Photo and Video Production

Exploring the Historical, Practical, and Technological Implications of Convergence in Sport Media

Introduction

It has become increasingly difficult to be just a photographer or just a video producer.

As a media professional with experience working in both fields over the past decade, I was very interested in understanding how these separate roles were intersecting.

This topic was the subject of my research while completing a Master of Arts in Media Production at Ryerson University!

Abstract

It is an exciting time to work in photo and video production. Innovations in camera technology are accelerating, and professional-grade equipment is becoming increasingly more affordable. One recent innovation has the potential to redefine media production altogether: cameras will soon be capable of simultaneously capturing still photography and motion video with no discrepancy in quality. Using the theoretical framework of convergence culture and exponential organizations, this research asks: will the traditionally separate roles of photographer and videographer become one? This study will explore the historical, practical, and technological implications of photo and video convergence as it relates to sport media.

Conclusions

Photography will continue to play an important role in image production. Audiences are overwhelmed by media. Photography plays an important role in this saturated environment. A single image is easier to engage with than a short video because there is almost no time commitment.
The convergence of photo and video production is inevitable. It took approximately fifteen years for the digital camera to become fully democratized and render film obsolete. Almost every metric used in this research shows that photo and video convergence has followed the same pattern of exponential improvement. If the release of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II in 2008 is considered the starting point, it would be reasonable to suggest photo and video will fully converge around 2023.
Image production will become a computational process. The shift to digital photography was more than just a technological leap. The exponential organizations model explains that digitization made it possible to apply computations in the form of image recognition, artificial intelligence, social technologies, filtering, editing, and machine learning.