One of my favorite movies is Up in the Air, George Clooney (Ryan) is the star and his character travels 300 + days a year. He is intent on hitting platinum status or 20 million miles. The day he finally reaches the goal, he has a surprise visit from the chief pilot:

I don't know what to say about any awards, because I don't expect to receive them for doing my job. My job is to continue to educate and mentor our kids so they can be prepared for the workforce and life.

 

This is my weekly video blog as I chronicle my first year as a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools.  I will be teaching Interactive Media Production at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts.

My weekly video blog as I make a career transition as a teacher. Thanks to Paula Sanders Morris and LaFese Davis who gave me practical advice on lesson plans. 

Video Blog July 12th as I switch careers and start my first year as a classroom media production teacher.

 

College Professor, DP, and the hard worker. Like myself. Let's get it!

I was in California at the Society of Adventist Communicators Conference and we took students to see media giant, Tavis Smiley.  He was a very humble man that you can tell is grounded and comforable within in "own" skin.  Here is an excerpt from a longer video I will post from our time with him.  He talks about good opportunity, bad timing.

One of my favorite books is by author Jim Collins "From Good to Great."  It talks about the ascensions of various companies and how good is really the enemy of great. I found an interesting article in Wired Magazine entitled "The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine" The author states:

What has happened with the MP3 format and other Good Enough technologies is that the qualities we value have simply changed. And the change is so profound that the old measures have almost lost their meaning. Call it the MP3 effect.

I don't have a lot of experience in media production, a position I currently have at my  job at Baltimore City Public Schools Channel 77, and  one could argue I have my job because I am "good enough." I am currently managing staff and working people who have produced broadcast television shows, magazine shows and more. I know that the media landscape has changed and I was fortunate to embrace and get on board the "You Tube" train early (actually I joined You Tube in 2006)   when others wrote it off.  Now news full-length shows and any video you are looking for is probably hosted on the site. Yes, sites like Vimeo do a better job with video quality and features, but you can make a good argument that You Tube is "good enough." I am a big believer in the fact that your  perception shapes your reality. I used to get so upset when I lost numerous bids/contracts to people who were just "good enough" and not great. But then I realized that I had to change my focus.  In 2002, I did an initial web site for my church when the web  when many churches didn't have web sites, but web pages and it took off. I started to get calls  and requests constantly for church/non-profit work.  I made no money off my church site, but that was the launching point into my business and the beginnings of a vast amount of client work. The key was I had to "show" my work and that I knew what I was talking about. You can be the best web designer/editor/graphic design, but if you don't have an up to date portfolio you won't get that much work.  I had to rely on a lot of "free" early in my career to get the larger contracts. I jumped in  heavily to video production  because of videos I worked on for Praizevision.com. and the web. I  got into citizen journalism from Amani Channel at My Urban Report.com. I even created little series called Chip's Flip on Facebook. New media is here to stay. I can talk about all types of cameras and higher end stuff but when it comes down to it--folks want it fast and easy. I am not saying that it is the best, but I own a professional camera and a Flip and I probably pull my Flip out more because it is easier to manage for a quick shot. There is a good point made by another blogger about the Myth of Quality.

If you build a good product, and improve feature X on it in some way, then it must be a better product. And everyone who sees the new model with better X will recognize it. So they have 2 choices: buy the new better one for more money, or accept an inferior product (the old/cheap one) with the rationale that it's more affordable.

One of my most popular blog posts and on  YouTube is the work flow I use for the Flip Camera and Final Cut Pro. I had NO idea how popular it was until the comments started pouring in. If you google "Final Cut Pro Flip Camera" my blog post is the 2nd link that comes up (as of this writing). I think that editors/producers  need to be nimble and know that you may be asked to edit Flip Footage use an mp3 instead of a wav file for your recording or some other footage that is not as "high quality."  I am not advocating lowering standards--we all need to  do our work with excellence and charge a fair price for it, but know that you are competing against people like Scott Simmons points out so eloquently in his blog that "It’s not uncommon to see compression and motion artifacts, bad color correction and questionable lip sync that is “good enough” today but wouldn’t have been acceptable 5 or 10 years ago." As for Flip Cameras, the CEO of Pure Digital explains why he feels that his product has been widely successful:

When asked why he thinks the Flip has succeeded where more powerful videocams—and even new Flip knockoffs from the likes of Sony—have failed, Pure Digital's Fleming-Wood has an interesting answer: "I think it's because we have a better product." What's odd is that executives at Sony and Canon would likely say the same thing—after all, their models have far more features and often produce sharper images. But Fleming-Wood is using a different definition of "better." He now defines quality entirely in terms of ease of use—how easy it is to shoot and share the video. "The one thing everyone wants to do with their footage is show it to someone else," he says.

I am still new to the media production, but if you look at my friend Amani Channel who has worked in mainstream media and now a successful blogger he has an excellent short video  about the state of journalism.

You couldn't have paid me enough and told me  five years ago that  I would have an official press credentials at the Inauguration of President Obama and at a campaign stop, bloggers were not respected years ago like they are now.    I guess most will settle with good enough, and it may get you in the door, but being great is what is going to keep you around for the long haul and that is my goal.