I began College at Shridan's three year Computer Science Technology program. While I enjoyed it and learned a great deal, my hopes were always to work in the motion picture industry.
Towards the end of the third year, I learned of a post-graduate course
called Advanced Television and Film, also offered at
Sheridan College. The dreams of my youth returned with a vengence,
and I applied as soon as I could. It proved to be an
intense, grueling and incredible year of school. Being the first
year that it was ever offered, we watched as the program was
constructed around us. My interests quickly turned to the Quantel,
the program's only visual effects machine. While instruction
on it's use was eventually offered, it would be given on a weekend
during the last month or two of the program. There was no
way I was going to wait that long . . .
I quicky convince the head of the course to allow me access to the machine,
which was basically useless without access to the
Common Electronics Room (CER). The CER housed all of the videotape
decks, and since it basically fed signals to the entire
building, at first no students were given access. The best analogy
I can think of for this situation is being given a blank piece of
paper, but all the writing instruments are behind glass. We were
given access to the machines that can create and maniuplate
stuff, but not to the machines that woud put material ONTO those machines
to work with. So a couple of us organized a coup.
We knew that the CER could only be opened by 2 tech people, and we knew
how very busy they were. We all agreed that it
was crazy that teachers who had no idea how to use the CER had card
access to it, whereas those of us who knew how to use the room, couln't
get in. I can remember several instances when I brought a tape in
with a tech teacher, and had to show them what to do. I took to calling
the building "The technology museum." Cutting edge technology behind
glass windows, where you couln't get at it (I also took to calling it "The
People Zoo," more on that later). So a few of us waited until no
teachers were available, and when the two tech people were really busy,
and organized it so one of us was calling one of them every few minutes.
The main tech guy, one of the most well mannered, happy-go-lucky people,
finally broke down and almost yelled at us.
It was worth the effort, though, because the 2 tech people obviously
complained to the head of the course. In the end, only
three of the most technically experienced students were entrusted with
access to the CER, and I was one of them.
On one of the first rainy days of the year, I entered the SCAET wing of Sheridan college, home of the ATVF program, and found a puddle on the floor. It turned out that this brand new, cutting edge, multi-million dollar SCAET building . . . was leaking . . . right next to the CER, a room filled with sensitive electronics which by now you know fed signals to every corner of the building. Great. It turned out that the vents in the roof of the SCAET building had some installation problem that I never really understood. That was just one of the many problems we faced as the first crop of students in the ATVF program. It turned out that one of our duties as the first students of ATVF was to sell the program to future generations.
While we were hard at work in the post-production rooms, we were constantly interupted by visiting dignitaries, or future students who were given tours of the building and it's impressive technology. In order for the tours to see what we were working on, every room was set up with windows across from the screens. While this is great for those viewing the rooms, it was hell for anyone who actually wanted to get any work done. The bright lights in the hall shone through the windows and reflected off the screens, making it sometimes impossible to see what you were working on. More than once I turned the screen, or even the whole table to minimize the reflections just so I could get some work done.
This also brings me to "The People Zoo," I previously mentioned. With so many tours going through, sometimes a few per day, some of us started feeling like the exhibits in a zoo. "Come, see the elusive post-production people in their native habitat, tours start at 1pm . . . "
See our work, still on display at Sheridan College's Online Showcase.