HTML 5 Video on the Web
Video on the Web
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Diving In
Anyone who has visited YouTube.com in the past four years knows that you can embed video in a web page. But prior to HTML5, there was no standards-based way to do this. Virtually all the video you’ve ever watched “on the web” has been funneled through a third-party plugin — maybe QuickTime, maybe RealPlayer, maybe Flash. (YouTube uses Flash.) These plugins integrate with your browser well enough that you may not even be aware that you’re using them. That is, until you try to watch a video on a platform that doesn’t support that plugin.
Hunting
I’ve recorded, engineered, and produced music. Live and electronic. Studied midi sequencing, sampling, mixing, remixing recorded media. I’ve recorded live interviews, twiddled knobs and tweaked sound files. I’ve even manually spliced audio tape to minimize blunders.
I’ve written poetry and short stories. Edited arts publications and news publications. Produced news stories for print and digital display. I’ve read out loud in cafes and coffee shops and empty apartment bedrooms. I’ve wandered empty campuses at five in the morning to place stacks of newsmagazines in bins and laid out copy through the night until the sun shows up.
I’ve shot documentaries and abstract film and hi-def video. I’ve interviewed sports stars and local heroes. I’ve played videographer and director of photography and sound man and shouted “action” at actors in face paint. I’ve spent twelve hour days editing footage into some semblance of shape for live playback.
I’ve promoted mainstream and mediocre movies in bars and salons. I’ve filled theaters for late night sneak previews and mid-morning critic’s screenings. I’ve socially-networked international film festivals and shuttled around unknown filmmakers at two in the morning and four in the afternoon and ten at night.
I’ve coded for the web and taught technophobic eighty-year-old online teachers how to do their job. I’ve designed and built interactive, virtual health centers and presentation halls and auditoriums in virtual worlds. I’ve developed, engineered, and hosted podcasts before most people knew the word and I’ve widgetized online learning spaces for uninterested future nurses and doctors.
I’ve done every single one of these things but I’ve never learned to hunt.
These days I scan newspapers and online classifieds and job sites for even the slightest scent. I meander uselessly through networking meet-ups and endlessly revise my resume. And apply. Again and again. No response.
It’s easy to say it’s the economy but I have valuable skills that would prove useful for a host of companies. Just not the one skill I need.
