Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Site and sight

Had breakfast.
Marked Uni papers
Online to look at Uni news stories
refined content on broadband site
ate light lunch
back to site
film former students now producers in India and Lithuania talking about their time at Uni
Answered emails -
took a call fom a friend .. wants to work at GMTV
Get ready to go over for Chat at Channel 4
Good chat with Mark Roberts about citizen journalism
Friend rings up for meeting with futher education group wanting to set up bridging programme for students with
Think about whether I should go to the gym - I do. Not much energy in me, buut get through aerobics programme.
More film cutting to be posted to the American Institute, grr Drive goes down. Order new extreme drive.
more emails. Rob Chiu has just met and talked on the same platform as Kyle Cooper and Neville Brody
Oh invite to New Media do.
Missed Dinner.....
Veg out on some ITV prog about celebrirties crowing
Time to hit the sack
zzzzzzzzzz

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

TV isn't dead: Apple's broadcasting future

Driving to visit a friend in Four Ways, a Northern Joburg surburb in South Africa, I'm struck by what I see.

A security check point at the mouth of his well-to-do address controls the flow of traffic and people into his street, which breaks into a small town, furnished with all the necessary amenities for the community.

The analogy is not so far fetched for Apple.

Having staked its logoed flag in the terrain of desk top publisher, I-Movie auters and I-Tunes twisters, to name a few, the company has now become neighbourly to a new community.

The public delivered brand loyalty and a mass movement uptake to its poduct range, but this one consisting of professional broadcasters delivers a relevance of how television is shaping here, now and the future.

Oh yes, the Internet may have a radical transformative effect on what we watch, but television, says conference attendant Adrian Scott, from The Bakewell consultancy, will still be a force for the future.
So Apple's executive briefing to broadcasters reveals how well it's set up store in Media "Four ways" with other partners offering everything to all.

The gathering in corporate surroundings, just off its Regent's Street store, was an opportunity to see new work flows - the taking in and putting out of media.

And by default, the chance to oggle at some new professional toys.
The buzz word appears to be "partnerships" with the likes of Sony, Norcom, and Popwire all bringing a dish to the tech table.

"The real challenge though is getting broadcasters to understand what the technology can do for them", says Mr Scott.

The big beasts of broadcasting, with a strong foot in news, have until now included AVID Newscutter, BASYS, Quantel and ENPS.
But Apple's broadcast solution and new partners seeks to offer alternatives across the board.

A couple that stood out include the multiple window play-to- edit application on Final Cut. Live editing using multiple source cameras just got easier.

Whilst Norcom's add-on to Final Cut allows broadcasters to match scripts to pictures without physically counting three words to the second for a match.

Then there's Popwire, which boasts on its goody take home - a software CD - that its Compression Master 4 delivers industrial strength media encoding. I'm yet to try it out.

Whilst these innovations are specifically targeted at professionals, hence their price range; the Sony XDCam cost about 50,000 Euros, there could be a long tail benefit.

If Apple's record in the low entry level market is anything to go by, then perhaps at some point, consumers may well sample some of these broadcast solutions at tiered market prices.

Now that would be neighbourly.

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Monday, May 08, 2006

Damn if anyone knows

Isn't that it really? A digital reformation with eyes wide open. So we're all media makers. Granted some are better than others. Some people have spent a life time and earned serious gong power. So that's no way to treat the profession. But if you look back to Addison and Steele 17th and later scraps with parliament. The law makers forgot to issue licenses and it ebcae a free for all, wev've been here before.

So the trick is safeguarding a profession but embracing the market place. Now for once the idea of Sach's free market forces doesn't sound like a good idea. But film makera have been wrestling and taming those same, albeit slightly different data, forces.

If you build it and it better damn well be good they will come. If you're good, I guess we can all go home safe in the knowledge that we'll make it. For lurking in the wings are youth so clued up on the latest immersive media that frankly, yes, I did consider this, a worth trade such as plumming ( 60 p/hr plus) comes to mind.

We hate change, but that's exactly where we find ourselves and whether a broadcaster embraces this or not, change is a happening. It happened/ is happening in the music industry, manufacturing (c.f China's trade deficit - electronic goods) and is having a good go in print. cf You and Yours today - the e-screen or the program I'm doing with The Press Association

So buzzers at the ready for five what was teh name of the institution that showed the rest of the wrold how to produce quality programmes. The year in question 2050. Somehow forces are trying to prevent this, but how well can they see the future?

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Citizen wotsitsname - that film (wemedia

)

Everyone knows the film, even if they can't remember the talented director. The film has become part of our visual landscape and set a standard for those who would follow.

And the film was. . . the one that showed the beating of Rodney King, the film showing the botched landing of a plane on the sea off the coast of East Africa, images from London's tube, from 911, Hurricane Katrina and there are countless many more.

These were films made by Citizen Joe and Josephine. Citizen Journalism has been here as long as we've told stories. In the late 1600s leading to 1700s in the UK, story telling turned professional. Addison and Steele, famed for Tatler and the Spectator, both of whom had different professions, could loosely count as early flag bearers of a name that today is a red flag to many.

So citizen journos are not a new phenomenon, but like an army has been professionalised. And on the theme of the army, we might count it's citizen contributors as members of the Territorial Army - citizens who have their day job, but enlist all the same. No one gets heated about that. Oh, I'm being naive.

It's not whether we embrace CJ or not. It's here, has been here, and ain't going anywhere. In fact the digital economy will ensure CJs increase in number. Some organisations have welcomed blogs, but that's just one facet of the digital journalist.

There is more we could do, much much more. Not because we're compelled to, but because we're interested and need to facilitate greater understanding, education, entertainment and participation amongst ourselves. CJ adds to that. Listen to the CJ podcast and to panelist Rachel North - one of the survivors of July 7th bombing.

So to my one contribution - a perhaps nonsensical idea. Emily Bell ( Guardian ) said this morning, most of the UK's TV talent is in reality TV. So the programme is this. Broadcasters who claim to have the CJ firmly in site should set up a CJ model news made by guess who to compete with their own bulletins.

The broadcasters facilitate the making of the programme offering support but the editorial comes from we the people. If YouTube and Metacafe are anything to go by, it should make an interesting programme. It may even have a shelf life on broadband.

The best film ever, Citzen Kane? Or was that made by you.

p.s I'll blog my thoughts on what I thought of the Citizen Journalist debate , as one of the panelists later