Friday, October 5, 2007

Video Games

All right, YouTube isn't a video game in the usual sense of the term, but it's a fun, democratic site. I enjoyed seeing what was popular at the moment and I can understand how viewers could get hooked, especially if they have a topic of interest shared by many other viewers and contributors.
It's good to know there's a place to share creative effort. The problem with most videos is their shelf life, which admittedly isn't supposed to be long. Once you've seen the cute kittens playing or taken in the views plus commentary from someone's vacation in Hawaii, the novelty wears off unless the video has been created in a very clever way. Since most of us don't shoot these things for a living--and wouldn't make enough to survive if we tried--the results on YouTube often are no better and no worse than home movies with better production values.
Remember, though, I said "most" videos. There are exceptions, usually productions done by pros and contributed by viewers who appreciate the skill involved. Accordingly, the YouTube video that won my personal "Play it again, Sam" award was the Audi R8 T.V. commercial. People who make commercials expect many people to see their efforts more than once and work hard to create something that will hook the audience and stand up to multiple viewings. They keep it short and sweet and use a variety of camera angles to get powerful shots. The audio component is finely balanced, the voiceovers mesh with the music and background sounds and visual effects, the viewer is carried along and everything runs like--well, like a finely tuned engine. Rather like an Audi at speed.
Though libraries aren't in the business of selling cars, they could improve their websites by incorporating more color and movement, maybe even sound. The trick would be to balance these components to achieve a site attractive to users but not confusing or difficult to navigate. Like big commercial advertisers, we have information to impart and services to offer. But our information and services differ from theirs, and our budgets aren't even comparable.

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