video2zero

If there were ever a search for the historical prototypes of modern videojournalism then surely Michael Apted’s 7-UP series would figure large. Number 8 should be arriving soon, if the series is still alive.

A brief description from MA of his epiphany with regard to video and objectivity:

“Personally, I think I was deluding myself for the first few films, thinking I was making this big political statement about the English social class system. Then I brought the film to America, somewhat reluctantly; I didn’t think Americans would understand it…

But Americans understood the films very well. Then it occurred to me that maybe what I was doing was something quite different from what I thought I was doing. I was making a much more humanitarian film — I was making something about an experience that’s shared by everyone on the planet, and not particularly just about England. The series is in England, but it’s about something more than living in England, it’s about being alive. That was an epiphany for me, strange as it might seem, and that, in some ways, relaxed me a bit. I wasn’t hammering on about politics and about how awful it is to have grown up in England during those periods anymore, and it kind of relaxed the film a bit, gave it more room to breathe.

All I have to do is show up, not try and preempt what they’re going to say, not try and guide people through it, not try and have them say what I think they should say. I have to try and take myself out of the equation and let them speak.” pbs

It seems we may have been misleading researchers about the video we watch:

“The $3.5 million research project, funded by Nielsen…found a wide disparity between how people think they used media versus actual usage…Media researchers have long believed self-reported data, such as diaries, were flawed.

This new research documented just how flawed by following people around throughout their day and documenting their every engagement with media in whatever form, whether TV, radio, cell phone, computer or print…

In all, researchers recorded nearly three years’ worth of media behavior on the part of 400 study participants…The study is significant because it’s the first time researchers have tracked media usage in this manner in such large numbers, and it produced other findings that fly in the face of commonly held beliefs about media usage

The most startling finding is that television remains the dominant visual media by far, accounting for 99 percent of all video consumption, dwarfing time spent viewing via DVRs, computers and cell phones.

Study participants spent more than 300 minutes a day watching TV on TV sets, or just over five hours, but reported watching just over 240 minutes. When asked how much video they watched online, they reported nearly an hour a day when it fact they watched just a few minutes.

Further, against nearly five hours a day of TV watching, other types of video viewing barely register a blip. Watching DVDs accounts for just 23 minutes, and watching DVR-recorded programs accounts for under 15 minutes. Another 7 minutes is spent playing videogames, while online video chalks up only 2.4 minutes [per day] and mobile video is watched a mere 0.1 minutes.” via rosenblumtv

So we have the viewers overstating the amount of video they watch and everyone from Brightcove on down confusing click and view. But don’t worry - I check on wikipedia: there is no such thing as a video bubble.

Heard this on NPR yesterday - an Israeli DJ who mashes up youtube videos . Worth a look/listen.

Aron is the guy whose right arm became trapped by a dislodged boulder in a remote canyon outside Moab, Utah. After 2 days he realized that he would have to cut off his arm in order to survive. But he had blunted the blade on his knife scratching at the boulder, the cheap penknife wouldn’t even cut through his skin, let alone the bone.

Some valuable insights for anyone involved in commissioning/producing video - from Five Digital Trends to Watch for 2009 - Steve Rubel Director of Insights for Edelman Digital.

Context is King - aggregation

An overabundance of options has created a hunger for news in context….The major aggregators, which include Topix.com, Google News, Yahoo News and vertical roll-ups like Alltop.com, all saw gains last year. Traffic to Topix.com is up 100% year-over-year contextual content under a practice that’s commonly being called “link journalism.” …..Google now blends news stories, videos and blogs into its result pages across many of its topical keywords.

Newspapers/blogs - the new dynamics of authority

Re-think How Media is Measured and Valued: Although debates around marketing measurement have raged for years, almost no one disputes the value of commonly-used figures like circulation…. circulation may no longer be the best way to measure or value paid and earned media. For example, The Wall Street Journal, which reaches 2.7M print subscribers and another 1.3M online, has long been a key attractive target — particularly in technology. However, it may not be the most valuable real estate in this new environment. An or editorial placement on TechCrunch blog could be even more valuable…..The media has benefited by feeding a public that has a seemingly endless appetite for news. Now, though, they need to be prepared to adapt, as consumers go on a media diets and get smarter about how they manage their attention.

Google

Google is much more than a search engine. It’s also media. Every day people make business and life decisions based on what they find on Google. This includes not only consumers but journalists as well. Search engine optimization isn’t what it used to be. These days, Google rewards sites that produce valuable content frequently and, in the process, earn links from other high-quality sources. Many search engine results today, therefore, are influenced by sources of social, journalistic and branded content.

Create Resources that Inform the Conversation

Write for searchers not just for readers. “If Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News, is correct in positing that ‘Every company today is a media company,’ then smart businesses will take the opportunity to become public resources on areas of expertise.

Markup and headings added.

Cartoon copyright gapingvoid.com