Tuesday, March 28, 2006

ABC Embraces Citizen Journalism | Public Relations Institute of Australia

Anyone who dropped by the ABC's News page during cyclone Larry would have noticed some of the stuff we were doing to enhance the overall coverage, including posting video rushes and accepting and posting pictures from the audience. As a result, the Public Relations Institute of Australia had a chat with Brisbane ABC News Online boss Bob Johnston.

"On our site now, we invite contributions from the audience as a matter of course. So I guess these sorts of events focused the public's attention on what's possible. But we hope to get to a point where this is just a standard part of our news coverage, and not only for big events, not only for capital cities, if there's an event that's important to people in small communities, I mean if they can get a photo to us, we're happy to take it. So it really is transforming the relationship with the audience."

Monday, March 27, 2006

Another remix trailer - Must Love Jaws

In the tradition of "The Shining", "West Side Story", "A Christmas Story" and "Titanic" remix trailers comes "Jaws" in the style of... well, not exactly sure. Certainly not the way it was originally produced, that's for sure.

"In the resort community of Amity Island, Chief Brodie and Matt Hooper didn't always fit in...
Until the day they took a fateful trip, and met a special friend.
In a world, that doesn't understand, in a place where all hope is lost, love comes to the surface.
This Summer, prepare for the family adventure of a lifetime..."


I never thought I'd say this, but thanks to Mobutu from the Adobe forums for the heads up.

Update - Also got pointed towards a weepy, chickflick remix of "Cabin Fever". Would have been a little better without the blatantly false review quotes, but very nicely done anyway.

Friday, March 24, 2006

CPU Power in 2006 | Digital Post Production

Mark Dileo from the Digital post Production site runs through the history of computer processors over the last 7 or 8 years, the Intel vs AMD battle, where the two companies sit today and, more importantly for those of us thinking of buying a new system this year, what to expect in 2006.


Thanks to DavidY from the Wrigley forums for the heads up.

GetUp! - "Fund Our ABC" petition

Obviously I feel it would be inappropriate for me as an employee of the ABC to sign this, however it doesn't preclude me from making it known to others.

GetUp! - Action For Australia - www.getup.org.au

Update 28/03/06 - After busting the initial goal of 10,000 signatures in 12 hours and the second goal of 20,000 signatures in 24 hours, the goal now is to hit 50,000 signatures before it closes today. Already they're over 43,000.

Friday, March 17, 2006

DV.com - Trish and Chris Meyer | Camera Control, Part 1

I started on After Effects back at version 4, and I thought I had a pretty good grip on how things worked, having had years of experience dealing with keyframes, compositing and interpolation as a vision switcher. Then version 5 came out and introduced AE's "3D space", complete with cameras. I have to admit it's an area I've tended to shy away from, lacking any good examples of basic 3D tutorials. But now, AE gurus Trish and Chris Meyer run us through the basics of After Effect's 3D cameras, and show a trick how to get nice, smooth movement.

As always, DV.com requires registration.

What is Podcasting? | Ask A Ninja

The ABC is one of the most prolific creators of audio podcasts. But what is Podcasting? Ask A Ninja answers that very question to anyone over the age of 12.


"That's the simplest way to explain it.
We're a factory that produces apple pies for whales."


Man, I love this guy.

The Bulletin - The ABC at war

The article that's caused all the fuss over the last few days.


While there, don't forget to check out the full interview with Minister Coonan, and a little feature piece by Paul Daly.

And meanwhile, we let people talk and just get on with the job.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Australian media reform - It's happening!

A bit of light reading for when I get home tonight.

If you have thoughts on where Australia's media needs to be headed in the long term, have your say. Minister Coonan wants to hear from you!

ABC Video on Demand (VOD) page went live Monday

Just thought Id mention it. This is stage two of our Broadband Revolution, moving on from our initial Broadband page.


Perhaps more importantly from my perspective,

Sunday, March 05, 2006

So what's wit' da no posts?

I have to admit to being less than diligent with my blog postings of late. This has mainly to do with my ever increasing workload (with more responsibility to come in the next few months) and my ongoing moderator position with Adobe at their User Forums. I have to say, with Premiere Pro 2 out it's just amazing how many posts that place runs through every day.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm off to Sydney for the A.B.C. Cross Platform Production Conference at the Ultimo studios. A fascinating mix of international guests talking about what they've been doing and the problems and solutions they've found in this area, followed by the heads of the ABC departments telling us what they've been up to and where they think the Corp is headed in the future. If nothing else, I get to take a look around the new ABC studios. I spent a few months working at the old Gore Hill studios back in 2000, but I've heard wonderful things about the new facility. I'm really looking forward to it. To top it all off, Tuesday marks 1 year since we launched ABC2, so much festivity is to be had that night. I keep thinking I should take a video camera, but I doubt I'd get mine through the door. I do intend to take notes, and pictures, so hopefully I should have some thoughts on that once I get back. If nothing else I'm thinking I'd have been better served with a smaller camera than the XL1-S I currently own.

One last thing. Monday marks the launch of the new half-hour version of Australia Wide. The producer's come up with an interesting mix, and we'll see how it all comes together with her in Sydney and us in Brisbane. If you can watch ABC2, give it a whirl at 5pm and 8:30pm and let me know what you think.

Until then, bat on.