How do you do, and What do you do?

I'm a Window Cleaner.
Before that I was a D.J. in a skating rink in Colchester.
Before that I worked in a DIY store in Bangor.
Before that I cleaned floors in a Supermarket in Caernarfon.
Before that I stacked shelves in M&S in Colchester.
Before that I tried to sell Double-Glazing over the phone.
Before that I cleaned a Builders Merchants and washed the floor at Sainsbury's in Colchester.
Before that I DeeJayed in a Night Club in Colchester.
Before that I ran a Record shop in Colchester.
Before that I worked at the Odeon Cinema in Colchester and entertained kids at the Saturday Morning Club - That's where I first took an interest in how to make my own films.

Oops...Sorry - this new Forum was supposed to have nothing to do with filming!

Anyway, before that I was just trying to find a job I liked!!!

YAWN!!!

Chirpy.

Window cleaner...well you could make a good film out of your experiences. You could call it something like "Confessions of a Window Cleaner" or that sort of thing.

I'm reluctant to say which big (but rapidly getting smaller) telecommunications company I am employed by for fear of abusive reactions. Before that I was a signwriter, yes, with a funny stick and covered in paint. I have done the whole gamut of jobs from quality control to lorry driving, via working at Cambridge University Maths Lab and making shuttlecocks.
I remember Bob Crabtree making a comment about not having decided what he wanted to do in life yet. I feel much the same really. It's never what I am currently doing.

Paul

After graduating, I worked in a Scotch Whisky tasting bar in Edinburgh.

It made me the man I am today.

Wobbly.

I'm currently Head of Lighting at Radio 4.
Before that I was a Line Steward for International Pro-Celebrity Sheep Labelling events.
Before that I worked in a factory shrink-wrapping Voles for export.

But Seriously Folks....
I started at the local Arts Centre as a general Techie.
Then I got myself trained to fix Tellies & Vids.
Then I fixed Tellies & Vids for a few months (it was rather boring).
Then I fixed Office Equipment (it was REALLY boring).
Then I fixed Theatrical Equipment (much better!).
Then I installed it, hired it out, sold it, etc....
THEN I started going out on Conferences & (re)learning AV - because of my TV background, I was "chosen" to line up the old-style CRT projectors - there were lots of little pots to twiddle, just like the convergence controls in the back of old tellies.
Whilst doing these conferences, I kept working alongside these useless tos^H people who knew less than me, earned loads more than me and did way less, so I though "I could do that!" and I did! I became a Freeloader^H Freelancer!
Then I found that the aforementioned "people" were, in fact, the minority and it is bloody hard work, bloody long hours and the people I work with are very knowledgable, skilled, forgiving, etc, etc, guys(m&f). At least I was right about the money...

Sorry if I wandered on topic a bit there, but it ain't just a hobby....

Phill

I started this, so I might as well contribute. I'm only 23 so the list is not very extensive, but I do remember some of those first degrading jobs.

The list is as follows

Delivering papers
Stacking shelves at woolworths
Waiter at a beefeater
Tent constructor for Oktoberfest
Dish washer in Lourdes
Grape picker in beaujoulais and geneva
Computer builder
Database Developer
IT support
IT contractor (4 years now) with stints in Australia working for a multimedia company as a web developer and multimedia/network support.

I totally agree with Gladders, I'm nearly in the head of my field now at 23 and I'm bored already. The money is fantastic, but I wanna get out of here. I'm scared I'll get into film and programme making and feel exactly the same way. I just can't decide!

I think the key point here is challenge, some people just need a challenge all the time. I see breaking into the world of Film and TV a challenge, so I think it'll keep me interested for some time as I don't think I'm going to get anywhere quick in this industry.

Cheers

Tim

quote:Originally posted by tim@work:
-------8<--------
I'm nearly in the head of my field now at 23 and I'm bored already. The money is fantastic, but I wanna get out of here. I'm scared I'll get into film and programme making and feel exactly the same way. I just can't decide!

I think the key point here is challenge, some people just need a challenge all the time. I see breaking into the world of Film and TV a challenge, so I think it'll keep me interested for some time as I don't think I'm going to get anywhere quick in this industry.

Cheers

Tim

Totally agree! That's another reason I went Freelance & am now loving it - every day is different, each job brings new challenges. Just what I need as I have the attention span of a hyperactive gnat on speed!

Phill.

Audiovisual technician in a college for the last 14 years.

I set up all the a/v equipment, first level maintenance (rest is under maintenance contract).

Give 'support' to lecturers teaching media related topics, set up data projectors etc.
Edit all students’ work using 3-machine svhs edit suite, and we are just moving into non-linear for next years Art Degree students.

Do some IT support (I have been using computers for 20 plus years and feel old compared to the rest of you at 38.)

Build pc's for people, fix pc's for people and generally get silly questions from all the local people where I live.

Have been non-linear editing for about 2 years myself seriously and 5/6 years with things like dc20 , dc30 etc.

Have made at least 3 videos being used by charities for publicity / info, and presently have a job I edited for the police in a national police competition.

The problem I have is that no one is willing to pay enough for me to make a living if I give up the day job... Everyone believes they can do better themselves for the same money.

Hi Gary,

Money is a B!$ch, but I've decided that I'm going to start contracting part time in the near future to dedicate much more time to my creative side, which makes me so much more happy than money. I'm giving all the nice luxuries up, and my girlfriend fully supports me (thank god!) Fortunately, having youth on my side I haven't gone down the road of marriage, kids and houses (not saying that any of you have). This helps because I can ultimately be so free and flexible to do what I want. I'm going to have to move out of my rented accomadation which is a right drain at £700/month and move some where cheaper, and closer to a major city, although Manchester is not too far away.

I can't believe I'm going to throw it all away. My friends think I'm barking!, but I just know that I'm too comfortable, and if I've got about 42 years left in my working life I don't want to fall to sleep for most of it. If I loved my day job, then I suppose everything would be OK? (Nah - don't think so!)

Cheers

Tim

quote:Originally posted by tim@work:
Hi Gary,
................
I'm giving all the nice luxuries up, and my girlfriend fully supports me (thank god!)

As I am still trying to understand women can you get your girlfriend to explain what made her agree with you , and I’ll give it a try with mine !!!!!

No don't have wife/kids, just a mortgage , a step dog , 2 step horses and a bank manager who loves the interest I pay him , and he doesn't have to pay me.

I don’t mind my day job ….. it’s the ‘people’ I have to work with.

Video for me is purely a hobby and at 60 years old waiting for the day I can finish work and spend more time at home with the trouble and strife. I reckon I've done long enough as I started work in 1959 and have never been out of work, which is photography.

Not working for myself mind you. Five years as a photographer in the RAF, the rest with a large photographic lab. where I have done everything from paint the celler (it was a wine celler) to Production Manager and now involved with digital stuff.

The RAF time was certainly the most interesting (although I did not realise it at the time) as 2 1/2 years were spent on Cyprus, which in 1962 was great apart from the Greeks and Turks having a go at each other! Also 2 months on an island off Aden. If you would care to look this is my website on it http://website.lineone.net/~john_farrar

Plenty of interests such as golf, gardening, walking and video of course. Have played with computers since the VIC20 days and built my present computer. I like flight simulators when not editing.

I enjoy reading all the messages on this and the Canopus fora, but not when it gets heated as it did on the CV recently.

Cheers

Get a load of this! very first job was a kitchen porter, then progressed on to be a chef in "The Steering Wheel Club" in Mayfair, were i got a £50 tip off James Hunt. Next worked for a couple of photographic shops in noth London including Jessups, were i served Bob Hoskins, Dave Lee Travas and Andy Summers (Pete in case you don't know who he is, he was the guitarist out of The Police. Left there and opened up a photographic studio in North London were my partner and I shot advertising posters for bil boards, BMW, Smirnof Vodka etc, my claim to fame there was that i set up all the promo shots for the film "Hellraiser" you know that guy with all the nails coming out of his head. Left there as the developers moved in (massive rent increase) this upset me as my brand new Toyota Supra 3 litre turbo had to go back to the leasing company. Then (get this) i trained to become a bus driver, passing my PSV licence 2nd time, then worked for, what was then, London Transport, this lasted only 10 months as driving a bus fron Highgate to Finsbury Squire 5 times a day sends you out of your tree, also the money wasn't as good as i thought it was going to be. Then I became a Chaffeur for a streatch limo firm in London, the pay was ok, but most of the clients were football yobs that had all put their giro's together to hire a limo for the evening on friday knight. Then worked for a Classical music shop in North London, whilst there i learned to play the Piano and got to grade 8 and passed my Perfomance diploma in clasical piano (set included, Beethoven sonata, Rachmaninov preludes and Bach Prelude & Fugue)also met my girlfreind at this point as she was my piano teacher. Next trained to become a Woodwind Instrument Repairer, this pays really well (£100 per hour)only trouble is i only do about 3 hours work a week as there are only so many clarinets and flutes that orchestras etc need repairing in any given week. Then got back into photography, doing portfolio's for actors, actresses and rock bands. Started to get into videography(if there is such a word)and made a couple of special interest videos, one called "You & Your Baby the first 12 weeks" i am selling about 5 coppies of this a week at the moment. Late last year i studied to become a Private Investigator, havn't really made any money at that game yet as most of the work is serving blokes that have been nasty to their ex wives, not as glamouras as i thought it would be, but it is still good to have the qualification and i learned a ton of great tricks, how to get someones name and address just by having their registration number off their car, tracing people, espionage, etc. My partner and I are about to publish three Classical Piano Repertoire books including CD's to be distributed throughout the UK in sheet music shops (hoping this will pay for that new BMW 740i) Now this one you will just love, over the last 10 months i have done 3 clinical trials, for those that don't know what clinical trials are I will tell you; basically you go along to certain hospitals (Bourne Hall in Cambridge in my case) and let them give you certain drugs and take your blood every 15 minutes to see what sort of reaction the drug is having, you have to tell them about any side effects etc. This is how your doctor can tell you if anything he prescibes you has any side effects see, so next time you have to take medicine, thank people like me for risking it to start with. This actually pays a ton of cash and they feed you, give you unlimmited videos to watch and generally wait on you hand and foot, the nurses are really good looking to. Average pay for this kind of work is £480 for a 2 knight stay over, other trials can pay as much as £1800 for a 24 hour period, but this money dosn't come easy, you have to let them stick a heat sensitive probe up your backside, this gradually gets hotter and hotter(a bit like Cathy Barry),then eventually you get chronic stomache pain and start to get the runs and throw up all over the place, I don't recomend it. Axel Rose from Guns & Roses did a 12hour chain smoking trial in America to find out how much damage it would do to his lungs, god knows how much he got paid for that. So to some up, I currently work as a Woodwind instrument repairer, music book writer and special interest video maker. Have recently given up the clinical trials as I don't need the money as much these days.

Can we have a smilie for f**k me! please Bob

[This message has been edited by red (edited 26 May 2001).]

Must have been all the chemicals that made him forget what paragraphs are

I must agree with red though, Wow!! that's some crazy dealings. Are you sure your name aint 'Del'

Nuff Respec

Tim

I have a night job - 13 hours per night I support international banking systems from a call centre. This job is rather boring, but pays very well.

I also have a day job - 8 hours per day I am technical manager/production manager/assistant editor/web designer/hardware support/etc. for my girlfriend - we are in the process of completing our first documentary feature on a spiritual road trip to see the Dalai Lama. This job is very interesting & educational, and it may even generate some income soon.

In my spare time I walk up the Himalayas and throw my self off the top, attached to a flimsy nylon'n'string getup. This is best of all, but it's not a job - I actually have to pay to do it!

------------------
Paragliding the Himalaya www.himalayair.com

[This message has been edited by Chris Lovell (edited 26 May 2001).]

Costume designer for radio 1!!!!

Hi
Started off working in an accountants as an audit clerk (wow, boring), left very quickly and got a job with an excellent future in an insurance office (wow, really boring).
Left and joined the RAF for 12 years (not boring in any way). Went round the world literally, watched H bombs (American) go off (not man's greatest achievement, but definitley something to behold), skiing in the Pacific, diving in...oh, shut up, you have the idea.
Caught by the opposite sex, children, left the RAF, joined the Civil Service. Dead boring for the first few years, about 5. Worked my way up and for the last 9/10 years have been a fraud investigator on behalf of the government, (note: not a government fraud investigator!) and this was definitely not boring.
Now age 60 and retired with lots to do including video, which I'm pleased to say is facinating, not so much the techie bit (thank heavens for the forum) but the creative bit.
Wife says I have to clean the windows now and I must obey.

I started off in a concrete factory, making paving slabs. Then several spells in a County Architect's department, designing lighting and power systems in Police houses. Then I got my degree.

Was trained by a large organisation, and have stayed in it ever since. I get to talk to all sorts of professionals and amateurs at all levels of programme-making, and love it.

I'll tell you the details after April 11 2005. That's when I retire.

Lately, (well for the last four years actually), I have become more and more depressed - glad that I am 58 and not 18 years old, because, if only 18, I would be feeling that I couldn't face the next 60+ years until I retire.

As a fairly logical person, I never understood the philosophy that if you have a broken window which is letting out the heat and letting in the cold, to say, "I'll fix it in two years time" doesn't seem right to me. Or, "I've got a hole in my shoe which is letting in water but I'll fix it in two years time" - Eh, Mr Blair, where is your desire to improve this nation?

Until 20 minutes ago, I could look back on my life as having been fairly rewarding and certainly varied - sold and installed computers in many countries of the world; played golf with many of the professionals of yesteryear; been part of a team that built our own golf course that now has a net asset value in excess of £1m; retained the love of a good wife for over 30 years with a son who knows "the value of a shilling", no debts, no mortgage, no real money worries; and yet depressed that Britain is rapidly becoming a Third-world country.

I've lived in Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, and Ethiopia (oh, yes and 36 hours in Uganda), and I know what it is like when the country goes to the dogs being run by a dictatorship.

Until 20 minutes ago, if to-night was to be my last night, so be it! (Don't go phoning Samaritans yet)

This thread has introduced such a breathe of fresh air, I've smiled, nay laughed, at some of the posts. Have I got problems - none!

Keep it coming, lads and lasses, we're all learning about ourselves as well as each other.

Alan Wells

Why aren't there any women here? Or, come to think of it, on ANY forums I ever visit? Or are you all hiding under cyberdisguises? Is forum attendance a man-thing? Or do I visit the wrong forums? Are there forums on girly things? ...too many questions...

This really is an enjoyable thread isn't it?
I particularly enjoyed your contribution Alan. It reminded me of that song by Marmalade, 'Reflections of my life'.
Well done Tim for starting the topic.

Cheers,

Chirpy.

This is something that has been worrying me recently.

quote:Originally posted by mooblie:
Why aren't there any women here? Or, come to think of it, on ANY forums I ever visit? Or are you all hiding under cyberdisguises? Is forum attendance a man-thing? Or do I visit the wrong forums? Are there forums on girly things? ...too many questions...

I don't think the community that has been built here is one that is, by it's nature, a male-thing.

Nor, despite the occasional non-PC comment (no, I don't mean about Macs, I mean not Politically Correct!) is it the case that there is much here that could or should cause any visitor to think of this as a strictly male domain

Or am I wrong?

So does any one know why it is that the contributors to our forums are pretty much all male?

Seems to me that a lot of female video editors, or would be video editors, are missing out big-time by not joining in.

One theory, I'll float, just for the hell of it, is that women can't get a look in in most homes, cos the bloody men are online all the time - and, when they're not on-line talking about editing, they're editing.

Alternatively, the people with the disposable income to buy the required kit are largely of a certain age (not young, and a lot of them over 50), and in that age group it's the men that do the technical stuff, whether it's videoing, 35mm photography, fixing the washing machine, or editing.

To remain on the right side of the PC line, let me add very speedily, that this is a generalisation and that, of course, there are exceptions to this rule - though not in my household.

Here, Chez Crabtree, tricky stuff like setting the alarm on the clock radio or the time on the clock on the microwave oven are left to me and my young teenage boys.

Mind you, considering the vast amount of stuff my wife does in other areas (she's a speed demon in the gardens and in the kitchen), it would be foolish of me to regard this as a hardship - it doesn't get anywhere near to equalising the loads.

Having said that, I remember a few months back when my daughter rang me saying she was going to come down from Leeds with a van the next day to pick up a washing machine from me and asking if I'd yet fixed it.

I hadn't, though I did have the necessary part, so having got work out of the way, I set to at about midnight, and finally finished the job to my satisfaction at about 4am (my satisfaction included cleaning the outside so that the machine looked as though it had just come out of the factory).

My daughter never did turn up and never even rang to say she wasn't coming - turned out her flatmate couldn't find his driving license and the van-hire firm wouldn't let him have a van.

I don't mean this to reflect badly on her - I couldn't wish for a nicer daughter - but I just thought you might enjoy the story!

Blimey, just as well this is the off-topic forum.

Over to you for other theories or explanations.

Oh, and one last point - bugger, I've forgotten what it was going to be (my age showing again).

Right, okay, got it now. Is there any possibility that the reason why so many here are over 50 is because such people are likely to have been brought up with different values than younger people (this isn't meant to be reactionary, just flying a kite).

People of my age (and a bit older or younger) are, for want of a better word, of the flowerpower generation, rather than being "Thatcher's children".

Mmmm. Not sure about that one. So how about reverting to the idea that older folk are more likely to have a lot of experience that they can hand on?

Bob C

[This message has been edited by bcrabtree (edited 29 May 2001).]

Regarding the lack of female contributors (not the tangent Bob just taken, thoroughly confirming he was of the flower power generation, dude lay off the red ones),

I would say it's boils down to the plain and simple fact that both sexes are raised differently. Not so much now in this day and age, but for the generation that are primarily involved in DV, it is the case. Most girls, I emphasize 'Girls!' are more interested in Leo de Caprio and other such girl things, where boys get in to cars and things that do stuff. The male is more inquisitive by nature and is always trying to figure stuff out. So more boys progress to technology as they become men.

Now there are some remarkable females out there that make a mockery of us when it comes to our talents, but just isn't across the board. It may do in time to come, and I hope it does. I think with the introduction of all this tech at the youth level, and let me just say also that Apple are outstanding in this area, more kids, including girls are getting exited about gadgets, which can only be a good thing when doing a sample of sexes.

For the moment though, it's us blokes that get on with it and wow at the new volumetric imaging system that makes us wanna cry at the same time when we realise our 2D world just went up in a puff of smoke. Things will change though, just like I will get old, and having dreams of disposable income that Bob Crabtree promised would come to me when I'm in my 50's!!!

Tim

Hi - I had the good fortune/bad fortune to go to an independent boarding school. We had a video camera (a Ferguson Videostar camera and separate full-size VHS recorder) - this was around 1983-ish. Later replaced by a newer camera and VHS-C recorder - still separates.

No-one else showed any interest in using this kit but I was 'persuaded' one Saturday afternoon to film* the 1st XV match on the playing fields - and I never looked back. I ended up filming every home rugby and hockey match, then every music concert and end-of-term play.

Following on from that - my next-door neighbour worked at the BBC/Open University and I used to go in with him on a Sunday during holidays to edit my play tapes (shot on consecutive performances from different angles - usually one stage left concentrating on action on right side of stage, one stage right looking at opposite side, and one wide view locked off from the rear) on an off-line VHS suite. Tapes sold to parents by school.

Funny actually - thinking about setting up to film the rugby, that was good practise for the 'one-man-band' style of operation I'm involved in now (see below). I had to arrange for one of the masters to drive the school Land Rover to the top playing field and park it where I wanted it, meanwhile I had to arrange wood to make a platform on the roofrack, and a huge mains extension cable to run from the pavilion to the Land Rover (batteries were pretty crap in those days, we certainly didn't have enough power to last 90 minutes). Then I had to collect the equipment and lug it all up there. Then it usually rained...

To cut a lengthening story short, I left school determined to get into TV/video production, passed up a place at college doing 'media studies' (I wanted a more vocational course), decided to take a gap year and got a job in a camera shop, got used to earning wages and never went to college...

However, I eventually ended up where I am now, in a role which I've been able to develop to include producing an increasing number of training tapes going out to (around 18,000) staff in our chain of (around 550) retail shops.

My company obviously like what I do despite no 'formal' training - I have a dual-processor Mac G4 and Prem 6 now, DVCAM DSR-200 camcorder and various bits and pieces. It's not the Beeb, but I am doing what I always wanted to do, albeit as a one-man-band, luggging all the kit around myself and producing/directing/filming/doing sound/lighting etc. And of course editing. But I love it.

Well that's my story.

Hamish.

*I've always used the word 'filming' in relation to 'video-ing' - any objections?

Oh, and I forgot to mention, at home I have a PC-based edit station (Pinnacle DV500) with Prem 5.1c and I shoot and edit holiday stuff (mainly) on a little JVC DV-M5.

I also have an old Hi-8 Sony V-6000 which I team up with my GV-D300 (usually used for editing).

Looking to start a few projects at home though soon - working on the preliminary ideas for a 'Top Gear' style report on my partner's Ford Puma in a few weeks.

Hamish

PS I'm 34 - I've had fun in the video dept. in my teens, twenties and thirties so far, can't see it stopping though my forties and into my fifties - and I'm assuming even after that...?

[This message has been edited by Hamish (edited 30 May 2001).]

Hi, i'm Craig, i'm 30
and i'm a programmer for a media publications co. I've been here for the past 27 months now and enjoy it fully. That said i'm a late starter. History goes as follows, before my being here I was contracting for a year 2000 project testing the mainframe system for a Pensions Company, back in 98 I was an administrator for L&G but it was here that I pushed my way into their Dev team for IT. Before than I was contracting for a small software co where I was shown the IT ropes. And back in the early 90's I spent my time doing various jobs and travelling abraod at every opportunity. In the late 80's I was working at a supermarket in Stock Control !! My time spent there consisted of walking on the shop floor, chatting to the female customers and upsetting my managers, despite doing a grand job of upsetting my managers and chatting to the till girls I never received a payrise...? Go figure...
Craig www.bigdogz.co.uk

I've just enjoyed reading this page,I assumed everyone would be younger and found it quite gratifying to find others of my age (I will be a sexagenarian next year but my wife tells me I am already a dirty old man!)
I have worked for over 40 years fixing TV's and VCR's etc in the field mainly and I have enjoyed fixing things, talking to customers and getting about and now work in the lake district and love every minute of.I started video in 1986 with a Furguson camera and separate heavy VCR.and videoed a school show.I have progressed,a little to DV and weddings,still as a side line.It took me a while to learn LNE but a have persevered.Our youngest son tells me "I don't know why you bother dad,you will be dead before you fully get to grips with it. What really annoys me is that when I get in a mess he sorts it out in a microsecond.
I started scuba diving when I was 52 and have dived all over the world. I live my life as if each week is the last.

As an Aircraft Weapons Fitter from way back- (all the aircraft I worked on are now seen in museums)- and this incidentally is the only formal qualification I have- very useful for the North Shore suburb of New Zealand where I now live; and now contender for the most convoluted opening sentence...

I'm now working at a large private school (http://www.kristin.school.nz) where video and editing is a sizeable chunk of my day. (One of my previous posts was asking why video never accurately portrays our school colours- answered most comprehensively by Alan Roberts I seem to remember).

Most editing is fairly simple and I use two connected VCRs. The school also has Premiere 5.1 with a DC30. So we can't yet go the whole DV route which is not too much of a hindrance as we as yet only have one DV cam. (An XL1 shouted for my Department by the Parents' Committee a couple of years ago. I am still amazed at getting it: I must write a great application form.)

I've just bought myself an iMac for home use which has iMovie2 so I can use that for still captures and DV edits.

The school has a very active Dance and Drama department which means lots of things to video. For major productions I might film over several performances (only one DV cam remember) and edit the lot into one using one performance sound track; I have to watch out for lighting and costume differences over performances but usually it works. There was one notable example where I missed a coloured beret changing heads throughout a song in 'Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat' but it is surprising how many people don't notice such things (apart from a few smartarses).

You can read more on my website. http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~johnlw/jwwork.html
(I've just put it on-line so I'm spreading the Word!)

John

Very nice site, John. I haven't finished perusing all the links yet.

I can see your attraction to New Zealand after my visit to the South Island about three years ago. A most beautiful, unspoilt country. And the women are in charge, the men just lie back and think of...um, New Zealand.

Paul

I grew up in NZ Gladders. My Ma always used to say, "Oh grow up tom."

Being 105 years old has its advantages as I worked with Geoff Mulligan on the development of the sensitised toilet roll for use in the Harryflex-Rackover SuperCam and later with Mike Holt on the extension of the Commodore 64 Davi edit system for the visually impaired. These cigarettes are really great, my wife (number 14) rolls them for me each morning and then locks me in the studio. I think I must have missed my medication yesterday evening.
Ned Cordery
Goslands Studio
(where have I put the matches?)

Hi, hope I'm not too late to join this thread.

Boy do I feel young amongst all you oldies - I'm only 27...

Anyway, I'm the I.T. Development Manager for National Express Ltd (the coach people), after being an Analyst Programmer and then Team Leader.

Before NX I worked for a small Lichfield based company called CADLogic as a programmer.

Before that, Kodak (Digital Photo Retoucher - and you'd laugh at some of the "lewd" images I was asked to retouch).

Before that, Barman.
Before that, Cardiff Uni (computer science), peppered with a bit of telesales/advertising.
Before that, school.
Before that, Nursery.
Before that, Play school.
Before that I mulled about a bit and got taken places by my Mum in the pram. Back then, life was easy...

L8r,

Christian.

quote:Originally posted by sepulcre:
Audiovisual technician in a college for the last 14 years.

I set up all the a/v equipment, first level maintenance (rest is under maintenance contract).

Give 'support' to lecturers teaching media related topics, set up data projectors etc.
Edit all students’ work using 3-machine svhs edit suite, and we are just moving into non-linear for next years Art Degree students.

Do some IT support (I have been using computers for 20 plus years and feel old compared to the rest of you at 38.)

Build pc's for people, fix pc's for people and generally get silly questions from all the local people where I live.

Have been non-linear editing for about 2 years myself seriously and 5/6 years with things like dc20 , dc30 etc.

Have made at least 3 videos being used by charities for publicity / info, and presently have a job I edited for the police in a national police competition.

The problem I have is that no one is willing to pay enough for me to make a living if I give up the day job... Everyone believes they can do better themselves for the same money.

Just been turned down by the bbc yet again for jobs in editing ....... obviously not done it long enough
I dare them to ask me to do any more freelance work .......

------------------
Gary MacKenzie
Audio Visual Technician
(email me if you want a quick reply)

Chin up Sepulcre, life is for living! I don't want to go deep on you but EVERYTHING in life happens for a reason. You may not know it yet but..

I will add to this thread at the weekend. Right now, having been up since 5-30am, driven 250 miles and got home at 10pm I am knackered and can't do it justice.

Anon

WB

I'm 37 (that's officially middle-aged, apparently)

Sold Ice-Cream (great commision, once earnt £350 in a day)
Left college during A-levels
Installed phone-systems and door-entry systems.
Learnt to program in my spare time (hobby, 6502 / 6510)
Joined a technical college as a trainee programmer. Learned C/SQL/ADA
Went contracting. Yippee.
Went contracting abroad. Big Yippee.
Now working in software sales. Still Yippee & much more fun than contracting.
Have done some fee-paying editing but it's a hobby only. No plans to make it anything more.

On the subject of women & editing, one of my clients asked me to set her up with an editing suite (with a view to doing it herself) but was put off by the tedious nature of the whole editing process. Maybe blokes just think that sitting in front of a PC for hours on end is perfectly acceptable behaviour !

Adam

I will announce my life in reverse order :
Many years ago I was a Newspaper delivery boy
Then I was promoted to the delivering the Local Free rag.
After this I took over my brothers job as a Grocery delivery boy, lousey money but good free food.
At 16 I then started as an apprentice with GPO telephones and stayed a way to long 16 years.
I left BT to join the GPO IT department.
I left the GPO IT department to join AT&T
I left AT&T to join Orange (mobile Phones)
I left Orange to become an IT consultant ( where I have I heard that before)
I joined Racal as an X25 expert and ended up helping to design the Lottery Network
After nearly 2 years with Racal ( great Contract That)
I left the UK to work in Paris, I bought a house outside Paris and thought my life was laid out. I got bored all too soon.
So I left belle France and moved to Sweden it s a great place, unfortunately it was winter. I eventually got depressed from the lack of light ( and lack of gorgeous blondes but don't tell the wife) and moved to Belgium. Where I was instantly bored so after 4 months moved to the UK, I did a stint with Reuters, plus some other contracts. Then we planned to emigrate to Auzzie. We , wife and I, booked a flight out to Auzzie and within a week I had a job, visa and apartment ! I delayed starting the job until I cam back from a holiday in Cairns. On holiday we both decided that we really didn't like Auzzie enough to be away from our now grown up kids. So I cancelled the job and flat and flew back to the UK. After this I got a contract working for Shell in Holland, what a great place. But more importantly my wife picked up a job making Rubber fetish clothes for a company in Amsterdam. Suprised ! Guess what I thought. Eventually the contract ended in Holland and we moved back to Sweden. It was summer and boy does that make a difference ! My wife setup her own business making Rubber clothes and I started a website to support her. After the contract ended in Sweden, booooo, we moved back the UK. I started working for C&W what a difference between the UK and Sweden, I hated it. But my wifes business was taking off and I was photoing and videoing models for the website.The website was now so busy it was getting influential and I was getting free press passes for the parties, I ended up taking videos and photos for the parties and writing reviews. I also get to meet some very interesting people.
Anyhow we both get bored with the UK and I took a contract in Germany, where we are now. We have bought a shop in the UK where we plan to sell my wifes stuff and I get to pack in the IT contracting and go full time in support of my wife, and selling my own videos. So at the age of 45 my life has turned around in a way that I would never have dreamed of a few years ago.
Fate Plays a big part in your life!

Steve, I know I speak for many of us hear when I say...

What's the website address

Hi guys,

If you want the web address just email me. The website is kind of adultish and I wouldn't want to corrupt our younger members. Or upset anyone and of course I don't want to corrupt all of you innocent video makers.

cheers

Steve

No, only kidding, couldn't resist (the joke that is).

But good luck with your ventures!

He he,

I left school at sixteen cos thay would not have me back...I had my own ideas about education that involved more of a feet up approach.

I went on to study marine fitting and the making of early medieval instruments (not both at once) and started travelling by nipping around europe for four months.

I played in a punk band called rubber rubber vortex (Pete might have thought we were woosies,our singer had crimped hair) and made money by

working on building sites,
in boatyards,
doing clinical trials (I had a South African chap collapse next to me because his heart stopped on one trial at Guys hospital in London,apparently because he was too healthy)!!!
I have welded in Hong Kong.
Taught scuba diving,I am a qualified instructor.
Driven taxi's.
Erected marquees.
Worked in bars.
I once spent a day removing labels from golf clubs !!
Had my own company importing flotation tanks.
Busked.

I have travelled for over five of my 37 years(and counting),spending three of them in S.E.Asia. I have travelled the Amazon river (partly by speedboat...I even managed to hitch a lift with the Brazilian navy by sticking my thumb out on a jetty)

It was whilst in Thailand that I picked up a video camera, making underwater videos for divers.....until one day my lovely Peruvian wife (yes I managed to get hitched along the way) reminded me that my daughter needed an education (she was five,and had seen more of the world than most adults).

I am just getting into travelogues and should be off to Irian Jaya in January...but in the meantime I am in good old blighty managing a multimedia division,producing video etc etc.(medical stuff...not too inspiring but it bought us a house)

Now how did I get here ? (would you employ a man with a cv like this )

I love what Billy Connolly said he'll have on his gravestone. 'oh,is it that time already'

Dom.

Hi there from a female visitor to this forum. Enjoy the chatter and value the advice so generously given. Too little time for frequent visits.

Was a programmer in tne early seventies, assembler and Cobol, later Basic. changed countries twice, grew a family to the flying stage (still wing stretching and hovering close), intensely involved with music (classical sort mainly). recently dabbled in Java and noticed probably half the course members were women and the general age range from uni fresh to dotage. Have always been intrigued by gadgets, adore our 3 cats and garden.

Me, well I am currently in my third year of a PhD in coral reef ecology. I did O levels, then started a business studies BTEC. Wasn't for me at all, not then anyway. Went on to do 2 YTS's in black and white photography and then got into lithographic printing as an apprentice. Still wasn't me. I spent all my time thinking about tieing knots, spacing weights, and catching fish! All I would do when I was supposed to be watching a 200,000 poll tax print run was reading about fish and fishing. Eventually decided a trip to my careers office wouldn't go a miss so in my lunch break, there I went.

The next thing this woman was saying have you thought about learning to scuba dive? WHOA! You mean me? Underwater? Whay yah say? So that was it. Saved up for three months then went off to Belize for 4 weeks on Coral Cay Conservation. The day after I got back I enrolled to do a science access course. Now I had a reason to study - compared to some ole fart trying to keep me from falling asleep in a Monday morning classroom.

I got the access qualification and went to University. I am now 10 years down the line studying "The conversion of algal biomass to detritus on an algal-dominated Caribbean coral reef: interactions with the benthos". Blow me down silver! I spend quite a bit of time in Jamaica and plan one day to move to the Caribbean. My wife, who I met when I was studying photography, is English but of Jamaican parents and has a degree in Media and Film. Besides trying our hardest to pay the bills we plan to start making environmentally-orientated documentaries, and this forum is the one of the steps to us producing something that someone may want to watch ...and making a little bit of cash in the process...So a big thanks to everyone who has an input....tHaNkS!!

How do you do what???

Just realised I haven’t replied to this thread yet

I am Technical Applications Manager with Sennheiser and also run my own mobile recording facility in my “spare” time - doing mostly classical music. I have had several CD releases including one in Classic FM’s “Full Works” series (the Satie CD).

I am passionate about good sound.

Otherwise I like good food, good wine, travel and the arts.

John

Shelf stacker.

I missed this thread the first time round so here goes:

I left (got kicked out of) college at 17 and managed to get a job as a car salesman. Sold new and used Nissans for almost 10 years. People laugh at the job but it pays well if you are any good.

I got completely bored with the same routine day in day out and eventually got a job as a financial adviser. Got FPC 1 2 & 3 at first attempt, got into a rut after 3 years and decided to turn my hobby of video into money.

I set up my own company and the ball is now rolling faster and faster and the best part of it is I love it and I am my own boss at 31. The money isn't fantastic yet but the company is going in the right direction.

I had a couple of jobs whilst at college for beer money. McDonalds dogsbody, much hard work and no hard cash and butchers assistant at a supermarket where we used to play American football with the joints of meat and you just do not want to know what goes into minced beef. I still don't eat it 12 years later!!!

Great thread. Sorry I missed it the first time round.

SIFI

Any newcomers like to add to this?

Well, not exactly a newcomer to ComputerVideo but...

Background in commercial streaming video for media companies and consulting in the 3G world.

Spent time as a cameraman - freelance - news and documentaries. Focused particularly on specialist filming - microscopy and endoscopy.

Now directing documentaries - two series and several one-hour specials in production - for major broadcaster across the pond.

Long term supporter of the DV format and its role in professional TV production. Following with interest the prosumer range of DV editing suites - such as Final Cut Pro and DVStorm - and their potential in high-end production. If only the manufacturers would add a few features, we could offline some of our work on something less expensive than Avid MC...

David.

Other than the crap jobs at School. Did a degree in Multimedia Art and Design. While at uni I worked as a roadie for Rolf Harris, Steps, Shaggy, Danni Minogue and Boney M, got into lighting, sound and video projection in a big way. On leaving uni I went into the conference industry and worked for a year traveling around the world doing presentation graphics. Then sold out to a big corporate (the money is much better, the hours are predictable, the pension is good, and the wife is happier!) and now work as part of an in-house media team producing interactive promotional material and conference videos/animation.

PS

well,

Most thing overlapped

- first job was a role in a local play called "Speaking wolfs, squirrels and other animals". (1 month)

- Writer for a movie magazine (well I was the editor and publisher). Think I earned 15 euro's per issue because i could persuade my uncle for free photocopies (3 years)

- freelance webdesigner (which got me lots of money in the early beginning (3 years)

- running independent record label (toothpick records). Now RIP, musical differences (4 years)

- teacher in Organic chemistry, biochemistry, analytic chemistry and genetics (1 year)

- training engineer at Alcatel, teaching telecom and switching and routing products, the things they put in core networks

- learning consultant at Alcatel. basically the same thing under a different moniker, it was time to change nametags I guess

- streaming video engineer at Alcatel, conculting and making streaming video (quite interesting)

Hendrik

I am a time served PSV fitter a.k.a Bus Mechanic.

Spent 15 years working in mechanical engineering here in the UK & in the USA - mostly working with materials handling equipment a.k.a. Fork Lifts (Diesel, Electric & Gas)

2 years selling materials handling equipment in the UK.

Last 2 years working as sales & support manager for ZEN.

Always been a softie for expensive toys - set up a video production company 5 years ago to fund my habit (due to financial restrictions imnposed by the current wench).

Busy Bee Line aye Gavin?

Like David also not a new member. I did various dead end for a few years then went back to college to do Film & TV with Buisness Computing. The film side I really enjoyed (mostly theory) and I got to watch films I never would have looked at. After college I got a job in a film archive, which was really warehouse work, unloading 1000 usually rusty old film cans each week and sorting it out before logging it into a database and then into storage. I can still smell the master store now, film smells like vinegar when it gets old! After doing that for several moths I got a job for an advertising agency and now run the machine room there, which is mostly involves dupe's and linear editing! But occasionally do get to use a mac with media 100, for edits.

Martin

About time I posted here I guess.

Gave up on school at 16 because I already knew far more than I needed to about my chosen career (computers).

Wrote software for Vets for about 5 years.

Did some contract work including converting CP/M to write in Arabic script

Got a boring job writing more software for a year

Built and maintained computers for a while

Got bored with computers and went to Uni.

Got a job designing broadcast video equipment (had always been interested in TVs and Videos since I was young)

Got a better job working with broadcast video equipment where I now spend most of my time trying not to nod off in meetings.

Having seen lots of professionals do wonderful things with the stuff I designed I am now trying not to look too much of a prat when making home videos with more affordable kit.

Knowing how you all enjoy a good sleuth....

Left school at 15.
Apprentice Electrical Engineer whilst working part time in local theatre.
Qualified Electrical Engineer continuing to light local professional and amateur productions.
Moved to London as Deputy Chief Electrician at the Adelphi Theatre.
Deputy Chief Electrician at Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
Deputy Chief Electrician for R.S.C. at The Aldwych.
Deputy Chief Engineer for Donmar Theatres based at Piccadilly Theatre.
Chief Electrician at The Young Vic.

....more to follow; if you need it

My MKH70 can pick up a spoon slipping into a rice pudding accross a crowded exhibition hall

My wife will be pleased!

Just bringing this back to the top for Ron Grover's sake.

Hi, all! I'm Rick Popko and I'm a roving support person for Pinnacle Systems. I used to be an editor, covering digital video at Multimedia World Magazine (it was a sister pub to PC World that went away many years ago). I've been an editor at DV Magazine, boot Magazine (which turned into Maximum PC Magazine), ZDNet (which was purchased by CNET), and Streaming Media. After being laid off at Streaming Media, Pinnacle called me and said, "Hey, how about coming to work for us and helping out our users on the Internet." Sure, I said, that could be fun (it actually is fun). In between helping people with digital video problems, I'm working on trying to sell my first DV feature film called "Monsturd." (See www.monsturd.com for more info Note: We've got a short QT trailer up there now). I edited the film with the DV500Plus and Adobe Premiere. We're currently negotiating with Spectrum Films for international distribution.
-Rick Popko
Pinnacle Systems

Ha, found the thread. This one has been dormant for a while.

Now that I've retired, I can tell you a bit more about what I do/have done.

Got a degree in Electrical Engineering/Electronics at Liverpool 1967, applied for lots of jobs (engineers were in short supply then) and got lots of offers. The Beeb offered a job but couldn't confirm it because the licence fee rise was unagreed. I ran around the other offers until the Beeb came back saying that the licence fee rise was now agreed, would I like a job? Well, yes please. I'd decided when 14 that I wanted to work for the BBC, initially in radio making programmes, but I knew I hadn't the imagination for that so would be happy providing facilities for the more talented. I started on a Sound Operations and Maintenance course (September-December 1967, during which time Radio 1 started) and was offered a job in R&D at the end of it. I didn't really want it but though it might be good experience. That would start in April so I spent 3 months at Broadcasting House polishing jack plugs, changing valves, moving loudspeakers. Oh, and I designed a telephone excange for the Commonwealh Games. That sort of thing.

April, I turned up at R&D and wasn't expected. It took ages for them to sort out what to do with me, so I spent a happy 5 months tweaking and EMI 2001 camera, and a Marconi Mk VII to keep them going. A good introduction to TV for a sound man. Then a while designing and making a 14-bit audio ADC (September 1968 for about 5 months), then some RF, and then they decided I could stay and I went into a dynamic group ("Special Projects") that was just finishing off the world's first field-store standards converter (525-625, Mexico Olympics came through it), and got stuck into designing/building the next one (625-525, Princ Charles' Investiture whent through it). Then into Teletext (still got some patents), surface-wave device design/fabrication, digital video processing. And the it really got interesting when I was pushed into Colour Science because the experts were all about to retire (sound familiar?). I got into courses at City University and NPL, and got a BBC micro in 1981 and started writing software to see how colour really works. Built a monochromator-based colorimeter that turned out to be more accurate than the NPL's (it must have been, they kept on sending to me people who wanted to know the exact colorimetry of crts, they couldn't do it but I could), and spent years measuring stuff for programme departments and manufacturers, trying to keep the standards up.

Got more interested in cameras in the mid-80s when I was representing the BBC and UK in the EBU in specialist groups. That's when I really started contributing to publishing "how-to" documents, EBU3237 and EBU3273 for example.

Then the EU decided it wanted to launch an HD system compatible with the (then) new MAC system. I got onto expert committees as an advisor, and spent some terribly happy times in foreign hotels sorting out other peoples problems, and meetinjg some hugely interesting people. BBC R&D decided to build a small HD facility and I got the job of overseeing most of it. In an exciting 4 months, we gutted an old OB truck and built an HD facility in it, with 2 BTS KCH1000 (3x 25mm Saticon tubes) and a single-channel recorder using 4 D1 recorders and a multiplexer. We took that on the road 1988-1992, including Edinburgh and Paris (demo to the President at the Elysee Palace), Buckingham Palace (Changing the Guard, the first time that any BBC truck had been allowed in the forecourt, because we could only cope with 100m camera cable). Did gigs at loads of places, some internal BBC operations, some for indies. That's where I really leaned how programmes are made, and made lots of friends. We also covered Wimbledon Centre Court in HD for about 5 years, I set up video systems, maintained the cameras, racked from time to time and kept it all together. One memory of that time that won't go is the middle Sunday in the year that it rained so hard that they played the Sunday. That decision came so late that there were no free crews left, so we scratched around, I was cameraman on #1 (the position high at the end of court) for 3 hours during which the Mexican Wave went around, and the Head of R&D got his son (aged about 14) in to man the caption generator.

When HDMAC died, as we all knew it must because of digits, HD fell out of favour, but I kept on monitoring progress, including a visit to the SMPTE during NAB at Las Vegas to try to get them to incorporate "Constant Luminance Coding" into the emerging ATSC system. That failed, but again I met lots of great people, like Charles Poynton and LeRoy DeMarsh (look them up).

For the last 2 years, life has changed. Since the US (traditionally the international major buyer of UK programming) went HD, they wanted HD material, not SD. So we found a way to upconvert stuff like Blue Planet and sold it to the US, Japan, Korea, and then had to get new programme-making into HD. The lead on that was a documentary of Concorde, finished just before the Paris crash. Followed by "Rock Face"; that was interesting, because the co-producers sprang the requirement for HD or 35mm film a few weeks before shooting started (we'd assumed it would be super16 film), so I got roped in to get it to happen. Several times I stood in deep heather on Ben Nevis, sopping wet, trying to fix things or carrying enormous Panavision lenses, until the crew were fully happy, then let them get on with it.

Then lots more smaller productions, including Sadlers Wells, Glyndebourne, Last Night of the Proms, little stuff like that. And this has been the happiest time of the lot, flitting from job to job, training people, making things happen, convincing sceptics that it isn't either hard or expensive, just a little different. The last 18 months was an attachment to a BBC unit called Production Modernisation, working with a very small group to get HD up and running. The hours were long, varied, frenetic at times, but always exhilarating because of the people I kept meeting. I mean, where else would you get to meet people who're just going to Siberia (in winter), to record a Snow Leopard and cub (there are only about 40 left, and these were in the wild), and having him need me to set the camera up right for him? I've seen the pictures and they are absolutely stunning, and you'll see them as well in about 2 years when the new series "Planet Earth" is finished.

But now, I'm retired. A few people say they have things for me to do, training exercises, analytical work and so on. And a few ex-BBC producers have won a contract to do an HD job for a prestigious organisation, and I'm their HD consultant.

And so on.

Will that do?

Key: for Chirpy's benefit.

BBC = British Broadcasting Corporation :D

Beeb = see above :D :D

R&D = Research and Development, in 1967 it was just Research but amalgamated with Designs much later.

EMI = Electrical and Musical Industries, the record firm, made tv cameras etc in 60s and 70s.

ADC = Analogue to Digital Converter, in 1968 a report from Hewlett Packard claimed it was impossible to build more than 8-bit audio, I made a 14-bit one as part of a team lead by Jim Chew, the adc was finished off by Derek Mathers who managed to get it to delver 13.5 bits reliably.

NPL = National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, sets and holds standards.

EBU = European Broadcasting Union, an association of broadcasters set up to establish and formalise standards and practices.

EU = European Union.

HD = High Definition, more than 1000 lines.

MAC = Multiplexed Analogue Components, the proposal for a stretched analogue SD system to replace PAL on satellite, doomed from the start but great fun to work on.

OB = Outside Broadcasts, in this instance a mobile studio facility.

BTS = Broadcast Television Systems, a company set up jointly by Philips and Bosch in 1987 to get HD started in Europe. Ownership bounced arounf until Bosch pulled out in tghe mid 80s and left it to Philips. Lately Philips sold it and all their broadcast interests in Europe to Thomson.

D1 = D1, a digital video recorder by Sony and BTS, records uncompressed 4:2:2 at 13.5MHz on 3/4" tape. A big brute, and still the work-horse of much of the post-production industry.

Racking = continuously twiddling camera controls to keep pictures right, not easy at Wimbledon where lighting conditions change all the time.

HDMAC = High Definition Multiplexed Analogue Components. An HD system designed to be compatible with MAC. MAC sent, on each line, the luma channel and then one of the two chroma channels, both time squeezed to fit. It meant there was no cros-colour but the bandwidth was a little higher than PAL. HDMAC coded a down-converted SD signal and then packaged a digital signal to assist the decoder to reconstruct the4 original HD signal fairly successfully. It was a digitally-assisted analogue system. It failes only because digits made it possible to do HD properly.

SMPTE = Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. International body that sets and holds TV and film standards, mostly based in the US but genuinely world-wide.

NAB = National Association of Broadcasters. US-only body for TV broadcasters, holds a huge conevention/exhibition in Las Vegas in April every year.

IBC = International Broadcasting Convention, world-wide conference/exhibition held in Amsterdam every September, used to be in Brighton, London before that.

ATSC = Advanced Television Standards Commitee, set up in the US to set the HD standard for the US. It's standards are now world-wide, countries just pick the bits they want from it. Uses arguably a less-than-ideal transmission system, the UK DTV system is more robust, but there's a lot of "Not Invented Here" about it.

Post again if you want anything else explained, or email me.

I was going to post, but, at the tender age of 24, there's no way I can follow Alan. I'll wait.

40 years? :D

Guess so. :(

:D

I enjoyed reading that Alan. Just one thing though...could you possibly edit your post and add a key to all the abbreviations at the end please?

Cheers,

Chirpy

Don't be dispirited chaps, we all have to start somewhere. And will that do, Chirpy?

Just looking at my Royal Television Society Membership List for 1988 (The only one I could find).
A Mr A Roberts is listed as Honorary Member. Is that you?

Aha! That's what BBC stands for, I always thought it meant Bring Back Caroline. :D (the radio station)

Thanks Alan, it was R&D that had me guessing.

Chirpy

well it should do well in France then ......

I've done lots of things from brickie to dole to computer programmer but I am now living proof that it's never too late to begin a new career - I was in uni at 50 years of age qualifying as a social worker and have been doing that for the past 7 years - It seems we post war (bulge) kids have a lot of get up and go in us as there are a lot of 50 - 60 year olds in this forum if my reckoning is right.

There was a lot of 'Get Up And Go' in the people who produced the Bulge :D :D :D

Have you tried the Atkins Diet Geecee? :D :D :D

Too late !! :rolleyes:

No, I'm not in any of the organisations. The only places you'll see my name is in technical publications or occasionally in credits at the end of stuff shot in HD.

Mick, you're right about the bulge, I was born in April 45, slightly ahead of the bulge itself, but part of the tidal wave it created.

Better add a few things and thanks to Chirpy fo the Pirate radio link elsewhere which I am now listening to as I write (22:25 Friday evening).

First. I always understood when doing my studies in agriculture (more anon) that BBC stood for a politicly incorrect:
B(est) B(it) (in) C(ollege).

So whaddya do Chris?

Agriculture from age 14 to 42
Computers from 35 to present.
(Yes there is an overlap)

A bit of detail is that an interest in aircraft and photography led to video and digital editing. in 1992. The hobby has gradually turned into a full time career in IT training and media work for customers in DTP/Video/Web and so on.

As has been mentioned previously there is a generation that has shown the ability to change career and find new horizons. At 45 I am at one end of that generation.....

Good for you Chris, you're never too old to learn, or to contribute.

I have a marvellous picture of our lounge, circa 1994, c/w tv, 2 x vcr, hi-fi based cd player, audio mixer, amiga 1200, gvp genlock, microphone, JVC s-vhs camra (GRS 909, marvellous machine), and cable, lots of them.

I will post it when I have scanned it as a salutary reminder of times gone by!

I was explaining to somebody the other day how long it took to render a jpeg off a floppy disk back then.....

Alan, every so often I dip into the beta of your information and then try to digest a bit.....

Chris

Well, I’m here because of a 1988 video. The vid in question is one of the most modern my university could offer to educate students about databases. Not that the content’s out of date – far from it, the video is excellent in explaining concepts, but it’s not SENDA compliant. SENDA is the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001), the provisions of which for teaching materials came into force in September 2003. What the Act says is that we have to cater in our teaching for all ranges of disabilities no matter that they are not present in the student body at the moment.

What this means practically is that we have to provide voiceover descriptions (scenesetting) for those who have visual difficulties and captioning and/or signing for those who have aural difficulties. We also have to take care of cognitive difficulties, but that’s beyond the scope of technology at this level – at least I haven’t yet found a way and there’s a load more people more specialist than myself concerned with that.

And apparently no-one has done it in our uni, so as I have an interest in accessibility it’s up to me. I’ve been into still pix (film and digital) for some years, so persuaded my wife that we should afford (not could afford) a digital video camera and the necessary editing equipment. (Sony DCR-TRV60 – external mic, and Pinnacle Studio 9 ***below) and am putting in bids for a studio with several cameras/kit/light sets for the uni so that both staff and students can use them. I’m also having videos shot of myself so that I can put up all my lectures as talking heads. Anything we shoot and complete will be put on our university system so that it can be used by any staff member for teaching. We’ll also be putting up animations and other things like powerpoints. Hopefully this will enable our students to learn better. As it is I have a number of students taking accessibility forward in their final year projects, and they’re all being very innovative.

So why am I here? Well, it’s years since I handled a video camera – during my own student days – so it’s safe to say that I’ve forgotten everything.

So if anyone knows anything about enabling accessible video then I’m all ears.

However in parallel I project lead a research group concerned with accessibility – from webpages through museum and local history material to analysing and reproducing music and dance performances. The way we’re going is to make as much as possible available through XML metadata so that it is in an open format and not constrained to a single piece of software. Whether this will work we don’t know, but we’re trying. What we do know is that we’ll use a lot of disk storage, which we have, fortunately.

***Yes, I have seen all the criticism – I’ll try it then upgrade if necessary.

And if this is overlong as an intro, be warned that I suffer from verbal diarrhoea.

Good to meet someone else with the same problem :D

Chris, treat me like an encyclopedia, ask away and I'll answer if I can. Also, I'll "dunno" when I can't, just like everyone else. I'm still learning and expect to carry on doing so for a long time yet.

Alan

Thank you very much.

First question - if you would be so kind.

Are youi aware of any resources on video accessibility with particular reference for SENDA? I'm aware of resources for web pages and books (I'm defining some of them through research and testing with people who are classified as disabled) and other educational material, but am coming unstuck when it comes to video - the standard works are a little light other than saying "provide captions and descriptive material" but that's about it. I've probably been looking in the wrong places.

From what I can see it's all to do with bolt-ons in post production rather than making accessible video from the word go.

for people with 'audio' problems we use a vcr fed to a loop system.

we don't produce teaching materials on video tape so we make sure we buy in video tapes with sign language if required.

dvd would be a better medium for this due to better resolution , and ability to turn subtitles on/off depending upon user, or second 'angle' for signed version

accesible video from the beginning would be a far larger production problem

i work as an A/V technician in Cove School's video production department; we get refered to as Cove School TeleVison, hence the username!

we run a course for 14-16 year olds in producing videos and have done since the 1970's (although i wasn't born then!). I'm an AV resource for the whole school and look after procurement, installation, maintanance and training. as well was lots and lots of troubleshooting!

but i'm only 19 and my life's work doesn't cover that much so i'm going to pad this out with what i'd like to do...

i'm only going to work at the school for another 3 months (or maybe less) and then i'm hoping to get a job with a local hire/installation company for a while.

dream job would be broadcast or research engineer for the beeb. i've got quite a way to go though and it's looking more and more like BBC Technology use "has a degree" as one of their first questions when employing people so that may be on the cards at some point in the next 18 months. looking into the future, one day i'd quite like to be like Alan Roberts.

mark.

Thanks, Mark. You're going the right way about it. At your age I'd done a fair bit of theatre lighting and was far more interested in sound and theatre than in tv, that came much later. At your age, experience and enthusiasm is what you need, but backed up by a decent education. You have to get that to be taken seriously in the engineering world, although just experience will get you into production. The choices are yours, but we'll all help.

To start with, this is a great thread!

Trained in mechanical engineering with ICI (when it was a great company). Went to South Africa in 1985 working in Petro-chemicals and NH3. Had a FANTASTIC time doing design work on HP turbines while I was there.

Useless fact: Did you know you can run a turbine blade at an operating temperature 50 degrees hotter then the melting point of the material it is made of without damaging the blade!

Did an MSc in Applied Thermodynamics
Did an MBA
became a CEng

Link: got interested in video when I was using high speed camera's to watch turbines rotate.

Came back to UK when SA got to dangerous. Got into Food manufacture in the late 80's because there is some great technolgy in food manufacture. Got into "management" as one does when the funding for technological development starts to dry up.
God bless the policy makers that decided we shouldn't be a manufacturing nation and then don't fund the transition to a technology nation. ( sorry I'll put my soapbox away)!.

I fed my thirst for knowledge in more recent times (the last decade) and also my creative side, which is in complete contrast to my logical straight line Engineering approach (sometimes) by learning (doing) videography.

In the last four years I have been asking myself some soul searching questions, well I am on the verge of hitting forty and that added to some very difficult life decisions have got me thinking. Things like;

"Why do (we) push ourselves so hard in the pursuit of
- Careers (you only have to read this thread to see how complicated the "paths" of people are).
- Hobbies (you only have to read this board to see how involved people get in what they do)
- Technology (why do we love it and hate it?)

In short are these the things that drive us or are do we pursue them to give us purpose?

Is the desire in the resloution or the search?

If you tie a buttered slice of toast to a cats back do you crete purrpetual motion while both try to land feet / buttered side down? (no that's not a question I was looking to get an answer to).

When I was clear about what I was striving for did I perceive my life to be easier and better or didn't I afford myself the time to think about it?

Is there a gadget I can try out that will answer these questions?

like I said Great thread...........Neil