Leaderboard

(This opinion-post contains strong language) YouTube and Logan Paul share the same ethical standards: that is to say: none. Read the full article

Hmm, my techniques for avoiding certain social media's content must be working. I've never heard of him before your blog post.

Ive seen interviews with them since they are Swedish but never seen their work. I haven't seen more than two videos by casey. And imho, I think you are making to big of a deal about this. Like someone else already said. That's not how YouTube works. Those people dont show up in my feed. And there are plenty of popular things I dont watch. I for example haven't seen the twilight movies either, but thats because they suck.

This thread is taking a bizarre turn. The moral standard that we should promote empathy for the depressed so as to lessen the stigma around talking about what they're going through. The idea that we should reach out to the suffering so that their pain may be eased. Why are 'clicks' wrong, in this case? Because it raises one man's ego and personal gain over the wellbeing of society. If we look at this strictly from a utilitarian perspective, I think the joy this video can bring people is less than the harm it can cause. What if I'm wrong and on the wrong side of history? I don't know, what if? I have no way of knowing that now, but I do know that I feel a strongly about the morals in place in this case. Who decides what's wrong? Society, and judging by the size of the outcry, it's largely voicing that what Logan Paul did is wrong. This idea of questioning the moral standard doesn't make much sense to me, because we're all playing a part in shaping the moral standards of the present and the future. By raising our voices about what we think, we're doing our tiny bit to make the world a little bit more like what we'd want it to be. Sitting out of the conversation and getting this detachedly analytical about it is surrendering the shaping of our morality to the Logan Pauls of the world, who have no qualms about acting purely in their self-interest, apparently untroubled by this kind of introspection.

YouTube, social media and the web in general is still at the stage of being a world-wide social experiment of which no-one (or their kids) asked to be the subjects and that's controlled not by scientists but by corporations whose only duty is to their shareholders. And we wonder why the whole shit house is going up in flames.

If you've ever suffered 5 minutes of Youtube Kids, your "algorithm" statement is completely correct. Watch Sonic the Hedgehog drive Lightning Mcqueen off a skyscraper 1500 feet onto a farting velociraptor with breasts and Don Johnson loafers... while "Daddy Finger" repeats in the background. I kind of hate that social media has given literally everyone a voice when I see Logan Paul as an example. -Since feeling special and accepted is an ingrained part of every human being's natural make-up, social media, Youtube, etc.. - keeps us buried in our phones, constantly seeking value in "likes" and whatever trivial bullshit virtual currency there is. It's a breeding ground for ill-advised priorities and narcissism. Even if it’s just subscribing, you’re piggy backing a sense of community for the almighty motive - attention. Everything is literally based on attention. It drives the motive of most media "outrage" these days with a voice that says "Judge this motherf---er. It's trendy." or some idiot's default response to go full LiveLeak on a dead body. F'king Nightcrawler. He's done.

Obviously, the GH2 has a little bit of a head start but yes, there seems to be a different level of filmmaking that occurred 4-5 years ago compared to today. I think it’s a combination of beliefs and methods that forced people to be creative with what they had, the limitations created aesthetic opportunities, but these limitations also kept the membership much smaller... Now with the advancements, a lot more people have decided to give it a try. On eBay alone I have seen about 6 GH5s up for sale in the past month where the seller said they bought it because they decided they wanted to make music videos or short films but have since moved on to other interests. When the tech becomes more important than the content, there will be an influx of mediocrity. With that being said, I have seen a ton of nice GH5 work, but I’ve also seen a ton of nice t2i work and with all of the tech and visual enhancements of new cameras, I cannot say that the GH5 videos are better than the t2i or the GH1 videos I’ve seen. Hell, look at Kendy Ty... his films have gotten worse since he moved on from the t2i. Other’s films have gotten better. Interesting post.

The unethical part is the personal gain over another one's loss. Both the clown and the company are at fault here. The clown did it for clicks which gave him more money. YT also works on clicks. More moderation --> less people visit --> less money from advertisers. I would even put more blame on YT since it affects many more people than one lousy channel. And if you believe YT can't do much, think of how quickly & efficiently they blocked all copyrighted content. And you can't argue against the widespread traumatic experience of showing content like that. If you even believe that this will make people less suicidal, then you have it all wrong since psychological studies show that it only makes things even worse. At the end, they both exchanged money for f*cking other people. You can clearly see the difference between quality content and plain click-driven-shit when you compare the front page of Vimeo to the one of YT.

I agree with this advice more than what I wrote before. (Apologies for coming off as prescriptive, I didn't mean to. I recognize that "exception that breaks the rule" is a silly thing to write and presupposes you haven't done your research. You can look up previous Sundance–or whatever festival of your choosing–selections on IMDb and plot their run times if you want a purely objective metric. It might be worthwhile to if you haven't. Of course, this would be boring and require a large sample size to be useful, hence me relying on aphorisms instead of research.) I'll caveat agreeing with @Thomas Hill with this: Film festival submissions follow the same logic as FaceBook posts. Maybe you want to get a like from as many people as possible. So you work hard to say what you think people will like. You'll probably get a lot of likes! Maybe you want to share something with fewer people but within a group whose values you share and admire. So you target your thoughts toward that group and only share it there. You'll probably get fewer likes, but they'll mean more to you... Maybe you just want to scream out into the world and bare your soul. Or bare your soul to your closest friends, or a select group you admire. Riskiest gesture. Most fulfilling? Maybe? Maybe not. Sometimes just being part of a community is fun. I think the 48 Hour films (which I have no use for personally but have nothing against) cater really well to that. Likewise, maybe you're making something to get into a festival (in which case the statistics of run time matter) or maybe you have a story you really want to tell and share however you can, in which case put that above all else. We don't know what you're after. Only you do. Know what you're doing, what your goals are. Be comfortable with them and their trade-offs. Ultimately, all media are social media. You can answer your own question. (But imo, make what you want to make. Festivals aren't special. Your vision is.)

That's called a tree. And everybody knows Global Warming was replaced by Climate Change which was replaced with Climate Disruption which was, itself, formally called "weather." So the GH5s will be weather sealed. That is all. You're welcome.

I think we need to be careful about wanting to limit the voices of idiots on the web. Everybody, no matter how despicable we think they are, has a right to speak their mind. I think we would all be going down a VERY slippery slope if we started censoring people that we think that dont have the morale values that we have. The guy is a total ass. But he should have that right to be an ass. We certainly have the right to ignore him. Censorship is a very, VERY dangerous thing and its potential for abuse is massive once you start approving ways to justify doing it. Censorship is FAR more dangerous to society than this dick-head ever will be.

With full VLOG curve and option for turning off sharpness this already would make it an exellent buy for 2500 USD. Additional 10bit in 4K 60p and 10bit HD from 72p upwards to 120p would be exellent and should be possible assets for marketing such an additional choice of GH5s camera.

I agree with some comments above. I have never heard of this guy before and now I have. I'm not going to run to YouTube to check him out, though, but some others might and contribute to the very issue as a result. I also agree with the article, however @Andrew Reid, I would distance myself from the described level of morality by maintaining my own with the use of language. I feel you, but remaining civil adds merit, IMHO. Cheers.

I used to think the way Andrew thought. Have I become jaded, misguided, scared of the truth? I feel the same way, but... There's amazing content on YouTube now that was impossible to produce/see 10 years ago. I find it sadder that many people aren't familiar with this amazing content, than the fact of "snuff" types of videos on YT (that's what they called similar stuff in my day). For example, our own @Mattias Burling videos, @DaveAltizer,ColdFusion, Wendover Productions, Ave, Curious Droid, Sean Tucker, Red Means Recording--I could go on and on. YT has got it more right, than wrong. @Chrad makes the point that there IS a problem with suicide in Japan (and the U.S. with vets) which is a problem bigger than the ethical standards of any YouTuber or the Alphabet Corporation. How does society learn about these problems, or guage their significance or scale? If YouTube were able to block these kinds of videos would anyone ever get emotional about the problem? I doubt it, it would just be another statistic. Keep in mind, I am NOT CONDONING the vlogger's behavior, only pointing out that when you stand back, society works in weird ways. He may have sent the message to get more viewers, but who ever send a message without some self-interest? I've met no one. I used to think I was above it, I'm not. So I always try to focus on the biggest problem, not any self-interest. The biggest problem is suicide. The vlogger was society's weird way of having it put under people's noses. Think about it, we're all as guilty as the vlogger in doing nothing about the problem--at least I do nothing, but talk. Until the bigger problems are fixed first, I want information to flow freely, not matter how distasteful it may be. All sources are biased and society still works in mysterious ways.

Please take my headline with a blinking eye:) With the GH5 a whole new crowd of videofans are doing their short seqences of slowmotion and IBIS demonstration. But indeed most of these pieces in my opinion don´t show subjects of visual interest but random results of moving hair and moving girls heads and lips and eyes from all so common angles with nothing in the frame but the slomo victim, may it be human, flower or the elements of nature. Any of these shots taken as a still put on a wall would make a mediocore choice. Here is a video showing what the GH5 does not seem to enable shooters of the vimeo universe to achieve: simple choice of subject, disciplined lens and framing choice, intriguing but simple editing. Here it goes, the magic of GH2 makes it possible: staying true to the form, perfection in length!! , framing, subject and rhythm, composition in color and geometry. With the most common choice of subject, the human gestalt and the very common context of fashion.

I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe in content standards. Paul should be shunned, if nothing else, for being a talentless hack. And people should be shunned for watching garbage that people like him put out. I feel bad for the professional-media industry in general these days. I mean, this guy has made well-over 10 million jumping around like a asshat and talking about nonsense. There are girls that are multi-millionaires from fucking make-up tutorials. Who the hell is going to want to actually write and film real stories in the future?

shoot, out of likes for today

Yeah, this. I can't believe that for some reason I thought youtube kids was curated. How naive was I considering I work with data and algorithms (although for very dull purposes). As soon as I started seeing weird stuff pop up in the "what to watch next" and read this article (about how the spammers game the algorithms) youtube was gone from anything my kids have access to. Shame as there is potentially a lot of good educational content there (I've learned a lot about how to shoot video there), but impossible to filter. https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2 From the article: "As someone who grew up on the internet, I credit it as one of the most important influences on who I am today. I had a computer with internet access in my bedroom from the age of 13. It gave me access to a lot of things which were totally inappropriate for a young teenager, but it was OK. The culture, politics, and interpersonal relationships which I consider to be central to my identity were shaped by the internet, in ways that I have always considered to be beneficial to me personally." ... "Someone or something or some combination of people and things is using YouTube to systematically frighten, traumatise, and abuse children, automatically and at scale, and it forces me to question my own beliefs about the internet, at every level. " I've had to delete Youtube as have not had luck filtering within Youtube itself so have had to delete/block except for on my work machine and my and my wife's phones which are locked. Too much weird crap that keeps popping up. Any tips would be appreciated...

Wasn't digging. I just put in 'Fashion film GH5', lol. But I get what you mean. - Best stuff might've come from folks that happen to be on EOSHD as well. Luke Neumann and Albert Fast too. Guess that's something we can be proud of as a community.

@mercer exactly, profound analysis. It took cinegain digging into 6months old vimeo posts to find a decent GH5 video. I found the cinematographer with the GH2 on the first page with vimeosearch by date, just searching for GH2. @Cinegain, first example is long, and seemingley milking the concept without offering much visual interest in doing so, 2min seems bloated to me. Tonal gradation more nuanced in the hightlights than what typical GH2 videos show. It is not offering cinematography but photography rather so, with all that slow and unspecific movement. Second video looks colorwise like osiris lut has been used. I have seen only super few GH5 videos that have wowed me due to the generic approach in all departments of cinematography, lack coming from users side. Here is another nice one from the same cinematographer. 36 seconds of well chosen angles, framing, subject distance, distinct choice and parts of movements. Even in slomo:) Also Shows great understanding of the basic graphic principles and works them to the best effect.

I would argue that things look too good with the newer cameras. Now I guess if you are doing a video in a hospital for learning surgical procedures, operations, or interviews you need it to be sharp as a tack, but for a movie look you might as well save your money and buy a Sony F3 or a C300, BMPCC, GH2, etc... Taking a GH5 and adding noise or grain to it seems, well seems silly. But I can see how it is sort of a poor man's one size does it all camera. But calling it a Cine camera is not what I have seen out of it. A GH4, GH3 was not either. To me the Only newer camera that looks good, no great is the Arri Alexa.

Should check out some fashion films on Vimeo... e.g. Thing is... at the time of the GH2, normal folks weren't really looking for an 'in' to cinematography, just us enthusiasts and perhaps professionals that would love to either get into it affordably... or just because of the compact factor. And that was pretty close to the 5DmkII and T2i/550D boom that made us focus on these kind of cameras. These days, especially with vloggers using DSLRs and mirrorless cams, we've been seeing everyone doing test videos and that's the thing that get searched for most as well, because people are still looking for their 'in' right now, now that this method of shooting has evolved. Andrew, Caleb, Dave didn't have a GH5 guide out that quick, so then every n3wb had their chance to play important and release reviews and recommendations about stuff they actually hardly know a thing about. And it has become way more accessible as well, so there's just more people getting into it... but nobody really knows what they want to do with it... so you have people with 0 knowledge and 0 experience, but this camera and all they can come up with is shooting test videos, figuring things out. That's not a very good measurement to base anything on however. The GH5 is undoubtedly more capable than the GH2 was and WILL in the right hands, be a much better tool with better results. Though yeah, when there was this 'pick one camera for the rest of your shooting' or something, the GH2 was the one I picked. Just because you only had the basics to worry about and because it really was my first interchangeable lens camera, which I bonded with and learned from so so much. But nostalgia has little to do with how a camera actually performs or what it is capable of. That's still down to the person operating it.

To tell you the truth, I am not that impressed by that laptop. 1050 is a good card but soon it will be a limitation and since there is no TB3 port you will be stuck. Also, the lack of other high-speed ports is not great for video editing (USB3.1 gen1 max, you want gen2 or TB3). Personally, I would not get a laptop without a TB3 port. If you like the ASUS aesthetics then the GL702VM line is much better and probably worth the extra money. You can find them cheap on eBay. I will mention this again if you can wait few days until the CES 2018 (this Sunday).

Edit: Now I got it:) Well, seems like you are not considered to be part of his audience, since you care that much about photography, beautiful lenses and cameras and always awesome five reasons to reconsider some classy older technology. That guy is not vlogging with an X100T after all.:)

The best case scenario is that the video draws people attention to Japan's suicide rate and the tragic reality of suicide increasing around the world. The worst case scenario is that the video furthers the social isolation of the suicidally depressed. Older, successful role model Logan Paul sends a message to impressionable youngsters that people who commit suicide are a joke and encourages a lack of empathy for them. I think it's really important that there's been such a backlash, and the morals and ethics that our entertainment reflects are very important - particularly when it's targeted to still developing minds.

We're living in a time where the uncensored, unedited and raw media lives. This is why YouTube is so popular in my opinion. 30 minute vlogs of people rambling and saying what's on their mind. Right now the majority of viewers find this refreshing, more honest, more direct than television for example. I personally hate it. I do think this will pass though. People will get bored by this format and will look for a next development within YouTube. It's all just part of a fad, trend that will die, or transform into something else. You just have to wait it out.

My step-daughter lives on Youtube and the content she watches is almost incomprehensible beyond belief. She see's this as quality, enjoyable content and respects the creators for their work. One or two things are ok. This is also in a time where there's been Trumps and Brexits - people are generally very vulnerable to message in media content, especially if you're a child or as thick as pig sh*t. I do agree that quality, content rich media is being massively clouded by the mass of absolutely crap, attention seeking videos with nothing substantial to offer. It is a problem for talented creators.

us being born at internet BC and our kids being born with the internet as a "nanny" at internet A.D., my son doesn't watch tv. I have limited his access to youtube after the daddy finger crossover Dino crossover Lighting mcqueen autism inducing videos drive him insane as mentioned above. We filter the crazy, its sad that the next generations view these things as tame. Not at all shocking anymore

Never heard of him but it doesn't sound like I should be happy about that.

A serious warning concerning the new Color Wheels. You might already have sensed that they behave somewhat weird. Now Simon Ubsdell has published a video explaining that they don't use the traditional lift-gamma-gain controls (like the color wheels in Resolve, in Apples Color, in Lumetri and in every other CC program). This renders the tool completely useless to efficiently adjust contrast in your image, you still need the Color Board for that (or set the necessary limitations to the ranges manually in Color Curves). Comments have been deleted over night, not sure why. I posted this on fcp.co yesterday, and the post was almost completely ignored. I think everybody should be aware of that.

oh u mean this guy? lol

Bullshit. Laughing at a dead body for views is not a beneficial way to raise awareness of suicide rates, and Logan Paul's vlogs constantly cross outside of the ethical boundaries of documentary filmmaking, so he can't be defended under those terms either. Seen as a journalist, he is lower than a joke. Censorship? It's not censorship to reject an entertainer who was violated the trust and morality of the community. If he was a TV star, this would lose him his job. Sponsors etc pulling out isn't censorship... "it' s just business."

Any good documentary maker would likely keep on filming too. Many war corespondents will of course tell tales of exactly the same situation, where they couldn't put the camera down but had to pick it up to capture the story even under horrible circumstances (often quite the reverse, as the more horrible it is, the more important it is they report on it!). Now of course Logan Paul isn't a doco maker, he is a "YouTuber". But in a way, that is kinda sort of the "same thing"? As a vlogger he is making a mini documentary, every single day. Look on the upside perhaps? He is bringing more attention to Japan's terribly high suicide rates, maybe will do his tiny part in helping open a discussion to do something about it. Oh, and as for censorship, I don't believe in any of that. "We don't have free speech to talk about the weather".

I haven’t a hundred percent decided to sell it yet, so every tip helps. And yeah I remember your awesome dog out the window shot taken with the RX10ii.

@mercer oh btw i meant to mention, as you know i had an rx10ii (briefly lol), but i like your idea with it, and tbh that was my thought too: shoot something in black and white with it. id shoot in slog, and if you want easiness in post a contrast lut and a little fine tuning should be fine. i graded some of that footage to b&w and got good results ?? edit: whoops i just read your last post ?

Let’s stop speaking all over the web about this joker, that would be a good start. Now he became even more famous thanks to media and bloggers posting about him, even if it is negative on him like on your article. Reminds me of US elections.....

Well Written Andrew, and your spot on!

Oh yes, that #2 is very famous in New Zealand! Awwwwkard #1: phew, was rescued!

I can't come even close to producing work as good as the best DLSR videos from 2015, I think I'd do fine if I was given a D850!

Are we going to get one thread for every month of the year? I reckon the GH1/AF100/GH2/GH3/GH4/GH5/etc has already done that! (although the EVA1 was a bit of a let down....)

I found their dslr highlight roll off is still horrendous compare to c100, highlight recovery non exist in video mode. ( with modern low end dslr aka 200d)

“Thin ice” proves that this is in fact a hint at global warming. Luke lives in the US and Trump is President, and he doesn’t believe in global warming. This proves that the GH5S will trump all over cameras! What a discovery!

My prediction, although this isn’t “news”, just fun and speculation. Certain: The new model will very nearly cement M43 as a serious cinematography format, finally. Pretty Sure-Ish: Massively improved low light, but not A7S level. Better DR and highlight roll off. A couple of exclusive new recording options, hopefully one will be 10 bit 4K 50/60p. Maybe Dreaming: A faster readout for improved video autofocus, but only a bit better, still not close enough to A6500 or Canon DPAF. A Very Far Fetched Surprise: RAW recording, maybe limited to 4K 24p, 1080p 50/60 and anamorphic. An autonomous blockbuster cinematic visuals mode. Switch it on, and bingo! Everything looks incredible. No experience necessary.

With stabilized 14-140mm lens.

You forgot the "Is it the 8th yet?", clearly a mention about 8 bits on footage.

I love the look of this old GH2 nostalgic mode. Do the modern Panasonic's have an equivalent?

Well, back to all seriousness, I gotta really make efforts to reverse GAS into some GUD (Gear Unloading Detox) and simplify things, think that's a healthy move. This year I'll be doing a lot of travelling and will be in e.g. North America, Asia and Africa quite a bit. I've been eager to get into analog photography for a while now and cameras like the Contax T2, Ricoh GR1v, Fujifilm Klasse W & S were on my radar, but in the end I settled for the convenience of digital (which has gotten cheaper over time, rather than these analogs that have skyrocketed), though I think the Ricoh GRII will get me about as close as it gets to that. APS-C single focal length photography basics goodness. Yummy. Regarding video, 2018 is more of a bridging year before I'm going to attempt to do it on the side commercially in 2019. So, last chance to experiment and try as much as possible. My favourite part is shooting itself, but I probably need to pay more attention to effective storytelling and editing. Also kinda want to figure out the applications for HLG. No.1 thing is to go and have some fun with it.

It's way past the point now for the regular FCPX bashing. It still goes on. While that happens, we FCPX users can enjoy this outstanding editing program. I bloody love it!!!

How about NO Picture Profile? Every more or less flat profile robs values from the skin tones and results in worse images, because in the 8-bit codec, little can be done in post to add vibrance to those. This Michael Jackson video shows this, imo. The skin tones are poor. Even if you had the best luts to nail down the right *colors*. Rungunshoot (Brandon Li) just uses autumn leaves, and then apparently you have some options for CC (though not for heavy grading, but this, again, is hampered by the 8-bit). I don't say I'm right, I'm just starting to test with the A7s. I'd like you to show me that I'm wrong.