It's tough out there for an action figure. Now, I don't consider myself as dashing as this guy (just ask my wife), but at least I know to properly wield a TV camera. Fellini here looks like G.I. Joe snuck up from behind and rearranged his forearms in a frenzied display of kung-fu grip. The very sight makes me want to call a chiropractor for the swarthy little fella. Am I reading too much into this? Perhaps - but if some nameless corporations is gonna crank out molded doppelgangers of my grizzled breed, they could at least get the ergonomics correct. What's next, Barbie Dolls with impossible figures, killer wardrobes and androgynous boyfriends? Don't answer that - but for the love of all that's holy - pick up the playroom, would ya?
Posted by Lenslinger at 9:29 PM 4 comments: Links to this post The Impending Schism

I’m no futurist. In fact I’m something of a caveman - one who swings a TV camera instead of a club. But even a knuckle-dragger like me can’t help but shudder at the rumblings underfoot and wonder if it’s the impending schism is upon us. For if the bison doodles on the wall are correct, a great media upheaval will soon erupt and plunge mouth-breathers like me into the craggy abyss of yesteryear. From my ashes, a new species of journalisapien will arise from the primordial news: Citizi-lensicus, the jacked-in, hyper-skilled platform-crossing telecommunicator - borne of laptop and shorn of corporate yoke. No wonder the Cro-Photog set is getting their loincloths in such a wad. Intelligent design can be uncomfortable!

But evolution is unquestionably at work.. Consider the following, randomly collected yet highly connected media developments:

About ten days ago, network TV experienced its lowest rated week ever. At the same time, web visitors watched 100 million videos a day on YouTube - the top spot to catch moving images on-line. Broadcast executives who fail to comprehend this seismic shift in viewer habits do so at their company’s peril. Be it the plasma fatty hanging on the family room wall, or the tiny screen on some cubicle-farm workstation, consumers want their moving images updated cue-up and commented on 24/7. Can you blame them?

Despite a less than stellar reception, VJ’s are here to stay. Working alone, these multi-tasking journalists shoot, write and edit daily news stories. Sure, aesthetics suffer - as does any pretense of in-depth reporting, but that won’t stop budget-minded media outlets from outfitting eager young wannabes with the latest in stripped-down gear and call the pioneers. As Rosenblum has so definitively proven, a newsroom relying solely on these ‘backpack journalists’ will soar to new heights of mediocrity - but a media outlet that peppers their two person crews with experienced one-man-bands will reap untold rewards. Let’s just hope the stations kick in a little for all that extra effort.

TV stations are finally getting it: the internet is more than an afterthought. Instead it is an incredible opportunity for fostering loyalty among viewers old and new. What better way to expand your audience than by making your product available anytime anywhere? Modern news consumers demand nothing less. Thus, broadcast outlets are streaming newscasts, throwing open their archives and inviting discussion and even debate from the people they used to consider inert eyeballs. We’ve come a long way from smarmy spots showcasing glitzy newsreaders hurtling lofty facts from on high. Okay, maybe we haven’t - but at least we’re headed in the right direction.

Lastly, more and more newspapers are beefing up their own burgeoning websites with edited video reports - some of which are actually coherent! Sure, it’s easy for a licensed cameramanthropologist like myself to pick these early efforts apart, but doing so helps no one.. I don’t claim to know how my print brethren hope to use these newly available gifts of sight and sound, but once they achieve a balance of artistry, execution and economy, look out! Eventually, some Herald or Tribune or Daily Trout-Wrap is gonna get it right and new languid form of visual storytelling will bubble to the surface. These will be fertile waters for the journeyman photog - if he or she is brave enough to take the plunge. (I for one am searching furiously for my swim-fins.)

For now though, I remain a humble hunter-gatherer, one who’s secretly delighted this continental shift of media platforms is finally shaking things up. You see I’ve been eyeing that horizon for quite some time, sharpening my skills, exceeding expectations and confusing my superiors - who could never wrap their foreheads around my radical views on newsroom evolution. A new world of possibilities is shimmering in the not so distance, at first the change may be a little scary, but from the depths of my photog DNA, I believe this looming quake is exactly what my diminished industry needs to avoid a well-earned extinction. You don’t need a bone through your nose to smell the decay all around us.

I’ll be in my cave if you need me.
Posted by Lenslinger at 8:39 PM 6 comments: Links to this post Lilly's in Israel Having worked with many a talking hair-do over the years, it's not uncommon to catch an old colleague reporting from some far off locale. But I must say, I did a double-take this afternoon when I saw my old pal Erik Liljegren go live(!) from Israel. Since leaving our newsroom less than two years ago, Erik's made the most of his correspondent's gig at Fox News Channel. From Hollywood to New Orleans to Manhattan, Lilly's popped up at more stateside imbroglios than I can list. Now he's gone global, filing live reports from war-torn Haifa and other less-ravaged parts of Israel. When I rang him up in Tel-Aviv, the intensely casual New Jersey native scoffed at my words of praise and concern. Instead, he wanted my thoughts on a manuscript idea he was noodling with on his downtime. If I didn't love him so much, I'd hate that guy...
Posted by Lenslinger at 6:23 PM No comments: Links to this post Flirtin' with Disaster Ghost of Promos Past I’ve always held that TV news promos do NOT age well. However, I’m almost willing to issue an exception - having just watched an old KTVY spot featuring its many hotshot news shooters. It’s 29 seconds of cinematic brilliance. There’s the discount bin mid-seventies musical soundtrack, that fleeting glimpse of the world’s ugliest live truck - there’s even a inexplicable Hall and Oates cameo! Yes, this clip has everything ... If for no other reason, this 21 year old promo is worthy of time-capsule inclusion for its stilted summation of just what it is those scruffy photogs actually do, delivered in the patently paternalistic style of the times:
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