When I was starting out in the blogging world, nothing was said. Basically no one cared. Then as time went on and a started getting a name for myself questions would be asked.

‘Do you want to be a journalist?’ was the main one.

As I have stated in the past the answer is ‘no’ I don’t want to be a journo.

What I do is totally different from what journalists do. I hate the thought of writing match reports. I know I would be terrible at it. I am not interested in breaking news, I don’t have the time to do it and nor do I want to.

Journalists in the past have also question me. ‘What am I doing?’ and they would also try and put me down by saying ‘yeah you couldn’t do our job’ or ‘ you don’t have the nose for an exclusive’ or ‘you don’t have our contacts’.

That does get my back up slightly. I have read the sports pages of newspapers for nearly as long as I’ve been able to read. I know what they do and how its done. For all the mistakes I make on here, that is all down to me having little time and no support. I also know if you read any tabloid website you will find terrible mistakes throughout.

The exclusive part….

A little known fact but this little blog did break the news that Owen Coyle was the new manager at Bolton. Also the Times/hoax story, I could have blown a big chunk of that but chose not to. Its not my job to do that. This blog is about my opinion on what news the journos report on or what I see by watching football. Working in the most exclusive nightclub in Glasgow for a time gave me plenty of exclusives but I am not interested in spreading rumours and wrecking careers.

The best part though is the idea I don’t have their contacts.

Eh… I have plenty of contacts and know people who know people. That includes journalists by the way. I also have great confidence. I can go up to people on the street and strike up a conversation. I work in the media sector, I have dealt with a-list celebs and with top footballers. I am not fazed by these things anymore, not since I was about 12 years old.

The one thing that journos do have over me is reputation.

Its as simple as that. If we both make that call, chances are they will get heard first. Which is fine by me, until they start coming onto my patch and start filming news content.

I work for a well known production company in Scotland. That company backs me when I do my videos for this site. I would say that my videos are better than most of the stuff out there. (The host is a bit dodgy but I can’t afford a professional presenter, mores the pity.)

We have been used by foreign news stations to help cover Champions League matches.

Again if its done well I have no problem praising media sites. I am a huge fan of STV‘s online football content. I think the team there do a marvellous job and their coverage of the Celtic Juventus matches was second to none. That said I have criticised them in the past, but they listen and sometimes agree with me.

No my problem is when papers like the Daily Record and sites like Scotzine and the Away End roll into town and start filming stuff.

The Record is my main gripe.

They have the money, time and get ads for their video content. Yet they offer videos void of imagination and quality.

Looking at the last three videos that they have produced (not the cake one, that was a good job, done by a professional production company). There are a lot of issues going on.

I am not going to lie, I didn’t watch any all the way through. I couldn’t do that to myself.

They used the exact same background for the Danny Lennon and Marc McAusland interviews. What didn’t they have another room or wall?

The McAusland interview also had interference with sound as someone left their mobile phone on. It has happened to us but we were using two cameras and two mics. So we could work around the problem. In the trade its called working with ‘belts and braces on’. Also Marc doesn’t have enough headroom in the top of the shot.

We have no ‘tops and tails’ in the interview sequences to explain who this video is for or made by.

The graphics are also a bit amateurish.

All three videos have issues with sound.

Now in the interviews I can only imagine they would use a hand held mic. That should then be placed just out of shot but as close to the mouth as possible. And it might seem obvious but it should be aimed at the persons mouth.

In the backpage stuff with Hugh Keevins they used radio mics which seemed to be on a different frequency or were faulty. Hugh sounds like he did when I first heard him on Superscore board through a distorted radio!

At the Away End they do try and they are trying to groom the journos of the future and make them competent in using video. The problem is, they aren’t.

Watch their stuff with Scott Booth and Mark McGhee and exposure is a real problem. The sound isn’t healthy either.

In the opening scene of the Booth interview the presenter has far too much head room. You aren’t drawn to him you are looking at the vast space around him. You then have the sound. Its too windy for a radio mic or if they are using a boom mic its too far away from him. The sound and the shot is much better when Booth is being interviewed. Although I would have still preferred it to be tighter.

The shots are also very dark.

In the presser for Mark McGhee, the shot is over exposed.

Having checked on Scotzine TV, I can no longer find it on site. They had interviews from last year or possibly from two years ago, from the league cup semi final. At best they were shoddy. I think they looked like they were filmed using an iPhone or a similar device.

Now I don’t really mind these sites getting access to the SFA or football clubs but it should work on the same basis as the the press getting accreditation for press conferences.

They should be able to prove that they can do a decent job. Plus I, as a professional film maker, should be offered the same kind of access.

What I can do, that these sites can’t, is offer imagination and skill. More people view my films than they do the stuff on offer at these other sites. I look for the interesting stories that people want to see. I tell stories through the art of film.

My work has been recommended by news and media sites around the world. When I turned up at Hampden in the summer, Alex Thomson from Channel 4 was telling me that our equipment was the best there. We got a lot of attention that day.

Yet the thing is ‘The SFA’ continue to ignore me. I am not stepping on any toes when it comes to the written journos. I am not taking work off the news guys. I just want to promote Scottish football in a way that will get people talking.

I’ve emailed all this (last year) to the SFA’s Head of Communications Darryl Broadfoot, on his say so may I add, and I got no reply. Remind me again what he does???

I asked to do the same thing that Scotzine and the Away End have done, in regards of interviews at a game at Hampden and was politely turned down.

The fact I live five minutes away from Hampden also grates but hey ho.

In the past summer I also contacted Livingston football club about an idea I had. I didn’t get any response. So when clubs bleat on about lack of media coverage and exposure, it isn’t always someone else’s fault.

I know this may come across as sour grapes and it should. I am proud of my work and I believe I can help promote Scottish football with films that catch the public’s imagination.

But as always Scottish football closes itself down to the possibility of actually doing something properly.

Posted on March 15th, 2013 by scott
Filed under: Article