bluprojekt/Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist

A Shift In Perspective of the Solo VJ Paradigm

Cliff Etzel — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:17:57 +0000

I’ve posted an article on some thoughts around what it means to work as a solo video journalist - you can read the full article on the SoloVJ.com website

SoloVJ.com Website is live

Cliff Etzel — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:47:35 +0000

I have been knocking around the idea of developing a portal site that mimics the past look and feel of multimediashooter.com specifically for web video journalism. So yesterday I launched solovj.com which will be the repository of what I have been blogging here on my site and transitioning my posts to that domain. I’m still putting the [...]

Thoughts on shooting the Obama Rally with my equipment setup

Cliff Etzel — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:18:03 +0000

On Friday, May 9th, I was fortunate enough to have been given access to cover the rally for Senator Obama held here in Eugene, Oregon. Needless to say, I hadn’t been through a trial by fire like that in many years - reminded me of my days interning for free at one of the local newspapers [...]

Tapeless HDV acquisition becomes more affordable

Cliff Etzel — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:58:55 +0000

The AVCHD format has been touted as the cure all for the consumer and lower end prosumer market for acquisition of video content. The biggest obstacle has been the raw horsepower required to decode the hight compressed HDV format - leaving many using the format left wanting due to the nature of the formats [...]

Covering Obama Rally as a Solo Video Journalist

Cliff Etzel — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:08:42 +0000

Contrary to the detractors assertions, it seems that being a freelance Solo Video Journalist isn’t an issue - at least for the Obama campaign people. I’ve assigned myself to cover a scheduled rally Senator Obama is having here in Eugene, Oregon today. Being held at the University of Oregon later today, I decided to take a chance [...]

The Ups and Downs of Going Solo

Cliff Etzel — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:59:03 +0000

Ever the outspoken Solo Video Journalism detractor, Stewart Pittman aka “Lenslinger“, has put his spin over on NewsVideographer about the difficulties that many shooters are beginning to experience working as solo video journalists. He and I don’t see eye to eye on much and even though I respect the amount of time he has invested as [...]

Why I shoot with compact HDV Camcorders

Cliff Etzel — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:57:20 +0000

In December of 2007, I finally made the switch from my beloved SONY TRV950’s to a pair of SONY HC7 camcorders. Having shot with them intermittently since that time, I’ve come to appreciate, even love, shooting with them. The size of the HC7 isn’t intimidating - either to the subject, or to my body when carrying [...]

Why We Need Net Neutrality: Internet to hit full capacity by 2010

Cliff Etzel — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:12:28 +0000

According to a speech given at a Westminster eForum on Web 2.0 this week in London by Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs for AT&T, the internet is set to hit maximum capacity by 2010. The primary reason for his assessment is due to the increased viewing of video content online. “The surge in online (video) [...]

From News To Factual Entertainment

Cliff Etzel — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:25:32 +0000

Is the title of this posting the future of video journalism? Here’s my take on the current landscape of video content distribution in the year 2008. TV Week has a brief story about comScore metrics that put web videoviewership at 10 billion in February 2008, up 66% from February 2007. Googlesites, primarily YouTube, have a 35.4% [...]

What is Solo Videojournalism?

Cliff Etzel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:42:47 +0000

Cybermentor and colleague David Dunkley-Gyimah was recently asked what is videojournalism. He professed to being somewhat tongue tied to the question. The pundents would have you believe it’s some lengthy diatribe that includes financially prohibitive schooling and equipment that only a select few are capable of becoming a part of the exclusive club of videojournalism. Sorry folks, [...]