Finding videos with HTML5 (a theory?)

In a previous post I talked about a little about HTML5 and FLASH.  I mentioned that we will be moving to an HTML format in the next revision of our website and I wanted to address a little theory about finding our videos on the web once we convert.


The theory?  Finding our videos will be more awesome and maybe easier!


Great theory, I know, but here is why:


The two main authors of W3Cs HTML5 draft are, Ian Hickson of Google, Inc. and David Hyatt of Apple, Inc. (YEAH! An apple employee helped! But that is not important at the moment)


The really important thing about HTML5 and video, is that a Google employee is working on the draft.  We all know Google controls web search, but how do they search? With crazy algorithms that blow my mind... really though, they read the HTML of a site.


One of the only reasons you can find our site on Google is because we have registered with them.  Otherwise they wouldn't be able to find us all that well because our site is in FLASH.


Most sites existing now use FLASH to display video.  Google can't search FLASH, but Google can search HTML.  Enter HTML5 with VIDEO...  If all the sites used the video element in HTML5 then Google can most certainly find it.


Still with me?  The really awesome part is coming up!

Google owns Youtube. Fact. If you are a frequent visitor of youtube or just like trying the new bleeding edge tech online(like me) then you have probably run across the Labs portion of youtube.  In there you can find all the neat video projects they working on.  One project that is not listed yet is how they are scanning video and and transcribing the dialogue within.  Google's transcribing tech is nothing new but still awesome and could be used to turn dialogue into searchable HTML...


SO... in the near future you may be able to search for our videos using just a line of dialogue!  Not just our videos but ALL HTML5 videos! (but please mostly watch ours.)

Transcribing isn't even the half of it! I just don't know what the other half is yet...  there are endless posibilites.  What if google puts in some facial recognition to their searches?  Then you could find every video with a certain persons face! 



Hope you enjoyed.  If you have questions, concerns, or just rude comments please let me know!

QO on HTML 5 and FLASH

There has been a lot of talk on the web about HTML 5 and and the death of FLASH.  Most people will never really notice a difference but to us (the filmmakers) it can change our whole online distribution methods.

Right now we have to encode our videos two ways:

1. H.264 (commonly used (but not a "standard") codec)
&
2. FLASH (commonly used 'proprietary' codec)

Now, it really isn't a huge deal to encode both ways.  It just takes a little more time.  What we are having an issue with is being able to view our content from anywhere.  This includes at home on a desktop, on your mobile phone, and soon on other mobile devices (ipad, HP slate, joojoo, ect.)  Some of these platforms will support Flash, some will not.  We have been able to remain visible on the web by spreading our content across multiple outlets.

We understand the importance of quality, and want our content to look great however you view it.  Quality does not stop at the clarity of one fram though.  When watching a video on the web the experience begines when loading does, and can be lessened when a video is forced to pause and load/buffer.

Flash has been great for us because it offered small file sizes, which means our content can be viewed uninterrupted.  Great! But not all sites support flash now.

H.264 has been great for us because it offeres very high quality, but the file sizes are larger than flash.  That causes some content to load slower especially on mobile devices.

Sooooo.... what does all this really mean?  It means that content producers (like Quarter Orange) may never have a single standard to go by so we will have to act in a way that will best serve our needs.

What we will be doing in the next couple months is moving away from FLASH (sorry ADOBE, we still love you!)  Soon we will change to an HTML format.  This will make our site quarterorange.com viewable on any device.

We decided to make this change for a few reasons. The mobile revolution that is upon us and the ease of updating (not all of us at QO can do FLASH)


I do want to say that I dont feel FLASH will forever die.  I actually have high hopes for it in the document world.  Adobe has already implemented FLASH into PDF and the possibilites there can be endless.

I know this may not make much sense with my rambling and what not, so if you have any question please let me know!  Video is still waiting to break out on the web.

Getting out there.

As a young studio here in town we tend to find ourselves dreaming BIG.  Naturally, we would want our own TV channel, unfortunately, we fall just several million dollars short of creating a broadcast channel.  So, we decided to syndicate ourselves on the WWW instead.  Much cheaper, and it is possible that we could reach an even larger audience!  When I say we have syndicated ourselves, I simply mean, our shorts are available for immediate viewing on MULTIPLE online destinations.

Our core channels:

youtube.com

blip.tv

metacafe.com

revver.com

and you can always view our shorts at QuarterOrange.com

You will also be finding some of our content on more sites in the future so keep looking for updates!

Why are we on multiple networks?  Being on multiple networks will not only allow us to reach a larger audience by penetrating some niche corners of online video.  This idea goes with our belief that the viewing experience should always be enjoyable.  By spreading out across the web our viewers will have the option to watch our content on whatever channel they prefer.  The Audience gains CONTROL.

As independent filmmakers trying to penetrate the web market we know quality and quantity can be equally important.  We strive for excellence in quality and frankly, we feel it is being taken from us when we try to distribute online.  We have no choice when it comes to the viewing experience.  Every video site presents our content a little differently some for better some for worse, but either way, we didn't choose it.  We only have this option on our own website, but what if the audience doesn't want to jump around to different sites?  Isn't that why these aggregators became popular in the first place?

We want you to watch our shorts, but we want you to be able to watch them on a site you prefer.  Whether you want the highest quality, fastest load, easiest to share, genre specific or ratings friendly you will be able to find us.  Have control, watch it where you enjoy it.



Just a reminder to constantly push for innovation in online video quality and PRESENTATION.