A better terminology for the word videotaping?

Jerry K wrote on 8/12/2012, 10:24 AM

A better terminology for the word videotaping?

The other night ABC news had a story on a bus crash and how it was caught on tape, that's what the lower third read, we all know dash cams record on a card just like 95% of all camcorders made today record on a
card , flash drive or H/D.

My local news had a story the other day that had a lower third that said caught on camera. I like that better then caught on tape.

I'm a member of the NJ videographer association group. We have high end videographers coming in from all over the country showing off their technics and how they create their finished product. Most all of these companies will not use the word video anymore instead use the word film.

I do not to use the word video anymore and I do not like the word film.

My question is being most of us are now shooting and editing with out video tape how are you handling this terminology change with clients, websites and brochures?

Jerry K

Comments

videoITguy wrote on 8/12/2012, 10:48 AM

Oh really come on this is silly-

I am a cinematographer ( I grew up reading American Cinematography magazine when a teenager) - I went to on to get my college degree in 'Visual Communications' and Cinematography. I have been a documentarian, film-artist, and TV studio cameraman.
I used a 16mm Arriflex once -and even that footage was distributed over 3/4 Umatic tape. Most everything I produce from stills to graphics to motion footage came out of a camera with a video head.

So what am I?

rraud wrote on 8/12/2012, 12:36 PM

So and So's band is coming out with a new 'record album'.. that ain't exactly correct. I'm listed as a 'production sound mixer' on some 'films', where in fact all the dialog was iso'd to a multi-track recorder... and was shot with the Red and Arriflex 'digital cinema' cameras, so that's not totally accurate either. What a terminology mess.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/12/2012, 12:48 PM

How about.. recording? or does that sound to low tech for everybody?

Besides, for me tape is accurate. And some bus cams still use tapes.

We could make it nice and confusing by saying "I tape my stuff" or "I capture my stuff" or "I film my stuff" and all get technical over the meaning, but it's all used for the same thing: to record something.

ushere wrote on 8/12/2012, 7:48 PM

acquiring / acquisition ?

it's all 'baloney' anyway since 'filming' literally refers to film, 'taping' refers to tape, etc.,

i usually refer to shooting and shot - especially in reference to horses when people don't actually know what i do ;-)

btw. i think thf's 'recording' pretty much covers all aspects...

videoITguy wrote on 8/12/2012, 8:47 PM

In the prior century, we celebrated public servants who were called "recorders". These were very important positions in the community. Does anyone recall what these people actually did?
Hint: I am not talking about newspaper staff.

PeterDuke wrote on 8/12/2012, 8:55 PM

Words in a live language often have there meanings extended to include new situations.

Naval comes from the Latin meaning ship. The main space inside a church is called a nave, because of its similarity (in early churches at least) to the upturned hull of a ship. Sailors navigated the seas, and later aircraft navigated the sky. I navigate my car using my GPS device but I don't drive in the sea. Explorers like Cook and Flinders were called navigators. Sailors no longer travel in ships with sails.

At first we groan at the abuse of our language, but in time, if there is wide acceptance, it becomes part of the new language.

ChristoC wrote on 8/12/2012, 9:33 PM

I've been recording music exclusively to Hard Drive since 1994; I still announce "Rolling" or "Tape Rolling" before a take - sometimes the musicians laugh.....

musicvid10 wrote on 8/12/2012, 9:34 PM

It's all about comfort level.
People understand "album." People understand "taped interview."
They do not understand "Digital Media Acquisition."

The terminology will change over time (remember "talkies"?).

But it will not change in step with changes in technology. It is really generational anthropology.

Chienworks wrote on 8/12/2012, 9:35 PM

Jerry, what's wrong with the word "video"? It seems completely adequate and accurate for today's technology.

Chienworks wrote on 8/12/2012, 9:40 PM

I think what's throwing us off is in very recent times we've had a huge shift from a very small number of dedicated recording mechanisms/media for each task to having a slew of different ways to record, well ... anything. With the dawn of the digital age, the medium is no longer an integral part of the recording process. Once the material is captured and digitized, how it's stored becomes immaterial and pretty much irrelevant.

Our language is unprepared for such a radical shift.

PeterDuke wrote on 8/12/2012, 10:00 PM

I am a visual and audio media recorder and editor.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/13/2012, 5:40 AM

i usually refer to shooting and shot

And if you do that in an airport you'll be arrested. ;) See, taping is still safer. :D

craftech wrote on 8/13/2012, 6:51 AM

Is this like "liberals" being called "progressives" or the "right wing" being called "conservatives" or "shop teachers" being called "technology education instructors" or "reporters" being called "journalists"?

John

paul_w wrote on 8/13/2012, 7:00 AM

I am a digital format cinematographer and digital format editor. Its just a mouthful so i can't be bothered! DFC and DFE. (i just made that up!)

I dislike the term 'videographer' it just sounds camcorder cheap ass. Even though its probably technically correct.

Paul.

Red Prince wrote on 8/13/2012, 8:17 AM

I’d probably say captured on video in that situation. But TV news people often say silly things. In my town a TV news person was trying to get people to visit one of their web pages and he used the word backslash in the URL. I called him and told him it was a forward slash, not a backslash, and he actually told me that it has changed and they used a backslash nowadays.

ChrisMN wrote on 8/13/2012, 8:26 AM

I think "videotaping" is easily understood by everyone, even though the technology behind it has changed.

Just like:
Dialing a phone number, or
Turning down the volume on the TV.

Chris.

Chienworks wrote on 8/13/2012, 8:37 AM

I have seen some browsers that will accept a backslash and change it to a forward slash if the backslash URL can't be found and the forward slash one can. I've also seen some browsers that will use @ as . so that if someone enters www@domain.ext the browser will look for www.domain.txt.

I'm not sure browsers that do this are really helping the users to succeed so much as helping them to remain ignorant. The problem is that if such a malformed URL works on your screen and you copy & paste it to someone else and it doesn't work there, you just end up looking dumb.

PeterDuke wrote on 8/13/2012, 10:06 AM

"Dialing a phone number"

Actually "dialing" has moved on a bit too. The rotary telphone dial took its name from the rotary radio dial and clock dial, which in turn came from the sun dial (not rotary), which came from Middle Latin dialis = daily, from Latin dies = day.

Jim H wrote on 8/13/2012, 7:33 PM

Is it a back slash if you're using the Arabic language?

TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/13/2012, 7:51 PM

I'm not sure browsers that do this are really helping the users to succeed so much as helping them to remain ignorant. The problem is that if such a malformed URL works on your screen and you copy & paste it to someone else and it doesn't work there, you just end up looking dumb.

IE seems to be like this, or at least pages made "compatible" with IE (frontpage maybe?). My work site does the wrong slashes in the code, when I pointed it out I was told I should get with the program and use IE instead of something else. We were told to use FireFox if we're using google doc's though, so I guess we need one browser to view the webpage and another to do work?

Chienworks wrote on 8/14/2012, 6:01 AM

I've really pissed a few people off over the years when they've asked me to review their new site, and i send back this as my entire reply: "i couldn't open it in Mozilla."

Rory Cooper wrote on 8/14/2012, 7:40 AM

Depends if you are the one shooting on tape or being caught on tape, if it’s the later try this

BTW the word video comes from the word dividend di-vid-end which means in the end its going to cost you more money.

riredale wrote on 8/15/2012, 10:41 AM

I think of myself as a Documentarian. I use a variety of devices. I am literally a videographer when I record with a video camera.

FilmingPhotoGuy wrote on 8/15/2012, 1:49 PM

On my Canon DSLR, photo's are now actuations needed to acquire images. They trying to make it sound more professional.

We're all just Imagerization experts.
-----------
ME: I'm going to perform a GOP of you then together with actuations going to digitize the imagery to media for you to peruse at your leisure.

Customer: Huh?

ME: I'm going to video and photograph your wedding then make a DVD so you view it whenever.