Google and Mozilla today launched The Web M Project, which is essentially “a high-quality, open video format for the web that is freely available to everyone.”
It follows Google buying and deciding to open source the VP8 video codec. WebM is a file format that combines VP8 video with open source Orbis audio.
At the moment, we’re staring down the barrel of a very long and boring format war, where Firefox and Opera browsers will not support h.264 for use with the new HTML5 video tag because of uncertainty over its patent situation – they only support the open source Theora codec (and now WebM).
Meanwhile, Apple’s Safari browser and Internet Explorer 9 will only support h.264, not Theora.
And Google’s Chrome browser supports it all: h.264, Theora and now WebM.
So essentially, whatever format you pick, it’s incompatible with 50% of users or more.
HTML5 promises to enable us to do some very cool things with video – but it looks like instead of just being able to get stuck into playing with it, we’ll have to work around these big problems of incompatibility, depending on what format we choose to work with. It feels like Quicktime vs Windows Media vs Real all over again. We got around all that last time with Flash video. HTML5 is supposed to be the Flash killer.
The excitement revolves around the hope that WebM and its VP8 codec may deliver quality and compression to rival h.264, and will be supported by Firefox & Opera, and potentially YouTube – without the patent uncertainties and costs that h.264 has for commercial users.
Will this make a difference? Will it convince Apple & Microsoft, and gain cross-browser compatibility? Or does the arrival of a serious rival for h.264 just give many years of new life to a battle that might otherwise have been won by h.264 comparatively quickly?
Or is it just generally a good thing to have happened and I shouldn’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth?
One of the most creative uses of YouTube Annotations has been for one of the uncoolest clients in London: the Metropolitan Police. Choose A Different Ending was part of their Drop The Weapons anti knife crime campaign.
Like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, it’s a second person narrative – you see through the protagonist’s eyes and choose between two knife-related options at the end of each chapter: the first ends with TAKE THE KNIFE / DON’T TAKE THE KNIFE.
While a 2nd person POV can limit a hypernarrative story’s ability to engage players emotionally, it’s perfect for this. It’s positioned somewhere between a public service video and a first person shooter (a first person stabber?).
But whereas an FPS engages young men by letting them experiment with mass murder in a virtual moral vacuum, this game manages to keep you playing until you make all the most sensible, responsible choices. It becomes a puzzle – tempting you to see how much you can get away with, and then constantly running you into different unexpected ways that carrying a knife will get you in trouble. And the reward for being a good boy? Music videos
Have a play – let me know what you think about its strengths & shortcomings.
It was pubished in July 2009, and created by short film director Simon Ellis, Mad Cow Films and Jeremy Tribe & Prabs Wignarajajat, creatives at AMV BBDO.
Events, Festivals, Conferences and Meetups we’re attending or watching in the next couple of weeks:
SubtleMob
London, Thurs 12th Nov – Bristol, Fri 13th Nov – Liverpool, Sat 14th
‘as if it were the last time’ invites you to take part in a secret event this November. You’ve seen the people freeze in train stations and the mass pillow fights, well this will be a more subtle experience… If you register to take part in this event you’ll be invited to download an MP3 and turn up at a secret location to listen to the track at a specified time. When you put on the headphones you’ll find yourself immersed in the cinema of everyday life. As the soundtrack swells people in the crowd around you will begin to re-enact the England of today.
OPEN09
Preston, Lancashire, UK, Monday & Tuesday November 16-17th 2009
“OPEN 09 breaks with the normal conference model and creates a new participatory experience to explore, inform and create change in the Digital and Creative sectors. Sessions will include open discussions alongside world class speakers, workshops and networking events. OPEN 09 is for designers, developers, musicians, artists, photographers, journalists and gamers – in fact it’s for anyone working in the creative industries – so whether you’re a coder, strategist, information architect fashion designer, user experience professional or gallery curator, you’ll feel at home at OPEN 09.”
Google and Mozilla today launched The Web M Project, which is essentially “a high-quality, open video format for the web that is freely available to everyone.”