Video

Overview
Video is a mode of communication that uses moving images, audio, and text. In technical communications, video is used for documenting, explaining, and/or persuading different audiences in relation to real-world facts, processes, and circumstances. “Video” is distinguished in this article from other uses of the audiovisual mode that have only entertainment or aesthetic purpose.

More than other modes of communication, video is able to deliver information according to each element of the VARK framework of learning styles:

Visual — This is video’s most distinguishing feature, and can include still images, live action, or graphics.

Auditory — Simultaneous audio can include narration, music, or sound design.

Reading/Writing — Images can include text or graphical information that stands alone or supplements visual action or narration.

Kinesthetic — Video can accommodate kinesthetic styles of information reception because the human brain can empathetically understand the experiences of people on a screen [1].

As the internet has become an everyday reality of life, and as the price of video creation, sharing, and viewing has become cheaper, video content has become an increasingly common and effective tool used by technical communicators to inform, instruct, or persuade.

History of Moving Images
Current video technology has evolved from different storage and retrieval processes used since the invention of motion picture technology, which is generally credited to the Lumière brothers in France, in 1895 [2]. Motion picture technology was developed as a logical extension of still photography, being that film is the rapid sequencing of still images.

The first use of moving images to convey technical or educational information isn’t definitively known, but it’s believed to be around the same time as the invention of the medium [3]. Short films depicting news events or instructional stories, known as newsreels, became common as the popularity of the cinema grew [4].

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Modern Use of Video in Technical Communication
Over the 20th century, moving pictures went through three major storage paradigms: celluloid film, magnetic tape, and digital encoding. Because digitization so drastically increased the capacity to capture, store, and transmit images, video today is a common aspect of life in every sector of the economy, at every level of education, and for every type of commercial audience.

For the purpose of technical communication, video can inform, instruct, or persuade, and can serve the needs of professionals in education, industry, health and science, and government. By the nature of the format, video instruction is especially useful for communicating details of visible features or processes, visualizing abstract concepts, or for individuals to present material.

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In contemporary professional technical communication, video is widely used to instruct experts and novices in highly complex computer technologies, industrial activity and safety, personal and professional development, and education itself. Because of its ease of use and maximum reach, there are many opportunities for technical communicators to become acquainted with the processes and tools for developing video.

While professional technical communicators benefit from the availability of high-quality tools to produce and view video, they also do so in an environment where amateurs—and amateur technical communicators—do as well. Video and internet technologies have decentralized knowledge sharing and content production, allowing for nonspecialist technicians and nonspecialist communicators to produce videos for wide audiences on technical topics.

Video instruction has become such a common aspect of culture, it’s thought that one can “learn anything” with the help of online video. The rise of social sharing sites has also meant that the social categories of teacher and student have shifted from the traditional model. Now, anyone with a camera and a YouTube account can be the teacher, and any viewer can be the student. How-to video instruction via social media has disrupted other aspects of social binaries, such as public and private, expert and amateur, and work and play [7].

Unlike other modes of communication, the tools to create video are extremely easy to use and require no language literacy. A simple smartphone with video capture and internet connectivity allows nearly anyone to show others how to do things, without regard for physical location.

Despite how easy it is to use entry-level video production technologies, professional-grade tools offer important features for creating and distributing complex video communications. They are therefore highly valuable to technical communicators because they assist in structuring, sequencing, and annotating information.

Video Editing
Computer-based, non-linear editing systems are the standard tool in the professional and consumer markets for communicators wanting to arrange, modify, and assemble video images before they are distributed. The term “non-linear” distinguishes the process of editing digital video from the process used in the era of celluloid film, where the film was physically cut and sequenced in a linear fashion. Contemporary digital environments allow video creators to randomly and repeatedly access any image frame or audio segment stored as a source asset. Because of this, the process is non-linear.

Some of the more widely used software programs at present for editing video content professionally include Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Blender, and Final Cut Pro X. Video editing software typically includes capabilities for importing, storing, arranging, composing, and exporting video, audio, and graphics from digital sources.

Screen Capture
Another common tool for creating video is the screen capture tool. Screen capture tools record a user’s computer screen and allow the user to narrate their activity, thus making these tools indispensable for describing complex human-computer activities. While not exhaustively studied, formal features of the screen capture video can include attention cues, an organized event structure, content features like contextual introductions, and the performance of the narrator [8].

Some of the more widely used software programs at present for capturing screen images or videos, and annotating those images for further development include Open Broadcaster Software, Snagit, and Camtasia.

Motion Graphics Software
Motion graphics are video elements that are not physical objects recorded with a camera. Examples include text, icons, screen cues, and other animations. Common graphics in technical communication are charts, lists, titles, tables, and diagrams. 3D animation and motion graphics can be indispensable tools for explaining difficult concepts or for depicting processes outside of human visibility, such as the inner workings of an atom or the movement of galaxies.

Common motion graphics software includes Adobe After Effects, Blender, Autodesk Combustion, and Nuke.

Videotelephony
In the year 2020, videotelephony became a crucial means for education and commerce to continue amid a global pandemic. This technology uses live video as the basis of communication between select participants or between all participants. Common uses of videotelephony technology include classes, presentations, conferences, and any number of streaming events. During these sessions, participants can be guided to perform any number of individual or group activities, like quizzes, polls, or games. By nature of the format, events in a videotelephony space often include pre-recorded video.

Though video meetings often consist mostly of talking heads, there is opportunity for technical communicators to use the tools and techniques of the trade to make these experiences more engaging and educational for workers and students, disrupting what has come to be known as “Zoom fatigue.” For this, technical communicators can look to generic features used in live video streaming entertainment, which sometimes incorporates the features of broadcast television’s highly produced, multi-camera, hosted shows.

Common videotelephony technologies at present include Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, and Microsoft Teams.

Common streaming technologies and platforms at present include Twitch, Reddit, Streamlabs, YouTube, Facebook Live, and Instagram Live.

Genre
Common genres of technical video include reports or documentaries, lectures, corporate training, dramatizations, interviews, step-by-step procedures, process overviews, proposals, and promotional materials [9]. Like any written piece of technical communication, a video can contain a mix of these genres, as well as others outside of this list.

Creating video content in a professional setting often requires several written genres, such as a project proposal, storyboard, script, and shot list [9]. After a video is produced, it is shared on any number of public platforms, such as YouTube or Vimeo, via peer-to-peer networking, or on an institutional intranet.

== The Practical Uses of Video in Technical Communications ==

For certain tasks, video has been shown to increase viewer concentration, task absorption, and knowledge retention [10]. The nature of the format, coupled with increasing availability of internet infrastructure, can make video a more accessible and effective medium than text for the communication of technical content.

However, like other modes, mediums, and genres, video has limitations that technical communicators should consider when solving communication problems. Despite its wide use and its strengths, it’s still just another mode in an ecosystem of written, spoken, and visual genres that help communicate information.

For example, while video can incorporate text, the way users interact with it doesn’t easily accommodate different speeds of reading comprehension. For this reason, video is less useful as a reference source or for cases where technical audiences are working in the field. By nature of video’s movement, it also doesn’t accommodate rumination or interaction in the way that written or in-person communication might.

The Future of Video Technology
In the same way that still photography of the 19th century has informed the online videos of the 21st century, video today prefigures future paradigms in technical communication. Where the earlier addition of motion to still images added the dimension of time, the next technological paradigm of the image continues across physical space.

New digital technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality have visual, auditory, text-based, and heightened kinesthetic elements available to communicate information to audiences. By virtue of their experiential aspect, they engage audiences in three dimensions over time, allowing the audience to practice the things they’ve been shown how to do. Though still emerging, augmented and virtual reality technologies have found application in entertainment, education, and industry.

Technical communicators well-versed in the tools and techniques of video are in a position to inexpensively solve complex communication challenges found in the current day, and to address unknown communication challenges using emerging visual communication tools in the future. To know the theoretical and practical uses of the medium allows the technical communicator to accommodate different learning styles and work within a rich tradition.