Daniel Smith

Ravensbourne or Bournemouth. Ever considered the engineering route? A consistent 100% course related employment rate at Ravensbourne.

I won't name the companies but I contacted various other providers but BECTU appeared to be the best value. Other suppliers were quoting in the £200's per year.

;) Apparently its free with Bectu up until the first April, after that its about £20. Shame I can't get it after this April..

Hi, I need to get hold of some public liability insurance fairly soon, can anyone recommend a specific company to look at? I was considering joining BECTU as they offer cheap public liability insurance with AON as part of their membership package, but if I can I'd rather just get the insurance on its own. Does anyone have any particular suggestions? Thanks in advance.

If you can get a BNC to phono (RCA) adapter you should be able to test to see if you're at least getting an output, they're fairly common, and 'video out' tends to denote an analogue PAL or NTSC composite signal output - which all consumer televisions with a phono connection should accept. Don't worry too much about the CCU, it's just that some lenses/cameras require control from an RCP or OCP (Remote/Operational Control Panel) via the CCU - but if you can control everything you need to on the camera itself (and the lens when you get it) then there's no problem.

The BNC connector is used in any professional production environment, it's bayonet locking means unlike RCA consumer connectors, it doesn't pull or fall out. Don't worry about the size of the centre pin, it's tough, and makes RCA connectors look soft as cheese. Does it come with the CCU, or do you have one?

9-pin D-type or D-subminature, often used to carry control signals like RS-232 or RS-422. (RS = Recommended Standard).

If they can't even manage to book staff correctly are they really worth working for at all? Like Stuart said, value your time, don't sell yourself short. I think you done the right thing in walking away, as frustrating as it may be, trying to get your own back can often backfire.

They do, but the Trace X8 is said to control up to 8 camera positions simultaneously, remotely by a single operator, allegedly saving on labour.

Hi, Please excuse the extremity of the topic title, no one's getting fired, or aren't they... I wanted to know the opinions of people here on the subject of camera operators being replaced with remote hot head devices, as part of my dissertation. There are a number of products and systems now available, such as the Trace X8 claiming the capability of serving demanding applications such as sporting events, saving on the 'substantial labour' of multiple camera operators. I've personally seen the replacement of operators with 'hot heads' within various broadcasters, even in demanding sporting applications such as Tennis. Why aren't all camera operators being replaced with 'hot head' devices? What is it that makes 1:1 camera and operator setups so much better and/or reliable? Are there physical advantages to 'hot heads' in terms of where they can be placed, and where a human can't? Is it possible that with the developments in 'hot head' technologies more and more camera operator positions will be delegated to remote multicamera camera control interfaces in the future? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

It's not good if you want to claim back any expenses against tax, I got stung last year for it (cleverly archiving all receipts only to find out you can't offset them against PAYE jobs..) But then again I'm hardly earning enough right now to really be affected by it.

The process took a while, a month to be exact. After requesting an application form, I was given a list of questions, and I had to detail all of my engagements within the last 12 months. It looks as though there is some kind of minimum to the number of engagements, as a friend on my course in a similar situation to myself, applied however was rejected on the grounds that they did not see 'sufficient evidence of work in the TV/Film industry'. The only real difference between our applications was that she hadn't worked as much. I should mention however that these letters only last 3 years before you need to apply for another. Bit of a pain but, most companies don't bother asking for one, they just put you on PAYE for regular engagements.

Got the Lorimer letter through today. London Olympics 2012, look out...

I will be in today, 07958117535 if anyone is about.

I don't have any experience of the police in Switzerland simply because I've never been there, but I don't think it's fair to brand an entire force as being incompetent. You will find idiots in any workplace.

This is going too far off-topic. I think my point was that as law abiding citizens we sometimes need to be more lenient towards police tactics, whether we agree with them completely or not. If you've done nothing wrong, then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. But I agree the police need to be educated more clearly about the rules surrounding photography and filming in public places.

I can emphasise with the point you make about records having an impact on somebody's actions later down the line. Some years back a friend of mine drove a 1988 Ford Fiesta, and naturally, when you're aged 21 and drive a Fiesta, you're obviously breaking some kind of law. However, records were kept every time he was stopped and those in themselves were often enough to raise suspicion in other officers. I think in total he was stopped about 12 times in the course of a few years, without causing a single offence. It was actually this friends father who I referred to earlier who was attacked, Independent Article. He's retired now but I'll ask him for his insight of the situation regarding photography in public places next time I see him. Police officers develop a sharp eye for potential illegal activity over years of experience. More often than not I'm sure there is nothing wrong, but it's the few times that there really is something wrong that in my opinion, makes it worth it. I don't think we're going to agree here, best leave it.

Firstly, police don't and shouldn't have to be risking their lives before they are doing their jobs properly. Secondly, is it really that obvious the officers in the above video were not putting their lives on the line for public safety? The threat in approaching any potential criminal or terrorist is or at least should be fairly obvious to anyone. My argument isn't regarding police powers, nor detaining individuals on whims or telling them where they can and can't stand, it's about the support or lack thereof, from the public and media who make it impossible for police to perform their duties efficiently either way. If they fail to approach potential suspects, they fail their duties in defending the public and it's all over the papers. If they approach potential suspects, a video entitled 'police brutality' or 'unlawful arrest' is all over YouTube with themed contributor comments of the 'pig scum' and 'fight the power' variety. Although laughably, these comments are often from white liberal middle class kids who want what money can't buy them, a lower class image. For police, getting the balance right has become nigh impossible. In my opinion the law abiding public ought to begin realising we are on the same side, instead of diverting the attention away from the non-law abiding minority. Maybe without the hassle and backchat from a few photographers moronically believing their civil rights are at dire risk and all democracy is coming to an end should they dare hand over their name and address to a young police lady, police would have more time to concentrate on real criminals - potential pedophiles taking pictures of kids at a public event.

So your argument is that police are avoiding more dangerous issues like terrorism by harassing photographers, for fear of their own safety? Call me biased, but being friends with a police officer who was stabbed several times in the back and nearly died after pursuing a criminal, I can't help but disagree with your doubt in the courage of police officers.

Just because you don't see any evidence of criminals or terrorists taking photos with malicious intent doesn't mean it does not exist. In my opinion, I don't believe it's unrealistic for potential terrorists or criminals including pedophiles to be taking photographs with malicious intent.

No offence, but in the defense of the police, I think they're fighting a full out war with crime and terrorism with one hand tied behind their backs. I'm amazed at the job they do when considering the conditions they have to put up with. I'll always cooperate with police if I'm stopped, not because I'm ignorant of my rights but because I know how much crap the police have to deal with so I try to support them as best I can. Agreed, being stopped from taking photographs or filming is a pain, but I think it's what we all have to put up with in the current climate, and I don't think it's the fault of the police.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16831346 Although this was taken in Shanghai.

Thanks for the reply Keith, some really interesting points. With regards to back channels, whilst cable receivers do have and use back channels, why is it they are not using them to record statistics? If current methods would 'in theory' produce the same results, I can't understand why the issues surrounding data integrity would affect it, or are there other, legal or political reasons? I agree the questions are broad particularly when asking people who work in either the film of television industry, but these are the first set of questions I've asked so far as part of my primary research, and I have to start somewhere. Hopefully any more questions will be slightly more narrowed down.

Thanks for all the replies, they have really helped out. Phil, thanks for the feedback, I've already used some of it in my dissertation. Thanks for the 'Broadcast' magazine suggestion Freya, I'm sure my college have a subscription, I'll check it out next week.

Thanks for the reply Brian. I agree it's a huge subject to consider, but really it's just your opinion that I'm looking for, mine is irrelevant for the dissertation. As you mentioned the convergence between broadcast and the internet, do you believe television is becoming superseded and outdated by web sites such as Youtube.com and Vimeo? Is television adopting technology too slowly to keep up? Many thanks.