Heya all,

I am all the way down in Melbourne Australia, just interested to see if any ozzies are in here, could exchange ideas or places to go.... so on..


kermie

We do have a smattering of Ozzies here... I'm sure some of them will make themselves known to you... one of our moderators, Adrian Douglas, is from down under but currently resides in Japan. I think we have a banana bender in here and a Kiwi or two and some Sydneysiders and maybe a sandgroper.

I have never been, but wish very much to travel under someday. Most of the regulars here know what a huge Midnight Oil fan I am.

Great to have you with us and stick around; sometimes this place can be as busy as Bourke street in the rush hour. Or browse through our extensive archive of posts, there's a lot here to read, you'll need a cut lunch and a waterbottle to get through it all.

Seeya,

Banana benders, it has been a real while since i have heard that!!!


Bourke st has really slowed down in recent years, you are more likely to find traffic on flinders st now, or out of the city on st kilda rd and/or bourke RD.


Yeah i have been scanning through the archives... loads of info, but a lot of it too technical for me.

I guess that is why i am in search of smart people from my town to find out where to go to find good/cheap things and people who know their shit :)


Kermie

aye Zac,

i'm also in melbourne man.. studying video production in collingwood

email me sometime if you want =)

enkephalinish@hotmail.com


- J

I'm from Melbourne... Florida. I may not be Australian, but I watch the Croc Hunter alot if that helps :)

Keith, that is ok, you are now an honourary australian for liking the movie "i'm gonna git you sucka" heh hee.

I just read that post (1st one).. and it was like my 2nd post ever, wow how time flies and how much you learn.

Woody, collingwood hey? that wouldn't be open channel? i have done some courses there, you meet some very nice people. I am happy to jump down to brunswick st sometime, have a chat over an Atomica Coffee, just send me an email.


Zac

Crikey Mate!

My wife's from Melbourne, and we were over there a couple of years ago. Her parents live on the edge of Sherbrook Forest and I was just wandering down one of the trails in the late afternoon with my Sony cam when I caught about 5mins of footage of lyrebirds. Bloody tape ran out on me! Damn!

One of these days I hope to get it up on my site.

ahaha..

yeh collingwood.. such a beautiful place.. ahahaha

i'm forever getting in "situations" in that place, especially at the supermarket on smith street - gotta love finding the dead junkies there also =P

it's not really as bad as it used to be now, well i dont think it is.. my school has security everywhere so it's alright - still been a number of occasions though when people have walked in and walked out with expensive cameras, we found someone in the studio a couple of weeks ago trying to take a cam haha. had a few people overdose in the lifts too, but i've never seen any of them

i dont go to open channel, i go to NMIT just off smith street.. same course as open channel but a lot cheaper and probably better equipment.. it's a pretty good place to study video production.

i'll drop you a email sometime soon, we've just started second semester productions so i'm a bit busy atm but coffee sounds good =)

cheers

-J

I'm not in Melbourne but just up the road in Canberra

I'll have to get around to introducing myself in this "These Are the People in Your Neighborhood" area, one day......
any Canberrans reading this?

hello everyone, im from Melbourne just like to say gaday,
(thats Melbourne Australia).I think there is another melb
somewhere .
This network is the best . Plenty to learn, im as
green as the leaves on a tree but hungry
for knowledge.



just on the verg of buying a pd150 for short films .lets just
say im throwing my self down the deep end.I hope im doing
the right thing only time will tell . Cant wait to start with the
shooting, might have to do a cheep course if there is other
melbourners here an would like to share any info. plz send
me a email.


well thanks everyone the sun
always shines here.Have a
Great day.......

Welcome aboard Marek! I've renamed this thread to help other
people in the area notice it. Good luck on your purchase and
shoots!

Hey Marek- I'm from Melbourne too! (That's Melbourne Florida!) Welcome!

Meet you on the steps at Flinders St.

Gday Mark, Im from Melbourne too.
Good luck with the PD150, I currenlty only have a cam on loan, I think im going to wait for HDV b4 i spend some big money.

CHeers
Ben Gurvich

I'm from melbourne too, south eastern suburbs boy.

I had a pd-150, great camera, extremely robust, i think you will love it.

If you have any questions don't be affraid to ask.


Zac

I have just joined the group so this is my introduction.

I first started in video in about 1982 taping comedy shows in Melbourne (my sister is a pretty well known comedienne in Aust named Wendy Harmer).

I used video in sales campaigns during my 15 year career in IT. I was a sales director for Oracle & PeopleSoft for Asia Pacific and shot video of customer interviews and promo material for sales campaigns. Absolutely loved doing the video work.

I decided to toss the corporate job in January this year to go full-time videography - eek! Have been making corporate video, adverts and sales training material - seems to be going well so far.

Last week I took a call from a US production company and ended up doing a documentary piece of a US comedien Eddie Ifft. Shot his appearance on a local TV show Rove Live, an interview with the host Rove McManus and the makeup/greenroom backstage stuff.

I'm using the Panasonic DVX100AE Pal camera which I just love, Britek lighting kit (fantastic), Audio Technica AT897 microphone, and an IDX LED dimmable on-board camera light.

Have kit will travel....

I've set up a web site that might interest some of you. It was built on-line with a flash toolkit - totally free. I upgraded it to their "Pro" version for $35 which gave me more template options and removed the crappy porno banner ads, and then paid another $7/month to have it hosted in the US with 25GB of storage space - it doesn't get much cheaper than that. They did the transfer for me - very impressed.
Check out http://www.flashbuilder.net/login.html
My site is http://www.philbrown.com.au

Anyway, nice to join the group, and look forward to hearing from you.

One more thing, I have an idea that I am market testing and may need help from additional videographers if it takes off. Will post into the group for help if it works out - would like to hear from Melb freelancers in the group.

Bye for now

Phil

Hi Phil and welcome aboard (H)DVInfo.net! Good to have you with us!

Sounds like you've had an interesting career already. I'm also in IT (as a
programmer building mid-size websites for corporations) and dabble with
video in my spare time.

If you want fill in your location field (Controls link in the bar above) so people
know where you are from (since you mention it here as well).

All the best!

Thanks for the welcome and help. Have updated the profile as suggested and added equipment I use.

Cheers,

Phil

G'day Phil,

I'm another Melbourne bloke.

Studying at Melbourne University and trying to make a little money on the side doing various video productions. Sounds like you're doing pretty well for yourself, and your website is fantastic.

You wouldn't be able to tell me where you buy your equipment from? I've been interested in checking out the Audio Technica mics, but Lemac doesn't stock them, and I haven't seen them anywhere else. Where do you do your shopping?

Cheers mate,
Tim

I've been travelling in Oz last few months and spent quite a bit of time in Melbourne as i have a mate there and was there for the Grand Prix etc.

Of the photo/video stores in Melbourne CBD i've been to i think that Michaels (a few minutes walk from Flinders St. Stn) is one of the the best.
The video staff there are generally very cluued-up and they've got a good range of equipment and competitive prices.

In Sydney, Sound Devices on Sussex St. in the CBD are REALLY great for their selection of mic's. AT, Rode, Beyerdynamic, AKG, they've got almost any mic for any application and, again, those guys (especially Lewis) know their stuff. I got my Rode Videomic from there.

rgds

Hi Tim & Stu, and thanks for the comment on the website.

I have been collecting my equipment piece by piece. Bought the camera at TasmanAV in Abbotsford - had to really haggle for a discount but save about a grand.

The Microphone is only available on-line at one place I know of in Brisbane - Brisbane Sound Group - Audio Lighting Studio - Sales but a lot of music stores stock other Audio Technica units and will buy it in for you at around $500. I also carry a Rode NT3 studio mike with a 10M balanced cable. Great all-rounder, nice rich tone for interviews, and I can get well back with the camera and zoom in full for a nicely softened background.

I actually have a friend who travels to the US quite a bit so I get her to pick up my stuff. She collected the mike (US$245)and the Britek Lighting Kit. Great equipment - for araound US$450 3 x 650W focusable with barndoors and air cushioned stands. Can't get them here but if you know anyone going to the US ask them I would have bought on-line but the shipping cost was nearly $300!!!

Purchased an IDX dimmable LED on-camera light from John Barry in South Melb - expensive but I needed it urgently. Generally you can get around 10% discount there.

Just packing up for a series of 17 interviews at an IT company on Tues/Wed in Sydney - doesn't get much more mind numbing than that - but its what we do...

Hope all is going well for you guys.

Cheers,

Phil

G'day fellas..

Just thought I'd introduce myself, my names Josh and I live in Melbourne, Australia..

I'm 21 years old and currently working as a Camera Operator with the company that does all the horse racing in Melbourne, Sydney and regional Victoria.. I also work casual with Channel 9 as a Camera Assistant (and have also worked a little with 7 in the past)

Just wanted to know how many other frequenters from Melbourne there are here, who are currently working in the industry, or any other Aussies that are lurking about..

Nice to meet you all :)

-Josh

Hi Josh, I'm from Melbourne too! Welcome to the boards!

This is the first time I have added anything to a forum. I am from Melbourne Australia and have been getting heaps of invaluable information from this site for some weeks now. I am probably a little behind most, as I only picked up my first major piece of filming hardware last week - my first Canon XL2, and wow. What can I say? I am very impressed and have started working out what all the buttons do. I thought the learning curve would be enormous, but with all the info I have taken from this forum and from the internet in general, it's no where near as daunting as I had thought. I will be using the XL2 very soon to film a pilot TV show concept that I have been toying with for a couple of years now, but now I have less of an excuse to film the pilot. I have a full proposal, synopsis and even have a draft first episode, but it is not 'pull finger out time'. I have filmed some small muck around stuff and full length plays before on my little Sony handycam, but predominantly my experience in film has been in front of the camera as an actor, my last being a full feature independent that unfortunately didn't do as well as the creator had intended and last I heard it is playing in Poland (yes Poland) but nowhere else.

Hope to learn everything, well at least a very lot from this site.

G'day Ron,
I know I've learned a heap from reading these forums.

Great to hear you've got such a great sounding project to use the xl2 on. I wish you good luck on the pilot and any other projects.
If you need a hand on a shoot let me know (I'm in SE suburbs).

Cheers,
Kyle

Hey Kyle,
Good to hear from someone in Melbourne. What camera do you have? I'm going away this weekend and I will take my new baby with me and work on some test footage. I live over Chadstone way so probably not far from you. When I get filming for real, I will definitely pool all available resources together, with all my friends including my lovely lady we have an abundance or talent to utilise, from actors, to sound experts, lighting gurus, editors. I will look at making a dolly soon also. Think that will be a great piece of equipement to have.

Regards

Ron

Ron,
I'm just near M'bin airport - not far at all. I have a Panasonic NV-MX500 and other bits and pieces I've accumulated - couple of VHF wireless mic, entry level shotgun, etc. I only use it for personal stuff mainly, although I've used it to make a couple of shorts. I have plans to do some more movies and maybe even a few paid jobs. I'd really like an FX1 but only if I'd use it more, which at this point I don't think I would.
Stay in touch re your projects - I'm keen to help.

Cheers.

Even though im working in Albury NSW, Im still from Melbourne,and am going home this weekend!

See you round fellas.

Cheers,
Ben Gurvich

Hey Ben,
Back for the rain this weekend eh?
I see in your profile you have an agus35, do you use it much? on what camera?
I'm building a micro35 at the moment.

Cheers

Back for the rain this weekend eh?
I see in your profile you have an agus35, do you use it much? on what camera?
Cheers


Kyle,

Yes I am coming back for the rain, should be good though,
Ive had my agus for about a year and used it with a pdx10 for this short
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2669574?htv=12

I had a engineering friend (legend) build it based from plans on the mediachance website. You might find this with a search on here.

The Whole film is shot with a 50mm nikkor 1.8 cause thats all had at the time. I recently got a 28-85 but its too slow at 2.8. I plan on getting some decent primes soon at 1.4 -1.8 when i get the $$$

My box has a lot of flutter, but i love it, and think it sells the whole film look.
I cant understand anyone who likes the static gg look.(well i can but i dont like it)

I got my Ground Glass from a friend on here who will remain nameless so he doesnt get snowed under with requests. He does some awesome chemical machiining on cdr's.

My box rocks but it looks boxy, i wouldnt mind outlaying for micro35. Mostly because it looks more professional with clients.


Currently i am shooting 50mbit progressive/interlaced xdcam(mpegimx) at work , its real nice and id love to get a box on it but i wouldnt want to scratch the 18k lens, and cant work out how to mount my box to a b mount or whatever.

Anyway good luck with your AGUS.

Cheers
Ben Gurvich

OK I'm not really from Melbourne, but I live where we make most of your power and have your backup water supply - in the Latrobe Valley. About 1.5 hrs drive, more if heavy traffic.

I need a 3CCD cam, but looking at getting one soon. Hopefully start doing some weddings, etc with it to help recoup the cost. That and provide ongoing non fulltime work. I'm very part-time casual at the moment with web development. The upside is I could/can train for cross country skiing.
I wouldn't mind doing a doco on the sport and some of the top athletes - I know a couple, and the coach at least so there's a start.

I'm really trying to assemble bits and pieces on a budget, but hopefully after some refinement I'll get the results I want. I too have just been using a sony handycam thus far - not bad for the price I paid, but nowhere near the big boys. Once I get a few more people interested I can probably think about a short. Maybe even one that involves snow. Either way it's bound to be bizarre if I have my way.

If I was closer I'd volunteer to help out - even just to get experience.
Hope all goes well.

G'day Andrew,
I'm originally from the Valley too - moved to the smoke a couple of years ago - I actually think I may have met you before (around 10 years ago, Newborough area) if you're one of the Hood's I'm thinking of. Could be mistaken though.

Drop me a line if you want a hand at a shoot - I'm back visiting the folks reasonably often.

Good luck with the video work and shorts.

Cheers.

Hi from Perth, WA to all you guys in Melbourne and surounds.I'm in the same position as you Ron,I have the XL2 and the rest of the gear.I've been planning to make a doco for a couple of years now,so with the new camera I have no excuses not to start.I intended filming in June but I procrastinated for weeks,then went overseas and lost the plot completely when I got home.I am now reasembling my plans, and with a bit of luck I will get fully involved before the new year.At least one of my interveiws will be in Victoria,probably Dandenong, so if any of you XL2 guys are interested in helping out with the camera work or sound recording it would be fantastic. Joe

Hi Joe,
I don't have an XL, but I'd like to help with your shoot if I can - drop me an email when you know when you're heading over to Vic if you want.
Good luck.

Cheers

I finally got a 3CCD camera, PD150. Works quite well, have to look at more footage I've shot off it - trying not to shuttle the tape too much. When I get my new 320GB I can dump some of the Moon and cloud footage and speed it up, tweak it a little. Then I can wear out the hard drive instead of the tape.
And then hopefully have a go at DVC4.

@Kyle, if you're related to Kath Ringin and the Hibberts I would have met you before, it's just been a while. If so you'd probably be familiar with places like Bundilla - that would be good for some location work I think.

Congratulations on the PD150 Andrew. Good luck with it. Is it new or second hand? where did you buy from?

Yeah that's me - incidentally I shot a bit of footage at Bundilla to make a video but I haven't found the time to edit it yet. If you want it as a location I can help you out.

Cheers

Hey all
Good to see a few people near me - I live in the eastern suburbs of melbourne (blackburn).

If you need an editor, let me know as I'm very keen to do some work on a variety projects (at no charge of course).

If anyone even just wants to meet up for a coffee to chat about their camera or whatever, drop me a message. :)

Hi Kyle

the camera was second hand. I got it from someone in North Fitzroy - I'd been looking at ebay and buy-n-shoot.com.au for weeks, but a google search found an add on cracker.com.au and that caught my attention. So I just found out as much as I could, took a trip to check it out and bought it. It came with a Miller DS10 tripod, plus 3 larger batteries and UV+Polarized filters. I'm still getting more audio gear, and looking at making a video light, plus a shoulder mount for starters.

It's been ages since I've been to Bundilla. A very scenic place. I'll have to do other general location scouting at some stage, keep a list of places for later projects, and get some stock footage. I've got few excuses now.

I keep getting that feeling there's stuff I need to be finding out about, stuff I've forgotten about. I think it's just acquisition mode - everything needs to be researched. I know my bank balance has dropped a bit this month, but it should be a good investment.

Hi from Perth, WA to all you guys in Melbourne and surounds.I'm in the same position as you Ron,I have the XL2 and the rest of the gear.I've been planning to make a doco for a couple of years now,so with the new camera I have no excuses not to start.I intended filming in June but I procrastinated for weeks,then went overseas and lost the plot completely when I got home.I am now reasembling my plans, and with a bit of luck I will get fully involved before the new year.At least one of my interveiws will be in Victoria,probably Dandenong, so if any of you XL2 guys are interested in helping out with the camera work or sound recording it would be fantastic. Joe

Hello Joe,
Been busy and forgot to get on and see there has been some movement with this thread.
If I'm not busy with acting or filming - I'd love to help - would be good for the learning curve with the camera and also learning other stuff. Actually my lovely lady of 6 years is from Perth. So I guess she might tell me I have to support a fellow Perthian. I promise to check back to the forum more often and when you get closer to filming in Melbourne - I'll try to be available to assist.

Hi Ron

I thought I'd have a look on Google to see what you've been up to in the past. Looks like some interesting stuff with the Waverly Theatre, Act-o-matic 3000. That 24hr event sounded interesting too.
And stuff like The Laramie Project (You played 9 characters?), and Bedtime for Bastards, which had favourable reviews from what I saw. Pity I'm the better part of 2 hrs away, but it would be good to see what's on at some stage. What's in the works at the moment - if you're at liberty to say?

It seems like you have a fair bit of experience, something us younger members are lacking. But only one way to get it - do, and learn. And learn from people who know something who have done, to save a few mistakes.
Feel free to impart more wisdom - the comments in the other post about the Aus industry were interesting, and I think very true.

@Kyle:
Any plans for doing the DVC 4 comp? I'm in, but undermanned right now. Obviously if you're in Melb most of the time that complicates things. I still have to see who else I can coerce into it. My brothers GF got hit by a car while riding and broke her arm a few days ago - so that limits their help. Worst case scenario is it ends up a solo mission - good thing for no wall of shame this time ;)

Hey Andrew,
It's been a while since I googled my own name. I have actually had a break since April, recharging the batteries. I was in The Laramie Project in March 2004 with Brighton Theatre Company and in March 2005 with a slightly modified cast (ie 4 original and 4 new) we performed it at Chapel Off Chapel here in Melbourne. It was so well recieved both times, but at Chapel it blew us away with the responses. Being a well known professional venue helped to get a greater cross section of theatre goers. We were all wrapped to get 5 stars in the Sunday Age review, we even beat the Melbourne Theatre Company. We also got drunk with Jackie Weaver the night she came to see the show. After that I performed in one of four one act plays that were written by Alan Hopgood (writter of And The Big Men Fly and actor in Bellbird). He had written the plays some 30 odd years ago and wanted to see if they might do well now. He was happy but I think the material was just a tad dated. As to what is next - I will soon start working on a play called BELOW. It's written by an ex pat pom who lives in Perth. (Can't remember his name off the top of my head.) The play was done at La Mama here in Melbourne some years back, so he is wrapped that it will see performance time again. It will be performed in April 2006, but I am working out in the gym as prep work for the role. Hope to soon shoot a short that I wrote for 24Hours. I am reviewing and rewritting and stroryboarding it to give it a feel for film seeing as it was originally written for stage.

Perhaps if you are in Melbourne in April you can come as see BELOW.

Andrew,
No I didn't have any plans to do DVC 4 - I'd like to though. It's pretty short notice though. How far are you progressed? I'll likely be in Gipps on Mon and maybe Tue - send me a PM if you'll be doing anything then. Sorry I'm not much help, but I'd like to help if I can.

BTW I hope your bros GF is ok.

Cheers.

Hello all,

I stumbled upon this thread by searching for Miller tripods.

And I'm glad I did; I'm from Melbourne too - Berwick to be precise.

I'm glad to hear there are more likeminded people nearby.

I'm about to purchase the Z1 (or maybe wait for the Panasonic) and I am wondering about good, cheap, helpful places to purchase from. I have been on the phone a lot to www.videoguys.com.au but I don't know of many other stores with whom to compare prices.

Any advice?

John,

Have you tried www.new-media.com.au

they are in south melbourne and I've found them to be really helpful and well priced.

Pete

New Media usually have the audio gear a few $ cheaper than Videoguys. I wasn't looking at the video gear so much.

I'm still deciding about a wireless system, and it looks like SoundCorp in Northcote have some things cheaper than other places too.

Another video place it VideoCraft in Ashwood (511 Warragul Road, videocraft.com.au) and they have a few ready to go packages, plus specials on various bits. Shop around.

If you're looking for face-to-face advice, definitely check out the bigger places. Tasman AV in Collingwood have a few people who really know their stuff, but not everyone there does. You want somone who can answer specific questions, and who has experience with most or all the gear they're selling. They have several (about 10) mid to high end cameras setup at Tasman, good to check out just to see how they perform and compare.

Well I made a big and exciting New Years resolution of sorts this year. On New Years Day I registered successfully a business - Zero2Infinity Films. All systems are go for Steve (my partner) and me. We have a camera (Canon XL2), we have made a steady cam, we have all the parts to make a skate board dolly. More importantly we have our first script. It is a short play that I wrote a couple of years ago for a special event and we are in the process of rewritting it for film. We are looking at shooting it in February and will post footage on our website which should be live very soon.
I know so many people in this game - talented actors, writters, directors, lighting people, set builders, audio gurus and the goal of Zero2Infinity is to utilise all of these people and resources, to create our own films and blooby well enjoy every step, every mistake, every success along the way.

Boy am I excited - I love this stuff.

Hi,

A quick introduction. My name is Alex, 21 years old and im a photographer living in Melbourne, Australia.

Have been visiting these boards for a while and finally signed up! Thought it best to introduce myself before randomly posting.

I love my photography, currently automotive work, and also have my own business that is getting on its feet. However I want to start making some serious doco's and short films I have written. Its a pity to have spent so much on my still photo kit, and now spend more on video gear. Such is.

I hope to see you all on the forums soon, no doubt with an abundance of helpful information.

Cheers,

Alex

Welcome Alex! Glad you took the plunge after lurking for awhile. Will look forward to hearing more from you.

Welcome Alex,

You do have a lot of mates from Australia on this board! Glad you signed up.

Mike

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but I'm just wondering Ron if your "Zero2Infinity Films" venture actually ever got fully operational?