We are in Utrecht, Netherlands, this week, working with RTV, the Dutch state broadcaster – a kind of Dutch BBC. We have been working with RTV for the past 3 years, and visits to the Netherlands are a regular stop on our agenda. This week, in Utrecht, we are reaching a kind of conclusion here.
Senior VJ Instructor Tim French conducts the RTV/Utrecht bootcamp
We will be running a 2-week, on-site bootcamp where another 20 VJs and managers are being trained. This will give the Utrecht station 40+ cameras in play every day 40+ edits and a management team fully trained to deal with the VJ-driven revolution.
Between last week’s Sweden series and this week in the Netherlands, I am again astonished at how much more progressive Europeans are in adapting and incorporating new technologies into their ways of working; and how much faster they are to change and adapt.
As Mark Twain wrote, ‘I’m all for progress, its change I don’t like’.
Of course, the VJ/Digital revolution engenders enormous change. There are enormous benefits at the end of the day , especially in a world in which a website must be fed video 24/7. Both the Dutch and the Swedes eagerly embrace the change and have been quick to adapt the new technologies and techniques. What a stark contrast this is to US based local news stations which have to be dragged to this kicking and screaming.
This inherent fear of the new and of change probably does not bode well for an America which will soon find itself competing with both China and India on a world stage. Those who both fear and resist new technologies are probably not long for the competitive world.
2 Comments
rosenblumtv March 19, 2007
It’s the Netherlands, man. Very very laid back.
invitedmedia March 19, 2007
pictures are often funny.
take a look at that young lady seated near the right.
looks like she’s doing one of them “bong hits for jesus”.