[PAML] Production - Technology

New technologies offer the performing arts industry the potential to create and deliver value-added products and services, increase efficiencies and reduce costs through electronic communication. Choosing the appropriate technology to create and deliver a product can be difficult because the options are so vast and technology changes so rapidly. An awareness of the relevant technologies, their capabilities and limitations for production and distribution, will assist in assessing the appropriate choice and application of the technology for digital delivery of performing arts products.

The development of digital technologies is providing unprecedented access to and use of all audiovisual material. Internet take-up in Australia has been rapid. In November 1998 there were an estimated 1,090,000 Internet subscribers in Australia with more than three million Australians believed to have access. The top three activities nominated as the main reason for internet use were: email 23.5 per cent, business, including business research 19.7 per cent, and entertainment 14.4%. AFC - Get the Picture, 5th edition 1998.

Within five years the Internet has evolved from a text-based resource of limited scope, to a multimedia network of information to diverse users. Technology is developing so rapidly that what is possible and popular today is likely to be superseded tomorrow and, what is said to be possible may never eventuate. This high rate of change makes it difficult to forecast user take-up consequently making decisions about the creation of multimedia products difficult. Making an informed choice relies on an understanding of the technology.

High-quality electronic products incorporating quality-moving image, have high technological demands. Each frame of a moving image contains a complexity of information. The technology required to store and manipulate this information is extremely costly. Distribution of this material will require an infrastructure of widely-accepted, high-capacity, storage mechanisms and widespread broadband Internet infrastructure. Currently the costs for digitising analogue material, high-volume video servers, and broadband delivery networks are also extremely high.

Broadband is the mechanism that enables delivery of large amounts of information quickly - considerably more than the normal modem connection people have from home to the Internet. In particular, broadband delivery can stream quality audio and video. It can involve different network technologies such as satellite, fibre optic cable and potentially ADSL (over copper phone lines). The potential of multimedia products will truly be realised as broadband infrastructure becomes widely available. This will revolutionise distribution mechanisms and offer new ways for the performing arts material to be distributed globally. It will be some time, however, before adequate broadband infrastructure is established and the potential markets mature.

The following PAML Pilot Project case studies provide relevant information relating to production and distribution of digital performing arts products. The companies were resourceful in the way they used live recordings to create useful products that support their core business. The program of products created goes a long way in translating live-to-screen in an imaginative way. The production process outlined in the following production stream promotes an awareness and understanding of the possibilities available with digital technologies.