If it looks like video journalism is it video journalism?

If it looks like video journalism, if it's made by a video journalist, is it video journalism?

++++++

Yes. Obviously and what a daft question. Those in favour say aye. Aye!

No. Well it depends what you define as video journalism.

If it's a news piece created by a traditional camera operator/ a journalist/ citizen journalist, is that video journalism? Those on the left say naye!

OK then this is a question of semantics, and frankly who cares.

Lots of talented camera operators e.g Claudio Von Planta have been making docs for years with beta cams and now he uses the Sony A1. But he does not call himself a video journalist.

He is a dv director/ producer, who edits and often voices his own reports.

Does it matter then what we call ourselves?

Does it matter who we are, or once were, so long as we're operating the camera beyond the traditional function of the camera man/woman where a director directs you to shoot, and a producers produces a crib sheet about whom to interview next?

Does it matter?

Probably not one jot.


Video what... Journalism :^%$£
So what's the defining quality?

Perhaps it's a tad ethereal at the moment, because videojournalism embodies more of a style, a sub culture come good over the years, an attitude to the way you work, aided by guidelines but not constrained by them.

You're a Pollock action painting, and you only know when to daub the last stroke.

Sometimes, they'll get it sometimes they won't, but you hold the video paint brush and each time you think of a piece, its execution is different.

Consider this, 50 years of being told that's the way it is, you've finally been told "go make" but forget everything.

It's in the story, the execution, the follow on, the camera thinking, it's anything but zoo tv, but it's something that's supposed to be unlike anything we usually do.

You pause, think ??????????????????? Wot the ^%$£@ And then do what we all do uttering the words:"Forget this nonsense this is rubbish".


BBC Presentation
In 2001 I presented to BBC Management in Birmingham. It was their first foray into Video journalism.

After my piece, one manager commented.. "Yeah, Phwer but that looks like normal TV" and he was right. All the films stemmed from the mid on 90s, shot on beta cams, and pretty much stuck rigidly to a visual language we all know too well.

A couple of years on, I thought:

"If you could combine the art of motion graphics and photography, the mis en scene and arcing of cinema, the language of television, the skill of radio broadcasting with users behaviour online, I believe we'd be closer to understanding the power of Video Journalism."

In the end if its good story telling, does it matter?

No!

David Dunkley Gyimah is one of the twelve international judges for the 2008 International Video Journalism Awards in Mainz, Germany, the birth place of Johannes Gutenberg who revolutionised the world with his printing machine.

To submit a story and learn more about the VJ awards go to www.vjawards.com/

Role models - who decides who is and not?

They are never seen nor heard. They are a silent minority going about their work, selflessly, under the radar.

They're like government advisors, civil servants.

Now whilst I could be referring to my colleagues above - all lecturers, all leaders in their field - I'm not referring to them.

Though many of them mentor already.

No, we've chosen a path to work with the next generation. Many mentors are called upon to do something that's almost diametric to their journey.

However many are mentors-in-waiting if you were to consider my vote in Paul Macey - more on him in a moment.

But why all the talk of mentors?

The UK government's gone on a mentor drive to assist failing youngsters, black youngsters who need guidance.

No this is not a punt to get on the scheme but indulge in a debate of sorts.


mentor?
Who decides who's a mentor?

What criteria is required and is it universal?

Can your mentoring badge qualify you to speak to students as much as those already in the criminal justice system?

Is the racing car driver Lewis Hamilton a mentor? Or is Shirley Thompson, an amazing woman, multiple award winning composer who's scored for the Royal Philharmonic, Push and played had her scores played on Broadway?

Does Hamilton have what it takes to mentor a troubled teenager from the life of crime?

Would most black youngsters want to listen to Shirley talk classical music?

Incidentally Shirley's opus -an album called New Nation Rising mixes classical with the spoken word - awesome!

Must a mentor have something in common with their charge?

Because then the governments could call on Britain's talented black musicians or footballers?

Or does that reinforce an aged stereotype?

What about Kienda Hoji on the far left?

Chinese speaking, but equally if not more important Director of music at the University of Westminster, who has revolutionised the programme. He's past has involved looking after a number of high profile bands. He was responsible for getting Russel Simmons and Reverend Run to the University. He has launched the only, as far as I know, record label, within a university.

Do you know him?


Mykael Rilley second from right was a founding member of Dub reggae outfit Steel Pulse and founded and fronted the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra. Equally awesome, he's in the middle of his PhD on amongst others archiving jazz music etc. And is a tour de force.


Far right is the extraordinary David Matthews, lecturing in journalism, behind two very well received books that exercises the art of gonzism. In one Dave becomes a boxer, Looking for a fight, to write about his account. In the other he buys a grey hound dog to understand what grey hound racing is all about in Man Buys Dog - A Loser's Guide to the World of Greyhound Racing

Does Dave( street-sussed) Matthews qualify as a mentor?

We took this photo last year, dreaming up what could be done when you combine education with ones own professional background.

There are untold number of mentor schemes, and I'm sure we'll do something which doesn't have the bells and whistles but gets the job done. As lecturers that's what we do.

It will be interesting to see who makes it onto the Government's Mentor Scheme. Oh Yes!


My choice: one of the hardest working, nicest guys, whose experience with young people at the coal face is outstanding is Paul Macey, whom I had the pleasure of getting to know when many years back five of us launched a creative multi-disciplinary agency.

In an article one viewmagazine, I'll flesh out Mentors with video etc and comments from the aforementioned themselves.

And later today, hopefully I'll find some links of my colleagues above, mainly from films I have shot of them.

Multimedia people - can you guess what it is yet

Can you guess what it is yet?

a) a moon docking device?
b) piece of art?
c) junk?
e) 3d printer?
f) Brain pattern movement device?

Answer and write up tomorrow

Diversity, programme making and role models

Al Jazeera's Rageh Omar and Race Czar Trevor Phillips at Channel 4 event on diversity


Several posts coming up.

If you work, or have aspirations of working in British television and are a minority then former tv presenter/producer turned Race Czar Trevor Phillips' findings co-published with Channel 4 may bring some comfort.

[Trevor could be described when he worked in television as Britain's answer to a Bryant Gumbel. Well respected, he was everywhere]

I got to speak to him at the end about how new media could drive the new economy. Trevor agreed. [luvvie fact (this is for peter@ shooting by numbers, who called me a Luvvie. I'm wounded @££!£$@

When I worked in television we shared the same agent, so at least he remembered me. Now what!]

I also bumped into an old friend Rageh Omar. We did our "arm reach-hug". I guess fist bumping's out of fashion after the New Yorker- Obama spat cover.

Never did get the cover's monty python irony folded on itself.

Rageh and I had a good short-power chat and I hope to bring you a vid interview with him in the future. Around 1993/94 we both freelanced for the BBC WS, African Service. Gosh! Those were the days.

Also there and friends from the past the talented tv maker Geoff Small, Guardian/BBC Radio 4's Safraz Mansoor ( we were at Channel 4 together) and the lovely Marcia Williams, exec at the UK film council.

Role Models
Meanwhile the Government launches an initiative to find role models, black role models. But how do you judge someone as being a role model? I have posted a short clip of equality race champion Doreen Lawrence on Viewmagazine.tv( she lost a son, murdered, in the 90s in race attack)

Dr Rachel Armstrong, Bruce Damer (all Phd smart labbers) came along to the channel 4 conference and we have some pictures to share with you.

And coming soon, finally the Apprentice. I'm close to cutting the package sent to me from South Africa which was turned into a mash-up prog.

Tomorrow will also post Bruce talking about creating life within - Darwinian stuff - in avatar world. Cooool!

Entries - International Video Journalism Awards 4th year

David receives his award for 8 days at the 3rd International Video Journalism Awards

So here's the details for peer fame and some money for your hard efforts.

The 4th International Video Journalism Awards, Mainz, Germany: "Unlimited access"

CALL FOR ENTRIES Deadline 15th of October 2008
http://www.vjawards.com

Go out - find a story – publish it:
The „4th International Video Journalism Awards” is calling for entries!

The Video Journalism Awards is looking for non-fiction videos from single authors, the so called videojournalists (short VJs). A VJ is responsible for the whole creative process starting from research and shooting as well as covering the whole process of editing and sometimes even the publication of the film.

A small camcorder and a laptop are the tools of the VJ, which is comparable to the pen and paper a newspaper journalist uses.

Sabine Streich, VJ organiser and an accomplished VJ ,VJ Trainer and publisher

The final deadline for entering films for the 4th International Video Journalism Awards is the 15th of October 2008. The awards are produced by vjawards.com , the host is ZDF German Television in Mainz.

The internet is converging all kinds of media, which is reflected by this year's theme "unlimited access".

The awards try to cover all known fields of video journalism: films from TV-stations and publishing companies and productions from an independent background are awarded with a total of 12.000 € of prize money going to the seperated categories "independent and online" and "TV production".

Recent developements that influence the VJ-scene and future perspectives are discussed in the supporting programme of the 4th International Video Journalism Awards.

DW Journalist Stephan Bachenheimer picks up his award for the brilliant film inside Guantanamo Bay

INTERNATIONAL VIDEO JOURNALISM AWARD

a) TV production – broadcast reports (2000 €)
A journalistic or documentary report with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, produced by one or more video journalists/video reporters, and which has already been broadcast.

b) independent or online video (2000 €)
A journalistic or documentary report with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, produced by one or more video journalists/video reporters, but which has not necessarily been broadcast.

GERMAN VIDEO JOURNALISM AWARD

a) TV production - broadcast reports (2000 €)
A journalistic or documentary report with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, produced by one or more video journalists/video reporters and which has been aired by a German-language television channel (please indicate the station and broadcast date). All genres.

b) Independent or online video (2000 €)
A journalistic or documentary report with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, produced by one or more video journalists/video reporters, but which has not necessarily been broadcast.

REPORTAGE AWARD (2500 €)
A feature report in the German language with a minimum duration of 15 minutes and a maximum duration of 29 minutes, produced by one or more video journalists/video reporters, but which has not necessarily been broadcast.

NEWCOMER VIDEO JOURNALISM AWARD (1000 €)
A journalistic or documentary report with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, produced by one or more video journalists/video reporters. The applicants must be under 30 years of age or currently enrolled in an institution of higher education. Those productions will be considered for awards whose appeal lies in a unique style of content or cinematography and indicate a great potential of the applicant.

Online- audience prize (500 €)
A specially developed open online voting system will allow the users to cast votes for their favorite entries.

Special mentioning of the jury
The jury nominates a film, that impressed them, and that might expand the term video journalism.

Dutch VJ based in Africa, Ruud Elmendorp, grabs an award for his daring "I am Joseph Kony", the leader of a rebel movement accused of massive atrocities.

Further information is provided on the website: http://www.vjawards.com

Note from David Dunkley Gyimah, one of this years jury members for the International Video Journalism Awards and a recipient of the International Video Journalism Awards in 2006 for 8 Days.

A high turn out marks the beginnings of the awards ceremony in Berlin

5 reasons to submit to the awards

Participating in the first "open access" awards and still one of the most respected

The potential of winning the award, recognition and prize money

Meeting fellow Video Journalists and making good contacts and friends

Seeing different styles of Video Journalism and solo film making across the world

Being at the heart of a movement in its nascent stages and which can only get bigger

Knife Crime UK - Reportage

...And another teenager is murdered in London...".

The news alone is enough to make you feel physically ill, and somehow the reporting of it, perhaps, the wording also instills a sense of unease.

Is there any other way this can be reported sans dramatic voice?

Meanwhile politicians, idiotically play the crassest of "pass the problem". They clearly have no idea.

In South Africa, while reporting there in 92, a good friend of mine who lived to tell the tale - he's now at MSF - got stabbed near the heart.

He says he saw it coming, walking down an alley in the early morning in downtown joburg as two men closed in on him either side

There was a time, I can't speak for now (limited knowledge) when South African friends would lament the value of life.

There were, still are, car jackings, muggings, gun crimes.

Crime South Africa
On one occasion listening to 702 - a popular radio station - jackers had made off with a mini bus with a baby inside.

While driving around with a radio exec in Soweto, he showed me his hand piece which a couple of days earlier he'd shot and fatally wounded a car jacker after his car.

At the police station, the duty Sergeant dismissed him saying the day he empties two whole clips he'd have something to answer for. The exec let off 6 rounds.

What happens when young people have little regard for their own lives, let alone those they resent or have no relationship with.

Well-off South Africans took to erecting fortresses e.g. Four ways; whole streets have become small self contained towns cordoned off by security check points determining who enters.



Controversially will anyone of note in the UK say the knife/gun culture has no solution?

That a generation 'Don't ****ing cares" has taken root. And that the best MPs and others can do is to follow South Africa's example.

Otherwise make a lot of huffaw, hoping the following day, bad news of a kind they have an inkling to talk about will arrive e.g. stamp duty.

Course not, but some solutions seem blindingly obvious at least in addressing a symptom that leads to some youngsters losing their way.


Youth Crime Action Plan

In 1992 under a tory government the perception of crime appears to have as much resonance then as it does now.

A friend's son fell by the side, despite being a model student. Stacey worked two jobs to get her son into a good school.

In part she has to from a government that taxes through the nose.

She gets home at 6.30. Her son finishes school at 3.30. There's no such thing as a latch key kid anymore because after school he doesn't come home, he's on the streets with new friends in the rough and tumble of youth culture developing his badness.

He gets home around 7pm.

Couple of months back I visited him at Feltham's Young Offenders prison. He was in good spirit and this time had picked up new fashion statements - a full fro with a three combs in his hair.

Bravado continues inside and as many of the youngsters will tell you prison holds no fear for them.

What's it like here, I asked
Ol right- food sucks though, he answered.

So what if the government underwent a real paradigm and shifted the closing of schools to a later time.

What if 3.30 became 5.30 where youngsters could do post curricula things. Football - now there's an idea!

Yes yes it's not going to reform those who just don't want to be in school in the first place, but it might do something to stem the feral nature of learning how to be "bad".

Don't be silly, do you know how much that would cost?

Not half as much rhetorically as paying for young people who stray into lawlessness, ending up in prison and costing the government a fair whack each week.

Or otherwise what about making it possible for parents to be at home around 3.30 when their young uns leave school.

Yep you're saying that's barking as well. Just think of the productivity we lose in economic value.

But why do we have to work till 5.30? What's the lesser of the trade offs? That's the whole idea around paradigms.

So at some point this week, sadly, as night follows day, the news will report another fatality, and another. And the best solution, one that dare not speak its name will be for those that can to move, yes move away from trouble spots.

Deja Vu. In Britain 2030, Children of Men really does exist.

Incidentally whilst writing this BBC Radio 4 is reporting a youth crime project in Nottingham. While you can't deny the social worth of these schemes, oh how the media loves them as the panacea for youngsters at risk.



In 1992 while reporting for the BBC youth show and BBC Radio 5 I reported on a UK-wide scheme of crime gone rampant

Back then it was cars and joy riding (TWOKING - Taking without consent) which became a media obsession; though there were young teenagers with guns in Manchester we interviewed.

That was 1992, today politicans still haven't found a solution other than: "lets bang em up".

And that's a shame, a real let down to a generation of youngsters who start off their journey growing up just like you and me.

* David Cameron, Tory leader, comments on Radio 4 Today that violent crime has doubled in last ten years

Viewmagazine.tv's David Dunkley Gyimah joins jury for International Video Journalism Award

The email came as below:

Dear David,

We’re writing in the hope that you will consent to be a member of our international jury (INTERNATIONAL VIDEO JOURNALISM AWARD) for the 4th International Video Journalism Awards, taking place this year in Mainz from the 28th-29th of November 2008......

I said yes. It's a real honour to be able to witness close up the transformation in video language production from any view, let alone that of a judge for one of the best video journalism awards around.

Congratulations once again to Sabine Streich and Albert Beckmann for selflessly giving us video makers the opportunity to show off our wares.

Each year the standard for this event has uped the ante from winners in 2006 such as German reporter (DW) Stephan Bachenheimer who spent three days in Guantanamo Bay and Dutch video Journalism Ruud Elmendorp.

You can see us here discussing their films after we emerged from the 2006 podium where the two and me came away with awards.

If you've got a film don't forget to send it into the awards at this website where you can find full details of entries etc.

Avatar News, second life, lively - future of news

Avatar based news - interview with former CIA head James Woolsey about young people joining the intelligence services

Sabaa Quao's avatar based news takes on where ITN's Ananova left off with superior graphics and a platform centric approach with strong video

Next generation graphics, photo realism, and stronger algorithmic computation are strong contributing factors to the increasing innovation and interests in avatars.

Google's Lively, Bruce Damer's ground breaking avatar work including moon walks with Apollo astronauts, and Ron Edwards Fonterra platform which allows military and emergency services to simulate disaster management, are some of the things I have been tracking here and on Viewmagazine.tv

Sabaa Quao of xcorporation.com and capacity networks is onto a game changer, with his Avatar based news, which he wanted to combine synergistically with Vewmagazine.tv's anti-aesthetic videos.

Media buffs may well remember ITN's avatar, Ananova, modelled on two of its more photogenic newsreaders, however she-avatar had several limitations. Her look was no where near what Sabaa's avatars look like and her speech-lip-synch left a lot to be desired. You might also argue she was before her time.

Sabaa, also behind one of the biggest film festivals, the international one minute film festival combines an entrepreneurial spirit with creative innovations. I hope to bring some video of him talking about what he does soonish.

Here are some slides from the 3 minute broadcast, which I can't quite bring to you now but gives you an idea.



Some of the AI developments with avatars are the stuff of Science fiction. So imagine your avatar in an AI life environment ringing you in real world. Or that bio sensors in virtual world transfer emotions and pain into real world.

It's being researched now and could have a world of implications.


Ozwald Boateng broadcast



Here for viemagazine.tv's story of avatars and futuristic combats

Computing's meaning of life - AI

Video courtesy of the Internet archive and thanks to Bruce Damer. For more go to the Internet archive

Yesterday I was treated to one of the most enlightening lectures I have heard in a long while from Bruce Damer talking at the Computer Society, Covent Garden, whom posited a powerful argument, which is also at the heart of his Phd.

His multifarious sources include the work of Karl Sims a computer whizkid at the time in 1994 at MIT who conducted a unique experiment which would simulate Darwin's theory of evolution.

Sims created virtual blocks and a soup of code which the blocks used to 'evolve'. Their task was to first swim through virtual water and then walk on land.

At each moment of their cycle they would run through a matrix of code and create a new virtual being, which would adapt to its surroundings, eventually learning how to paddle successfully through water and then adapt to mobility on land.

If that was 1994, what might be capable now in 2008 is in part Bruce's line of thinking.

Could we from nothing see how a virtual world evolves?

Bruce's quest
Bruce's work in what he's termed the evo grid is of such computing magnificence as well as so deeply philosophically penetrating that you need to be at one of his lectures to capture its essence.

I did however VJ his seminar and will be dropping him some mail both to say thank you and how I might be able to develop a film of sorts.

His previous works have included developing AIs/landing capabilites for NASA, physically collecting and documenting for his digibarn collection every computer ever made, and genesis Avatar development from the 90s.

There are some brilliant developments from virtual reality and AI, that almost appear astonishingly unreal, such as printing live tissues, using a 3d printer from a virtual scan, according to Dr Rachel Armstrong.

As a footnote, a couple of us had our own eureka moments thinking our own PhDs could raise their game, and that's one of the fascinating things about the Smart Lab.

It's eclecticism is also one of its strengths, giving people like me access to hear someone like Bruce both in lectures and within the smart lab environment, that I can't think how else I might ever have come by that opportunity.

Lively and the new web

Google's 3D application which gives users an in into virtual worlds and a hook up with Facebook called Lively, sounds like a game-changer.

There are a lot of people waiting to see how it plays out.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of seeing what one outfit could do with in world news broadcasting on a different platform

Can't show anything yet, but will hopefully look to get permission.

Performance -story telling

The week that was and so many performance to top of Phd week.

I'm currently down at the South Bank [free wifi access], London's creative arts hub, where African footprints -extraordinary drama - drum troupe are playing.

They'd earlier treated Smart lab to one of their many repertoires - impromptu live theatre and dance.

At one point I was holding my breadth. Their drums are sooo loud that I thought any moment security would walk into our space and demand they stop playing.

African footprints are from Ghana so I had the chance to speak to them in their native tongue. Yep surprised me as well.

In half an hour, Bruce Damer gives a talk on computing on the Euro Grid to the British Computer Society, which I'm going along to with some smart labbers.

Earlier on in the day Galen, a technologist, artist, poet and partner of Bruce gave the most extraordinary presentation of story telling and technology.

There were few dry eyes when she finished. I'll post some film for you to make your mind up.

So that was the week that was. Traditional service on the VJ world commences next week and I'm looking forward to doing something with Bruce already. Bruce is wired into Adobe Air and a number of incredible things.

Burning Man, BBC, Vid-Journalism and Smart Lab

Bruce's pics of Burning man which he and Galen are part of the committee

Posting later today, a snapshot of Smart Lab and interviews with the Smart Labbers - all of whom are doing extraordinary things.

Take Bruce Damer and Galen - husband and wife team.

Bruce is everything you want to know about computers, avatars, new computing - sort of things you'd see in Popular Science; Galen is technology, poetry, art and storytelling.

Bruce was sharing his pictures with us from Burning Man and the one which made us all chuckle is his picture here of a well known BBC presenter Peter Day.

Picture 1 shows Peter just arriving at Burning Man



Picture 2, 4 days on shows what can even happen to a hardened BBC Presenter.



To view more of these and Bruce's projects; I'll try and bring you more with a vid interview, but meanwhile go here to his site


Thanks to Bruce for allowing me to use his pics. On viewmagazine.tv you can find a clip of Bruce talking about his Phd research into creating life forms from nothing.

How to bust assumptions creatively

I have got Alison Williams, Phd student colleague at Smart lab

You'll remember two days ago Alison set a problem, which was how do you cut one cake with three knife cuts and get eight equal bit.

Many of you who answered and also emailed got it right. Huzzah!

Now Alison who works with blue chip companies in unlocking creativity wants to push that further.

The challenge now is to find at least six other solutions, she says.

I just said wow!

How do you go about that, she adds.

The clue, Alison says is in the words of the problems.

I am asking Alison what she's getting at here.


Solving the problem
Alison says that those of you who solved the problem challenged the assumption that the knife cuts were vertical.

the minute you realised they could be horizontal the solution was obvious.

Now challenge what do you mean by knife.. what do you mean by cut.. what do you mean by equal... you get the picture.

Every time you challenge an assumption, you get another solution - go for it!


That done.. a couple of q and as for Alison.

Is creativity something you can learn?

Alison: Yes and Yes. Creativity is a basic thinking skill like any other: you can get better at it using simple thinking tools.

David says like what?

Alison: there are amazing tools developed by Michalko, by de Bono, by Osborn (the father of creativity). My favourites are Roger van Oech's pack of cards called "The Wack Pack" and de Bono's Po: Impossible.

Anything that kicks you out of your assumptions and comfort zone!


David: Now I know you're not a journalist so this might be an unfair question but journalists are not usually associated with that word, however a lot of the innovations online that have to do with factual story telling have to do with experimenting and creativity. Have you got something to say in this?


Alison: There's a lot of baggage around the word 'creativity'. It gets associated with 19th century romantic geniuses: men behaving badly, take substances, cut off their ear, die young. People are often put off by this, and go to great lengths not to be seen to be creative.

There's two kinds of creativity - Big-C or special talent creativity; and small-c everyday creativity.

Everyone has small-c creativity and uses it all the time even if they're not aware of it. This is the kind that you can get better at, using techniques from the great guys I mentioned earlier, and - back to the cake - challenging your assumptions when you get stuck.

The innovations come out of this - pushing the boundaries, pushing your luck!


David: ok we're about to start the second session of talks so we have to go but one last one for Alison. If people want to know more about your work and what you do with creativity etc, where can they go to find you?

Alison: Find me at www.creativitysyntax.com

look forward to seeing you there!

day three Phd Camp

Creative consultant Alison will post tomorrow, sharing ideas about some of the work she does.

Today was about psychogeography and specifically for me taking me out of my comfort zone, followed by a psycho buildings exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank which I'll talk more about tomorrow.

Meanwhile looking to a project on more anti-aesthetic. One of them mentioned by a colleague... very very early days.. and disturbing enough not to even countenance the idea but people who seek to opt out of society by asking to be anesthesised for up to a week.

Creativity - how to get it

Creativity - how to get it. My fellow [student] colleague Alison at Smart Lab whom consults with stock market companies about how they become more productive by being creative set us a problem.

I'll post more soon on what she says, but first can you figure this out?

You've a cake and a knife that you're alowed to make three cuts to make 8 equal pieces?

How?

VJ Promo Redux - CAMP VJ , Chicago

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

3 hours shooting, which essentially was driving around locations
2-3 hours editing and post.
Music by Nancy Ginindza and Paolo G.Lucci
Thanks to Robb Montgomery.
Thanks to all VJs who allowed me to use shots of them teaching.

Video Journalism Mash Ups continued

Coming up on viewmagazine.tv, an idea and a half.

We've got the Apprentice South Africa permission to show parts of the programme - and have carried out a bit of an experiment.

I invited a number of CASS MBAs over to a good friend's house where we screened it and filmed the process.

Apprentice South Africa has one of the best cliff hanger endings, you'll find in the franchise

Then we got the producer on the phone and our small audience was allowed to ask him anything they wanted.

And there's some controversy in the QandA

I have started to edit the feature and will post soon. If you're not a fan of Apprentice, this might just change your mind.


Its PhD Week
So this week my mind will be somewhere other than media, watching colleagues and learning a whole raft of new things.

Changes afoot
I have been using blog for a while now and can see limitations. I still like the idea of using my blog as a brain dump and refining articles for viewmagazine.tv which I haven't done in a while. There's talk starting about taking the gene of Viewmagazine's video style and developing something fresh.

Stop Press
I have nodded to the invitation of being a judge at this years international video journalism awards, and if it goes as planned have an interesting idea I think you might like.

New Avatar Platform
Been talking to a new friend, Sabaa, who's behind the One Minute Film Challenge and an interesting Avatar platform. I have cut some programmes of mine for him and we're both curious as to how they'll play out.

TV Commissioner Job
A friend's up for a commissioning job in TV so we've been bouncing around ideas of how you get TV back on a sure footing and get audiences whooping again. Is that possible?

Dubai
An invite has come through from one of Dubai's Princes for a media summit. I'd love to go but it clashes with an already pre-booked holiday. What am I to do?

Las Vegas
Organisers for a summit in Las Vegas asked if I'd like to come and present. We're still talking though things have died down because of heady commitments and marking of Masters papers, but that's over now

Students au revoir
Master students feedback and some exit interviews in hand last friday which will post. They say some interesting things. My unis going through wholesale changes to the student-lectures layout. The digital Hub has arrived in academia.

Mac book Pro Heaven

Eight years and untold programmes e.g. Generation X intelligence,finally, today my Mac Power G3 turned itself off and switched to Mac heaven.

Not long ago the trusty workhorse vx1000 gave up the fight.

They'll be missed.

When the G3 came out, I took a flight to New York to purchase one. It still worked out cheaper than buying it in London. The additional 20 gig external drive VST lives on.

The mac came with a whopping 8g hard drive and 233 Ram. It worked with Final Cut 1.2, but there were specific parameters we had to feed it for optimum peformance.

The VX1000 has also proved trust worthy with shoots in Jordan, and out to sea in Gallipoli where it actually fell in the sea lived to work again.

Press Release: Video Journalism Jurist explains what he's looking for

Press Release:

The International Video Journalism, the first global award of its kind and considered one of the most prestigious has picked former award recipient David Dunkley Gyimah as one of its judges.

The awards which honour excellence from video journalists from within and outside traditional media industries will stage its event in Mainz Germany in November.

Commenting on his appointment, Viewmagazine.tv's David Dunkley Gyimah says it's an honour and that he considers this year should be the best yet.

"We've seen an explosion in the discipline with different forms leading the way for real video story innovation".

"I think like most people who've worked in the format, I'll be looking out for work that inspires, tackles strong subjects and tries to move on the genre", says David.

The Call for entries continues until the 15th of October 2008. Winners will receive a cash prize and trophy.

For more details go to http://www.vjawards.com

Disruptive media practices and ideas

Scene from Digital Diversity and Communities

"if you want to know about water don't ask a fish"

At no point in their life cycle will any media outfit profess to not know what's going on. They are all, at anytime and place, in brilliant shape.

Before the advent of web 2.0,they would tell you we're doing well thank you and now pretty much the same.

But no one has a monopoly on ideas and even occasionally the most revered companies fall behind the times.


Ideas - where are they from
Some Execs attend conferences, others media gatherings, sometimes you hear inspiring people and some execs invite you in for a chat and take out notebooks - it's happened to you as well huh!

And then there are fantastic PhD Programmes, which I'll post about soon, which play out McLuhan's dictum about fish.

When I had the idea of embedding video into a page with key rich text wrapped around it seemed so obvious.

So obvious that I could actually build it and test it out. This is the original Viewmagazine.tv and you can laugh at my howler.

It is surprising how many basic occurrences, so called "norms" are never questioned, because well they are the norm.

Monet once said, he wished he'd been born blind and then found the ability to see so he could appreciate more the colours surrounding him.

For viewmagazine.tv I got the idea from Minority Report (I tend to get a lot of ideas from design and films) and found it really amusing when the UK Press Gazette previewed the site and said:

"Using View - now on its third quarterly edition - is like stepping into the sort of hi-tech world imagined in Steven Spielberg's science fiction movie Minority Report. more here"

Four years later at an Online News Association meeting recorded on viewmagazine.tv under the Tao of video journalism, the BBC released figures declaring embedded video worked and then the National newspapers hit on the eureka moment.

No, no this isn't about me and smugness, which is crass in itself;humility is a rare but necessary quality in this business. It's about attempting to understand the timeline of past events and how the trend extrapolate to the present.

What some strategist might say- is a Sun Tzu approach

It's no small wonder that MBA or say military students attending Westpoint or Sandhurst spend time studying Sun Tzu et al.

New Ideas?
So what might be some of the next disruptions to come along, that will add schisms to this already agitated news front?

1. 3 D web - Metaverse
The web as it exists today will be like hieroglyphics for a new generation. Greater processor and bandwidth will give you the capacity to enter a web very different to this here and the way we connect the dots: cause and effect will matter fundamentally.


2. Video Hyperlinking
I have been able to cut my first all video hyperlinked video featuring Al Jazeera's Riz Khan and designer Ozwald Boateng. Just as links give you value, a video hyperlink will strengthen you video package.

Two problems! Firstly, will outfits want to provide external video links?
Secondly, how will video hyperlinks affect the exposition of the news package, because oh yes it does something to the video.


3. Negative space
With billboards, the web, the bus, all festooned with all manner of information, you'll be looking for negative space to help you.

Just as you retire to that study, shed, your own room. So at some point they'll be a backlash because as creep sets in, we'll keep on adding asset after asset until the notion of choice itself is difficult.

So how do you cleverly design in Negative_space? What were you looking for in your chill out room because there's a correction on the way

When?

(Shrug shoulders) there's always a correction.