It's time to start listening—podcast with Julian Treasure
Neil and I published episode three of our podcast this morning (still running an entirely swear-free streak); it’s a wide-ranging interview with Julian Treasure about the nature of noise in our world and how listening changes the character of our interaction with others. This is a much more general audience episode than our first two film industry specific ones and is well worth a listen and share with others. You can play above or subscribe to the podcast on most distribution platforms. We are lining up some great interviews for the coming months so watch this space.
Teachers Federation Year in Review
Going to try to get back into blogging here soon.
Every year for the Teachers Fed annual conference, we present a ‘Year in Review’ video. I’ll post up this as it shows a lot of what I’ve been doing over the past year. I didn’t edit this one, credit goes to my colleague, Matt Joyce. (There is a lot of obligatory ‘show a little of everything’ in here so it might not be of interest to anyone outside the Federation.)
Now Twittering
I’ve opened a Twitter account (see link on the sidebar). This is sort of an experiment for work as I’m researching the use of social networking sites for business. However, I will probably just obsessively Twit on making cups of tea and etc.
Too powerful tools
I went to film school in the early 90’s and was probably one of the last generation who learned to edit on a flatbed editor (actually handling and cutting the film, marking dissolves with a grease pencil and etc.). Since then, the tools available have evolved exponentially and allow all manner of independent productions on limited budgets. These advances give tremendous creative freedom; however, they can, in the wrong hands, unravel the thread of sensibility to a previously unimaginable—I can’t even think of a word to put here.
I came across these two videos this morning; they are apparently in contention for the “Best Unintentionally Funny Videos Ever”. The first one stirs my the depts of my American heart.
The second one is the most over the top beyond all get out embarrassing use of media I think I’ve ever seen (it makes me want to hide under my desk). I don’t think this is actually from a film; it’s just a song glued to a series of fantasy film elements made up expressly to show off this fellow’s hair.
Because of my liberal leanings
I have just found out that my weblog is blocked from Internet users in China. However, so is all kinds of stuff; so I’m not so concerned.
Wait; in fact, I am concerned. What is on my site that someone should not be able to make a personal decision to see? There is nothing obscene or revolutionary; there is nothing to incite violence or civic disorder. Why am I shut off from communication with a large portion of my fellow humans? I’m miffed.
I'm not a platypus
I have grave difficulty thinking about more that one thing at once. I can’t use age as an excuse (31); it’s just difficult to focus clearly on multiple things simultaneously. My girlfriend is a corporate secretary, as such, she is a central “hub” for her organisation. There are always three people handing her stacks of papers while the phone is ringing and the German businessman wanted cream but the Dutch man wanted his black. (And she is doing all this in Czech and English and Dutch and German!) Thus, she is bewildered when I can’t seem to comprehend what she is saying if I am typing or reading when she says it. I can focus intensely, but I have a shallow depth of field.
However (on almost every assignment) I am called upon to shoot video, stills, record audio, etc. I am beginning to wonder if this multiplicity of tasks is not detrimental to the quality of my work. For one thing, and this is no small thing to consider, one must carry a lot of stuff to do all this (though, its certainly getting more compact as technology improves). But that is not my essential concern; I just don’t know if I can dedicate the mental space to such simultaneous activity. I have, though this may seem strange to people who haven’t done it, difficulty shooting multiple film formats at once. I’m occasionally called upon to use both 35mm and medium format on one shoot. I can compose in squares; I can compose in rectangles. But, to think together in both squares and rectangles runs my brain round in circles. Extrapolate this out to shooting video, stills, and audio all together. Each requires a different mindset; combining the three (for me) sums up to a negation. It’s not that I completely break down and can’t function; it’s more like reversing the polarity of one speaker in a stereo set. The sound is still there, but the substance of the music becomes somehow hollow and disconcerting.
There are clinics…I mean workshops to help photographers do this sort of thing (see here) and I’ve seen some wonderful photo-essays combined with audio. There is certainly a rich vein of possibility combining these mediums. However, I’m concerned that everyone is called upon to be a generalist. Each of these fields can take a lifetime to master. This is somewhat cliché, but true: a photographer can use a camera with a normal lens for his or her whole career and never fully expend its potential. I’m afraid, by calling on everyone to become a media producer (which is what I have been calling myself), media buyers will dull the eyes and ears of many fine artists. Say an editor calls me up tomorrow and wants to send me to Zambia to cover a story; she wants me to do stills and audio. What if I am a very capable still photographer but tell her that I don’t do audio? She may then go looking for someone less skilled who fits the bill technically. How does this alter the artistic and business decisions of working artists? How does it change the character of what we do? (In addition, hiring one person who can sort of do both in order to reduce costs will, inevitably, damage the state of affairs for well qualified people who do just one. How do we stand up and say, look, if you want quality in this situation, you need to send two people?)
I don’t mean to diminish the people who are doing this very well. But we seem to be headed full speed into an age of diversified (or unified, depending on how one defines it) media age. I’m not talking about the technology itself here, these are just tools; I’m concerned that craft may be lost. There have been many laments about automatic everything cameras and how they suddenly make everyone think he or she is a photographer. Well, that’s just silly. Nothing about auto-focus will give someone the capabilities of a great photographic artist. And perhaps, for many working media producers, the ability to combine multiple media has given them new freedoms of expression. But, what of us who sincerely want to dedicate our energies toward one particular medium? Will there be work for us (as journalists) or will we become hold-outs of a fussy speciality?
Outward Bound Urban video
Last year, Ben Goodman (a producer I know in Philadelphia; see his website here) asked if I could come along and videotape a photo shoot he was coordinating for Outward Bound. He’s been working on a new branding campaign for OB Urban and wanted to concurrently produce a short promotional video if possible. I went on two photo shoot days (on on an absolutely frigid day in Philadelphia; the other in Baltimore). From that video material and audio interviews I did with kids when they weren’t getting photographed, we produced this video. It was rather difficult as I did not have many “action” shots. Most of the time was spent setting up and shooting stills; so the kids did a lot of standing still. However, the client seems happy; so that’s the acid test (or, I suppose the acid test is gauging what response they get from the campaign).
Moving to a weblog format
Starting over again at the beginning
I’ve worked a bit over the past couple months with Apple’s iWeb publishing program; however, it’s been quirky and, for some reason or another, takes a long time to load pages on most people’s computers. Also, the weblog function on the program is not altogether functional for entering text and publishing regularly. Thus, I’m moving over to a system called Textpattern; it has a very elegant text interface and manages entries much more cleanly.
I’m making the move to a more text-based site because most of what I wish to do is make journal entries and update people on what I’m doing. A weblog seems like the most straightforward way to accomplish this.
I will, of course, publish new entries; however, I will also upload a some material from the past that’s now randomly scattered across my computer.