Extra! Extra!

Really starting to get back into film making. I missed not being involved over the last couple of years.

Now comes the hard part - finances. Working on the mines would take me away from film work, but would provide financial stability, assuming I'm not killed or injured. Film and theatre would make me happy (happier?)
but there are very, very few paying jobs in Perth.

If I can pick up a fairly flexible part-time or casual job that I can work around then that would keep me from sliding further down but wouldn't provide enough money to be financially stable (or viable).

There's a difference between living and surviving...

Starting to edit

Well, I shot some random test footage around the house with the 550d and the footage itself is pretty decent. Loaded it up onto my über computer (which is several years old, so it isn't that über) and had a bit of a play at editing.

Very frustrating to begin with since I've forgotten most of what I learnt about video editing (not to mention that I learnt on Final Cut Pro and I'm using Premiere Elements 8). As long as I yell loud enough at the computer then we manage to get things done.

Tomorrow I might make a short test film to upload and see if the export quality is good enough for putting up onto YouTube.

Work (or lack thereof)

Haven't gotten very far in my quest for work. Actually, if I'm honest. I've gone backwards. I'm about $3,000 down in the training and tickets and such that I got (which as far as I can tell, haven't given me any advantage at all), plus about $1,800 down in expenses (rent and petrol and such) plus (using my previous pay as a base rate) about $3,500 down in missed pay.

That's nearly ten grand in the hole (depending on how you count), so from that point of view, my attempts to "get in the mines" has been a dismal failure. I managed to get two automated "not you" replies out of all the applications I sent out. Could I have sent out more? Sure, but I mainly aimed at the ones that I genuinely thought I had a chance at getting. I didn't apply for any that said "need two years experience".

So what's next?

The next step for now will be to find a new job, something local. My preferences are to not be dealing with the public, but I'll take what I can get at the moment. I'm not in dire straights yet, but I think that I've spent long enough out of work now. Time to get back on the horse.

Idea

Since I've been gearing up a bit make more video content with my camera, I figure I may as well create another video clip for my so-called "music career".

I'm not actually creating any new music, but that'd be a simple way of practising using the camera with a specific goal to work towards. I want to make video clips for other people, but I need to make sure that I can produce reliably good video first. And that means practice.

I'll probably grab one of the songs from one of my albums that I've already published (despite pulling down my previous website) and use that.

As for ideas, the one I've got rattling around in my head at the moment is to get a dancer, dress them up like a ninja and have them dance around in the streets. In order to do this, I'll need to get someone who will agree to be the ninja, then get a suitable ninja-esque outfit. Simple black clothes with some black bmx armour ought to do it.

Legalities ... not too sure about the laws regarding going around in public dressed as a ninja. Might need to notify the local police station. Need to wear a high-vis vest. Having a camera out will help, so long as whoever is dressed as a ninja is mature enough to not act like an idiot - especially if the local constabulary show up.

Decisions Decisions...

Hmm, not had a whole lot of luck yet on the work front. There I was all bushy tailed and bright eyed and thought I'd be able to just waltz into a high paying job without a lot of effort.

Then I walked into the unyielding wall of reality.

It's a shame about the money I spent with RMS, I really thought that would be helpful. I'm now at the stage where I need to decide if I really want to go out there and really have a good push at getting a job on the mines or switch tack and get a different job here in the city. This kinda puts me back where I was in 2002 - no idea what job to get.

I think I need to sit down and have a good hard think about what I want to be doing.