as the buyer will be viewing all aspects of the home.
Another place to use VR tours is in museums. Museums such as the RAF museum have 360 panoramic tours to view some of the exhibits of the museum. This is clever because if people are thinking of going to the museum they can take a look on this site and see some of what they will be viewing. If this is what the viewer is interested in this will only spur them on more to go and visit the museum.
Universities also use VR tours to get prospective students to visit, and possibly apply to the university. This will get more students wanting to visit if the university shows to have good facilities for what they wish to study. They would also show the different dorm rooms in the university buildings, this would work in the same way as the real estate agents, as if the university has good dorm rooms, prospective students will want to go there to have a fairly nice place to stay.

E- Learning is a way to be taught via the internet by yourself. Sites such as the BBC have programs that can be used for self learning, if you wanted to learn about the Dinosaurs there are news articles, and even specific slideshows on the subject. There are also pages on the subject to learn about specific types of dinosaur, if you are looking to do research or just have an interest. There are also educational games that can be accessed on subjects. These let you play through certain scenarios as if you lived in the time or if you were a dinosaur yourself, with facts about what would happen along the way, so as you were playing you were learning as well. There are also other sites such as Sam learning, which is a revision site for GCSE’s and SAT’s. These contain question and answer slideshows to help revise for your chosen subject, it also has educational videos to watch while learning about your subjects. This is a very good way of learning as it is entirely self taught, therefore it shows you wish to learn and are going to concentrate, rather than being sat in front of someone talking to you.

Games are a form of entertainment and are accessible to anyone with internet access on a computer, or who own a games console. These are more popular with the younger audience as they offer a distraction to doing work. There are many kinds of gaming platforms to cater to everybody; there are games for little children all the way up to adults, depending on your preference. For example the game ‘Viva Piñata: Party Animals’ is a very colourful game and very easy to play, this would appeal to the younger audience as it involves a lot of paper talking animals competing against each other. Whereas the game ‘Borderlands’ is dank but cartoony in appearance with a lot of violence about it, this would appeal more to the teenage-young adult audience as it is a harder game and offers more of a challenge. Games are extremely good as most people like to go for them for a bit of entertainment, and can even be played with multiple people to offer a group playing experience.