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| Taken from Promotional Video, Pocket Rig in action |
The purist videojournalist adheres to steadfast principles: be discreet, be mobile, move fast, and get into privileged space.
A dilution in its essence, spawned by a tilt towards an ecology and lucrative trappings of DSLR-indiewood film making accessories, has meant videojournalism has often been by passed.If you've all the time you need in making that Hollwoodesque film, all's well and good. The trouble is often in news the image and issue decomposes quickly, and also you don't want to draw attention to yourself.
That's why this pocket rig by Edelkrone looks an ideal product. It's small, looks compact and thus will offer the type of discretion needed compared to an array of rigs. Watch the video from 7 minutes onwards.
RECENT INSERT - Please read one customer's legitimate concern about the rig's hidden costs.
It's built on the principle of the collapsible rifle butt, which aficionados of the Fox 1973 Day of the Jackal might notice.
I spent a considerable amount of time on their site to learn more. Edelkrone have garnered a degree of publicity from what appears is a good OK ( Read above link) marketing campaign.
And that's desperately sought after in a multi-million dollar market, where any good product will win global sales and overturn competitor's advantage.
The story of Sony's 5D is the tell-tale story. You could almost see executives at JVC and Panasonic smacking their lips when the 5D hit the market with a blaze of viral publicity and ate into their market.
As both a videojournalist/film maker the pocket rig would have been ideal for shoots with Nato and some of the more intense work in West Africa filming special forces, a film I made for Africa's DSTV.
As an educator, I'm keen to know what our Master's students think.
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| David filming in West Africa |
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| David and team on Nato training |
Having trawled the web for some time, and though I lecture in SEO no doubt I have missed the sites which have given a critical review of Edelkrone's Pocket Rig. However the two I did find high up the rankings were Shane McGlaun from Slash Gear and Frank Doorhof.
So if you've tried it as a videojournalist and have feedback from the company perhaps you could share that.
One of the Achilles of the web is how you separate independent reviews from listings of PR, where bloggers merely recycle their adoration for a product. The effect is the top pages of google rankings becomes weighted with promotional listings and very little about details which would benefit the consumer.
The question partly answered by Free film at NAB is
1. What's the product truly like through testing?
2. Is there a seller in their region, where consumers can talk to sales people.
That's not asking too much is it?
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