Working: Communications and Media

foreign jobs and it was one of those situations where I was I asked myself what do we what am I going to do with well the rest of my life and I got on the telephone and I started calling different places looking for a job of calling it finally dawned on me that the instrument that I was using all day is something that we all need that we all use that's when I called the telephone company and they told me come down and put in an application it's probably one of the best moves I ever made in the morning have a good day we all Gather in the garage and we pick up our work orders and are provided the equipment that we'll need throughout the day and once you pick that those work orders up you're Your Own Boss you're on your own and that's one of the things that I like about my job the independence you're never in the same place more than one day and I like to change your scene I like the idea of that I can go anywhere in the world and I have the background I have the knowledge of telephones because no matter where you go in the world have telephones free wire is usually done in an unfinished home when you first enter the building you'll notice that it's not it's only rough then which means that you'll find wood studs the object of the the pre-wire is to to Loop wire the different Jacks in different rooms a Jack is the the instrument that you plug the telephone in so that it works being an installer you meet a lot of people you meet people from all walks of life from the Indian chief to the Candlestick maker doctors lawyers movie stars when I as an installer for the telephone company go into someone's home and they're trusting enough to let me into their home if you don't represent the company I know this is some of these at that point you are the company hanging well I'm down here I'll take care of that too oh that'd be great I'd really appreciate it thank you I don't have to have a membership to a Racquetball Club a tennis club or Swim Club because I get my physical exercise on the job and I enjoy being in the top physical condition maybe you're up about between 20 and 30 feet we do have polls up to 50 feet and again as you're going up you always you always have to be careful with the guy wires other wires that are up there and especially electric because we do have electric on top of the telephone that's one of the reasons why you wear the hard hat once you're up there there's no problem it's getting up and coming back down it's that is the biggest problem yeah Jeff this is Wes well as we say it's the best seat in the house okay that's the 8 20. I would say one of the biggest challenges good job hi I'm Wes Hughes from the telephone going up to a completely new service a new house and actually it's almost like being an artist because what you take into consideration is the location of the pole where it will hit the house how that wire will look coming down the side of the house and into the basement and once it's in the basement mounting the telephone equipment in the basement and running those wires to the various Jacks in the house so that it's what we call spec or picture perfect I want to be able to do and place that telephone anywhere that they want I want to make them happy that's my job foreign guys behind the scenes make sure that all the cameras videotape equipment switchers things of that nature are provided to the directors right now all right netting ad some of the test signals that are used in the broadcast of television but here's the color bars for setting up our videotape machines and it's a reference or a standard for broadcasters and dealing with problems associated with equipment with circuitry we use all types of test equipment most of the stations have plenty of different types of test equipment available does for audio testing and video video to tape testing procedures the tape machines have a lot of self-diagnostic circuits that enable you to troubleshoot problems some of those skills that have to be developed is to figure out what is happening in an amplifier what component failed and you have to have some manual dexterity too to remove components and solder you have to have a good eye for finding some of the small problems that occur whether it be a busted wire or bad solder joint or something like that you have to analyze circuitry learn how to read schematics video engineer has to have a good eye for color he has to be able to discern between many different shades of colors and the saturations I mean the color portions of the picture television isn't just pretty pictures television is high quality audio and part of the engineer's job is to make sure that the audio matches the video as far as quality goes now before we saw the color bars pattern which is used at the head of all our programs were referenced the audio portion is similar we use a oscillator which calibrated to a thousand Cycles and we use this for a reference for all our equipment most of the people that are working in broadcasting have got experience in small stations either in high schools college level broadcasting experience and most of the engineering people have gone to either technical school or a vocational school for learning the basics of broadcasting if you want to get into broadcasting the first thing you have to do is get some basic courses down in electronic vocational schools or offering courses and electronics and you can take Communications courses in college a lot of people after high school they get into the military for their training and that is an excellent source of information and training for electronics it's amazing how many things that we take for granted in broadcasting everybody at home thinks that the time that's set on and there it is away we go program just comes out the uh down the antenna wire and we see a whole program but really there's so many things that make up a show uh both in the recording and the transmission technology is just exciting today it's almost mystical to have pictures come through the air and appear at your TV set thank you [Music] I always think that an editor really makes the film they have all the footage that the director and the cameraman and all the other rest of the people are in production has provided him and he has to make it work he has to put it together make it flow even though you might have a full script in front of you it what looks good on paper sometimes just doesn't come out right on film so as an editor you have to turn it around a little bit and change it so that it looks believable on the screen seeing what I'm working on here is some editing console and it's a beautiful piece of equipment because you have to use a set of rewinds and a viewer which made it a little bit difficult because as you're probably aware the film runs at 24 frames per second and it's difficult to to wind at a set speed and this thing runs at 24 frames per second which means that I hear the sound correctly the other nice thing about it is the fact that I have proof soundhead so I can go ahead and add another track say for example I might be putting sound effects on here and I have the opportunity to to actually add music at the same time I attended Boston University where I got a degree in audio visual communication and I found that editing was the real creative craft of filmmaking and that's what I was interested in so I went ahead and pursued the fields and I was fortunate I was able to land the job immediately upon graduation and of course some of the things I had to do at first were kind of menial tasks but owner of the organization saw that I was relatively a creative person I could make things work on the screen he gave me the opportunity to do some editing yeah art here yeah hi hey yeah I'm on the bus scene now yeah well uh you know as the Director you uh you have to do me a little favor I'm gonna need some cricket sounds because uh as you know when I have to work with other people it's sometimes is a little bit difficult to share creative responsibility and making a film um because the other person with whom you may be working either it be the client or the director although I have a few problems with directors because that's why they choose to work with me because they we think very much alike so that there's very little conflict often but sometimes the client is involved if it's in if it's an industrial film or if it's a TV commercial and we have somewhat different tastes I'm not saying that theirs is wrong and mine is right but I often have to give in but sometimes again there there is compromise they'll listen to me they'll listen to some of my ideas and they can kind of come to a joint agreement as to what might be best for a particular sequence or or a particular film some people think that you know that the whole job is probably not enjoyable because you're often alone sitting there at the editing console a few people around but I never feel that because uh kind of I'm I'm creating something something's coming to life almost in front of my eyes as a as I splice footage together and and to me it isn't lonely at all the film is keeping me company and of course I think the most satisfying part of my job is to actually see the film come alive and a lot of times people say uh well really it's the doing that's the most satisfying but and it is satisfying for me to be doing making films but I still have a great deal of satisfaction when I see the thing completed and on the screen and especially if everything works the way I had for senior or close to it and then it's like not only giving birth to a baby but seeing it grow up often I'm I'm involved in Social documentaries uh that uh that try to change people's opinions about many many things and if I'm creating this and I do and the film does eventually have an effect on a lot of people I I have a great deal of satisfaction because of that foreign photojournalists were in the business of documenting what is the human doing in his environment at any given moment in the tradition of that I still do the same thing I look at myself a lot as a sociologist with a camera instead of using a questionnaire I use a camera a responsibilities essentially is to illustrate what the times deems is important enough to do stories on my job is to try to document visually what the reporters are talking about when I first coming every morning the thing that I have to do is find out what is happening in the city for that day that needs possible photo coverage so I go and I get from the assignment of the stories I'll be covering that day sometimes is one sometimes it's two sometimes it's three all right what's going on today's assignment is to go and to take photographs of high school children being administered inoculations by the health department just give me a shout on your the radio two-way radio when you get there and see how it's shaping okay okay the tools of my trade is the camera the fundamental accessory I need is film 35 millimeter film and I use two lens I use a wide angle lens and I use one telephoto lens that's what I work with no no not yet I want to see the arm is going to get shot that's good strong arms hold them up there I can't see them the difficulty about this morning was trying to let the personality of the moment surface and I see photographs much like steam coming off of water they surface they surface at their own time and at their own rate plus I think photography for me essentially is heading people off at the past how do you anticipate something and then position yourself so that you're in the right place at the right moment when that thing comes along New York Times how do you spell your last name what makes a good photojournalist is definitely someone who can pay attention to who what where why but also someone who has I think of intuitive feeling of compassion or who can get inside a subject and who can really drain it for all it's worth my man is brave here you gonna come through them like a champ one approach to getting in photography is to take courses and go to a school or another approach is the way I did it is to attach yourself into an adventure relationship I was lucky that there was another photographer who lived in the same town where I went to school who was a much older person who did photographs that I also liked and I felt that I could learn from him because he could teach me the fundamentals I needed at the time I need the fundamentals of learning how to make sure that all of my exposures came out of no any difference between different cameras and how they work another thing that I get a chance to do is looking for what I call Day art and Day art essentially is trying to capture in photographs the meaning of the day or how people use that day it might be a rich person might be a poor person it might be a woman might be a child whatever it is is something that is common to all of us and we all have a feeling for and I try to show that when I returned from the field taking my photographs of the stories of the day the first thing I have to do is process the film and I then edit the film on a light box I take the whole roll out and I'll look at it from frame to frame and I pick out the strongest images on those frames that I think really tells the story I didn't Notch those particular negatives that I want to have Prince made and then a printer another document technician takes those negatives go and make prints and contacts so I think it's very dramatic somehow taking your photograph is not everything in this field you can be a good printer you can be a good developer and people should shop around and find what's best for them they turn out pretty nicely for backlighting you see that burn the top of the head and everything else thank you when the prince come back I then look at the prints and I type out the caption material that's information for the editors the word people outside to tell them exactly who what where and why at that point when the caption material is put on the back of the prince I didn't take the prints out to the respective editor get a memo today John's and most important concern is A1 what is the cover of the newspaper look like so it's important to get a picture to John as soon as possible before the five o'clock meeting when these decisions are being made there are a lot of great things about being a photographer here because you never know what to expect from day to day the high point is when a photograph that you do care about does get a big display and is used very well in the paper and I think that's very exciting