Developing Technologies in the TV and Film Industries

3DTV Current developments

3D TV is the newest in the ongoing range of television improvisiation techniques. Basically a 3D television is a tv that uses special technology to create a 3 dimentional aspect right in front of the audience, more often than not this is with the use of special 3D glasses. There are a number of ways to create a 3D image, the way it is done by the television companies involves displaying two images to each eye for example by using specially designed polarization  or anaglyphic glasses in order to see each image in seperate eyes which creates the illusion of 3 dimentional images to the viewer.

See the link for a video explanation

Satellite

Satellite TV is a method of receiving Television channels by using a communications satellite transmitting to an outdoor satellite dish. This is then run through the building and played to the TV through a reciver that comes as a set top box or a satellite tuner. The main problem with satellite tv is that the quality of the transmittion can be disrupted by weather and other issues a lot easier than reciving methods like cable.  

Cable

Cable TV is a method of transmitting television programs using Radio Frequency signals (RF signals). Televisions recive the signals through special cables or even digital light pulses involving special technology hence the name cable. The main difference between cable and other methods is the change of radio frequency signals used. This method can prove better than mehtods such as satellite because the cables are underground and therefore less likeley to recive any disturbance. 

Analogue & Digital

Analouge Television
analogue television is basically the analogue transmission involving broadcasting  analouge audio & video signals. Analogue is now far outdated by digital television (DTV), however at its time it was the main source of television. Basically analogue takes a television picture inlcuding sound and animation and encodes it then transmits it as an analogue signal.

Digital Television (DTV)
Digital Television is another transmission of audio and video this time however it is done by using digital signals. Many places in the world have now changed their tv setup to digital with no analogue signals. A main reason for the change is because the quality of digital is better than analogue.

interactive

Interactive TV is basically a way of watching what you want when you want to watch it instead of waiting for a program you want to watch comes on tv. For example sky has something called sky active which is basically the companys name for skys interactive features such as games, shopping and more all on the TV.

High definition 

High definition TV (HDTV) is just video that has a lot higher resolution to the resolution of regular TV (standard definition) The first high definition TV broadcasts used analogue signals but now however High definition is broadcast via digital signals using video compression. HDTV has roughly one to two million pixels per frame This impressive ratio is around 5 times that of the standard definition.

film-based

CGI

Computer generated imagery (CGI) is a method of using computer graphics in films, games, Tv and other aspects of the media. CGI is a very advanced method capable of creating 3D computer graphics that look very realistic. The technology is so advanced that recent updates have allowed people to create certain professional grade films & games from their home computers. An example of CGI would be for example Toy Story; everything in toy story was computer animated including the characters. The part that can take a long time is when the film has to render it allegedly took toy story around 6 hours to render 1 frame and there are roughly 25 frames per second.

internet

Internet TV, often mixed up with web TV (Short episodes/clips made only for online viewing) is basically just a way of watching television on the internet anytime. It was created as a catch up method in case people missed an episode of an ongoing series; however now it is more advanced and often used for watching tv via a computer. Common examples of this are websites like 4oD, BBC iplayer, Itv player and others. I think that Internet TV is a very good idea because it allows people to watch what they want, when they want using technology that almost everybody has access to.

streaming content

streaming media is when a user streams TV or radio usually via the internet. An example of doing this is when

on-demand viewing,

digital recorders,

pay per view

Regulation of the media sector

Regulatory and professional bodies:

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC),

British Video Association,

Film Distributors Association,

Video Standards Council (VSC),

Television, Radio and Telecommunications Office for Communication (Ofcom),

Trading Standards Central,

Trading Standards Nets,

Press Complaints Commission (PCC),

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA),

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF),

The Independent Games Developers Association (IGDA),

British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA),

Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA),

The International Visual Communication Association (IVCA),

Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C),

British Web Design and Marketing Association,

British Interactive Multimedia Association (BIMA)

Regulatory issues:

ownership, monopoly, access, consumer choice, freedom of information, censorship, taste and decency

BBFC

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC),  is a non-government organisation, funded by the film industry and controlls classification of films within the United Kingdom.

British Video Association

The British Video Association is a home entertainment organisation created in 1980. It is the trade body that represents the interests of publishers and rights owners of video entertainment.

Film Distributors Association

The Film Distributors' Association (FDA) is the trade body for theatrical film distributors in the UK - the companies that release films for UK  cinema audiences.

Video standards council

The VSC was created in 1989 to settle concerns involving the video industry. The VSC is a non profit making company and its main job is to create and imply a code of practice designed to give the video industry high standards by also ensuring pre recorded videos,dvd's and games are provided for the public in a responsible way.

Ofcom
Ofcom (The Office of communications) is the authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications in the united kingdom. Ofcom is a part of a wide range of industries covering all types of processes. Such as TV, Radio and internet. The purpose of ofcom is to, in the interest of the public, promote competition and protect them from any inappropriate material. A few of the main fields of ofcom’s work are licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protect the radio from abuse.

Trading Standards Central

The trading standards central

Ethical and Legal constraints within the media sector

Ethical




Legal

content, interpretation and application of laws relating to media, eg Broadcasting Act 1990 (and later amendments), Official Secrets Act 1989, Obscene Publications Act 1959 (and later amendments), Films Act 1985, Video Recordings Act 1984, Race Relations Act 1976 (and later amendments), Human Rights Act 1998, Licensing Act 2003 (and later amendments); privacy law; copyright and intellectual property law; libel law 

The Broadcasting act 1990

The Broadcasting act 1990 is a law of the British Parliament to reform the entire structure of british broadcasting. Effects of this law were that the television or radio companies rather than the regulators became the broadcasters. An example of a breach of this law would be if

Official Secrets Act 1989

The Official secrets act 1989 is a law that was passed to prevent people from disclosing information that could be dangerous for the wrong people to know. Basically the rule states that it is illegal to share information related to national security. An examble of breching this law would for instance be if someone recived some secret information from important people and they told anyone else the official secrets law would be breached.

Obscene Publications Act 1959

The Obscene Publications Act 1959 is a law that prevents any obscene material being published where anyone who doesnt want to find it might. This particular law allows a margin for what can be considered artistic. For example if channel 5 showed an xxx rated film at 5:00pm the law would be breached.

Films Act 1985

the Films Act 1985 relates to any laws involving film finance and also defining british films

Video Recordings Act 1984

the Video Recordings Act 1984 law states that all videos that are available have to be classified by the BBFC first

Race Relations Act 1976

The Race Relations Act 1976 was established to prevent racial descrimination on the basis of race, colour, nationality, ethnicity and national origins. This disallows any descriminiation when it comes to employment and such.

Human Rights Act 1998

The Human Rights Act 1998

Code of practice

basically a code of practice is a set of guidelines and rules to be followed by members of some organization or workplace etc; This is not normally enforced by law.