What do you do for a living?

Lisa Shofner · August 16th, 2006, 10:37 AM

I've been in the IT business since 1995. Started out with fun (web design and graphics) but ended up following the money to programming (not fun). Hoping to work my way out and into the wide world of editing.

Tony Macasaet · August 16th, 2006, 11:48 AM

A highly interesting post...

As for me, emergency physician & entrepreneur, filmmaker

Van Zijl Loots · October 3rd, 2006, 07:11 AM

Self declared filmmaker. (I haven´t run out of money yet, so don´t have to do some whack desk job or sell all my earthly belongings yet...)

Regards
Van Zijl

Ervin Farkas · October 9th, 2006, 09:54 AM

Monday through Friday I make sure you guys have what to watch your video productions on... I'm a certified electronics engineering technician for one of the big screen manufacturers. Honesty, I'd rather be full time "on the other end"... the filming end...

Steven Hoffman · October 9th, 2006, 10:49 AM

Yeah, I'm 21, newly married, and film commercials for a living.

I did web and tech jobs for my dads jewelry store here in Buffalo, NY, and hes always been big on advertising.

When we started branching out and became a marketing company, it was too expensive to pay a production agency to send a guy out to other states, and it made sense to be able to film new commercials for his store anytime we wanted.

I took classes on computer art during my early years of high school up at the local college, and I knew digital editing software(The Adobe software line) well enough to turn around and teach it senior year. I took my first photography class in Senior year, half way through the year they tore apart the dark room, and the cameras went digital. If even the schools were getting rid of film, that really said something. When my dad proposed purchasing a camera and doing our own commercials, I said lets go for it.

The marketing company has produced a DVD which my name isnt on(it was filmed with a sony handycam(DCR-HC20) and $20 microphones) and while I'll admit to making it, it looks and sounds horrible. Hoping to have an opportunity to refilm it in the near future.

I'm just finishing my first commercial, and looking forward to the travel that may come with the next.

Im getting by doing the work. Hope to do some independent music videos/short movies soon.

-Steve hoffman
Leg Up Marketing LLC.
http://www.brandingisnotanoption.com

Patrick McAvoy · October 17th, 2006, 07:44 AM

I knew I wanted to be in the film/video field since high school. Once I hit college and declared myself as a Film major, I made friends with a tight knit group of guys. We've started our own production company, doing short movies (one that we can proudly say was turned down by 7 or 8 different film festivals! :) ) but mostly filming docu's and concerts for local area bands.

The college I go to stresses that one of their great talents is seeing to it that as many of their graduates have a job in their field by the time they leave as possible. I've had disagreements with the major, the school, and the people for awhile now - mostly due to teachers playing favorites, so I took a lot of joy in the fact that my first real job in the field had nothing to do with them.

My uncle works for a company that was looking for someone to do corporate videos, and passed the word onto me. I started in June and have been working on projects from training videos, to product demos, and in house stuff like Open Houses, a history of the company, etc.

I never really gave much thought to do corporate stuff, always had my heart set on Hollywood style projects. But I feel this is a great first step, my foot in the door if you will.

David Mulford · October 25th, 2006, 12:43 PM

I'm the AV kid that never grew up. I run the Instructional Technology Center (AV/IT) department at a small college in Virginia - where I'm the video expert. Have a bit of a broadcast background, but never really worked broadcast FT. I am the engineer of our college radio station as well - so I get to play around with audio quite a bit.
I've been shooting and editing video since college - about 20 years. Used Adobe Premiere since the first Beta (on a Mac Quadra) but now I like Final Cut better. I'm technically competent, but still stink at script writing :)

Scott Jensen · October 28th, 2006, 04:41 PM

For the last fourteen years, I have been a marketer. The last seven as the VP of Marketing for Fariel Consulting LLC. I have over the years dipped my toes into being a producer. In 2003, a marketing client of mine hired me to do a white paper on peer-to-peer networking and the entertainment industry (which he was kind enough to let me release to the public; http://www.filehash.com/p2p1) and since then I have been interested in p2p entertainment production. I once got as far as making a pilot for my very own talk show. Just now, I am in negotiations with a poker site to produce a weekly poker show that will be distributed over peer-to-peer networks (Napster, KaZaa, eMule, etc.).

Colin Willsher · November 11th, 2006, 06:09 AM

Hi people,

I plead guilty to indulging in in virtually all the creative technologies and disciplines - born out of necessity in most cases. I create my own graphics, websites and do a fair amount of weddings and small corporate and charity productions but my real 'day job' is as a composer of music for television with around 200 credits to my name. More here if your interested...

Cheers

Colin

Larry Price · November 11th, 2006, 06:31 AM

I spent a few years in law enforcement before realizing that I just wasn't cut out for it. I guess dear ol' dad was right (again)! After that I got into IT, beginning with desktop support and then working my way up to network administrator. For the last few years I've been doing consulting for the SMB market (small and midsize businesses), helping companies design, procure, install, configure, and maintain their computer networks. Although I like what I'm doing and I'm good at it, it doesn't provide an outlet to express my creativity.

Video and film has long been an interest of mine, but I've only recently begun to develop that interest into a serious hobby. I'm interested in all aspects of production from pre to post. As I acquire and hone my skills, I have some hopes of possibly changing careers someday.

Other hobbies include flying, amateur (HAM) radio, and chasing women. Hmmm...why don't I ever get interested in cheap hobbies?

Jacob Burson · November 18th, 2006, 09:12 PM

I'm a systems/reliabilty engineer for a huge defense contractor. I've toyed with video since I was a kid shooting movies on the fly and front yard wiffle ball games with my mom's camera.

The past couple of years I've started using my limited video and editing experience and talent to make a little side cash. I love it. I love taking raw footage and creating an enjoyable product for clients.

Maybe full-time one day, but everything is fine now.

David L Watson · November 19th, 2006, 12:34 AM

I’m 40 and a dreamer, I never worked in the film industry or gone to film school or tech school, But forever I have had a keen interest in doing a wild life documentary. I take photos and videos for fun and I think where I live a person could make a living doing wild life documentaries.
I'm surrounded by Ocean, Mountains and rivers. These are filled with whales, killer whales, seals, fish, wolves, bears, grizzly bears, first nation villages and many more things.
So right now I’m waiting for a canon XL2 and a new Mac pro laptop.

Presently I work with adults with developmental disabilities.

Sean Maroney · December 3rd, 2006, 11:25 AM

...."as a child of the depression, i was fed only saltine crackers and swamp water"...oh, thats a different story...actually: im a news/features photographer in chicago (23 years).. worked for the cnn/chicago bureau for 15 years covering national and international stories of the moment (no better way to travel the world and get paid!!!) but marriage called - and in order to avoid it being a short one - left the old 'chicken noodle news' to sleep in my own bed nightly, and joined to local chicago news posse (wgn-tv/8 years and counting)... with a regular schedule in place, i bought my own full set of hdv gear (jvc-hd110, etc) and do a fair share of freelancing in and around the chicago area....

Drew Curran · December 5th, 2006, 08:30 AM

I studied as an Architect and worked for 5 years, hating every moment of it. I got in to 3d modelling (mainly architectural - less hateful) graphics, photography and multimedia. Unfortunately when I was at school, film making courses at college was virtually unheard of. Schools careers advisors really do miss the mark sometimes!

Providentially I was asked to join a Drama group (a non paying position) about 6 years ago to shot and produce videos and short films for their shows - even though I'd never done anything like this before! I had to borrow miniDV cameras with firewire, as I couldn't capture footage from my own Hi8 camera. I realised I had a passion for filming and editing. It got under my skin.

In May this year I talked with my very supportive wife about doing this for a living. So I bought a JVC HD101 and some mics, etc. Since then I've produced some promos and shorts, some paid, but mainly for free. I'm working on a couple of scripts with some fellow film makers and hope to get something shot soon.

I'm still in my current 9-5 job as a 3d architectural visualiser which pays the bills. My dream is to make films for a living.

Andrew

Geir Inge · December 6th, 2006, 06:50 AM

I'm Norwegian, age 47, married, got two daughters and after 25 years working as a chemist I quit my job in 2003 and start working as a youth worker for our commune I live in. It's a wonderful job :-)
I also got my own video production company (GIBBfilm) and can do music videos, videos for companies, comercials etc, etc.
My video camera is Panasonic AG DVX100 and Canon XL H1. I also got a still camera, Canon EOS 350D. I use Avid Liquid 7.1 pro for editing video. For editing music I use Acid and Logic Emagic.
Now adays I work on a nature documentary about wild seabirds, otter and seal and shooting film from the aeria where I live - The West coast of Norway. I'll finish it late 2007 (I hope).

August 16th, 2006, 11:48 AM	#317
Tony Macasaet Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Viroqua, WI Posts: 49	A highly interesting post... As for me, emergency physician & entrepreneur, filmmaker __________________ ~Dr. Tony Macasaet http://www.macastat.com

October 3rd, 2006, 07:11 AM	#318
Van Zijl Loots Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Posts: 31	What do you do for a living? Self declared filmmaker. (I haven´t run out of money yet, so don´t have to do some whack desk job or sell all my earthly belongings yet...) Regards Van Zijl

October 9th, 2006, 09:54 AM	#319
Ervin Farkas Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Atlanta/USA Posts: 2,515	What do you do for a living? Monday through Friday I make sure you guys have what to watch your video productions on... I'm a certified electronics engineering technician for one of the big screen manufacturers. Honesty, I'd rather be full time "on the other end"... the filming end... __________________ Ervin Farkas www.AtlantaLegalVideo.com

October 17th, 2006, 07:44 AM	#321
Patrick McAvoy New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 19	I knew I wanted to be in the film/video field since high school. Once I hit college and declared myself as a Film major, I made friends with a tight knit group of guys. We've started our own production company, doing short movies (one that we can proudly say was turned down by 7 or 8 different film festivals! :) ) but mostly filming docu's and concerts for local area bands. The college I go to stresses that one of their great talents is seeing to it that as many of their graduates have a job in their field by the time they leave as possible. I've had disagreements with the major, the school, and the people for awhile now - mostly due to teachers playing favorites, so I took a lot of joy in the fact that my first real job in the field had nothing to do with them. My uncle works for a company that was looking for someone to do corporate videos, and passed the word onto me. I started in June and have been working on projects from training videos, to product demos, and in house stuff like Open Houses, a history of the company, etc. I never really gave much thought to do corporate stuff, always had my heart set on Hollywood style projects. But I feel this is a great first step, my foot in the door if you will. __________________ "Life is a comedy in longshot but a drama in close up." ~ Charlie Chaplin

November 18th, 2006, 09:12 PM	#326
Jacob Burson Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: North Metro Atlanta, GA Posts: 84	I wish. I'm a systems/reliabilty engineer for a huge defense contractor. I've toyed with video since I was a kid shooting movies on the fly and front yard wiffle ball games with my mom's camera. The past couple of years I've started using my limited video and editing experience and talent to make a little side cash. I love it. I love taking raw footage and creating an enjoyable product for clients. Maybe full-time one day, but everything is fine now.

August 16th, 2006, 10:37 AM	#316
Lisa Shofner Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 373	I've been in the IT business since 1995. Started out with fun (web design and graphics) but ended up following the money to programming (not fun). Hoping to work my way out and into the wide world of editing.

October 9th, 2006, 10:49 AM	#320
Steven Hoffman Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Buffalo, New York Posts: 51	Yeah, I'm 21, newly married, and film commercials for a living. I did web and tech jobs for my dads jewelry store here in Buffalo, NY, and hes always been big on advertising. When we started branching out and became a marketing company, it was too expensive to pay a production agency to send a guy out to other states, and it made sense to be able to film new commercials for his store anytime we wanted. I took classes on computer art during my early years of high school up at the local college, and I knew digital editing software(The Adobe software line) well enough to turn around and teach it senior year. I took my first photography class in Senior year, half way through the year they tore apart the dark room, and the cameras went digital. If even the schools were getting rid of film, that really said something. When my dad proposed purchasing a camera and doing our own commercials, I said lets go for it. The marketing company has produced a DVD which my name isnt on(it was filmed with a sony handycam(DCR-HC20) and $20 microphones) and while I'll admit to making it, it looks and sounds horrible. Hoping to have an opportunity to refilm it in the near future. I'm just finishing my first commercial, and looking forward to the travel that may come with the next. Im getting by doing the work. Hope to do some independent music videos/short movies soon. -Steve hoffman Leg Up Marketing LLC. http://www.brandingisnotanoption.com

October 25th, 2006, 12:43 PM	#322
David Mulford New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Salem, VA Posts: 5	I'm the AV kid that never grew up. I run the Instructional Technology Center (AV/IT) department at a small college in Virginia - where I'm the video expert. Have a bit of a broadcast background, but never really worked broadcast FT. I am the engineer of our college radio station as well - so I get to play around with audio quite a bit. I've been shooting and editing video since college - about 20 years. Used Adobe Premiere since the first Beta (on a Mac Quadra) but now I like Final Cut better. I'm technically competent, but still stink at script writing :)

October 28th, 2006, 04:41 PM	#323
Scott Jensen New Boot Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA Posts: 6	For the last fourteen years, I have been a marketer. The last seven as the VP of Marketing for Fariel Consulting LLC. I have over the years dipped my toes into being a producer. In 2003, a marketing client of mine hired me to do a white paper on peer-to-peer networking and the entertainment industry (which he was kind enough to let me release to the public; http://www.filehash.com/p2p1) and since then I have been interested in p2p entertainment production. I once got as far as making a pilot for my very own talk show. Just now, I am in negotiations with a poker site to produce a weekly poker show that will be distributed over peer-to-peer networks (Napster, KaZaa, eMule, etc.).

November 11th, 2006, 06:09 AM	#324
Colin Willsher Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Southampton, England, UK Posts: 70	Hi people, I plead guilty to indulging in in virtually all the creative technologies and disciplines - born out of necessity in most cases. I create my own graphics, websites and do a fair amount of weddings and small corporate and charity productions but my real 'day job' is as a composer of music for television with around 200 credits to my name. More here if your interested... Cheers Colin

November 11th, 2006, 06:31 AM	#325
Larry Price Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 72	I spent a few years in law enforcement before realizing that I just wasn't cut out for it. I guess dear ol' dad was right (again)! After that I got into IT, beginning with desktop support and then working my way up to network administrator. For the last few years I've been doing consulting for the SMB market (small and midsize businesses), helping companies design, procure, install, configure, and maintain their computer networks. Although I like what I'm doing and I'm good at it, it doesn't provide an outlet to express my creativity. Video and film has long been an interest of mine, but I've only recently begun to develop that interest into a serious hobby. I'm interested in all aspects of production from pre to post. As I acquire and hone my skills, I have some hopes of possibly changing careers someday. Other hobbies include flying, amateur (HAM) radio, and chasing women. Hmmm...why don't I ever get interested in cheap hobbies?

November 19th, 2006, 12:34 AM	#327
David L Watson New Boot Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Prince Rupert BC, Canada Posts: 15	I’m 40 and a dreamer, I never worked in the film industry or gone to film school or tech school, But forever I have had a keen interest in doing a wild life documentary. I take photos and videos for fun and I think where I live a person could make a living doing wild life documentaries. I'm surrounded by Ocean, Mountains and rivers. These are filled with whales, killer whales, seals, fish, wolves, bears, grizzly bears, first nation villages and many more things. So right now I’m waiting for a canon XL2 and a new Mac pro laptop. Presently I work with adults with developmental disabilities. __________________ http://www.ghostintheshell.ca http://www.kaienislandwolves.com

December 3rd, 2006, 11:25 AM	#328
Sean Maroney New Boot Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 20	me,me and me!!!!!!!!!! ...."as a child of the depression, i was fed only saltine crackers and swamp water"...oh, thats a different story...actually: im a news/features photographer in chicago (23 years).. worked for the cnn/chicago bureau for 15 years covering national and international stories of the moment (no better way to travel the world and get paid!!!) but marriage called - and in order to avoid it being a short one - left the old 'chicken noodle news' to sleep in my own bed nightly, and joined to local chicago news posse (wgn-tv/8 years and counting)... with a regular schedule in place, i bought my own full set of hdv gear (jvc-hd110, etc) and do a fair share of freelancing in and around the chicago area.... Last edited by Sean Maroney; December 3rd, 2006 at 09:18 PM.

December 5th, 2006, 08:30 AM	#329
Drew Curran Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: N. Ireland Posts: 370	I studied as an Architect and worked for 5 years, hating every moment of it. I got in to 3d modelling (mainly architectural - less hateful) graphics, photography and multimedia. Unfortunately when I was at school, film making courses at college was virtually unheard of. Schools careers advisors really do miss the mark sometimes! Providentially I was asked to join a Drama group (a non paying position) about 6 years ago to shot and produce videos and short films for their shows - even though I'd never done anything like this before! I had to borrow miniDV cameras with firewire, as I couldn't capture footage from my own Hi8 camera. I realised I had a passion for filming and editing. It got under my skin. In May this year I talked with my very supportive wife about doing this for a living. So I bought a JVC HD101 and some mics, etc. Since then I've produced some promos and shorts, some paid, but mainly for free. I'm working on a couple of scripts with some fellow film makers and hope to get something shot soon. I'm still in my current 9-5 job as a 3d architectural visualiser which pays the bills. My dream is to make films for a living. Andrew __________________ Pixol www.pixol.co www.facebook.com/pixolmedia www.twitter.com/pixolmedia

December 6th, 2006, 06:50 AM	#330
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,343	What I do I'm Norwegian, age 47, married, got two daughters and after 25 years working as a chemist I quit my job in 2003 and start working as a youth worker for our commune I live in. It's a wonderful job :-) I also got my own video production company (GIBBfilm) and can do music videos, videos for companies, comercials etc, etc. My video camera is Panasonic AG DVX100 and Canon XL H1. I also got a still camera, Canon EOS 350D. I use Avid Liquid 7.1 pro for editing video. For editing music I use Acid and Logic Emagic. Now adays I work on a nature documentary about wild seabirds, otter and seal and shooting film from the aeria where I live - The West coast of Norway. I'll finish it late 2007 (I hope).