With those very different delivery systems, these
restrictions would not apply. Whatever form it
may take, your program’s delivery system (the
situation in which it will be shown) should have
a strong infl uence on its approach and style.
Program Length
The next step is to determine your video’s
length. Program running time may be governed
by one or more of several factors:
●
Standard time units. In broadcast and cable TV,
for example, programs and commercials
alike are always produced in standardized
lengths, Figure 9-5. Video websites often
impose maximum running times on programs
they accept.
●
Resources. As a rule, the longer a video runs,
the more it costs to produce. So, your
program’s length may be affected by the
size of your budget.
●
Audience tolerance. The length of the audience’s
attention span depends on the type of
program you are making. Viewers might
enjoy a movie for two hours or more. A
TV infomercial about a line of products
might hold them for 30 minutes at most.
(Infomercials are covered in the following
chapter.) Training videos are hard to sustain
for longer than 10 or 15 minutes, and
commercials are too intense to hold up
much longer than 60 seconds.
on its own and other websites. So, in this case,
the delivery system is already selected.
But, suppose Acme had wanted what is
called a “point-of-sale” video instead—a program
to be shown in stores to customers who are
ready to decide right then and there whether to
buy a Sidewinder drill. That situation would
require another method of displaying your
program—a different delivery system (Figure 9-4).
It would probably involve a fl at screen video
monitor placed at a prominent spot in a retail
store, with customers strolling past it as they shop.
The website delivery system imposes certain
requirements on your program:
●
It must be vivid enough to keep viewers
from clicking away from it.
●
It must be simple, visually, so that people
can see it clearly on the typically small
website screen size.
●
It must not depend too heavily on its
sound track, because some people have
only laptop speakers and others disable
the audio playback.
●
Above all, it must be short—brief enough
so that viewers will not use their player
controls to skip through it.
In contrast to a website program, a training
video designed to teach people how to use the
Sidewinder might be watched by an employee
in a quiet room or by a do-it-yourself home
owner in the comfort of a family room or den.
Figure 9-4 Sidewinder video delivery systems.
Streaming video on the web. Point-of-sale display.
Chapter 9 Project Development 163