Now that I LOVE!

Do it do it! You will have so much fun! Especially when you "get into" the fact that all sound is Dialogue!

and given your description, you have a a chance to do non-diagetic sound...great for irony, or any other layering of meaning...

If you are going whole hog and want an avant-garde composer/musicians let me know. that's where I have connections aplenty.

AND Tell me when it's done. If it rocks, I want to know about it for for an eventual New Silent film fest...to be held in conjunction with the Venice Silent Film fest...hopefully across the street where I can thumb my nose at them!

san diego's fashion valley's newest apple store employee

I'm a Network guy at a major computer company. I have been lucky enough though to be able to use my office as setting for one of my movies. In December I'll be shooting another one and I'm also planning to do it there. I purchased my XL1 about two years ago, and I think it's (DV) one of the best inventions since the coming of sound. As we make the craft better and with communities like this who knows where we are going to end up some day. I'm sure It will be a great place

Good Luck!!!

Alain

<<<-- Originally posted by Alan Tran : san diego's fashion valley's newest apple store employee -->>>

Sweet! Share the employee discount?

Hello my fellow DV friends :-)
I come from a whole different line of work a long haul truck driver but we all have to to do something
to contribute to the world in which we live so that was me before a bad fall off off my tanker trailer almost two years ago, any way looking for a new life in DV. I was thinking about doing weddings , some virtual walk throughs of houses on the market and doing some Video tape to DVD conversions or any thing to make a buck. My problem is I have a very limited amount of funds to work with, I just built a pc with enough processing power to handle the task at hand and ready to take on a 3ghz cpu when needed but currently researching what would be the best camcorder for the job /money I'm looking at the Panisonic DV 953 or the Canon optura xi should I be looking at others like the X1? Anyone thats done this kind of thing before I would apprecite all input on this subject like pricing, software to use, best burners for DVD Etc.........

Thanks in advance John

My wife and I have a company based in New Orleans. We are primarily wedding videographers, but we produce a local wedding show called "The New Orleans Bride Show. It airs every other Sunday on our cable network.
We are both full time. We employ two full time camera persons/editors. We have a studio on the outskirts of the city. My wife has been part of the industry for nearly 11yrs now - I came on board full time 5yrs ago.

Let's see...
Graduate of the High School For Performing and Visual Arts, Houston TX, 1975. Majoring in what was then refered to as "Media Technology", a catch -all for still photograpy, film, Video Production, and sound recording. We were considered "Industrial Media" trainees, and not looked upon well by some of the other school departments. We were kept apart from the Art Dept's own Photography Section, which produced some very successful people, such as Rolling Stone's Mark Seliger.
Enrolled University of Houston in the Film and TV program, transferred to University of Texas program after one year. Worked as an extra in "Outlaw Blues", as a flunky/gofer in "Honeysuckle Rose" and again in Meatloaf's "Roadie". Production Manager for "Secret Place" a documentary /fundraiser film for Goodwill Industries, graduated UT and formed a local production company with some fellow students. Damn near starved. Went to work as manager for Austin Photo nee' Austin Prints from Slides, quit dreaming for a bit and concentrated on paying bills.
Attempted a few small independent Super 8 films, but became frustrated by the cost vs quality issue.
Became a volunteer firefighter, which led to becoming an EMT, then a paramedic, and went to work for Mercy Ambulance in Las Vegas.
Did some free-lance photography for local publications, as well as a video in the then new S-VHS format for my employer. Returned to Texas, eventually graduating from the University of Texas Medical Branch as a Physician Assistant.
Kept my hand in on a part time basis doing environmental portrature, (which is not at all what it sounds like it would be)
I now provide medical care for prison inmates, which pays the bills.
I have formed a small group, Cat Herder Productions. (e-mail us at cat-herder-productions at earthlink.net) Still do portraits, but are branching out into new areas, such as forensic still photography using the 6x4.5 CM film format, and video using the Mini DV format.
For the first time in many years I am attempting a fulll -length narrative project "Rosharon", shot on Mini DV (a Canon GL2), and edited on a Mac G4 with an 800 Mhz Sonnet upgrade, using FCP2.
We are starting production here in Galveston, January 2004.

Damn! It was a long bumpy road! But I never quit.

This thread has been going forever and i just never got round to writing anything so here goes...

After high school I joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an Aircraft Technician which saw me spend 8 years working on F1-11 and F/A-18 jet aircraft. I worked on engine, airframe and weapons systems and it took me all around the place. I really got into photography while in the Air Force and in 95 got into video while getting over shoulder surgery. I started shooting my friends surfing with a friends Canon L1 that he picked up when the RAAF downsized the photography section at our base.

I left the RAAF in 98 to go snowboarding and make a go of photography. I was doing back-to-back winters in New Zealand and Canada until an accident, more shoulder surgery, saw me back in Australia. During my time shooting snowboarding I also bought an XL1 as people kept asking me to shoot video for them. I did a lot of shooting in NZ for local videos, Sky TV, as well as producing promo packages for pro snowboarders.

Back in Australia I kept shooting while gong back to school and doing IT/multimedia. I shot mainly surfing and skateboarding as well as a bit of motocross. I also did a few promo packages for a couple for bands and singing groups.

I'm currently in Japan and while my video work has died of a bit lately I have done a little. I made a 15min doco on the Japanese tea ceremony and am working on three more docos on Japanese culture to eventually put together a 1 hour piece. I've also been writing a bit and getting stuff together to get back into video when I get back to Australia in about 18 months.

I began my working life by being encouraged to leave school as early as possible by every teacher I knew, I guess they werent as dumb as I thought!. As a kid I had always been interested in entertaining and all through my teens I fronted local bands etc. I entered into a carpentry apprenticeship and admired myself as often as possible in the mirror every morning with my hammer and screwdriver in hand (butch was the order of the day). I eventually worked for a company in the middle east and south east asia and by my mid 20´s I really did believe that the world revolved around me. I eventually returned to england and continued in building until one morning my hand got frozen to the scaffold (time to move on ). I discovered a great passion for the human psyche so invested in returning to education only to discover that what I was actually searching for was me. I financed this venture through returning to the cabaret clubs of my childhood and crooned as many sinatra hits as I could until even I got fed up with me. I got so bored with myself that I used to fool around on stage. I tried disciplining myself but before I knew it people were booking me for the fooling around and so it was that I became a comedian. Through my new opportunities I discovered a penchant for psychotherapy and found myself doing a masters in the field. It was a 10 year journey that taught me that I never actually needed to embark on it in the first place. So I spent my days working in the community running counselling agncies etc and nights legitimately heckling my unfortunate audiences. A few years ago I gave up the psychotherapy as a profession and moved to spain to watch the tide roll in and entertain the tourists. Life feels good but I never take it for granted, I just like the idea of waking up. Thanks to everyone else for sharing their journeys, fascinating stuff.
p.s. I am now depressed to discover that I can fit the whole of my existence into a few measly paragraphs.

Its been great reading the bios here.
Thought I'd add mine in as well. If there's anyone out there wondering if they'll ever have a career "in the business", perseverance!

Grew up in Northern Minnesota and moved out at 18 to tour with a small rock band hoping to "Make it."
Broke up with band, some college in Electronic music-quit school to tour with Band #2. Band breaks up, move to small town with no chance of upward progress.

Hired at public TV station, started college again in earnest. Director at station taught me a lot and mentored me during my work there.

Graduate college '87 and move to Minneapolis to freelance and make music on the side (Prince and 1st Avenue were hot then). Enter the "starvation period."
Managed to make a meager living for several years on commercials and industrials doing lighting, audio, or whatever would pay.

Landed a job with a Cruise Line- 2 years shooting and editing onboard ships in the Caribbean.

Back home in Mpls- engineered for production comany, edited non-linear for another, and met my wife-to-be. Laid off as company folded.

Moved to Wisconsin for a big opportunity as an editor in a digital post house. Laid off.

Moved to Atlanta with my wife and have been here for almost 8 years. I work for part of Citigroup as an audio engineer and videographer. I've travelled to Europe, been to Hawaii a bunch of times, and all over the US. I enjoy my work.

If I knew how to do anything else , I might have quit a few times, but I'm really glad I stuck it out.
I now can do my own video for hire and for the fun of it on the side with DV. It feeds the "story-teller" passion that corporate lacks sometimes.
Perserverance!

Good luck to you all,
Jeff Patnaude

Greetings,
Have just joined up, and been perusing for awhile. I work in theatre, TV, and film. I teach stage carpentry and lighting design for the stage as well as being an Equity stage manager and actor, singer, dancer (well, kinda-dancer). For TV, I have been a camera assistant, writer, Key SFX for series and commercials and am a union actor in series, commercials and film.
I started with Super 8 and simple editors. Now here at the university, I'm playing with a couple of PDX-10's, and Avid Lanshare and ExpressDV off a PC, although I'm curious about FCP on my G4 Powerbook.
Jack of all trades, master of a few of them.
Scott

Thought I'd pop in and provide some input. I'm not much for biographies, so this won't be long.

I make my "living" (at twenty years old, and still living with my parents, I don't exactly have many bills to pay, and I hate to call it that) as a plumber. A plumber in training, more precisely. Not a real "apprentice", as I'm not in the union (YET, that is, so shut your collective mouth :P ), but I do help out, and learn stuff.

I'm lucky enough to work for my dad, and will--assuming I ever become skilled enough--take over his business one day.

I've been into moviemaking for about two years (I used to make all sorts of stupid movies with my friends on my old VHS-C camcorder, but that was a while back, and doesn't count), had my camera for a year and a half, and hope to actually FINISH something within three hundred years or so. With any luck, I should have a short film released by the time the machines take over.

I also like using parentheses (a lot).

I've read some of these replies, and my story doesn't sound nearly as interesting.

I got my degree in music in '82, never could find any work in music, so I drifted into computer work, starting at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, then at the University of North Texas in Denton. I made enough contacts, and worked on enough minicomputers, to land my current job at the Denton Independent School District as a computer operator. With the current budget crisis that is affecting all of the states over here, more and more of us at the Technology Department have had to do more and more things - I'm doing satellite TV management, teleconferencing, automated calling, daily operations, and digital videography (camera work, editing, lighting, and I'm beginning to learn 3d graphics too). So the District's bad news is my good news, although I do have to work more hours lately.

My goal is to set up my own videography business. I've got a little studio, a good 2.4 GHz PC, and Adobe Premiere 6.5. I'll be getting a DVD burner next month (I have to moonlight to raise the money - my wife is the sergeant-at-arms, guarding my paychecks :))

I'm tired, but enthused!

Roy

I used to be an author/composer and musician , ( saxophone player), did live gigs and studio recordings for years..... then I moved to the other site of the bizz, being a music producer....., nowadays artist management, record cy, publishing and recently added music video productions to my cy.

I actually am not one of those who are living the dream of filmaking, I started off in politics bouncing from campaign to campaign when I dropped out of college. In '96 I got a senior position in a presidential campaign that didnt win :) and got tired of the 17 hour days 7 day weeks for months on end.

The other good thing about politics besides the people I worked for/ with was having spent a lot of time with the national press. When I got out I stayed in touch with a lot of people and one day was asked if I would be interested in working a G8 meeting for a cable news network based out of atlanta...so I did it and worked for them and some others for what turned out to be 6 years..During that time got to play with cameras in the field more and more, and had some great co workers who were willing to teach me things that helped. With my overtime from the recount in 2000 I went and bought a xl1. I was mainly intrested in field producing but the ability to get shots you couldnt do otherwise for one reason or another like leaving a stakeout or live position, or stories that they might be interested in but the $ of a 4 person crew to go get it was prohibitive. As such and again thanks to the kindness of others I got opportunites to shoot my own stuff and work with talented people who helped me craft it into something.

I decided early this year to quit after the war, so now I freelance for whoever hires me still work with great people, see the interesting and many times absurd things news covers. Sometimes I produce, sometimes I shoot with my gear or theirs and its been a interesting experience. I hope the work keeps coming and as I get better I would like to branch off into documentry type stories and some work for nonprofits. The best thing so far was being able to get a PA I worked with the contacts to get some work on the Ecoast. Ive been extrtemely lucky so far in my career due to the kindness of many who have given me some big opportunities...Im hoping to do the same at some point to pay back their kindness.

In the meantime back and forth between Colorado and Santa Barbara (thank god for michael jackson) trying to keep paying the bills.

m

I am a trained monkey.

and an editor.

Hee hee, Jason, your monkey comment reminded me of this (it's not too off topic, and pretty funny, so bear with me). Do a search for my name, "Rob Martens", on the IMDB, and you come up with this: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0551713/

Well I thought it was funny.

Started out with Super-8 film at the age of 14.

Moved up to 16mm in college at the now defunct film dept. at Ohio State. I freelanced in video for a while and then returned to grad school at OSU. I shot 2 features on 16mm while in grad school and one got distributed around the world.
I won an Emmy for a short I shot.

Finally moved to LA and got an 16mm Arri SR package. Started shooting a lot of features and shorts.

Moved back to Ohio because of family illness and did some teaching in video, but still managed to shoot 3 features.

Now, I'm back in LA and just picked up a DVX100.

I just love telling stories with moving pictures, be that on film or video. It's something that started at age 14 and has never died. It never will. I hope to be still shooting into my old age. By then they'll just have a connection in the back of your head that records right out of the optic nerve. I wonder if I'll have to get lasik surgery to keep things in focus then.

Scott

I live in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. I work full time and I'm a part time student. I started taking courses at CDIS (center for digital images and sound) which is now called The Art Institute of Vancouver - Burnaby. I've been taking film related courses for about three years and decided to buy a camera, which turns out to be a Canon XL1S. I'm in the process of learning how to use the camera properly and intend on using it for film work with a group I'm involved with called The Film Collective, based in Vancouver.

Hey David, I live in East Vancouver (just east tho, not haggard downtown eastside)

I'm just starting 3d animation and visual effects at vanarts, i'm going to buy a dv cam i Feb, either a dvx100 or 100a depending on if i can afford the extra $800 for the A version. Although i have been considering goig the waaay cheaper route and inporting a GS100 from Japan....hmmmm, decisions, decisions.

I'm always interested in talented people that are from my city. I was considering going to CDIS myself and taking their visual effects course, but vanArts just seemed like a better fit for me, i wasn't into having to take 2 years to finish right now. Anyhow, that's me.

I have been a park ranger for the past 25 years. This have given me a great opportunity to work on my photography and video skills. I have done some freelance 35 mm work but mostly educational A/V stuff for our visitor center. Mainly natural resource projects (birds, plants and environmental topics). My last project was a 10 minute photo show using ProShow on CD describing the construction of the dam that forms the lake that I work at. This is being distributed to the local schools and libraries for kids to use on their school projects. It was a neat assignment as it involved scanning in over 1,000 photos from the 1950s. As time permits I will probably remake the whole thing on DV using some type historic character to narrate the project with a time travel theme. Maybe even use green screen.

Anyway this forum has been a great resource. It is one of the few places where a fair amount of civility is displayed. On other forums it seems many just want to argue and put each other down.

Best Regards,

Mark

Hi, if you are interested there is a group I belong to called "The Film Collective". Most of the members live in East Vancouver. All of the members are either taking film courses or have graduated and want to keep active doing film related work. Most have regular jobs that are not necessarily related to film. If you are interested email me and I will arrange to give you the details. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but I was out of the country. One of the Collective members can help you with your camera selection. I just went a bought an Xl1s and he gave me various options before I bought it and actually came with me to purschase it.

This is my first post on this forum. I've been a television Director for CNBC for almost 8 years. I direct live and live-to-tape programming as well as some special projects. I directed "Rivera Live" for 4 of those 8 years. Don't hate me for that. :-)

Before that, I directed local news in markets like, Boston, Providence, and Binghamton, NY.

I just bought a Panasonic AG-DVC80 so that I can work on some of my own documentary stuff on the side.

Looking forward to participating in this great forum.

I have a friend who left MSNBC a year or two ago; good thing CNBC is doing so well!

heath

I was very fortunate. My Grandfather was a Cinematographer as was my Dad.

My dad was a camera operator / DP on hundreds of commercials and movies. Two of his operating credits were, The French Connection and The Exorcist.

I made my bones cleaning filters, schlepping cases and making burger runs for the camera crew while they played poker on the camera truck during lunch. Of course, all of this was un-paid but worth it when you can work for DPs such as Owen Roizman and Conrad Hall. It was a priviledge.

I worked in the camera department of CineVideoTech, the best film rental house in Miami until I applied to the IATSE Local 666 as a Second Assistant Cameraman. After passing my entrance test and a brief stint as a "second", I became a full-fledged "First". I have worked on literally hundreds of commercials and many feature films and TV shows, the longest of which was "Miami Vice" on which I was the "A" Camera focus puller for the first two years of its five year run.

I also have had the honor to work, and Charles, you can probably appreciate this, with Garett Brown and Ted Churchill on many occasions. The first time I ever wore a SteadiCam it was Garett's. We were working on a movie in Chicago called "Four Friends" and he took the time on more than one ocassion to set me up in his rig and give me the "condensed" SteadiCam course!. He was and continues to be a true gentleman.

FAST FORWARD TO TODAY

After some life altering experiences such as having children and losing my Dad to cancer, I re-evaluated my life and took a drastic career step. I left what folks in my curent job call "The Real World" and went into civil service.

I had not even touched a video camera until 1986 when I began working for the Miami-Dade Police Department as an un-paid volunteer for six years and shot for COPS for a while. I did all of this when I had time between gigs.

Although it was never my intention to do so at the begining, a postition became available, was offered to me and in light of the experiences I cited above, I accepted. Best and smartest decision I have ever made. Except for marrying my high school sweetheart!

Today, I run the department's Video Services Unit and couldn't be happier! Unlimited opportunity for shooting some of the wildest, most exciting things you can think of, AND they pay for ALL of the toys!

I continue to work on outside productions such as shooting film and video for companies such as Discovery, A&E andTLC, as well as being one of the game cameramen for the Miami HEAT and the Florida Panthers.

Life is good!

RB

Rick,
Well I'll be darned. I recently watched a documentary in which I ~believe~ William Friedkin mentioned working with your father. (I assume that his name was also Bravo?)

Rick,

If your dad operated for Friedkin more than once, he must have been a strong character! I've heard many stories...

I'm certainly jealous of the "on-set" upbringing, those must be great memories. I'm good friends with Garrett Brown's son Jonathon, and he tells me of visiting the set of "The Shining" as a child and playing in the hallways of the Overlook Hotel (on stage in England)...didn't see any ghostly twin girls, luckily!

Ted Churchill was my mentor, I cold-called him from my NYU dorm and I did many days of visiting and case-shlepping for him. His willingness to answer questions and have me around is the one of the reasons I am compelled to do the same for "newbies" today (such as my participation in this forum). He was a fascinating man, no longer with us sadly.

That's great that Garrett set you up in the rig! You absolutely called it, he is a true gentleman and one of my favorite people.

Thanks for the sharing the bio.

Ken and Charles,

Ken, yes, the documentary you are talking about is "A Decade Under the Influence" about the 70's filmaking styles and the way those films set a new mark for movies.

Although my Father has always been known in the industry as Ricky, his given name was Enrique, as is mine. I changed to Rick so that when someone wanted him or me, we would know the difference. On Miami Vice, he was the "A" camera operator and I was his first assistant, we were known as "R1" and "R2"!

I still go by Rick because, in my heart, there could only be one, Ricky Bravo!

It was a wonderful tribute to my father that Friedkin mentioned him by name, although the part about shooting at Castro's side came from Billy's imagination. My Dad moved to New York City in 1955 and was completely against Castro.

I found out about the doc when no fewer than six people from around the country called me to see if I had seen it. I had not, but, after hearing about it, I placed an order for the DVD about three months before it was released and now have it proudly in my collection.


Charles,

My Dad was a STRONG character and all of the stories you've heard about Friedkin, are most probaly true. More than anything else, my Father was a master of shooting handheld and working the "wheels" on a Worral head! This and the absolute trust that Friedkin placed in him as his operator, (before the days of video assist where everyone including the PAs have a say as to how a shot turned out), made him one of his favorite "A Team" operators. I'll never forget Friedkin asking, "Ricky, how was it for you?" and my Dad would answer, "ees beeutifull". CHECK THE GATE!

My Dad's first picture with Friedkin was the "French Connection", there are many pictures of him on the DVD release, the most famous one is where he is shooting handheld with an ARRI IIC in the trunk of the Lincoln while Gene Hackman searches for the drugs. This was immediately followed by "The Exorcist". He also operated for him on "Sorcerer", "Cruising", and "The Brinks Job". I have some wonderful, personal stories about those films and Friedkin, as I participated in all of them in one way or the other, regardless of my age or experience at the time. (Owen Roizman paid me $50 to be a lighting stand-in for Linda Blair the first time I showed up on the set of "The Exorcist", scared the crap out of me when she showed up in full "possesed" makeup and I had no idea it was going to happen!)


Ted Churchill was amazing! I will never forget his showing up on the set looking like the consumate geek and then transforming himself into "Steadi Teddy", with his fingerless driving gloves, bandana wrapped around his forehead, wrist bands, knee pads, and especially, let us not forget his ever-present pipe! The man had the most incredible and amazing sense of humor. His death was a tremendous loss to us all.

I have pulled focus for SC Operators like Steve Constantino, Randy Nolan, Bob Ulland, Neal Norton, and Rick Tiedemann.

Ted, Garret and Randy were the most down to earth, giving people you could ever want to meet. This industry needs more people like them instead of some of the "new breed" that is out there for nothing more than the almighty paycheck, and Charles, although we have never met, just the fact that you participate in a forum like this and are willing to help anyone, regardless of their spot in the pecking order, speaks volumes about your character. It is an honor to have made your acquaintance.

Warm regards to all, RB.

I will chime in and make it a little long winded if you are bored. ;)

I am a systems engineer doing OS integration with hardware including test and evalution for a big transportation company, that does not use brown as its corporate color, in Atlanta.

I did still photography as a diversion for awhile (started about 30 years ago - I am 43). The photographers will understand... I could shoot 20 36exp rolls on a two week vacation without trying ;) I did not need that video stuff (sniff, sniff, looking down my nose).

Well, my soon-to-be wife at the time wanted a new video camera. While we were buying it, the clerk mentioned that you could buy this Pinnacle software to edit the video. That peaked my interest. That was always my issue with people's home movies. You know, the 15 minutes of feet in the middle of the tape. I never pictured myself as some video artist. I just wanted to clean it up.

So, I started playing with the editing. We then started filming the kids at cheerleading. I made a VHS tape from the footage. The next year, I recorded the band as one daughter was in the band. Another cheerleading tape for the other daughter. The band video went to VHS and the band sold it as a fund raiser. I was now also doing DVDs of the same projects.

Over the summer, one of the band helper's video guy dropped out of their wedding a week before the wedding. Presto, emergency wedding guy. That was a cram course trying to figure out how to cover it. It was not what I wanted because of the equipment, but it passed muster. Now I knew where some of my weaknesses were. I made up for some of it though with the Glidecam and I used a friend's borrowed Hi8 for a second camera.

This last fall, a new cheerleading video. I did find out, since I did this as a favor, that if you make it too cheap, people will not pickup their copies. We made copies at $5. I have about 10 copies still sitting in a box that have been paid for, but not picked up. Jeez.

This year's band video? I shot 20 hours of D8 tape with lots of Glidecam mounted shots in the band. I even did shots on the field during some practices. Rough cut ended up at 2 1/2 hours with me dropping footage that I thought still would work. I kept saying, "Cut hard," over and over to keep focused. Final cut was 1 1/2 hours! I could not go any longer because I use pass-through to write to my VHS deck (lp on D8 is 1 1/2 hrs.) Since this is more of a momento-mentary, you don't want to cut as you fear you will drop footage of one of the kids in the band (219 this year). We made 125 VHS tapes and I think they are down to the last dozen. The directors all got a DVD.

The issues I uncovered this year to go forward? I was still using consumer equipment. There were now also request to start doing other stuff for people. The D8 camera has good audio and fair video, but does not produce color well in a stadium at night. I had outgrown my hobby. Because of the requests, my wife suggested that I should move forward. I started looking around and found this place.

I now have a Sony VX2100 and used it for the first time this weekend. My wish list at BH has a A-T 897 (I might be able to swing to 835ST), a Beachtek DXA-6, a Sampson Micro 32 UHF Wireless, and a B/M 501 (I have a 3063 already) in it thanks to help and discussions here. I have found that stereo for band footage is important, so still trying to work that into my now diminishing budget. :) The other step-up this year include forming an LLC and a new editing station (waiting for the Nacona Xeon release and the ICH6 chipsets with PCI-e ATI R4xx boards - I am a Pinnacle Liquid Edition kind of guy, so that matters). I may add Animation Master to my tools along with SonicFire 3.0 this year. I still don't plan on doing 'film', but the LadyX Films project does sound interesting. I think I like doing event work. But, I still plan to keep my day job. I get to play with too many toys to want to quit :)

Having reached the age where I am essentially unemployable in a real job, my part time diversion is operating a video services business out of my home.

My background is electrical engineering followed much later by an MBA. (I once read that an engineer with an MBA was the most boring possible seat mate to be stuck with on a three hour flight.)

Most of my at-home business is transferring and editing home movie film to digital video. I also do some shooting, usually for fund raisers, and I occasionally work as a second camera for a friend who is entering the wedding video business.

As a lot of the fund raisers still get ordered on VHS, I have a three recorder setup which I can drive off the timeline or from a high quality DVD using A/V distribution amps. Equipment also includes two VX2000s, and a Pioneer 7000 set-top burner, along with several 8 and 16mm film transfer units, some of which I've modified for the purpose. Need to upgrade my sound as the VX's are a little hissy.

Future plans are to take a course on film/video composition to learn to shoot better material. Nicely edited boring video is still boring video.

Well been here and posted a few things, so I might as well explain what I am doing now.
I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and thankfully am out making my first feature length documentary about the positive environmental effects of cattle ranching. An emotionally and politically charged subject to be sure.
I went to undergraduate film school at UC San Diego, and had a few projects outside of school that were great learning experiences.
Summer after my senior year I luckily worked on a documentary show, "Crime and Punishment." Here I learned from the old cameramen like Bob Elfstrom, Allan Palmer, Buddy Squires, and Greg Andracke... (to name a few) that documentary wasn't just a type of film, but a lifestyle for a filmmaker.
Since then I did some odd jobs trying to find the right project. Thankfully i met a wonderful girl and funny enough things fell into place in all aspects of my life from there on out.
So here I sit in the middle of Wyoming on a cattle ranch, it's April 2nd, and in an hour I'm going to go ride a horse through the snow to video the cowboys weighing and tagging the new born calves out in a place they call Rock Crick Pasture.
It's been a great adventure so far, and I am nothing but excited about things to come.
if anyone ever has questions... advice... please e-mail.... bowman3ccd@yahoo.com

I'm a contractor for a Army medical unit that investigates biological outbreaks. My position is jack-of-all-trades really cause I run audiovisual support for their conference hall, do graphics, scan and edit hundreds of photos, create presentations, schedule training courses they offer. . . blah, blah, blah. In some aspects it's really interesting due to what you learn although some of the images can be rather grisly.

wow - these are great stories.

i live in new mexico, which is at once a wasteland and also the most magical place there is.
for money, i help manage the warehouse of a company that sells chinese herbs and acupuncture supplies wholesale to doctors of oriental medicine. it's a crazy business that's growing so fast, we have trouble keeping it together! we sell some weird stuff.... one pound bags of cockroaches or scorpions, anyone? i work with five other guys who are either semi-pro musicians (like me), or bedroom rocker types. so all day we listen to records and talk about music and movies. someone once commented that you don't get a job there to learn about chinese herbs, you get a job there to study pop culture!
but that's just for money.....

mostly i've been immersed in making music for about 13 years now. i've played lots and lots of guitar in bands, and then i got into recording and album production, which i still do a lot of. somewhere in there i started writing and singing my own material and fronting bands instead of just playing guitar. in the past 8 years i've written and recorded 4 albums of my own material and two albums of covers.

right now i work part time as the head audio engineer at a simple little studio called "by hand productions". it's so old-fashioned! i still record music on ADATS and mix on an anologue mixing console!

i have absolutely no experience in DV production. about a year and a half ago, i decided one day that i just had to make a feature length film. it kind of hit me out of nowhere. i had thought it might be fun on a number of occasions before that, but i never actually entertained the idea of being part of filmmaking. i have been taking music production to seriously, that i feel sometimes that i am in my own way. but making movies is something that i could take or leave, and in my mind that makes it very attractive. i have no attachment to it, and no expectations about it, which puts me in a very cool position to try it, i think!

i became filled with the intent to make a film, and that's when i started reading this forum, and discovered that there is this huge DV filmmaking revolution. i had no idea!
i'm also discovering that new mexico is becoming a little mecca for filmmaking.
that's something else i had no idea about until i started looking into filmmaking. pleasant surprise...

it's been a year and a half since i decided to make a movie, and me and a good friend have been writing our film this whole time! we meet once a week and hash it out, and in the meantime i just read as much as i can about the process and the gear, etc. it's really fun to take our time and get the story just right. i'm not in a hurry at all. i guess i'd rather spend years on it and make it good. i've never done it before, but i just know i can figure it out and hopefully have fun doing it...

i must say how much i appreciate this forum. i can't really contribute too much, since i have yet to shoot very much video. (still feeling out my GL1)
hopefully i can offer more in the future. it's a great place to hang out and read. thanks everyone for writing your crazy stories -

ryan martino

Ryan,

It's great hearing your story. Many great films start out as an itch in someone's belly. Who knew that New Mexico is the new Hollywood. Can't wait to see your movie, I bet it'll have a killer score, too.

Rick,

Your story is amazing, but the most inspiring part of it is the fact that you tell it so matter-of-factly. You don't lord it over anyone, you're so down to earth. Your dad did a great job passing his skills on to you, you do him honor.

Carolyn

Very interesting to read everyone's bio/stories. I am a 34 y.o. project manager for an environmental company in Pittsburgh, PA. Most of my DV work has been volunteering for local churches and non-profits. I have shot a few events to try and help defer the cost of new equipment and media. Just bought a new GL2 so am looking to ratchet things up a notch..possibly do a documentary. One of my missions is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ as he has saved me from a life of sin and suffering and believe that he can do that for others also. This forum is great! I've learned tons...with a long way to go. Finishing up an Information Technology degree at University of Phoenix in August. Can't wait!

Amen, Rodd.

I've been waiting several years for some inspiration for a Christian video project. Perhaps I'll just buy one of yours someday... :)

bonjour-olah aLL!

thanx to Steve McDonald, now i'm aware of this forum, cooL.

i do computer programming for a living but would love to do film/video instead.

so, on the side, i'm a video artist / video/film installation artist / filmmaker / VJ / FJ (same as VJ, but with 16mm film projectors) / and i also love to shoot while dancing - they call me the spin-girl here in detroit; i call this footage "digital impressionism", ha.

p.s. i started out with Super 8mm when i was 16 yr. old.

gotta run, later!

peace-olah, juLiE

hi

well i cant say much at the moment only to the fact im spending hours of doing research so i know the in's and out's of making movies, to be honest i've only just got into it, 2 month ago but before that i always dreamed of making movies but i never got round to actually sit my self down and so 2 month ago i did, and believe me when i say this i've spend hours so far getting the in's and out's of whats involved and theres lots depending how big i am going to make my movies, and i intend making my movies the standard lenth of normal movies somthing like 90+ minutes, and im looking forward to it, plus im also glad i found this forum because its a big help and it rocks + it has the best members! who all help eachother which is fantastic.

Regards.

Hi Folks!

What a diverse group of artists there are in here! Makes for great reading and info!
I've been a rock and roll musician for 25 years - did the bar scene for the first 10,
got tired of drunks and bar shootouts,
settled down to raise a family, and have been in church praise and worship teams for the last seven years. I'm now a part of a Christian youth ministry rock band, playing big hair Christian metal at festivals, churches, and various youth oriented events. Two years ago I started construction on a recording studio, installed a Mackie D8B / HDR 2496 digital recording system, added a PC based Pro Tools LE editing suite and financed all of this with my day job: I'm a painting and remodeling contractor.
I've dabbled in photography and videography for years with my Sony TRV310, but recently I've had many requests for video and DVD production in my studio, so I'm about to plunge into another money pit, hopefully with big returns. I'm cosidering Avid's new Express Studio, but the researchaholic in me is moving slowly and carefully. I'm filming my first wedding next month, with a three camera live feed into an overflow room. I'm real excited about that, and if all my hair doesn't fall out, it should be lots of fun!

Hey Tommy, I'm a frustrated artist! lol!

My family has a very diverse background in the arts. My mom's a concert pianist, dad started a band but settled into entrepreneurship, my sister inherited the talent from my mom but went to med school instead, and I was the most scientifically-minded of them all. My first choice in college was chemical engineering, but settled for something else (don't ask). Shifted courses after a while and now I'm majoring in Film.

Editing was the 1st thing that I ever knew about filmmaking. In junior high we entered a few shorts in local competitions. People liked them, but our concepts weren't appreciated by the masses. Fast forward to 2nd year college, edited short student productions, shot various events, made a few corporate videos too. But mostly my services were limited to editing because I outsourced all my shooting equipment. Eventually, a video caught a professor's eye, told me to shift to film instead, and here I am, Film Student, Techfreak, Avid editor.

Lemme just say that I hate a big chunk of mainstream cinema, most especially the ones made here. Figure it out yourself if you don't get it, watch a few films and you'll see why.

A few music videos for MTV Philippines, corporate videos, competition shorts, 2 features, and a year later, I'm burnt out and going freelancing for production houses and indie filmmakers. I also do some "technical consultation" now and shoot and direct shorts for personal growth and the occasional festival. Just bought my first cam (VX2k1) in the hopes of making the images in my mind become reality.

I also dabble in music production and anything tech-related.

And my big dream is to make the local film industry thrive once again and to convert people into an intelligent audience, enjoy things along the way, and do my creative bit for the betterment of mankind. How naive. lol.

And world peace. rofl.

In a nutshell: was an actor (Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre) until 1990 when I injured my back at the age of 36. Spent 4 months on my back and started to write. Co-wrote a pilot episode for a Tv Series set on the Isle of Man (I was born there - it's in the middle of the Irish sea, for those that don't know - not many do!) which after years of talk ended not in a Tv series but with the Manx (Isle of Man) gaining a film industry (off-shore tax breaks etc, etc.) Still waiting my reward for that one - sigh.

However, through this myself and my wife made contact with a guy who owned a Sony Beta SP cam and full kit and we formed a partnership making corporate videos for industry. This was OK for a while but differences meant we parted with the Beta SP guy and we decided we could go it alone with an XL1s + kit. So was born Illuminated Word (see www.i-word.co.uk.

The thing is though, I really prefer making my own films and in 2000 I produced and directed a 2 hour documentary about the mystery of Rennes-le-Château. Won't go into detail here, but if you're interested have a look at www.renneslechateau.co.uk

Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' has meant there has been a huge revival in interest in the Rennes-le-Château mystery and at the moment I am filming in the UK for a New York company making a DVD about Dan Brown's book.

The project that I really want to do is to make a film about the standing stones and stone circles of the British Isles. Did you know that there are nearly 1000 stone circles in the UK? I'm not going to film them all, but there's a lot more to it than Stonehenge!

Waiting for the XL2 to start that one, though.

So, that's me - greetings from Stratford-upon-Avon ...

Hi All--

I'm brand spankin' new here, although I've been lurking and learning for a month or so. I'm a graphic designer. My background is print and web, but I'm moving more towards motion graphics (both web and broadcast).

I've taught a class (in m.g.) for Cornish College of the Arts here in Seattle, and recently I just finished up a series of effects for a friend who is revisiting a sci-fi parody drag-queen space opera he filmed 10 years ago called Aliens Cut My Hair.

I'm not much of a shooter (although I did put together a PSA for North Idaha Head Start that I shot on my trusty Canon ZR25!) but I just got a great deal on a XL1 package, and so I'm learning the ropes. First test is this weekend when I go to film a commercial for a political candidate.

Anyway--love this site. It's one of the most informative, friendly and on-topic boards I've ever encountered!

<<<-- Originally posted by Michael Bott : ...was an actor (Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre) until 1990...

Michael, maybe you ran into my old pal John Woodvine at the RSC during that period. I haven't been in touch with him for years.

What I'm doing now:

1. Film school teacher.

2. Filmmaker (when I have time, which really stinks since that's my true love).

3. Producer for some videos to get kids in shape (it's actually fun and pays well).

4. Starting a new company to do TV shows.

heath

Jack ...
I was John's understudy at the National Theatre in a show called 'Machinal'. That must have been ten years ago ...

<<<-- Originally posted by Martin McClellan :

>"--and so I'm learning the ropes. First test is this weekend
> is when I go to film a commercial for a political candidate."

Yikes

Good luck!

I'm a college student and I'm going to be the greatest director ever. :)

Hey y'all!

I'm new to this board and pretty new to DV filmmaking. During the day, I'm a legal aid lawyer (can you say "underpaid"?) which means I don't have lots of income to devote to film production. So imagine my poor husband's surprise when I returned from a June DV filmmaking course at Maine Photographic Workshops and began a production company. But when he saw the little documentaries I made at the Workshops, and could tell that I'd been bitten by the DV bug, he acquiesed to sucking the equity our of our house so I could buy a camera and set up a Final Cut Pro studio in our soon-to-be-converted garage.

I'll be shooting on a Panasonic DVX 100A and editing with FCP on a G5, all of which are on their way. And boy, does it ever feel like Christmas!

I've got three documentaries in the planning stages, one of which I will begin shooting as soon as the camera arrives next week. My non-profit has recruited me to making a fundraising video; my church has asked me to film a promo for a summer camp for inner city kids...but these will be pro bono. I plan to pay off this loan by making little personal documentaries and, if I can stomach it, videotaping depositions. But my passion is documentaries, and all of my creative juices will flow in that direction.

Nice to see this forum. I've learned a lot here (and was ALMOST swayed into waiting for the new Canon XL2....but I just hate the ergonomics of the XL1, and they don't seem to have changed much in that regard). I'll lurk more than post, but just wanted to say....howdy!

Kate Myers
High Cotton Films, LLC

p.s. For those non-Southerners, if you're "in high cotton," it means you've had a great crop and will have a stellar year.

Good for you, Kate! I love to see folks dive headlong into endeavors! Keep us posted.

Hey Kate,

Welcome to the wonderfuld of DC Cinema. Since you're going to be using a DVX100A, you might also want to drop by The DVXuser web site. Some very knowledgeable people there.

http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl

I keep meaning to form an LLC, mostly to protect my property, but I guess I'm worried about the cost of starting a company and keeping "proper" books, etc.

There's an FAA Flight Service Station in Millville, which I frequently use when I'm flying in NJ.