I'm continually challenging myself to push the boundaries of my film making experience. as a formally trained still photographer, I learned that light, composition , aperture control, and a unique vision were key to telling a story, convey a message or evoke an emotional response in the viewer. After many years, I discovered video as a means to tell a story. It began as a way to document my life in the world of drag racing. As I began to study the work of other accomplished film makers, I began to notice all the fundamentals I learned so many years ago in the still photography business applied equally in video. Capturing a moment in time, or in the studio creating one was in a sense much easier than making a compelling video. That was my hook.
At 55 years old, and recently retired from law enforcement, I wasn't willing to pack and got intern for a film maker somewhere being the " wax on, wax off" guy but I wanted to learn the entire creative process in successful video production. I needed a job. So in this age of youtube, I set out to give myself a job. I started a youtube based “TV show” on another one of my hobbies, Ham Radio. Now the amateur radio hobby has been traditionally filled with super brainiac types. these guys are the super genius folks who developed thing like broadcast TV, Satellite imagery, the Space Shuttle; you know, the everyman. Youtube has become “the place” people turn to to learn how to do things.
Ham radio is no different. I studied youtube videos on all sorts of ham radio related subjects to learn. The single recurring theme I noticed was the video creators within the genre was almost all of the presenters did it like they were teaching a college class. The material was dry, super technical, over analyzed and my eyes would glaze over within minutes even though I was interested in the subject. My idea for a ham radio show was going to be a complete 180 degree turn from the others. I wanted it to be first, entertaining, second, visually compelling and third fast paced. Newer non technical hams like me get get bored quickly. The focus of my show was going to be telling a story about a particular subject, product or idea in a visually stunning way and doing at a pace that wets the viewers appetite for that subject. I didn’t want to be the guy who demonstrates in 30 minutes how to properly screw on an antenna.
