The Beamups Blog

PanARMENIAN enters global news marketplace!

2010-04-26T13:17:00.006+01:00

We are more than happy to welcome new provider at Beamups. Last week, a great photo agency from Armenia has joined Beamups - global news marketplace and we hope that our cooperation will bring many good stories from the Caucasus region.

We've asked couple of questions to Arpiné Grigoryan, Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications PanARMENIAN to help you better get to know them:

In few words... what is PanArmenian?

PanARMENIAN Photo is a photo reporting agency that supplies news photos, daily life images, reportage and feature stories from Armenia. PanARMENIAN Photo was founded by PanARMENIAN Media Company, which is known for PanARMENIAN.Net - the first Armenian online information agency celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

What kind of stories do you focus on?

PanARMENIAN Photo covers the main social-political and economic developments in Armenia. It reports on cultural and sporting events, and international events that are connected with Armenia.

What is your main goal of using Beamups?

We are constantly seeking ways to spread our images and show our country and culture to the world community. Beamups is a great opportunity to sell our national news content via a marketplace, and enable international distribution and additional revenues. As a photo news agency that is transitioning to produce videos, Beamups is the perfect place to open up this market for us.

Beamups in Caucasus

2010-04-22T21:10:00.006+01:00

Last week Beamups went to the capital city of

Georgia

- Tbilisi to attend two social media events happening there.

Jakub Górnicki, who recently started at Beamups and is responsible for Online Relations, presented at the Social Media for Social Change conference organized by PH International. The event brought together participants from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Jakub led a presentation together with a great discussion about social media revolution and the changes it brings to old media role and model.

Social Innovation Camp (second event we took part in), where Beamups was one of the judges, was about solving social challenges in new ways - by bringing together ideas and digital tools to create web-based innovations in just 48 hours.

P.S. We will be soon announcing new buyers and providers from the Caucasus region ;) And you can expect to see us at more global events soon ;)

Online News Marketplace Wins MEGA Award

2010-03-28T15:38:00.008+01:00

Beamups is thrilled to have picked up the Award for Business Model and Startup in the prestigious MediaGuardian's Innovation Awards 2010.

Beamups CEO, Dean Stewart and Miki Lion (head of communications), were at the London-based ceremony and it was cheesy grins all round when Aleks Krotoski (The Guardian's tech reporter) praised Beamups for our innovation in buying and selling news content online.

Beamups' MEGAs Shortlist

2010-02-08T18:06:00.005Z

All of us at Beamups are delighted to have been shortlisted for the 2010 Media Guardian Awards.

We have been nominated in the Business Model and Start Up category, recognising our unique marketplace for the buying and selling of news online. Beamups is already generating revenues for news journalists while cutting costs for news rooms.

The Media Guardian is an industry standard on the reporting of traditional and digital media and we are thrilled to be part of these awards.

This is the second time Beamups has been nominated since our launch. We were also in the running for the Royal Television Society's Innovation Awards.

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T08:38:00.003Z

As we enter a new year, I can reflect with great pride at what the Beamups team and Beamups users have achieved together.

Beamups launched in the Spring of 2009 with a specific target – to establish a real-time marketplace for buying and selling professional news video and stills. Within a few months we achieved that goal. Today Beamups has a strong professional community from over 60 countries uploading footage on a daily basis.

Our rich and varied content is increasingly attracting buyers, ranging from international broadcasters to production companies and websites. We have seen sales in China, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.

Part of the Beamups dream has been the creation of a level playing field for all our content providers. Our independent cameramen are selling alongside respected news agencies including Ihlas, Xinhua and ANI. In 2010 we will be seeing more professional freelancers, news agencies and organisations enticing buyers with masses of unique content from across the globe.

We also appreciate your feedback when using the system, as Beamups is dedicated to improving your experience. I look forward to the launch of our FTP facility in the coming weeks and our search will be better than ever. There will be other enhancements as the year progresses.

I am grateful to all of you who have joined our mission to create real change within our industry. The way people view their world is primarily affected by news, and your content will ensure a steady stream of authentic and original news from across the world in 2010.

Our aim at Beamups is to keep making it easier to buy and sell news content, and I look forward to our playing a part in increasing prosperity for all of you in 2010.

I wish all of you a Happy New Year!

Dean Stewart
CEO Beamups

Christmas Post

2009-12-23T10:22:00.002Z

With Christmas around the corner, I must admit to mixed feelings at this time of year.

As a freelance cameraman I always had a lot of work around this time and covered Christmas from Santa’s grotto in Lapland to Jericho. In the Middle East there were wonderful images of a traditional Christmas alongside the equally familiar images of stones being thrown in a domestic battleground.

It strikes me that Christmas is the most local and the most global of holidays. Few of us are immune to the Hollywood version of Christmas, but my memories blend the charming with the rough edges of hard news.

Perhaps it is this combination that makes most broadcasters look for a whole range of Christmas stories around this time. In every city across the world there will be pockets of cultures celebrating in their own way. It could be Brazilians in Paris, Brits in Uganda, or Mexicans (and just about every other nationality) in Bethlehem.

This is also the time of year that the quirky stories come out. One that was uploaded onto Beamups by respected ABC reporter Mike Lee, shows that despite the recession, consumerism is going strong in the UK with the advent of ‘manger chic’ – designer clothes being bought for school nativity plays.

I hope you will keep uploading seasonal stories, local images from across the globe that will resonate everywhere at this time of year.

I wish you all a wonderful new year with many of your items being bought and sold through Beamups.

Boaz Eshtai

Beamups co-Founder

Training Camp for Video Journalists

2009-10-16T09:41:00.004+01:00

In the early years of my career as a News/Documentary cameraman I took about a dozen different technical and creative workshops – they were immensely helpful to my progress in this tough industry.

I’d learn new skills in one week and then leap back to my freelance jobs equipped with new techniques and ways of approaching locations with the different ‘look and feel’ that I had to provide day-to-day.

When I first dreamed of Beamups, these types of workshops were an intrinsic part of the service we wished to offer budding video journalists: providing the skills as well as the distribution mechanism that will enable budding and professional reporters to sell their stories.

After coming across Robb Montgomery and his unique not-for-profit organisation Visual Editors, I realised we shared this common ambition and am pleased that Beamups is hosting the first workshop in the UK.

Robb has taken these workshops across the world. His is a new type of workshop, perfectly designed for the new newsgathering cameraman/woman. It focuses on the essential skills; such as storytelling / editing / filming sequences / and another new layer of new skill: selling your item!

This final part of the workshop is crucial to even established video journalists and cameramen. We’ve all been there – proud of producing a great new feature with great earning potential… but because of lack of selling knowledge and distribution the item struggles to find the right potential buyers.

The Guild of Television Cameramen – all established professionals – have also recognised this need and Beamups is also very happy to be involved in their workshops: How to Survive as a Freelance.

I would highly recommend that all experienced VJs, and newcomers alike, take part in professional workshops such as these.

Boaz Eshtai

In Focus this week- James Reynolds, Typhoon Fury

2009-08-19T13:15:00.006+01:00

Name: James Reynolds
Occupation: Freelance Videographer
Professional Field of interest: Natural disasters and extreme weather events.
Based in: Hong Kong
Active in countries: China, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam.

Number of years in the field: 5

Favorite project so far: Working with Discovery Channel on the new Raging Planet series.
Equipment I usually use:
Canon EOS 5D
Sony HDR-HC9 HDV camcorder
Favorite editing software: Premiere or Final Cut Pro

Event/Person who influenced me and my work: World famous cameraman Geoff Mackley from Discovery's "Dangerman" series. He's a good friend and taught me a lot about operating in hazardous environments.

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
I always try to expect the unexpected, prepare for the worst and hope for the best!
Website address: TyphoonFury.com

James Reynolds (Typhoon Fury) is a gold member at Beamups.

Local news, Global distribution

2009-08-18T13:08:00.003+01:00

By Boaz Eshtai on August 18, 2009

In the old days, the difference between local or national news to international news, was very clear- International news was mainly gathered by news agencies such as AP, Visnews (today Reuters) and WTN.
Very few big networks and publishers had international presence. If they did, it would only be in key territories that provide ongoing international news stories, such as Jerusalem.

Today, the international news coverage is different. News and media companies distribute content 24/7 via the web, using cheap camera gear that produces high quality footage. This enables local stories to become international stories.
About two years ago I filmed a documentary for Channel 4’s BodyShock. It was a big project that was later broadcasted on National Geographic.
“Lakshmi, the Girl with eight limbs” was about a girl who was born with 8 limbs in India. The locals considered her a goddess. On one of the days during the two month shoot, Lakshmi had an operation to amputate her extra limbs.

That day and for the following 48 hours, her story became the biggest story in the international news. It was covered by more than 5,000 Broadcasters and online publishers around the world.
This girl was two and a half years old when we shot the documentary. For two and a half years this local story did not exist to the rest of the world. But local stories can become international- today more than ever. So next time when you film a news story don’t rule out the possibility to sell it to newsrooms world wide – it might be the next big thing. Local stories could go global, if you see their potential.

So how should I price my items?

2009-07-30T12:52:00.003+01:00

By Boaz Eshtai on July 30, 2009

Over the past 16 years I have closely watched the transition that the industry has made in the way news, current affairs and archive are evaluated and priced.

Today it is difficult to sell news items exclusively when the price tag can range from $10,000 to $500,000. With advertising revenues shrinking, broadcasters and online publishers can hardly afford these 'old days' prices anymore.

Archive items, on the other hand, used to be sold for a relatively low cost up until the end of the 80s. Then, the big archive sources such as APTN, Reuters and ITN began considering their bank of items as one of their most valuable assets. As a result, by the early 90s, archive prices increased tremendously.

As lone cameramen, we also have to adapt to new pricing structures and the principles that drive them. Whether it's daily news or archive, the best solution for individual cameramen, photographers and production companies (and the people that pay them) is to maintain copyrights, and sell the items many times at a lower price. The price may be lower, but the value (income!) goes up.

let’s take a real life example: the popular "Battle at Kruger" video.

The incredible story of a young Buffalo caught between a pride of lions and a crocodile, then rescued by its herd was filmed by David "Buzz" Budzinski and the photographs were taken by Jason Schlosberg. As of today this clip has been viewed over 45,000,000 times .

This video was uploaded onto YouTube with no copyrights restrictions.

I suspect that very few broadcasters would have paid $10,000 to have exclusive rights to broadcast it on the day. However, ‘all or nothing’ are no longer the only options. In today's reality, if this item was priced around $25, with the copyrights held by the owners, I am convinced that 500 broadcasters and online publishers (big and small) would have bought it for broadcast. And since the owner would have maintained his copyright, with archive prices climbing, this item could have been sold for $200 over and over, thus earning the cameraman over $12,500 from that one item.

Boaz Eshtai

Co-Founder, Beamups

The Economy of News

2009-07-30T11:02:00.003+01:00

By Miki Lion on July 29, 2009

Much like the way we consume TV programmes – either in miniscule pocket appliances, or giant LCD screens that take up half the wall – the news industry is also straining from being pulled in two directions, with a big question at its core: to pay or not to pay?

The decision by the BBC to give free online video content to newspapers such as Telegraph and Daily Mail is the latest tug in this particular war of predictions. How will our content be paid for?

Will it be a return to the traditional model Rupert Murdoch announced last May where the end user pays for News Corp’s content? Or is it Chris Anderson’s model of free - that generates traffic and, hopefully, advertising – that will win out in the end? Or will it be a model yet to be conceived?

Professional journalists (video and photographers) must be rewarded appropriately. If the industry cannot find a way to employ the professionals then as individuals they must go it alone and get their fair pay directly from the news outlets – however they make their money.

Miki Lion is Head of Communications at Beamups.

In Focus this week- Stuart McAlister

2009-07-30T10:45:00.002+01:00

Name: Stuart McAlister
Occupation: Freelance shoot/edit
Professional field of interest: Anything picture driven
Active in countries: Europe
Number of years in the field: since 1989 - you do the math!
Favorite project so far: Impossible to remember everything but the Balkan War was something that I will never forget.
Equipment I usually use:
Sony Z7
Libec tripod
Sennheiser M2
Favorite editing software:
Final Cut Pro
Motion 3

Event/person who influenced me and my work: No-one in particular. It was more a case of seeing something that caught my eye and going out and doing it for myself.

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
For the newcomer, don't be afraid to ask the more experienced operators questions about equipment or working procedure - you won't learn anything if your mouth stays shut! Think about the story and to whom it may be of interest and think 'outside the box' from time to time - don't always follow the crowd but find a different hook to your story.

Website: http://www.thefreelance.tv

Stuart McAlister is a Gold member at Beamups.