Cultural shifts - the emerging video journalism picture

An Iranian woman struggles to exit a wagon in Tehran's Metro.
Image by Yannis Kontos at YannisKontos.com

The world is turning on its axis and in reference to Bushism's legacy, axis needs to reclaim its more appropriate usage.

Bluster-diplomacy is giving way to the more refined process of language nuances. Is there a cultural-socio shift really in the offing?

Obama's Cairo speech, Netanyahu's response, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's announced probe into Iran's recent elections. On the lighter side, Buckingham Palace planting it's own vegs in a new allotment??

These in retrospect may be the normal on goings as the world turns on its, yes, axis; night follows day, weeks to months and a new bout of things to deal with.

Yet if there is change a foot, we still haven't cracked the one which gives journalism sleepless nights: the deteriorating health of newspapers, with no cash injection life support to keep it going. Conversations are being held.

Hell, some as high up in Government, but it follows that all too familiar sound of the few discussing what's percieved good for the many.

It may not be the right subject bed fellow, but when the conversation started against Facebook's ownership of your material, it went nuclear, driven by you and I, then change happened. Actually a revert to common sense ground.

Perhaps, this pay-as-you-surf is not in our best interests.

But this thought was not what got me writing today. Though there is a relation. I've been clearing out my study; magazines and articles that date back to the early 90s, some in pristine condition.

The 1990s
The late 90s came flooding back with a series or re finds and there in lay a lesson.

Does anyone remember First 9 months?

In 1999/2000 an amazing piece of work by a graphic designer doodling around with Flash 3/4 hit the web. It documented the journey of his first child - from conception to the final image of himself and wife.

First 9 Months was simply a stunning piece of work.

It had not been done before. Flash had not been used to the best of my knowledge in a way that brought together journalism, Graphics and motion graphics.

And what about Hillman Curtis's multimedia promos and in particular his story, as I recall about a journey, not his, across Afghanistan ( I think!).

What made it so mesmerizing was the use of typography in telling a story. There was no Flash involved, but you kept reading. This was the era of the wild west, legendary Saul Bass's reincarnation through the work of graphic designer Brendan Dawes.

What was, did not exist before. There was no standard. It was fresh exciting, anarchic , banksyish, sometimes, but above all it dared to do it.

Do what?

It!

That's all changed somewhat, though you can still find clusters of "the thinkers". The serial idea brokers, who play the numbers game releasing as many great ideas that see the light and many perhaps that slow burned away.

What happens behind the scenes offers value, which we sometimes give scant regard to. When we get the headline idea, the news, that's it.

It's milked, before the cow runs dry and then is slaughtered. Innovation yields to commercialisation. One source of news and that even might do.


Behind the scene
Obama's Cairo speech, Netanyahu's response, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's probe into Iran's elections are fantastic stories, but what lies either side of them provides the sort of needed context to understand the complexities of these crucial items.

No it's not about the big story per se, but watching Rageh Omar's brilliant Iran feature, interviewing ordinary ( small "O") people gave some idea of how the schism in a state reported for its overall control, could happen.

It's the "either side" of the dominant news that provides us with both context and revealing content, which is why White House photographer Pete D Souza's pictures are so compelling.

Rageh is a highly skilled programme maker, but his pleading with an Iranian music star for an interview gave the feature that of-the-cuff videojournalism moment and pathos of the film wanting to be everything that TV doc features aren't in being too rehearsed.

For that moment I even had a heart chuckle remembering the Rageh I bumped into time and time again as we were both attempting to launch our careers with the BBC African Service in 1992.

These small cameras we have access to are something much bigger than often I find from the value given them.

Yes, they have multiple functions indeed for the big story, and even the obscure ones, but above all, they should allow for stories, a bolder approach to producing, not performed in that metronomic way of news, but perhaps more reflective of the whys?

And that's an axis worth looking at in greater detail.

Creative archivers- Videojournlism's legacy

Some of them set the tone; early creatives undeterred about what you or I said, because frankly there was no standard.

No wait, what standard did exist they made up. But these weren't whims or wild guesses. They were gudied by their own strong sense of design and creativity

In the last 15 years I have been charting their progress, from subscribing from the first editions of Computer Arts International, Video Age, to attending some of the first One Dot Zeros.

And now? Why now, we've got all formulaic. Going back to basics and with a new look and feel to some of the videos and projects coming up here and on Viewmagazine.tv

See you soon.

Learning video journalism - a trainer's tale

Learn video journalism - a trainer's tale from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.

There is an iteration of videojournalism as a newsgathering unit which has yet to find a widely acceptable lease of life.

I'm not referring to the individual. There are magnificent videojournalists around, but how it works as a unit and with a news agenda that delivers on a new approach to the audience.

David Brewer a fantastical media manager who's been behind some of the biggest online launches around e.g BBC, Al Jazeera, ITV, and CNN International gave a presentation in Podgorica, Montenegro.

I may show it here one day, but the essence of it was how a newsgathering unit becomes reliant on the "diary" by as much as 70%, when it should be driving its own news by that amount.

That's a lot of money and resources. Actually it's not and depends much on your underlying strategy at driving a well oiled news system.

At Miami University, the students' coverage of the Special Olympics targeting
the family of the Olympians is an example of innovative reportage.

Videojournalism at its basic form is a a device to collate more material, but just like a burgeoning Net which is unrecognisable from the time I built my first web site in 1996, it is much much more.

The video I have posted provides a basis of that thinking, when I say it stands to be a language in itself.

Having worked for the BBC in radio and TV, Channel 4 News, WTN... I'll stop, but you'll get my point, videojournalism's operating practice has for me been an exercise in the modifying the strengths and revising the weaknesses of its related disciplines.

Motion graphics, photography, cinema, TV, radio, montage, online, social network, innovation and the Outtherenet - my own area of research.

But what makes me terribly excited is what might come from the interaction with artists - at the South Bank.

Here, perhaps is the opportunity to push again and new vigour outside that comfort zone we inhabit when co-opting technology.

And throughout the summer, I'll be looking to put on a few masterclasses and gatherings that seek to address some of these evolving issues.

See you there!

NB. If you're interested in training - you can contact me on Viewmagazine.tv

Breathing creative air - a new chapter

It is a humbling experience to be sat at a table surrounded by people who excel in their own fields to be told "why don’t you show your work".

This morning's meeting with some of the artists-in-residence at the south bank yielded such an occasion.

Humility is a word that often loses respect; we tend to forget this at conferences and the like.

There was Martin whose meme diagrams are works of fantastical scale and art; and Martin's new deal of the mind seeks to be the 21st century blue print for how creative talent can work us out of austerity.

Meeting people whom by dint of their presence may challenge sometimes your own epistemologies can be an experience. In the commercial world it can easily degenerate into bear bating.

You said videojournalism is better than broadcasting. what the *** do you know?

But in an artistic setting you’re allowed your space. Indeed the criteria amongst the gathering AIRS is to be nice.

Being nice helps, certainly for the newbies, but it's about being afforded creative space to say what you want and when.

An important lesson my alma mater share is everyone is addressed as senior, irrespective of the year you graduated. And if you know the lesson of the first captain and crew studies in the 70s, then enough said.

In ten minutes it is both futile and in my case an exercise in linguistic slaloms to tell my story, but it is an invaluable introduction to initiate further dialogue. For it’s through shared space and talk that we begin to pick out areas of interest and mine deeper.

And there's the theme of reciprocity.


Creative Audits
Call it an audit; there is value in that, yet commercialism would sometimes have the quick fix.

Taking time out to explain is something I feel is done less well nowadays, and when it is it’s obfuscated in meetings about meetings and the power card: "here's my card... call me"

A couple of years ago my father passed away. I remember hurtling down the stretch between Kumasi and Accra, a section of which is known as the road of death for good reason, when our driver found himself sandwiched between two articulated trucks, as we all let out wails and screams.

I was being taken to see the queen mother of the village my dad had grown up in and indeed I’d spent some of my formative years.

Why were we going?

In part to pay our respect, but also to find that space to talk. And the queen mother, one of the humblest people I had ever met was a good listener and talker.

We sat on her balcony and she offered us water, which she retrieved herself. Yes she did have servants. And we spoke about the world, this and that, and left.

I often find myself reflecting on those times and others when in a big spacious place.

I left with several impressions this morning, a sense that I had found the queen mothers balcony, closer to home.

And for that I’m grateful. Grateful that I felt invigorated at a new chapter in learning and that it was not my story that mattered, but that I'm looking to engage in with everyone else in this new space of the mind.

A gift from Cairo University

Handed to me after a talk with media staff at Cairo University, but what does it say?

Freeframing inside BBC Multimedia

It looks like something out of youtube, which in itself has its own aesthetic, but videojournalism film making is all about different forms and applying them.

I'd probably have preferred going handheld peaking. See 8 days or Reuters for a good example. but freeframing, is the dogsville of filming, surfing blindly not so much as looking for a set, but feeling it.

So this VJ shoot, most likely the only one you'll find on a non corporate site, of the BBCs recently appointed Head of Multimedia News raises a number of things.

Firstly deep thanks to the Mary for granting me the time. She's extremely busy. We met in Podgorica, Montenegro on a training presentation programme.

Results - How to create a multiple angle interview in 3 mins from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.

Mary wasn't excpecting a camera when I got to the BBC and neither was I really in the mood to do a "crafted" shoot.

The intention was for a show around the BBC's new multimedia studios, so while I had my camera frankly its incidental all the way through and I never make any real attempt to focus up or frame. Mostly it's being framed by spatial awareness.

It's evident because Mary and I are actually having a conversation, rather than an interview, and the camera is almost always at waist level focusing up, with me throwing the odd glance at the viewer.

Freeframing
Freeframing is something that's catching fire and the real proponents of this shoot so carefreely, that so what if you hive of a head or get the composition wrong.

If you're a trained VJ it's more difficult, but there is a time and place for freeframing and I have come across many instances whereby it's the only option for the shoot.

In this case, given time constraints and the attention given to the conversational exchange, I'd let this through.

By the way, at Channel One we use to freeframe a lot. Bear in mind we were using BVW betas with no flip out screens, so the question is how did you know what your framing looked like ona fast turnaround shoot.

A more refined version of freeframing is peaking - cf 24. and this short piece on Reuters launching their mobile phone.

I'm going to be engineering variants of this following a summer programme of being an artist-in-residence at the South Bank supporting work which I'm feeding in from my research.

Next week I'll post a tour given to me by the head of the media department at Cairo Univerity - where President Obama has just visited. Here I'm in shoot mode.

What newish media could learn from Old - Britain's Got Talent

And so Britain's Got Talent is done, over Kapush!

Well not quite. In my last post I mapped out the regime behind producing the sort of compelling VT with Susan Boyle story et al.

Diversity won, a blow for the producers in their attempt to chart Boyle's breakthrough with a doc and indeed attach a talent coach from say, Simon Cowell's company.

Diversity for all their brilliance will not be as easy to manage, because of the sheer size and the speciality of their act, plus the boy's have their own independence.

Their story will be told, but frankly they may begin to resent the intrusion and the need for the newspapers to tell a story that has conflict and adversary as a narrative.

"So one of you is studying physics, you've got a Masters, and you're doing IT. Er were you ever in any, er.. you know..."

Awkward questions follow. I hope the boy's find themselves a good manager and minder because the intrusion into their backgrounds is set to rise - from particularly the newspapers who for a limited time know the lads for Essex will sell newspapers.

It shouldn't be that way. Good stories should just sell, but the technicians behind newspapers don't think that way and for them this is business.

I'm related to one of the UK's superstar rugby players and during the intense interest in his brilliant plays, his folks had to deal with all kinds of the press interest. I spoke to a few journalists from the red tops .

So to what in film we call a turning point as I address the central themes of this post and the the question, just what could newspapers, new media and videojournalism learn from the pros?

Simply, that when you have a good story, stick with it.

Some stories can run and run. And a number of the acts from Britain's Got Talent may well have been approached to be the subject of documentaries or series. For as the curtain comes down, that some of their lives will be transformed means there's more video to run.

Lets hope that they'll all be as inspiring as their acts on the day.


Post script

This was added belatedly following the news the ff day of Boyle being admitted to hospital under the mental health act.

Firstly this may just be a preventative measure, so best not to read too much into it, until a doctor's assessment.

Colin Paterson of the BBC, talking on the Today programme was right to draw attention to Ms Boyle's playful gestures after he BGT show, but not to make a link with what he said and her admission into a clinic.

Nonetheless, this will no doubt raise questions of TV's handling of contestants re: the early Big Brother sagas.

Boyle though is different. BB you enter knowing the consequences of the gold fish bowl. BGT promises you fame, but not overt scrutiny.

As a former producer, I can imagine what it would have been like to set eyes on Susan. It would have been evident quite early if she were ill. The producers would have offered her support on a professional level to get her through the show.

"OK Susan you're doing fine. The public love you".

Often after a show, this support disappears, there are new projects to move onto. And a tv producer is no Doctor. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of thought went into: what if Susan loses, based on how swiftly she was admitted into the Priory - one of the most sought after places for pop and tv stars, seeking privacy.

It's often difficult to comprehend this, but for Ms Boyle leading a sheltered life, conservative ( small c) quiet, a church goer/singer having to go through such public attention will be extremely difficult.

What she needs now is someone like Max Clifford to keep the image everyone's come to love safe in the knowledge that is what will make her the money, many will say she richly deserves.

Because her admission so swifty

48 million views, because it’s a multi layered story well told

Screen grab of Susan Boyle from Youtube video Freemantle/ ITV

Soon after it's release it was The Matrix, then Big Brother followed, and soon academia using various phenomenological studies and psychoanalysis will no doubt turn its attention to Susan Boyle and the Susan Boyle moment.

Just why did her video take off in the manner that it did ? 48 million views! Closer to 150 million views now at the time of writing.

This article doesn't probe an underlying philosophy, though it would be a fascinating exercise in story structure, arcing, empathy in music and indeed manipulating the viewing audience.

Instead I took to writing this after spotting a post from Mindy McAdams, a highly respected Prof in media at the University of Florida (US) and behind a successful blog.

Mindy posted this on her site: "One of the hardest things to teach is how to tell a story. I could say “how to tell a story well,” but no, it’s simpler than that. Students just don’t get how to evaluate the pieces, how to hone and polish them, and how to arrange them in a satisfying way. So I’m always on the lookout for great examples of storytelling" .

Her post was prompted by : A (Nearly) Frame-by-Frame Analysis of the Susan Boyle Video by Gary Stein on Click Z: News and expert advice for digital marketers .

Interesting I thought so I left this response on Mindy's site. (this is a slightly different version and correction of grammar doh!)


Mindy,

Susan Boyle moment: this is TV at its best by committee from a reputable production company, a completely different beast from solo video story telling. I counted close to 100 personnel, 30 at least of whom would be involve in direct production. Here's the list for the US Version. There can be many permutations depending on the show's turnaround, whether it's all live etc.

Firstly, the show's magic revolves around a team of personnel from that small community of live Ents shows and camera crew /technicians, which will vary depending on whether it's ITV/Freemantle (commercial) or (public sector) BBC. The costs for one show can be quite something.

This mammoth feat, the end show starts from researcher/producers at the auditions looking for subjects with entertainment value.

It can be quite thankless sometimes. There's a lot of hit and miss, but Boyle would have attracted most producers' interest. And after she would have *sang (woops mistake, doh! left on Mindy's site. Use of past participle here) sung for them privately, it would have been a no brainer.


Then the producers set about looking for all those things that make a story sell. It can be quite ruthless here as Boyle would probably have not volunteered most of the info we now know about her. There's been some debate about this shoehorning on radio stations here like LBC.

The VT (video) segment producer would probably have his/her own team including, a music librarian, who'd conjure up those ditty tunes and feel good songs and then there's a very experienced editor brilliant at cross cutting.

The stuff that happens on stage is the skill of a live gallery/studio director (Jonathan Bullen) with at least 6 cameras, one or two on jibs, which s/he is calling up on screen. What we see on our teles is what s/he is calling live or "as live".

Technique and Gut Feeling
You could break it down and analyse it, but it's the director's gut feeling call for when and what camera comes up. You've seen them at work, it's an incredibly specialised and highly stressful job. You know: "cam 1 zoom- cu on girl-stick with her"; 3 pull back; 4 get ready for a swoop; 1 cue Ant and Dec.

Ant & Dec now saying you didn't expect that. But the team in on the act knew it and had A&D prompted.

Before the live performance, a producer would have "run VT" - ie. played in Boyle's background bit. Look hard and you can see the break on the Youtube VT.

The floor manager will have had the VT countdown cued and be counting in Simon and hushing the audience.

And then after the show the prod would take the ROT (recording of transmission) and recut that for a new package. All this with a committee: Exec, series prod, etc throwing in their comments/critique in. From the offline to online for any segment can sometimes involve several cuts. You simply have to love this way of working otherwise...

At least that's how I remember it working on the various Ents/News shows on BBC TV I worked on.

If your class are interested in this then I'd recommend a live TV multi-camera training course and visits to studios. BTW if you're in the UK etc I'd rec University of Westminster.

This is something TV has always argued it does supremely well, particularly ENTS TV. Susan Boyle is fab value, but the VT package is a TV moment, as much a YT hit, because it's multilayered from a multi talented team.

Recent add on: looking back, the first show of BGT is actually pre-recorded, so while a lot of the above applies, the producer would have had time to construct a bigger overall package of director, and segment producer cut.

On the credits I counted close to 100 personnel, about a third of these would have been directly involved in on the day production and VT. There were 7 offline editors; 4 P&Ds and 4 Exec Prod. Here's the credentials of Jonathan Bullen - the studio director.

David
Viewmagazine.tv

p.s The skillset and choroegraphy into an event like this is highly refined over many years. And it woud be a real joy for me to see a new digital media company mimic this to this degree.

BTW if you liked this, you might like:
How I made the:

• Obama 100 Days video for the UK South Bank commemorations, featuring a live ensemble e.g. violins, Bass etc, and with minutes to spare
• You can find a slew of videos and articles on Viewmagazine.tv, which I have recently redesigned ( thanks to Mediastorm) for the big shout.
• You can also follow me on Twitter as I look forward to an interesting summer of assigments
  

Fight Club Videojournalism - Breaking the rules

Breaking the rules, because the truth, there are none.

Guidelines, yes.

"Stop trying to control everything and just let go".

Once you learn to ride the bike, then you might want to try the wheelie.

Excerpt taken from forthcoming *thingy exploring The cool hunters.

First talked about five years ago whilst presenting and chairing the day of digital paraphernalia for The UK Film Council - UKs govt film funding body.

Videojournalism Training from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.

GOTO Viewmagazine.tv for wider screen version

Thanks to Robb Montgomery for shooting me.

I spent three days in Chicago doing a masterclass in editing and two days of Advance VJ, which I can tell you is no way near enough.

However.

Interesting point here, Robb or for that matter a traditional TV person could see from the rushes how many times I have taken non-standard shots, the sort of shots that should not even be digitised.

I make a habit of this often shooting unconsciously and there have been many occasions when I'll give the camera to an interviewee and ask them to shoot a POV.

The point? It's the things we do not plan, the mistakes that often yield unique creative processes. I know of some brilliant technicians (camera etc) who've worked on shows and told to undo what they've learned for the desired affect.

It's difficult but there is a way of making professional mistakes, which to a director might work.

In The Usual Suspects, as the accused lined up for the first time, with Benicio Del Toro doing the funny accent and everyone laughing that scene was not in the original script. Singer, the director keeps it in for good reason.

Del Toro's flatulence game ( unknown to the viewer) makes his fellow actors laugh and shows them to be a team - needed for the script. In Good Morning Vietnam, Robin Williams ad libs his way through.

There is an underlying philosophy to this and as way of illustration consider the following.

If you look at the way we teach 4- 6 years old Art, it's free flowing with abandonment. Then when we get to secondary school we are given form and process.

And by the time we get to university, if that's the case, our sense of identity revolves around rigid form. The intuition, the impromptu thought has been civilised.

To re-capture the peripatetic essence of the 4 year old, we must try to return to those values (small, "v").

How do we do this? And how can we make use of those imperfections and rawness.

How does Pollock know when an action brush works?

This summer, in conjunction with one of bastions of Art and Culture, The South Bank, I look forward to distilling some of this either as a workshop or video. Incidentally the Obama Video on viewmgazine.tv (Click US Flag) is slowly catching. Thanks to those who've fed back.

Videojournalists- how much do you get paid?

Back in the day, 15 years ago, there was some disparity in VJ pay scale and fee. As I recall the discrepancy amounted to some 20,000 UKP that's some $31,182 odd with small change today.

I doubt that's the case today. I have advised a few companies on what I think is a good rate for starters which tends to hover around the mid 20s sterling.

The pay rates way back though were very significant in determining your entry into the TV/broadcast market with commensurate pay.

Again, though this has happened quite recently with some newspaper VJs I have trained warp-driving into TV, with the explosion in Vjism, that's unlikely to be the norm.

Now should VJ be paid more than a crew? Should a solo singer command more than a a band?

It might be comparing chalk and cheese, but yes I do know of several VJs whose rates match what they would say is their experience and risk assessment at bringing prime bacon home.

And what about rates elsewhere? Well I have negotiated my rates working for broadcast networks along a mutual agreement of primary and secondary sales. It's a significant difference btw and is calculated along duration over a fixed time.

This system is not so uncommon from that also expressed by a range of broadcast fee formats on national networks. I once put together this news package which took me four days of tooing and froing, partly because the producer moved slow, but at the end of the four days for an 8 minute piece the princely cheque I picked up amounted to 200 UKP.

Nice!

BTW Call this an RB. Funny how RT has caught on but RB never did.

Angela Grant from Newsvideographer posed the question. I'm in some vein at the moment with a couple of initial chapters for said book about this, but that's the skinny.

Skinny? Sorry I have been watching The Wire. I can't even understand my own self now.

And finally apologise if you're a regualar follower of these musings. I'm in the marking zone at the mo, hence the scarcity

Videojournalism film not enough - viewmagazine redesign

More often than not I'm talking about video and visual journalism, but invariably the film is not enough - at least online.

I have been lecturing in aspects of online design from 96. Truth, I've come to enjoy the project creative process, stemming from my last job as creative director with a Soho ad company re-active, more so than the nuts and bolts of sitting down designing.

That said I found time today to overhaul the front page of viewmagazine and will set about soon css-updating some of the pages.

Some of the marketing mantras we came to live by in Soho included:

• Ensuring a logical viewer pathway
  
• that everything on a page had rhyme and reason
• User-friendly
• Creative, delivering an experience and an aesthetic
  

Journalism sites, compared to corporate ones, thanks to a slew of social networking utilities, and a new web 2.0 design openness have truly come a long way and the televisual experience is an increasing feature.

Features such as mogulus enable us to stream live news, though aside from the likes of the G20, live lecture, weburnalists are finding original live content streaming an interesting challenge.
Bit a deference to the News editor now eh at the traditional station.

The New York Times' Reader 2.o has something of the zeitgeist about it.

But one facet which is becoming a key issue is languages. Consider this: stats passed to me from a marketing friend.

Ten years ago, the web was said to be read by 70% English speakers. Today that figure has inverted with non-English speaking being more dominant.

So one of the strategies is to devise a landing page, in my case in Mandarin, Italian, and Spanish for the associated media.

I was expecting to be in Beijing this summer but couldn't commit the 6 weeks required for the gig. It seems like it's going to be a busy summer nonetheless, so expect a few more languages to crop up.

The revolution is not videojournalism

Revolution is not videojournalism from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.

The revolution is not videojournalism. The revolution is NOT videojournalism

The idea that multiskilling is a breakthrough must be treated with some disdain. More than 2000 years ago the Greeks were responsible for a word that showed we had the capacity to call on widely different skills.

The dictionary indexes it as :"Polymath".

Back to modernity, media institutions knew, but ignored it. Naturally for the unions and for the media old guard, the notion that one person could do all this was as likely to happen as Dick Cheney adopting an Iraqi child.

Thankfully technology brought the media folk to their sense, alas some too late. Protecting 30% margin profits at the behest of new working practices has proven to be the wrong strategy.

The revolution is something else
In some ways we've seen and smelled the real breakthrough, particularly with ware like Twitter and blogs. Elsewhere in videojournalism it's been obfuscated, subsumed or suffocated under new corporate bureaucracies. McLuhan will have no doubt had something to say about this.

Twitter and to a degree blogging had no forerunners. You could argue diaries, and the telegraph - long deprecated - forced us to write in a way that was either personal, or economically with words since charging was by the word.

But no, the seismic revolution hasn't happened. A cultural, semiotic, aesthetic, phenomenological revolution is still as rare as gonzo was in 1950. In the 60s we got the breakthrough.

Having the tools to do the same thing makes no sense. The boffins who cracked (horsepower) motor engines might as well have devised the car to be pulled by a horse. We've neither changed the value and inter-relationship of news discourse or in the manner in which we seek to report it. All we've done is protect the brand.

New Ideations
Burma VJ by acclaimed director Anders Østergaard is a refreshing piece of theatre that mashes the form, RTS Winners Newsnight's 10 days to war, which left me breathless, during my RTS judging task, opens the door for what may seem radical but is a logical window to enter and explore further sans high budgets.

Perhaps Jerry Mander who wrote Four arguments for the elimination of televsion was right.

The medium is not reformable. Speaking of TV reform is as "absurd as speaking of the reform of the technology such as guns", Mander says.

Videojournalism, like photography's impact on the image, demands more. Its manifestation deserves better.

Its delivery, not as a tool, but its underlying psychology of visual thinking and ability to deprecate arcane agendas requires we look to develop a fresh language to deal with the myriad issues and stories rather than rehashing more of the same.

SXSW 2009 podcast- The film is not enough. Presented by David at Austin Texas.

IMVideoJournalism by daviddg

WANTED - Open all hours Video Journalism from david dunkley gyimah on Vimeo.

Manic Media Mondays through week

What a week it's been.

Which is why shattered as I am, I can't bloody sleep again, so took to writing more about digital media advancing ideas that Apple Pro profiled of my work way back when - actually 2006.

Sounds so dated now, that's the speed at which we're imploding. Any wonder when the cream of the UK's TV industry got together two days ago to discuss whether TV was in crisis, what they couldn't answer was: Er, what happens in five years time?

I have a dream. Sorry Mr King. I have a dream, an under ambitious one, but as I sit down and write towards theories on video, it is the next phase of story telling.

We have surpassed the paradigm of the DIY journalist or All Platform journalist, coined by CNN. The new paradigm is of a new semiotic for the digital age. It may be one we're yet to understand, so in its infancy, you could poo poo it.

I often refer to the idea of designing video, rather than shooting. And then some, because, then the video is not enough, which was the talk at SXSW.

So the week in 15 seconds.

Fabulous big ups to one of our Masters students, Laura, whom when she posts her story I'll provide the links.

But at our get together yesterday of past and present she regaled us with a jaw-dropping story of how at 9.30, trying to get an interview with Joanna Lumley campaigning for the Gurkas to have the right to stay in the UK, by 12.oo she, Laura, yep, was in Downing street with Lumley.

OMG. How she got passed Downing Street Security, should in itself win Young journalist of the year.

Then Deniel Buxton from the class of 2004 swept us away. She picked up a Sony silver Award for a series of programmes she produced called "Black in the USA"- ( have i go this right!)

(google)

The Sony awards are the equivalent to the Oscars for radio - there!

Andrew Otto - one of our Maters students took the most extraordinary pics of the creme of british broadcasting and in particular the BBC. Whilst Alberto probably went insane blogging.

( I'll go look for the links)

Met an actor and news reader yesterday, Sandy who has the most extraordinary one woman show, which I want to. I need to film. Its called Correspondent and profiles a moral dillemma story of a correspondent who's actions and reportage have deep consequences.

Wait, I haven't finished!

But I have got to dash now, so I'll pick this up later. First batch of RSS reads

How to blag yourself into No, 10

This week, I'll post a story how one of our Masters students got into No. 1o

A crisis in television - four British heaveyweights comment

LIVE POST.

It's nearing the end of a 2 day conf on journalism in crisis, and to round off the sessions, comes the key note debate.

BBC TV Director of News Helen Boaden
TV has lost 1.9 percent= 460,00 adults in current affairs =1.1 percent
13.7 percent fell amongst young people

She's asking of the resilience in tv and says its not nearly as bad. Says fmr BBC DG, brill as he was for forging net underestimated audience.

Says audiences consistently choose BBc News. 10,0clock News gets 5 million people each day.

She's now extolling virtues of news and current affairs.

PAUSE. So this post could continue like this of me documenting BBC good practice, but then that's me doing PR. But then you'd not expect Helen Boaden to critique the status quo.

Changing media audiences has a profound affect on journalism, she goes on to say. It's not a crisis about broadcast journalism but about all journalism.

Hopes something positive emerges from the fall out of these changes.
when chips are down people come back to TV journalism e.g. credit crunch, snow.

Simon Bucks talking about how the BBC can give away content for nothing - a clearly unfair situation. Er, this tussle between the two is as old as Cain and Abel.

Says online news model is expanding, so qu about is TV news outdated is missing the point. Simon says surely we should be asking about videojournalism

Says 9 million unique viewers. Up 80 percent =160 million pages.

8 mill people watching TV news means things are not that bad.

Dorothy Byrne, on does journalism have a future?
Yes, is her answer. We're going through tough times. Channel 4 will stay as it is, a public service remit. Now the sell about Channel 4, my old work place.

Talking about some original web ideas. Applauding all the others. Kumbaya moments. Says Current Affairs is being squeezed. Says that's really Sad.

Unreported world - touting C4s programme.

Robin Elias kicks off with his diversity credentials in getting new ethnic people into the media. How it's changed over the years. Disengagement is a serious business with diverse groups.

TV is coming up with ingenious ways of getting things on the net. He says they must convince broadcasters of their merits. CJs will enhance it, but will not replace journalism.

We're back to Abdul Kawari, 23 years an editor who sends money back to his parents in Somalia, used his background and contacts to get interview with hijackers.

Talking about a shoot by his Yao, a new videojournalists who shoots, edits a voices and nabbed Ben Chapman.

Oh boy hasn't ITN come along way from barring VJs from ITN when I was a starting off as a VJ back in the 90s.

UK's youngest dad, how not to play the press

Fish and chips, late night Friday booze binges, MPs on the expenses take, Buckingham Palace, the weather. Oh and Wimbledon.

Take your pic, but the complexities of British culture, as with many other countries is wrapped up not by any one singularity.

Occasionally, just occasionally, a new Britain emerges to fight its place.

Months back it was the shocking ( Did I say shocking!) story of a 13 year old becoming the UK's youngest dad.

In what became a freak circus show, the media staked out Alfie Patten's home, feeding curiosity news to frankly what might at times be termed a hypocritical news hungry public.

Hypocritical because for all the moral outrage, you sneaked, even devoured the news of this saga tut tutting as matters unfolded.

And the news sold well. Great ratings hits for The Sun

Was he the dad? For the perceived view fed by the media was that his parents were trying to cash in on his fame. Infamy! Fame! You call it.

Then other boys, potentially fathers, stepped forward. Their folks too reported by the press appeared to want in on the action. This was good cheque-book journalism.

You tell us your story and we'll pay you wads of cash.

Except that this hasn't quite been the case in a turn of the story that's left the subjects at the centre of this storm, more than stumped.

The real non story?
Yesterday, an injunction was lifted by the courts following a paternity test. It barely got into the news, in stark contrast to its running serial commentary months back.

On Radio 4, PR supremo Max Clifford whose skills at "promote and protect" is legendary and took up representing the family had some news.

All the monies promised the family had not been forthcoming. And Alfie, the youngest dad there is, is in fact Not the dad after all. Media reports say Alfie now 14 years old was extremely distraught.

He may not get into the Guinness Record book, but away from the frenzy, you pause to think, here's a kid who's been dragged through the media, who's mentally- however much- whipped himself up for his new role only then to be told, "Eh mate it's not yours after all".

'Don't worry though cuz yer famous, you poor sod"

"Yeah and that video of you, it's going to haunt you for probably all your life"

Why
How and why the story got out in the first place is something I'd want to know, which Channel 4 may well provide in a documentary.

But it's a poor reminder of the dynamic workings of the media and the Warholism's fame factor spinning out of control.

It's a sad reminder of how a young naive boy, who should have been protected from the system, was left high and dry, even if one national newspaper reported by The Guardian has agreed to set up a trust fund for the baby.

Buckingham Palace?? To that list we might now add Alfie Patten for sadly the wrong, very wrong reasons.

By the way did you know teenage pregnancies in the UK rank amongst the highest in Europe.

Video journalist, AFPTV

This job is located in Europe - Paris and London (map)

With excellent French and at least two years' experience producing producing short-format hard news and newsmagazine packages for broadcast or cable networks to work for this global news agency's fast growing international television service, based in Paris and London.

Many of my former students should be well placed for this!

A journalism in crisis - not really!

Snatch the toast, down the orange juice, last check of my case.. laptop, charger, hard drive.... I'm off.

In minutes my university will open the floor for a two day event examining many facets of questions and thesis that journalism is in crisis.

It's a loaded statement full of vim.

Newspapers are closing, tv is losing figures, traditional journalism as you might know it looks under threat, the fourth estate is having its teeth wrenched out with pliers; there is no hope.

But does this receding pulse in journalism as you know it signify a crisis? And if not ( I don't what planet you're on, someone's thinking) what does?

Could I suggest perhaps that it's not journalism in crisis, but the custodians of a genre we have become familiar with that is badly feeling this era. The loss of jobs anyway you cut it is deeply wounding. But there are also new jobs, that had not been invented five years ago emerging for a new breed of info gatherers.

Yes, they may not have the attributes of a Murrow or Paxman, but then we all started somewhere.

Journalism always in crisis
And by the way journalism-as-you-knew-it has always been in crisis. Addison and Steele's equitone approach would not have bode well in eth 18th century, as did the first time pictures were featured in newspapers 20th C., or when radio and TV were born, and more acutely still cable and satellite flung itself onto our laps.

Sometimes too, the fat we live off requires genuine intro-reflection. As one newspaper exec put it recently, the fact that some UK newspaper groups are pulling in a £1m profit every month is in their eyes simply not good enough.

Damn! There goes the CEO's purchase of that new yacht around the Caribbean.

I may or may not be required to speak tomorrow on how TV has been affected by all this new change. My head of department has been wound up like a toy on stand by; nervous energy brrr, nervous energy.

Frankly, as a general view, I'm likely to say very little has changed. That is with a caveat.

If 2005 it looked dire, a hang-over from 2000 when as a dot com executive I too think I smelt the whiff of napalm in the morning, in 2009 there's a sense amongst TV that we're riding this thing.

There was a time you couldn't squeeze a conversation about who was coodling whom at the last Christmas party without wondering if there would be another one - Christmas party.

But then, the caveat - the execs with stabilising pockets and an expansive strategy, often shielded from the ravages of advertising's flight syndrome, got busy innovating.

Whatever you knew as a new media boffin, they wanted to know. Conferences charged £1000 a delegate and they flocked to learn social media, the new plug in, the rationalisation of irrational behaviour, this thing called videojournalism, and this "bizarre" thing called Multimedia.

Bizarre because we already do multimedia. Doh!

Last year a BBC friend showed me an internal memo listing twelve points at how they were taking new media head on. It was impressive to say the least. Next week I'll bring you an interview with the recently appointed head of BBC multimedia news, Mary Hockaday.

So given the correction, long overdue in the media industry, a b**ch if you're in the stock broking business as it happens every seven years, the media is undergoing some form of transformative correction. Yes you too can get it in on the act, with linitations, if you're a twitterer or blogger.

Question? have you noticed that when the banks collapse, it's those nasty pesky banker CEO types, but when journalism goes belly up, it's new media's faults. What perverse psycho analysis! brilliant!!

The Margaret Thatchers said
Youtube if you will, but we're not for tubing. Bar humbug! Four years on everyone's youtubing and more. And the clever ones are leveraging their existing media, whilst cracking down on copyright infringement.

But if my tone comes across as "meeja land's all hunkeedoree", it would be a wiser TV exec still who would know complacency is a word in the media dictionary behind "compost".

That many of the traditional media have realigned their thinking is testament to Darwin's laws. But the radicalisation of change, whilst it's slow down in momentum, does not mean its not stirring for a new wave.

Note: slow down in momentum is not the same as companies closing. The big changes in 2005-7 are only now really taking affect.

So this new wave we simply don't know what that is, yet. There are few citadels of the new media e.g. Huffington Post to emerge and challenge the guard of traditional media. But the trend analysers would have us tread carefully.

Computers more intelligent than people, IS on the cards. It's a matter of calculus and a few micro chip laws. Newsgathering will find new pathways. You and I as consumers will be better served, because... because.. some bright spark is already looking at ways to make news you can use, truly usable.

So right now, I'm emerging from the tube station, having penned this on my iphone.

Journalism in crisis? By the sounds of the British MP debacle, journalism looks like being in good health.

Granted it's one incident, albeit a soap opera series, but if anything as the academics and industry folk gather at this conference, the story here for me is how to look at the glass half full.
To those who don't see a crisis, but an opportunity to solidify journalism's new growth. Journalism in crisis? Ah no, there is a crisis in journalism, to some at least.

p.s
Last minute changes occuring, but here's where you can catch up with the two day event
http://www.westminsternewsonline.com/JIC/livestream.html

The Interview

What is videojournalism? An extension of news' semiotic or a new language for video story telling?

This was written in 2000

"Videojournalism is an advance on television news production - a shift away from the predictable appproach television has stuck to doggedly since its inception.

It is next generation television: story telling in which you are not be bound by the many constraints of traditional news production.

As a movement the form merges a graphical and photojournalistic stanza; a poster cover depiction of the moving image, where each shot matters, each shot counts.

If Capa lived to capture images on light weight, hi-tech cameras, he'd be the classic videojournalist and his dictum that if you're not close enough you haven't got the shot would still count."

But how much has changed since? The interview - an informal idea - is based on the simple premise of sharing. This week I'll post the first, in which Rob Chiu an amazing motion graphics and film making meets Ken Walker, an artist who plays with large scale. Here's a trailer

And from that interview being documented are kernals of knowledge that inform a new craft, one which can only enhance our understanding of visual form by critquing that which exists before us.

Health in Gaza

Sent to me by a former MAJI (Masters in Journalism student 2006/7) Victoria Baux, from Al Jazeera, which she describes as the most powerful piece of videojournalism she has seen.