Thursday, May 16, 2013

Low Bandwidth Video Project - Introduction

A few weeks ago there was an electrical storm in my area. Next thing I knew my Internet connection is out. Kaput. Don't know if it is my Ethernet card, modem or phone line. I'm in problem solving mode but life goes on.

Now yes, I could be off line for weeks at a time. I choose not to be. I was able to get a Mobile Hot Spot connection. Which presents connection challenges all its own. Sometimes I have 4G speeds. Sometimes 3G level Internet connections.

I bring this up because I was internally fussing about not being able to upload videos. Not that I have created any lately. It is kinda hard when you have upload speeds of .11Mbps or if I'm real lucky .5Mbps. It fluctuates like the breeze on a tree.

By the way, I highly recommend Speedtest.net to check out your connection speeds. It can be a humbling experience. I just ran it again, .25Mbps. Speedtest.net tells me that I have an national F+ level connection and a global D- level connection.

Yeah, I'm in a bad way.

Anyway, while I was grumbling I remembered that I use to upload videos on a 53k Dial-up connection. For those that have always known broadband, this is what it sounded like to connect via YouTube user Masoola:







It is not that I can't. It is that I haven't done so in quite a while.

So for the next couple of posts I want to explore the process of making a video that tells a short story or memory piece/poem thing (still pinning it down) and then uploading the video using a minimal connection speed.

Starting at the planning process, resources, gathering materials and ideas that can and can't work withing a restrictive bandwidth environment.

 The rough parameters are:

I still need to upload a standard size video; I'm not going that far back to the days of 320x240 videos. I want to find out how much or how little I can pack into a 720p environment.
I do know that I have to keep it short; probably under 2 minutes but that might be too much. Or just right.
There has to be some video movement but I want to be in service to the story, not the constraints of the project. It might be a photo story or a narrative with pictures and limited animation. I have options to explore which can focused on in the planning stage.

As some of you know I can go long and deep but I think it can help those that want a more linear path to creating a structured video or those that want to peep in a particular process.

I do know I have to get my real broadband back; seriously I have a need for speed. 


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