Thoughts for the weekend

I shall have a few.

Thanks to the video embedded below. The song is Where do you go to (my lovely) written and sung by Peter Sarsted. This performance was on the music show BeatClub (in the glorious days of sixties black-and-white television with host Cilla Black visible in the first frames). The clip posted seems to have been ripped by a German viewer when the clip was broadcast on the excellent 3Sat channel.

It was a #1 hit in the UK charts for six weeks in 1969 and was awarded the 1969 Ivor Novello Award, together with David Bowie's Space Oddity.

The lyrics are absolutely chock full of namechecks referring to France; they hinted at a France which I found compellingly attractive. There were quite a few of us, then, casting a wishful glance across the English Channel.

Partly this was due to the events of 1968. The fortieth anniversary falls next year, when I shall myself be a true soixantehuitard. It was to Paris that our lovely Jane Birkin had decamped to join up with Serge Gainsbourg.

Peter Sarstedt captured a certain longing for a France of louche sensuality and decadence. Sounded good too me. To Bowie, too, like me at the time a definite Francophile. The novel by Pierre Daninos about the archteypal Brit in France, Major Thomson, is the reason I acquired the sobriquet of Major Tom (c.f. Space Oddity, for which I produced the videoclip).

Best of all, when I hear the song again, I have a huge feeling of thankfulness that I did enjoy just over ten years, from 1971, of that louche sensuality and decadence.

The lesson being, kiddies, careful of the songs which capture your imagination; you might just live them.

(For further consideration, class; the relationship between Californication and MySpace...)

Have a good weekend. Cue music!

Do-it-yourself, differently

To make video content you need equipment, right? Wrong!

Today, thanks to the folks at We Make Money Not Art I learn of video sniffin'.

Mediashed involved a group of kids who usually hang around in the streets to engage in Video sniffin' activities and turn CCTV into a free broadcasting system for their own use. "Why would you want to buy some video equipment when there are already so many cameras around for you to use?" They bought in a high street store some relatively cheap and small devices which can sniff out the street for signals broadcast by wireless CCTV networks. Using the surveillance images captured, the kids then created their own movie.



Use this link to learn more and watch a much more refined use of video sniffin'.

I must admit that I'd hesitate to use this technology-workaround here in the Sandlands, however.

Pure Digital giveaway

Up to a million $200 camcorders to be handed out to qualifying non-profit organizations, we learn today.

NewTeeVee's coverage of this story very rightly points out that empowering people by giving them the kit is only one part of the story; without media literacy tools alone don't help.

The VC2 Producer Training section (VC2 is Viewer Created Content) of the Current.TV website is possibly one of the best ways to introduce would be videographers to the skills they need to learn, practice and master.

Userplane

It may be the last day in the working week for us here in the Sandlands and many of us are getting in the mood for a second peaceful Ramadan weekend, but out there in the terra incognita of media there are rustlings in the brush which must be reported.

I haven't delved deeply into Userplane, but at first glance it seems very interesting indeed.

It's a free toolset which takes some of the complexity out of responding with UGC to websites and even blogs.

The website is here.

Photo styles

Noted in recent web surfing expeditions and of interest to readers who share my addiction to arresting visuals, the work of two photographers. Above, Marcus Ohlsson, below Jörg Rothhaar.

Video gems

After scaring myself half to death with the implications of the previous post, some video goodness to soothe the savage breast. First, the commercial by Michel Gondry.

And now a tid-bit of J-Pop via the Brazilian site Ideiaforte.

EUR = $ 1.42

Dubai rents set to soar 26.5% over next two years. (more here)

The number of cars in Dubai is increasing annually at the rate of 17 to 20 per cent, which is the highest in the world, compared to two to three per cent increase in developed countries.

And yet people continue to flood into the Sandlands, in spite of horrendous traffic conditions and galloping inflation.

When I came the exchange rate was EUR = US$ 0.83.

My financial obligations back home haven't changed.

Nor has my remuneration in the shrinking local currency.

Scary? Yes.

Ozapft is!

In München sitzt mein’ liebste Maus. Oans. Zwo. Suffa!

Und ich will aus die Wüste raus. Oans. Zwo. Suffa!

Ich wär’ so gern’ mit Euch dabei. Oans. Zwo. Suffa!

Ich komm’ nicht weiter als Dubai. Oans. Zwo. Suffa!

Oktoberfest gibt’s Jahr für Jahr Oans. Zwo. Suffa!

Vielleicht zum nächsten bin ich da! Oans. Zwo. Suffa!

...und so, Maß für Maß, weiter bis zum umkippen.

With apologies for grammar and spelling errors. And the girl in photo is not known to me.

Christophe Huet

No comment. His brilliant work is here.

Getting poorer day by day

From today's Gulf News (it ain't good if you have been here for five years, as I have).

UAE residents already reeling under the rising cost of living are now facing the prospect of sharp value erosion of their earnings and a drop in their savings potential. In the UAE, they are losing heavily on purchasing power as well.

Last year the UAE's inflation hit a 19-year high of 9.3 per cent. A larger number of expatriates working in the country are losing a major share of their earnings to inflation and currency depreciation.

We reach for our Happy Pills...

Afterworld is 'Espresso-style TV' at its best

Not wishing to end my posting week on a down note (the previous report of dissatisfaction), I am pleased to be able to point you to Ben Marshall's piece on his MediaGuardian blog. I was iffy about Afterworld when I first heard of it, but having now seen five episodes I'm hooked! So, apparently, is Ben who says...

The three-minute TV drama has arrived. And like a cup of Italy's finest, Afterworld is hot, dark and packs a heavy punch.

Today's webisodic

It's called 35, and the gimmick in this instance is that it's intended as appointment viewing on the web, harking back to the golden age of live television drama (Studio One, Playhouse Ninety).

The website is here.

Where, you may wonder, is my customary undertone of eager enthusiasm for developments in the webisodic arena? Is Sandlander no longer a cheerleader for DIYLBM (do-it-yourself low-budget media)?

I watched the first episode for less than two minutes, fearing the onset of nausea due to the decision to adopt the wobblyscope school of videography. 35 will not see me again.

Driven by passion

Full disclosure: I have never in my life driven a car or held a driver's license. The fact that I am a consultant to a television channel entirely devoted to automotive-themed content is due to my experience in the media, not on the highway.

I always claim that media impact is based on emotions. And even I can be mightily moved by footage of the kind embedded below, which conjures up the romance and excitement of speed.


But before getting too carried away with this impressionistic dream of freedom and risk-free daring, there's the urgent need to compare and contrast with the reality of bloody gridlock. Bloody? Accident statistics reveal that there is an accident every two minutes in Dubai. In the UAE there are 21 traffic deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 15 in the United States and around six in Britain (2005 figures). Gridlock? Every single fender bender causes a huge traffic jam, costing the economy dearly in terms of time wasted. What is disheartening is the fact that there seems to be no solution to the problem, as it involves so many interlinked causes.

Webisodics (behind the scenes)

A lot of interesting insider dope concerning websodic production is revealed in the interview at FreshDV with Blake Calhoun, creator of Pink. On the show's website we learn that the first ten episodes (approximately 3 minutes each) were shot in a six day period last July.

It interests me to compare this approach to that of PromQueen, with three directors working in parallel in order to optimally utilize a relatively large ensemble cast.

With my MSM soap opera production background (i.e. productivity benchmarked at a minimum of 110 minutes of screentime each five-day week) I continue to be fascinated by the interface between production logistics and narrative structure. The challenge for webisodics is easily stated: get the best talent you can afford for the shortest possible period of time. And this will only work of the series concept and the episode scripts have all the attributes needed to power a short, highly focused shoot.

Yesterday I set up a meeting at the MipCom conference in Cannes with YouSwitch.TV. They have an interesting and very sticky application which allows the user to be the editor of four parallel video streams. They see this as a winner in the music sector; let's imagine it's footage shot of the Beatles, a camera each dedicated to John, Paul and George, a fourth p.o.v. with all four (including Ringo!). The user makes his or her own edit version on the timeline. There's something definitely alluring about the concept.

So I wasted last evening wondering how this could be applied to webisodic fiction. Each scene covered by four cameras, of course. But, in a first community-only iteration, all four video streams would be available for users to chooses their own camera-switch cue preferences. (I just might be the nerd who keeps on cutting back to the eye-candy!) After this closed release phase there could be episodes released in versions which statistically mirror the most preferred cuts as executed by YouSwitchers. A bit of crowd-sourcing hive-mind drivel here? Perhaps. But food for thought, nevertheless.

A demo in French of the YouSwitch application is here.

Final random observation: did these guys have anything to do with the web show The Stand, or is it that for webisodic indies the 'Arschgeweih' is the new 'lower third'?

The battle of the bands

The basis for the insanely brilliant animation is that collection of LP covers we all used to have.

Didn't we?

More 3D wonders

I found three pointers to this in today's new items in my blogroll. Last week I posted this about some other 3D applications which are almost as incredible.

MotionPortrait is the technology that automatically creates 3D face model from one single picture, which can be animated in a variety of facial expressions. Every time one of these new tools crops up I tend to waste long evening hurs speculating about the relevance for narrative audiovisual storytelling.

The web as imagined in 1934... awesome!

So what comes next?

Almost time for my trip to Cannes

The post's title is an absolutely childish play on words. But I do feel that as a television professional the must have watch for my visit to the industry event in a couple of weeks is the one below. Normally I find Dolce & Gabbana a bit too much, but the test card colour bars are such a clever touch and I shall certainly weaken if I run into this timepiece on my travels.

Daily graphic

I first encountered Russian graphic design when I was at school in Dundee and actually took classes in the language for at least one year, maybe two. In the early 50s a strange elective, you might say. It came about due to the fact that the woman who authored the text books used in Britain (well, in Scotland for sure) for the study of Russian, Madame Semeonova, was a teacher at the school where I was a pupil.

If anyone out there also would be interested in receiving a daily example of Russian graphic style this is the link to subscribe to.

Small but big on style

Moreon this very cool hotel design concept by entering as your search term CitizenM.

Open source video tool needs support

This via BoingBoing, explaining here that the Participatory Culture Foundation needs contributors to further finance the development of their video tool, Miro.

"Miro (formerly known as Democracy Player) is the best and most promising video player I've ever used. It's free and open -- licensed under the GPL -- and it incorporates three different technologies that make watching videos easier and better than any of the proprietary players like Windows Media Player or iTunes.

Miro is a bet on a future for "Internet TV" that is as open as the Web, controlled by no one. Otherwise, the way things are headed, we could end up with one or two giant companies owning the future of video. No one -- not community activists, not video startups, no one -- benefits when just a few companies control the platform."

Not just for the weekend

Global Warming

An scalloped awning attached to a billboard helps to get the message across.

Quarterlife

The latest webisodic of the new season, actually not online until early November, is titled Quarterlife and is covered more fully by NewTeeVee here. MySpace has exclusive first run rights, and it seems to be a very self-referential concept targeted at the young inhabitants of social networking sites in particular and the blogosphere in general.

Oddly enough this was my first encounter with the phenomenon of the quarter-life crisis, the latest pop-psych label to commercialize the angst of the twentysomethings. I was aware, of course, of the mid-life crisis... waited for it to hit me... still waiting, although now it would probably be better termed the three-quarter-life crisis.

With webisodics proliferating, I wonder when we'll find the dubbed foreign language versions being released internationally. In territories I regard as my second home, France and Germany, the dubbing of imported films and series is totally acceptable to the audience and executed at an amazingly high level of quality. Many say the dubbed German version of the TV series Alf was funnier than the US original, the writers having taken wicked liberties with many of the jokes (inspired doubtless by Woody Allen's 1966 What's Up Tiger Lily?)

Any thoughts on this? Comment... or call me!

Data from Deloitte

• 51% of all consumers are watching/reading personal content created by others; the number jumps to 71% for Millennials.
• 55% of Millennials and 42% of Xers read blogs, while 62% of Millennials and 41% of Xers watch YouTube or other video streaming sites.
• 40% of all consumers are creating their own entertainment, such as editing movies, music and photos. Millennials may be the majority of the creators at 56%, but Matures are also participating – 25% of them report creating their own entertainment.

Just a breif excerpt from a Deloitte report cited by Ken Rutowski, who will I hope be moderating another conference session at the forthcoming MipCom event. He was certainly among the most cogent and animated of the presenters at the MipTV April sessions.

PromQueen thinkpiece

Steve Bryant is a noted columnist, a respected media industry insider, who writes regularly for The Hollywood Reporter, the trade publication founded in September 1930. So we're talking 'media establishment' here! His blog ReelPop has been an information source I use daily for over a year, reading his posts inside GoogleReader.

Which is where I found today his short but very insightful post concerning PromQueen and its significance in terms of audiovisual storytelling forms. Here it is.

But...

...when I decided to re-blog the PromQueen thinkpiece I hit the link to open the original blog entry... and got the Sandlands' 'screen of shame'.

Now what was Dubai Media City's motto? "The freedom to create". Sure, as long as you don't need the resources to be informed of developments within the media industry.

Go ahead. Create!

The 'Franco-Naff' school of graphics

Yes, another title added to my gallery of book covers which offend me. Why do they offend? Because they pander to a cliché perception of the ex-pat British francophile experience.

However, it is the content of the books suggested to me yesterday and today which inspired J (female) to suggest Pardon My French and J (male) to recommend Two Lipsticks And A Lover, and for that I am grateful. Thanks to you both!

Amusing coincidence: The Two Lipsticks author, Helen Frith Powell, lives in the Languedoc-Roussillon, the blessed corner of France where my friend J (female) also makes her home, where I still hope one day to settle.

Seeing is believing. Not.

What is the metacognitive link which guides me, leading me to discover things I didn't know that I need to know? Need, perhaps not. But since my current writing project involves a virtual world more advanced than SecondLife I obviously benefit from knowing of the two toolsets demonstrated in today's embedded videos.

The first is from the MPI for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.


The second, if you've recovered from your pondering over the possibilities illustrated, is from Carnegie Mellon University, USA:

Rugby World Cup

I see from my schedule that I shall be in Paris on the day before one of the Quarter Final fixtures at Saint Denis but on the TGV heading south when the match is actually played.

With Scotland drawn to play both Italy and New Zealand (!) my wearing of the kilt will probably provoke expressions of amused sympathy.

I like rugby enormously, possibly because itis the only team sport I have ever played; as a schoolboy I was a useful prop forward or 'pilier' as the French call it.

The gals, however, seem to have a different perspective on the sport, as a dear friend of mine (a lady who not only loves the sport but also understands the rules in consummate detail) pointed out this morning, having read Rachel Johnson in the Sunday times...

When 30 men with herculean physiques and meaty, reddened thighs go head to head over a small patch of God’s earth, it’s a me-Tarzan you-Jane spectacle of the highest order, which is why rugby reaches parts of women that football, for all its grace and solo flights of fancy, never will.

It’s a chance to watch men who weigh 16st with the drilling horsepower of a Channel tunnel boring machine play their hearts out for their country. This year we women have the added incentive of Sébastien Chabal (photo above), the latest French rugby-player-rockstar-philosopher whose caveman appeal seems likely to reinstate the beard as a key male grooming accessory for the first time since Osama Bin Laden went into hiding six years ago.

PromQueen is back

Webisodic storytelling continues with the über-American series PromQueen from Micheal Eisner's Vuguru. Boys without shirts, girls in bikinis, cell phones in every scene, and lust in the dust of Mexico. Okay, I'm not the target demographic. But the production values are good and the narrative structure interesting.

What Chinese Motorbikes can teach us

This is about Wikinomics. I found it in MediaGuardian, read it three times and thought about it a lot.

One to watch

More about this project which WWD described as follows:

"Montage of fashion and art inspired short films... each film focuses on one designer's collection and allows viewers to consider the work in an unconventional way... not adhering to any set formula is one of the beauties of Fly."

As a former hard-core magazine junkie I am constantly delighted by the fact that I no longer need dead trees. Style.Com, the videos served up by EliteModels, the street shots of FaceHunter and TheSartorialist (both in the blogroll at the left).

Unleash your inner Gaul!

That's the rather clever tag-line for Pardon My French by CharlesTomoney. I am told by a dear friend who lives in France that it hilarious. But ordering a single title from Amazon UK means that the shipping charges to the Sandlands are higher than the cost of the book itself. So it will have to wait. But other Francophiles might want to know that the book...

...takes you through various words you need to survive, shows how and why they work, and steers you past various pitfalls and potential embarrassments of speaking French in France. This title covers various areas of everyday life from eating and drinking to travel, work and, crucially, and, swearing and sounding like a teenager. When Charles Timoney and his French wife were both made redundant in the same week they decided to try living in France for a year or so. But it wasn't easy: Charles' French O level was little help when everyone around him consistently used a wide variety of impenetrable slang and persisted in talking about things he had never heard of. Two decades and two thoroughly French children later, he decided to write the guide to French that would have saved him so many blunders and misunderstandings along the way. This is it.

Just one snarky comment directed at the publishers and their Art Departments. I posted last Wednesday about the itle which I hope will next year shoot up the best-seller lists, Petite Anglaise, which I fully expect to be as good as Kate Muir's Left Bank.

Now, guys, what's the excuse for this amazing copy-cat timidity, this trifecta of twee, this numbing naff?

Is this the only conceivable genre of visual vernacular which sells books about France? Surely not!

Weekend Doo-Wop

My excuse is an urge to test the 'upload video' tool which Blogger now offers.

The clip is the kind of content I used to watch in the very early sixties in an espresso bar on Fulham Road in London's South Kensington... Francoise Hardy, Eddie Mitchell... Hey, isn't it about time that somebody re-vitalized Doo-Wop for the noughties?

Chick lit. Not.

Okay, guys, this is the kind of book cover which makes you cringe.

However over the past year I have from time to time suggested that the PetiteAnglaise blog (link on the left) is hilarious, touching and sometimes just a bit naughty.

Catherine Sanderson is a very talented writer who happens to hail from Yorkshire but has made her home in Paris and has stories to tell.

Read the blog, guys, and the book when it's published early next year.

Chick lit. Not.

Countdown to Second Life

The countdown is of the 30 hot 'n' humid Sandlands days remaining before I enjoy my second annual visit to Cannes, to attend the MipCom television program market event.

When I return Eid Al Fitr will just be coming to an end and the busy winter season (when one can finally breathe again without feeling that you're drowning) will commence. The Dubai Motorshow, of paramount importance for the GearOne automotive television channel with which I am involved, will certainly be one of the high points.

However, I think that when I return I must finally start a serious exploration of virtuality (the realm in which the two beauties on the left exist).

The embedded video is an interesting introduction to SecondLife, the extraordinary voice-over adding a je ne sais quoi to the whole idea.

Twenty reasons not to move to Dubai

Dubai is a city caught in an identity crisis. Struggling somewhere between its desire to be a playground for the rich and its adherence to traditional Islamic roots, rests a city that lacks sufficient infrastructure to support its delusions of grandeur. Visit if you must, but leave quickly before you are sucked into its calamitous void.

Full text here.