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Why Does Online Video Excite Me?

It's a great time to be a video producer.

By Liva PucePublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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Photo by Hans Vivek 

I was born in 1984 in a country occupied by Soviet Union. The only type of video that we knew back then was whatever came out of our tiny black and white television set. This little screen was our window to the rest of the world and we could only see the bits that the two channels were choosing to show us. Everything I saw on TV seemed so far and unreachable. The only world I knew was the world around me. So I could not really understand the obsession my parents had—every evening at 8:30 PM they were glued to the TV-set and they would watch the news programme. That was a big deal back then. Every family was unreachable for that half an hour—they were all staring at their TV screens. But I get it now—our nation wanted the oppression to end. That’s why politics mattered. The news was the only chance to see what was happening in the world—like I said, a small window to the world. Of course, the media was controlled and censored, obviously, but that was all we got. There was no other way.

Things have changed dramatically. Imagine if I could make a video about the present day and go back to 1984 and show that to my parents. They would not believe the present day would be ever possible. Let’s have a look at it from their perspective: for starters, the fact that Soviet Union had collapsed in 1991 and our nation got independence—tell that to anybody in 1984 and they would not believe you. And this is just the easy part. Imagine explaining the internet, social media, smartphones, Skype, robots, that weird vacuum cleaner that cleans the floor itself, trains without drivers, and all the other stuff that we take for granted.

When I was a child, I would ask myself, what do I want to do when I grow up? We are expected to know our future profession before that future even comes. I remember having this feeling that my profession did not exist yet. And I was so right about that! Online video did not exist in the 80s or 90s. Even when I finished school in 2003 and had to go to Uni, online video as we know it was not there yet. Today everybody is able to make a video and broadcast it to the world. Anybody who has a decent smartphone can record a video or broadcast live. Websites like YouTube and Facebook make it possible. We can choose what we want to watch and when to watch it. No need to sit in front of a TV set—we carry screens in our pockets.

In 2008, I was living in China and that’s when YouTube and Facebook got blocked due to things happening in Tibet. We had no idea what was actually going on and it felt like Soviet Union all over again but this time I knew people who were not in China at the time and there was internet that let us communicate. This is when I really started to appreciate the amazing tool that the internet is. For me, online video represents freedom—the same way that small black and white TV-set I knew in my childhood represented oppression. They say “ignorance is bliss” and maybe we were happier back then not knowing that it is possible to live a different life. Maybe, but we have a choice now and we have a voice—whether it is heard or not is a different story. But we have tools available and it’s up to us how we use them.

Video has evolved and is evolving every day. Online video is not the same video as the video we have known before—it is a new medium. What worked for TV screens might not work for the internet. It is hard to break the links in our brains when we have known something a certain way for so long.

I have explored new forms of video that are also available online—interactive and 360 video. What I love about interactive video is that it lets you choose the narrative and and makes you feel like you are in control. Who doesn’t like to feel like they are in control of something? Wouldn’t it be nice to control our own lives like that or imagine to be someone else? With video, you can. Oh and talking about imagining to be someone else or to be somewhere else, this is what VR and 360 video can do quite well. 360 video is still a baby but give it time to grow and what might seem impossible now might become the reality of the future. It gives me goosebumps when I imagine how far this could go in 30 years. We are already living in science fiction. I hope our world will turn out better than the one in the Matrix movie.

I believe that video is going to evolve into something I cannot even imagine with my 2016 brain. I wish the future me from 2046 could come over and show me what the world looks like. One thing I know for sure is that I have no idea what to expect. Isn’t that a bit exciting?

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About the Creator

Liva Puce

I am a video producer passionate about creativity, art, travel, culture and the world we live in.

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