TV News Cameraman And The Diminishing Of The Tangibles.

Many of you older TV news cameramen and women out there will remember such phrases as, "Can you hear the whir of the camera on audio track 2...?" Or, "Bugger, the tape door mechanism's jammed..." And my all time favourite, "Touch my camera again and I will kill you... To death."

As he pulled out the Pulitzer Prize winning footage from the camera, he dropped it down a drain cover...

The most oft spoken phrase in TV news gathering however, used to be, "Pass me the tape will you...?" and upon hearing said phrase, your journalist would pass you a Beta Sp tape which would make a satisfying, tangible 'whump' when placed in your sweaty grasp.

Those of you who remember film and film canisters can shut up now, I can hear you muttering from here. This post does not delve that far into the past, but even so, you will remember the feel of something solid and dependable in the palm of your hand. (Don't even think about going there...)

To those with boy band hair, spots and a penchant for all things Blackmagic Design, yes you... You, typing 'Tape' and 'Film' into Google on your iPhone in between filming with it and scratching your head, may not know of such pre-historic artifacts from a bygone generation, but they existed... And not that long ago.

I still find myself asking my Journo, "Have you got any tapes...?" Only for them to fish around in their pockets, check handbags, jackets and small dark holes to produce a tiny, thin piece of plastic with a metallic strip. Carefully, and making sure we are not standing over a storm drain or crack in the ground into which the card can disappear, we pass the precious object between hands as steady as any brain surgeon.

I slide the card into its tiny slot on the camera.

There is no push of a button followed by a 'Whirr, click, thud as the tape goes in, click and whirr' Nothing is opened and it's insides extracted by mechanical wizardry and stretched across drums with optical thingamibobs.

Nothing happens any more.

Once the filming of the days news is done, then the preciousness of that small, thin piece of plastic with metallic strip must become an even more dangerous and fear provoking work of calm. Imagine, if you will, handling a vial of Ebola virus in a maternity ward.

Dropping a tape was no bother, as long as you didn't drop it into the sea or out of a helicopter door. Things are now a little different. Drop a card from any higher that 2mm and it will ping off into the middle distance of the nearby road and blend in with the surrounding asphalt, from where it will taunt and laugh at your butter fingered buffoonery.

Passers by will look at you in a strange manner as you crawl around on all fours in search of your afternoons work. Office workers will gawp at you as you forensically examine the flower bed under their window like a scene from CSI, (Vegas... Not Miami, which was shit.)

Your Journo will be laughing at you, but secretly aghast at the notion that the work may be lost, and they begin to get nervous. Producers back at the ranch will spit blue murder if they find out their plans for tonight's bulletin are lying on the A325, just South of Aldershot, a mere foot away from his Cameraman's desperate fingers.

All the while, the small thin piece of plastic with the metallic strip, containing the wise words of vox popped citizenry will be lying there, just next to your left foot where you see it as you crouch into a ball whilst holding your head and pulling at what's left of your hair.

The ball of fear knotted in your stomach dissipates, not just because of a 'mislaid' SD card, but because of those vox-pops, the sage like knowledge, and their importance in the well being of the very nation known only to news producers. (And the fact that the producer would make you do them all again.) Cue a huge sigh of relief.

So let this be a lesson to us all because apparently, this is what happened to a friend of mine and in no way whatsoever involves the author of this blog post. Just to make that perfectly clear. Here at the ukcameraman institute of TV news studies, we are a bit more careful.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter, and is hugely relieved for his 'Friend.'

Your TV News Cameraman... Almost Live From BVE 2014.

Every TV news cameraman I know is a gadget freak on some sort of level. The level of geekery also depends entirely on how deep and full your pockets are. Many of us freelancers however, depend on a certain level of work and income to remain up to date and able function to the degree that our erstwhile news broadcasting clients demand.

The LiveU... Small, light, agile... Too expensive for freelancers.

In an effort to keep up to date with today's broadcasting gadgetry, I visited the Broadcast Video Expo at the ExCel Centre, London. I say visited, what I mean is I endured the hellish journey to the arse end of London via train, underground and DLR with all the stops and walking that the journey entails, so I was knackered before I arrived.

Freelancer Tip: Don't buy food or drink at the ExCel Centre unless you wish to go bankrupt. (Inform the Inland Revenue, and issue a profits warning.)

On entering the venue, there is all the gadgety and geeky wonderfulness that is to be expected. Massive camera cranes, big lenses, small cameras, big cameras, drone cameras, lights, mic's and lots and lots of drainpipe trousered, boy band haired super director / Producers / Shooting AP's drooling over the newest of the new DSLR's and the Blackmagic stand, that will be out of date by Monday.

The DejeroLIVE... Small, light, agile... Just as expensive for freelancers.

I twisted knobs, opened apertures, flicked switches and pushed buttons. I wondered what would happen to my press pass and personal liberty if I flew a drone camera into Downing Street unexpectedly without permission. I also wondered just what all the people here actually did for a living, besides declaring that they worked in 'The Meeja.'

Working as a freelance news cameraman though, I found that most of the flashing things and shiny stuff were of no use to me, but were nice to fiddle with none the less. I thought that the BVE people had missed a trick by not having a separate news cameraman area, sort of like a fake roadside corner, (with an open door to let in the cold) a burger van selling weak tea and grease, oh, and a light drizzle from the fire sprinklers... We would have felt right at home.

What I was interested in, the ability to transmit live pictures, was unfortunately still too expensive to consider. I have my cameras, sound kit, lighting and edit van. I am completely self contained and mobile and I am very unlikely to change my kit any time within the next 10 years. I can send pictures via FTP or the like, but what I can't do, reliably, is to go live.

The technology is there, and yes, it's getting better and cheaper all of the time. I saw it and played with it today. (LiveU and DejeroLIVE.) But at the prices quoted, I still cannot justify the hit to my wallet that it entails. I have no contract with a broadcaster, so my income is good, but erratic. The broadcasters won't pay me any more whether I have the ability to go live or not.

What irks me is the fact that the people and companies who make and manufacture the kit seem to aim the price and the kit they make at the broadcasters pocket, not that of the freelancer who does a lot of the news gathering for them. There are lots of us... with money to spend... Just not the amount they're asking.

I would love to be able to go live. I just can't afford to, not without selling a kidney anyway. And besides, my red wine habit has ruined its value. On top of that, we just know that the kit will be smaller, faster and cheaper this time next year... Roll on 2015.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

TV News Cameraman And The Deadline Dash Of Doom.

TV news cameraman log: Friday 11 Oct 13. So, there i was, scratching my arse sat in a petrol station layby and not doing anything in particular when a phone call came through at 4:10pm asking if i could VJ a quick interview for the BBC News. There was no journalist nearby or available... i was it.

"No problem" I said... "Who, what, when and what's the questions..?"

"Maria Miller, Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport... 5pm... Royal Charter on Media Regulation... E-Mail is on it's way... Oh, and we would like it for the 6 O'Clock news..."

I was in no way speeding officer... not at all... no.

My brain whirred and clicked... "I'm sorry, you want it for when..?" I stuttered. "We would like it for the 6 if possible.." Said my calm, silky voiced TV news producer... It's now 4:15pm, Friday rush hour, it's busy, the minister is 40 minutes away and it's a big, big story that's leading the headlines. So i sank back into my seat, and put my feet up to finish my coffee and doughnut...

No, scratch that, what i did was to mildly panic as a sheen of sweat appeared on my brow and my heart started to beat a little faster. I can do this. The only thing to stop me was a traffic problem between me and my Minister of State. Or a breakdown, getting lost, a herd of cattle in the road or quite possibly an alien invasion.

After leaving rubber marks and a trail of smoke between Farnham and the far side of Basingstoke, and staying within the legal speed limit, i made it to the Minister with 5 minutes to spare. The camera and sound equipment plus a light were thrown up in mere minutes and the interview began with no fancy lighting or backdrop dressing. 5 questions later and we were done.

With 50 minutes to quickly cut with FCP in the van and upload 3 minutes of HD footage back to London, i swaggered out and nonchalantly fired up my phone, laptop and MiFi... No signal.

I'll say that again... NO SIGNAL..!

I was in the middle of rural Hampshire with absolutely no fucking signal whatsoever. Nothing... a big fat zilch. Basingstoke was about 6 or 7 miles away, my nearest chance of a signal. I leapt into the van and pulled serenely out of the Minister of States driveway. (I apologise Minister if i ruined your gravel driveway, or sent stones pinging into your windows...)

5:15... No signal.

5:18... No signal.

The footage was ingesting into the laptop behind me as i whizzed around the country lanes in pursuit of a signal.

5:23... No signal. Aaargh...!

5:25... Is that a signal..? 1 bar... 2... 3... "That'll do.." I said as i screeched to a halt in the nearest farmers gateway. (Sorry cows...) I plonked myself at the laptop, the footage was already loaded into FCP. The quickest of cuts to boil the footage down to the bare bones for ease of sending... Hit export... wait.

Ingesting... Gives you indegestion.

 5:31... Export to .mov done... open JFE, ( A BBC store and forward software system, )... drag and drop... import... set metadata... location...

5:33... Hit send... wait. The phone rings... Producer: " Hi, how are we getting on..?" she said. "Nearly there, just about to send now.." I replied.

5:40... Wait.

5:45... Wait. We are now at 36.5 percent. I'm not gonna make it.

5:52... Wait. 82.5 percent... 83... 84... 85... The green ingestion bar moves imperceptibly... The phone rings... Producer: "Hi, how are we getting on..?" She said. "Nearly there..!" I replied.

5:56... Wait. 96percent... 97... 98...

5:58... Ingestion complete... The story drops into the bottom window, indicating that it is on the servers in London. I ring the producer... "Hi, it's me, you should have it now, it's gonna make it yes..?" I asked.

"No... We've dropped that until the 10... Sorry. But thanks anyway, you did a great job, bye.."

I sit there, blinking. I then hit my head on the edit desk. I tried... really i did. I guess that with so little time left, it was impossible to squeeze the interview in with mere seconds to spare on what was the lead story. The script was written, the pictures and VT lined up, the anchor already broadcasting. Just five more minutes and we would have been fine.

And that dear readers, is how you miss a deadline with flair, panache and... hang on... i got the footage to London at 5:58pm precisely... She did say that they wanted it for the 6 right..? Right..? I therefore believe that this cameraman fulfilled his side of the bargain, and victory is mine.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

www.media-attention.co.uk

The Swivl. A Robot Cameraman... No Doughnuts Required.

Bloody hell, yet another technological invention that in years to come will threaten our livelihoods. Not only are we dealing with smaller, lighter and automated cameras that a well trained chimp can use, we now have the beginnings of an automated, lighter and altogether smaller cameraman. In fact... No cameraman at all.

Filming without a cameraman...

Ladies and Gentlemen of the camera fraternity I give you the Swivl... Your gateway to a cameraman free world. No griping, complaining about the hours worked or demanding coffee with sugary treats.



Anyone who works in the TV news industry will have seen the automated TV studio pedestal cameras, roaming around the studios like the Borg with no feelings or emotion, and no desire to eat doughnuts, drink coffee or demand a pay packet. Ever had a missing intern..? Look no further than the robots among us. Well now it would seem that there is a version that you can take with you on location, albeit, iPhone sized... For now anyway.

Watch the video to the end... And you too can film your very own thigh length booted, 3/4 length trousered, Mohican haired reporter very, very badly, with no composition, focus control and jerky pans and tilts. You will also note my dear friend, that they used a cameraman to film the YouTube video, (again badly,) Which says it all really.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter... And is apparently doomed to a life of servitude to our robot overlords.

www.media-attention.co.uk

TV News Cameraman Is The Bandwidth Bandit.

So there i was, sitting in the back of my van on the edit suite, picking apart the pictures i wanted to send back to the BBC in Southampton. Having butt-joined the pieces together, into three separate chunks of .MOVS, i hit the send button on my new bit of software called JFE, which the BBC had supplied to me for just such occasions in the new, digital, fast paced world of local news gathering.

Inside the Tardis... All was well.

To cut a long story short, the software squeezes and converts the HD pictures into an acceptable format and size to send over the public WiFi and 3G connections that i can find at my location, and sends them to the BBC for broadcast via various servers. Personally, i use a 3MiFi unit with high speed connection that works pretty well in most urban and most rural areas.

Today however, i found myself in Portsmouth, just outside the University on what appeared to be the first day of freshers week. That meant i was competing for public bandwidth with a few thousand new students who all seemed to be using a mobile phone as they walked past, using Twitter, Facebook, Emails, downloading music, uploading Instagrams... in fact, anything it seemed apart from useful study materials.

Denying bandwidth to students... Satisfying.

My pictures were making steady progress on my high speed connection. A little slower than usual, but progressing none the less. The first thing that made me giggle was a group of students sat on the steps to the induction hall...

"The 3G is crap around here innit..?" Said one baggy trousered youth to another in a beanie hat.

"Aaargh..! Why can't i log on here..?" said another pock marked, badly dressed individual.

I sat in my van and listened to the gripes, the moans and general bitching amongst the cream of our young, educated society. It appeared that my van was sucking up all the local bandwidth in my general area with it's high speed connection... and it wasn't about to give it up. My pictures made steady progress.

"I'm not gettin' nuffink..." Said another, well spoken student.

No you are not my friend, and with your badly mangled syntax, the dress sense of Johnny Rotten and street speak, you will more than likely be 'gettin' nuffink' in the high pressured job market in a few years time. I despair...

Anyway, following another 15 minutes or so, i had finished sending and released my Tardis like grip on the surrounding bandwidth, and Instagram breathed a sigh of relief as pictures of fresh faced students on their first day at University flowed again...

I may come back here on a regular basis and do it again, just for the laughs.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

www.media-attention.co.uk

The TV Camera Of The Future Is Here..!

So here we are again news cameramen of the world. Another day, and yet another camera... But wait... What's this..? This one's different, and it's gonna turn your world upside down... As they say in the TV camera industry, "It's a game changer."

Throw away your old, out of date C300's and other small box like cameras that need scaffold poles and add on bits and bobs. VJ's... Lay down your iphones..! Some egg head at the camera design department over at Arri have designed a camera that... Wait for it... Sits on your shoulder in a sensationally ergonomic manner the likes of which have never (Ahem...) been seen before. It's the all new, documentary style camera..!

It works straight out of the box..!

Add a lens, a battery and bingo..! No more camera rigs..!

It's got buttons and everything..!

It's been a long time coming my fellow cameramen and women. It looks like it's been specially designed to film documentaries, TV magazine shows, corporates and everything in between. I for one am astounded at the very thought of actually designing and making a camera that sits on your shoulder... My mind is blown at the possibilities.



So all you docu-reality-news people who bought the smaller cameras and rigging must be kicking yourself right now... Those of you fiddling with your iphones feel daft i bet... 'Cos the future... The future of shoulder mounted, fast set up filming is here.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way being sarcastic... in any way whatsoever. Rejoice..!

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

TV News And VJ Vexations In The Social Media Age.

Having got into an online conversation yesterday with Glen Mulcahy of the Irish broadcaster RTE, and Sarah Marshall of Journalism.co.uk on an unrelated subject, Glen asked me a question...

"Where do you stand on Video Journalists..?" Oh bugger...

I am tempted to say... "On their toes after beating them to the best filming spot." As any TV News Cameraman would do. I fear however that what he meant was, what were my views on Video Journalism and those that practice it.

TV News cameraman and VJ working together... No punch up occurred.

Many years ago I would have given a negative response. As a broadcast TV news cameraman and therefore part of a team, I feared for the future as a standalone news cameraman. As a freelancer with my own (very expensive) kit, I figured that the broadcasters would give all the journalists a small camera the size of a baked potato and turn them loose with little training in the finer arts of news photography and filming.

And they did.

For a few years, freelance work took a dip and my worst fears were slowly being realised by the use of wobbly, out of focus, poorly lit shots filmed by journalists who suddenly found themselves on their own with no cameraman. Mistakes were made on a steep learning curve.

Journalists were setting up, filming and editing their own films in a team of one. Some of them took to it like a duck to water, but having spoken to many journalists at that time I found that many were not keen on being VJ's. They had trained to be TV Journalists, and many didn't want to film and edit on top of that. Many felt coerced into being something that they didn't want to be.

Fast forward to today and VJ's are very much a force in the broadcast news industry. However, so am I. So are a lot of the cameramen and women who were there before the so called VJ revolution. Those that are good at being a VJ and cope well with what that entails get on with it. They have become good at what they do, but those that can do it well are very few and far between in TV news broadcasting.

Those that didn't get on so well with being a VJ still do it, but only when really necessary or the news producers freelance budget is running low. Even the good VJ's tell me that they still prefer on most occasions, to be working with a cameraman. They tell me on a regular basis that it frees them up to concentrate on being a good journalist and to get the story right without the hang ups of trying to concentrate on filming, sound and other tv news logistics.

Without doubt, the VJ is here to stay and even grow a bit more as broadcasters and publications struggle in an era of budget austerity. I do however think that the TV news cameraman will not go away, despite the protestations of the likes of Micheal Rosenblum, who believes that we are dead in the water, along with big newsrooms. He's been saying it for years that everything can be done on an iphone, but we are still here. Not just me, but most of the cameramen and women I knew when I started in this industry in 1997 are still working... Regularly.

We are still here because working as a team still works. A journalist and a camera operator is still the best way of news gathering for the TV news. Not the cheapest, but the best. Cheap shouldn't mean change.

But i have learned over the last 6 or 7 years that the VJ is also a good and necessary tool in the industry. In cost terms alone, and efficiency of purpose. Small, cheap high quality cameras and laptop based edit software are everywhere. Hell, you CAN even film the news on an iPhone if you're good enough to do it, but the situation must be amenable to filming with one. I no longer have a problem with it.

But here's my warning: Make a film i want to watch. And... Do it with style.

Most people who work in the TV news industry will tell you that most newsgathering situations are not amenable to filming with an iphone. Good sound must be a consideration for a start. But enough of the iphone bollocks...

The kit isn't the problem. The idea of VJ's aren't a problem. I will use the best piece of filming gear I have to get the job done. I will work and gather the news on my own. I have done it before and i will do it again. The problem I have with the VJ concept is the fact that 1 person is doing the job of 2 or 3 people, but that's down to new technology and the ease of its use. It's sharper, quicker, cheaper and is inevitable that one person can do it easily, but that doesn't mean that they should.

Here is my gripe... I worked in a mid level newsroom for two weeks solid a while back. The journalists were all VJ's and the newsroom was run on a VJ model. (And still is.) Most of them I observed over that period were constantly knackered. Always on the go during long hours of producing, researching, writing, filming, travelling and editing. Every day. They didn't have time to talk or be sociable and ate their lunch at the edit suite or in the car. They looked stressed. They looked tired. They had to do it again the next day and the next. I knew from asking them that family life was erratic.

I wouldn't want to see most of them in 5 or 10 years time. Burnout. Lack of enthusiasm creeping in for a job that gives them no enjoyment, time to be creative or the time to produce something outstanding by concentrating on one aspect of work. They crank out the news, day after day. Many of them I know only wanted to be a journalist, not a cameraman or editor. I know many who feel that having to VJ stands in the way of being able to grow into a damn fine TV journalist.

New technology, its ease of use and cheap production methods doesn't mean that this is the way TV news should be done. Newsrooms however, are run on ever diminishing budgets.

In my opinion, the biggest and most noticeable change in our industry is not how, or by whom the news was gathered, that is now a side issue. It is the speed with which the information gets out. The desire to be first and the quickest.

You only have to look at the last big international story (Boston bombings) to see the outpouring of crap on the Internet via Twitter, forums and other online outlets. The internet and social media is the way a great many people now get their daily news fix.

True journalism gets buried in a pile of shite based around the desire to be the first to tweet the latest supposition or snippet of YouTube User Generated Content. (UGC) Newspapers can be the worst offenders, but TV news is rapidly catching up in the spreading of bullshit, misinformation, rumour and get it out there quick journalism. Worse still, news outlets with a political bias or agenda.

TV news and the process of making it are now technology driven. I believe though that it is the speed of breaking and sharing news, not the VJ concept, that is to the detriment of good TV journalism and newsgathering standards.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

www.media-attention.co.uk

TV News Versus Independent Mobile Online Journalism.

I've known Christian Payne online for a number of years, in fact it was following him on Twitter years ago that led me to become more active and engaged online than I ever thought I would. Known online as @Documentally, Christian has shared written stories, photos, audio and video about a myriad of subjects that both entertain and inform. I like and enjoy his style.

Christian Payne... On the road to Syria.

We have met socially a few times at twitter meets where we talked all things tech and social. It seems to me that Christian is a very driven man when it comes to storytelling and teaching his craft and journalism style.

In my world of TV making, with my big broadcast camera, satellite trucks, reporters, lighting and sound it is still very much a team effort. I have backup from journo's, producers and news editors. My output is filmed, voiced and packaged for the TV news viewing public at set times and with strictly controlled media guidelines.

There is a big difference between us in the way we tell our stories and the kit that we use. Christian tells his story using iPhones, Tablets, and other assorted tech that can basically fit in his pockets or a small back pack, but the stories are just as well told.

Christians basic storytelling kit. Small, light and absorbent.

This is why I want to tell you about Christian. A few days ago he set out on his own on an assignment to cover the still ongoing civil war in Syria. Travelling light, he is using his online resources to get small stories told. One by one, those small stories will no doubt converge into a larger online collection of audio, pictures, words and video that will tell otherwise untold aspects of life in Syria that I think, would not be told in the mainstream media.

I have no doubt that Christian will talk to and document the lives of people that you otherwise would not hear from. To experience the lives and stories of those that have no voice and little hope at this time. It is something that we in the mainstream media could do a lot more of, but are fixed in our mainstream TV ways, which works well on the TV news. Our online presence however, could be bigger and more individualistic. We could make good use of the likes of Christian and his new fangled ways...

I urge you to follow his trip on Twitter, Audioboo and on his blog. Things may be a little haphazard along the way. His life is in some danger as is anyone's in a war zone, so occasional online silence is important to keep his location a secret to protect those that give him shelter and help along the way. Syria is, as you know, a dangerous place to be.

So if you are a news junkie, journalism student, wannabe storyteller or news pro, you could do worse than to follow this story. I think Christian is going to take us on quite a ride.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

www.media-attention.co.uk

Are TV News Cameramen Quicker Than Producers..?

Here's a little quandary for all you TV News producers out there. Can a mere news cameraman, armed with an iPad Mini and a mobile phone, produce more up to date information on a breaking top national news story than you can, sat in a multiple million pound news centre in London..?

Modern weapons of a TV News Cameraman...

Well today as it turns out, yes I can.

Today I was tasked with doorstepping a high profile banking figure at his house where, i was reliably informed, he lived. I was given the address of the house, which turned out to be a business address, not a residential one. The house next to it however, seemed a likely target given that the name of the address supplied was only one word out, and it looked the kind of place where a banker would hide his millions. I informed the newsroom.

We'll get right back to you, they said. (Don't laugh..) So I waited.

In the meantime I Googled the name of my errant quarry. What he looked like, his business dealings and interests. I grew suspicious that our man didn't live here. Again, i informed my producer... I was told to doorstep the house. I puffed out my chest, flexed my muscles and got ready for possible verbal abuse or a jab in the bottom by a pitchfork wielding banker. I doorstepped the house. They had never heard of him. He didn't live there. My Spidey senses were tingling...

I Googled him again. Given his current high profile news status, getting past the story was tough... Business listings, directorships... BINGO..! I've seen that company somewhere.

Currently a director of ***Ltd. Quick look at business address next door... DOUBLE BINGO..!

Double check... Google name, business and address... FULL HOUSE..! He's the Director of the business next door. I'll take my winnings in cash please.

I inform my producer, who was waiting on more info... From the business correspondent, who in all fairness to them both, we're probably up their eyes in what is a big story here in the UK.

But it was nice to know that my detective skills are still razor sharp, and on the bleeding edge of mobile technology. On this occasion, I turned out to be quicker than a multi million pound newsroom. Can i have a bankers bonus..?

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

www.media-attention.co.uk

New TV Tech At BVE2013... Or... Whatty-What-What..?

Seeing as the Broadcast Video Expo (BVE2013) had rolled into town, it would seem logical that as a TV News Cameraman i should haul myself into our nations fine capital city to feast my eyes on the latest and shiniest of broadcasting gadgetry. Cutting edge, up to the minute and all digital. As the blurb might have said:

'The all new SonyCaniKon F-22ex-K... Real time, digital matrix iChip at 5 times Hi-Res optical performance with incorporated light to sharpness ratios, IPTV interpolation boards for superior streaming capabilities...'

Cutting edge cameras... Boxy and buttony.

 Crikey, that's a new one. Or how about...

'The link provides an HD-SDI feed, reverse composite video plus bi-directional RS874 and TD-X199 data for full control of the bidirectional linear control, audio and video signals into packet based IP protocols.' 

'4K Super fast X-RXChips with i-can superior digital interface (With Inter-lockable PXV-Ipr499 compatability) solid state storage solution (SSSS-iP5001 Workflow Systems) for the next broadcast generation...'

Err... Whatty-What-What..? Fuck me... that's me up to speed on the newest of technology in the broadcasting sector then. I began to wonder, whatever happened to a camera, a lens and a tape on a shelf..?

Ice blue LED's flickered on the newest of solid state cameras with no moving parts. Buttons flashed on shiny black boxes with Terra-Bytes of storage. A myriad of solutions tempted me to utilise this software or that hardware, with the promise of a faster, leaner and sharper digital workflow.

Super thin monitors as light as a feather, batteries with enough oomph to power an Apollo Mission, lights with controls to illuminate a small box or the Albert Hall, and microphones that can pick up a gnats fart at 30 paces. Impressive stuff.

Digital Matrix Storage Solutions... What could be simpler..?

I admit that as a News Cameraman, i felt a little lost. I updated a lot of kit last year to High Definition, which i expect to last me for around 8 to 10 years. From what i saw and from what i see in the industry from day to day, my kit may not last me another 8 to 10 weeks before becoming the equivalent of a box brownie. That's not to say that i didn't like what i saw. If money were no object, i would have spent a great deal, and my wife would have left me.

I quite fancied the humungous camera crane that was the size of a small house, or the brilliantly addictive heli-cams with eight rotors. So, with no money to spend i did what most TV News Cameramen the world over do best...

I interfaced and ingested a Hop infused liquid via a Hi-Res, solid state glass hardware solution system into my organic analog matrix with a view to doubling my 3D pixel count.**

**Warning: May cause audio and mainframe control chip problems.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter

www.media-attention.co.uk
 

The Ettiquette Of Modern TV News Editing.

In this post, i want to invoke a time of warm memories, expensive machinery, men smoking pipes INDOORS! and loose fitting corduroy slacks, maybe even a bow tie or two. You see, in the heady days of news gathering, not so very long ago, it was the done thing to take your filmed rushes back to the newsroom, where a craft editor would weave a silk purse from a pigs ear. You remember those cosy, warm and affable old editors, who would welcome you into their small fiefdom with a pat on the shoulder, coffee and maybe a doughnut, sit you down and tell you where it all went wrong.

Mobile editing... comfy.

 The highlight of my fledgling cameraman career in those distant times was to be told my taped rushes were in the three machine edit suite, not the usual cut and shut edit suite, but a slightly strange smelling place where a grumpy man with a frayed shirt collar would paste together clips of wonder and enlightenment using fades, wipes and other techno wizardry. Now you young spotty faced TV 'Director / Producers' or 'Shooting PD's' with your boy band hair may not understand this, but it wasn't always digital workflows, ingestion matrixes, DSLR's and low wages. Oh no. The large room would hum to the sound of Beta SP machines, switchers and routers, reel to reel sound tape decks and rows of monitors on which to peruse the editors art. Row upon row of Beta SP tapes on shelves that archived the stories of yesterday, interspersed with new fangled Digibeta tapes which were the cutting edge future of TV News, hinting at a brighter future and big bucks if you could afford the new Digibeta cameras. Oh how i laugh now...

Anyway, I learned a lot in those places. When to pan, tilt or zoom, framing, the art of sequencing and of never crossing the line. Editors taught me on pain of death, DEATH i say, never to over expose or to give them too little edit seconds at the beginning and end of every clip. They also taught me who to avoid in the newsroom, which reporter was boffing the new weather girl and to never ever, choose the strange brown gloop at the breakfast bar in the canteen. Fountains of knowledge they were.

Today though, as you know, is a very different state of affairs. There are no more warm rooms in which to hide and possibly learn a thing or two. No longer is there a bastion of clever talented people, doing clever and talented things with hugely expensive pieces of machinery with moving parts. Instead, i sit in the back of my small Mercedes van in a dark, damp and smelly multi-storey car park in a dark, damp and smelly town centre.

The laptop glows as it ingests a digital stream at 5 times real time. Drag and drop edit timelines mixed with the instant workflow of graphics, mixes and splices from a library of hundreds on the small hard drive. Outside the rain falls. I hear it on the metal roof top of my van. I close the door to keep out the draft and the slight urine tinged smell of the car park. The wind picks up the plastic bags and litter left by passers by. A can of special brew rattles under the van in tune with the neanderthal shouting of a group of youths under a nearby concrete underpass.

Time and technology wait for no man. Things have moved on. From the warm, coffee infused university of the edit suite, to a cold piss stained car park with a lap top. Technology is a wonderful thing. It's at times like this that i really miss the grumpy old git in the 3 machine edit suite, far far away.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter.

www.media-attention.co.uk

Camera..? DSLR..? Smartphone..? Just tell me a story...

OK, i have had enough. Those of you that know me realise that i spend a lot of time on social media sites. I follow a great many people who are in the same industry as me, via Twitter and Facebook, as well as a few other places. We are story tellers, finders of the facts, and of the truth. Tellers of news and factual information. We show off to the world via the medium of video.

The tools of our trade.

I really don't care how that story gets to me, TV, Internet or Mobile, and more importantly, what it is filmed with. If i see one more tweet or status update which declares:

@Dipshitfilms "So And So Film... filmed entirely on a SonyCanikon D5f300 Mkiii/v6. Amazing shallow D.O.F...!!"

I could fucking scream. I do not give a rats arse what the fuck you filmed it on. The 'net is awash with DOP's, Filmmakers, Directors, and other video shooters, extolling the virtues of this, that and the other newest camera, DSLR, or smartphone.

I entirely agree that video quality matters. Technology is advancing in our industry at a rapid rate, meaning that a new camera or DSLR is released every 6 or 7 months. But i cringe every time i follow a link to a film captured with this newest of tech, to find i have wasted 5 minutes of my life watching a total pile of steaming cack, because the shooter / DOP / Director has no idea of how to tell me a story with a beginning, middle or end.

You can have the most up to date, latest released, shiniest of video recording equipment. You can call yourself a Director Of Photography, a filmmaker or what the hell you like, but if any of you halfwits out there direct me to a video link on Vimeo or Youtube, that shows me a very high quality film, but with a story that is a steaming pile of shit, i shall personally come round to your place and fuck you up... big style.

Stop it... Stop it now.

And whilst i'm on the subject of all this new found tech and gadgetry, have you seen some the the rigs that people are attaching to these small, lightweight, unobtrusive cameras...? For the love of all that is holy. I have seen some shooters turn up like they have just been operated on by a spinal surgeon that has attached a multitude of rods, handles, wires and monitors just so he can keep his neck in an upright position. I once witnessed a shooter take half an hour to set up, rig and test his equipment before filming a news piece quite recently, by which time i had filmed my piece and had packed up and left.

I have embedded a film here by DSLR News Shooter, a fine website by Dan Chung. I have done so not to snigger, but to show you what is going on out there in the world of camera geekery and technology.

Now unless you are on a film set, i would say that day to day work with these contraptions are wholly impractical. I wouldn't want to be in a press scrum or shooting any type of news or documentary film with one of these... They seem to want to turn a small useful mobile camera into a shoulder mounted monstrosity that snags on everything you walk past.



So here is my two pennies worth. If you want to film documentary films or the news in particular, buy the best piece of equipment you can afford. Make sure it works for you and your style of shooting. Just be ready to roll as soon as you brake and park your car...

And for the sake of my sanity, please... please just tell me a story, and i promise you, if you inform, educate or entertain me, i will be forever grateful...

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter

www.media-attention.co.uk

Filming In Dangerous Places... Don't Forget Your Spare Underpants.

I've been a friend of Christian Parkinson now for a couple of years. Mainly conversing all things cameraman via web spaces such as Twitter and various blogs. And i have enjoyed speaking to him whilst he was out in deepest darkest Africa, filming news for the BBC on yet another trip to a war torn dictatorship, whilst i sip my Cafe Latte, and wait for a local interview in a sunny street somewhere in the South of England. Our professional lives could not be more different, except for the fact that we both haul lumps of news gathering equipment about in the search for a gripping picture for the same company.

Christian Parkinson in Harare, Zimbabwe. From caparkinson.com

Christian has been the BBC News Cameraman in the South Africa office for a number of years now, travelling to war zones, disaster areas, and witnessing at first hand the Arab Spring in North Africa, Civil War in the Ivory Coast and other such African nations that seem to fall apart at the drop of a hat. Not only Africa, but the middle east is also stamped into his passport with trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. Yep... Chris has been shot at, mortared and threatened by unstable liquored up soldiers the world over and still looks like a youngster fresh out of BBC College. You would have thought that he was six feet six, built like a brick outhouse, lantern jawed, with a duelling scar on the left cheek and blazing blue eyes, topped off with a rugged, slightly battered TV Camera slung all nonchalantly over his shoulder, and an undercurrent of danger when he walks into a bar... But hey, we can't both look like that.

Stay behind the men with weapons... Good advice. From imagejunkies.com

Anyway... The reason i am writing is that Chris has squeezed all that knowledge of lugging lenses around hot spots into a new E-book. Having read it, i feel like packing my camera kit and a rucksack and heading off to the desert in search of dangerous encounters with militia men and mad dictators. But Chris does that... hence the E-book, which i heartily recommend to any aspiring journalist or cameraman who wants to work in the world of news gathering. Should you wish to travel to dodgy places for whatever reason, such as a gap year, then read this E-book, because the checklists, advice and knowledge contained therein will stand you in good stead for the trip ahead... you don't have to be in the news business to realise that Chris's book is a good starting reference point for anyone travelling in remote areas where danger can lurk unseen, ready to leap up, point an AK47 at you and rob you of your valuables... or worse.

As you read this, Chris is probably up to his neck in Jungle or sand, eating bush meat and getting bitten on his unmentionables by small flies, Whilst i go home tonight and prepare for my next filming trip to London.... Any bit as dangerous in some places at the moment. 

If you wish to download the FREE E-book, please follow this link:  FREE CAMERAMAN EBOOK

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter

www.media-attention.co.uk

Broadcasting, Bitrates and Bollocks.

So now the updated BBC Approved HD Camera list for 2011 is out, i find myself looking at comments, articles and tweets about the merits of having a broadcasters 'elitist' approval list for cameras. Surely, with the plethora of cameras filming in perfectly good HD out on the market, who gives a shit...?

Kraft cheese slices fit perfectly if folded... Panasonic P2.

Well, if you are a freelance TV News Cameraman like me, you will come to realise that if you want to get hired, both you and your camera, you will have to conform to what your client wants. That's right, your client. That is what the BBC News and other broadcasters are to me, my clients. Valuable, fee paying clients. Time was, not so very long ago, all news broadcasters were filming on Betacam SP. ITV, BBC, you name them, they all went with the same format. And believe me, it was the best of days as a freelancer because we all knew what was required of us, no matter what channel you worked for. But look at the broadcast TV Camera market today and you will find a multitude of cameras, DSLR'S, Handheld cameras, shoulder mounted cameras, formats, recording bitrates, hard disks and other bollocks that have flooded the market. And the updates and changes are coming thick and fast for many of us to wonder whether it is worth buying a camera before it goes out of date.

Personally, i welcome the approved list. It lets me know what is required of me when working for the likes of the BBC, but the BBC only. Sky for example went with the Panasonic P2 Format quite a while back, it looks likely that at the BBC, Newsgathering are going with the Sony PMW 350. So which camera does a freelancer buy...? I can't afford both, but the BBC, which is my biggest and most regular client will likely win me over. So, i have read other articles, asking what is the point of the approved list.

'My camera records stunning pictures but it isn't on the approved list...'

My DSLR is the dogs bollocks...' etc, etc.

They all have a point. Many small HD Cameras out there today are taking stunning pictures, better even than my DVCam unit that i film with today, or my Digibeta for that matter. But it matters bugger all to me because the people at the end of the phone, my client, wants it filmed in DVCam. So DVCam it is until they tell me that they want it in HD from a particular camera, and in a particular format, with a particular bitrate.

Digibeta... rapidly going out of date. If not already.

In newsgathering at least, if you film something that is news worthy and the broadcasters want to broadcast it, it won't matter what you filmed it on. It never has. Film it on an old Hi8 for all i care, it will get broadcast if the story warrants it. But if, like me, you rely on a steady, daily stream of freelance work from a broadcaster, then you had better get to grips with what they require. I could shout all day about having a particular camera, but if my local BBC Region require me to film in a particular format then that is what i will supply. It's either that, or watch them hire someone else....

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter

www.media-attention.co.uk

Video: Citizen Journalism.

I recently wrote an article about the rise of citizen journalists and the like. Whilst doing a little further research i came across this video which takes a look at starting up on your own. So if you have an active interest in this area of journalism take a look ...



With the huge uptake in cheap, affordable good quality cameras, and the fact that nearly everyone now owns a mobile phone with video and photo capabilities, nearly anyone who has a mind to can become a citizen journalist.

Thinking about it, maybe this is the future of ultra local news gathering. Small, niche independent organisations going about their business supplying news, information, and gathering content where the big news broadcasters don't touch. Local newspapers love this sort of content, and can easily outstrip the local broadcasters with a pool of citizens willing to take the risk and go it alone. Whether there is a living wage to made from this though is another matter.....

You can see their website HERE. Very US orientated, but you will get the idea nonetheless.

Getting Media Attention. Citizen Journalists.

Take a quick look at the photo below. It's an IPhone 3GS. So what i hear you ask. Well, if I wasn't a professional cameraman, working for the broadcasters, This piece of kit is all i would need to get multimedia stories out to the world. Video, Audio, Photo and text.

Modern communications .... Simple.

And a great many people are doing just that. Citizen Journalists. They are becoming more and more prevalent with the rise of online blogs, websites dedicated to niche subjects that the author cares deeply about. With the ease of modern tech advances, very little know how is needed to make your own journalistic efforts available to the whole world. With the rise of cheap, good quality cameras and mobile devices like the one above, anyone with a little journalistic ability and online know how can become a citizen journalist.

Major news broadcasters have not been slow in taking advantage of this. You only have to look at any major incident to know that ordinary people can and will film and record what is going on in front of them. Nearly everyone now owns a mobile phone with video or photo capabilities, and when a major incident occurs, the floodgates to the local, national and international news rooms open. But the rise of citizen journalism doesn't restrict itself to major incidents.

You may not agree with what is being done to save the planet, or you disagree strongly with your governments political standpoint. So you blog, film and record your personal point of view and post it to the online world. Freedom of speech and democracy in action. We in the west, including us in the UK, take these freedoms for granted, but there are many people out there with no such freedoms. The only way to tell their story is to be a citizen journalist and to do it themselves. Mainly because their government has shut down, or is intimidating the local and national press.

In Iran a few years back, the national elections proved to be a story of international significance, thanks in no small part to citizen journalism. Once Iranian public anger began to rise, the international press were, in effect, banned from the streets. The only real coverage of what was happening on the streets of Iran came from mobile phone footage which was broadcast around the world, much to the annoyance of the Iranian government who tried, in vain, to cut off broadband links to the outside world.

Terrorist atrocities, natural disasters and underhand governments or corporate bodies can now all be relatively easily exposed by citizen journalists if they choose to do so. With the help of a small handheld device and a broadband link, stories can now be transmitted around the world with the push of a small button ... SEND.

Broadcasting Live With BGAN Unit.

Broadcasting kit is changing and getting more usable by the year. Although the BGAN units have been around for a while, it was the first time that i have used one. BBC Reporter, VJ and all round gadget hack Tim Nicholson shows us around his kit.



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Paul Martin
http://www.media-attention.co.uk

Solar Power, The Monkey's Nuts.

I have been looking for quite while now for a solution to my power requirements when out and about on the road. Most of us now carry some form of mobile communications device such as mobile phones, laptops, PDA's and suchlike. Using these constantly takes it's toll on the old battery life and occasionally I find myself with no power and no means to get it via plugs.

So today, I have invested in a solar monkey and power monkey combo, which as you can see from the pictures are capable of powering and recharging my iPad and mobile phone via the solar panel charging unit and power monkey battery unit, which is small and lightweight enough to carry in your pocket or briefcase without too much annoyance. The battery unit is capable of a full charge of a mobile device and will sit quite happily for up to a year waiting for that emergency power charge.

The power monkey battery unit is pre charged either at home via plug or can be linked to the solar panel power monkey unit to charge from the sun. Free power is always a good way to start. So whilst testing the units this afternoon, I sat in the sunshine and enjoyed a cold beer while the solar panel did it's job suppling me with free power to use and charge my tech.

All in all, I think the above units are a good and safe power solution to most mobile devices and are cheap enough and small enough to carry around with you on a day to day basis. Especially if you know you have a busy day ahead on the phone or laptop in the middle of nowhere.

And finally, if that is not enough to tempt you tech and gadget freaks out there then think about this. There is no better feeling than sitting in the sun drinking cold beer and cheating the electricity company out of a few pennies with free power from the sun.
Paul Martin.
Media Attention Ltd.
www.media-attention.co.uk

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Steady As She Goes.

I have had a few enquiries over the past few days about how TV Cameras film the horse racing from the track when following the horses. Not so long ago it was a cameraman sat on top of a Land Rover, hanging on for dear life while trying to keep the camera as steady as possible. Health and Safety would have a heart attack these days, so with the ever increasing speed of technical wizardry, cameras are now controlled by a camera operator sitting inside the 4x4 controlling a camera head on top of the vehicle which in turn is built into a gimbal, keeping the camera rock steady, even at high speeds on lumpy ground.

Here you can see the camera head and gimbal pod built and fixed to the roof of the Land Rover. The pictures and camera head are controlled by the operator inside the vehicle and are sent by digital wireless link to a fixed point within the racing circuit or stadium.

This picture shows the entire set up and vehicle in situ at the media centre behind Ascot race course, just before going out onto the race course to film an afternoons racing. The pictures are used by broadcasters from all over the world covering Royal Ascot. The camera operator and driver told me that the whole set up costs in excess of £300.000. Which is a large amount in anyones book.

So, in a nutshell, that is how it is done, for those of you that didn't know. I hope you liked this sneaky look behind the scenes of another aspect of TV Broadcasting.

Paul Martin.
Media Attention Ltd.
www.media-attention.co.uk

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