Post-VON07 reality check…paycheck that is.
March 28, 2007
Still in the post-VON afterglow..it’s back to the day-job. I have what most folks would consider a pretty exciting job. Here I am in the Presidential motorcade as the “in town travel pool” camera - a rather grim effort by networks to have a camera trained “just in case”. If he’s moving, our cameras are rolling.
I’ve travelled all over the world covering Presidents and other high-ranking government officials as they shape world affairs. What these people say to the world counts, and at the end of the day, they still go through my and my colleagues cameras to get the message out. It’s pretty heady, sometimes even dangerous stuff. Here’s a little video appetizer look into part of my day-job world.
A look into the sausage factory of old media TV news coverage from the cameraman’s perspective. This webisode we look at a day in the life of the White House press corps.
The trouble is, for all the risk and sacrifice, big media companies are are no longer in a position to adequately compensate the worker-bees (read: PHOTOGS, AUDIO FOLKS, EDITORS, ETC.) As I tell anyone of my colleagues and contemporaries who’ll listen… THE GAME IS OVER.
At VON07, iVillage SVP Ezra Kucharz pitched a slide deck that featured the theme of the “armchair media mogul”…and if I am to believe there is an industry wide $20 CPM potential cap on video content, not to mention an elaborate spreadsheet formula charting audience v. cost-of-production, then yes “armchair” is an apt description. But I prefer the term “micro media mogul”. I think companies like Blip see the potential beyond some artificial ad sales cap, and can leverege niche-market audience beyond traditional CPM models. In my VON07 recap video, Blip CEO Dina Kaplan fleshes that idea out. Can we start a meme here?? Can someone vastly more influential than myself get this “Micro Media Mogul” meme out there??? Scoble, Chapman, Pulver, Brogan, Jarvis, Abraham…anyone??
Also out at VON a freelance network news cameraman who was taping a Jeff Jarvis’ presentation became FURIOUS at the theme of Jeff’s spiel. Jeff was essentially selling the “you don’t need big fancy cameras…etc. etc. Which is cool… I dig ya bro! But, here’s this poor guy who feeds his family by being a professional cameraman, hearing the revolution for the first time. The revolution isn’t going to stop because it makes us upset. I say this to those working in the salt mines of traditional media: Who better to fuel the revolution than the people who have devoted their adult lives to slingin’ cameras? If companies can’t/won’t reward initiative, creativity and skill, I truly believe the market will. Jump in… the water’s nice!
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Posted in IPTV, VON07, VON2007, disruptive media, journalism, new media, old media, small tv, video blogging
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April 4th, 2007 at 11:13 am
thanks for the peek into your world. I think I would love that kind of job.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
It’s a scary prospect, this revolution. I’m on both sides of it. I want to be compensated well for my work as a cameraman, but no one wants to pay for it anymore. And with all these new people coming in and throwing their hats into the new media bucket, it makes it that much harder for us to do so. So the question is, how do we still make our livings if everyone wants content for free? And what about those of us who do this professionally? Do we just give away our talent and skill for free?
For someone like me, at the beginning of my professional cameraman career, that’s a scary thought.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
I really enjoy your videos and audio commentaries. For some reason I missed this video before. Glad I caught the link for it on Twitter. Great job as aways!
November 17th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Hi Jim, as a freelance video editor, AVID and FCP, i see more and more of this happening. All the time I get professional cameramen asking me questions on how to use FCP, how to edit, where to find stock footage, etc. I do find it infuriating especially when they ask me at a freelance gig where i am trying to hold my ground. I say “I don’t ask you how to use a Betacam and your custom setups do i? “. But i understand, everyone has to wear all the hats to survive, old media or Series, or Corporate work.
Hey who needs a sound guy when i can buy a $500 lav and use it with my $4000 HDV? or $6000 Panasonic DVCHDPRO?
Producers whom i used to freelance for at big studios are now doing everything for themselves, some were reluctant to reflect the savings back to the client at first.
I meet people everywhere in Toronto that used to be in the production business, Film, and TV and it’s not just because of the rising canadian dollar, governments on both sides of the borders are allowing these huge media companies to monopolize markets, eliminate jobs, and spew the same corporatized message thru all mediums, internet, tv, radio. The only place people can get accurate news is outside those boxes ?
Social media will grow with exponential proportions in a tough market further squeezing the bottom line, but also encouraging new forms of production, and new markets. What they are and how they will pay are not set in stone.
Keep up the great work Jim !
November 12th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
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November 21st, 2008 at 6:52 am
hi
i am interested new tecnologes for camera equpment…plz advice me new -new technologes
thanx
with regards
surendra cameraperson