If I can Dream / A New Platform for Content Delivery & Consumption
As entertainment moves accross sceens and infiltrates our lives and
different points, we as designers, advertisers, and content creators
are constantly striving to find new ways to extend the message. Mobile
has allowed us to occupy even the smallest pockets of time in peoples
hectic lives. The Internet has allowed us to widen the story, and
provide details to the most granular level. Fans of the show LOST can
attest to that fact. Digital television, Hulu, Tivo, Boxee, and AppleTV
have given us the power to reschedule the broadcast to fit into our
lives.
Technology continues to grow faster than ever, and our
ability to deliver this content has increased 100 times over in the
past decade online. For the better half of 2009 I spent my days and
night working with an incredible team at POKE New York on a project for
19 Entertainment. The idea was to transfer the Reality TV concept
successfully to the Internet. The challenge was... How the f*ck are we
going to do this? I mean how do you stream HD quailty video from every
angle in the house that TV producer would want to see, how do you rig
up all the mics to capture every conversation... In short, how do you
make a physical house in Hollywood an all digital, always on 24/7 model
for the tech house of the future?
I will not bore you with
tons of documentation, facts, and strategies... that would be like soooo 2009..
Instead read the next few sentences as an overview, then I suggest you
just take a trip over the the site. It is a shining model of how to
distribute content, work in major brand sponsors, and convert an
audience into a following.
Three CDNs drive data delivery
through a 150 MB pipe out of the house, and there’s also a wireless
microwave backup system. The 56 H.264 cameras, which are located in
plain sight all around the property (including, yes, the bathrooms) are
recording at 500 kbps and 1 mbps to allow for differences in user
connections. The entire filming process is strictly digital, flowing
directly from the cameras to the estimated 13-15 servers in place to
store up to 40 terabytes of footage. If I Can Dream is also notable for
being the first series on Hulu available internationally.
Swing over to http://ificandream.com or hit up the house on twitter @IICDHouse