Senders Communication Group - Demo Site

Events Across the Country Cover Technology, Workflow

By Mark H. Weingartner, DP/VFX
Supervisor & National Training Committee Chairman

Last year was a busy year for trainings, with the Mega-Digitals rolling out to members across the country - not just in NY, LA, and Chicago, but in all regions including Philadelphia and Detroit.

We also expanded the program with a Data Handling Mega-Digital in the Los Angeles area this fall.

These Mega Digital events draw members from all over the country, and in addition to manufacturers and vendors giving presentations, we have had panel discussions and mixers, which give our members a chance to network, socialize, and compare notes.

At a National Camera Assistants’ Craft Meeting, we clarified another important training need: our Camera Assistants reported a lack of consistent skills and capabilities among our Loaders.

Traditionally, our entry-level members in the LA area came up through the Camera Departments at the studios, and by the time they got jobs on production, they generally had several years of Loading Room toil under their belts. In other markets, Loaders had been trained by the crews with whom they worked as they moved into production. As the Camera Departments have closed one by one (Paramount closed the last of the studio Camera Departments this fall) the training grounds have shrunk. The lack of training opportunities in LA, coupled with the proliferation of jobs in new markets without long traditions of TV and feature production and the influx of new members through the organizing of independent projects, has given rise to a body of eager, willing, but untrained Loaders and 2nd Assistants.

We set out to address this problem with the "Loader Training, 2nd Assistants Welcome" program.

This program, put together by Rudy Pahoyo, a 16-year veteran of the Paramount Camera Department, and taught by him and by Michelle Crenshaw, addresses the diverse responsibilities of the Loader and the varied skills needed to cover them. Though handling negatives safely is central to the Loader’s life, loading and downloading magazines is the most straightforward part of it. The workshop covers procedures, paperwork, protocol, and politics of the position, as well as a practical workshop which gives participants a chance to learn some oddball magazines. To date, we have presented it in Los Angeles, New York, Santa Fe, Detroit, New Orleans, and Boston, with more to come.

In addition to our main instructor, we invite experienced local Camera Assistants to help teach the class, giving them a chance to scope out the up-and-coming "newbies." Along with teaching practical skills and procedures, the program seeks to harmonize practices around the country, so that as we work on more and more shows with mixed crews from different regions, tasks get handled similarly in different markets. As handy as this is for the crews, Production benefits from a uniform approach to the seemingly endless paperwork demanded of the Loader, reinforcing the advantages of hiring a skilled, trained, union workforce.

The RED Training

The introduction and rapid rise of the RED ONE camera created another obvious need. This camera emerged on the scene cloaked in a cloud of hype, and we responded with a training program to help our members grasp the realities of working with it. Cliff Hsui, Local 600 DIT and SVP of Marketing & Technologies at Sim Video, put together a great RED seminar, combining theory and hands-on training, and addressing the real-world operation of this camera on professional shows.

So far, he has taught this seminar three times in Los Angeles and twice in New Orleans, assisted in LA by DIT member Brook Willard and in New Orleans by DIT member Sean Coles. Mark Pederson, DIT member Eric Camp, and the staff at Off Hollywood in New York have presented a similar seminar twice for some of our Eastern Region members. We have more RED workshops in the works, addressing both general operation, and, for the DIT’s and DP’s, a program that will allow them to shoot material and take it through grading so they can get a handle on how to correlate what they are doing and seeing on set with what they can achieve in post.

Another consequence of evolving technology is the need for our members to master the ins and outs of working with the expanding group of file-based cameras. In addition to the Data-Handling Mega-Digital that we premiered in Manhattan Beach this past autumn, we are working on a comprehensive and intensive two-day workshop on Data Handling for a variety of cameras, including hands-on training and practice in downloading files to various storage devices. This workshop, like the Mega-Digitals, will be held in various cities across the country. We have also held a couple of training days with the S.two Digital Field Recorder, and will be doing the same for the Codex Digital Field Recorder. Much more than just a recording device, these systems allow meta-data to be added to the image files and look-up tables to be applied to the footage.

Training Committee

In order to better serve our membership, President Poster appointed three regional co-chairs to the National Training Committee. I assumed the chairmanship, joined by Regional Co-Chairs Lewis Rothenberg from the ER, Rusty Burrell from the CR, and Rudy Pahoyo from the WR. With some help and nagging from me, these guys have been doing the heavy lifting in organizing these events and corralling manufacturers and vendors to support the training. NEB alternate and ER VP and Training Committee member Deborah Lipman moved heaven and earth to get the Boston Loader Training off the ground.

In addition to the national training events, our Regional Training Committees have put on a number of events, including a Camera Alignment Seminar in New York, taught by George Gonos of Leader Instruments, and F35 rollouts in NY.

Keep an eye out in the e-newsletters and the website for both Regional and National training announcements. These classes fill up very quickly.

Good training can only be developed thoughtfully, and the National and Regional Training Committee members and other member instructors are developing more training on more topics in more places for more members to attend. We are freelance workers – those of us who are "highly motivated self-starters" and willing to take the time to get a handle on the new technologies and master our understanding of the traditional ones are likely to succeed. I invite all of you to read the newsletters, check the website, keep an eye on the calendars, and join us at our training events.