Actually today in the Star was an article describing how Videography was going to be considered as another way to document a funeral.  This makes perfect sense to me as I pitched this idea to funeral homes a little too soon a number of years ago. The reaction I got was bewildered funeral directors not really getting it or even considering how to include Video Production for a Funeral.

Ah the power of the Media.  The idea of documenting your life and death, archiving your self is more available than ever. Instead of leaving a bunch of old photos in a scrap book, and a bunch of old movies on super 8 reels, you interview the elder, get the wisdom, add photographs and put together an edited piece for archival purposes. For the great grandchildren and generations to come. Certainly you can do a series of these vignettes for now and for posterity. The other thing that comes to mind is when I first saw the Super Man Movie starring Margo Kidder and Christopher Reeve in 1978, Super Man received his family messages through the crystals. The parents would appear almost ethereal and talk to him in a projected vision relaying their messages to their son. What an inventive idea I thought. That was way before this digital technology was available.

Who knew! Only 30 years later Videography, photography and editing would be so advanced as to make monumental changes in the way we see ourselves and the world.

I am listening to Leonard Cohen- “THE FUTURE” the Album was recorded a decade ago and he was singing about the future being Murder and when I first heard that song years ago it frightened me and unfortunately he got it right. A scary prediction of what now is so close to us all because of the information we are privy to getting through all the various endless platforms. Recently on CNN I saw the usage of an interview seen on SKYPE in their studios from Haiti. It feels like the entire world is going to Hell!  We need humor, Joy and peace and serious amount of hope. I think sometimes I really liked being ignorant of world news in retrospect. Now there is no excuse for not being informed. On the other hand it’s a wonderful thing to be able to work in all these various video and audio platforms.

Just the other night I was talking on SKYPE to a couple of musicians I have shot video and still photographs for. Both musicians were in different locations within NYC and yet we could all communicate with this conference call!

It was free and clear as a bell! Not possible a few years ago. So like the first time I printed a photograph and watched the image come up on a print in the developer I remained awed by the possibilities.

With everyone shooting video and photographs it seems that there is no room for the guy who actually has spent his life learning how to see, and ultimately learning all the new technology using the new tools, digital video, digital photography, and a wide variety of adobe tools on the computer.

Obviously shooting both video and photography well is and always will be an art-form especially in the hands of a poet.

Over the Christmas holidays I was invited to partake in the international HELP PORTRAIT program.  I found out about it via an email sent from CAPIC. In stead of shooting stills, I chose to shoot and edit a video of the event and put it out there for the Help Portrait website and for the Capic website (Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators)

I loved being a part of the project as a videographer in this significant way.

Juri Doic, Struan, Tracey Cox, and Craig Samuel were just a few of the photographers who gave up their Saturday to shoot portraits for those who could never afford a portrait by a famous/international photographer.

I approached, shooting the video, the same way as when I worked at Bravo! Cover the story, get interviews/testimonials and show the fun of it. I edited the story on Sunday. Canada AM was going to do a story on the effort in Toronto for Help Portraits.  John Bebe, photographer and organizer of this project was being interviewed.   Although I rushed over to the station off the 401 & McGowan, a 1 hour drive through lousy weather, and made it in time for them to transfer tape, the effort they put into the piece was disappointing. They did not use the video footage I lent them and for the 5 minutes John was on TV it seemed hardly worth it for him to get up at 5 am to make it down to the station for the interview at 7 am

Meanwhile CBC did a great television piece, a couple of weeks later on the project.

The point is that by covering Help Portrait, there is now the beginning of an archive on this project from Toronto. It was quickly passed around on the various platforms available. There were loads of positive comments. This was a very good example of using the social networks and media available to quickly get a message out. This project was on fire for a few weeks during the Christmas holidays. Thousands of people were a part of this globally. Although I thought the CTV story was lame

(They were not actually there) the message and info was available and seen by thousands of people prior and during the project via internet and email.

This was social networking working big time. The good will undertaken this year by thousands of photographers, informed thousands more of this project and not via Television. Television secured stories after the event and sometimes fell on their face doing so as I described with the Canada am piece. Thousands of people found out on line.

Welcome to the new world.

I have been considering the absolutes of the here and now of video solutions in this, the digital age. People are catching on that this is the way of the world now. The first people who get it are the media, television networks, radio stations and the newspapers. They have been working it for years, introducing cutting edge websites and constantly updating their information, especially the daily news; increasing their viewership 10 fold with live video from their broadcasts, seen on their websites. If you’re media savvy you will never miss a thing. Radio is now merging into this video visual digital age by recording and showing the public the live shows online. I think Howard Stern was the very first to do that, taping his outrageous shows so the world could see what he was talking about on radio. The opportunities are enormous to use video with radio to expand your markets. By now you realize that you can get an answer in seconds on anything you can think of, by going to your computer and Googling the topic. In addition you can click into any number of global media sources and get visual and audio info on what’s happening with the increasing frequency of Video implemented into the websites.

All of this is a confirmation that we are presently experiencing a zenith of Video Marketing expansion. We are all still working the process but I am sure this is here to stay and this will only get more sophisticated and broaden our horizons as the cameras and websites get better. I read somewhere that by 2012 there will be 6 billion people on line.

Taffi Rosen,

I am Camera

I worked for Bravo! Television Network through out the 90’s

Prior to that position as a videographer (part producer/ part camera person) I had honed my visual acuity in still photographs.

When I went into the Television arena my entire world opened up, as the essence of Television is the latest and greatest being reported and captured. Now, I was in a position to give my point of view in moving pictures.

At last I understood the meaning of The Establishment, who were the prominent people in the arts, and especially in Canada. I traveled extensively, out of the country at least one week of every month, capturing the arts in motion. What an amazing gig. I found that celebrities who were very accomplished, very generous in their interviews. I began to ruminate over these experiences realizing that this sojourn into promotion and story telling with a video camera is truly an art in itself. The last stage of the production, editing, takes prominence in shaping the story. Just as there are dozens of ways to photograph a portrait, the finale is in the mind of the editor who can influence the outcome of captured video or film. For the best results it takes wit, savvy know how, and discernment.

For the past 8 years I have been polishing my skills as an editor. I honestly believe that everything in life needs to be edited in order to get to the essence and clarity of a thing.

The approach to video and editing is to linger on an idea (if it works) and cut when the essence has been said. There is much more to it. Not to underestimate the internal dialogue that the editor is going through as he/she decides how to enhance an idea, and improve the story telling. I think a lot of  thedecision making has to do with the audience. What is your demographic? Who is this for? Something for an MTV crowd is going to differ from a 50 plus age group. With that in mind, both the pre production and the production including the editing can be crystallized.