Sports, Celebrities, VideoJournalism and Lennox

Friends who know my past always ask when they see a snippet of news in the papers. So will Lennox fight again?

And I always answer, I truly don't know, despite being good friends with his inner circle confidents and working for him as a videojournalist.

Of the sportsmen and women taken by what videojournalism had to offer, few can claim to be as sussed than Lennox Lewis and his advisors.

To date, Lennox owns copyrights to his fights and the documentaries leading to those fights because he's had someone by his side filming crucial scenes.

Five years ago the term videojournalism was not universal but Lennox had already taken on one of the UK's most accomplished award winning film directors/producers Ken McGill, with incredible DV cam skills.

He'd made films for Channel 4 on Sir Alf Ramsey, Gaza's Coming Home and Cricketer Ian Botham.

And in the run up to the epic fight with Tyson, the team brought me.

My brief covered several grounds: Vjing for Lennox's web site, Vjing alongside Ken who was director/producer, creating web promos, writing news copy and working alongside various broadcast teams in the build up to his mega fight with Tyson.


Sports and videojournalism

Sports and Videojournalism are made for each other, in a relation similar in the photographic world known as Special Photography.

Here the talent employs the VJ/film maker, negating the use of big crews,http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif which is what Lennox did.

The logic makes creative and financial sense and has wider interests into the world of PR and Video News Release. If your client needs exposure, but wants to control their image hire a personal film maker/VJ.

Photographers have been doing it for years working with publicists.

The purists might argue it diminishes the journalism, that is verite of events, but that's a feature of modern day comms: Poachers, turned game keepers.

Skilled VJs can still influence the outcome of film, if, as they should, have their clients trust. And the best films invariably involve shades of grey.

This is certainly one of the growth areas of video-cam directing or to use the term loosely videojournalism.

I have argued it isn't a one stop shop here and in one of the earliest definitions of videojournalism here

Spice Girls Geri Halliwell, Madonna and a slew of artists have welcomed single crews to film them as either independents or to make their own films, made available to news outlets.

And this relatively, untapped area will certainly grow as the VJ dogma gets bigger.

How UKs first newspaper journalists cracked videojournalism

To find out more go to site Mrdot

By mid morning on the third day many of the journalists looked tired?

No, more mentally fatigued.

In three days they'd absorbed a cacophony of facts. Getting their heads around the technicals of the camera was one thing, understanding the visual grammar for TV, let alone VJims was proving to be tough.

And then Paul Hartley, whom I called the Editor's editor dropped a bombshell.

The head of PA's training, Tony asked me if he could have a word. Paul, the deputy editor of the Hull Daily Mail was already seated.

However much they were doing now, whatever they were doing, they had to be battle ready in less than a fortnight, said Paul.

His newspaper was doing the equivalent of a Columbus and Hernan Cortez -sea voyagers whom landing on shore would burn their ships, removing any route to go back.

The Hull Daily Mail was going on line live with video journalism before the session had actually finished.

Tony looked at me rather pensively and asked: "Well !"

This was the first time we were collaborating so he had every reason to feel apprehensive. You know, the unknown factor.

You might, I often say, have the best credentials in the world for a task, but that means nothing on the day when you have to deliver.

You're only as good as the job you're doing at present.

"Well if it's got to be done, it's got to be done", I added.

That meant changing some of the training regimes. Pure video journalism would have to be pushed back, to ensure the group completely understood the basic visual grammar.

Then Tony had a streak of genius. What if we planned an exercise - a real test your balls exercise [ not his words, but mine] - that put them through their paces in preparation for their launch.

Tony probably had it planned anyway but now there was a real sense of urgency.

"Got it, it's on", he would later confide.

Cleveland Police will re open a case for the journalists to cover. In turn they will put up their rookie detectives who will NOT necessarily play along as seasoned pros would do.

So from less than a fortnight as our deadline, it had now become eight days. 8 days to learn how to make television.

It wasn't impossible. I'd once in the Holiday Inn in downtown Joburg taught four Ghanaian Journalists in three hours how to shoot basic: no editing, just good old solid shooting.

Crunch Time
By the evening as we were winding down to go home, Tony and I knew full well what was ahead.

Simply it couldn't fail. The delegates could not leave without fully appreciating the fullness of what they had either done or had achieved. It had to be whistle and bells on top of what they expected.

The industry and press was keeping an eye out and while no one would sing VJism amongst newspapers' success, if it went tits up ( horribly wrong) it might scupper any notion of newspapers becoming VJs - at least for the moment.

The Society of Editors across the UK were watching with intrigue.

That night I could have slept better, but then I only sleep 6 hours anyway.

The next day was the beginning of a huge curve and it started in a fashion that proved how everyone was going out and out, literally as well.


Drill mode on the front lawn

On the front lawn of the Manor we drilled, and drilled and drilled some more. And I really did take on the role, amiably, of the Drill Instructor.

"No where should you be?"
"You've crossed the line, can you see that?"
"Too long, the tripods down and set within 40 seconds- Press Conferences don't wait"
" Take the sequence, now, take it now"..

And so it went for the best part of the day.

later during a tea break two of the journalists would say they'd got it, what scientist refer to as the wow syndrome.

One minute nothings working, then the next it all falls into place. " Wow"!

We could even afford to be ambitious by pushing away the famous 3:6:9 rule.

And then it was Wednesday morning: day 8.

A lot went on between then, but I have edited heavily, to be talked about another time perhaps, but there was fun mixed with the seriousness and many of the journalists still had to get the odd article, set up an interview here and there.

"Ok guys I'm here, but not here any more. You know everything you need to know. We've done it many times and everyone's ready. I'm going to here but I'm filming you, so best of luck. Naah you don't need luck. Have a great time".

I said this before leaving and while we spoke on the journey to Cleveland - a 2 hour plus bus ride, understandable some of the 8 were nervous.


Katie's mic is turned backwards: there's a reason

Today, soon they would have to process a wad of information alien to them 8 days before: everything from white balancing, exposure setting, focus, sound levels, spiriting the tripod, and then concentrating on the journalism and the visual grammar.

In the set up at the press conference, I'm being parried out of the way. "Go away David", one of them says "I'm busy", as I try to film.

Katie leaves her microphone facing her.

I recently saw online another journalist laughing at what seemed like a basic error.

If that journo or anyone other VJ has been in this situation before you'll know at a press conference it pays to have your mic turned around so you can pick up clean sound in your question, while your interviewee speaks into another mic in the second xlr input.

That's the trouble with video journalism, many people read the manual and can't see any the other initiative. Example, the manufacturers would have you handle the camera in a defined way which goes against the grain of flexible shooting. And I haven't begun to tell you about the use of condoms in wet weather.

By now we're 20 minutes into the press conference, But there's a problem. A huge *****ing problem. And Tony and I are worried. Very worried.

To be continued....

First UK Newspaper Videojournalists - The Original 8 Days Reduxed

It's the VJ film that captured the mood and ambitions of UK regional journalists taking the plunge into videojournalism in 2005.

The film "8 Days was a record of how 8 newspaper journalists after 8 days training would have to tackle their biggest assignment: a true brutal murder case, re-enacted by Cleveland Murder Squad.

For me as their trainer, it was also one of those rare moments, a chance to document who the journalists were and how they would fare The feature sat around for months before it was submitted to the International videojournalism awards in Berlin and three months later, a week before the awards ceremony, I was rang up on a Sunday to say I had won.

Back to the Present
A basic write up was placed into one of my oldest domains from 1999. Mrdot.co.uk.

And over the years it's been quietly sitting around as I have concentrated on viewmagazine.tv

Today, I opened the site to give it a face lift and over the days will place more relevant information about the group back then and how some are doing now.

Mrdot.co.uk was for me the site that would capture the solojo videojournalism paradigm, explaining what it was back then and how managers could use it. And it gave away one of the biggest secrets to learning Videojournalism used on journalists in The UK, US, and Africa ( Ghana and South Africa) .

Robb Montgomery CEO at the hugely successful site Visual Editors.com and Digital Editor and the brilliant videojournalist Gareth Bartlett at Cornwall and Devon are just two of many who've become fans.

They say, what's never been done awaits to be done and you know if you've been there that it can be the scariest, loneliest place. There are no footsteps you can walk in, no handrail to guide you, just you and your instinct and ambitions.

And this is how it all started one winters evening: 8 Days- the redux on Mrdot.co.uk

Reuters cameraman killed in Gaza - news coming in

LONDON (Reuters) - A Reuters cameraman was today killed in Gaza. Fadel Shana, 23, was on his way to cover an incident when the vehicle he was travelling in stopped. As Shana was getting out, an explosion killed him and two bystanders, witnessed by local residents. His soundman, also in the vehicle, escaped serious injury.

Shana, who had worked for Reuters in Gaza for more than three years, was wounded in August 2006 when an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the vehicle he was travelling in.

Shana was described by Alastair Macdonald, bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories, as a gentle soul, happy and extremely bright, and one of the most skilled cameramen in Gaza who will be missed greatly by all his colleagues.

Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger called for an investigation into the incident and said Reuters thoughts were with the family.

"This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to report the news. All governments and organizations have a responsibility to take the utmost care to protect professionals trying to do their jobs," he said.

"Our thoughts are with his family. We request an immediate investigation into the incident by the Israeli defence forces."

Reuters has 70 journalists covering the Israeli and Palestinian region, 15 of which are in Gaza. Shana was part of the Gaza television team that won the News Event award at the annual Royal Television Society Television Awards in March 2008.

This is the first journalist Reuters has lost in Gaza.

To read the Reuters story here:


++ This press release was just sent to me. I have a journalist friend reporting from Gaza and am reminded of the late Kurt Schork from attending the Front Line Club.

Wish hard enough AND You make your own luck

I'm thrilled for her. I posted about a former student and friend Dionne Clarke when she got her dream job.

The story is simple. Dionne was and is ambitious. She wanted to work for a big hitter. She did all the commitment and leg work and would occasionally drop me a line.

We chatted and I'd share my experiences and offer what I could; the set backs, the highs the lows. When you're starting out as a journalist it can be tough.. real tough.

I suggested she do a report for viewmagazine.tv and she did. The more recent was DreamGirls. OMG it was freezin, but it shows how determined Dionne was, and then there was Sin City.

Both times she was on the red carpet jostling with the networks. The videos went on view with her credit - what else. And she was in the midst of branding - new pics and web site which she could have dumped the vid on.

It's easier to make your case to an employer if you have something, not just anything, but the very thing they trade in and it has quality written on it.

The cut of Dionne doing DreamGirls is really loose so you're seeing the reporter at work chasing her interviews and being relentless. Dionne has that quality and she was able to demonstrate it.

Frankly she could have done it on a Myspace, Bebo, Brightcove or whatever, but it worked out fine and now Dionne can be seen here burning he red carpet in LA for Sky Entertainment and here doing what she always wanted to do.

Could you raise a glass to her evolving success and mull the thought that: yes you can. Dionne now joins the ranks of the pass it on. Humble, gregarious and self assured. Some one, somewhere will get lucky when she gets comfortable to start mentoring and offering a thought here or there at breaking into the industry.

Er, so what exactly is videojournalism - snap shot

Broadly, there are two styles at the moment: made for TV; and a more gonzo approach, but as it matures and as we will see globally different genres and styles emerging.

So I was at this lunch put on for Alumni of Demontford University and a couple of the guests not working in the media asked the question.

So what is a videojournalist?

And d'you know what I gasped inside.

No, not because I was tongue tied, but we often get caught in this bubble where the people we meet don't need a lexicon to comprehend our media giberish, that we forget KISS. Keep it simple stoopid.

So I got home and rifled through my files. They've grown and as each expounds a future like a contemporary Columbus, a receding number of my articles talk about it in first principles.

So here's a rough guide, a videojournalismlanding page which answers and talks about quite swiftly what this strange thing is. Do email me etc, it comes in handy and I'll compile the Multimedia, podcast and Web Comms sections at some point.

The sections include: what is Videojournalism, Popular vids on Viewmag, which includes international award winners such as Dutch Ruud Elemendorp amd German Stephen Bachheimer. Some of the popular viewmag.blogspot posts, such as the journalism decree and common newspaper mistake in videojournalism, and then tit bits on making viewmagazine.tv and dare I say a future of videojournalism - all in one place.

Iconic historic images/video must be free

2Couple of years ago at a lecture I played 15 minutes of a compilation of dramatic video from 911.

It was a 2 hour lecture; way, way too long for normal classes, but the pictures mixed to the sonorus score of Classical composer Shirley Thompson's New Nation Rising created a mood, you need not exercise yourself to imagine.

It's worth thinking, some to todays undergrads and media students may have been too young at the time of 911 to have seen or acknowledge its utter profoundness.

This week I'm fixed to talk to some secondary/High school pupils and while researching a project came across this quotation by Abraham Linclon.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Abraham Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

The "stormy present" gave me cause to pause and think about that september. The journal of the present often takes its cues from the past.

But alas I'm mad with myself.

I can't find the tape. It was a digital vid compilation. After a fruitless search, I got mader, but about something else, but related.

Video from one of contemporary history's most indelible news images is not freely available for use.

They reside in the library of news agents, who scooped up the rights soon after, and whose usage therefore will incur some cost by the minute.

This surely should not be the case.

Some images - a page in history - are just too precious to be owned by a corporation. In the same way great and historic pieces of art are available on display, though yes I'm not allowed either to do as I please with them, BUT i can aquire digital versions, sometimes free of charge.

There have been a llimited number of images that mark their own year zero in history. Haunting images from Nasa's flights to the moon are but one - and they've been made avaialble to use by the public.

Recently the BBC announced it was to make some its material available for mash-ups; the public to do knead,edit and produce their own versions.

The Net has spawned a common license, copy left, so for educational purposes no money changes hands, or at least it's token if anything.

Some images are just too important to be locked away. And if you're a philanthropist who believes that news and historic events e.g. collapse of the Berlin wall, End of World War II, the Atom Bomb, Tusnami should be there for generations, buy up the stock and release it on the Net.

And whilst you're at it it go to the agencies and do the same for 911. I have got some names and number of people to contact if you're interested.

How might the web/journalism look in years to come?

I posed the question to second year journalism undergrads and the replies were:

It'll be a 3d virtual world

You'll be able to talk to the device/platform to call up your request

It won't be the web at all said Graham, but something completely different.

We looked at three methods for predicting the future

Trend extrapolation

The Adelphi procedure

Modelling and Simulation

I then asked whether TV will disappear

Many said yes, but countered with what the definition of TV per se.

TV has the magical power of being a social coming together tool, the equivalent of an electronic camp fire.
Thus far the net is a personalised asset.
What should give to change the way we react with the medium?

And so it went......

Cultural eXchanges - fusing media practioners and artisans' social academic networks

It was designed as a one off , but its fusion of key Artisans, and Media practitioners has made it a popular cultural event and ideas factory in the UK.

This year I was one of the speakers at DeMontford University's Cultural eXchange and here reflect on the experience.

***
The man in the front seat looked resigned, while nodding his head.

And then 10 minutes later it happened again, this time accompanied by a mild chuckle.

"Sorry", I asked politely, "er is it something I have said".

Truthfully could it be anything else, but you have to love British sensibilities for broaching what might be a sticky wicket.

"No", he replied, "it's funny, you're saying exactly what I have said in my thesis I'm about to hand in, and now no one is going to believe that it was my original thought".

Bummer! I mused and kept going.

You wait for one bus, then three come along at the same time. Transmediation, a colleague of mine would say. I still don't get it, but apparently we're all, at some point criss crossing each other in taking in the same thoughts.

You could almost argue, original thoughts are few and far between.

***
In a sizeable lecture room housing around fifty people, a hundred and twenty miles north of London, I'm delivering a lecture tailored to an eclectic gathering.

A quick observation indicates differential interests: students, lecturers, TV personnel, the public and one Dean I would later discover.

Read More about Cultural eXchanges

BBC's I player sets the bronze standard for TV

The TV design gate's open and whilst you could argue the BBC's Iplayer sets the gold standard, that's surely yet to come.

The news that the BBC's I player has proved a huge success for programmes watched over the net anywhere, anytime is welcome news for those looking to the net as the broadcast standard-in-waiting.

But with that news comes a mild spat between the Beep and ISPs claiming their networks are suffering under the weight of video downloads

Not our fault says the BBC's Dir of New Media and Technology, Ashley Highfield, in a response that suggested that you lot should be grateful since we at the BBC have added something tremendously useful to spawn broadband growth.

But the BBC has done even more than that, which should all become apparent soon.

I had the pleasure of meeting one of the new team boss at the BBC's futures department taking over the launch of the Iplayer last year: a true big hitter with huge credentials from Microsoft.

But that's not the point here.

The Iplayer version 1, should at some point soon be replaced in time by version 2 and so on. It's the silicon way of thinking - which the BBC's futures department will no doubt have adopted. [there's quite a few valley thinkers in there now]

Meanwhile there will be teams of outside techs deconstructing the player to refine their own releases. The BBC and others not wanting to lose the intiative will have to up the ante their end.

One question is will the BBC share the technology as an open source and in future license the player, with a sure fire guarantee of its programmes being one of the core bouquet of programmes or will it protect its new toy - shades of IBM versus Microsoft here, and the rest there as they say is history


The holy grail of broadcasting
A makeshift Iplayer in various arcane incarnations has seen the light before. In the late 90s Microsoft made a lot of hoopla over its web tv and you only have to look at the market now for alternative playes e.g. roo, Mavern Brightcove.

But where perhaps the BBC has had the upper hand is its's both technologist and premium content provider. It may not be getting viewers by the tens of millions any more but the long tail of downloads will do nicely thank you. My my what an interesting debate to be had at the end of the BBC's current license charter.

The news will bolster the network, project Kangaroo as it has been dubbed, being created by the BBC WS, ITV and Channel 4 and who else to see of outside competitors eating into their market share - be away with you newspapers!

With everyone now potentially a content maker, owning the transmission route and content will never be so crucial.

In I have a dream on the gadget zone Damian peers into the future. Its a shortish quick read and chimes with views being talked about by the likes of BT.

HD will rule - getting that over the web with nominal 8mb bandwidth is what the techs will be trying to solve.

Stand up Duncan Whiteman, whom I'll be bringing you a video of pretty soon. Duncan as previously mentioned in posts has cracked some of the gordian knots bedeviling the Network content flow providers.

At a recent meeting in Soho, his presentation left some heavyweight producers looking aghast. Jon Staton, formerly head of TV at Saatchi and Saatchi who runs his own successful agency, called Duncan's invention: the holy grail of braodcasting

But will technology of the kind released by the BBC truly yield new formats in programme construction.

I'm referring here to video with inbuilt hyperlinks, so you can jump from one video to another at set points, or second shift aesthetics -programmes that distinguish between made for terrestrial and online.


Winners and Losers
So great winners, but where are the losers?

With the demise of appointment-based what role will be played by the classic commissioner?
Will the future of TV revolve around making TV-based programmes first and fixed screens second?
Will hollogram and 3d based Tv have any room to squeeze into our conscious?

And how soon before an internet based programme network challenges the hegemony of existing broadcasters.

Last week I had breakfast at the Front Line Club with some very clever people who asked the same question.

With BBC layoffs, what would happen if half of those leaving got together with VC money to launch an alternative network.

And if you think that's absurd, Channel One TV 18 years ago, which I worked for, ran a 24 hour station with a handful of staff - everything was either automated or staff were multiskilled.

I'll post about 10 minutes of Channel One for you to judge.

Many years on we're no longer reliant on cable, which Channel One was, as an alternative to terrestrial and Satellite.

The Net is now truly coming alive. The BBC's Iplayer will have imperceptibly shifted a generation, whom previously will have seen little use for watching TV on the web. And with that the gates are well and truly open.

David Dunkley Gyimah will be speaking at the World Association of Newspaper Forum in Sweden on Digital media training for the new newsroom.

Four hundred editors from all over the globe came to the 14th World Editors Forum in Cape Town in June 2007, the largest meeting of its kind anywhere. We hope that an even greater number will join us in Göteborg, Sweden, in 2008.

The tao of videojournalism - 10 common banana skins from newspaper

Taken from David's lecture on IM6VJ amended from I love my bits of data Tricks and Tips of Podcasting

When it first burst on the scene with hi-8 cameras, Video journalism had TV in its cross fire.

TV News was clunky, and worse followed a set formulae. This new upstart would correct that. It would allow for images that were up, close and personal; the kind you could do without mounted camera.

You try filming the equivalent of the Tour De France, whilst holding a beta cam versus a small hand held. You get my point.

The visual language also begged a new literary language. That was the idea.

The new event horizon of video journalism which many newspapers occupy looks to the bedrock of TV style shooting as its template.

And why not, except that is if you see Video journalism as a form for the auter. Mix it up.

Since the VJ boom, I have had the pleasure of training hundreds of journos from a multiplicity of outfits.

But looking out across the prairie - there are some common banana skins worth noting - so here are my top ten.

1. Unless you're shooting docs and are adept at observational-based features there are many occasions when you'll need a narrative. Probably the most difficult of forms, particularly with short packages is weaving SOTs/interviews in and out of each other.

2. You need a narrative to nail the exposition or what the BBC referred to under its 90s Director General John Birt, "Birt's mission to explain", where you provide background context to the report.

3. Videojournalism is as close to video agency-based story telling as anything else. Video agencies sell pictures so should you.

4. That means script to picture rather than the easier picture to script. You'll get a more superior product.

5. Interview in situ. You don't always need the set up - rule of thirds interview.

6. Learn to pace the story . All stories have an inbuilt metronome. It can be languid or pacey. You can affect its pace in the edit, but try and feel the pulse. Here's an exercise: see if you can read the visual speed within the first 30 seconds of the next movie you go to.

7. Write the spoken word, not the literary one. That often means halving your word count and working to active sentences with few parenthesis.

8. The voice is an instrument and can telegraph emotion and meaning. Learn how to use it. Some broadcasters often start their careers mimicking a favourite before their voice comes into its own.

9. Learn to break the rules that are there to help you on your way to shooting video. Remember they're just guidelines: rule of third, crossing the line. Watch Bourne for a master class in breaking all the rules.

10. If you're shooting to TV's stanza, you run the risk of making your vids stale after a while. Mix it up, experiment. More to the point watch what other people are doing, not as a spectator but a technician.

Taken from David's lecture on IM6VJ ammended from I love my bits of data Tricks and Tips of Podcasting

David Dunkley Gyimah will be speaking at the World Association of Newspaper Forum in Sweden on Digital media training for the new newsroom.

Four hundred editors from all over the globe came to the 14th World Editors Forum in Cape Town in June 2007, the largest meeting of its kind anywhere. We hope that an even greater number will join us in Göteborg, Sweden, in 2008.

the news release and specialist subject videojournalism

It's early days, but could videojournalism give a much needed boost to the pr industry and the video news release? Absolutely and I wager a boon on the horizon.

I'm convinced in part from research that includes the work of the Press Association with their photojournalists.

Utterly fascinating, but more on that later.

In the same vein, but somewhat tangentially could videojournalism bolster the understanding of specialist subjects? YEP you're ahead of me.

The three areas that are close to me that could do with a shoe shine: economics, international relations and science.

It's the Economy, er stoopid

So said Clinton.

Later today the news should be festooned with matters concerning the economy.

Credit crunch, sub primes, and inflation.

Will the UK be mired in recession; the US seems certain?
Should the Bank of England cut interest rates by a 0.25 or 0.5 percent to stimulate activity in the economy?
And what does that mean in terms of the billions it unleashes into the ecoonomy?
Should the Bank of England's Monetary Committee have powers beyond interest rate cuts to get the economy going?
And if it is assets and the maligned acivities of the bank rather than the more obvious wage demands ( not since the 80s) that has the world in this mess, why can't the banks pick up the tab, rather than pass it on.

Lots of questions.

If you live in the bubble that defines the gobledegook language of economics, you've nothing to worry about. It all makes absolute sense.

If not, it's more than likely when you listen to the suits and shut your eyes you'd be forgiven for thinking Klingons are plotting a takeover of your neighbourhood.


It's about bizzness, er,...

Actually it's not that bad.

Anyone who had the delight of working through the 80s, with the business community, will remember the pain.

Then the language of economics and reportage was so dense and inpenetrable, you switched to the BBC Testcard when it came on.

And it wasn't just the community, the BBC's big hitter Peter Jay, Economics Editor, was famed for being lapooned with the comment, that only two people knew what he was talking about during his report, himself and his editor.

The alleged riposte is equally peachy; Jay is reported to have corrected this to say, he reports for himself and those that dont understand, well...

Economics had such the whiff of dread about it, that I once remember horrifyingly being asked to produce the markets within a couple of weeks working at the BBC's flagship news analyses programme, Newsnight.

Water torture would have been more suitable at the time, but it did have an effect.

I swore I needed to grab this thing by the nettle and as such would later spend an illuminating but exhausting period at the LSE for some economics rewiring by day and working as a VJ for a year on the night shift - 8 in the evening to 9 in the morning.

VJ Reportage
How the big picture translates to those pounds and cents in your pocket is ultimately what matters and it's where specialist video reporters (VJS) stands to exploit.

That means a couple of things, which newspapers already exercise - beat reportage - rather than the "snatch and grab" on the day, preferred by news outfits.

It also means abandoning our penchant for the oft-used phrase: "that's not a picture story". I'd argue the opposite. How else could anyone of those Hollywood film makers take an intractable manuscript/book and turn it into a visual feast.

In broadcasting you only need to examine side by side the difference in reportage between the most recent BBC Econs Editor Evan Davies, against Peter jay, to know you can be creative.

With Videojournalism, again the big picture made personal can craete some of the best and easily digestable reportage.

Its videojournalism inbuilt intimacy which could go some way in making econs matters that much easier to understand.


postscript

Now then what did they mean by Boom and Bust?

Boom:lower interest rates should stimulate more consumer spending, and less savings. The pound becomes weaker against other currencies with favourble exchange rates leading to more competitive trade for UK exporters, but not those willing to invest in the UK - they want higher interest rates... and so on and so forth.

Now throw in the effect of pensions, futures trading, borrowing by the government, trade deficit and balance of payments and the film that tracks a family over the course of an economic cycle Q1 - and there's something definately going on.

Artistry

Was invited by a dear and awesome friend to the last showing of PUSH at the London Coliseum.

Simply awesome. Shirley Thompson, whom I have featured on viewmagazine, and is a fellow lecturer, wrote one of the scores which has very rich South African township overtones.

So not surprising, she's been invited to the influential Grahams Town festival in South Africa.

Shirley's other claim to fame is being one of very few women to write and conduct for the Royal Philharmonic with her score, New Nation Rising.

I began building her site here but got side tracked so I'm going to have an overhaul think, and bring in some talent to rebuild her presence. Jack, answer your emails. LOL

Yesterday's post about auterism had Peter ( cheers mate) from Shootingbynumbers draw my attention to a great piece in the New Yorker about the parallels between Directors such as Godard and Truffaut and the Videojournalism movement.

The platform of artistry from Push and 'auter theory' described by the New Yorker e.g. Cahiers du Cinéma et al creates a whole new area of synapses.

It got me thinking about something I bang on about in advance vj talks: the fluidity and choreography of the camera in the way it pans and swivels from one subject to another. - a sort of steadycam visual language

The Shield is one of the more recent advocates of this style, though going handheld sans steadycam gives that more rugged "inframe" look.

Granted in shoots where you can't control the event, you've Little control over where and when to place the camera, but as I'm alluding to it's like a dance and you have to trust or build up your instincts.

Of course it won't always work, but like any dancer some moves are modified and others jetissoned in production.

In Brian de Palmer's Snake Eyes, there's the opening sequence which last a fair few minutes without an edit. Likewise in Bonfire of the Vanities, where the director hides behind a bellboy character on a trolley. It's about 5 mins long or something.

Obviously in a film that's more than possible as you can place your characters and time them in, no such luck in a doc/feature.

Or is that really the case?

The New Yorker piece opens us up to the auters of cinema's old fashioned but often overlooked method for learning the craft. Watch loads of films.

How many?

Everything you can get your hands on. It's worked well also for Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.

Incidentally there's a great online tutorial from Rodriguez about how to shoot to edit, meaning you shoot so close to the final edit that little work needs doing afterwards.


That again is one of the VJ mantras- or at least in my book.

So back to the dance, awesome, free flowing, fluid, expansive - everything the best of art can be.

And you know what video (VJ) as a form is not very different.

Few days off

This last few days without any Net connection have been quite reflective.

Well actualy it started off being a pain in the b*****e, but over the course I kinda just chilled.

Five days, yep five days. But one thing that struck me during the period talking to other journos was the slow boil debate surrounding videojournalism.

Mmmmmm.

It's been fifteen years since I first picked up a camera and my NUJ (National Union of Journalists) card labelled me a videojournalist.

Prior that for six years I had the dubious tag of a bi-media journalist, working on the likes of BBC Newsnight three times a week and spending one day as a presenter at BBC London's radio.

Of course this may not seem like a long time, but even so I wouldn't for one moment be prescriptive about what others believe videojournalism is or isn't.

I have my own views which have stewed over the years, and are part of my Phd studies, but I'm aware of the many differences, which I'm also eager to know more about.

Scott Rensberger - a celebrated videographer/photographer resists the use of the word videojournalism applied to his craft.

And judging by the ground swell of chat around the subject, it's probably not a bad idea.

Frankly, it can't be a restrictive form wrapped around formulas and prescribed functions. That makes no sense.

What some of the VJs I have come to know emulate is the role of the auter - with a strong sense of journalism that underpins their talents.

In the 90s the Dogma movement had a lot to offer Vjism. There's little heard of the twin influences nowadays, which is a shame because dogma was a real and exciting breakaway from some of the conveyor belt qualities of film making.

We could learn from that.

But one thing I'm convinced of is that there are no fixed stanzas that rule vidojournalism; guideliness, yes, that enable anyone to launch a career, but beyond that it's what you make of it.

It's a broadchurch with no fixed religion. In stark contrast to say modern art and its various movements, such as impressionism, cubism or futurisms, but that however I suspect will change as more and more practitioners take to the craft.

Meanwhile I continue to look forward to the many styles and films emerging from the new auters.

Ultimately it boils down to the quality of the film and its capacity to unfold a great story, irrespective of the tag vjism or not.

Apologies

Sorry, the servers been down for almost 5 days. I mean the pain. The withdrawal symptons.

Ah well, I think it's up trouble free, so normal bizness resumes tomorrow.

Ta loads.

p.s Just launched a new promo on viewmagazine.tv and finally have the radio doc aired on BBC World Service, Radio 4 and SABC Radio all availeble on hte front page of viewmagazine.tv :)

What Al Jazeera teaches us about modern day media

It was bound to happen, could be the refrain.

Discontentment within the ranks of Al Jazeera forcing mass resignations.

This week the UK's Guardian newspaper added to the raft of reportage, many have done so thus far via so blogs, quiet conversations, and a site that hangs out AJs dirty linen.

In essence you could argue that the set up and architecture of AJ was ripe to go pear shape at some point, though that would be an easy hit - a cop out: all companies go through the antithesis of a purple patch.

But has AJ's come too soon?

Personally, I can't think of any other business ingredient to sour a company than to have two outfits of the same ilk occupy different hierarchies. AJ international Versus AJ domestic - sibling rivals, one born at home, the other, African dialect would refer as a "been to" ie Been to US/UK etc.

In my first ever radio job working at the BBC, the station came close tot this: Asians and Blacks located to the rear, their programmes literally in one corner- sharing metaphorically paper cups, while the other side of the newsroom had Earl Grey.

But this post isn't so much about a them and us, rather firstly my own experience with AJ and secondly, whether AJ's punt for a new of type of news journalism was a PR stroke too far?


You've got Friends
I have got some good friends at AJ, including the man said to be responsible for helping set it up, Riz Khan. One day on a visit to another friend, I found myself being interviewed for a post in Africa.

How would I do this and how would I do that was the closed line of questioning?

Frankly, I was a little put out by what I was led to be an informal chat, with some big name types, about their new venture, but I thought of playing along nonetheless.

They the team of Brits looked mostly resigned, when I mentioned videojournalism. Their heads cocked to one side, you could read their bubble thought: "here we go another chancer".

Never mind, I'm comfortable with what I believe I know I heard myself thinking

However I was mesmerized by the loose chat that followed in which they talked about their eye of the prize - the new approach to reportage et al.

I don't doubt probably the bosses are extremely pleased with what they've achieved thus far, but I felt the lack of Videojournalism as added reportage skills and the lack of innovation on the web meant something would give.

For all the technological gizmos in broadcasting and now digital reportage, the one aspect of reportage that is consistently overlooked is the style and approach.

If you're an exec, look away now, because the chances of you revolutionising news reportage after being handed shed loads of money go like this:

1. Invest in high tech graphic suite and equipment

2. Look around for the best personnel in the market

3. Get that swirly logo punchy theme tune going

We're wedded to an idea of news that is beyond rigid. It's a igneous in structure.

News' Frankenstein
The original arbiters of news reportage have a lot to answer for as nothing else beyond a woman/ man and a desk appears to brook any currency. Form and structure in news are untouchable.

We've tinkered with solo presenters, double headers, red lights:hushed backgrounds, to zoo tv where there's a whole army of people working in the news ecosystem, but the DNA of news and its gathering remains the same.

And any sign, reported in the press of a new dawn in TV invariably involves a rehash of a new theme, and, AND a roll out of the same old usual suspects.

Nothing wrong with that, experience is the bedrock of what we do.

But when the well's dry, it's time to inject new blood, outside blood: new disciplines, personalities et al.

Last night the BBC did what it's supremely confident at: a feature on the sub prime lending market presented and written by its Economic Editor Robert Preston.

It was marvelous, fabulous. Granted it took an army the size of the Persians at Thermopylae in 480BC, but it was sublime.

You can't beat quality programmes: the film mixed genres of Hollywood film making, with pathos. It was erudite, creative and supremely impressive.

The new discourse for news and features should be more of this. It stands the test of time, deserves to be revisited, and reworked - the web allows that. Hear this again. You don't have to abandon a programme idea because you did it once in a year. The web allows you do so much more with rigid TV schedules.

If Britain's race politics reportage seems so distant to be non existent it's because the commissioners sacrosanct believe only one programme on race will suffice in a year. BROAD B*****Y BAND - WAKE UP!

Al Jazeera's back lash ultimately isn't just about discontentment it's about a missed opportunity, none more so evident than in its web site, which is brochure ware par excellence.

So while we wallow in a partial sea of mediocrity, news masquerading as infotainment and the rest, we do a generation a massive disservice.

In 20 years time, if the then news and programme makers look back on this era, they may well scoff in disdain. What were they doing back then? They had a broadcast outlet - the last of its kind before we went super broadband and IPTV, and they wasted an opportunity.

Wasted!

But you know what?

The exec sitting in his office has litte to worry about. They're a couple of years shy of their retirement. Keep the ship steady till then, then hand over the problem to some young turk. "What do I care - I still get my bonus and healthy pension".

What will AJ look like then? If present trends are anything to go by, very badly.

AJ is a lesson in not how to launch a media company, even if you have lots of money.

New Wonders - Journalism could learn from.

She's tipped as the new sensation...

Yes, yes they say that about many people, but for my colleague who's recently been involved in signing John and Jehn, Rahel is the real thing.

But as much as I'm into posting about this about someone who's destined for big things, I'm also fascinated by the event that enables such creatives to come together and collaborate in a manner that can only foster greatness.

In Hammelburg Germany, every year a swathe of students from various universities across Europe, of different disciplines meet, supervised by business and music types such as my colleague Kienda Hoji.

There in a retreat, a castle, they go through a number of simulations to get students into this type of shape.

It's brilliant and inspiring and it's called MUSO.

They meet without knowing each other and then share, swap ideas and come away after a week richer in knowledge and ideas: I mean this song was put together overnight - wow!

Where's JOURNO: the journalism/videojournalism/story telling equivalent?

If you're a rainmaker who makes things happen then this must serve as a template for how to develop innovation in the collision of video and the web - away from the crunching of figures and dour outlook that only suits know best.

For the meantime lets enjoy Rahel - shot by Kienda

It's not funny doh!

Truth, I really couldnt tell you why I'm belly-aching except for I nearly coughed my guts out all because Duncan - photographer - wanted to snap away for his book. Mad !!

Radio journalism -South Africa

You hear less and less of the term Radio Journalism nowadays.

During my postgrad we spoke of nothing else. TV was for those flash lot, but radio was real journalism.

Has that changed much???

Anyhow, I'll be posting the doc First Time Voters which I made for BBC Radio 4 during South Africa's transition.

On hearing it for the first time in ages ( 10 years) I think it stands up pretty well, and in some way you can spot the influences in Videojournalism.

The premise was simple. I'd found a couple of alpha males/females in SA whom I thought would make great interviews. Back in London, I wrote an article for the BBC's internal magazine, Ariel.

A BBC producer ran with the idea and we got the commission - a programme I'd probabaly put in my own top ten of personal favourites for many reasons, not least it was also aired by the SABC - South Africa's pubic radio - on the eve of the election.

Like many many people I too believe that radio is a much more powerful and immediate medium than its sibling TV/video.

I go to bed with the world service and awake to Today.

Video [podcasts] may get all the attention at the moment, but getting to grips with the mechanics of radio packaging can go some way in influencing the VJism.

My evidence, after the BBC Radio 4 I had a welter of ideas how to produce VJ pieces- such as this one -and this here

18 hours - Social networking

Late last night it started with an SMS, which I had to honour.

A class mate had lost his wife and the troops we're rallying to pay their respect and offer whatever support we could.

The unwritten code of the school I attended, Prempeh College is such that you almost drop everything when a class mate is in a crisis.

The term that underpins us is Amanfuor. This may not mean anything to you, but in Ghana or amongst Ghanaians it resonates deeply of kindred spirits.

The word literally means: one of us. It is perhaps the ultimate in social networking, which started 30 years ago for me.

Our thoughts go out to Akasala - our old mate.

Today, this morning and with barely a good night's sleep - the clocks came forward - a different kind of social networking.

Breakfast at the Front Line Club with about ten others, some of whom I knew, organised by Graham Holliday

Graham's a freelance journalist and blogger based in Vietnam and author of Noodlepie - a much heralded blog about going-ons in Saigon.

If you've been here you need no convincing, if you haven't then you're missing a treat.

It is many things - a restaurant, part of the produce comes from founder of the Frontline Club Vaughn Smith's farm - and upstairs a social fulcrum for various debates about the media and personalities. It is everything you wish your media could be driven by Vaughn and co, no stranger to the news business and any number of awards.

I was here some two years ago as a panelist at the Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism - Celebrating & Remembering the Unsung Heroes of Global Reporting.

Today it was wild mushrooms and toast, mixed with conversations about the decline of the news media.

Vaughan has some great plans, which he spoke about and I'm looking forward to catching up with him again.

The crux of the matter is that there are alternatives to the status quo but how do you gain firm grounding in these shifting sands: wo/man against the machine.

On our way home, Duncan, whom I have been waxing on about for the last couple of days made me the subject for his everyday people project, persuading me to lie down on the pavement and pose ???"@!££$

I could have said no, but Duncan could charm birds down from a tree.......

And from our own wee chat, perhaps reviving the idea of the IMVJ tomb I have in mind - a combination of media theory, a journey through my own fuzzy mind, literally; and how tos when shooting stuff that needs to break the mould.

The stories would include: Britain's PM John Major'd leadership election, working the townships of Soweto, surveying the wrecks of WWI ships in Gallipoli, First Time Voters and the United States of Africa- the series, working with Lennox Lewis, my experience within the BBC and the ideas that went into Viewmagazine.tv, yielding stories such as 8 days, 72 Hours and the Cube.

We'll see.