Business screen magazine (1946)

By HOWARD J. ZUCKERMAN President, National Teleproductions Corp. [ \cr since the day when the boys in Tom Edison's lab filmed the antics of "Fred Ott"s Sneeze." this utirld as been entertained, informed, convinced, and even educated by an ever-widening scope of movinc visuals. Once the exclusive domain of film, this medium has now come of age as electronic photography through the rapid ad\ incement of television. We believe ih.it videotape is on the threshold ol replacing chemical photography in many of its basic applications on .1 widespread scale. It's beginning now and will become obvious within the ne.\t three to five years. The potential of videotape cassettes is as large as the present visu.il communications field itself. Virtually everything that is being done .ind reported in magazines can be diine right now through the use of \ideotape. .Add to this the fact that tape is quicker to process than film (it's instantaneous) and generally less expensive (as much as 25%) ind the advantage lies with tape from the beginning. Miniaturization will produce compact, portable, lightweight units that will be a boon to sales people in the field. Take a look at some of the miniature TV sets on the market today. These units can. through the use of cassettes, quickly adapt to a variety of demonstrative programs that are not affected by the amount of light in the client's office. Consider a multi-media sales meeting presentation produced on \ideotape. The advancement in computerized editing and cueing techniques can turn a highly complex mixed-media sensation into a simple one-push-of-the-button affair. Yes. even slides can be proLirammed as still frames, thus eliminating forever the risk of jamming and other gremlins that haunt projectionists. Quick to produce . . . no waiting for lab processing . . no waiting to see workprints . . . computerized editing and cueing . . . cheaper in final form . . . cheaper in quantity duplication . . . that's what videotape cassettes can mean • right now in the visual communications end of business and industry. But tomorrow it means broadened FEBRUARY, 1971 Videotape Cassettes: the end of the beginning Here's how a commercial videotape producer envisions the ultimate effect of the touted cassettes. He sees it as still another important "communications explosion." vistas of communications with even bigger audiences. The success and refinement of film was encouraged by the demands of millions of movie theatre ticket-buyers. The same will happen with videotape cassettes, but these units will be in homes. In fact, videotape cassettes may just be a giant shot in the arm for an ailing movie industry, helping to recapture many of the more than 65 million weekly admissions lost since 1946. And. as this happens, a ready-made audience will be developing for business public relations "free" films or videotapes. Consider the latitude of sell available to your organization when you supplement your annual report or capital financing campaign to selected persons with a videotape cassette documentary to support your print material. Corporations could file cassettes with every major brokerage house in the country to introduce the corporation to the broker and prospective investors. Recruiting could be made easier by a cassette which the prospective recruit could take home, plug into the T\' cassette player and find out about you. Sales personnel could take their refresher or new model training tapes home for viewing at their leisure. Why can't this be accomplished on film? Do you have a 16mm projector in your home? Most of us don't but soon we will have a cassette playback unit that works through our own television sets. In fact, today an enterprising management man may recognize the fact that new electronic equipment is most often purchased by the more affluent and influential — the most difficult market to reach for any purpose. A direct mail program utilizing videotape cassettes for playback on the prospect's new machine would be a new and valuable sales tool. Videotape cassette systems are a reality today. And, of course, production facilities for all phases of business and industry videotape are already well established and experienced. Investigate videotape cassettes. Youll find out for yourself we're on the edge of yet another great explosion in communications. Meet the Author Howard Zuckerman, in addition to being president of National Teleproductions, is program manager for WTTV-TV in Indianapolis and serves as a free-lance producer/director for TV Sports, Inc., a major packager of televised sporting events. With more than 15 years experience in all phases of TV production, Zuckerman is considered an outspoken missionary of videotape in all of its diverse forms. 27