The Shape of Things To Come

and a little child shall lead them…

The video above was sent to me yesterday by Pat Younge, Chief Creative Officer at The BBC.

It wasn’t done by anyone at The BBC.

It was done by Pat’s 14-year old daughter, Rebecca for a science project at her school, Drayton Manor High School, Ealing, London.

She shot it on her FlipHD mino and edited it on iMovie on her dad’s Mac.

She’s never had a day of formal filming or editing tuition, she just worked it out for herself.

The video is raggedy, but it speaks volumes to me, and not about science.

There is a whole generation coming up who have no fear of video. In fact, they thin of it as second nature.

They adapt to it as easily as they adapt to using an iPod or an iPhone.

They don’t need an instruction manual, or endless training.

While broadcasters and newspapers may agonize over how difficult it is to transit their journalists into video, it is already natural for Rebecca and her friends.

We recently completed a long round of talks with a major television network in the US that wants to transit to having all their staff carry their own small cameras and shoot and edit all their own material.

We didn’t get the contract (too bad).

They decided they are going to proceed with their own in-house training.

In the last 3 years, they have trained and fielded 7 people so far.

Rebecca and her friends are going to make that network obsolete, and in fewer than 7 years.

While those born before 1995 are still agonizing over how hard all this is to learn, and those born before 1960 still think you need to book a crew and a studio and lights and a director, a new generation is coming along that is going to make all of these people obsolete in an afternoon.

Think about it.

You may, ‘television professional’ look at Rebecca’s video and say, ‘Oh come on. It’s got some problems’.

She is 14.

She has never had a day of training.

She doesn’t need any equipment. (And as soon as her dad buys her an iPhone 4 which has both HD video and iMovie (and a way to upload it from the source), she won’t be on his Mac anymore either.

A new world is coming, and it has little to do with making the ‘agonizing’ decision about empowering your staff with video.

The next generation of hires is already there.

And the first thing they are going to do is make anyone who is still video illiterate…. obsolete, redundant and unemployed.

In an afternoon.

About the author

mrosenblum - For more than 20 years, Mr. Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital ‘videojournalist’ revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for videoliteracy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State’s Government’s broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the ‘VJ” paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on the “VJ” paradigm – 1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996).