Men - how often do you examine your testicles

I know how this comes across, but for this reportage I couldn't be any more blunt.

A report which I dug out made for BBC Radio looked at the growing number of men between 18-40 affected by testicular cancer.

I visited a young man, former navy personnel, on the Isle of Wight you had one testice removed because of the illness.

He was told he'd never be able to have children, but miracuolusly he did.

The hospital I went to for the report advised me on a daily routine for men to check themselves.

Behind the screen, the doc told me to pull my trousers down, er ( fright) and he'd check and using diagrams show me what men should be doing every morning.

"That's a bit embarassing doc", aint it".

"Nonsence", he replied, "women perform routine checks on their breasts for any abnornalities, what's the problem!"

You can find the radio report on the front page of Viewmagazine.tv: a simple routine that's worth the bother.

Exclusive pics inside the integrated FT Newsroom's hub

It's been written about, featuring in the Guardian and other newspapers, but these might be some of the first pictures on the web showing off the Financial Times's new newsroom and the hub, which is triangular of sorts.

In the past few months the integrated newsroom has grown in popularity.

The Telegraph might have been the first to launch, though I'm interested to learn whether they saw the idea somewhere else when they sent managers on a fact finding world mission to create the newsroom of the 21st century.

Channel 4 News, where I used to freelance regularly has mooted its new newsroom, The Guardian is yet to move into its new offices and the BBC is in the process of creating its multimedia newsroom ( see interviews from Vlog Butterfly)


Various pics inside the newsroom


the core of the hub is a triangular seating composition







So what of the FT and the effect of these changes?
The newsroom has changed beyond recognition from when I was there last year doing some interesting project with their journalists.

Various TV screens provide a focus from where ever you are in the room.

Some of the inner offices have been removed, thus the floor space is bigger.

The lighting is brighter

Branding colours aboves the desks have changed, as has the floor colour.

There is a uniformity over equipment ie PCs

Behind the scenes, the FT is upping its game on video.

If you're a skilled video maker, then a flood of job ads are about to appear in the Guardian etc.

Among their new video recruits are pro skilled camera operators who can talk geek speak ie what's the difference between 1080i50 annd 1080i60 and whether cameras should be fitted with specialist lens for increased shallow depths of field.

I'll write a lengthy article on the FT soon, but in the meantime you can read and watch video of Inside the FT from a previous visit.

A FT friend has a look at Viewmagazine's recent Vlog Butterfly


David inside the FT

Television's big RIP ~ ie its amazing Reprieve - a future Newsweek personality

Since writing this blog, Duncan and I have since met up. More recently a lot more interest has been generated in his app. In a meeting I would attend with Duncan, a former head of TV at Saatchi and Saatchi Jon Staton swore on being taken through Duncan's baby, saying "this is the holy grail of communications".



This post is available here as an MP3 podcast for you to download - should you wish of course :)

Google the name "Duncan Whiteman" and the chances are you'll get nothing, which is surprising, utterly surprising.

For Duncan Whiteman, with no hint of irony or hyperbole stands at the gates of a malestrom with the ability to irrevocably change the face of television as you or I know it.

His absence from the web is all the more remarkable since he's had his hand in other apps, though not as a front figure.

But now, now, is on the verge of his opus.

And when it hits us depending on who you are, it'll either be the biggest disruptive force to you profession or a liberation into a territory unknown thus far.

Who is Duncan Whiteman?

He's a genius, a code writer, who can manipulate anything but life itself through line and line of code, a key holder to the matrix of emerging TV


Why you should know the name Duncan Whiteman.
Duncan currently lives in Spain with his family, an Englishman who hails from Leicester, who attended university at below the age we normmaly associate with tertiary education.

We met through a friends friend.

He was in the midst of a multimillion pound pitch - deal, a demonstration, when the group gasped at what they were seeing.

Surely this can't be done.

But Ken Walker, an artist and close friend asked the attending group to stop and take stock.

"Do you know what you're looking at"?

D-O Y-O-U K-N-O-W W-H-A-T Y-O-U A-R-E L-O-O-K-I-N-G A-T? he said again more measured.

I know that because when my phone rang one evening, that's all Ken would repeat.

"I have got this mate called David", Ken told the group, "He's into all this. Why not let him take a look?"

"Er I'm flattered Ken. OK, but I can't promise anything" was my response.

The meeting
A skype conference chat was set.

Duncan is an habitual background checker; if you're going to be sitting at his table, he wants to know who you are.

But this time Duncan, at least before our meeting did not google me. He felt at ease with my introduction he would later say.

For anyone who knows me, I am, If I'm allowed to say so myself, very easy going. Mannana mannana. What will be will be.

Cyber handshakes by the party over, Duncan went into his shed- metaphorically- and showed me around.

It must be a pisser, because that's what it boiled down to, to know that someone you've never met is evaluating, guaging you, trying to fill in the void which for a man of Duncan's status should be 1,000,000 google pages minimum.

And that the right outcome puts you on course to your ultimate goal.

Let's praise even the smallest achievements we make, rather than criticise the mistakes that we are bound to make. We're human after all: Glass half full, rather than half empty is my mantra


Whos is Kaizer, no Duncan Whiteman
Duncan, frankly sits in that rarefied air of the Jobs and Bill Gates.

What was destined to take a few minutes, ended up taking 30....1 hour.... 1hr.30.....2 hours....2hrs.30.... 3 hours.

And even then we could have continued.

We spoke, and spoke, and even now speak some more.

Perhaps also because he's from Leicester and went to uni there, as did I.

And also that he effortlessly moves from media to maths and code, which chimes with my degree in Applied Maths and Chemistry, though I'd be the FIRST to say I'm not even a smidgen in Duncan's league.

What I saw, what Duncan plans needs to be seen, released for all to enjoy or killed - stopped dead in his tracts.

The latter we joke about, because Duncan recognises the disruptive nature of his invention and so do many many others who've had a sniff.

What is it? All I can say is imagine the best and worst of what the media could be in a future of Isaac Asimov.

Many CEOs that control what you do in the media, and have by proxy come by Duncan know that much and have made themselves known to him.

And many don't know the half of it - as Project X, Duncan's not one for showing his hand.

What is emerging as public knowledge has been Duncan's breakthrough at algorithmically transmitting High Definition film down the web, without it going at all.

Sorry if I have lost you.

Among the select few popping by to say hello, include one of the world's most powerful media magnates'. Yes Mr X. He's on Xs Christmas card list.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

No, I'm thinking something else that Television's big RIP, that is it's amazing reprieve - will no doubt feature in Wired Magazine and either be something we're all going to enjoy or never ever see.

End ++++

If you'd like to talk to, hear more from Duncan, let me know and I'll look to set up a conf skype

Round up

Great posts from Peter Ralph at Shootingbynumbers
" If your eyes enter from the left of the screen they will tend to settle more comfortably on the right.
So in most images placing the focus of attention on the right of the screen will produce a more harmonious composition."

From Digital Basin, Mike Jones
elaborates on space and cinema and the unquestionable matrixes that hold this form together
".....for it is these discourses that have served as the pillars for established cinematic theory over the past century ? mise-en-scene, montage, the role of the viewer and the role of the maker are all built from their accepted norms"

Cliff Etzel has made the leap from DV to HD out of neccessity
"...I made the jump to HDV after having lost out on two potential broadcast projects where the producers specifically asked me if I shot HD. Having to say no I didn’t shoot HD probably lost me those possible projects. So it was a necessary expendeture I had to make."

And the usual bag of goodies at Multimedia shooters.. Multimedia shooters

Designed journalism, visual journalism, video-multimedia journalism

Just picked up two amazing books for a bargain price of 20 UKP.

One's on Bauhaus design and the other from an amazing design outfit called the Attic Seeing is Believing and this book is a wealth of inspiration - from anything such as web design, typography, motion graphics and trippy things.



The process of design meets journalism has crystalised three main core areas for me in this new new thing.

Videohyperlinking - linking one video to another within the frame. In other words by clicking the linear video you'll jump to another segment then come back to the mother time line. I have produced an example, from a conference in San Antonio - you'll need a fast connection.

Integrated Multimedia Videojournalism - the aesthetic of videojournalism (Gonzo) with graphic and motion design yielding integrated multimedia packages. The Butterfly Vlog and the Family would be examples. The latter points to interactive docs and a strong film aesthetic with promos etc.

The Outernet - The point where the net is no longer tethered to desks and laptops, but three D space designs such as the cube here - a playable huge rubick's cube which shows a story on segments of each side, controllable like the interface in Minority Report. Being immersed in ones own site, interacting live with the data ( not quite there yet) are other examples. You'll see an example of an aspect of the Outernet controlled by hand movements on Apple's site; they asked for the pic for an article.

The skill set is what we've all come to know: Video, FCP, Flash, Director, Action Scripting, CSS, After Effects, Key framing, Illustration, Compression technology, Sound Pro, Lighting, typography - and thus borrows from the web, TV-docs production, radio production, graphic design, and videojournalism.

One of the more prevalent questions I get asked concerns compressing film.
Take this promo here for instance which measures unusually 800 px by 450 px on the screen reduced from over a gig to 15mb. The key is to compress your film above its minimum threshold; the point where it begins to disinetegrate and then recompress at Flashes higher state.

Equally important I'd add it's not what I think I know already, but employing a different approach, that which I don't know but am willing to give a go. Artistry means never pursuing the same idea and execution twice.

This inspires the pants of me - from the ronin, the titles to OFFF in New York - produced off a small cam and distilled through After Effects.


Yes it's not journalism, but if you wanna know about the water, don't ask a fish!

Scary Shoot - Reminisce

Working for ABC News. On the eve of SA's first all-race election a terrorist bomb rocks the centre of town and shakes my home nearby. We're soon on the scene to see the carnage. Minutes later a colleage from the BBC World Service calls to ask if I can report from the scene. Here for the report of the elections taken from Viewmagazine's how to produce better podcasts.

South Africa's townships provided the backdrop to some of the most scariest reports, which looking back on, I have no idea how and why I did them.

No I do, when you're fairly new to the game, ( I'd had five prior years at the BBC before going off alone to SA in 1992) you're invincible and I wanted to see the world.

I'd boarded a plane to South Africa with nothing more than a newspaper cutting of someone I'd found in a South African freebie newspaper.

I asked him to meet me at the Airport.

He did.

Had he not I have no idea how I would have survived.

Alan Swedlow was not only one of South Africa's rising theatre directors, but a thoroughly decent man with a contacts book to die for. He's next door neighbour was a woman whom in years to come would serve as SA's ambassador to the UK, Cherly Carrolus.

inside the Townships
The townships became a hang out. That's were the stories were.

Surprisingly, they were also fairly close to Joburg, (Alexandra is in Joburg) which was a mystery to me.

Of all the newscasts I'd seen, I have never envisioned Soweto to be this huge place, with, yes call me naive, had a BMW dealership in its midst.

The great thing about South Africa is that I was never discriminated in my penchant to want to do different things.

What I mean is that London ( the BBC World Service) would happily take a radio package from me; whilst the next day I was either producing, directing and reporting a tv feature for an international outfitf, writing a newspaper article, or as I became involved in later, working with ABC News.

how to produce better podcasts - talking to US Air America, now WLIB veteran broadcaster Mark Riley

Close calls
I had many close brushes; once I was pursued by a car jackers after a new car I'd hired for a feature for BBC Radio 4, then a couple of Boers accused me of being responsible for concentration camps - being a brit you see, and then the littany of gun fire attacks in down town Joburg.

On one of the scariest assignments, we'd journeyed into Kathlehong, then labelled murder capital of the world. The previous day, our contact told us, several men and women had been gunned down.

"If you value your lives you will do exactly what I say" he whispered forcefully.

Clearly we didn't value our lives because we'd just signed a death warrant saying in the event of our deaths, the team taking us in were not to blame.

There came a point in our night patrol when someone aimed an RPG at our truck, but decided not to shoot when we flashed our lights. We all had night vision goggles on.

In a car coming home one day, a new friend who worked at one of the more prominent radio stations, Metro, warned me to stay down as we drove through one of Soweto's more dangerous surburbs.

A few days earlier he'd been carjacked.

As the robbers fumbled with his car keys, he let off 5 rounds into them, fatally wounding them.

The event was reported to the police.

What happened, I asked.

The police chief told me to go away, he replied, adding that the day I empty a whole cartridge, reload and empy another clip, I'll have something to be accountable for.

At that moment he took the gun, a glock from the glove box and waved it at me.

"It's got dum dum bullets designed to cause maximum damage" he said.

I asked somewhat tentatively to feel the gun: cold, was my assessment.


Multiskilling
With a high-8 camera I captured a few scenes that I have archived and will one day trawl through.

But I mention all this given the scorn one can now receive at being called multiskilled.

Frankly it was always about survival for me, but in a way I was no less scared about what you could do and would like to do after coming across Jerry Timmins.

Now one of the most respected senior senior execs at the BBC World Service, I happened to be around when he was a producer/reporter/director at BBC Newsnight.

Such was his prodigious talents that he was always in demand to help with a report.

Clearly I thought if you can learn these other things, aren't you merely raisiing your stock? I think so.

Why Newspapers will see off TV 2 - Lenslinger said... zzzz

Pictorial Timelines of a changing industry - a personal perspective

Channel 4 Doc shot on digibeta in South Africa. I'd first arrived in South Africa in 1992 and had shot and produced a number of stories. When Channel 4 News decided they were not going to send a correspondent over to South Africa during the 99 election, I flew out to shoot this which I sold as a buy-in to the news and put together five years later the website

Lenslinger has clearly had enough. Wherever you are the subject draws a sharp reaction.

In this case less so, one word "zzzzz" screams much better than an alternative reply.

Any title with newspapers and video in the same sentence will draw a peak from google's alerts.

The fight of the century, working with Lennox Lewis and filming his fight. The VX2000 does the job. I looked around on the weigh in and about three people among 40/50 had DVCams. Here I'm touching the ring to see how padded it is for when boxers hit the deck

It's bound to; it's about livelihoods, and which person this time (???, er that would be me) giving off pretentious incoherent opinions, which perhaps neither sound sensible nor intelligent.

In essence this is not about a them or us, though a trawl through viewmagazine reveals lots of those along the lines of websters verses traditional.

The larger picture ( OMG I'm falling asleep now. zzzz) is about what the industry might look like in a couple of years.

The trusty and sturdy BVW with beta provided the means for a robust shoot in Ghana, as Ecomog forces prepared themselves for an operation in Liberia. On hand was the US Special Forces sharing military tactics. For a piece to camera I simply handed the camera to one of the military to hold steady. In this clip I have added the original broadcast from Ghana's 1982 coup in which many of my class mates including me were caught up in the fire fight

You could say we'll always need big bands - a reference to how once many predicted the onset of the synthesiser would erode live music.

You'll always need a quality camera operator
Big shoots, the world cup, news may always find a happy medium, especially with HDTV's pre-eminence.

Even the New Media types concede this ( Here for a behind the scenes report at Apple's executive briefing)

I tried out the Sony's HD tapeless cam recently on a shoot -sublime!

Sony's tapeless camera- sublime. used it for a shoot in France

But the industry is not the one I recognise even from this shoot in the late 90s for Channel 4 News in South Africa, and Special Forces training for Ecowas soldiers going to Liberia. In 87 when I entered it.... forgel aboul it

I showed some of my students my trusty Uher recently - the look on their faces!

The death of King Hussein sees me in Jordan shooting a feature. This time the Vx1000 is the camera of choice. Here I'm being being entertained by a family. For Channel 4 News, anchor Jon Snow and I produce an inhouse feature on the day - No Video available

How we retool, re-engineer, rethink, in light of the Youtubes, googles and heavens knows IPTV on its way is something broadcast/media managers have had endless meetings about.

The change paradigm doesn't completely erode traditional practices, but puts pressure on jobs both in price and variation: the auditors have said that much. I remember when I could command twice the fee for camera work, so it's how we adapt to that change.

Actually a couple of friends have said forgel aboul it and set up resturaunts.

Otherwise some like the brilliant and perhaps one of the best all round cameramen of his generation, Claudio Von Planta - who' shot everything from Borneo jungles, up the Himalayas with the British Army ( he's ex army himself) to Ewan Macgregor travelling around the world on a bike, have thrown their hands up and are looking to alternatives

Zzzzzzzz I'm so asleep now!

In a forthcoming feature which I've finished shooting, a Telegraph exec talks about how a memo circulating the BBC talks about how the web team should up their game citing a few newspapers as the ones to beat.

Shooting a doc about Bob Marley with his manager in London. This time we've got the whole rig, blondes, reds going on, with the luxury of a monitor, but we're using a PD150 with a mounted lens. Videos still not been cut but some lovely original pics of Marley will be posted soon

Naka Nathaniel at the New York Times talks about being at CNN for a few days and the reaction from the CNN crew - that this is the future.

Not my words, but then you'd argue you're being anecdotal. (Yawn - yep it's catching)

"I could find you a dozen others saying the converse" brr who said that!

In the end I suppose it's about choice ( that does it - last freaking word). We change, we don't change. And at the moment newspapers in the UK, I couldn't talk about the US, are doing some changing.

Now where's that tapeless lensless camera that shoots microwavee super HD film. I'm taking my chances - someone wants some wobbly camera scenes.

Incidently I read recently some figures I stumbled across ( must find out where) that said TV viewing figures in the UK were holding well.

Clearly this is a ZZZZZ post

Why Newspapers will see off TV

I didn't choose the title of the talk, but it resonates nonetheless and is worthy of a robust look.

The media landscape's levelling, video and multimedia's prominance amongst media companies period, has produced a new beginning.

There are no formal custodians of video news any longer, but whilst broadcasters may have lost the upperhand, at least on the web, we rarely talk about great writings from broadcasters in the same way we do for print journalists.

Newspapers haven't lost their fight; no, online they' re cocksure for a new one on broadcasters' territory.

"Why newspapers will see off TV" is the stuff of alchemy; a polemic of sorts in which the empirical evidence gathered to make that claim is on shifting sand, certainly against the back drop of diminishing influence and circulation on the newspapers on the stands.

And frankly, given our entrenched psyche, our prediliction to TV as much as paper, it's difficult to write any one of them off.

If you were a betting person in this frenzied media storm, you'd need more than a strong poker face to place your bet on the presumption.


Newspaper Video
But when we cast around, look at the alpha models of newspapers presenting video, they present a strong case.

I have been watching Obama on the New York Times; a catalogue of diariased news reports where I can choose at will any video.

Somewhere within the body of the NYT are strong articles, a showcase of the best Word- smiths wooing audiences.

Elsewhere, there are any number of slideshows experimenting with form and function.

The Times in London explores the use of different web editions, while the FT reports an upturn in profits since the use of video.

These might be anecdotal, but to broadcasters represent a clear and present threat to their news and television.

It won't be lost on many journalist that when broadcasters needed to tool up, shore up their practices, strengthen their news hands, they dip, often raided the floor of newspapers.

Utopian journalist Andrew Marr's autobiographical account of his training days is among a long line of books that illustrates broadcaster's penchant for wooing newspaper journalist.

Why because of their nuanced writings. Broadcasters taught us to keep it simple, so sometimes simple.

It was in the air and then gone. No way to rewind so keep the language simple.

But online we can rewind and viewers are searching for that distinctiveness.

British superblogger Andy Dickinson echoed a point made to the BBC's Peter Horrocks about impartiality and biased writings that give newspapers the edge.

Then there's the others; print journalists invariably have their own body of contacts, can work alone, and can eke out a story via primary sources.

It is more often the case that newspaper writers turn to TV, than TV journalists getting a a large shoe-in as newspaper writers.


New Rules in Newspaper Video
The rules of video are also being redefined.

Slanted reportage, fair perhaps, but with a political bent is providing much succour for those who may have tired of the neutrality of news from within broadcasting.

From the coats of videojournalism, we discover newspaper journalism is better tailored to this new maturing discipline.

The new newspaper journalists writes with his camera as he did with his pen, not confined to styles and templates, time and 6'Oclock bulletins.

News happens all the time, and newspapers are validating that, finding fresh ways of cross promotion, making the web feel more dynamic as a breakling news medium.

Of course newspapers aren't home and dry.

Having had to reinvent themselves in the 50s/ 60s with TV's arrival, previously with radio and then with 24 hour TV News, they have become by Darwnism default much used to change.

They have become accustomed to responding; those that haven't tell a different story entirely within the Microfiche of dusty libraries.

Today, the Telegraph's hub has become a model for others. The Times' new look a breath of fresh design air, and more and more newspapers are embracing video.

Distinctiveness, longer format programmes, video-hyperlinked stories, more and more multimedia features will become the norm.

And what's knitting this new paradigm together - old fashioned good journalism that will never go away and the new derivative: video.

++End

David will be giving a performance lecture at Staatskanzlei (State Chancellery) in Erfurt, in the residence of the Prime Minister of the State of Thuringia, next month.

BBC Multimedia News Head interviewed by Viewmagazine.tv with unique global Video Blog

Immediate Release

1st February 2008.

The head of the BBC's recently launched multimedia newsroom has been telling Batten Award winning site, Viewmagazine.tv of the corporation's plans to be the best at multimedia journalism in a unique interview.

Lasting almost an hour Peter Horrocks spoke of the BBC's network innovators shaping new ideas, how it planned to drive a different brand of multimedia news and how he admired sites such as the New York Times.

He was speaking to Viewmagazine.tv's editor, David Dunkley Gyimah, at the BBC's headquarters in London.

Uniquely, Horrocks was also fielding video questions from a number of super bloggers, academics and journalists from around the world enveloping multimedia journalism in what's referred to as a Vlog Butterfly.

They included John Burke from the World Association of Newspapers based in France, Rob Montgomerry of Visual Editors in Chicago, Palesa Letlaka-Nkosi Head of Formats at the SABC, Blogger and lecturer Andy Dickinson, Jemima Kiss of the Guardian and Mike Jones of Digital Basin and The International Film School in Sydney.


Global Multimedia Journalism
"What the production demonstrates", says David, "is how small independent sites or bloggers interested in news and related subjects can join forces.

When I finally secured my interview with Peter, and you'll very rarely see videos of him, I had no other idea in mind than to contact people to ask them to field a question".

The whole thing took a matter of days: videos were posted which were processed and encoded in Flash, and then the site-build took over and the video promo.

David adds by default the project also flags up a discipline, he's been keen to promote called Integrated Multimedia Journalism, where one person, is responsible for producing, filming and editing a news feature and then taking over the coding in Flash and CSS - HTML design.

"I'd like to say a big thank you to Peter Horrocks of the BBC and to the many that participated", says David.

Some bloggers such as Katie M King of the Online News Association and JD Lassica were caught up with work so couldn't participate this time around.


Multimedia Vlog follow up
David is looking to produce his next Vlog Butterfly which he says could involve the director of one of last year's smash movies.

"I have been in touch with his personal assistant and it's just trying to find a convenient time" says David.

The authors of the questions are being posted their answers and a film showing the making of the video blog and visit to the BBC is now in the works, shot by one of David's ex students Don Omope.

David hopes to be talking about the Vlog Butterfly at a number of events including WAN in Sweden, Apple stores and in Berlin.

END
++++

Editor's Notes.
Vlog butterly here http://www.viewmagazine.tv/global_vlog.php
Promo for Vlog Butterfly can also be accessed from site

With use of pictures please credit Don Omope

Soundslide show - wow

When you're working alongside someone like John who has done this you're both privileged and in awe.

This year we've refurnished the online module, it's been pushed further to 360 degree reporting, so podcasts, soundslides, Flash, CSS, Videojournalism, online SEO writing and marketing, plus building a site at cost by evaluating the brief and add ons e.g. Java, XMl - all get a look in.

John my colleague will be taking the cohorts on a whirlwind tour of understanding how to take pics and producing soundslides like this.

Absolutely marvelous.

What I would give to be a student sitting in to hear John talk about Grime Britain - the years of Thatcher and the Miners strike.

BBC interview - Youtubed

Youtube promo interview with Head of BBC Multimedia Newsroom. I said Head of BBC News ( Woops!) I'm sure there's a difference. It wasn't intended.

I'll watch the bite back, see whether it's cataclysmic enough to remove.

Managing Change - the media way

On one of the busiest train concourses in London, commuters can be observed randomly criss-crossing one another heading for their destinations.

Whilst as good as clockwork, the 8.10 a.m commute from your house to work will be a harrowing journey of people packed into carriages resisting the temptation and scourn of other passengers to move up so others can join.

In each case a simple remedy beyond further stock and concourse investments may be at hand.

In the case of Victoria simply placing pedestrian lanes by colouring the ground with arrows pointing the way might ease the daily collisions.

On the trains indented sole marks indicating where passengers could stand would force even the most reluctant that there is room to move.

Both these instances involve change.

That is management change.


All Change
The solution may be techincal or otherwise creative, but often it involves changing the mindset of management reluctant to spend any more money without immediate returns.

Videojournalism and the new paradigm of multimedia is like that.

It could transform your fortunes, but how and presumably not overnight is the thought.

If you've been privy to the Telegraph's story of how they changed ( i really should post this video some time) it is instructive for the will and determination to lead the way.

For many months a core group of managers travelled the world visiting newsroom upon newsroom gathering and deciphering "intelligence", then processed that to set up the distinctive hub which gelled web and print.

Most change sparks thoughts of a revolution and the Telegraph has not been inure from criticism of change.

Internally, it starts, and then it spreads out with an envangelical zeal bringing others on the way.

Change happens all the time around us and we all cope in some way.


We're all changlings
You'll get up tomorrow having to negotiate something you didn't do the same way the previous day.

But the idea of change can often scare us.

It smacks of "in the with the new and out with the old".

It is a vision and hostage of our fortunes.

And at some point when the zeitgeist crystallises we have very little option; we simply can't wait any longer, for the paradigm has engulfed us. It's no longer a fashion - here today gone tomorrow- it's a way of life.

A new style is born.

The web was not going to last and it did.

Video was a pipe dream but we're awakening every day to new possibilities.

Whether you're Vjing or not, whether you're a fortune 100 company or not, whether you're a super tanker media company or not, change changes all the while, over lengths of time.

And it's not whether we can buy new shinny toys to do our latest bidding for us, but whether we're ideologically prepped ourselves for the ineavitable.

Change happens and in our organisation we make allowances for it; we'ne built in the change factor.

The BBC as you'll find out in our video blog interview has innovators within its rank.

You might even call them creative change merchants spotting the new new thing.

They're not alone.

But, but we could learn from this thesis.

The signs are we warm to change in principle as Clinton and Obama tell their stories, but the realities ahead can be awkard if we haven't properly managed those doling out and those on the end of change.

The days of a job for life was kicked into the long grass long ago; the days of continuing on a linear curve are now equally messy.

2008 - this could be the year video breaks free.

Or is that too radical a change.

shoot.cut.code.mix.publish 6 ways

Not so much life flashing before your eyes, more like watching a washing machine on a slow cycle.

Death under the sea, must be really be unpleasent.

I'd wrestled for what seemed an eternity to break free from a ribbon current whose strength resembled accelerator waves used for training olympic swimmers, and now I was slamming against armament, 20 mm shells, that could go Kapow any moment. Of course bad luck comes in threes

My oxygen tank, the result of my hyperventilatiing, was now registering low. I needed to find a minimum 5 minutes for deco time before surfacing otherwise risked the bends. Not really ideal circumstances for laughter therapy. Probably no one elses for that matter.

More with video here

Left side versus Right side new journalist - which one are you?

Can you see what it is yet? An image that requires spatial interpretation

Raise your hands now.

Few answered the call.

Minutes later a sea of hands naturally sprung up.

The question posed to professional journalists sought to gain an understanding of their artisan credentials.

Whom here considers themselves an artist?

It is a ridiculous question for scribes and frankly also phrased this way:"Who considers themselves a writer", isn't, worth asking.

But in some small and perhaps significant way this sits at the heart of the new new thing we're wrapping ourselves around - multimedia.

Around the 1860s the French physician Paul Broca was one of the first to unveil the functions of the brain and since then many neurologist have documented the hemispheral war between the two lobes.

But some things have become standard: the left brain eulogises words, sequences, abstract and analysis as its attributes, whilst spatial awareness, maths, images imagination among others exercise the right side of the brain.

And when we look at right side functionalities you might as well posit multimedia there, though, yes, writing is left side.

This might set up a couple of questions for which I'm not qualified to answer, but, pose well why not?

What graphic students set out as multimedia has a different meaning to where journalist place their store.


But the questions?
There's a reason not all of us can draw, as much as we haven't mastered the new tenants of multimedia - whatever they may be.

If a contemporary form of journalism is to emerge from the kinetics of now, then it isn't merely about learning tools such as Flash, Director ( ??) of SWX, is it?

Is it about finding ways of developing right side brain functions earlier on in the game, by say, incorporating innovative exercise, nay even, Art (scorn!!) and maths (code) into the education of journalism.

AT THIS POINT DAVID'S CLEARLY LOST IT!

For just as we've nutured the science of writing, literally from infancy at school to a higher state of delineating complex subjects into decipherable quintissential strings of letter ie words, should we not also be seeking artistic merit and code as a feature of advancing our multimedia, multimodal new disciplines?

And if we are to, what and which syllabi to start with to see the next generation through?

And if we dare, is that journalism any longer?

I studied Applied Chemistry for my degree and took Art seriously dropping it before A-levels.

One of my lecturers considered me dylexic when I failed miserably to write a gas flow computer cycle.

Truth, I couldn't see the point; oh the joys of youth :)

Has it made me a better journalist?

I couldn't tell you, which somehow mutes my point, but what I have belatedly realised from that discipline is its approach to problem solving and mind mapping - particularly organic chemistry which often had me rather absurdly building three dimensional bonding molecules in my mind into 3d fixtures.

Which doesn't mean wihtout the sciences or art, you're unlikely to be the Flash web guru you are today.

That's not the point here.

I'm just as exercised over the next code-ridden application to shimme across my desk.

I'm merely agonising over whether a new set of rules, principals, training needs to fashioned by those clever people in news and academia towards what might be termed causal story telling [in its simplest form, if that isn't tautology]

That is, the if and then; if this happens, then where does this go.

You'll note those are some of the rudimentary principles behind Flash

Technlogy inspires art and art inspires technology and somewhere in there perhaps some inspiration is required for the new 4th quadrant of journalism: space.

ambitious global Vlog Butterfly

It was an ambitious idea, but when I finally secured the interview of the BBC's Head of Multimedia Newsroom, I had the idea in mind.

I contacted a few friends and colleagues around the world. If they could pose an idea to the head of BBC's News what would it be.

We oomed a bit, some were straight of the bat, but all chipped in.

Ahh but the question had to be on video.

Yet still they persevered and then eventually via FTP and send it, the videos came through.

Peter Horrocks gave me considerable time for the interview, and I'm grateful for that.

And he answered all the questions.

That was the fun bit.

Now I'm encoding the video and building the application in Flash.

It should go Live with all the interviews on Friday and if I can say so myself, some insightful questions yielding absorbing answers.

If you work for the New York Times, then you'll be pleased at a segment of our interview.

Thank you to all that participated and to those that did not make it this time.

A Vlog Butterfly is a wonderful way to extend the value of an interview both in video, ( the clips are being sent to the respective authors) and giving ownership to smaller sites competing for attention in this blog-theatre.

I'm looking forward to showing this at a number of conferences I'm presenting at including Apple, World Editors Association, Berlin and Cultural Exchange.

The film which shows the behind the scenes interview with Peter Horrocks as well as an indepedent film on multimedia in conjuction with Dominic from the Press Gazette should be completed at some point.

Promo on Blip

Click To Play

Promo now on Blip TV

Timeline history for producing clip in viewmagazine.tv

Produce clip in FCP> publish to AE> back into FCP> compress export> import CS3 Flash> add Preloader> Add photoshop image treated>export with new parameters>import into CS3 dreamweaver> FTP> check bugs> send out to Blip> facebook etc

Viscerality, content and burning ice.

Dom Omope was the second shooter on the BBC interview involving a number of super bloggers from around the world.

He's a former student of mine in a manner of speaking who is now doing a masters at Goldsmith in broadcast journalism.

Whilst he has a strong visual eye he wanted to know more about aesthetics and promo making.

He'd shown some previous work to technicians he knew who commented that I'd used Boris FX to make this film Digital Diversity.

I don't use any effects from Boris or pre-made, preferring to create them in FCP and then After Effects.

In my studio we built this promo and it took about 10 minutes or less and then another 5-10 minutes exporting and washing it through Flash.

It's a visceral thing, but yes it can be taught and I think Dom took away a few tips.

One is identify a style and copy that. I trawl through Apple Trailers looking at new editing styles.
Secondly don't be afraid to experiment.

I laid the bare bones of this short promo within a few minutes, influenced by the camera movement, then set about manipulating the film.

An experiment I play with some friends is to show them a match fire, ask them to close their eyes and then place some ice on the back of their hand.

Many swear they have been burnt.

We're so used to matching perceptions with outcomes that it can be difficult to look for new meanings. I'm a fine one to speak myself, but I do like the idea of being taken out of a comfort zone.

Doesn't always mean a shoot will be a huge success. 9/10 times I'll make good of it, but I'm greedy ( sorry) I'd like each one to satisfy an element within me that says, this thing that we do is being moved on, even if its in small steps.

One of my inspirations is the Ronin. I'll post one of his latest promos later today.

Dream on David - 007 Videojournalism

A Quantum of Solace!

So I'm available for walk ons, VJ shoots and well and behind-the-scenes.

You'll rarely find a sapien fed on western movies who doesn't know Bond; I remember being carted off to the movies with an aunt to watch Spy who Loved me.

A new director at the helm again, this time Oscar nominated Marc Forster, behind “Finding Neverland” and “Monster’s Ball" - two very different flicks, so the direction should be one to watch.

I have had two brushes with 007 by proxy, one a dinner evening with Colin Salmon who stars as MI6 station chief Charles Robinson.

Fine actor who at one point was also being tipped for the James Bond role ( read here)

And the other an interview with former CIA head James Woolsey where we talked about 007 and what he thought about him getting a job within the real spook world.

Well for one thing Woolsey said, James Bond would have been called Officer 007 if he were in the CIA, as the CIA recruits agents to betray their governments and reveal secrets.

While if James Bond were in the FBI, he's be called Agent 007.

You can see the 4 minute interview here.

Now time to go take this Tux off. Why did I have it on. Can't remember now.

The Ferrari 599 GTB

Couple of months ago viewmagazine.tv showed the story of us ( friend and I) road testing a Ferrari 599 GTB.

What we didn't tell you was we had a puncture at the start of the shoot.

And do you know the Ferrari doesn't carry a spare tyre.

You call their headquarters and they send someone prompto in an equally fast car to come and change your set of wheels.

Mr tyre changer has an interesting lifestyle, sometimes jetting off to warm climes on the continent because of a beached Ferrari drivers call for help.

The full video story coming soon

Frankenstein Camera writes Sionphoto

We're back to the cams again with this from Sionphoto who
tells me about his HVR A1E Letus 35mm adaptor setup
Its really designed to be on a tripod, but its hand holdable enough,
especially if you're used to bigger cameras.

I might try mine with a monopod.

The Letus adaptor I have is the 'mini', whereas other cameras like
the Sony Z1, PD 150 or Panasonic DVX100
need an adaptor with a larger lens thread.

Using a lens like a 24mm kinda defeats the object of having limited
depth of field, so I'd pick a standard
zoom lens (35-80ish) or fixed lenses like 35mm or 85mm.