This Is Media
January 27th, 2010 | 
Author: 
Morning all. Today we’ve got a bit of exciting news and I’m also looking for your thoughts. First of all my friend Justine Curgenven; filmmaker, adventurer and occasional country chef has just released the preview of her latest DVD called, This Is Canoeing! (10,000 canoeists stand up and shout, “IT’S ABOUT FRIGGIN’ TIME!) What’s more, we’ve also.. (I can say “we” for this part…) updated her website at www.CackleTV.com.. Ok, now for the discussion bit…
I expect Justine’s new DVD to sell like mad. She’s an amazing filmmaker of course, but what really shines through is her personality which simply soaks through every frame. Personally, I believe she could make a documentary on lake sludge and I’m sure it would still exude excitement and fun. It’s just what happens when she gets into something and that’s why I’ve been totally in her court for more years than I care to count now. 
Now here’s the discussion bit.. How are we all doing with multi-media these days? Are we video’d out and so far buried in the Youtube glut that we no longer value professional work? Are we less apt to pay for something we perceive we can get for free elsewhere? Maybe it’s oppositely true that we’re more apt to buy something because all the free junk makes us well aware of the good stuff? Maybe there is still so few of us who live online, that we won’t effect the outcome either way.. What are your thoughts on the state of media today?
Oh, and by the way.. you can pre-order Justine’s new DVD right here on her brand new website… Did I mention that?
Posted in News & Print, Paddling, People, Video, Web Stuff | 
Tags: cackletv, canoeing, justine curgenven
I could be wrong about today’s trends (but I don’t think so…), but I believe (and taught as a teacher) that there will always be people who seek out quality over quantity. I don’t think the number of people who feel that way are declining, but increasing. More and more folks are tiring of the trash life can throw in their faces and want to both see quality out there and experience it in their lives. Video work of high quality like Justine’s will always find an audience. People seeing her work immediately feel enriched. They go out and, in their own way, emulate her passion and joy, thereby living a constant search for improvement, experiencing all that life has to offer.
So if you had to guess.. you’d say the same content released now would sell at the same quantity as say 5-10 years ago.. All things being equal other than mass low cost video availability and production?
Many photographers argue that the advent of cheap cameras and production have killed professional photography below the very top tier…
aw, shucks guys! you say nice things!!
xx
Too many are plugged in by now. There is no way back.
Seems to me that it is a long way from good equipment and expertise in using to the ‘good stuff’ that will come out at the end. You still need the good old imagination, creativity, vision, and also a good sense of the social climate. “What do the masses want?”
When technical aptitude intersects with a creative genius brewed in a receptive environment, we all win a lottery. There also are many creative visionaries without the hi-tech arsenal and without the knowledge of all the how-to alternatives. They are diamonds in the rough that can readily be found in the multimedia wasteland, YouTube and Blogosphere. They are definitely worth my time and attention as well as the price of the fast internet access–not free by a long stretch! Finally, there are plenty of ‘professionals’ who have not produced anything I would want to spend my time or money on despite flawless camera work, clean production, glorious special effects, and exotic locations.
Pop multimedia realm is definitely good for the ‘professionals’ who need to reach small niche markets like paddlers! At the same time they better have something to show that is a cut above the grassroots level if they expect to get paid.
The same realm is also good in a sense of flushing out the creative forces lurking everywhere to the surface. Browsing the inexhaustible MM supermarkets the future great creators say: “Hey, I would like to do something like this, except I can make it much much better!” Without the supermarket, they may never have conceived the vision.
I think MM is also much superior to the old-fashioned shower or apples falling from the trees for inspiration.
So as a pragmatist, I am all for the maximal multi-media immersion. I think it benefits both the demand and the supply part of the equation.
You are absolutely right Derrick saying that digital photography has done professional photographers a lot of damage but there is now a market out there (purely created by Justine I might add) that is right into high quality kayaking video. It is not so hard for an amateur to grab one good shot with a digital still camera, it is another thing to put together multiple clips of high quality video into a professional looking DVD.
I think switching to canoeing was a really wise move sales wise as there are quite a few good productions available now and that market is slowly becoming saturated but canoeing looks very exciting and Justine’s production skills are obviously still getting better and better. The best of luck to her.
Geoff
On a personal level, I’m always happy to pay for good quality content either as a physical product or a download.I don’t have time to trawl through the free content on youtube etc and always find there is so much content on there that doesn’t appeal finding the odd good clip is time consuming. I pay for the quality, quantity and specific nature of the content from people like Justine, Simon Willis & Gordon Brown, Bryan Smith etc as I know I am getting top quality and respect the time, effort care and love that shines out from their content.
However, I do get concerned for the future when I discuss this issue with young people. As a IT teacher I find that whilst the older students I teach (16-19 year olds) pay for some content, the younger students only seem to buy physical media as gifts for parents/relatives – anything for themselves is downloaded/shared for free (often breaking the law). I think they are growing up learning that it is easy to obtain content for free and genuinely don’t realise the implications of doing this although they are aware that a good proportion of the content is copyright.
For them its not a case of finding creative commons alternatives that of equal quality and not needing to pay for it but wanting the top quality material that should be paid for and knowing they can get it for free.
Having said all of this, looking at paddling media, this is still a niche market and paddle sports appeal to certain types of people. As a sweeping generalisation, the people I meet whether online or in the real world who participate in paddle sports tend to be the sort of people who would pay for top quality content rather than source it elsewhere. I could be wrong on this so would be interested on other people opinions. I think there will always be a market for this content because of this.
I have to say Hollywood stopped getting my money for films as soon as I found out what a “torrent download” was a few years back. However I do own all of the “This is the sea” films as I want to support the artist; hopefully to in turn produce more top notch stuff.
I ran into Justine on the Barron canyon in Ontario Canada; and your absolutely right how wonderfully nice she is. I was a bit shocked to see her run out of the woods in basically my backyard…in rural Canada!
There are other film makers who I see as cocky, arrogant who I would have no issue downloading their movie (if I bothered to watch it). However for me anyway I think it comes down to supporting the artist and supporting the kayaker.
She’s got my support.
I think that the market for kayak videos will be fragmented. Accomplished paddlers buy the good stuff just to have it in their collection and, perhaps, to study for teaching techniques. For the beginners, which I believe is the growing market, there are already enough how-to offerings out there from which they can choose. Most eventually find that they don’t get far without personal instruction anyway. I don’t canoe, but my sense is that there is an under served market here and that Justine is wise to fill the need. Paddling continues to grow as a sport, and those who make their living at it will just have to watch and react to future trends.