• Posted on:August 6th, 2008
• Comments:3 Comments
• Category:Around the web, My Every Day, Video Star

Back when I was wandering aimlessly through college and unsure of what I wanted to do (I think I had seven or eight major changes at LEAST), I decided to take a break and try trade school, broadcast school to be specific. It was an eight month program, and while I thought I might like to go into video editing (again, UNSURE), I felt like I was getting more out of splicing reel-to-reel tape and running studio cameras than from the philosophy, physics, and all of the other college classes I was taking that not only did I have no interest in, but I was bombing them, big time.

After “graduating” from the program I landed an internship that turned into a full-time assistant editorship at a small post house, one that I was quite familiar with, as my dad had worked with the senior editor on some projects he had done for one of the big auto giants that rhymes with Snord. Most of the subject matter was pretty dry — glove box videos, PSAs, instructional tapes, a series for the Catholic Church on the year 2000 (I worked on the sound mix/original score), and a series about your allergies and how nature hates you. Throw in the occasional local interest documentary and you’ve pretty much summed up the majority of what most film and video professionals in the Detroit area are working on, as much as they would love you to think this is the midwest version of Hollywood.

I got lucky during my tour with this Little Post House That Shall Remain Unnamed, because one day, two producers walked in the door, and before we knew it, we had job cutting a full-length feature. After the mundane material I was used to working on all day, this was a nice change of pace. I spent a weekend working an ADR session with the audio editor. Even spending an entire day listening to the child actors repeat lines over and over (”I’m in the midst of a major breakthrough!”) in the recording booth was fascinating. It was my first taste of what it was like to cut together a real film.

Well, the movie came and went and so did I, back to college to finish my degree, which also marked the beginning of THAT unfortunate relationship (Another post for another time, maybe NEVER. But hey, who said all of the dots we connect in life are pleasant ones?). I forgot about the movie and most of the people I worked with, but I was sure they were on their way to fabulous careers in film while I started to get interested in writing and finishing my degree.

Yesterday out of boredom I started searching for some of the guys I worked with at the post house. After a few Google searches, I saw that the movie had been listed on IMDB.com. And after scrolling through the cast and crew, I saw that my name had been listed. And that furthermore, I had my own frigging IMDB page. Proof that I did indeed spend a brief time working in video and film. I know it’s a silly thing to be proud of, but it was really nice to be recognized for the work I did.

Some further Googling turned up a very bad trailer for the film.

And a short clip on YouTube. To this kid’s credit, this was his first acting gig. And he was young. So I try not to judge too harshly.

People ask me if I ever consider going back to that kind of work. I enjoyed my time there, and it gave me a new perspective on the magical world of television and movies. It’s a business that is hard to break back into when you’ve been gone for ages, with so many things changing in such a short period of time. And while I don’t see myself making a career of working from an edit suite, I still enjoy the medium and would love to make my own movies one day. Everyone loves a good story, right? Even if it’s about magical vacuum cleaners. Because that sure beats the hell out of bad home movies about wakeboarding.