I have been writing some notes to for a presentation that demonstrates what VD is how it works. Here is the first draft:

What is Videodefunct? Videodefunct (VD) is multi-channel video environment. VD is an application that enables producers to classify and publish video content online.

What is multi-channel? In this context multi-channel is a term we use to refer to displaying more than one stream of video content as a frame alongside each other. The amount of frames and configuration of the frames can be altered to suit particular content if required. At this point we have mainly been focusing on producing content in a triptych layout.

How do you use it? VD is designed on top of the popular open source blog software WordPress and therefore utilises the very user-friendly functionality of publishing to a blog. But in this case like with video blogging, video content is posted online using blog software.

How do you prepare content? VD is not an authoring environment so video content is prepared beforehand in standard video-editing software like apple iMovie or Final Cut Pro for example. A scenario is recorded in the standard way on video then separate clips are edited and compressed ready for web publishing, along with a still image (a screenshot from a clip) as a jpeg file that is used as a poster image. This poster image provides users with the option to chose whether to download that particular clip and is converted into a thumbnail for use in the player. The movie is compressed using the H.264 codec as an file which can be played back in QuickTime or Flash. Both the movie MPEG-4 and jpeg files for each clip are uploaded to a server and the url for each file is placed in the custom fields part of the post for publishing.

But a key difference compared to the traditional editing process is thinking about the outcome as a collection of fragmented short duration clips that together make up a larger whole. VD has been designed in response to the way the Internet encourages fragmentation and short duration video clips that download easily with limited cost.

How do you classify the clips? Once the clips have been selected and prepared for publication either as continuous shots recorded in one take or as edited sequences they go through a classification process. Each video clip becomes a post like in a conventional blog, where they are assigned a title, category and tag. VD utilises the process of tagging, which is where a term or keyword that describes the content in some way is assigned to the video clip. For example (the date recorded, the location, the time of day, a detail in the shot) whatever information the producer of a project wants to use as way of making connections across that content and subsequently developing themes for users to watch that material.

Tagging is a type of classification called folksonomy that has been developed across social software applications on the Internet. Examples of collaborative user-generated tagging are sharing websites like Flickr and YouTube. The social bookmarking website delicious is another example. Tagging is also used on blogs where in most cases individuals use it to classify written posts. These tags are often represented in tag clouds on their blog as another way for users to access material on a blog.

How do you view the video content? There are two main parts to VD. The index/home page is set to the player where material is viewed. The usual chronological posts that are in the front end of a conventional blog become a type of archive of each individual shot as an accessible web page behind the VD player. In the current player version, which is triptych composition the central frame is used as a pivotal point for the other left and right frames of video content. To begin the user is given a written list of categories in the centre. Choosing one of these categories brings up a group of thumbnails that show what clips have been allocated to that category. Choosing a thumbnail downloads an individual clip into the central frame. Revealing the title and tags that have been assigned to that clip. The tag keywords are duplicated in the left and right frames. Choosing a tag reveals the group of thumbnails that have been tagged with that particular keyword. The user can then begin to curate varying combinations of clips together. Each time a thumbnail and subsequently a clip has been selected in the left and right frames both the title and tag of the clips is revealed. Re-selecting the tag returns the tag list and the same for the categories which allows the user to go through all of the clips that have been posted into the project.

How do you control the video and audio in the player? Built into the triptych there are some other simple controls for the viewer to control the playback of the clips. These interaction design features can be varied. In this version each clip can be individually started and stopped. Mousing over a particular clip makes the audio volume in that clip the loudest with the volume on the other two clips automatically lowering.