DV Info Net - Hi From London, and I'm an addict...

Hello Everyone

This is my first post and...I am an addict... I've discovered videography is like heroin, just more expensive! I'm an amateur hobbyist (read 'obsessive') who started a few years ago and although have been offered money to shoot music vids etc..., I have mostly turned it down. Frankly, I'd only start charging if I bought myself a camera that shoots raw, a nice selection of lenses and became a little better at compositing... mmm, BlackMagic. Although with the amount of shooting I do, I would need a small datacentre to record all the raw! I'm working on it, though...

I have a day job which would pay fairly respectably except for the 'alimony' word (jeez, that's a small word for a massive amount of money!) and am happy to shoot at weekends and occasionally during the week.

- this is my reel which desperately needs to be updated. Have a ton of stuff not on there, particularly my fancy, multi-layered composite shots (with strange FX in) and will update everything, put up a site in September.

I love shooting short films, music vids, am playing with more advanced, multi-layer compositing and compositing-based FX. Love greenscreen, love creating through shooting and compositing I can do around this although jeez, that's time consuming. Have an OK grasp of sound in that I can record, create a basic sound design, build a soundscape. My kit is:

Sony VG10 with a prime and stock (to be upgraded to something shooting raw), portable greenscreen, 3-point 2,400w tungsten lighting kit, Manfrotto everything (video tripod, fluid head, monopod), steadicam Merlin. For sound, I use an ECM 674 (someone stole my NTG-2 grrrrr), a Promix 3 which makes a huge difference to my little DR100. In addition, I have the usual sound recording acoutrements such as a boom, head, zeppelin, deadcat etc...

For editing, I use FCP7 and am always amazed at the level of compositing which is possible, even without Motion 4 and 5. Would love to get involved in 'true' VFX so am looking into this.

If anyone needs a pair of hands, gaffer etc..., I am happy to assist and have recently gaffered on a music vid, am shooting lots of different stuff. I am just an excitable 40+ year old!

So if you'd like to say hi, please just let me know!