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Digital video production is a term that is increasingly seen on the Internet but what does it actually mean? Does it refer to digital video production or digital video distribution? In essence it can be used to mean both terms but, most commonly, it is used within the video production world to refer to the way productions are created. One might argue that all video production is digital. This is certainly the case these days but was not always so and consequently the phrase digital video production has come to be.
To understand the difference, a small history lesson is needed. In the beginning there was film. 25 frames of it to be precise, passing by the lens every second. Film could capture an enormous amount of light, and therefore details of an image, but film was expensive. Then came video. A technology that recorded visual images on magnetic tape. Tape video production was a much more cost effective way of shooting video but the quality was rather lacking and editing clumsy. Then came the advent of digital video.
Digital video offered the producer much more creative production freedom by offering higher resolution video to work with. Additional digital video coincided with the advent of ever more powerful computers that allowed for software to manipulate these images. The consequence was more creative video productions at a lower cost.
Digital video quality is now comparable to film and yet the costs pale into insignificance by comparison. With digital video productions you can keep shooting for hours and are not reliant on short cassettes of film or the inevitable wastage that comes on the cutting room floor.
Digital video can be edited in a much more intuitive and efficient manner than traditional video and yet the editor only needs a PC and some software to create quite complicated effects and treatments.
Digital video production has truly changed the face of video and its emergence alongside other technologies such as the Internet and video sharing sites has meant video has seen explosive growth over the past few years. Cameras are cheap, software is cheap. The only thing limiting how creative a digital video can be is the creativity and time of the producer.
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