About Me & AdvanceHDTV

Well... The road has been long, with many, many projects and many, many people. And I would be remiss if I didn't say: very interesting!  I've been able to meet such a wide range of people from heads of state to actors and musicians to people who 'make the news' - and that can vary from the criminal to the victim to heads of state and actors 'n' musicians 'n' blah blah blah!

To say 'I've done it all' feels right even though it is far from the truth. It would probably be easier for me to tell you about what I haven't done or been involved in than it would be to tell what I've done. Of course I'm speaking generally from a film and video perspective.

Yes, I've worked on feature films, commercials, music videos, corporate video, news, live TV, sports, Olympics, web video. I've worked on Broadway productions, my commercials air all over North America on a regular basis, got to meet some amazing people over the years. I worked in News, then Corporate video, then went on my own where I did all of the above and more.

I am a Producer, DOP, videographer/cinematographer, an editor, a sound mixer/recordist, musician and audio editor, a graphics artist (okay I do some stuff in PhotoShop and Illustrator... maybe not really an 'artist' as it were...), a writer, director. I'm a lighting designer, a compositor, a grip and a props manager, line producer, production manager and lest we forget, an accountant, janitor and chief bottle washer.

I am a Jack of All, but I've also had to be a Master of All. Okay, maybe Master is a strong word but suffice to say that I had to be very good at all of it. I had to do all of it so good that no one would be wiser. Am I rich? Ha! Far from it. I make a decent living, pay the bills and am still raising a family. I also still create video.

I love it and hate it at the same time. I'm jaded yet love the new directions and trends. I love new gear and how it works (or the promise of how it should work... more on that later). I love how some refer to their setup and equipment as the 'only' way, when in fact there are so many ways it'll make your head spin. Let's step back for a minute... I got into this game when there was one format/standard. It was easy, everyone knew what to do and how it worked. You had one standard to worry about. Even shooting and editing were straight up (in terms of the basics). Now though, we've got so many different formats and codecs and distribution methods from web video to DVD and Blu-Ray to good old fashioned broadcast TV.

This is one of the many reasons I started this blog. I want to be able to help others understand and achieve their goals in this murky, muddy universe. From what gear I like to use and how it gets used. Where you can find some 'secret' or maybe not so secret places on the web that'll help you deliver an outstanding product. So that's me in a nut-shell. Check out my gear page as well you'll find some cool (or at least useful) stuff there.

Onward!

Some fun facts about me and my career (ok I think they're fun!)

• Played guitar live on stage with Jerry Doucette doing his big hit Mama Let Him Play
• My duo played in a wrap party that was attended by Bradley Whitford and Neve Campbell, and they both really enjoyed us
• Interviewed a relatively unknown singer by the name of Celine Dion
• Interviewed Billy Ray Cyrus when he was at the top of his game
• Worked with Captain Kirk aka William Shatner
• Worked with Jason Bonham, the son of legendary drummer John Bonham
• Met Sid Bernstein, the man responsible for bringing the Beatles to the US in 1964
• Attended a taping of Friends where I drooled on Jennifer Aniston (well, not really on her, but about 5 feet away... at least she smiled at me!)