Brrism enters the Video Age

I first heard a recording of my voice when I was 7 years old. My dad had this funny old reel-to-reel tape recorder (purchased in the 1960s) and I was convinced that it was the recorder that was making my voice “sound all funny”. I soon discovered that it wasn’t. I really DO sound like that.

Several decades later, the same thing happens but this time with digital video. Once again, I think it must be the camera that’s making me “look all funny”. And once again, I realise that it isn’t…

This Wednesday, Bristol Social Media (Brrism) will be holding its monthly meeting at the Pervasive Media Studio. People have complained at previous Brrisms about the difficulty in finding the studio (we've even had people who've given up and gone home without getting there) and so last week I decided to do something about it. Sam Downie and myself went out and shot the video below. Sam did a great job of shooting and editing the video – I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him – but, despite his video skills, I still look and sound funny. Strange that...

Seriously, if you haven’t been to the Pervasive Media Studio before, I’d suggest you have a quick look to familiarise yourself with the location of Bristol’s very own “Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross”. Just remember to turn the volume down. ;)

Constructive feedback on the video is welcome too – please leave a comment on the YouTube page.

If you click on the video frame you’ll be taken to YouTube and you might notice that Brrism has its own YouTube “channel”. This is because, at this coming meeting, each of the guest speaker’s 5 minute presentations will be videoed and uploaded to BrrismTV. These videos can be embedded on other people’s blogs (just as the video was embedded in this blog) and its hoped that the videos will be used as a prologue to all other social media items about that particular topic. (In other words, people start with the video and follow links to other blogs/websites/tweets about that topic.) Is this taking us towards a meeting format for the social media age? Judge for yourself at the meeting. It won't be perfect and I’m sure it will need a bit of and tweaking around the edges. Brrism aims to be as innovative as the social media that it focuses on.

The three speakers for Wednesday are Paul Smith, Lee Cottier and Colin Rainsforth. Break a leg, guys and don’t worry if you think the camera will make you look/sound funny: It does that to everyone!