How a video changed everything 12 years ago and its presentation of that moment is a model for online teaching.

Where were you? The frenzy surrounding the event would palpably change the industry. A photographer manages to get hold of a new Sony stills camera that can film; sets up a two day shoot and the result Reverie is simply mind blowing.

Overnight, camera sales spike, video cameras are about to lose big time in sales, anybody interested in making what could look like a Hollywood movie has the equipment priced under $3000 in their hands. Empowering doesn’t begin to capture it.

Vincent Laforet , the NYT’s photographer becomes a legend. So I ask the question where were you when the shock of all this tilted the world on its axis a couple of degrees and the DSLR MkII became the swiss army knife of video recordings?

But that’s not the reason I’m posting this. To pay homage, perhaps yes! But really to glimpse what happens next? A year later and some, with many of us still breathless; my DSLR would travel to many places: Egypt around their uprising, Syrian border etc, Laforet held a series of webinars.

I couldn’t but watch them. Who couldn’t? There was something about it that kept in my mind, an online version of a studio set reminiscent of UK Channel 4’s “Don’t forget your Toothbrush” or Chris Evans TFI Friday, except without the showbiz razamataz. Lounge broadcasts into your lounge.

In this webinar Laforet had eight people in a room and 2000 people online — some achievement for 2009/10. And no it was not on zoom. The set, Laforet’s demeanour, and the presentation appeared effortless, but ponder for a moment and you could tell the detailed planning that went into this. But once the formula was embedded this was like watching any good show you’d find on television or growing YouTube.

Laforet told stories and wrapped knowledge within the narratives. Power points were merely prompters, the exposition always came back to him and there was enough “eye candy/gear/props” in the room to hold your attention to what could happen next? Yep, I’d really love to know how that rig works.

As a broadcaster and educator I had a special interest. I have been making video films since 1992 as a videojournalist and before then as a network journalist on shows like Newsnight.

I’ve been online just as long and in 2000 started teaching at universities in online and web design. I’ve gone through any number of cameras as shown above, and to echo Laforet and many others, the skill is not in the mobile, or the DSLR or Arri. They can kick in at some point, but the skill is in the storytelling — that black box in your head.

Online, has like many, become my public domain and playground to build partnerships and reputation. I started teaching web design in 2003 to Master students. Yesterday, I went through my files taking note of the sites built by students in 6 one week exchanges. They still look impressive and are a testament to good UX and design.

Today, with the impact of Covid-19 this online world takes on a new purpose and that’s what’s led to this piece.

The bad news is nothing, if not entirely, beats face to face contact. If there’s any good news, we now live in a digital world where millennium to Gen-Xs live through their devices.

You’ll watch a Netflix Show, listen to a Reith lecture online, and communicate with others down a network of ones and zeros. A new breed to TV practitioners is set to take over digital I enthused in this article in 2001 for the architecture mag Blue Print.

Well we’re here now. So why can’t we build lectures with equally and more ingenuity like those mentioned. Laforet’s presentations set an example and as I’ve experimented with smaller spaces, the look and nearly the feel, is achievable. The question remains how practised-based over-the-shoulder-teaching can be implemented during social distancing. More of that in the next post.

So a couple of simple things to do.

• Create programme slates: that first slide sets a cognitive tone for what could be ahead. This was the slate for my my foreign news reporting for Masters students

• Search for the dramatic moments — inciting incidents that give some rope to you ensuring narrative. Here I am in South Africa 1994- the eve of their election as a bomb goes offer and there are rumours of another bomb

• Use the conversational tone rather than the lecture. Evidence ( I’ll look to find the link) points to audiences reception in these two different forms. Michel Chion is a good person to read for more.
• Use strong images that create the framework for the online lecture
• Use words on screen judiciously. On separate ppt upload that to the student area that fills in any gaps.
• Find ways of reinforcing memory after a lecture. I have a habit of blogging after my talk to reinforce memory.
• Tell stories. A friend brought to my house a Porsche and the a Ferrari for a test drive. We created a promo/ commercial for a Porsche owner.

• Use crafted video to aid the lecture flow
• Use video for feelingful or emotional purposes. Like watching a film, a lecture needs break points where no dialogue exists.

• Have follow ups sessions for closer debate and room for people/ students to ask further questions.

Presenting at the Front Line Club