Carers Trust training course at the Sefton Carers Centre

Just Film has just completed a video for Carers Trust, formerly known as The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. The video will be used to publicise a training course designed for the Trust to help carers understand something called Personal Budgets.

An important change is taking place in the way care is funded for many ‘client groups’ in the Britain. Know as ‘Personalisation’, it enables carers and those they care for to make their own decisions about the best way to spend the state finance available for them. In the past, for example, an elderly person might be taken to a Day Care Centre, paid for by the local authority, and might have carers call at their home to dress them in the morning and put them to bed at night. Usually these arrangements are completely inflexible, requiring the “cared for” person to fit in the the carer’s busy schedule. This can mean sitting around waiting for a carer to call, or being put to bed too early in the evening.

Now, the client (including disabled people, the elderly and those who lack mental capacity) are able to decide for themselves how the funding for their care should be spent, usually with the help of a carer who is also a relative or friend. Most people prefer to stay in their own homes, rather than move into residential care. Often this is possible, especially with occasional help from a family member, and is certainly a cheaper option for the state. So, anything which makes life easier for the client without costing more must be a good thing.

Under the new ‘personalisation’ system, once a client’s needs has been assessed, a ‘Personal Budget’ can be applied for. Once set up, ‘Direct Payments’ are received on a regular basis and are usually administered by a carer (family member or friend). One woman, in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, whose mother suffers from dementia, described how she was now able to take her mother on trips to the sea-side, visits to old friends and even have outings to Beamish, a open air museum in the North East of England where there would be plenty to stimulate her memory of earlier days. Another woman from Merton in London had used her disabled husband’s ‘Personal Budget’ to interview and select a professional carer who they both felt would get on well with him.

Although the new system can give clients and their carers considerable choice and control over this aspect of their lives, there is a downside. It requires more effort from the carer than the old system when the Local Authority took control. It can be a bit like running a small business and involves the same level of responsibility. Proper accounts must be kept and If the carer decides to employ someone to provide the required services, tax and national insurance must be dealt with. If this all seems too much, the Local Authority will usually handle the administration for you but they will charge a fee.

To help carers fully understand all the consequences and opportunities of Personalisation, the Carers Trust has designed a course on the subject, entitled “What on earth are Personal Budgets”. They worked closely with Local Authorities, Carers’ Centres and individual carers to ensure that the course meets all carers needs. Just Film has made a video production  to publicise the course, drawing on the experience of carers who attended a number of trial courses held in different parts of England. You can view it on YouTube

One of the important elements of this course is that it deals equally with the underling principles of the initiative as well as the way it is being implemented locally. Those who have attended the pilot courses found them both informative and empowering. Although Personalisation is clearly not an easy option, armed with the necessary skills and knowledge it can be a real boon for carer and ‘cared for’ alike.

• If someone visits a webpage and is immediately submerged in a cacophony of sound, they are very likely to leave before they’ve even read the heading. To a lesser extent, any animation can have a distracting effect, especially if it was not expected. The answer to this problem is not to have the video play automatically. If there is a play button users can view the video when they are ready and adjust the sound to their needs.
• Is the video of a sufficient quality? Presumably you are proud of the quality of your website and the photographs it contains, so surely the video should be to the same quality? Yet an amazing number of people allow poor quality video to ruin a professionally designed website. I suppose the reason is that they think a professional video will be too expensive and as they already own an HD camera, why not do it themselves. It is true that even quite inexpensive cameras can produce excellent technical results but what about the production values? They matter too, and poor sound is often what lets amateur videos down the most.
• Where will you host your video? Most people use YouTube or one of its less well-known rivals. YouTube can be a wise decision as it is next only to its parent, Google, as a brilliant search engine. Embedding the video into your website is easy and seamless for your visitors. But, although you can have a link from your YouTube page to your website, it is a ‘no follow’ link so has no value in pushing you up the search engine rankings. It will allow people to jump to your website, provided they click on the link. Possibly, the best option is to do both – host the video on YouTube and your own site, so people can find your video and your website at the same time, but if they find the video on YouTube, that’s good too. In fact there is no reason why you can’t host the video on all the hosting sites. Unlike text articles there is no downside to duplicated content.
• Wherever you host your site it is essential to optimise it properly. This means have a relevant and complete title and a description that will encourage visitors to click on the video. Accurate tags are also useful in helping searchers find your video.
• Once you’ve uploaded and optimised your video don’t forget to announce its presence on the social networking sites. Facebook and Twitter are the obvious ones but there are plenty of others. There are also many bookmarking sites which can play their part in getting your video watched.
• My final point should really come first. Are you sure you need a video? Will it help people understand what you have to say better than any other media? The problem with video is that it is non-linear, in other words it goes at its own pace and insists on completing one idea before moving on to the next. An article like this one is very different. You can scan the paragraphs and if you don’t see what you’re looking for quickly move on to the next. A video requires more commitment to watch it through from beginning to end. Some subjects do lend themselves to the video treatment – you may be interested in these website video, which include “need to know” instructional films to the ever popular testimonial.

I have been a loyal customer of BT all my adult life but my recent experience of dealing with the company has left me totally disgusted.

It all started when I decided to use my BT Talk line (the extra line you get with the broadband Home Hub) for business calls. I run a business from home and although the volume of calls is small, I thought it would make sense to keep home and business calls separate. If I am away from my desk the 1571 service can answer the phone and I can pick up messages later. But then I thought it would be good if I could have a text message sent to my mobile when 1571 takes a call. I have always been able to do this on the main line, (the one I now use only for personal calls) but I soon realised that this option wasn’t available on the BT talk line. I decided to call BT sales.

During the following 10 days I talked to at least twenty different BT employees as I struggled to get to the bottom of which services were on offer and how much they cost. Early on in this process I was sold an upgrade to BT Business Broadband that would give me “all the facilities I needed”. This turned out to be partially true but only after I purchased two further upgrades. The BT price list is mind bogglingly complex and it is hardly surprising that I received plenty of conflicting information much of which was plain wrong. Time after time I was passed from one department to another in search of the “correct” information. That would have been bad enough if being transferred meant being passed from one person to another. Occasionally this did happen but more often it meant doing battle with the appalling menu systems that BT is so fond of.

There seems to be a belief among some techie people that if a particular technology exists it must be employed, however inappropriate. Telephone menu systems have been around for many years and, used sparingly, they can be useful but when they leap from one set of options that don’t quite fit to another set and then a further set they can have the effect of making a cross customer really irate. Now we have a new menace – voice recognition. It takes a human twenty years or more to interpret every tiny nuance of language so why does BT leave the vital task of communicating with its customers to a dumb computer? The conversation went something like this:
BT: “Using words or phrases say what you want to talk about”
Me: “My Business Broadband upgrade”
BT: “You want to order Business Broadband? Say yes or no”
Me: NO!!!
BT: “Using words or phrases say what you want to talk about”
Me: Getting my business Talk 1571 service to work with the options I had on my home phone”
BT: “You want to order 1571 on you home phone? Say yes or no”
Me: NO, NO, NO!!!
BT: “One moment please”

Ah!, I think, I am going to be put through to a person. But, no, its just another set of menu options that don’t quite fit my situation. In the end I pick one at random just to talk to a human being.

But then, there are humans and humans! The one I get clearly wishes she was a computer because instead of listening to what I have to say she reads from a very wooden script which starts off by telling what a good company BT is and how proud they are to be sponsoring the olympic games!. It then goes on to tell me that our conversation may be recorded for “training” purposes. I do not want to be told how good BT thinks it is and right at the moment I have absolutely no interest in the Olympic Games. And I am very dubious about their motives in recording our conversation – the message I’m getting is that they think I’m a pathological liar and they are going to nail me. Once we get through all that I am asked for my telephone number, even though one of the hoops I jumped through earlier required me to key in my number.

To be fair, some of the people I spoke to during this saga made every effort to help me – they listened carefully to what I was saying and responded accordingly. Sometimes that meant passing me to another department. They could do this in two ways – they could put me on ‘hold’ while they contacted a colleague, or they could give me another number to ring. I have no problem waiting patiently to talk to someone who can help me but why oh why do I have to listen to distorted music while I do so? I particularly enjoy the music of Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi but only when I choose to listen to it – and certainly not at full volume through a telephone designed for speech. The other option is even worse. Whenever I was given a number to ring it would invariably be answered with the Olympic Games boast and then a requirement to jump through the multiple hoops outlined above.

I have a suggestion to make. It’s not revolutionary, in fact it’s blindingly obvious. Why doesn’t BT employee customer advocates? Someone who can answer a customer’s call in person and establish through old fashioned conversation what they are trying to achieve. Sometimes it might be possible to give an answer straight away but BT is a very complex organisation and often the ‘customer advocate’ will need to go away and research the answer and then call the customer back. The jargon term is “taking ownership” – it is rewarding for the employee and provides excellent service to the customer.

Come on BT, other companies can do it why not you?

Scholars and philosophers debate the meaning of truth – is it subjective or objective, relative or absolute? Steve Jobs, the iconic genius behind the Apple Mac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad is said to have had a “reality distortion field” in which truth was distorted to fit in with his particular view of how things should be. According to a comprehensive and highly readable biography by Walter Isaacson, Steve could be savagely cruel as well as charming, generous and loyal. Probably his greatest strength was also his Achilles heel – he was passionate about brilliant product design and he could destroy anyone who stood between him and achieving it in Apple products. Because of this obsession, the very first Mac was nearly two years late when it launched in 1984 and cost twice as much as first intended. Through my video production company I’ve been a Mac user for over twenty years and I now understand why I love Apple so much, even though Macs are double the price of equivalent Windows computers. There is something about using one which is deeply satisfying, almost spiritual, and it has to do with the total integrity of its design.

But this visionary dedication to elegant, simple and functional design came at a price. If something stood in the way of achieving a particular goal Steve would simply twist reality so as to magic the problem away. Colleagues would be incredulous at his gall but sometimes it became a self fulling prophesy and the impossible was achieved – sometimes reality had eventually to be faced. Often, people would suggest an idea to Steve and he would react by dismissing it as “complete crap”. A few days later he would present the same idea as if it were his own and the real originator would be dumfounded. Steve Jobs was a genius but I’m glad I never had to work with him!

I think some of the same mentality must be at work in society today. Former British Environment Minister, Chris Huhne has been charged with falsely claiming that his wife was driving his car when it was caught speeding by a traffic camera on the M11. He claims that he is innocent and at the time of writing this the trail has yet to be held so we must wait for its judgement. But a recent survey has found that as many as 12% of drivers said they would ask a friend or relative to take the speed camera penalty points if they were facing a driving ban. Although speeding is a relatively minor traffic offence, perverting the course of justice caries a mandatory prison sentence and for a very good reason – unless the truth is sacrosanct there can be no justice. If people can get away with saying whatever they like in evidence we have no sound basis for our legal system.

To get round this problem, at some point in our history we created a two-tier standard of honesty. There was the truth and there was the truth you gave “on oath”. The trouble is there can only ever be one reality. We can understand or interpret that reality differently but that is not the same as believing one thing to be true and saying something else. Over 300 years ago George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, saw the absurdity of this situation and refused to swear an oath on the Bible. Even today Quakers will not swear oaths – they are no longer thrown into jail as a consequence, now they can ‘affirm’ that what they are saying is the truth.

Perhaps the time has come for society to dismantle its two tier standard of honesty so we can mean what we say all the time.

An evil looking bird

Early in 2010 the anti-poverty movement scored a remarkable victory. Led by the Jubilee Debt Campaign a coalition of charities, faith groups and NGOs persuaded parliament to pass legislation preventing so called vulture funds from perusing ‘heavily indebted poor countries’ through the British courts.

What these vulture funds were doing was breathtakingly cruel. They would approach a country or company that was sitting on a ‘third world debt’, usually a debt inured in the 1970s when interest rates were sky high, to ‘buy’ the debt at a bargain price (usually 10% of it’s face value). It may seem strange today but at that time there was so much money sloshing around in the West that rich countries used heavy-handed tactics to sell loans to the rulers of poor, often corrupt countries. However these loans were not to provide health or education programmes for the poor but for worthless status symbols or other large scale projects with no lasting benefit for the population. With ever-increasing interest rates it became impossible for these poor countries to keep up their repayments and the debts escalated at an amazing rate, even though they were paying vastly more in interest payments than they were receiving in aid.

Forty years later those corrupt or misguided rulers are long gone but their people suffer the consequences for debts that they had no part in, indeed most had not even been born. If a corporation can’t repay its debts it goes bankrupt but a country can’t do that so these gigantic debts remained payable by people who played no part in their creation. A major campaign in the 90′s exposed this situation and, to their credit, many Western countries forgave the most heavily indebted countries their debts. However, some un-payable debts remained on the books of creditor countries and although there was no prospect of them being repaid they remained a technical asset – which is where the vulture funds came in. 

If somebody owes you £1,000 which you know you will never see and somebody else comes along and offers you £100 to ‘buy’ the debt you will probably accept the offer and think yourself lucky that you have recovered £100 of the debt. This is exactly what the vulture funds did. They bought up poor country debt at a tiny fraction of its book value and then sued that country for the full amount. If they were successful their ‘profit’ could be over 1,000%! It is hard to think of anything more obscene but it was happening in Britain – until the law was changed to make it illegal for court action to be taken against the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The mentality or ‘worldview’ which countenances this practice also thinks it perfectly reasonable to pay a bonus of £1m to a man who already receives an excessive salary. The same mentality tells priests that they shouldn’t meddle in politics but stick to religion! But three of the world’s religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) already have a tradition of debt forgiveness through their common scriptures and the jubilee Debt Campaign united faith groups, atheists, and humanist to put an end to this pernicious practice.

But now it seems the vulture funds have returned – this time they have Greece in their sights. According to the Quaker publication “The Friend” a number of funds have started buying up Greek debt. By refusing to agree to a write down these companies will receive either full payment from the Greek Government or the insurance money that results from a default. The Jubilee Debt Campaign warns that ‘the lives of millions of people’ could be ‘decided by a handful of super-rich speculators’. They call for broad debt cancellation and a crackdown on vulture funds. One battle has been won but the war is far from over.

The new edit studio when the garage was first converted.

For many people, working from home simply isn’t an option, it depends on the type of work you do. I was a director of a medium sized video production company serving the ‘high end’ corporate market. We had very presentable offices in a rapidly growing commercial centre with all the facilities we needed close at hand. Even so, most client meetings were held in their offices or else at a convenient location in central London. A number of developments within the company provided the opportunity for a radical change in my working life and I decided to take the plunge.

The first consideration was where in our standard for-bedroom house would I base my office? After several crazy schemes involving large conservatories (freezing in winter and baking hot in summer) we finally settled on converting the double garage. Unlike most people, we did actually use the garage as a garage not a store room but we knew there would be plenty of room on the drive for the cars.  We had two cars at the time but we soon realised that one would be sufficient because commuting would be a thing of the past. We were concerned about having to scrape the ice and snow off the windscreen on cold winter mornings but on most days the sun had done the job for us before the car was needed.

Even with the car in the garage, we had managed to fill it with a great many garden tools and other ‘useful’ items. By building a fairly large shed in the back garden, we were able to accommodate these and what couldn’t, we recycled at the local tip. The conversion of the garage into a workroom was handled by a local builder and was the only major expense of the plan. This required building regulation approval but not planning permission. It is worth mentioning that if you use part of you home exclusively for business purposes there may be Council Tax implications and also a Capital Gains Tax liability. However we use our new workroom for general family activities as well (it’s the grandchildren’s favourite room) and other rooms in the house are also used for business purposes on occasion.

One of our initial concerns was that clients might consider a converted garage to be an unprofessional venue for meetings and edit sessions. In fact, one of the first clients to attend the new ‘studio’ were staff from an international  “magic circle”  law firm and they were delighted  to be away from the city and in rural Hertfordshire. Parking is easy and we are close to the motorway network, factors that are probably more important to most people than the origin of the meeting room.

Working alone at home does require a certain amount of self discipline,  either to get motivated and start a task you’ve been putting off, or to stop working and switch off the computer when you are really into something. Either way you need to think about whether you are the kind of person who is happy to work, possibly alone, all day without the comfort (or irritation) of others. Not everyone can do it. There is no companionable trip to the pub at lunchtime, although there will be stuff to take to the post office and what better way to get a bit of exercise (now you’re the office boy, too!) and possibly meet your neighbours over a cup of coffee.

It isn’t going to be right for everyone but with rapidly improving  information technology and every increasing rail fares and traffic congestion, working from home becomes more and more tempting. I have certainly never regretted making the change.

David Cameron

For the first time that I can remember a Conservative Prime Minister has attacked excessive executive pay in what Cameron called “crony capitalism” and a “merry-go-round” that allowed people at the top to “fill their boots”. At last, we have recognition that there may actually be such a thing as “enough” pay. A recent study by the High Pay Commission cited the example of former Barclays chief executive, John Varley, who earned £4,365,636, which was 169 times more than the average worker in Britain today. It equates to an increase of 4,899% since 1980, when the top pay at Barclays was £87,323 and just 13 times the UK average, the report says.

David Cameron had a number of ideas about how excessive wage awards could be denied. He said “let’s empower the shareholders by having a straight, shareholder vote on top pay packages. We’ve got to deal with the merry-go-round where there’s too many cases of remuneration committee members, sitting on each other’s boards, patting each other’s backs, and handing out each other’s pay rises. We need to get to grips with that.”

Critics claim such high pay awards are necessary to compete for the very “best” people to lead our top companies. Really? Surely such excessive salaries and bonuses are more likely to attract the greediest candidates and those with the lowest moral judgement. How could anyone in a key leadership position be comfortable accepting a 50% increase in pay, particularly at a time when so many are being made redundant. Let’s get Director’s pay back to a reasonable level, then perhaps we shall attract the kind of people who are interested in the compassionate capitalism we hear so much about.

The Bad

“it’s like having someone with Tourette’s permanently sitting opposite you.”

This was how David Cameron described Ed Ball’s performance in parliament. Naturally, there was an immediate outcry from disability campaigners who claimed it showed a lack of understanding of the inherited neurological condition. No doubt it does but what upset me was the clear indication that nothing has changed. Our politicians are still behaving like naughty boys, calling each other names at every opportunity. I thought such destructive behaviour was going to be a thing of the past with this government. Those in power certainly need to be held to account but childish point scoring achieves nothing. Some people think the Lib-Dems were wrong to enter into partnership with the Tories after the last election but I disagree. I think we need more cooperation like this and less rubbishing of the opposition for the sake of it. We cannot measure what influence the Lib-Dems are having in government but as I point out above, no Tory leader has ever before shown concern about unbridled capitalism. Progress indeed!

The Ugly

The Ugly doesn’t come from the Daily Telegraph interview because no question was asked about the role that Britain plays through its  arms trade in upholding oppressive regimes like Bahrain, Kuwait and, previously, Libya and Egypt. However, earlier last year Cameron led a trade mission to the Middle East, along with six of our biggest arms manufacturers. At the time he said:“It is important, as Britain wants to link itself with some of the fastest growing parts of the world and to improve our trade relations, that we take such delegations of business people.”

So our own prosperity is used to justify this shameful trade. This is probably the only line the public will accept in defence of such a pernicious trade but is it true that without it our economy would suffer? Not according to Campaign Against the Arms Trade, who claim that arms export jobs are subsidised by at least £9,000 per job per year. They point out that the Government could choose to support other sectors that will provide long-term benefit and are urgently needed. Even the Vice President-Defence of the arms industry’s trade association made this very point when he told the parliamentary Defence Committee that “… the skills that might be divested of a reducing defence industry do not just sit there waiting to come back. They will be mopped up by other industries that need such skills.” Excellent. Let’s start dismantling the arms industry right away.

So why is it that when those same COEs appear on their company video something seems to be lacking? The lively, amusing, often combative executive we saw on TV has become a rather wooden and slightly frightened robot. Oh, there are smiles a plenty but somewhere they lost their winning power. The delivery is word perfect and the eyes never flicker from the camera but for some reason I’m not really listening any more. What’s gone wrong?

First, what was a probing interview in which the interviewer was trying to tease out information, some of which the CEO clearly wanted kept under wraps, has now become tired propaganda, which has been carefully sanitised by the PR department. The edge has gone out of it, and with it the fun of the chase.

Secondly, as an interviewer is no longer necessary the CEO talks straight to the camera. Few people can do this well without a great deal of practise. Successful television presenters have been chosen from among hundreds of candidates and then trained until they are able to look natural doing something which is very unnatural: talking to a piece of hardware that gives nothing back – no smile, no nod, not even a raised eyebrow. The result is that the poor CEO now looks slightly uncomfortable – if not completely out of their depth.

Thirdly, not many people are able to talk to a camera for long without forgetting some of what they want to say. Actors can do it, of course, but they learn the whole piece and then use their skill to make it all look immediate, natural and unlearned. One solution is to read the piece, either from a card or sheet of paper positioned near the lens or, if the budget will allow, from a TV cueing device (Autocue or Portapromp) which is placed in front of the lens and scrolled by an operator.  Both methods can work well if the CEO has the necessary skill. The first method (card stuck above or below the lens) is only really possible if the briefest of notes are used to jog the memory. The presentation is then effectively an ad-lib talk during which the presenter scans the notes in a microsecond. Usually, this either results in a good performance with something vital missed out, or else everything is included at the cost of a few furtive glimpses off camera. On the face of it, Autocue should be much easier. Most executives are used to these devises which are often used at conferences, so they know what to expect. However, there is a big difference between reading a script from two well place screens on a stage, where the audience is several meters away, and reading it in a silent studio with zero feedback and a camera monitoring your every eye movement.

Fourthly, reading out loud is not the same as talking from your head. Even if you are one of the few who has the gift of “getting the words off the page” and you can address an Autocue without looking like a frightened rabbit, there is no way (unless you are a trained actor) that you have the same freshness as when you are searching your brain for the right phrase. Think about all those dreadful sales calls you receive! You sit there (if you haven’t hung up already) listening to some poor soul reading from a script and it’s as if there is no one there – it might as well be a machine. Or have you ever tried having a conversation with a Jehovah Witness on your door mat? It usually feels as if you are talking to an instruction manual, not another human being. No, communication is a creative activity and most people do it best face to face with another, listening and responding.

And that brings us back to the TV interview. There is no reason why your corporate video shouldn’t be based on an interview, but beware – if the interviewer is too ‘tame’ and if the interview is too ‘rehearsed’, rather than impromptu, you will have gained nothing. What it comes down to is a balance between getting all your messages across but losing your audience; or keeping your audience but letting a few messages slip. Live adventurously!

More and more companies are trying to save money by cutting out the PR agency and production company and making their own videos for training and promotional purposes. It’s not something we would recommend (as it puts us out of a job!) but if its going to happen anyway here are a few suggestions to help you go about it .

Planning

Start by asking yourself some questions: Why do you need a video? What do you want it to achieve? What problem is it trying to solve? Will the audience need to see it (like an induction or training video) or must it grab their attention and keep them watching? How long should it be? Then you need to map out the content, a simple story board might be helpful but just headings will probably do. The important thing is to think through the whole project before you start. If you are asking colleagues to appear in the video will they look natural? Very few people can talk to a camera without looking stiff and ‘wooden’. And if they are going to try to read from a cue sheet next to the camera (or even an Autocue), they will need to be very talented indeed to pull it off. A much safer approach is to ask questions, off camera, without giving your subjects any notice. That way they won’t have time to become nervous and when people talk ‘ad lib’ they are usually much more believable than when they have ‘learned their lines’. The camera is a very effective lie detector. Remember those awful party political broadcasts? And politicians are good at lying!

Video camera Not long ago there was a big difference between a professional video camera and a domestic one. The technical quality of the consumer camera was vastly inferior to the professional version, which only a trained professional would have the skill and knowledge to use. That is probably still true of the the high end pro cameras like the Arri Alexa and the Red but there are dozens of pro and semi-pro cameras which are sufficiently “user friendly” for any competent amateur to master. And even the true consumer cameras deliver picture quality which is more than adequate for many corporate purposes, especially if YouTube is the intended means of distribution.

Then there is the DSLR stills camera.  This can produce excellent picture quality with the “feature film” look created by its small depth of focus. But there are often problems: no proper sound, short recording times, all manner of artefacts that have been sorted out in “real” video cameras. However, the DSLR might be an option, particularly if sync sound is not required.

So what are the minimum requirements for the camera you will use?

1 It should be capable of operating in manual mode for focus, white balance and exposure. The auto function will be fine in most situations but you need to be able to override it if necessary.

2. It must have a good colour viewfinder (either flip out or eyepiece ) so you can properly monitor what you are recording.

3. It must have at least one external mic. socket, unless you are using a separate audio recorder.

4. Whether it is a tapeless camera (using SD cards or similar) or a tape format make sure it is compatible with whatever editing system you are going to use.

All semi-professional video cameras come with a zoom lens. This is useful for framing the shot but beware the temptation to zoom while shooting. A professional cameraman will rarely zoom during a shot (except for a particular effect) and nothing singles out the amateur more than the giddy in-out motion of an over used zoom. The same applies to pans. Panning with a moving object is fine (if done smoothly) but panning across a landscape requires skill if it is to be pleasing. Better to stick to a series of well framed static shots with the camera mounted on a tripod. Hand held shots should be confined to wide angle (fully zoomed out) use when filming people who are moving about or when it is impossible to get a tripod into the right position. Don’t try to hand-hold a camera when zoomed in unless you have a very steady grip or can brace the camera against something. The steady-shot feature of modern cameras is useful but not invincible.

Sound

If your corporate video includes someone talking and you want to hear what they’re saying, you will need a separate microphone. Most built in camera mics are good for sound effects and someone talking within 18 inches of the lens but for anything else one or more plug in microphones will be needed. The simplest type is a clip on tie mic. but a reporters’ hand mic might be appropriate or even a highly directional boom mike (the type with the hairy coat) but these need very careful placement to get the best results. The camera you are using should have two XLR mic. inputs (this is standard on most prosumer cameras of the type you will probably need to hire) so you will be able to use up to two microphones without requiring a mixer. These can be hired along with the camera and the type you hire will depend on what you are going to film. For most purposes the auto level setting will work well but the camera’s audio levels may first need to be adjusted for the output of the mic. you are using. You should also check that each channel is set to record in mono (not 1 – 2, which puts the sound from channel 1 onto 2 as well). All these settings will be found in the camera’s menu and once set up and tested should not give any trouble. It is important to monitor the sound through headphones but simple iPhone type earpieces will do. A common error is not to switch the audio input from internal (the built in mic.) to external. You carefully plug in an external mic but use the camera mic by mistake!

Lighting

Cameras are so sensitive now it is usually quality of light, not quantity you should be concerned about. Probably the best advice is  to use available light.  A white reflector  (a piece of polystyrene, or large white card) can be very useful to fill in shadows. If your subject is sitting near a window you may need to fill in the dark side of their face with the reflector. Often ceiling lighting can result in dark eye sockets and a reflector held below and just out of view can make a big difference. Do check the lighting in the viewfinder and make sure the colour balance looks right, too. Auto colour balance will usually be ok but it can be thrown by a stray light source. Similarly, auto exposure might be ok, especially if you are moving about a lot, but beware of bright objects upsetting the exposure – check the viewfinder. (If the viewfinder is adjustable for brightness and contrast make sure those are set to normal first.)

Editing

There are many excellent editing systems available for home computers today, (Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier are good examples), with features and a picture quality level unthinkable a few years ago. To master their full potential will require hours of practice but beware: just because an editing system can achieve amazing effects doesn’t mean you should use them in your production. The neatest way to get from one shot to another is a cut, with a simple dissolve as an alternative if the cut jars for some reason. Resist using special effects and transitions unless they particularly suit the subject matter. Too many effects and your program may end up looking amateurish. The same applies to titling and captions. Your editing system will probably offer you dozens of fonts, colours, animations, etc. but a simple non-serif font in white will probably work best.

I hope this has given a few pointers to help make your production a success. If you decide it’s not for you there are plenty of video production companies in your area who can help you out.

After his first visit Mr Rawstone found the inhabitants of the camp to be “naive and idealistic” but on his second visit he found an “ugly scene of hard drugs, violence and corruption”. Alcohol and drug abuse, people urinating and defecating all over the place, female visitors to the cathedral being subjected to appalling verbal abuse, and school tips cancelled for fear that the  children might hear some bad language. I live sandwiched between a junior and a secondary school and I can assure Mr Rawstone that the children of leafy Hertfordshire already know every foul word ever uttered!

I don’t doubt that such anti-social conduct can be found at the camp, as elsewhere in any European city, but you can find anything if you go looking for it. When I visited St Paul’s last Sunday (See YouTube) all I found were people browsing the notice boards, reading books, listening to speakers in the “General Assembly” tent and, when the Quakers arrived, standing in a silent circle for Meeting for Worship. Perhaps my prejudice of support for the campers stopped me seeing what the Daily Mail reporter’s prejudice had enabled him to find.

But on one point I must agree with Tom Rawstone, the camp is a bit seedy – it looks  like a rich country slum. It rather reminded me of a certain stable in first century Bethlehem. What concerns the folk in this seedy “stable” are issues like justice, peace, homelessness, care of those on the edge of society, the refugees and asylum seekers. There is a certain anger at those mega rich corporations who will do anything to avoid paying their tax. In fact, these are the very issues that concerned the old testament prophets, who’s hope is expressed in the Christmas story.

However, reading the Daily Mail article again, with its subtle sneer at everything the Occupy camp stands for, it is Easter rather than Christmas I am reminded of . Crucify him! Crucify him!