California is a Place where vision happens
Big Vinny from California is a place. on Vimeo.
Truly inspiring work from Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari at ‘California is a Place‘. They’ve found their voice and use visuals in a really powerful way. Check out the rest of the pieces there.
NewspaperVideo – a new site for photographers doing video
Announcing: NewspaperVideo.com ! A site for journalists and photographers who do video…
This site is from Chuck Fadely, a Miami Herald video producer and visual journalist who also runs the NewspaperVideo Yahoo group and the NewspaperVideo ning site. I’ve happily been providing tech support for news photographers across the world who are trying to figure out this video stuff.
I’ll post under two categories: A-roll, about ideas and inspiring work; and B-Roll, about gear and tech.
The shovels haven’t filled the grave
Photojournalists are doing the most exciting work I’ve seen in the past 30 years – but no longer are they doing it for newspapers.
I spent the past week staying up ’til early in the morning judging several multimedia contests and scholarships. The work being done out there is terrific. Online, the most amazing stories fill my feed on a daily basis.
Photojournalism is better than it’s ever been – but the delivery has changed completely.
We’re at the transition stage of the industry – the content is being created, but the money hasn’t followed yet. We’ll get there eventually (please, please, please) but for now we’re doing what it takes to put bread on the table. I’d still rather work at a newspaper than drive a cab – but for now, the emotional commitment to the job is about the same.
Journalism will come out of the ashes of mainstream media like a phoenix. Yes, we’re all dressed in black for the funeral at the moment. The shovels haven’t filled the grave yet. But soon, we’ll have a wake, lift a toast to newspapers, remember the good times, and then join the village raising the next generation.
(This was a response I posted on the NewspaperVideo yahoo email list in a lively discussion of the ethics of journalism and the pending demise thereof. To join the email list, visit the NewspaperVideo list http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NewspaperVideo/ )
New ways of telling stories in video
I’m really bored with the traditional news story structure. What if we did things differently?
Man In Van from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.
emergency brake from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.
PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God from Frank Warren on Vimeo.
How to report the news
Brilliant summary of TV news by Charlie Brooker.
Be careful out there
From the arrest of ABC producer Asa Eslocker to this video of activists and police clashing at the DNC, it appears that the “Miami model” of police reaction to protests is in force. I expect the activity at the RNC will be even wilder.
In 2003, Miami hosted the FTAA free-trade conference, which drew thousands of protestors ranging from fringe anarchists to mainstream middle-America union groups. At a time when globalization protests across the world had gotten out of hand, the Miami police chief decided to get tough, and the police response to all protests was to surround from all sides, use overwhelming force, and arrest everyone within a cordon, whether they were part of the protest or not. Despite successful ACLU lawsuits and widespread criticism of police violence, the police tactics used in Miami have become standard response.
Many of our credentialed photographers at the Miami protests were gassed and hit with pepper shot. A number of legitimate media crews were injured by police “non-lethal” weapons in the chaos. Carl Kesser, an Emmy-winning filmmaker, was shot and severely injured when a police beanbag hit him beside his right eye.
This week at the DNC, It appears the Denver police removed credentialled press from within the cordon — but If you get trapped inside a cordon with protestors, things can go bad. Be careful.
News, News, News, Animals, Sports, and Sex
Lost Remote has a blog entry on the Newark Star Ledger’s not-yet-launched webcast.
Check out the comments at: Another newspaper launches another boring webcast.
Despite deep cuts in every budget, our paper is also going ahead with building a studio for webcasts. I have shared my serious doubts about the traffic we’ll get, but papers in general seem willing to spend money on video.
What’s working at you paper to get video traffic? In our experience, it’s news, news, news, animals, sports and sex. How about you?
(update: Ledger Live launched Monday: http://www.nj.com/ledgerlive/ )
(update 2: Jeff Jarvis likes it: I have seen the future and its in jersey
Video Journalism: A "500-Year Storm"
I am in Belgium for the Digital News Affairs video journalism conference
Michael Rosenblum, who trains VJ’s and produces TV shows, gave the opening remarks at the DNA 2008 Digital News Affairs conference in Brussels, Belgium today. Michael is a well-known evangelist for the one-man-band VJ model, hailed by some as a visionary and reviled by traditional television crews as someone who is trying to kill TV.
He talked about the coming storm in the news industry, a storm which will be brought about by new technology putting the means of producing television into the hands of anyone.
“In the world of journalism and technology … we are headed for the 500-year storm. There is a giant tidal wave out there.”
“500 years ago Gutenberg brought the printing press to bear. Gutenberg thought the printing press was about making cheaper bibles and so did everyone else. But that’s not what it did. What the printing press did; it put the ability to publish in the hands of anyone who wanted to try, and that changed the world.”
“The invention of the printing press… brought about the world of a free press, which is what we live in today.”
“We don’t live in a world of print; we live in a world of video and online. And these little cameras, and these laptops; these are the Gutenberg printing press of the 21st Century.”
“They make it possible for anyone with an idea to publish in the most common medium in the world…
“This technological storm is going to wash away most of what we understand today and replace it with something entirely different. Whether you participate in it or are taken away by it, is entirely in your hands. But it is going to come.”
Click on this link to hear the whole 25 minutes of the speech.
Michael Rosenblum
(photo by Chuck Fadely)
