Interactive video

Interactive video on broadband

Since 2005, interactive video has increased online as the result a number of factors including:

Because users are often reluctant to pay for online content, it is perhaps unsurprising that many of the new online interactive videos (including all the examples given below) are either sponsored content or part of advertising campaigns. A number of these pieces of these have won major awards.

Some principal forms of online interactive video that have emerged are listed below.

Video click throughs

A number of interactive video technologies have been developed in the last few years that utilize a new way of encoding videos allowing users to add clickable hotspots to video.

There are also technologies that allow video producers to insert questions, calculations, results, lead capture, and personality assessments directly into the video experience. Interactivity that used to require post-production is now available to any video creator for their existing video content.

V-Commerce

In April 2012, Canadian fashion retailer ssense.com partnered with interactive video technology company, WIREWAX, to release an interactive music video, featuring Iggy Azalea, Diplo and FKi, which was conceived from the outset as a marriage of art and commerce. All the styles featured in the video could be bought by clicking on the stars wearing them at any time the viewer saw an 'S' tag. The video was discussed on fashion blogs and in print.

"Customizable" online interactive videos

Customizable videos allow the user to adjust some variables and then play a video customised to the user's particular preferences. However the user does not actually interact with the video while it is playing. Recent examples of this form of video include:

"Conversational" online interactive videos

Conversational videos allow the user to interact with a video in a turn-based manner, almost as though the user was having a simple conversation with the characters in the video. Recent examples include:

"Exploratory" online interactive videos

Exploratory videos allow the user to move through a space or look at an object such as an artwork from multiple angles, almost as though the user was looking at the object in real life. The object or space is depicted using video loops, not still, creating a more "live" feel. Recent examples include:

Aside from online use, interactive video may be found in a variety of applications, as listed below.

Interactive video in early computer games

The term interactive video or interactive movie sometimes refers to a nowadays uncommon technique used to create computer games or interactive narratives. Instead of 3D computer graphics an interactive image flow is created using premade video clips, often produced by overlaying computer-generated material with 12-inch videodisc images (where the setup is known as "level III" interactive video, to distinguish it from "level I" or videodisc-only, and "level II" requiring specially made videodisc players that support handheld-remote-based interactivity without using an external computer setup). The clips can be animation like in the video game Dragon's Lair or live action video like in the video game Night Trap. Compared to other computer graphics techniques interactive video tends to emphasize the looks and movement of interactive characters instead of interactivity.

Interactive video in cinema

Interactive video has been used in interactive cinema presentations.

Interactive video in YouTube

In 2008 YouTube added Video Annotations as an interactive layer of clickable speech-bubble, text-boxes and spotlights. Users may add interactive annotations to their videos and by that a new trend of interactive videos arose, including choose-your-own-adventure video series, online video games using YouTube videos, spot-the-difference-game videos, animal-dubbing and more. In 2009 YouTube added a community aspect to its Video Annotations feature by allowing video owners to invite their friends and community to add annotations to their movies.

Interactive video in advertising

In 2014, video marketing platform Innovid was awarded a U.S. patent for interactive video technology.

Interactive video art

Contemporary interactive video artists like Miroslaw Rogala, Greyworld, Raymond Salvatore Harmon, Lee Wells, Camille Utterback, Scott Snibbe, and Alex Horn have extended the form of interactive video through the dialog of gesture and the participatory involvement of both active and passive viewers. Perpetual art machine is a video art portal and interactive video installation that integrates over 1000 international video artists into a single interactive large scale video experience.

Interactive video in cell phone gaming

A number of interactive video cell phone games have been developed over the last several years.

Interactive video in VJing

Technically VJing is also about creating a stream of video interactively. However it rarely involves interaction between the end user and the video stream.

Interactive video in research

The human-computer interaction (HCI) research community as well as the multimedia research community have published several works on video interaction tools. A survey is provided in