"I have seen the future, and it is called Shuffle"

Bob Burnett: "I have seen the future, and it is called Shuffle—the setting on the iPod that skips randomly from one track to another." --Alex Roth

This quote is from New Yorker writer Alex Roth's essay "Listen To This" which is his take on classical music and the "modern world". I think the same thing can be said for visual/video work too. It seems people don't just shuffle music; video gets shuffled too---be it streaming media, Netflix, TiVo, meetings with visually-embedded power points, hand out DVDs or weblinks to other motion video. The beauty of digital capability for me isn't that our work is easily sent around the globe but that it can be delivered in small parcels of specific information.

Videos don't have to be "about everything" as it was once assumed.

Today's digital thinking frees up possibility for communicating in specifically effective ways---you can link embedded streaming video with additional written information on a web page, you can use more of the content from a shoot as supplemental information (outside of a three minute meeting opener). We frequently will produce a polished piece and will do a series of interview "string outs" of additional material for use in break-out sessions or on a DVD as added content. You can even "break the ice" with someone by sending them something on youtube. None of these ideas are considered out of the ordinary because ordinary doesn't exist anymore. We go into client meetings now and discuss ancillary distribution as a major part of the production planning process.

So shuffle away and enjoy the options.