Feedback from recent workshops

eWorkshop: Adventure Camerawork

This was a splendid workshop, many thanks to Clive, Bill and Keith. I throughly recommend Keith’s book with fabulous photos.

eWorkshop: IR35 Regulations

It was another excellent workshop, thanks to David and Clive! I am a sole trader so IR35, in theory, doesn’t affect me but I still found plenty of interest. I commend it to everyone, whatever their status.

eWorkshop: Understanding the latest drone regulations

Thanks for the excellent workshop Clive on drones and regulations - and to the speakers Andrew Hamilton, Carys Kaiser and Graham Brown. Very informative on the new changes.

eWorkshop: Thunderbirds - Behind the Camera

A really excellent e-workshop today from David Graham Hicks, 'Thunderbirds - Behind the Camera’. Very interesting and informative.

Fantastic - 2hours of reliving my youth! Thank you so much to David Graham Hicks for a fascinating behind the scene look at the three new episodes of the classic Thunderbirds series. Superb!

Clive, thank you for arranging and please, do pass on mine and I assume everyone’s thanks for such an informative e workshop.

eWorkshop: Getting to Grips with Premiere

A huge thank you to Graham Risdon for this morning's e-workshop on Adobe Premiere. I learned a lot having recently converted to Premiere and the workshop filled in lots of gaps in my knowledge, with plenty of useful tips. Thanks also for the introduction to pancake editing, I can see that being useful for many projects.

 

Thanks also to Clive North and the GTC for organising this and the other workshops. They are so helpful and very well timed when many of us are short of work and have time to learn new skills. I am very grateful to everyone involved, and if you missed this one, it's worth watching the recording, time very well spent.

eWorkshop: Making Sense of Large Sensors

Many thanks to Neil Thompson and Clive North for arranging the “Three Sony related GTC e-Workshops” delivered by Neil Thompson via Zoom, the first of which was yesterday, a great way to pass the lockdown and Neil managed (as always) to solve a couple of issues for my little grey cells, looking forward to the next one. Take care and keep safe.

Agreed. I thought it was excellent.

Excellent workshop - thanks again to Neil and Clive.

Large Sensor Cameras

I would like to add my thanks to Clive, Neil, Rob, and all at Sony for a very informative day. There was a wealth of information and equipment to try. It was also great to hear from the project manager and the E-mount guys from Japan. I know a lot of work must go into organising these workshops and recommend them highly to members. 

Just a line to thank everyone involved with organising and running today's Large Sensor workshop, especially Neil Thompson who, as usual, made a potentially dry subject interesting, informative and entertaining.

Thanks to Clive and the Guild for another informative workshop, this time on large camera sensors. It was presented by the ever entertaining, and informative Sony expert Neil Thompson, who has a  way of making dry subjects sound entertaining! Neil makes these topics easily digestible, but also more importantly, he has a way of imparting little nuggets of information that lead to penny-dropping moments! Well done, and thanks to Sony for the lunch as well!

Thanks to everyone involved, it was a great workshop!... It's great to be able to learn from great industry professionals! I've recently graduated from university and the information and hands-on experience I've gained during the workshops is great especially as I'm just starting out in this industry. I hope to attend more in the future!

GTC First Aid days 2020

Thank you for organising the First Aid course today. Another cracking benefit of the GTC membership and everyone should attend if they get the opportunity. Also, nice to put faces to the names I have seen many times over the years.

The instructor, Jonathan, was excellent: extremely knowledgable, and full of interesting additional facts and stories... also coped well with the group's collective sense of humour! Actually, a one day course is quite brief: it left me wanting to do more (which I may well do!). Thank you for organising, GTC / Clive.

Cinematic Lighting: A GTC Masterclass

Thanks to Clive North, an excellent day at Black Island Studios yesterday with an expert who clearly inspired the large audience with his infectious enthusiasm.

Really appreciate the opportunity to attend these courses put on by the GTC, a great day, with the chance to catch up with mates thrown in. Many thanks to Clive and everyone else involved in organising and presenting it.

A big thank you to everyone involved in today's Lighting workshop at Black Island. It was informative and also a chance to meet up with some familiar faces.

Sound for Single Camera Operations

I would also like to thank Clive, Barry and Hotcam for a great day on Saturday. It's really great when you can meet up with like-minded people and share your experiences on shoots, editing etc. Everybody at Hotcam was so friendly... These days don't just happen, once again Clive you have done a splendid job. Till the next gathering, thanks very much.

Thank you to Barry Smith, Clive North, the GTC and Hotcam for such an informative course yesterday. Though I have been recording sound on more straightforward shoots, I was aware there were gaps in my knowledge . Barry did this in such a relaxed but practical way that I now feel much more confident with recording sound. 

 

The run-through of where to start with setting the levels/sensitivity from the radio mic transmitter, then to setting the receiver levels (mic or line level), then the camera record levels, and adjusting the camera mic sensitivity if needed: a chain of things to check made simple by Barry. My knowledge was definitely enhanced by the end of the course, but it was delivered in such a relaxed and helpful way I didn't feel bombarded with information. 

 

I also now have a clearer understanding of where to draw the line between what I can do and when I need a sound recordist. I believe they definitely have a future in the industry and I will continue to have them on more complicated shoots.s

 

A huge thank you to everyone involved in organising this, and of course to Barry himself. I appreciated not just his extensive knowledge, but the way he passed on that knowledge to us. Brilliant course, thank you.

Really useful advice easy to understand, all of which I have been able to put straight into action on today’s shoot.

Sounding better already!

Don’t miss out on the opportunity!!

Just wanted to add my thanks. Having worked on two long shoots on the Monday and Wednesday (with two trips to Scotland and back from Leeds each day) I was close to cancelling due to being so, well, knackered! But I really wanted to attend and I was so pleased I did. Most of my sound gear is Sennheiser and so I found it particularly useful. So many things I 'sort of' knew, but not fully: I now have a much better knowledge of mics and which does what best and how to, hopefully, not get caught out. 

It was good to see both members of the Guild and students from Bath Spa University attending the excellent Sound workshop hosted by Barry Smith and brilliantly organized by Clive (as usual!)... I could go on and on about Barry’s engaging workshop, but, if anyone reading this review occasionally has to look after their own sound as well as focus the camera and make the tea at the same time… Book yourself onto one of the other two dates Clive’s arranged. You’ll learn a lot about stuff you thought you didn’t need to know and not just about microphones and where to stick them!

Just wanted to express my thanks to Clive North and Barry Smith for an excellent workshop in Bath yesterday. The day was informative, interesting and entertaining - Barry is obviously hugely experienced, and prepared to share his knowledge.  I think everyone came away with the feeling that, although we could rig some sound, we'd always choose to have a sound recordist!

What a splendid event. Barry Smith is a great communicator and patient teacher. Our event was all day with a detailed presentation first and then a hands-on approach. It reminded me of how wonderful my various sound recordists have been to the extent one became a working partner, looking after my back and fixing things. Barry covered everything I can think of with very wise words... I highly recommend this Masterclass to every camera professional.

Timelapse and Hyperlapse Masterclass

What an excellent workshop today at ProVision's Manchester base! Some excellent tips and sharing of hard-earned knowledge and experiences from Paul Richardson – from planning through to post-producing. I'd highly recommend it to other GTC members.
Thanks to Paul, to ProVision for accommodating us, and of course to Clive North for organising.

GTC First Aid Days

Thanks for everyone involved with organising yesterday's first aid course at BT Sport in East London. The course leader, Warren Kent was an engaging instructor and all of the participants from the Guild bonded to create a great atmosphere and teamwork. It's amazing how the incident with Glenn Hoddle had galvanised members across the UK to get trained in First Aid and hopefully, GTC crew and the people around us will benefit from the professionalism and training the GTC promotes, no matter what happens in the future!

The course is fantastic, well run and engaging and has left me feeling confident that I could help someone and administer first aid should the need arise at work or in life generally. It is something I have been meaning to do for ages. The last formal first aid training I had was when I was in the scouts in the late 70s, I’m ashamed to say, so thanks again for taking the time and effort to organise these courses. I will be recommending to members that I know they try and get on one of the courses if they can. 

Excellent in every way. A very worthwhile day, and entertaining as well. Went by really quickly, great presentation from Maggie.
Thanks to GTC and to Mark and the ProVision guys, perfect venue.

I would like to thank everyone at the GTC for today's First Aid Course. I have attended First Aid courses in the past and it was a reminder of how much you forget. To be able to practise the use of a defibrillator was especially good, as I often see them around but before today did not have a clue how to use them and therefore, before today, might not have been confident to use one. I personally thought that Maggie was an excellent trainer and made the day very enjoyable.
I am now going to carry a stocked first aid kit in the truck. Working in remote locations as we do has made me think that you never know what might happen. It might not be a crew member, it could be a member of the public that needs assistance.
Echo the thanks to Danny at ProVision, superb facilities and fantastic fish and chips for lunch.

Lost in a Codec Jungle?

A very useful day. There were lots of gaps in my knowledge and had questions in my mind about gamma and LUTs and it was great to have those clarified. Thank you Neil and Ben for your excellent presentations and thank you Clive and Graham for all the hard work you to make the training day possible. It was my first GTC event and I was overwhelmed by people's friendliness.

Can I  add my thanks to Neil and Ben for all the information they gave us, I have a much better understanding of Codecs thanks to them. Thanks also to Clive and to Graham for organising the event and to Sony for hosting and for supplying our lunch and coffees. I think it's brilliant that the GTC organise sessions like this – so informative but also so good to catch up with others in the business as well as meeting the people you've only previously messaged and who've helped out with great advice in the past. Priceless and such an enjoyable day.

Thanks to Neil and Ben for today's seminar; to Sony for Hosting and Refreshments; to Clive and Graham for organising. A really interesting, informative and entertaining day. LUT won't be such a mystery again and the tip re the Sony Catalyst Viewer...priceless. Good to see a lot of old pals again too.

Thanks to the professionalism of  Ben and ever joking Neil. Although I'm familiar with many codecs, you always learn that little extra thing.

Travelling with Kit

I'd like to add my appreciation for a great workshop. Tok Teks were fantastic hosts, including a very generous goodie bag! All the info was interesting and valuable. Thanks to Clive for organising, James and Rex for helping, and to Jonathan for being a great host - I would have liked to hear more from you about your personal experiences and advice for travelling with kit, so look forward to your further ramblings when you have time to share.

Thanks Jonathan, Clive, Top-Teks and all for the organizing. Some great information and help. Was a very useful day although slightly depressing to hear that we face another 10 years of battery issues!

Here's another big ‘Thank you’ for another excellent GTC day, this time at Top-Teks. Excellent talks, well presented, and very nice hospitality from Top-Teks in very nice surroundings made this another worthwhile day out. My thanks again to all the organisers, James French, Clive North, and colleagues, and here’s to the next one!

TV Centre Studio Tour

Here’s another big ‘Thank you’ to all the GTC organisers (Clive North, Derek Hall, et al)  for arranging the visit to BBC TV Centre yesterday.
It was most pleasant and useful, too. And nice to see that the building has been renovated as studios, flats and a hotel.

Panasonic Open Day for GTC members

Here’s a big ‘Thank you’ to all our GTC organisers for a really good presentation at Panasonic today on the VariCam and EVA1 cameras. Excellent talks in very nice surroundings with very useful demos. I have written to Panasonic to thank them as well for their great hospitality. Another good GTC day out!

Please add my thanks to those concerned (the GTC workshops are always interesting!) As a Sony owner it was good to visit the “dark side"! Just got to keep my hands in my pockets now!

Colorimetry: Art or Science?

Another big 'thank you' to the GTC for yesterday at Pinewood. Alan, Neil, Pablo, Derek, Clive, Christine and everyone else put a lot of effort into making this an excellent explanation of various aspects of this complex subject. All the Sony staff were really helpful and the whole day was a pleasure.

What a fantastic day! I thought I was just about beginning to get to grips with the HDR workflow, but learnt SO MUCH more! The science displayed behind the colour was so in-depth, and a real eye-opener in places. I look forward to battling my next blue stage LED :)

Thanks to all concerned for the successful workshop held yesterday at Sony, Pinewood Studios. A really good turnout at the very well equipped venue enjoyed an extremely informative day.

Thanks to Alan, Neil and Pablo for the lessons and to Christine for her brilliant timekeeping during the day. What a team!

The balance between colour theory and practical was spot on for me, and it was very clear that Alan, Neil and Pablo REALLY knew their stuff! One of the best workshops so far – thanks to everyone concerned!

I would llike to express my thanks for an extremely interesting and engaging day on Tuesday. Alan, Neil and Pablo - all experts in their field - made sure that just about every aspect of colour science (and a lot more) relating to video and film recording and post-production was covered in depth. Their enthusiasm for the subject and willingness to engage in all our on and off session questions (during their lunch and coffee breaks too) was much appreciated by everyone. Thanks also to Sony for providing first-class facilities and equipment while keeping efficiently in the background.
As a trainer in Camera and Lighting myself, I know how much effort it takes to prepare, set-up and deliver 'training sessions', which is not always fully appreciated!
Everything we ever wanted and needed to know about colour!

Drama Lighting with Nick Dance BSC

Working mainly in the corporate environment, often what a client sees on Sunday night TV, they want in their next corporate on Monday, so my reason for attending was to pick up some tips and tricks from the drama world, that I could incorporate into what I do. We shoot a lot of “scenarios” for training, so the example scene was perfect.
Nick’s experience clearly showed and his relaxed presentation style, ably supported by the other members of the team, made the day go very quickly. Well worth the GTC subscription alone!

It was a bit of a decision to make the long journey there and back in the day from Yorkshire to attend.

Hands up ...I don't know anything about drama and lighting for drama. The only bits I've dabbled with have  been reconstructions as part of documentaries so, I was expecting to be blinded with 'drama science'! I was worried I'd come away from the day thinking it's time to get a proper job! What I actually got from Nick's presentation was reassurance that what I am doing on a day-to-day basis is similar, just on a smaller scale, which I can easily upscale if I need to...

Well worth the journey down.

4K, UHD and HDR Workshop

A big thank you to Clive North for organising today's workshop and to Sony for hosting us at their Digital Motion Picture Centre . Thoroughly enjoyed the day, learnt a great deal and met up with some old friends and met some new ones too! These workshops take a huge amount of organisation and being able to attend is yet another great part of being a member of the GTC.

I'd also like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in organising the workshop. It was very informative – another GTC workshop success!

Basic Lighting

Just a quick note to pass on my personal thanks to Neil for yesterday's workshop session.

It was a wonderful day filled with new and old tricks that I'm looking forward to put into practice.

It was great to meet other GTC members and bump into some faces I already know.

Saturday's workshop run by Neil Harrison was really good. I learned loads despite there being a really wide range of experience among the attendees. Many thanks to Neil

Drones and Gimbals

I would like to congratulate Clive on another excellent workshop which was definitely worth the trip up from Devon. Everybody's contribution was extremely informative. What a great venue and lunch!

Great day out. Covered a lot of ground. Simon Beer, the Helicopter Girls and Paul Nicklin gave a great insight into drone developments past, present and future.

Great day,  lovely venue and great presenters.  If there's a downside I may have to buy myself a Ronin now :)

I'd like to add my thanks to Clive and the rest of the team, and the presenters - great day! These workshops take lots of time to organise, but are well worth it - must be gratifying when they're fully booked and attended like yesterday. Only problem is the "free" workshop turns into trying to justify buying an Inspire and Ronin-M.

Dealing with Data: a Cameraman's Guide

Excellent day spent attending the Dealing with Data workshop conducted by Neil Harrison. A big thanks to Neil and to Clive North for organising the event.

Studio Camera Operations

By my membership of the Guild of Television Cameramen the fantastic day on Saturday organically fulfilled my childhood dream of pedestal camera operation within a leading studio, thank you again so much... As guests we were made to feel so welcome, to enjoy a genuinely hands-on, relaxed day with all involved chatting, listening and learning from each other. Please accept my praise for the ambassadors of both TLS and of the GTC.

What a day, truly one to remember for all the right reasons.

A really brilliant day where again I gained so much... Becoming a member of the Guild is helping me so much in ultimately preparing  me for a career change into the industry. Along the way I'm making some really good friends too, who are all as passionate as I am about TV camerawork.

I would like to give thanks to everyone involved in organizing and running the workshop. It was a great experience, with the staff members at The London Studios patient enough to run through the same information several times in one day and answer any questions we put to them. I certainly learnt quite a few things I didn't know beforehand. I'm looking forward to attending the next workshop.

Going to Extremes: Filming in Wet, Dry, Heat and Cold

A Day with Larry Jordan

Larry is the perfect balance between knowledge and teacher... An excellent day for me, I came away with things I really should have know - like, if I'm being honest, how to properly use a vectorscope! Thanks to everyone who helped organise it - well worth a 300 mile round trip!

Larry Jordan was 100% the professional in presenting and delivery of very focussed content. The agenda was ideally tailored with not a minute wasted. Thank you. 

Lighting Gloss for 4K – with Jonathan Harrison

Jonathan Harrison gave a really excellent talk and produced a really nice picture from a very elegant model who showed great fortitude in the chilly weather!

A big 'thank you' to Clive North and his team for excellent organization and who kept everything running on time but with a relaxed atmosphere and nice food supplies throughout the day. The sound system was also well operated.

Another thank you to Alan Roberts, whom I had not met before, but was most helpful and informative and enthusiastic.

All in all, a really excellent day which, by the way, I know has saved several of us attendees a lot of money by telling us which lighting to buy or not buy and cutting through some of the manufacturers' hype.

Well done to all for their hard work in setting up the tons of equipment and even more tons of food!

Fix it before: In-camera grading

It was great to have such a detailed and also very practical workshop on this increasingly important area. Great to have a gathering of so many like minds and to put faces to names too – it was very well attended. Looking forward to going to more in the future. 

Grading at Prime Focus

If last night was as welcoming, informative, interesting and social as Tuesday evening's event then all who attended should be pleased they went.

Tim Waller explained and demonstrated the art of grading in an easy fashion and was pleased to answer questions from his guests. Add to that some fun anecdotes and a glass of red and you have all you need for great learning and positive feedback.

A really good event, thanks for the opportunity.

Social networks, live streaming and monitoring

An excellent GTC event was held today at Edge Hill University in  Ormskirk. I think everyone who attended learned a huge amount, so if you are able to go to the London meeting at Kingston University on the 27th, I can highly recommend it!

This is a fine workshop and I would even say essential knowledge for camera-work in the future from OBs to corporate.

A big thank thank you to those who organised it and to Edge Hill University for their hospitality.

A big thank you to all involved in today's workshop... As a new Operator, I found the day very informative and useful.

Just to add my thanks to everyone involved with the workshop yesterday. It was really excellent and I reckon that the GTC is the best value subscription I have ever had!

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