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Saturday, 5 November 2011
Friday, 4 November 2011
AudioBoo - All The Small Things
Talking about simulated space missions and the little things in life.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Life In A Day.
On Saturday, 24th July 2010, myself and approx 80,000 other people, from across the world, took part in a very special project.
It was called Life In A Day and the project was all collated via YouTube, the video sharing website.
Many of you will already know that i have been making and posting videos onto YouTube for over 5 years now. So, when this idea was first announced, i knew that i had to take part.
The whole idea behind the Life In A Day project was for ordinary people to film themselves, or what they were doing, however mundane, on that particular day.
In total over 80,000 people took part, submitting over 4,500 hours worth of video footage. This was then edited down and made into a feature length film directed by Kevin Macdonald (Last King Of Scotland, Touching The Void) and produced by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Thelma And Louise).
The result was the worlds first crowd-sourced documentary. Something i was very pleased and proud to have played a very small part in.
Well, as i suspected, my own footage ended up on the cutting room floor. But, what did make it past the editors was some truly great video footage, all of which was then put together to make a really heartwarming 90 minute movie.
Although Life In A Day did get a cinema release, i don't think it was ever seen by many viewers. But, never fear, because the movie is being shown tonight, Thursday 3rd November, on British tv.
At 9pm this evening, Life In A Day is on the BBC2 and BBC HD channels. I've been lucky enough to see the movie, via a special screening on YouTube for contributers and can highly recommend it.
For those who cannot see it tonight, or who would like to see it again, Life In A Day can be seen on YouTube and the movie will also be available on DVD shortly.
But, that isn't the end of the story.
If you live in the UK, you can now take part in our very own version. It's called Britain In A Day and takes place on Saturday, 12th November. Although this is also being done via YouTube, where you will have to upload your own video footage. The resulting documentary will be screened by the BBC in 2012.
So, if you've got a video camera, or any device with video making potential, why not get involved?
I know we all tend to think that we lead mundane and ordinary lives, but that doesn't matter. That is a part of life and needs and deserves to be documented just as much as something special does. Of course, if you are doing something special on 12th November, you can film that too.
Just watch Life In A Day and see what the people of the world were doing on 24th, July 2010. You may well be amazed, surprised and even moved by what you see and hopefully, you'll also be inspired to get involved yourself.
Who knows, you just might end up seeing yourself on the BBC?
Happy filming.
It was called Life In A Day and the project was all collated via YouTube, the video sharing website.
Many of you will already know that i have been making and posting videos onto YouTube for over 5 years now. So, when this idea was first announced, i knew that i had to take part.
The whole idea behind the Life In A Day project was for ordinary people to film themselves, or what they were doing, however mundane, on that particular day.
In total over 80,000 people took part, submitting over 4,500 hours worth of video footage. This was then edited down and made into a feature length film directed by Kevin Macdonald (Last King Of Scotland, Touching The Void) and produced by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Thelma And Louise).
The result was the worlds first crowd-sourced documentary. Something i was very pleased and proud to have played a very small part in.
Well, as i suspected, my own footage ended up on the cutting room floor. But, what did make it past the editors was some truly great video footage, all of which was then put together to make a really heartwarming 90 minute movie.
Although Life In A Day did get a cinema release, i don't think it was ever seen by many viewers. But, never fear, because the movie is being shown tonight, Thursday 3rd November, on British tv.
At 9pm this evening, Life In A Day is on the BBC2 and BBC HD channels. I've been lucky enough to see the movie, via a special screening on YouTube for contributers and can highly recommend it.
For those who cannot see it tonight, or who would like to see it again, Life In A Day can be seen on YouTube and the movie will also be available on DVD shortly.
But, that isn't the end of the story.
If you live in the UK, you can now take part in our very own version. It's called Britain In A Day and takes place on Saturday, 12th November. Although this is also being done via YouTube, where you will have to upload your own video footage. The resulting documentary will be screened by the BBC in 2012.
So, if you've got a video camera, or any device with video making potential, why not get involved?
I know we all tend to think that we lead mundane and ordinary lives, but that doesn't matter. That is a part of life and needs and deserves to be documented just as much as something special does. Of course, if you are doing something special on 12th November, you can film that too.
Just watch Life In A Day and see what the people of the world were doing on 24th, July 2010. You may well be amazed, surprised and even moved by what you see and hopefully, you'll also be inspired to get involved yourself.
Who knows, you just might end up seeing yourself on the BBC?
Happy filming.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
What Are You Doing This November?
Well, the nights are drawing in, the clocks have gone back and all pretence of Summer has disappeared down to the southern hemisphere.
November has well and truly arrived.
So, what are you planning to do this November?
A quick trawl around the Internet can give you some very interesting ideas and suggestions:
1 - Movember Why not grow a moustache and help support mens' health? I've heard this mentioned on a radio station that i listen to, where the male DJ's are all supporting this worthy cause and growing moustache's during November.
2 - NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month. Although i think this is primarily something that happens in the USA, i know of people in the UK who are taking part. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel during November. In 2010 there were over 200,000 known participants! That's pretty impressive.
3 - NaPodPoMo National Podcast Post Month. As above, but the challenge being to record and post a podcast for every day of November. This is in its 5th year in 2011.
These are just some of the ideas around and i'm sure there are plenty more where they came from.
I know that these kind of challenges happen throughout the year. But, November seems to be the month when more come together than at any other time. So, why might that be?
My own theory would be that, as i said at the beginning of this post, the clocks have changed, the nights are drawing in and the outdoor life just isn't as attractive as during other warmer months.
There is also a little bit of a lull between the festivities of Halloween and the coming of the festive season. (I refuse to use the "C" word this early on in the year, unlike some others)
Whatever the reason, it's always good to challenge yourself in some way and the ideas above are all good and productive ways of doing so.
I have participated in challenges of this type before, although not for a whole month. This has been on YouTube, where various people in the past have challenged video makers to make videos every day for a certain length of time, usually a week.
Although i have always enjoyed this kind of challenge, i have never taken them very seriously. Partly because i've always viewed video making as a bit of fun and don't like to think of it as work, of any kind.
Maybe this is why i've never taken part in NaNoWriMo, or NaPodPoMo and frankly i'm really not sure a moustache is a good idea for me!
But, this November i've decided to at least try and do my own version of the above challenges. I do promise that no moustache will be grown, in the interests of public decency.
Being me though, i intend to do it my way and try and produce some form of content for every day of November. This might be a blog post here, a video on YouTube, a podcast on AudioBoo, or even a blog post for a private forum i'm involved with. Except for the private forum content, all will be posted here in some form.
But, also being me, i reserve the right to miss days, or just give up at any time i choose.
Well, why change the habit of a lifetime eh?
November has well and truly arrived.
So, what are you planning to do this November?
A quick trawl around the Internet can give you some very interesting ideas and suggestions:
1 - Movember Why not grow a moustache and help support mens' health? I've heard this mentioned on a radio station that i listen to, where the male DJ's are all supporting this worthy cause and growing moustache's during November.
2 - NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month. Although i think this is primarily something that happens in the USA, i know of people in the UK who are taking part. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel during November. In 2010 there were over 200,000 known participants! That's pretty impressive.
3 - NaPodPoMo National Podcast Post Month. As above, but the challenge being to record and post a podcast for every day of November. This is in its 5th year in 2011.
These are just some of the ideas around and i'm sure there are plenty more where they came from.
I know that these kind of challenges happen throughout the year. But, November seems to be the month when more come together than at any other time. So, why might that be?
My own theory would be that, as i said at the beginning of this post, the clocks have changed, the nights are drawing in and the outdoor life just isn't as attractive as during other warmer months.
There is also a little bit of a lull between the festivities of Halloween and the coming of the festive season. (I refuse to use the "C" word this early on in the year, unlike some others)
Whatever the reason, it's always good to challenge yourself in some way and the ideas above are all good and productive ways of doing so.
I have participated in challenges of this type before, although not for a whole month. This has been on YouTube, where various people in the past have challenged video makers to make videos every day for a certain length of time, usually a week.
Although i have always enjoyed this kind of challenge, i have never taken them very seriously. Partly because i've always viewed video making as a bit of fun and don't like to think of it as work, of any kind.
Maybe this is why i've never taken part in NaNoWriMo, or NaPodPoMo and frankly i'm really not sure a moustache is a good idea for me!
But, this November i've decided to at least try and do my own version of the above challenges. I do promise that no moustache will be grown, in the interests of public decency.
Being me though, i intend to do it my way and try and produce some form of content for every day of November. This might be a blog post here, a video on YouTube, a podcast on AudioBoo, or even a blog post for a private forum i'm involved with. Except for the private forum content, all will be posted here in some form.
But, also being me, i reserve the right to miss days, or just give up at any time i choose.
Well, why change the habit of a lifetime eh?
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
The Digital Long Tail.
Like many people interested in music business in the UK, i listened to the lecture given by Pete Towshend, of The Who, yesterday. It has certainly caused a bit of a fuss in the media, with its seeming attack on Apple, iTunes and digital music services.
Whilst i do tend to agree with Pete Townshend on his views about modern record companies and the idea that digital music providers could and maybe should do more to help new music. It made me think of another aspect of this.
Pete Townshend himself referred to the idea of the Long Tail in his lecture. But, i'm not sure he thought that digital music provision and the Long Tail idea could actually help provide some much needed income for musicians in the future?
In the traditional music business, albums were recorded and then released by record companies on vinyl, or more recently on CD. This meant that the CD's etc had to be physically produced, packaged, packed and then distributed to record shops, or outlets across the world. This, as you can imagine, is a costly business and the distribution companies would take a cut of the cost price for their services.
When a group split up, or stopped recording, there would usually come a time, especially for lesser known artists, when those original recordings would be deleted from the record company catalogue and would therefore be no longer available to any potential customer. Either via the record company themselves, or in record stores.
How often have you discovered a band, or artist, only to find out that they're no longer around and their CD no longer available?
This happened to me only the other day. The band in question, The Aeroplanes released their one and only album, 'Black Hearts And Maladies', back in 2008. Unfortunately, the band split up in 2010. Meaning that i never got the chance to see them live, except on YouTube. A fact that ties in very nicely with the whole point of this blog post.
How i found them is another story. But when i went to try and buy that album, the only place i could buy it was, rather ironically, on iTunes. The physical CD couldn't be found anywhere, except secondhand. It's possibly that with a lot of searching i may have come across it, but who does that kind of thing these days eh?
So, and i'm sure you're ahead of me here, in the old days i wouldn't have been able to listen to, watch, or buy The Aeroplanes music. The digital revolution has enabled me to buy the music and give a little bit of money to the songwriters and members of that band. Money they would not have got otherwise.
It may well only be a small amount of money. But, that is exactly the whole idea behind the Long Tail theory. Small amounts add up to something bigger.
Especially, as that money would not have been forthcoming in the pre-Internet age.
I'm not suggesting that the Internet and digital music in general is good for everybody, because is quite obviously isn't. But, for The Aeroplanes at least, it has helped them to gain one new fan, some much needed royalties and it's also given me a favourite new band.
Sounds good to me.
Whilst i do tend to agree with Pete Townshend on his views about modern record companies and the idea that digital music providers could and maybe should do more to help new music. It made me think of another aspect of this.
Pete Townshend himself referred to the idea of the Long Tail in his lecture. But, i'm not sure he thought that digital music provision and the Long Tail idea could actually help provide some much needed income for musicians in the future?
In the traditional music business, albums were recorded and then released by record companies on vinyl, or more recently on CD. This meant that the CD's etc had to be physically produced, packaged, packed and then distributed to record shops, or outlets across the world. This, as you can imagine, is a costly business and the distribution companies would take a cut of the cost price for their services.
When a group split up, or stopped recording, there would usually come a time, especially for lesser known artists, when those original recordings would be deleted from the record company catalogue and would therefore be no longer available to any potential customer. Either via the record company themselves, or in record stores.
How often have you discovered a band, or artist, only to find out that they're no longer around and their CD no longer available?
This happened to me only the other day. The band in question, The Aeroplanes released their one and only album, 'Black Hearts And Maladies', back in 2008. Unfortunately, the band split up in 2010. Meaning that i never got the chance to see them live, except on YouTube. A fact that ties in very nicely with the whole point of this blog post.
How i found them is another story. But when i went to try and buy that album, the only place i could buy it was, rather ironically, on iTunes. The physical CD couldn't be found anywhere, except secondhand. It's possibly that with a lot of searching i may have come across it, but who does that kind of thing these days eh?
So, and i'm sure you're ahead of me here, in the old days i wouldn't have been able to listen to, watch, or buy The Aeroplanes music. The digital revolution has enabled me to buy the music and give a little bit of money to the songwriters and members of that band. Money they would not have got otherwise.
It may well only be a small amount of money. But, that is exactly the whole idea behind the Long Tail theory. Small amounts add up to something bigger.
Especially, as that money would not have been forthcoming in the pre-Internet age.
I'm not suggesting that the Internet and digital music in general is good for everybody, because is quite obviously isn't. But, for The Aeroplanes at least, it has helped them to gain one new fan, some much needed royalties and it's also given me a favourite new band.
Sounds good to me.
Monday, 31 October 2011
The Work Family
Another video inspired by a Twitter conversation.
How on earth did we ever manage before?
In case you didn't see it, here's a link to the video i mentioned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO5AAkSUDjg
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
If You Don't Do It, Who Will?
"Any picture we don't make, will not be made by somebody else."
Here's a link to the blog post i mentioned:
http://www.screwworkletsplay.com/2011/09/if-you-dont-do-it-no-one-else-will/
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