Hi folks,

my name is Rainer Hoffmann and I've been hanging around here for some time now. I learned a lot already and I appreciate the very friendly atmosphere (there are other forums where it gets pretty rude sometimes). So I thought it's time to register and become a member of DV Info Net.

I'm an aerospace engineer by education but since 1994 I've been running a small design studio (just my wife Simone and me, she does all the invoicing, bookkeeping and all the other stuff you and me usually don't like). We do mainly technical illustrations and user manuals (you could have guessed that) as well as brochures, newsletters and web design. We are based a few kilometers south of the city of Bremen, Germany.

At the age of 13 I shot my first "movies" with a Super 8 camera, mainly stop motion stuff without much of a script but with a lot of crash boom bang (without sound of course). When I grew older my interests shifted towards girls and photography and I almost forgot about movie making. But I did and still do a lot of black and white photography (35 mm, 2 1/4" by 2 1/4" and 4x5") and I teach basic b/w photography and basic digital photography at the adult education center in Bremen.

Years later (alas, I'm 47 now) my interest in making movies was renewed by the advent of DV cameras and NLE on the computer.

At the moment I'm completing an on-line script writing course and work on my fourth script for a short film (the first three scripts ended up in the bin). So far I have not invested in DV equipment but I've got a decent NLE system (Premiere 6.5 and AfterEffects 5.5 PB) because I somtimes do some editing for my clients. However, I will buy a DV camera either at the end of this year or early next year but I don't expect this investment to pay the rent. I think, it will be hobby only.

Now you know a bit about me and I hope I can contribute to the discussions here on this forum.