It’s not unusual for TV executives to talk about television news storytelling and apologise for the use of the word ‘cinema’ or cinematic’ in describing a scene that leaps out of the screen.
The apology tends to signify the presence of a highly visual aesthetic e.g. shallow focus, which is associated with, not TV, but cinema feature films.
From my interviews with execs there is an awkwardness. Television execs citing cinema when they’re two different media: primarily one is truth and fact and the other is fiction, means at the very least it’s best to use the term sparingly.
I’m here to suggest the word ‘Cinema’ is used more. But it must stem from more than a surface understanding of its nature. For this you could rightly scour any number of books like Bazin’s ‘What is cinema?’ Another day. For now, this. …
Hard right wingers brandishing shotguns and handguns storm a pivotal meeting of state officials. The mob smash up the place, ram an armoured vehicle into the glass building, and daub graffiti on walls in a 2-hour reckless spree as officials clear the debating chamber to lock themselves away fearing for their lives.
No, this isn’t the 6th January 2012. Not even the oft-cited August 24, 1814 when the ‘British stormed our Capitol and set fire to it” explained passionately by US Senator Cory Booker talking on the senate floor on the 6th.
This was the 25th June 1993 in South Africa where I was based as a reporter covering its historic transition. …
We’re not going back. Too much has changed and even if we tried it would be a poorer, worn, imitation that would not suffice for the future.
Causality is how we piece together events in time and space to cohere into conformable narratives. In a line in Christopher Nolan’s film Tenet causality is a myth. The director’s films, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay A Wrinkle in Time invariably question socially engineered norms.
How does time and space shape our understanding of the world? How does historicity impact truth? And what of cultures and memories which don’t conform to dominantly assumed narratives?
These sound like excess talking points for theoretical physicists and philosophers, but they are the fundamentals for a precarious time in social order-disorder and how elite technologies e.g. A.I …
Gil (not her real name) had mistakenly attached a rubber tube from the nozzle of a gas pipe to the opening of a Liebig condenser, an instrument used to turn vapour into liquid.
Had her error gone unnoticed for a few more minutes, a fireball would have engulfed the lab with its flammable substances. What transpired instead after another student caught sight of the catastrophe ahead was a bench catching fire. It was swiftly doused out with sand. That was 1989. I was in the lab.
I knew a maths and science degree would have some purpose, beyond improbable accidents, but it was also future gazing that would have a draw. …
We faced a crisis in cracking teaching online. Two-hour straight lectures were not going to work, particularly staring straight down the tube.
We faced a crisis in cracking teaching online. Two-hour straight lectures were not going to work, particularly staring straight down the tube.
Damon Hill — the last Brit to win Formula 1 championship. That was in 1996. OMG you had to be watching F1, because it was heart in your mouth stuff. Lewis Hamilton becomes the world Champion and the youngest ever. That was my blog from Sunday November 2nd 2008.
“Yɛ da wo ase pa”, is how I round off our conversation with Afua Hirsch. ‘We thank you very much’ in twi — one of Ghana’s several languages. We’re nearing 4.00pm. Goodness, doth time fly.
I’m minded by the time I’ve taken and the students who should be out of their zoom lecture within 10 minutes. Zoom, here’s an idea, a green room of sorts where we can gather and walk out our guests whilst the line is still active. Nope, not the breakout room. Hence, I’m feeling a little sad from not having a post chat in said room.
In the remaining minutes I catch our students’ thoughts. …
“Ask me anything” says BBC journalist and news presenter Alice Bhandhukravi. I have a question says Indigo, an MA student. “How does it feel to be followed by Barack Obama?”. Alice pauses for a moment: “Am I being followed by Obama?”
We’re approximately 20 minutes into a Q&A and Alice is delivering a masterclass in how to break into broadcasting as her evening news bulletin, she’s due to present, draws nearer.
“Let’s give it up for Alice” I request and applause spills out from zoom portals.
Our next guest is Channel 4 News’ Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson. “Are we on or off the record? ”, Alex asks. The chat room is pinging “off”. Alex begins to produce a spectrum of life stories: from interviewing the IRA, putting together a report on the day with little notice, and then the off the record stuff, which I can’t tell you, because it’s off the record. …
An invitation to be a juror at the RTS Awards ( Royal Television Society) dropped in my email. I’m always grateful. The work is rewarding and it’s an opportunity to say hello to old C4 News friends like Mr Snow, showing here his crips cum hip hop creds.
Jon, there’s an invitation coming your way for a hip hop dance off, when this Covid-19 is all over ( see Marcus Ryder’s tweet below).
But to the present because at the same time, a tweet comes in. My desk is strewn with papers I need to mark. A deadline looms and I’m not up for being distracted. …
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