The analogy between video and the automobile is pretty concise, espicially with regard to technology and percieved values. This is in no way to debase or demote any of your expiriences, this is my expiriences in my part of the states and the time as your of expiriences.
When I was 17 I bought my first american car in 1973 after a string of volkwagon bugs, that I had grown tied of fixing and replacing engines and going slow!! 55horsepower just didn’t cut it!
First the environment, when you left the small town city limits I lived in, the state had posted a sign. Not one of a speed limit to be observed , But one not to be observed!
Yes it said END OF SPEED LIMIT DRIVE WITH CARE!
As long as you weren’t driving recklessly and had good tires you could blow by a state trooper at 100mph plus and all he would shake his head! Horse power nirvana! ONLY IN THE UNITED STATES!! Ok maybe The Autobahn
I bought a low mileage 1970 Mercury Marauder for 600$ it had a 429 v8 with 360 hp! It also weighed 4200 pounds A Land Yacht for sure! But a FAST Yacht! It took about 13 seconds to get to 100mph, And I wasn’t the fastest in town!
And I didn’t work on it, because nothing broke except tire replacement. I never did have any problems.
Ok OK See there was this chicken farmer in Texas, that had this idea of taking an engine very similiar as in my car and putting it in a cute little English automobile by the name of an ACE that had somewhat credible handling but not much of a following of paying patrons. I’m sure the word HYBRID is something used to define a new type of economical automobile these days, Here is the original non economical version! American engine and transmission and the rest English. An Average american engine in a family type vehicle, put an an average english sports car.
A over the top CAR! A BEAST! A 427 AC Shelby Cobra 300plus were made. You could buy one for about 6700$ Kick as@##$ Bill Cosby the comedian and actor bought one and later sold it because it was such a brutal machine! In fact he did story on one of his comedy records about it. Its called 200MPH SIDEWAYS!
Since then the hybrid thing with the american engine and the english body has continued. Jags with GM engines are very popular and easy to maintain.
I have a 2004 3 series BMW convertible and plan on putting a small GM v8 and avoid the high cost of a Factory tech. And I’ll have 3 times the horsepower and the car will lighter because of the all aluminium engine.
This hybrid thing can be applied to VJ also. You can take the best/average from where in the world, and find a better FIT in another area never considered before. I know that GPS has been included in still photography. BUt I just heard that a company is including GPS in a camcorder. So what you say? BY using the thumbnail coordinates as a automatic filing and validation system. You avoid that age old question.
Where did you shoot this?
Oh and as far as lasting? The record price for a 427 Cobra SC owned by Shellby is 5.6 Million $$!
Norm PotterNovember 15, 2008
A British mechanic I knew said the unions killed the British car companies.
Sacha van StratenNovember 10, 2008
My dad, who lives in France, recently bought an old but beautifully preserved LHD Jag XJS. Black body, whie leather trim, it looks the business. He bought it for sentimental reasons, and takes it out every so often, when the sun shines, and it brings a smile to the face of an older gentleman.
And that, I suppose, is how I feel on the odd occasion when I buy a local newspaper. I do it because there is an intrinsic pleasure in holding a publication. When I go to London I pick up the free newspapers for the same reason, and because getting a WiFi or mobile signal on an underground train just doesn’t happen here – unlike in Paris.
I agree with the other posters who have pointed to the takeup of online newspapers. I read those daily, because it suits how I work, I don’t have to pay, and I like multimedia content.
I’m not convinced local papers will survive in the UK in print, and I imagine they’ll migrate to online sooner rather than later.
As for the nationals, well, I like to buy print from time to time, because I find it easier to digest longer form content in a print format.
Experts do say a mixed diet is the best, don’t they?
rosenblumtvNovember 09, 2008
Oh man.. I DREAM of getting an e-type.
I would love to buy a convert with rt hand drive here in the UK and bring it back to NY, I am just terrified of the repairs.
tdcNovember 09, 2008
4-xke’s (2+2 and convert, all 1969), 1-xjs 12 cylinder, 1975 (sold via hemmings motor news to some guy in south africa. yes, the car was that nice! ) and over 30 vw beetles (ranging from ’56 to ’79).
rebuilt s-u side draft carbs like tieing shoes. lucas electric wiz. back then jc whitney even sold fairly decent quality resonator sets (mufflers) for the xke’s!
those were the days.
never got 1/2 the amount of tail i did when driving any of the jags, but a 1968 powder blue beetle with the dreaded auto-stick (and hand crank sunroof) was the most dependable of them all. adjust your valve lash every month!!!
pencilgodNovember 08, 2008
I had a Triumph TC 2000. Actually a very good car. I travelled all over New Zealand in comfort and speed for 5 years. I loved that car. Then one day I stopped for petrol and the forecourt attendant said “can I check your oil?â€
I’m not sure if she was incompetent or just trying to rip me off by selling me oil I didn’t need but she overfilled the oil and a week on the oil gaskets exploded and my poor car was never the same.
I guess what I learned from that is it doesn’t matter how much of a good thing you have there is always someone who can ruin it with too much of the good oil.
NinoNovember 08, 2008
Cliff, still where I left you, how long has it been? Two years that I know that you’ve been saying the same things over and over and over. By now your work must be displayed all over the place. Care to share some of you successes? I haven’t seen any of your blog but I know how you don’t like to show off.
Cliff EtzelNovember 08, 2008
The recent articles on American Journalism Review begins to shed the light on the paradigm shift around branding and then the shifting of that brand to a new business model.
The article “The Transformation of NPR” speaks about how their branding (audio) is being transformed to utilize their core competency and adding audio slideshows as an additional story telling element – the article goes in depth into how NPR is rebranding itself.
The move by The Christian Science Monitor is another major shift within the industry – making the move to online only by April 2009 with a printed Sunday magazine – that is again, a major “Whoa” since they have some of the finest writing and photography available.
A smaller, less frequently published version packed with analysis and investigative reporting and aimed at well-educated news junkies that may well be a smart survival strategy for the beleaguered old print product.
Although less frequently published is a step in the right direction, the reality is that as the older generation is replaced with the Gen X and Y population, one that is more accustomed to digital delivery of content, devices will replace the printed publication – it’s an eventuality. When companies like Amazon offer the Kindle as a device for not only reading books, but electronic editions of major magazines like Time, etc, that is the future of publishing. The move by Adobe to make Flash video the defacto delivery format for visual content and ads on all devices is also a key indicator of digital delivery being the future.
The notion that video is somehow to be left to the gatekeepers is a fallacy – the quality of content being produced by newspaper shooters is growing, some of the finest work I have seen so far has been produced by the so called wannabe’s shooting with consumer grade cameras. The same worn out drivel by the same ol detractors is the same as reading the trolls on various social networking/news sites (Huffington Post is but one example) – they come along just to stir up the hornets nest and in reality have nothing to contribute in a positive way – instead they banter their dogma hoping to cause divisiveness in the process.
How money is to be made with digital content delivery is still the golden fleece that has yet to be found – but to rant that people like Michael, David Dunkley-Gyimah and others who don’t hold to the dogma of b-roll is outdated.
With the opening by the FCC of the white space broadcast spectrum is going to open the airwaves in a way that the GOB broadcasters fear – they will no longer have a hold of the airwaves – digital content delivery via wireless net connectivity is beginning to remove the stodgy MSM’s hold on the viewing public.
“Now Go Away Or I Will Taunt You A Second Time”
NinoNovember 08, 2008
Take a break Michael, you are again comparing apples to broccoli. The downfall of British import cars that included the Triumph, MG, Austin and I believe was the Rover sedan wasn’t because of progress, it was bad engineering. A poorly designed products that could not keep up with car manufactured in the US or Japan, actually Japanese cars were not very good back then either. Even Jaguar was a disaster back then and wasn’t until I believe it was bought by Ford that made a successful come back in the US. Add to the mix Italian’s Fiat and Alfa Romeo as well as all the French manufactured cars, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, they all failed in this country because of poor engineering and high maintenance and repairs costs. The main failing cause however was the mandatory emission requirement imposed by the US and unheard in other countries, none of the imports could meet the clean air requirements and their engineers were not able to create an emission system and still maintain a reasonable price.
What all this analogy of your have to do with has to do with newspapers remains a mystery. Newspaper are victim of progress not poor engineering, they have an excellent product but are victim of a natural course of progress, just like photographic film and papers. Their only fault is not to move into the web earlier but they are not doomed like you would like to make believe, according to Nielsen newspaper are getting some of the highest traffic on the web
“Record Audiences to Newspaper Web Sites
According to a custom analysis by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper web sites attracted more than 68.3 million unique visitors on average (41.4% of all Internet users) in the third quarter of 2008, a record number that reflects a 15.8% increase over the same period a year ago,
In addition, newspaper Web site visitors generated an average of just over 3.5 billion page views per month throughout the quarter, an increase of 25.2% over the same period a year ago (2.8 billion page views). These figures are the highest for any quarter since NAA began tracking the data in 2004.
NAA President and CEO, John F. Sturm, said “… record audiences are trusting newspaper Web sites for comprehensive, up-to-the-minute reporting and analysis on the events that impact their lives… newspapers are the top local brands that readers turn to for information… (to) help (with) challenging issues… ”
The third quarter also set records for active reach percentage (the percentage of active Internet users that visit newspapers on an average month), page views, pages per person, time per person and visits per person.
Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of Audience and New Business Development, concludes that “The dramatic increase in page views suggests users are visiting newspaper Web sites frequently throughout the day.”
Source: Nielsen Online Custom Analysisâ€
Their problem is how to convert this success into money, and isn’t going to happen by teaching the public how to become VJ as per one of your suggestion in your previous video you.
One of the biggest mistakes that a newspaper can do is waste their valuable resources into making cheap videos, as it had already been proven to be a failure.
They must continue to inform and educate the public with in depth issue of event that will impact the readers, not wasting their resources with insignificant and useless videos.
Multi media capability of the web is not video only, is a lot more than that.
robpatrobNovember 08, 2008
Aaaah I had an Austin Healy 3000. Also Racing Green. When it went – fabulous. But F***ing Lucas – known by the way as the Prince of Darkness – any dampness – would not start. I got to longing for a VW Beetle that I knew would start when I turned the key.
Expanding on your point – Growing up in England just after the war, the sense of end of empire was palpable.
All great things have a life cycle
$November 08, 2008
Very funny.
Your preference is decided over quality of the product.
Not over how cheaply something can be made.
That’s why GM and Ford are where they are today!
They thought just like you!
Why build for quality?
Just build “good enough”!
As has now been proven, again, that kind of thinking fails.
The Germans have always built with one thing in mind.
Long term quality.
The Brits never built a reliable car.
Never.
I must admit, like you, I once owned a Triumph, but an old Spitfire, and had many similar experiences to what you did with yours.
11 Comments
Duane February 01, 2009
The analogy between video and the automobile is pretty concise, espicially with regard to technology and percieved values. This is in no way to debase or demote any of your expiriences, this is my expiriences in my part of the states and the time as your of expiriences.
When I was 17 I bought my first american car in 1973 after a string of volkwagon bugs, that I had grown tied of fixing and replacing engines and going slow!! 55horsepower just didn’t cut it!
First the environment, when you left the small town city limits I lived in, the state had posted a sign. Not one of a speed limit to be observed , But one not to be observed!
Yes it said END OF SPEED LIMIT DRIVE WITH CARE!
As long as you weren’t driving recklessly and had good tires you could blow by a state trooper at 100mph plus and all he would shake his head! Horse power nirvana! ONLY IN THE UNITED STATES!! Ok maybe The Autobahn
I bought a low mileage 1970 Mercury Marauder for 600$ it had a 429 v8 with 360 hp! It also weighed 4200 pounds A Land Yacht for sure! But a FAST Yacht! It took about 13 seconds to get to 100mph, And I wasn’t the fastest in town!
And I didn’t work on it, because nothing broke except tire replacement. I never did have any problems.
Ok OK See there was this chicken farmer in Texas, that had this idea of taking an engine very similiar as in my car and putting it in a cute little English automobile by the name of an ACE that had somewhat credible handling but not much of a following of paying patrons. I’m sure the word HYBRID is something used to define a new type of economical automobile these days, Here is the original non economical version! American engine and transmission and the rest English. An Average american engine in a family type vehicle, put an an average english sports car.
A over the top CAR! A BEAST! A 427 AC Shelby Cobra 300plus were made. You could buy one for about 6700$ Kick as@##$ Bill Cosby the comedian and actor bought one and later sold it because it was such a brutal machine! In fact he did story on one of his comedy records about it. Its called 200MPH SIDEWAYS!
Since then the hybrid thing with the american engine and the english body has continued. Jags with GM engines are very popular and easy to maintain.
I have a 2004 3 series BMW convertible and plan on putting a small GM v8 and avoid the high cost of a Factory tech. And I’ll have 3 times the horsepower and the car will lighter because of the all aluminium engine.
This hybrid thing can be applied to VJ also. You can take the best/average from where in the world, and find a better FIT in another area never considered before. I know that GPS has been included in still photography. BUt I just heard that a company is including GPS in a camcorder. So what you say? BY using the thumbnail coordinates as a automatic filing and validation system. You avoid that age old question.
Where did you shoot this?
Oh and as far as lasting? The record price for a 427 Cobra SC owned by Shellby is 5.6 Million $$!
Norm Potter November 15, 2008
A British mechanic I knew said the unions killed the British car companies.
Sacha van Straten November 10, 2008
My dad, who lives in France, recently bought an old but beautifully preserved LHD Jag XJS. Black body, whie leather trim, it looks the business. He bought it for sentimental reasons, and takes it out every so often, when the sun shines, and it brings a smile to the face of an older gentleman.
And that, I suppose, is how I feel on the odd occasion when I buy a local newspaper. I do it because there is an intrinsic pleasure in holding a publication. When I go to London I pick up the free newspapers for the same reason, and because getting a WiFi or mobile signal on an underground train just doesn’t happen here – unlike in Paris.
I agree with the other posters who have pointed to the takeup of online newspapers. I read those daily, because it suits how I work, I don’t have to pay, and I like multimedia content.
I’m not convinced local papers will survive in the UK in print, and I imagine they’ll migrate to online sooner rather than later.
As for the nationals, well, I like to buy print from time to time, because I find it easier to digest longer form content in a print format.
Experts do say a mixed diet is the best, don’t they?
rosenblumtv November 09, 2008
Oh man.. I DREAM of getting an e-type.
I would love to buy a convert with rt hand drive here in the UK and bring it back to NY, I am just terrified of the repairs.
tdc November 09, 2008
4-xke’s (2+2 and convert, all 1969), 1-xjs 12 cylinder, 1975 (sold via hemmings motor news to some guy in south africa. yes, the car was that nice! ) and over 30 vw beetles (ranging from ’56 to ’79).
rebuilt s-u side draft carbs like tieing shoes. lucas electric wiz. back then jc whitney even sold fairly decent quality resonator sets (mufflers) for the xke’s!
those were the days.
never got 1/2 the amount of tail i did when driving any of the jags, but a 1968 powder blue beetle with the dreaded auto-stick (and hand crank sunroof) was the most dependable of them all. adjust your valve lash every month!!!
pencilgod November 08, 2008
I had a Triumph TC 2000. Actually a very good car. I travelled all over New Zealand in comfort and speed for 5 years. I loved that car. Then one day I stopped for petrol and the forecourt attendant said “can I check your oil?â€
I’m not sure if she was incompetent or just trying to rip me off by selling me oil I didn’t need but she overfilled the oil and a week on the oil gaskets exploded and my poor car was never the same.
I guess what I learned from that is it doesn’t matter how much of a good thing you have there is always someone who can ruin it with too much of the good oil.
Nino November 08, 2008
Cliff, still where I left you, how long has it been? Two years that I know that you’ve been saying the same things over and over and over. By now your work must be displayed all over the place. Care to share some of you successes? I haven’t seen any of your blog but I know how you don’t like to show off.
Cliff Etzel November 08, 2008
The recent articles on American Journalism Review begins to shed the light on the paradigm shift around branding and then the shifting of that brand to a new business model.
The article “The Transformation of NPR” speaks about how their branding (audio) is being transformed to utilize their core competency and adding audio slideshows as an additional story telling element – the article goes in depth into how NPR is rebranding itself.
The move by The Christian Science Monitor is another major shift within the industry – making the move to online only by April 2009 with a printed Sunday magazine – that is again, a major “Whoa” since they have some of the finest writing and photography available.
Lastly, AJR posted an article entitled “The Elite Newspaper of the Future” and looks at the concept of and I quote:
Although less frequently published is a step in the right direction, the reality is that as the older generation is replaced with the Gen X and Y population, one that is more accustomed to digital delivery of content, devices will replace the printed publication – it’s an eventuality. When companies like Amazon offer the Kindle as a device for not only reading books, but electronic editions of major magazines like Time, etc, that is the future of publishing. The move by Adobe to make Flash video the defacto delivery format for visual content and ads on all devices is also a key indicator of digital delivery being the future.
The notion that video is somehow to be left to the gatekeepers is a fallacy – the quality of content being produced by newspaper shooters is growing, some of the finest work I have seen so far has been produced by the so called wannabe’s shooting with consumer grade cameras. The same worn out drivel by the same ol detractors is the same as reading the trolls on various social networking/news sites (Huffington Post is but one example) – they come along just to stir up the hornets nest and in reality have nothing to contribute in a positive way – instead they banter their dogma hoping to cause divisiveness in the process.
How money is to be made with digital content delivery is still the golden fleece that has yet to be found – but to rant that people like Michael, David Dunkley-Gyimah and others who don’t hold to the dogma of b-roll is outdated.
With the opening by the FCC of the white space broadcast spectrum is going to open the airwaves in a way that the GOB broadcasters fear – they will no longer have a hold of the airwaves – digital content delivery via wireless net connectivity is beginning to remove the stodgy MSM’s hold on the viewing public.
“Now Go Away Or I Will Taunt You A Second Time”
Nino November 08, 2008
Take a break Michael, you are again comparing apples to broccoli. The downfall of British import cars that included the Triumph, MG, Austin and I believe was the Rover sedan wasn’t because of progress, it was bad engineering. A poorly designed products that could not keep up with car manufactured in the US or Japan, actually Japanese cars were not very good back then either. Even Jaguar was a disaster back then and wasn’t until I believe it was bought by Ford that made a successful come back in the US. Add to the mix Italian’s Fiat and Alfa Romeo as well as all the French manufactured cars, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, they all failed in this country because of poor engineering and high maintenance and repairs costs. The main failing cause however was the mandatory emission requirement imposed by the US and unheard in other countries, none of the imports could meet the clean air requirements and their engineers were not able to create an emission system and still maintain a reasonable price.
What all this analogy of your have to do with has to do with newspapers remains a mystery. Newspaper are victim of progress not poor engineering, they have an excellent product but are victim of a natural course of progress, just like photographic film and papers. Their only fault is not to move into the web earlier but they are not doomed like you would like to make believe, according to Nielsen newspaper are getting some of the highest traffic on the web
“Record Audiences to Newspaper Web Sites
According to a custom analysis by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper web sites attracted more than 68.3 million unique visitors on average (41.4% of all Internet users) in the third quarter of 2008, a record number that reflects a 15.8% increase over the same period a year ago,
In addition, newspaper Web site visitors generated an average of just over 3.5 billion page views per month throughout the quarter, an increase of 25.2% over the same period a year ago (2.8 billion page views). These figures are the highest for any quarter since NAA began tracking the data in 2004.
NAA President and CEO, John F. Sturm, said “… record audiences are trusting newspaper Web sites for comprehensive, up-to-the-minute reporting and analysis on the events that impact their lives… newspapers are the top local brands that readers turn to for information… (to) help (with) challenging issues… ”
The third quarter also set records for active reach percentage (the percentage of active Internet users that visit newspapers on an average month), page views, pages per person, time per person and visits per person.
Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of Audience and New Business Development, concludes that “The dramatic increase in page views suggests users are visiting newspaper Web sites frequently throughout the day.”
Source: Nielsen Online Custom Analysisâ€
Their problem is how to convert this success into money, and isn’t going to happen by teaching the public how to become VJ as per one of your suggestion in your previous video you.
One of the biggest mistakes that a newspaper can do is waste their valuable resources into making cheap videos, as it had already been proven to be a failure.
They must continue to inform and educate the public with in depth issue of event that will impact the readers, not wasting their resources with insignificant and useless videos.
Multi media capability of the web is not video only, is a lot more than that.
robpatrob November 08, 2008
Aaaah I had an Austin Healy 3000. Also Racing Green. When it went – fabulous. But F***ing Lucas – known by the way as the Prince of Darkness – any dampness – would not start. I got to longing for a VW Beetle that I knew would start when I turned the key.
Expanding on your point – Growing up in England just after the war, the sense of end of empire was palpable.
All great things have a life cycle
$ November 08, 2008
Very funny.
Your preference is decided over quality of the product.
Not over how cheaply something can be made.
That’s why GM and Ford are where they are today!
They thought just like you!
Why build for quality?
Just build “good enough”!
As has now been proven, again, that kind of thinking fails.
The Germans have always built with one thing in mind.
Long term quality.
The Brits never built a reliable car.
Never.
I must admit, like you, I once owned a Triumph, but an old Spitfire, and had many similar experiences to what you did with yours.
It’s nice to see that you too appreciate quality.