Task 4

Developing Technologies in the Television and Film Industries

In my role as a television and film researcher for Cogent Media, I have been asked to make a report on the issues that are related to technologies that are involved in the making of TV programs and Films. I will explore how the technology has changed the way the films and TV programs are being made. Some of the technology that I will explore include: satellite, cable, analogue, digital, film-based, interactive, internet, high definition, consumer products, streaming content, on-demand viewing, digital recorders, pay per view

Satellite

Satellite television is a way for user of the television to get signals onto their screen so that they can watch programs and films.  This happens by the signal of the television being beamed up to the satellite station where the channels are. When the satellite reaches the station in space it sends a transmission signal back to earth. When the signal comes back to earth it allows users who have a satellite dish to receive the signal and be able to watch the TV channels that the satellite station provides for them.

Examples of satellites that provide signals for users to watch their TV and Films on are: BSKYB, which is the provider for sky, Astro that provides signals Malaysian households, Freesat and Virgin Media.

TalkTalk is a company that provides television services for their customers. TalkTalk was formed in 2003 and it provides their customers with things such as telephone and broadband services. To being with TalkTalk only provided telephone services but now they also provide TV.

Sky is a British broadcasting company that provide their customers with satellite TV channels. Rupert Murdoch owns the satellite TV SKY. When customers chose to go with SKY they get things such as TV and broadband so they can call their friends and go onto the Internet and browse the web.

A way that satellites have developed is that in the past they were is that were not very strong so they would not have been able to show tings with good quality, but now they are much stronger and this means that they can show this to their users in Full HD. This is a benefit because it means that the user would be able to watch their shows and films in full HD.

Cable

Cable TV is one of many ways for viewers to watch the television. When people watch Cable TV they don’t usually need to have signals to watch the television. How the viewers watch the cable TV is that they would use coaxial cables that go underground through to the houses of the customers. Customers that use cable TV have to pay for it and subscribe for it. When customers have cable TV they are able to watch more than 100 different channels that broadcast more than 100 different shows and series.  The main things that cable TV provides for customers is the service of watching television, but they also provide other features such as high speed internet and voice calls.

A way that cable TV has developed is that in the past when people used to use satellite TV, their connection was unstable but now with cable TV it is always stable. This means that even when it is heavy raining and snowing it can still withstand the pressure and do its job. It is also immune to black outs so whenever a customer that other services for their house and there is a blackout, at the house where they use cable it would not affect them. When customers of cable TV use it they are allowed to choose what type of channels they want. For example there are packages and on each package it gives them options for example sports package would give them a lot of sports channels.

A benefit of using cable TV is that the customer would be able to afford the prices for the subscription where as their rivals, satellite TV, is very expensive theirs is very cheap and can be used by most people.

Some examples of channels that are cable channels are HBO and CBS. HBO stands for Home BOX Office and is an American cable television network and it provides services such as showing films and programs and movie theatres for their customers. HBO also provides with their customers with many original television programs include shows such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, True Blood and Big Love. The owner of HBO is Time Warner.

CBS stands for Columbia Broadcasting System and is an American television network that is run along with other channels such as ABC, NBC and FOX. HBO is one of the countries four major television networks. HBO started as a radio network that turned into a television channel that shows TV programs. HBO is also known as the Eye Network because the shape of their logo at the begging is an eye with CBS next to it.

Film-Based

There are many different types of technologies that have been devolved since the making of films has started. A lot of films are remade because there are new technologies that could help the film look better. An example of a film that was remade to make it look better is Superman. The Superman film was made on 1978, 2005 and 2013. This is because since the first one was made there have been better technologies made available and they have used these technologies to make the film become better. Some technologies that have been made available include the green screen and better editing tools to make the green screen look better. The editors would use these new technologies to make the film better.

The first Superman was made in 1978 so there were not very good editing software’s for editors to use to make the film good. Although at the time the technologies that they were using looked good they were nowhere near as good as the other two that were made in 2005 and 2013.

There have been other emerging technologies that have been developed to make the films better, for example 3D. 3D was made so that it seemed like the viewer was literally in the film as things would be flying out at them. 3D is also a developing technology in medicine because in medicine the doctor’s cam use a 3D X-ray that they can use to see the full body X-ray of patients.

  

A film that has used a lot of the new technologies such as better editing software’s and green screens is Avengers. On the Avengers they is a lot of green screen and a lot of special effects that they use to make the film look better. An example of this is explosions, with the explosions they use editing tools that they did not have when the first Superman was made and make these explosions that look really nice. 

Interactive

Other developing technologies include the television being interactive for the viewer, for example on Freeview the view has the option to press the red button that comes up at the top right on their television screen and when they do they can do things such as watch extra footage, play games and read things such as the news. This shows that the new software’s that are made available to them has made it seem like the power has turned to the viewers and this shows that they are in control.

The new technology that has been given to film makers affects the audience because it means that the viewers can be more interactive with the program that they are watching. This allows the producer of the film and program to expand what the viewer’s want on their program. An example of where the TV program is interactive with the user is Strictly Come Dancing. Strictly Come Dancing is an interactive program because whilst the viewers is watching the episodes they have the option to press the red button that is on the top right of the screen and if they do they will have the option to have commentary on the dancers that are dancing and what is happening.

Internet

The internet is also another thing that has developed in the recent years; this is because the internet can be used for a lot of things when it comes to films and TV programs. The internet to being with was not used by people to promote their films and other things because they did not have the resources to do this but now they have the internet because the internet has been developed by people such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to make it what it is now.

How the internet has developed to help people who make films is that they usually use the internet for things such as promoting their films on websites such as the cinema channels, YouTube or the websites of producers of the film. What the film makers can use YouTube to do is that they can put adverts at the begging before the viewer’s watches their videos.

High Definition

High Definition is another thing that has developed a lot over the past couple of years, this is because a couple of years ago viewers of the TV and films were watching their TV shows and their films in a lower quality that was not in HD. This would have affected them because what they were not seeing was not in very good quality. This has developed well because now there is just HD and Full HD which allows the viewers to see their shows and films in full HD. There is a very big difference when it comes to showing their users their programs in HD and SD, which stands for Standard definition.

This image shows the difference between a standard definition and a High definition screen. The viewer can see that the HD one is sharper and it is the viewer would not be sing any pixels. 

On the TV there are a lot of channels that are in HD, for example BBC, ITV, most Sky channels and more.  For viewers to view things in HD they need to have certain amount of pixels on their TV screen so that they can watch their programs and films in either 720p or 1080p. High Definition has developed so much that viewer do not only have the choice to have a HD TV they can have other HD things such as HD DVD player or a Blu-Ray.

Streaming Content

Streaming content is when a user of the internet streams content such as videos and TV shows on the internet for other users of the internet to look at. The person that is doing this is normally doing this continuously. An example of someone who streams content continuously is BBC iPlayer. This is because on BBC iPlayer they broadcast shows that have been on the TV over the last couple of weeks. BBC iPlayer has a very large memory system; this means that they can stream a lot of programs in HD without any lags or problems for the viewer to watch. Another example of a website that streams content for viewers to watch is channel 4OD.

This has developed a lot because in the past the viewer was not able to watch the show once they missed when it was first aired. Now with this streaming content made available for them by their companies, the viewers are able to watch all of the shows that they have missed when it was first aired on the TV.

On-Demand Viewing

Video on demand is an interactive TV technology for companies that broadcast TV shows and programs. Video on demand allows the user to view programming in real-time, this means that the user can watch these programs while they are being shown on TV. Video on demand also allows the user to download the program and watch it some other time. Video on demand system at the consumer level means the user would be able to only get standard TV receiver with a set-top box. There are other ways that customers could get their services for video on demand and those are things such as the Internet. On the Internet the user would be able to go to websites such as ITV player and BBC iPlayer and watch shows being stream live on the website.

Other examples of where users would be able to go to the Internet and find a website where they would be able to watch shows is 4OD.  4OD is a video on demand service from channel 4, it was launched in November 2006 and it offers a wide range of programmes to their viewers. Although they offer a lot of programmes to viewers, there are some programs that they don’t offer because it means they are breaking laws if they do.

 Video on demand has developed a lot in the past couple of years because before 2006 and six it did not even exist, this meant that any show that was on the TV and someone missed that meant that they could not watch it again. But now because there are a lot of Video on demand channels such as ITV, BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and more it means that it is really unlikely that if someone misses a show they wont be able to see it again because of all of these video on demand channels.

Digital Recorders

Digital recorder is way for users of the TV to watch any show that they have missed without the need of the Internet. This is a very impotent upgrade to the way people watch things because it means that the users of the TV do not have to use the Internet. A company that provides this type of service is Sky. The customers of Sky have the option to purchase Sky+. Sky+ allows all customers of Sky who have Sky+ to do things such as record, rewind, fast forward, Pause, play and skip shows.

This is an upgrade from other types of video on demand because if a customer of Sky has this then they would be able to do things such as record a show for example The Wire, which comes on at 12:10 am, can be recorded by the user. When the users does this it would mean that the Sky+ box would be able to remember this and then they would record the whole series until the series has finished. This is called a series link by Sky+ and the user can cancel this if they want. Once a user has recorded this it means that they would be able to watch the show anytime they feel like it and it will stay there until they delete it.

Pay Per View

Pay per views is another form of funding for companies that make things such as films and programs. This is another form of funding because what this means is that they can get money for each time one of their customers watches a show. This can be calculated by each time a customer watches one of their shows. Sky’s version of Pay Per View is their Sky Box office, which works out how much they have gained form each view of their TV Show. Another way sky do the Pay Per View is that their customers have the option to buy extra channels, this is usually because when the customer bought the sky box they did not agree to get the sports package so now they have to pay extra to get it.

This has developed a lot in the past because most companies did not have this and that meant that they were not getting any money form this, but now companies are.

Analogue

Analogue signal is a signal that is continuous. There is a difference between analogue signal and digital signal and that is a small part of the digital signals are meaningful. With analogue people usually think it is only an electrical context, but there are other signals that use analogue on their systems. When the analogue is getting a signal they use the property of the medium to deliver the signals information. 

Digital

Digital signals can be either 0 or 1. When a digital signal is 0 it means that it is off and when it is 1 it means that it is on. This is because the waves are very close together and this is how TV Box-Sets get so many channels. This is an upgrade because it means that the user would be able to have more channels than they would if they had used an analogue signal TV. This means that they have more of a variety of channels for them to watch.