Here is a slate for recording a typical tv show..
“My Movie and Broadcast Television Career” is the place to read stories about Nicholas Chase’s career in Hollywood.
It is not a place to share gossip about celebrities. Rather, I wanted to speak to storytelling, a daily activity that I enjoyed during my time in Hollywood, and an activity that I am currently engaged in as an Independent Producer / Director.
Background
My elevator speech goes something like this: Spent ten years in an engineering and advisory role for the stars and creative folks in Hollywood / Burbank California. The Hollywood environment is very interesting, the hours can be legendary, as the participants in this industry are all seeking a common goal. To tell a story. It may be a story that is true, or complete fiction. The basis for the storytelling is of course, ‘entertainment‘ a very broad term in the context of the modern world’s experiences.
Lessons
Spending a great many hours in the company of creative individuals such as producers, directors, writers, makeup-artist’s, and technical support teams over ten years, on movies and tv shows has taught me some very valuable lessons.
The first lesson I learned was to listen. That is crucial advice. Listening to your clients opens up so many windows of opportunity to learn the craft(s) practiced in Hollywood, and to assist the creative endeavor by offering constructive advice to bridge the technologies with the arts.
One day I was asked by the creative director,’ which monitor should I base my quality assessments on?” At the time the predominant home tv set was the 19-inch Sony tv, a sample of which was in the corner of our edit bay(s). I stated, “the end result of your creative efforts will be viewed by a large proportion of the viewers on a Sony 19-inch Trinitron tv set. I recommend that you use that platform to analyze the picture components you deem most critical for your production”.
In all cases, the creative staff was asking me for technical expertise to assure all would be well with the public’s reception of their creative efforts.
The second lesson that I learned was that creative folks have issues. Issues with the script, the equipment used to capture the content, whether film camera, digital camera’s or animation software suites. They had issues with the sound, the music and the lighting.
In the coming weeks, I will share with you a very unique perspective, Coming from experience gained in the production, and post-production engineering and creative spaces, the duality of these stories will entertain the reader, and provide some ‘food for thought’, if the reader is interested in pursuing a career in the movies or tv.
With the advent of interactive production collaboration using the Internet as a communications medium, this field is exploding in terms of the average user having the capacity to make their own story. Whether in book form on Amazon.com or a YouTube.com video, the opportunities are now in place for anyone with Internet access to be a content creator. What an exciting time we live in!
