HGA Creative Communications

Had Freddie foreseen it, the impatient, throwaway society we live in today or was the finest moustache ever to take to the stage really just that greedy? We suspect the latter, as in 2012 it is rather a case of 'man waits for no time' than 'time waits for no man'. This has never been more apparent when discussing today's all media consuming culture and society; and this reworked phrase couldn't be any more relevant than it is to the film and video industry.

Decreasing value

The days of justifying online piracy as a legitimate pastime are over, and rightly so. The time an effort required to frantically download the latest Radiohead track with a painfully slow 56k modem meant that users felt they’d earned it; and would be forgiven for robbing the industry and the creators.

The knock on effect this has had on the mark ups of entertainment goods such as CDs, Blu Rays and DVDs has also been significant – they are now all selling a fraction of their worth. You can pick up 'The Assassination of Jesse James', by the Coward Robert Ford on Blu Ray for £2.99 on the high street, less than your average price for a pint of watered-down beer. Let's not forget that this is one of the finest examples of Noughties cinema we are talking about here. It all comes down to time and money.

On-demand

Of course illegal downloading is still prevalent but times are changing and it's not the only activity that is having an impact upon how we consume content and its decreasing value. The emergence and rise of streaming services such as LoveFilm, Netflix and the multitude of on-demand services means that users can access pretty much whatever entertainment content they want, at any time, at very little cost or in many cases, for free. Netflix recently signed deals with major film studios to delay new release rentals by 28 days in exchange for rights to stream more films online; and since its inception in 2005, LoveFilm now boasts over two million subscribers. Why wait to hit the shops or for your online purchase to be delivered if, for as little as £4.99 a month, you can watch the film, and countless others, with the click of a mouse?

Lasting value

We live in an age of dwindling attention spans, immediacy and never-ending content, so an audience needs to be grabbed with quality content. Why should they waste time on something they might not enjoy? When it comes to online video the results are telling and the story is an obvious one. Keep it short, keep it engaging and get it right - communicate your messages succinctly, add some value to the viewer's experience and make it look good. Your video is essentially there to save the viewer the effort of reading what you have to say, so why not pull out all the stops and give them something even more memorable than that YouTube clip of a dog salsa dancing, or a walrus playing a toy saxophone? Create content with lasting value.

Oh and enjoy those last two hyperlinks.

Main image by Carl Lender