Lip Stick on a Pig - Snakes on a Plane

It might have been Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, (no not Tony Blair) throwing a hand of diplo-doo doo into the US election race with an article that endorsed Barack, whilst ignoring any crumbs of comfort about McCain.

McCain's campaign team cried : "foul".

Or that swines around the world started bleating in unison to an almighty din. Lipstick!

A dash of lipstick on porky goes a long way and we'll not hear the rest of this, particularly as in some back yard somewhere the Society For the Protection of Lipsticks on a Pig, will soon be convening their first meeting.

Pigs have feelings too.

However as Big Bangs go, this almost suffocated the real news of the day of a giant matrix built in Geneva looking for the meaning of the universe.

Whilst, the back chat was: "we're all going to die - from an enveloping black hole", Sex and the Politics was almost seen as far riskier.

Barack's comments (faux pas); Palin's lipstick comment, (amusing); then the BBC's PM radio news programme retrieved a McCain comment from recent archives with him poking lipstick on a pig (not faux pas).

What is it about lipstick on a pig, which is now up to 580,000 google entries and rising by the piglet?

Media boredom? There's no denying there's so little in the way of howlers that if you're a network news producer you've got to find something on any candidate, even finger-drilling their ears for dry wax.

"The big story today: Obama is trigger happy. The nuclear codes are unsafe. Here's why".

Experts of the diplomatic persuasion might tut tut: words, dear boy are our weapon of choice, so one must choose them carefully.

Obfuscation often is preferred to what you really think, and mind you it's all in the timing dear boy!

US politics, as else where is a collection of leaders from the straight talking types -tell em like it is, to the carefully chosen worders. And it's often believed the electorate crave a change in negotiating talk after long periods.

In the UK, PM Brown was supposed to the Labour leader of choice after years of Blair, the slicker worder.

But from recent news pollings the party is zombing to its demise at the next election.

Critics of police interviewing techniques, adopted long ago by the media, refer to it as "shaping".

Making a pre-conceived suggestion about an event, which if shaped well comes to adopt the meaning the interviewer intended.

It's one reason in live interviews, politicians very rarely answer an interviewer with the question they posed.

At a distance, making something seemingly harmless stick is what editors might called juxtaposed editing.

In Eisenstein's famous BattleShip Potemkin, two seemingly unrelated events when brought together provide new meaning. One an arm action, the Second a cut eye.

The result: somebody just had their face slashed.

Lipstick on a pig ~ slang for when someone tries to dress something up, but is still that something. usually used on ugly broads, when they put on a skirt


High Drama
High drama!

Here, in conversation at the Uni ( who cares what Brits think?) there is a collision of awe and incredulity in this live poker election game.

It is by any stretch of a scriptwriter's imagination the best film that's never been made relegating Melannie Griffith's Working Girl to something dreary and tired.

"From Put to President" - the tale of one hard working hockey mum from a small town becomes the most powerful woman in the world.

Even the connoisseured Palm D'or could not conceal their tear-drenched handkerchief at its premiere.

My favourite though is "lipstick on a pig- the docufilm drama" - made by one of the US' favorite Video Journalists _______________ ( stick name here)

November 6th McCain is President

March 15th McCain goes in for a routine check up and is held in for tests. Media report Whitehouse says there is nothing wrong with McCain.

March 15th: Media Reports: Russia says new evidence that US played a role in Georgia breaches international diplomacy. Its military warship Peter the Great just outside US water fires unidentified war head in what US claims is provocation.

US tells Russia to cease all activities otherwise there will be consequences.

Russia and US in stand off.

Political pundits comb through events of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as history plays itself out.

Hollywood star Samuel L Jackson's playing agent Wayne on L.O.P says the film's a hit because it mirrors society.

There's a scene in Roger Donaldson's 13 Days, when military brass are leaning on President JFK to meet the Soviets head-on. Cut to a naval chief being berated because he doesn't quite understand the subtlety of a missile fire being an intricate diplomatic chess move.

It's a message, high in stakes of double dutch speech amongst the learned types.

If as the fear factor amongst millions of Americans is Palin does becomes president by default, could you believe she'd be in the decision-making chair, and not the special aides and policy wonks of her immediate circle?

Hail the real vice presidents turned decision-makers: middle-aged, grey suited men, insiders of Washington and some. That much Palin owes the party, for the fact she's made her piece of history, now let us do the right thing.

No president is bigger than the machine, unless they've a shed load of past contacts from Capital Hill to create their own machine. Which is why as an outsider it's nay impossible to make your own decision, cuz "you just don't understand how at the higher echelons we work".

Meanwhile the US's rogue states will be playing their own "diplomatic games". Take on the president in a bluff game, observe the reaction. The less experienced the person is the more likely they'll take a while, silence sows doubt, then let the US media pick up the act: Who Governs the US, screams the headlines.

The best weapon of diplomatic confabulation is confusion. Confusion is next in the diplomatic dictionary to "Implosion". You just have to sit back and watch.

That much I have come to observe in international relations either attending one of the UK's revered foreign affairs clubs, Chatham House, since 1994 and putting some of them on air.


Rivetting Stuf
All riveting stuff

Actor Matt Damon is frothing. He's seen "Lipsticks on a Pig".

By the time I get to visit, Chatham House, so busy haven't been for almost 2 years, I'm hoping the speaker can shed some light on the international diplomacy question.

Says Chatham House:

Professor Paul Green, Director of the Institute of Politics, Arthur Rubloff Professor Policy Studies, Roosevelt University; Political Analyst for WGN Radio, Chicago is a nationally recognized political expert who has attended every major party convention since 1984 will give an analysis of the 2008 US Presidential race.

Meanwhile back to the media.

Question? Are there some things that might be off limits for the media?

And does integrity matter above ratings? In other words if you're a network trying to book the presidential runners and their deputies are there some things you won't touch on because you burn your future bridges if you do?

The greater good is getting them into your studio again, and again, and again.

And come the election who is Bin Laden likely to play to to the US audience?

Who will Laden endorse given his craving for scrapping for an open fight with the "Evil One"?

Tricky one and how will it gets spun, but get ready he's done it once.

In the run towards South Africa's epoch election in the 90s, a political insider told me a story.

I could never verify it but I trusted him.

Rumours were circulating of Mandela's ill-health and in the country to meet the great man was one of his idols, Ali.

The press demanded a photoshoot and whilst Mandela's aides were reluctant to get him out of bed, they needed something to quell the rumours, which my insider claims he hand a hand in advising his aides.

The picture duly appeared in the papers the next day: Mandela clenched fist with his idol looking a picture of health.

And that's the status quo . The US media's column inches and reels generated in this election run will hardly tell you anything, unless someone cracks under pressure.

There is a tacit understanding of how "we can work together".

Maggie Thatcher ( no, she's no longer Britain's prime minster) hated being interviewed by the public. You know the clip I'm talking about.

Every thing's so staged managed, that it looks almost implausible to come any great TV, that is unless the unpredictable happens.

It may not have counted for much, but more PM Brown big bangs may reveal more about the candidates and whether anyone of them rants about pigs.

Check the facts

Who's right, who's wrong? Who's callously making it up? Who's being Machiavellian?

I have become hooked on this

And now for this - great hurdler, great film, great personal story

This is a great story. Even more fascinating as I was merrily going about my web business when a colleague asked if I'd seen this film on BBC about Akii Buah

You know how when you're deep in something you're not really thinking...

"No", I said.

"Oh it was a beautiful film", he replied.

So we googled, but the original BBC film on i-player had been taken down.

Then my colleague Rob proceeds to tell me this extraordinary story of this extraordinary athlete from Uganda who broke the 400m record at the Olympics, whom trained with weights in his jacket.

He never defended his world record. Years later Uganda did not take part and the US's Moses would capture the limelight.

Akii had to flee the country and ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, my colleague proceeded to recount the story, and there one day a journalist came across him, utterly baffled looking on in amazement.

One of the world's greatest athletes with not a penny to rub together, slumming it.

Akii was rescued and subsequently moved to Germany.

He passed away in 1997.

Now it's a great story in itself but it brings it even closer after my colleague Rob Ojok says...

"Oh yes he's my uncle"

"your what?"

" My Uncle. He used to come round my house haranguing me for not wearing puma gear his sponsors when I was heavily into Adidas. My dad would say "why are you so obsessed with Adidas when your uncle is giving you this puma gear for free".

"Your uncle?" I murmured.

Strange things happen huh!

.

Ask what you can do for video journalism

You know what I mean and there are a long list of people we ferret out who do this.

Been under the bonnet again, using an application brought to my attention by one of my Masters students Ying.

Saw it on Apple, but like most things now, I suppose if you know where to look you'll find the code.

It's called Lightbox and you can see how Ying uses it here on her final project.

It's very easy to use with a good forum for feedback.

Effectively it defocuses the background with a black mask to make your picture more prominent.

Apple uses it with video on its trailer sites.

It was Social Media Evangelist JD Lasica whom made a point a while back about the availability of 3rd party k.apps and assortment of css cum widgets being within reach for all.

That way then we could focus attention on the language and changing culture of story telling.

Well I suppose that wish is all but answered.

Revolutions and Solostream Word Press can make any avarice content provider compete with the big uns.

The look and feel is almost worth jetisoning your own web ambitions for an off-the-shelf layout.

We're fast forgetting the days when it was spit and polish.

Video circa 2001
I remember how I laboured through love to put video online when the only code was via swfs.

As a result quite a few legacy pieces on viewmagazine have rubbed the wrong way because of a lack of video playback.

That's now changed with flvs and action scripting 3 that allows you to stream from servers with controls.

What was once a pinning pursuit with brightcove is no longer off limits. There are so many players, you ask how they stay in business.

And with bandwidth premiums gradually becoming a thing of the past, there's scope for greater innovation.

Which leads me to a feature on the BBC's click about hyper local coverage and community correspondence.

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/ a newspaper in the North of England runs stories almost post code specific.

Bloggers et al contribute to around 20 mico sites which are all but self sustaining.

Last year they grabbed the online community and consumer prize in the association of online publishers awards which included the BBC and Sun newspaper.

The BBC is in the throes of considering hyper local.

The model sets up an interesting value system in bringing in revenue. If it becomes invaluable in, to use Channel One's phrase, "News you can Use", consumers will pay.


Hyperlocal's paymasters
Couple of days ago I posted a commercial I made for my local tax advisor.

And in hyper local you can see how the local bakery, mechanic and landscape gardener can fork out comparatively a couple of pounds to get themselves out there.

Ask not.. but what you can give. This week Julian Aston, a name that may not mean anything to you, holds a party to celebrate his retirement and being self reverential his reinvention.

Julian Aston alongside Sir David English was the figure who pushed video journalism's uptake in the UK in the mid 90s.

I'm thinking he can afford a huge sigh and the thought that he has given much to video journalism and where we are today.

No one as yet though has replicated his revolutionary juke box play out system, but then would you with the web.

To see a clip of Julian with Sr David click here.

Actually correction that's not him but a youthful Michael Rosenblum 14 years ago talking video journalism.

How to set up a Video Journalism Station

What is video Journalism and how you build a VJ outfit from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.
Longer version on Viewmagazine.tv
John emailed asking for some info on how to go about starting a video journalism outfit; something I elaborated on at the World Editor's Forum presentation (above).

Well John, It's a fair process, but here's an outline:

Consider:

• Capital investment and running cost models
• marketing (TV/Online/print?) and advertising revenue
• inventory - output -web/cable/triple play/ agency
• recruitment and training
• model and growth forecasts are some of the key areas to consider. Compared to tv the outlay is fractional, but you'll be calling on more innovation and cross-relations to penetrate the market in a relatively short time.

Furthermore consider

• what you're covering and why may seem like the obvious, but that's where many fall short after cash flow probs and resort to traditional norms relying on agency feed to stay afloat.
• Will you be the provider or will others contribute and if so what's you value or zeitgeist quotient?

Consider what for instance makes the ff:
OSTN , Current TV, The Real News, Yahoo's Kevin Sites attractive or otherwise business and consumer propositions (not outright VJ stations per se, but using VJ models).

They share common ideals in UGC etc, but distinguish themselves in several areas, not least by different tech-cultural usage.

And mainly are you pursuing VJ for TV or VJ for VJ - there's a difference. It is a more comprehensive work flow of events.

Hope this helps. I'll probably blog some more details on this in the future

Sitbonzo - The Pros Croydon Crew

Online Videos by Veoh.com

These guys deserve to be on terrestrial-satellite, Dave, perhaps.

Seen this once some time ago, but the second time around is even better: irreverent, highly informative, and they're having a great deal of fun.

I'll sound like a broken record, but those who've been on VJ training courses with me will have heard me talk about how Video journalism is closer in many respects to photojournalism than TV News Camera work IE if you're shooting VJism, not with TV in mind.

Enjoy this as the crew reveal some of their tricks of the trade.

David works about 15mins away and I'm looking forward to mixing it with him in the future.

Great stuff.

Camp video journalism London?

VJ Promo - Come into the light from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.

As my mate Rob gets ready for Camp VJ 2 in the US, I'm thinking about putting something on here in London.

Language is a dynamic media constantly changing, whether that's visual or literary.

So what might work now in video journalism may see a bit dated in time.

We know that much from looking back on period films. There are classics from which we borrow, but styles and language have changed: I won't say evolved; changed, more like it.

I get asked whether I hold any close contact training of my own. I consult for clients e.g. corporates and newspaper groups, but have considered weekends for an at-your-pace learning zone.

So I'll take some more soundings, but the areas I'm interested in for an advance VideoJournalism would sweep through exclusive video from 1994 onwards, and include:

Exposition: there are stark differences between US and UK news reportage in how a story is told. There are emerging differences emerging in Video Journalism too.

Editing: knowing how to edit, but when and what to: the emotional cut, the syntax cut, juxtaposition

Effects: Just as in editing how can we use effects, minimum or otherwise to convey meaning in a story.

Shooting: tagging and blocking, movement and creative lens - the language of composition.

Multimedia: ignoring the timeline: Thinking spatially

And telling a story through Radio and TV and changes in radio broadcasts over the years that can be fed back into other media

Multimedia film 1st rough cut -

Click To Play

Very rough cut of 4 min section of multimedia journalism film exploring multimedia - this is going to be turned into a hyper video film.

features Ozwald Boateng, Riz Khan, The Telegraph, its new super journalists I was involved in training and the very talented David Berman of Sitbonzo ( Croydon Advertiser)...Other additions to ff: Peter Horrocks, leading computer scientists, Dan Gillmor etc.

Posted here a highly compressed 480X270 70mb HDV film

Eventually I'm looking to a mini-part series...

Learning without walls - Video journalism, graphics, computing

Look no walls: Dental Nurse Convention lunch time. For most of the time, this all women convention had the windows to the hall blacked out, whilst all you could hear was raucous laughter.

I have been under the bonnet of css and html all day.

I'm presenting a short strand to faculty about Mashers.

The title of the preser is "Learning without Walls" and is intended to reflect the notion of students studying across disciplines and what some do.

I was struck as an undergrad that while Chemistry appealed to me, I was really interested in Economics.

In fact a day before my 3rd year exams, I was busy getting my head around "the law of diminishing returns" - my friend John still jokes about.

Eight years on I had my wish at the LSE for a couple of months studying global finance - marveling over the UK's penchant for "Boom and Bust" economics - loved it

Today, cross-discipline learning extends past any love affair; as a journalist it's almost a must.

In the corridor at uni, a heckle away are graphic information design students; below us, photography; to the left, film students and over the corridor Computer Science.


Diversity is the name of the game
They're all united by a common cause, but separated by these invisible walls. Graphics is graphics and journalism is journalism.

Yes, No?

There's a debate.

Graphic design into our multimedia era strives further for the art of telling stories, and communicating through pictures, words, music et al. You might almost say the same thing for Journalists, and then why stop there.

knowing a bit of what everyone else knows is the edge to get ahead.

The graphics students that approached me for an interview with their design for an e-newspaper with models left me slacken- jaw for several minutes.

But I still wondered how much more might they have done if they had a student journalist attached to their project.

Couple of years ago, I rounded up a couple of cross discipline students to pitch an idea to Richard Deverill, now a controller of Children's TV at the BBC.

It was that rare opportunity when different minds came together, tentative, not knowing anything about each other, but in a couple of weeks dreaming up the most imaginative ideas.

Learning without walls
Learning without walls is a bit like standing at speakers corner and saying it doesn't have to be this division of labour for learning and that we could learn a little more from each other: designers, coders, journalists and fashion, plus a whole raft of other disciplines.

In essence that's the space many agencies, heads of practising and educational journalism departments occupy, or would want to.

Here's where I should have played a clip from the BBC's Head of Multimedia Peter Horrocks.

In Final Year Projects, which I posted couple of days ago (you really must just take a brief look) online students push themselves pretty hard. Their briefs alone make for an hours reading.

Learning without walls is a sub culture many many of us, including students, already occupy; this is just to acknowledge what can be achieved and to see if there's room to provide further support to student mashers.

NB. Views expressed by David here in no way reflect that of the University or any reference to figures associated with it.

Video Journalism Rabbit Hole, London crime and 21st Cent. students

Tis a term, at least now it is: rabbit hole.

I feel like being down one just now with a sea of ideas around me.

I took the pic at a Sunday Pub Lunch somewhere in Warwickshire. And yes there were bore holes that looked like drilling sites from these fluffy creatures.

Rabbit Hole - an idea with good intention but proving unproductive. hic!

Elsewhere there are shake ups at the BBC - huge ones, so one idea I had has to be put on hold.

Sabaa's one minute film festival is doing well with a new mention from Wired Magazine. I'll post some more on this later, but meanwhile go visit and vote.




Could this be the future classroom?


It looks like this now on paper at the uni where I work.

And in a couple of weeks the new set up should allow all manner of digital digiratis to go on - all with the purpose of improving the experience for students.

Skyping with other lecturers into a lecture, having remote control over the screens... plus some mash ups with different disciplines.

I'll be showing some historical moments e.g. Second World War, 911 video journalism footage to a new generation of burgeoning journalists.

Finally the brilliance of Holovaty's Crime.org reaches British shores with the Mayor Boris Johnson deploying a crime-grid using google's engine and police data to London suburbs.

This is an altogether different one though Holovaty was the first I known of to point to data being used in such an innovatory way. Watch the report here 1995 National Press Club


The Mayor says it will help them target crime pointing to how it helped New York.

You can find out the best and worst of London by going to www.maps.met.police.uk and inserting your postcode.

My area came up "below average" .

Estate Agents, however are nervous as now you will now be able to log on and discover the worst areas in London.

Commercials made with Video journalism

My local tax advisor, Guy, is brilliant and I wanted to repay him for his services so I made this VJ commercial piece for his company taxfile.

Shot on A1, I have left it fairly lean on post production and it's more of an advertorial.

But it sustains enough, I hope, for you to contact him if you need assistance.

Commercials and Ads using small crews is said to be at the heart of the drive for new business online.

This film could easily have been quite a chunk of change, particularly in using 24p, lighting, and prime lense cameras to mirror 16mm.

It's also worth noting that while the gear may be DVCam the creative counts for something , which is why David Lynch, Director of Dune, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive can pick up a nice earner for a spot he made for Playstation2 with the PD150.

There's an interesting story behind this which I'll talk about some other time.



And yes, I'm no David Lynch, but just a thought which segues into what Claudio and Scott Rensberger - two accomplished director/cameras - emphasis.


Deconstruction
Spent about 2 hours there. Filmed judiciously so I had about 20 min of tape.

I set up the the shot for him to walk into his office with two passes, altering the focal frame on different passes.

You might even see how I cut through his "sequence- plane" the equivalent of the 180 line, which offers a clean aesthetic sequence.

I interviewed him for five minutes and edited something I believe reflected a broader canvas of who they are and what they do.

There are quite a few dirty shots, that means I've deliberately blocked my line of sight and often gone a little abstract to strengthen the visual grammar.

It's been reedited three or four times. Often the first pass is the scribble and the subsequent cuts refine.

It's been slightly washed through After Effects to bring up the luminance and crush the blacks.

Because I did not want to use music and introduce any visual effects, I have deliberately let the atmos bleed into the film. You might here the sirens, you might not.




I have shot a fair number of commercial/promos including: a "how to" for Livestation, through a friend which involved more aggressive shooting and some time ago Lennox Lewis, XTP- London Underground and a 30" spot aired on CNN International.

Multimedia+ Video journalism +online - all in a day's work

It really shouldn't take that long, but one of the sites I work on is buggy, so I find myself editing in code, which it gets very touchy about.

By the afternoon, in between marking papers, writing up a new online programme and filling in sections for my own dissertation, a security issue arose.

Comng back from a meeting, I'd previously spotted two men in a car in what looked like Phishing; running numbers across their screens. I couldn't help but ask whether they were the police (doh) before alerting the police.

Fortunately the group I was seeing have wifi WEP, protected, though I advised on WPA, which we looked at installing.

Then time to look at this legacy piece I'd promised a friend who also happens first to be my tax advisor. He wanted a piece and I spent about two hours with him. The result is something I'll post shortly and deconstruct.

By the day's end at 3 in the morning, that was it 15 hour day.

I used to be good at these "death marches" memories of dotcom 15 hour working habits.

Huh I'm losing it

BBC Front page - Videojournalism piece?

This in an interesting a piece on free running on the front page of the BBC home site, provided by Newsbeat - Young persons' ( Radio) news programme. Here's the link as a stand alone

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/newsbeat/newsid_7594000/7594511.stm.

It's all conducted on location; little scene change; the colour's flat ( DV resolution) no reporter V/O and by BBC standards the background sound is fighting the interview.

These aren't criticisms per se, but observations, given Newsbeat's audience and relative resources: relative to BBC News.

It's a fairly easy hit piece. Could you do any better?

I say that because the piece asked for a different visual creativity because:

• of the Sport: Remember the Bourne scene through of Jason jumping through the window. No, no you don't have to put up a rig and get elaborate. Go buy a headcam for 200 dollars/ or smaller DVcam and let one of the jumpers become the defacto filmer to give you their perespective.
  
• it's meant for a young person's programme. The BBC could really do with creating a more contemporary version of Reportage which I worked on in the 90s. Hint my diarys filling up!
  
• It's a VJ piece, and it's not hard news.
  

Try not and ape TV
In essence this was a VJ piece cut for TV. meaning the TV stanzas have been maintained and the huge difference is that instead of a crew of three, one person ( cum assistant perhaps) has taking over.

Now truthfully I do not abs know whether this was shot by one person etc, but there are a number of clues that give that away.

Irrespective, enough info comes across in this almost 3 min feature, likely made by Newsbeat team, rather than BBC News.

And it's good to see a major broadcaster giving its prime estate over to 'experimental' pieces, particularly geared towards its younger audience.

That young chap's popularity will have reached a good slice of the the target audience - the power of online video huh!

Wanted Video journalists - Grensons and Manolo Blahnik 's need not apply

By the time James had picked up his camera, paused to inspect its array of galactic buttons then train his eye on the view finder, the panel of three had pretty much made their mind up.

You can teach a young man to fish, but there must be instinct and curiosity, otherwise all the will in the world will fail to yield a profitable worker.

Holding the camera upside down didn't help either.

It makes you ponder.

It sounds unfair but with 100 more applicants to filter, that will do.

The attractive presenter who entered the fray would probably not have known, but she barely had time to stoop. It was the blahnicks wot done it.

She might have taken a cue from a friend in DC who turned adversity into admiration.

Walking up to the interviewers in her points, she stumbled, toppled over from snapping her heels and immediately remarked to fits of giggles: "Well I made a right heel of that then didn't I ?"

She got the job she wanted and wore sneakers almost all the way through her contract working as a fairly active press officer.

City recruiters hiring for some of the posher traders around London's Thread Needle Street know a thing or two about your footwear.

Your shoes are a mirror into your soul and leather soles ala Grensons and Blahniks say more about your fiscal ambitions and a penchant for the good life. In the emerging world of video journalism, you'd do well with more practicable footwear.

Ones that allow you to show a quick set of heels trailing that rogue defendant outside the courts for a quote.

The beginnings of a multimillion pound industry? Video Journalists aficionados and practitioners gather at the 2006 VJ Awards in Germany. Top upper left corner, David filming the event. For the 2008 awards and submissions go here


Are you a video journalist?
The application says "Video Journalists Wanted" and often lists a string of personal skills, qualifications, knowledge and experience one must exhibit.

" We're looking for reporters who can film and edit", one newspaper editor told me.

"Filming's not so important, we can teach them that, but tenacity and an enquiring mind is what we want" said another at the Press Association's Video Journalism Training camp in Howden.

The criteria is loose - a reporter with the obligatory film skill plug-in.

Of course there's some logic here, but its weak spot lies in assuming the new shiny video journalism training is about re purposing reporters, though understandably many are trained this way.

It may work short term, but for the long term it renders video journalism's where next trajectory stifled.

Managers often believe you can unbox a videojournalist just as you can his or her gear that has just been delivered by UPS.

You could draw an analogy with newspapers making their text available for their print edition and the web.

Until recently, many editors believed, and some still do, that 50 word paragraphs culminating in 2000 word articles that appease city commuters, will equally do for the web.

Step forward Jakob Nielsen, who's been proved right so many times, it's any wonder his name hasn't become a verb. "Can you Jakob that mate? You know make it tighter".

Today, the emerging consensus is different. We read differently on the web compared to the physical print.

It's a fairly level playing field at the moment as most recruiters do a fair bit of groping around for what they actually want.

Plus, really, the terms of employment are for the now, more or less, happening in-house with reporters, designers and photo journalists being trained up.

But it won't always be so.

Just as broadcast networks ask specifics for their reporting, producing and whatever other jobs, and newspaper eds want examples of your clippings before testing your knowledge of Mosley Vs News of the World, Video Journalism will soon get busy.


I made this, but then how could you be sure? 20 second sting for interview with the BBC's Peter Horrocks, Head of News and Multimedia Newsroom.

A showreel illustrating short and long piece and stand up may be a pre-requisite, though as Channel 4 executive Stuart Cosgrove talking about the value of showreel for reporters said to me some time back: "They can be of relative little use, as you've no way of verifying who really made it".

Surely, in today's open-access self policed net, you'd have to go to some lengths to disguise what's yours and what isn't, though you'll always find those driven enough to fake it.

VJ Camera mounted on a weighted pod or manfroto with some practise provides the perfect steady cam effect to provide floating shots for stand ups/ piece to cameras. More from the video journalism Manifesto.


Difference in Video journalism
The two broadly speaking VJ packages call on different strengths: one for fast turn overs, the other for considered, well-honed pieces.

Broadcasters make that distinction within their own parish: the news reporter's 1.20 min package makes them King and Queens of the complex issue turned simplified package, though not everyone makes the cut.


Video journalism circa 1995 from David's archive - a one paragraph note in a civic newsletter prompts David to talk to a local citizen who has won a major battle with her council to remove road humps.

Whilst the doc feature maker is the maestro of the complexity and confusion of the exposition made accessible. Both are as similar as chalk and cheese.

The latter is akin to watching hetero cyclic chemistry breaking down into its constituents on a good edition of hit US drama CSI

Sorry! I remember doing that as Chemistry undergrad: it's left an impression on me for life.

So Video journalism begs schizophrenic quality. Can you do long and short? And are you a natural on screen.

Never mind soon also specialisms will become part of the landscape e.g. Gardening VJ, and Crime VJ to name a few.

Though I'd argue the distinction between whether you're a one or 15 minuter producers appears to me to be less onerous for seasoned video journalists, and for a reason.


A synergistic working relationship exists between photojournalism and video journalism. Here in Germany where video journalism is practised extensively by newspapers and broadcasters, it's easy to spot pieces inspired by a photo journalistic bent, rather than a broadcast one.


Reporter or Camera operator DNA
If you cast around, many of the more prominent video journalists who've made names for themselves most exhibit particular traits.

While front of camera work requires screen confidence which can often lead to the "celeb-ego", behind-camera work is about letting the film speak for itself: style and substance.

It may be a generalisation but most admired VJs place a higher quotient on their film work.

Celebrated one man crew Scott Rensberger would prefer if being on screen wasn't always an ask.

"Sometimes I'd have to go wash, get a new shirt on then get back on location to do the stand up" he told me at the EUs regional TV Summit.

Video Journalists, tend to be comparatively less image conscious: you only have to place the photo journalists in your organisation alongside the reporter to know what I'm talking about.

Either way being humble helps a load, firstly because frankly there is no one descriptive methodology for video journalism packaging, so frankly no one holds the golden fleece. There's technique yes, but a multitude of emerging styles; some good and some, er, leaving room for improvement.

You would not have Spike Lee tell Clint Eastwood he's a rubbish film maker even though they clashed, head's buttin,g over Flags of our Father.

But a fair few VJs enjoy a public scrap over films. Personally, it's just not cricket.

Being humble, the hallmark of veteran media personnel, does not underscore other traits: namely a quiet steely confidence; the self starter; the go-it-alone or team worker who can do marvelous things in the most trying of circumstances.

Being industrious is a huge boon.

After her camera seized to work from shooting a piece in sub zero temperatures, one Channel One Video journalist used a hair dryer to get 5 Min's of work time before the camera sized up again.

How to shoot a piece in 5 Min's?

It's doable just as I'm forced to create a piece from the standard 3 minute EktaChrome cartridge stock from my Nizo Schneider Super 8mm. What a mouthful of a camera!


Vicky and Andy represent the norm for the next generation of video journalists. Formerly both print journalists, after a fruitful period as newspaper video journalists, they've moved over to television, Setanta Sports and Border TV, where the VJ format, particularly in sports, allows for greater creativity and maturation, if so be, into directing long formats and promos. etc. More from the video journalist revolution


Watching out for the nascent video journalist
Asked about books or novels you admire, most of us wouldn't struggle for an answer, citing the novelist to boot.

But questioned over your favourite film and then the director how would you score?

If you're one of those that has to be kicked out of the cinema because you're still reading the credits for the director and DP and Editor, then you're a film buff, even a nascent video journalist.

If you can cite your favourite reporter as well and why, then your Brownie points are on the up.

If you can take a decent photo and know how to bring it alive, then you have the "kwaa".

These might count as identifiers.

To know how to play football, you've got to play football.

"Bo knows football"; he was passionate about what he did and you could tell.

If you're a reporter going into video journalism drop the mac coat and the "reporter alert" halo.

Working low key or even stealth will often bring you better results, if not more verity from the event.

Award winning photo journalist Yannis Kontos is all of 6.4", but appears invisible to his subjects, working so fast and appearing so unassuming, where as the archetypal sound bite set up shot in broadcasting can often eat into your schedule and look staged.

This is a profession that requires getting into the trenches sometimes and getting your hands dirty. There's nothing glamorous about it, even when you're covering the glam stuff like film premiers as Sky's LA correspondent Dionne Clark will tell you when she Vjed Dream Girls for Viewmagazine.tv

Exciting yes. Glamorous uh uh!


At Al Jazeera to see friends, an impromptu interview for a job takes place around me, with managers asking how I might package a report. Often when any new technique fails to confirm a professional's own reporting style it can be dismissed out of hand. Video Journalism interested the managers, but they couldn't see what it might creatively offer.


Recruiting ads and methods differ.
The Telegraph's trainee super reporters go through a rigorous psychometric test, not as their executive put it so they're all the same, "but to eke out different leaders, so even if we get one nutter in there we won't be displeased, we want them to be different".

With the maturity of video journalism, candidates moving about jobs will most likely be required to show a level of creativity and workpersonship ( tis a word?) unknown at present.

Writing here Peter Ralph at Shooting by Numbers commented:

"One thing that has surprised me about the award winning VJ work I have seen is how conservative it is - in aesthetic/stylistic terms. Especially in light of the explosion of creativity in cinematography in TV and the movies.

Unfair to criticize a nascent craft for not pushing the envelope obviously. But without a new aesthetic is VJ condemned to just look cheap? Is innovation
the provenance of the big bucks brigade: Top Gear, John Adams etc?"

FT.com Editor James Montgomery sees this too and acknowledges that in time it'll develop; he wants video journalism at the FT to mirror the standards and style of the newspaper.

And that visual gene is one which will become prevalent amongst many outfits with video journalism at its core.

Only question is what footwear will you wear at your interview?

++

Footnote: if you're interested in online teaching as a video journalist instructor for one of the world's most renowned photo agencies and you've the relevant experience drop me a line in early September and I'll pass your details on.

David Dunkley Gyimah is a VJ Trainer who has trained broadcasters and newspapers all over the world since the mid 90s. He is set to consult for FilmMinute - the 1 minute international film festival, which is looking to become the biggest online film festival in the world

viewmagazine.tv and video journaism - what's on

On viewmagazine.tv, coming up a raft of video journalism features and changes. e.g.

• widget to incorporate blog
• soon reposting (archive) videos with controls*

Buzzmachine and associate professor Jeff Jarvis* is a fan of viewmagazine. We have a laugh, but this year with a new multimedia studio at my uni I'm looking forward to swapping ideas with Jeff and his students.

Scaling down
The menu listing has been scaled down.That gives more scope at categorising video features, which will soon broadly fall into VJ and Media and Culture and Arts. In the latter, a couple of things that could illustrate VJ Arts styles coming up soon.

More archive and contemporary features.
There are several archive features I intend to post, and equally exciting some new long formats - there aren't enough hours in the day frankly. Watch out for more archive radio podcast features interviews along the lines of the late Godfather of Soul James Brown's sidekick Maceo Parker

Advanced Video Journalism
If you havn't submitted your film to the VJAwards2008, do hurry and if you are planning to be in Mainz Germany for the awards, look forward to seeing you there, where I'll be delivering a perfomance lecture n advanced video journaism techniques.

I am mercedez - creative visuals

Lots of ideas here for VJs, visual journalists, to feast over. Good Ads, that are 40 second vignette flms exhibting DOP (Shallow Depth of Fields) and jump cuts, that''s how the flash effects are achieved.

I have had a sneak preview of some of this year's entrants for Filmminute , - the International 1 minute film festival which prompted this post.

If some of the films I saw make it to the finals, available next week onwards for votes, you'll see what I mean.

With Vjism, Video Journalism, one of the tests is to get a sense of the film with the sound down.

While there exists multiple interpretations in the Mercedes, the visuals are resoundingly strong, the music hauntingly alluring.

The ad itself is a break from usual car ads and more reminiscent of Glazer's award winning Guinness Ads.

And if you haven't seen that master piece here goes.

Iconic Olympic video promos -just watch it

Many moments from the Olympics.

But three stand out for me; two of which I'd like to share with you.

The video review Beijing Olympics 2008 - and  Usain Bolt's promo simply magical. 

BBC presenters at the time of this broadcast eulogised  Eddie Butler narrator and sporting poet, which while not knowing Mr Butler made me a tad irritated.

This is a big wrap and the producer who in BBC terms often doubles as the director should be given a huge dollop of the credit. His/her name is unknown, never mentioned on air, unless that is Eddie Butler was the producer as well.  

There is artistry in this directing e.g. the insert sequences of martial artists, but there's also technique, synchronising imagery and music; the presenters themselves rising to the occasion with rousing uplifting snatches; the drum beats and the high board diving; the close up sequences before that, attention to detail and flow of passion and etchings of emotion on faces.

This was Crouching tiger meets dog town, Band of Brothers and Gladiator - sport makes for enviable promos, borrowing here and there from film.

Aside from the telecine, odd saturation, slow mo, glow effect and mask achievable via After Effects there's little distortion of the footage.

You might say the footage sells its self and it does.

Where the producer really earns his/her pay cheque per second is a section within this 30 minute wrap, also a popular section in itself: Bolt destroying records to the tune of Eric B and Rakim's Follow the leader.

The opening shimmys with multiple layers composited in Black and White film/video: frame by frame with transparent layers on top of each other, then the producer goes into twin narrative mode and a series of harsh jump cuts. Don't mention this to TV News people, but shuuush the film keeps crossing the line - in fact there isn't one.

Bolt should equally be complemented as he provides so many different characters within his race: fun lover; jester; playing to the crowd; playing to the camera; running like thunder, that there's a lot to play with.

If you look at it closely enough, you'll spot the producer/s style at work, reserving a trade mark pull out trait of slow mos - at the line-crossing.

Highly commendable and what the BBC does so so well. Something that surpasses whatever News might provide.

p.s If I had the footage...

Reporter catches Bullet- perils of reportage and then video journalism

The footage of a Turkish reporting team under fire covering the Russian-Georgian conflict is as dramatic as it is terrifying.

Reported on television one of the crew sustained a bullet wound to the head. It has since been reported on sites like Current.tv that he has lost his sight in one eye.

That the crew managed to keep the tape rolling is highly commendable and will no doubt serve a purpose in training journalists entering and evading trouble spots. Note most of the bullets were aimed at driver height hitting the front windscreen.

Staying on Current.tv one viewer makes a plea with current.tv's vanguard crew to be careful whilst covering international reports.

It's a message the Committee to Protect Journalists drives home on its site for anyone with the intention of reporting a story in hazardous areas.

Given the dash to video journalism, and increasing use of we-journalism what's often overlooked is safety, which leads me to think that the old paradigm of giving students practical and theoretical knowledge about media reporting could do with an overhaul.

To some extent we already do that with our NATO war games and soon I hope to post what will be a long format doc of footage seen below.




Safety or glory first
I'm reminded of several stories which capture the perils of international reportage produced as a feature by CNN - well worth a look.

I also recall my own memories of working the townships, a young wanting-to-impress reporter signing a death warrant 2x; once entering the murder capital of the world then, Katelong, and then going down a mine shaft, one of the deepest and considered riskiest.

On a trip to Sun City, at the artificial border between South African and Boputhatswana, I got into a tense exchange with a border guard and here (1994) in this clip below I have entered the world of hatred and violence between political rivals: guns available for 20 dollars carried by young people sometimes aged 11 year olds.

South Africa circa 92 - a pending election brings political violence to the fore


Most of the things I did then, I'm not sure I could do now; that's the power of youth and invincibility.

There are times when nothing can be done to help:wrong place and time, but if you follow Martin Bell's ( former foreign correspondent - and one of the best) advice of not turning your back on the action, being aware of your surroundings and that no story is worth the ultimate risk, then you increase your chances of returning home safely.

Of course some stories put you at the heart of the action. Who can forget Rageh Omar, but Rageh, an old mate from the BBC World Service, will be the first to talk safety.

We bumped into each other recently and save for how busy he is at present, I hope to talk to him again about reporting in troubled spots.

Whilst it would have been unlikely in the past for new graduates to become front line reporters, without five years experience, that isn't the case anymore and video journalism comes with a whole new set of problems- one which photojournalists and camera crews share.
(Award winning photojournalist Yannis Kontos in action some of the world's trouble spots.)

At the BBC's launch back in 2001 I spoke about city trouble as a lone reporter with a camera.
One evening returning to my car as I enter ted the Cul de sac I was met by three young men exiting my car with tripod and tapes.

They spotted my $60,000 beta camera and their body language asked the questions.

Camera or your health?

Don't be silly, I thought there's only one answer for that: I chose the camera and barely escaped without a bruising.

Funny though I kept the tape rolling. What's with that!

I duly raced to the nearest police station to show them the footage.

Their response: go home mate there's nothing we can do.

I guess its high time safety and risk reporting became more of a feature on courses training next generation journalists.

Mark Riley at the Democrat Convention 2008

Mark Riley (pictured) one of the most respected journalists in New York is at the Democrat Convention and is set to put together a series of reports talking to insiders.

I spoke to him an hour ago and he was due to interview Whyclef ( fmrly fugees)and some of Obama's press people, so if you're interested in a real insiders guide to the conference from someone with 30 years experience I hope you can join Mark.

Multimedia generation test themselves

www.morethansounds.net

George Skafidas class of 2006 who now writes for a major publication in Greece still maintains his final project site which profiles the talents of underground scene musicians.

As part of their final project on the Masters of International Journalism, a small group of students, often it's about eight, this time four, undertake 10 weeks of work culminating in a web site.

The criteria is simple. Their work should sit between what might be expected of student work and an industry worker; quite often I stress it's got to tick a number of boxes.

Around 2000 when I worked in Soho - dotcom boon n' all - the agency I worked for made a number of successful pitches for work, often involving complex briefs.

So I have implemented some of that methodology to the work done here.

Please note these are student journalists, so we tread an interesting line between content and presentation, BUT they recognise they would do well to develop their design skills.

We meet over the course deconstructing and reassembling; their briefs are scrutinised, their content written and re worked.

They become their best critics.

Some conventions are observed e.g. how to write for online, but others have no boundaries e.g. being creative.

Their brief should contain enough info to allow anyone with a working knowledge of dreamweaver, html, css to build their sites, often revealing line-by-line code.

The brief answers the ff and more:

• Do they know their audience?
• Is the site replicable?
• What value does it have in the market?
• What skillset did they deploy?
• How much would it cost?
• And they should be able to understand css and in some cases php where appropriate

Bottom line, they're not journalists, but if they joined an outfit and the MD wanted a new website launched could they reassemble a team, cost it and know what was expected of each group- from designers to marketers with SEO knowledge.

It's some learning curve, but I can report over the years many of the onliners have gone off to manage sites or become senior editors very quickly. e.g. Amity Bacon

Some never touch CSS etc. again, but I'm told appreciated the experience; though at the time there are periods when they feel pretty downbeat.

One onliner who had a designer price her out of pocket for her own site, could now talk the designers language and know how to debug the site and where he was pulling a fast one.

" No! That javascript is available online so it should not have taken you three days to write it and in any case we did not sign off on the brief"

So here below are the students work.

They're being marked and assessed, with critical essays on 3000 word thesis and personal reports. I can't show you their briefs and essays, unless they plan to themselves.

Over the years increasingly the projects involves more video thus the students have to understand

• The basics of video journalism
  
• compression and aesthetics of video
• flv versus all the other formats

class of 2008


www.pianism.co.uk
Site profiling some of the UK's emerging talented pianists

www.animelifeinlondon.co.uk
If you're into anime then this tells you what and where to get the latest


www.londontaichimaster.co.uk
Feel like tai chi, look no further


www.capitalmile.com
Tourism and travelogue of sorts from Male