Brits 2011: Renault Clio–What Is Va Va Voom?

So there we were, watching the Brits 2011 when this Renault TV ad popped up with Thierry Henry posing the question ‘What is Va Va Voom?’. Who cares? What really matters is the music with Clare Maguire, David Bowie and Rihanna. Simply amazing and I’ve got to see this released soon!

More info about the Renault TV ad here

 

*Update  -and the track is here:

Page Rank–The SEO Rapper

Word on the street is that the SEO Rapper is laying down some great tips on Page Rank from his stateside car park. Not one is sure in which state or car park he resides, I just like the way he rolls. 

Octonauts Dance Remix Alert!

Fans of the brilliant new new kid’s tv show The Octonauts will be pleased to know it’s finally caught the attention of the dance community. Over the last month,  remixes of The Octonauts theme tune have begun to appear online and I’m sure we’re going to see many more in the months ahead. Here’s a quick scout through two of the best – there’s an Ibiza classic in the making somewhere here…

The Octonauts – Cbeebies dupstep remix
My favourite at the moment from the mighty ’hardcoreremixer’. Not sure if it’s true dubstep but it’s true to the Octonauts ‘crew’ with various choice vocal samples thrown in for good measure. My two year-old son was transfixed by this one. Hold tight.

The Octonauts – Cbeebies 2011 Dance Remix

Another classic from, hold on, hardcoreremixer! Wait a minute, is this the only person doing these remixes at the moment? Well, I’m sure this won’t be the case very soon. This tune reminds me of the kind of music I was into when I first started to go out clubbing – truly terrible. I can see it perfectly translating to a 3am Creamfields slot. Turn the speakers up.

Other Octonauts remixes I’d like to hear
Minimal electronica – Vee are Zee Octonauts style-eee
Early Logical Progression – I’m sure the boys over at Good Looking records could do this justice 
Tinie Tempah – No contest, if he remixed this and dropped in a couple of lines it would go straight in at No.1

Lady Gaga Goes Pantsless in Paris

When I spotted this headline in the recently leaked AOL Way document I thought it was just a funny inclusion in a corporate report. I have since learnt that it’s one of the most ripped-off headlines in the entertainment industry. Looks like everyone’s going ‘pantsless’.

AOL
image2 Lady Gaga Goes Pantsless in Paris

Bing

image4 Lady Gaga Goes Pantsless in Paris

Online News Association: Has Social Media Killed Photojournalism?

Another great session last night with the UK branch of the Online News Association. This time we met to discussed the impact of social media on photojournalism in the delightful surroundings of the Telegraph HQ in Victoria, London. The event was well attended, hosted by Kathryn Corrick, with speakers Turi Munthe from user-generated photo aggregator Demotix, and photojournalists Paul Lowe and Edmond Terkopian.

I’ve included the first ever ONA UK Livestream below, my notes/links follow.

onauklive on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Paul Lowe
Uncertain paths of peace – example of early ‘open text’ photojournalism
Burn magazine
Vincent Laforet – building audience through web based media
Media Storm
Emphas.is – more collaborative process with photojournalists

Turi Munthe
Modern photojournalism has been democratized with the development of technology and cheaper costs of equipment. Many more ‘voices’ are now available which is great, but the competition is fiercer than ever before. Demotix are there to help the ‘cream rise to the surface’ aka the best citizen photographs are found.

Edmond Terkopian
The increase in competition has pushed people from photojournalism into news photography to make a living. Photojournalism is a not a part-time hobby, it’s the pursuit of the truth. Many photojournalists support their work by news photography but they are not the same. It’s all about quality.

There were some good issues raise in the debate. What exactly is ‘Quality’ in a world of abundance? When 60 photographers turn up to one event, are the photographs really all that different? Who places the value on a piece of work, the photographer, the publisher or the public?

The Larry Towell Crisis In Afganistan project was held up as a good example of how photojournalists are reaching out to social networks to fund their passions. It’s a very strong collaborative approach – visitors are asked to contribute in exchange for the experience that the artist is about to undertake.

I loved this project and it’s a business model that can be applied across the whole creative industry. Electronic music artists Underworld have used this approach in launching their albums. You purchase the album, but you’re signing up for the tour experience that unfolds in the months ahead. The fan feels closer to the artist. 

Final Thoughts
I wonder if the creative industries need to do a better job at demonstrating their value in a world where everyone can have access to the same tools? Is beauty truly in the eye of the beholder? Do publishers need to make more of their photographic resources? We’re all so used to seeing images every second that their value has become transient. Could publishers benefit by highlighting the individual behind the work? Could this be an area where tablet publishers (Murdoch/Branson) could really make a difference? 

A very informative session, discussing a topic that I knew very little about.

Using Kinect to make a music video

It looks like the launch of Kinect last year is sparking a new way of making music videos. It’ll be an interesting trend to follow as we’ve already seen how film makers are using the iPhone to create great lo-fi vids. I’m now Echo Lake’s official number one fan so good luck to them. 

 

*And another one has already sprung up here – this time from Moullinex. Thanks to Steve Clayton for pointing this one out.

Moullinex – Catalina from Moullinex on Vimeo.

How to find your Twitter RSS and apply to TwitterFeed

Answer: You can’t

Well, it’s easy to find your Twitter RSS. You simply log out of your account and scroll down to the bottom of your profile page like so:

image thumb How to find your Twitter RSS and apply to TwitterFeed

God knows why you have to log out but it seems like it was an oversight when Twitter upgraded to their new layout. However, when you try to feed this Twitter RSS feed into an application like Twitter Feed you get this rather helpful message:

image thumb1 How to find your Twitter RSS and apply to TwitterFeed

I give up. If anyone knows the solution please let me know.

Why would I want to do this? Let’s say I wanted all my team’s tweets to hoover up into one uber Twitter page. It just looks like Twitter have prevented this aggregation for some unknown reason.

News Rewired: Building Online Communities with Anthony Thornton IPC

Back in December 2010 I attended the News Rewired event at Microsoft HQ in Victoria. I was quite impressed by a presentation delivered by Anthony Thornton from IPC so here it is in all it’s glory.

Some very sensible points about building up a community from scratch – namely, you’ve got to put the time in!

Copyright © Steven Wilson-Beales
Content strategy, music, thoughts

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