We had a chat with the editor-in-chief of Digital Production magazine, Bela Beier. Specialized in Digital Imaging in all its forms, Bela shares his thoughts on what makes a good creative campaign, the rookie mistakes to avoid, and the changes facing the industry.
What inspired you to become a journalist and how did you get into the profession?
It is a family tradition; my grandfather started it when he was a reporter at the "Allgäuer Zeitung" in the fifties, and now it seems to be a genetic trait in the family.
What's your role at Digital Production and what are the latest developments there?
I'm the editor-in-chief and the "newsroom"; the latest developments are more corporate, but the magazine itself is always evolving, bringing in new topics that are important and getting rid of topics that are "regurgitated" or no longer applicable.
What essential qualities and skills do journalists need to succeed in today's media landscape ?
Being interested in the subject you are writing about and being aware of your role as a journalist - drawing the reader's attention to something worthwhile - must always be at the forefront. Middle management stories, platitudes and vague topics should be avoided at all costs. If the reader can't learn anything relevant from the article, why print it?
As a member of the Epica jury, how do you go about judging and selecting the best creative work from around the world?
It usually depends on a few parameters:
How big the budget was - three people in a garage do not have the same production capabilities as a global studio or agency, so that has to be taken into account - as well as the technical complexity. The smaller the team, the closer you need to look at it. And if it is a huge company, any technical errors become "big errors".
One more thing: is it just stock photos that are supposed to "evoke feelings"? Well, that means it's boring. The same goes for identical shots (see car commercials), the "we bought a celebrity, so we don't need to tell a story" is an immediate minus (especially if it's a sports brand).
Another is any attempt to be seen as a particularly "nice" company ("Oh, we care so much about the planet! Humanity! The future! The children! Christmas!" ) and then be just another ****** discounter or shop - or the white/greenwashing of a large corporation? Just a waste of space/paper. Truly creative things are never designed by committee and never try to please everyone.
How important is the relationship between journalism and the creative community and how can it be strengthened?
If you are a journalist in a creative magazine, how can it be separated? If the journalist is just covering stock news, ok, but anything that has to do with developing ideas, technology and pipeline news is necessarily connected to the creative community. But that does not mean wasting the day on Instagram and TikTok.
How do you keep up with the latest trends and developments in the creative industry?
Lots and lots of RSS feeds, curated and collected over two decades :)
Truly creative things are never designed by committee and never try to please everyone.
What is the impact of artificial intelligence on computer graphics and how do you see it shaping the future of post-production?
Immeasurable - but I expect many of the tools to lower the barrier to entry quite quickly: natural language description of things hidden deep in the interface should be accessible with large language models, as well as "studio AIs" that are trained on a company's particular pipelines and file structures and take all data management out of the hands of artists and users.
Other things I expect to see:
- A lot more "newsletter spam".
- Software specific AI, being trained by the documentation/user forums of the tools.
- The death of the stock photo market, copyright issues aside, no one will ever have to sit in front of a salad and laugh again.
- Better interactive websites that pull content from other sites and curate it for the particular user. Think "best kettle" which pulls in live reviews, user reviews and current prices from shops.
- Nothing that has to do with visuals, writing, coding or compiling will be untouched by AI in any way. Which tools will remain? Ask me again in 2030!)
Who are your role models or mentors in journalism and the creative world? And what's the best career advice you've ever been given?
Aside from people I have personally learned from, it is mostly the third row "makers" in any production. Rarely does an executive producer add anything of value, and "camera talent" is... the making of a video - be it a commercial, editorial, feature, TV series or YouTube content - is now largely dependent on post-production, animation, motion graphics and the like. So that's where the real creative people are.