The Medium is the message

I came across a new social media web site that smelt of smug. 

It's stuffed full of confident 30-somethings wanting to share confident prescriptions about life, about tech, about consumer activism, about neat ideas and neater, confident, meaningful, artistically shaped lives. It concentrates on the word, and puts words on the page beautifully (much nicer than blogger.com, hmm). It's a space to share and be seen and be part of something new. It's quietly getting rave reviews, getting known. What? You hadn't heard of Medium? Really? Where have you been?

Like 2 minute man. He has something to say. And he's damn proud of it. Summary: a neat trick to overcome procrastination, the start of everything takes less than two minutes, so, er, just DO IT! He riffs with this idea like he'd never experienced a true fear of failing, true crippling indecision, true lack of self worth. Go 2 minute man! (Medium doesn't have a search facility that I can find, so can't link back to it. Go Medium!)

Like, what did David Karp (Tumblr founder) mean by 'Fuck, yeah, Tumblr' when he sold it and pocketed 250 million? Quite why that's categorised under 'lady bits', Medium, I have no idea. Oh, the writer was female. Right.

And back to the point, how has Facebook failed, and what might the next Facebook look like? (But why add a photo of Balkan refugees to the former? Bit sick that, really.)

And with Medium, App.Net, Svbtle and others, there seems to be a wee bit of a trend developing here.

Apparently there's this problem with Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr and #everyothersocialmediasite apparently: the shittiness of user-generated content. And these are attempts by 'alpha geeks' to create new social media sites that address that problem.

And, yes, user-generated content can be fifty shades of shite involving random pictures of kittens mixed in with selfies and food-shots, anodyne 'life advice', meaningful quotes repackaged by one graphic designer, badly targeted spam, well-targeted spam, my-kids-are-cute streams, here's what I did now and now and now and isn't my life interesting, isn't it? please notice me, and, and ... 

Mixed in is the good stuff - early warning of anything happening anywhere, good things to read, watch, listen to, eat, politics to die for, fashion to live for, the latest sensation in town, the best place to eat, that great concert, that TED talk, that... 

And what about real news from real life friends of real significance? A long-term friend's deeply brave slow-motion fight against terminal cancer; someone else's persecution by a neo-Nazi group; another's burgeoning directing career; another's random business move from video into pizza; news of friends and colleagues after the latest terrorist attack in Kabul (where I'm based) and news of a dear friend's 13 week-old pregnancy, just to mention a few that spring to mind. 

In an article on the smug site called ' "User generated" is a poor substitute for  "Reader submitted" ' - a distinction that would be mystifying, my guess, to anyone under thirty, Caleb Hildenbrandt lists the down side of the Twitter stream then comments, "What makes twitter different is that this content is no longer mediated; it no longer passes through the filter of selective publishing, but is passed straight from producer to peer-producer, unedited and uncut. The same thing goes for “inspirational” image macros on tumblr or chain-letter statuses on facebook, or google’s auto-complete suggestions for popular queries; the consumers of platitudes are indistinguishable from the creators."

Leaving aside the lack of proper-name capitals, what this misses is the simple truth that anyone can mediate and sort that stream for themselves. 

How about simply managing that stream a little more effectively? I need to focus on Afghanistan (for work and safety reasons) so use Slices for Twitter to create a list of people I regularly follow who have something to say about the situation here. If there's been a bomb in Kabul (where I'm based) as simple #Kabul search gives me an invaluable running commentary.

The same article has a sub-heading : Why public opinion is boring. 

Ok, so now we get to it. The problem is not with the stream in itself, it's the people, the horrible unwashed multitude that intellectuals, the middle class and snobs everywhere have always had a problem with. 

Middle class life is about sifting, elevating, making more clean, being different, more interesting. Encoded into the middle class outlook has always been a dislike of popular culture. In the UK television is often considered vulgar, lower class by a certain segment of the uber middle class. Not even particular programmes or types of programmes, but television itself. Yep.

So, Medium. What are you about? Helpfully Ev Williams explains in a 'welcome to Medium' note. Medium, is "designed for little stories that make your day better and manifestos that change the world." Cutsy and earth-shattering all in the same sentence, right? Kittens and death? Seems inclusive and useful? 

  

But wait, what's this? "Creation is only available in Chrome, Firefox and Safari." Really? Hmm. Let's look at browser stats. Ok, so I use Chrome myself, as it seems does a good proportion of the planet (when did that happen?) but Internet Explorer, good ole IE is running a good second, and used to be the first as recently as May 2012. But then IE is for those who don't know better, right? The unwashed multitude? And Medium is only aimed at the smug, techie netizen who wouldn't dream of steam-driven IE. And why would you want to aim at a browser that nets an 8% user base? Oh, yes, that would be the smug Mac fanbois.

I'm not the only one who questions the basis of these new uber-social sites, as Anil Dash's title alone should make his perspective clear, "You Can’t Start the Revolution from the Country Club". He hits several nails on the head far better than I could. "In today’s world, where the social web is mainstream, innovating on the core values of tools and technology while ignoring the value of inclusiveness is tantamount to building a gated community. Even with the promise that the less privileged might get a chance to show up later, you’re making a fundamentally unfair system." It's published on Medium as well as on his own blog, but, because he has access to this privileged audience, he picks up others who don't. He wonders if they "mark the beginning of “white flight” from Twitter and Facebook, ...  not being on Facebook has become the new, cool status marker (esp for affluent white tech people)." (or rather he quotes Whitney Erin Boesel as saying that in “Race, Class, App.net: The Beginning of ‘White Flight’ from Facebook& Twitter?” 

Ev in his welcome continues, "It’s used by everyone from professional journalists to amateur cooks. It’s simple, beautiful, collaborative, and it helps you find the right audience for whatever you have to say." Except, here's the thing. It's not. It's currently in beta, and there's a whole process about "how to post" which involves, wait for it, being INVITED to post. Jeez. I felt like I was in the 20th century right there for a moment. No. Wait. Not a joke. They mean it. And, ok, that's fine for an openly curated offering, like an online magazine or something, but, just to remind you, we're talking alternative social media here. 

"Create a note here saying what you’d like to write about and a link to something you’ve written on the web. No guarantees, but we’ll check it out (limited time offer)."

So, well, shamefacedly I'd have to admit, er, this is it. This is my attempt to get them to think I'm a writer with something to say who is worth inviting to post. 

That's the thing about smug and exclusion. It makes you want to join. And the site looks pretty. Ok, except that their logo looks like Morrisons, which as supermarkets go is really not all that exclusive and hip and happening, but, you know, whateverz. They don't want me to be part of their club, and any club that doesn't want me has got to be good. Right Groucho?

Six friends 'liked' the Rolling Stones?!

I noticed that six friends had 'liked' The Rolling Stones! Time for some defriending on Facebook I (sort of) joked as an update.

One of those 'likes' came from a twenty-two year old fer Christ's sake! She can't ever have known anything but the current embarrassing granddads.

Why do you dislike the Stones? she asked. Is the hatred that profound?

Well, actually in a weird way, I discovered when I thought about it, it actually is. My answer was pretty lame, and fails to explore the surprising depths of my disdain.

So how to explain a dislike for this mediocre pub rock band, when I thought I was merrily indifferent to them. I should have hidden behind a lame, each to their own.

What do Moby and the Stones have in common? I asked back.

Knocking other people's genius and passing it off as your own is absolutely different, imho, to developing on from some creative spark and according the original some respect, development and creativity.

Bad haircuts, she quipped. So I took the rant for a walk.

They were always a shit band, Jagger a vain, talentless tosser, and then they carry on churning out the same empty shit for how many decades? Cock-rock at its worst. I could go on. Compare them to contemporaries like Hendrix or the Beatles or Bowie or The Kinks or even The Doors, who all tried to develop or push the boundaries in some way. Or, if you want rock, try the Stooges or Led Zeplin or The Who. It doesn't help that back in the day Stones' fans were always morons, only one step ahead of Status Quo.

Which also doesn't capture it. I feel I've failed in my anti-Stones duty. Perhaps someone else can explain?

I write like

Apparently, wait for it...

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

So now you and I know. Is that a good thing? I suspect it's because the text I used (the only thing I had to had) is the draft of a non-fiction blog post I have just about finished.

In contrast, I had a quick trawl for something else and found a poem I wrote ages ago. Here's the poem so that you can decide for yourself:

Funeral Fire

I remember black flowers, a low-slung coffin
and priestly incantations. I stared at my boots
as they buried their girl, killed in a car crash.

Sent by school, I stood awkwardly
between the Head and the driver -
neither family, nor converts – three aliens.

I watched the fisted handfuls of dirt and gravel
thud on wood, and could imagine a thin wail rising,
a soul smoke, curling into these believers’ ears,

welcome in their mind’s heaven. Perhaps just
a place for people they can’t yet leave
to the long, the nothing, the end.

*

My spirited gran’s funeral day was godless -
the small cask slid back, curtains closed
on her leaving, engulfed by a secular fire.

I admired their strength. Even in this last ritual
they chose unbelieving, uncomforted pain -
there were no half truths, no small lies, no rot.

His daughters then watched granddad choke
gut-deep sobs, and, soon, too soon, saw cancer
yellow his sharp mind, sapping his quiet force.

His same ritual reduced us, silenced us.
Becoming adults, we children wait
to bury parents, but don’t know how.

Ben Bruges

(Sorry, not the most cheerful of poems, just what I had to hand.)

And this time? What does this automated web-based bot think?

I write like
Chuck Palahniuk

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Hmm. Well I've heard of him, but never read anything. Maybe I should check him out. And maybe you want to explore your reading style for yourself:

I Write Like... 

Hidden Short Stories

Short stories seems to have become newly fashionable. Long a staple of starting-out writers and the American creative writing scene, they are becoming so in vogue that established novelists are re-learning how to write the form.

And it is very different from the novel, which is as little appreciated as how different a short film is to a feature. You could start with Checkov, Chinua Achebe, Tolstoy, Kipling, Guy de Maupassant, Dahl.... or my dear friend Victoria Taylor Robert's Hidden & Other Stories.

It's an awkward and difficult form, and Vicky is completely in control of the effects it can achieve - the time spent in the company of very different, often very difficult characters - their situations, their outlook, their place in life, but especially their view out and towards the 'life' that's generally swirling around them in careless and damagingly carefree ways. In her hands, the story tends to creep up on you, you are in a mind, and as the gloom slowly dissipates, you perceive clearly a life, a person you thought could never imagine being, but now are fully imagined within, the contours, shapes and feeling of that life clear, in sparse, carefully controlled detail.

And the endings? Vicky controls her endings with clarity and economy - never the cheap, over-obvious reversal, but a sly dig, a ping back into the story that led up to it, a re-shaping or re-casting of the story in a subtly different light, giving a resonance beyond the end, causing the life to reverberate just a bit further and longer than you expected.

Of course there are some stories I didn't take to, some that left me cold, but more that left me slightly shaken, slightly disturbed from the main flow of 'life' as most of us live it. And that's where her characters come from - the edges, the margins, the lost and forgotten, and are the more powerful for that.

Highly recommended.

Motion text design I wish I had designed #99

... and it doesn't hurt to have the voice of the great Mr Stephen Fry narrating it. It almost makes me wish I had a good start up idea. That's not going to happen any time soon, but in the meantime, I'm looking forward to the commission that enables me complete design work like this.

A couple of useful camera sites...

Just to share - excellent Sony EX1 set of tips from Sony here

... and very useful forum for the XDCAM series.

and here's a 3d view

What the F**K is Issuu?

I feel obliged to try this out, now that I've accidentally sent an invitation to everybody I know, everybody I've ever been spammed by, and everybody I don't know, plus a few random services thrown in for good measure.

I can only say SORRY SORRY SORRY.

If it makes you feel better, I invited myself at least three different ways and posted an automatic facebook status update.

So, ahem, Issuu. It makes stuff like this possible:

... and it might be a possible tool for sharing documents. So far the content on it is pretty pants. But then you can embed your own stuff, they share their API so if it takes off people will build interesting applications on the top of it (is the theory). You could use it for a private archive of important documents, you can use it to design your own documents (so far untested by yours truly). So - maybe some good points.

Or alternatively, it's just a home for sad people to self-publish to themselves and their mums.

One person has already put up their whole archive of punk / post-hardcore fanzines. Great effort. And how many subscribers have they got so far? None. Bless.

I can't find anything useful to read on it (though would be very happy to be proved wrong), but I can see great potential in it.

So - either curse me for the spam email, or, remember it was me, when it really takes off and helps you share documents in a stylish and effective way. Here's hoping it's the later.

In praise of Karen

"In praise of Karen" OR "How do I keep all this stuff safe?"

Karen is female. Apparently.

Ok - not the most earth shattering statement on the face of it. But at the deepest recesses of my geeky side, there's something delightfully, elegantly well designed, useful and thought-through about Karen's Power Tools and I was curious about the name.

If you don't know them you are missing something highly useful to you, and that's any 'you' who uses a computer. This isn't specific to video.

Her tools do seriously useful stuff under the bonnet of a computer in an elegant, safe, clear and easy to use way. They are for anyone who's ever wanted a computer to just work, dammit. Or who wants and easy way to copy and archive stuff. or move large amounts of data around. or - why can't I just have a list of those files to print out? Is that website working (yours or any other)?

Ok - so we're talking hard-core teckie stuff? So is that unusual coming from a woman? Is that what's surprising about Karen being, er, Karen?

It's not that unusual to have female about in nerdy land. not these days, so that's not my first reaction.

It was more like you can see that where Karen is coming from feels like a female point of view. Maybe I'm imagining something here. But can there be something specifically 'female' about a bunch of computer tools?

It feels like she's looked at her Windows computer and wondered why it doesn't just do stuff that are blindingly obviously stupidly necessary.

So you want me to keep backups - why doesn't it come with a good utility to do just that?

So, she seems to be saying - I could do that - make some utility that will do that solidly and well. And, hey - I've got a good idea - why not throw in a way to keep a check on two different changing sources and work out what needs to be copied between them to keep both up to date, without wiping anything useful? Neat.

Want to keep track of stuff? Why can't Windows just print out a list with all the files on the computer, or on a particular area or folder of the computer? Hey, why not be able to customise that list?

Ok, ok, I'll quit with the list before your eyes glaze over. Those are my two favourites. Net monitor is pretty useful. There's other stuff. Snooper is classic Mom keeps an eye on the kids stuff. On the other hand, I have no idea what Hasher does. Have a look for those and more.

So is there something clear, practical and female about that? Do Gates et al need to get a bit more in touch with their feminine side?

There's inconclusive research to explore about gender and styles of learning, preferences for right and left hemispheres and modes of perception, language or communication strategies, multi-tasking, subject area preferences, 3d perception and manipulation. All that kind of stuff. Perhaps at most it adds up to a random pattern of tendencies that just about remain just about discernibly constant between cultures and through history?

If there's anything in those kind of differences, I don't know. I'm reluctant to stray into essentialist explanations, as I think you can tell. ;-) They probably have a quality that's also shared by a lot of men.

Whatever - it's a useful suite. And free. Which is good. And here's the lady in question. All hail Karen. Praise Karen.



Which reminds me.

I'll have to sing the praises of the delightfully named CCleaner at some point in the future. Yes that's "Crap Cleaner", and no, it's not one of Karen's tools. I can't see her choosing that name, somehow.

Dreamed up by one of the lads, then. ;-)

And sure enough - it does what it says on the tin, without fuss, in a straightforward way. Just like a man. Also free. Also highly recommended. And this one does it's share of the housework. In fact, that's exactly the point of it. How's that for surprising?

Audioboo

... and what is an audioboo, I hear you ask?

Jeremy of Wicked Days posted this minutes before birth of his (ahem) fourth. Busy man. ;-)

Kinda worrying for the teenager to come in 16 or so years - not just embarrassing baby pics, but sharing your pre-birth heartbeats with random contacts across the interweb...

And auidoboo - it's some kind of iPhone thingy. Record, hit button, uploads to Twitter. Now, I wonder if anyone wants to hear my kitten snore?

Lee Camp's moments of clarity

Lee Camp's moments of clarity is one of those reasons I'm glad YouTube exists - not for cute kittens and that ever-so-funny moment when your mate happy-slapped some tramp - but a cheap, quick, witty, snappy and above all fast response to things going on. Why aren't there more? 

(perhaps there are - links welcome)

For example, his latest response to GOP's response to funding healthcare

Or taking the longer view:

... AND you get bluegrass - what more can you want?

THIS is what video blogging should be - quick fun, informative and cheerful. Go Lee! 

Class one in any Film 101 course usually involves some kind of 'edit in camera' task. Like - forget loads of takes shot out of sequence, let's decide what we're gonna film, then film it in order, one take straight into the camera, take the film out, hit play: there's your film.

So what's the equivalent for class one on the Music Video 101 course?

If you were good. Like very good. It might end up like Nyle captured by Last Pictures. Filmed in one take, with the audio captured at the same time. The film is superb, Nyle's performance is superb, the singing and playing is superb... shame the song is a bit lame. But whatever - ENJOY:



Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.



(Thanks to Alexandra Lexitricity for the recommend)

Spoiler alert

If you have a Scientologist friend. Now is the time for that friend to watch this video. You'll curse yourself if you don't show it to them before your friendship should end.

Missed opportunities and all that. ;-)



Of course, once they watch it the friendship will certainly end! ;-)

It's posted on the youtube channel called 'church of scientology'. I'm guessing that's not the official site.

Who's flashy?

Looking through web-examples for inspiration, I came across this. I both like it and don't like it. I don't know whether I'd use a similar approach, but it might be good for photogrpahers?


ImFlashy.com

What do you think?

Maybe you prefer shoes? ;-)


ImFlashy.com

Whatever happened to ShootingPeople? This question was sparked off by Scriptmonster's latest blog.

A simple email digest, that then grew and grew, it used to be required reading. I used it to develop services, learn, network, crew shoots... But somehow it fell behind the curve.

I realised how clunky it was once I came across forums. As soon as you get used to things like - hey, people replying in near-real time - threads of conversations (not strained day-late replies), chat, private messaging... the whole deal, suddenly a daily email digest seems like a system designed in the age of steam. And they're still at it.

Back in the day there was a debate about setting up a forum. The owners / moderators refused. Real filmmakers are too busy to waste time on fora, or some such argument. One brave soul set up a forum with nil support, and without being allowed to post about it. It failed (as far as a I know - I can't even remember the name of it now).

I put a post on there about a year ago - I needed an 'attractive woman' to play the part of someone getting married. That was considered offensive and I wasn't allowed to post 'attractive' (I kid you not).

Without the 'attractive' the post went ahead and I got millions of replies. Including one from an Italian male, who couldn't speak English and who wasn't based in the UK. This was for a one-day shoot. I was curious, so I asked him (via Babelfish) why the hell he thought it was a good idea to waste my time - oh, I'm thinking of moving to london in a few years and thought I should build up some contacts....

We also got some good replies - but the sheer effort of wading through them, including about half that were wildly inappropriate, plus more that came three days late (those who don't pay for the service), plus more from agencies who then spam you for ever more...

That's why I don't use or read Shooting People any more. About time to cancel my subscription, methinks. It's a shame - I have a real affection for a service that was a strong part of my development in video. But it just didn't keep up.

meanwhile, the latest on the Mac Vvs PC wars...

They are both good and bad for different things. Both have their frustrations and their joys, and we couldn't live without them. Doesn't mean that the PC "let's cobble it together from a bunch of junk" and the Mac "let's get smug" approaches don't grate...

Hello to a new camera - Sony EX1

Exciting times in planet video. New editing system. New camera. New clients.

But let's start with new camera.

I have used the Sony EX1 camera three times in anger now, and I have only had it four days, so it's been a bit of a rush getting up to speed enough with it to feel secure enough to use it for serious jobs. That they were event filming jobs, adds to the pressure... as we all know - there is no second take. *

There is a huge buzz about the camera, and has been for a while since it came out. It uses Sony's SxS cards, there's no tape, and it leaps a couple of format levels from standard definition video - not just HDV but a higher type of High Definition called XDCAM.

There were three major issues (and this isn't going to be a 'review' as such - just my first impressions)

- getting to know the camera well enough (which would be the same for any new camera)
- getting to grips with a tapeless workflow
- switching from PC to Mac

The first is not as huge as it might seem, given that my previous main camera was also a Sony and this one is set up within the same paradigm, with a set of modifications that are interesting and useful, rather than irritating. Most of the keys you want are outside rather than buried in a menu. Not a standard layout (that would be asking too much of Sony), but one that is learnable perfectly easily.

If I didn't think I'd be comfortable with it, I wouldn't have used the camera - event stuff is way too demanding for that.

Knowing that there simply are not any tapes, never were any tapes, never will be... "Er, so what about my fail-safe archive?" is the first question that will occur to any camera operator, editor or producer (or, all three if you're like me). It's a breathless moment for anyone involved in video. It's a jump that happened has simultaneously (just about) with consumers and with professionals, and it's a huge liberation as well as a huge worry.

I'm fine with setting up a good data back up system, and am paranoid enough to know that only two external and one internal copy of the data is enough. However, a new format means new applications, making sure they work, that the workflow is clear and foolproof...

Actually the stakes are no higher than they were with tape, but they do feel dramatically more scary.

It doesn't help to think it through logically. After all, if a tape failed that's all the footage lost. If a unique copy of the data fails, that's all the footage lost. The only safe way to archive tape is to copy to tape or capture to data. The only way to safely archive data is to copy. Plus ca change. But still that cliff-edge feeling is there.

And what about that strange third reason - surely that has nothing to do with the camera, you might have thought. Well, there were a number of (obvious) reasons for the (partial) switch to Mac, but the clincher was the EX1, which I know might seem bizarre. Basically Final Cut Pro handles XDCAM well, and Premiere (my PC application) doesn't is the short story.

I ought to blog about Mac some time. Basically, even as a Mac user myself, I hate the whole "it just works" Mac thing. No it doesn't - no computer does. Sure it falls over less often, but it does still fall over. I'm going to be using PC and Mac aproximately 50/50, and not with the usual office / video split - but using both for both. Which is not my choice necessarily or a good thing necessarily - but it works for me.

The death of tape will, inevitably, be happening to everybody in video. It's already perfectly acceptable in many walks of technological existence, so in some respects video might seem a bit behind. But the sheer size of video data, and the need for a continual, frame-by-frame, verified, safe, secure flow of the stuff, has meant that computers have had to develop a lot to get us there.

So - I'll put this up, but will be adding my thoughts about the design of the camera, the price, the controls, the format, the workflow and geeky stuff like that in due course.


* One event combined Rory Stewart, Orlando Bloom, Pippa Small and my mate Kate, but that's another story.

We say hello...

The current Meconopsis Films showreel via Vimeo (see below for the YouTube version), with some of the stuff we do.


Meconopsis Films' showreel from Ben Bruges on Vimeo.

"I suffer from English teeth..."

So starts the video on the front page of Dentaprime.

Getting a commission to interview people about their dental experiences might not sound that exciting - but it was a real pleasure to meet the four people featured in the video. They had diverse experiences and reasons for traveling all the way to Bulgaria to have serious amounts of dental work completed but one theme ran through all the interviews - the truly appalling and expensive experiences they had at the hands of dentists in the UK.


Dentaprime from Ben Bruges on Vimeo.

Terri Colley was left with a phobia of dentists. She was lectured about the state of her teeth every time she visited - far from the sympathetic service you might expect. Her visits became fewer and fewer until she needed serious treatment.

It made for good testimonials, as all of them were genuine people who wouldn't have given a testimonial if they hadn't believed in it. And that meant that they gave good interviews - you can't fake sincerity (albeit a lot of people try).

An interesting comparison is the German version created by a German video producer. (Or click the German flag at the top of the page) It seems Germans have dental work for cosmetic reasons - the type of people and the reasons they gave for having work is completely different. Is that because their national dental service actually works?

Anyway - a lovely little job, and we're pleased with the end results. Any comments or feedback welcome, as always.

It was an ironic experience for me: I too suffer from 'English teeth'.... maybe I should be saving the pennies for a trip to Bulgaria? I certainly couldn't afford the treatment I need in the UK.

Surely no one sane thought this was a good idea. Go on - try clicking it for the full sized disaster, then hit the back button.

As Photoshop Disaster say, "Red Bull in Hungary makes you wish you had never seen this image. Scrubbing your eyeballs doesn't work, I tried."

for the hell of it...

Some things are made just for the hell of it. So, for the hell of it, I thought I'd share.



The derelict radio station. from Druskq on Vimeo.

If you're interested in 3d creation and motion detection software have a look at the user comments below the vimeo page, and Druskq's comments in response. Interesting stuff.