Guild Training Update

Changes Include Free Classes
and New Practice Systems
by Brian Damsky, Training Coordinator

The last few months have brought some exciting new developments to the Editors Guild Training Program. Free classes are now available for active members who are on the industry roster. Working with Contract Services and a federal H1-B grant administered by the

Brian Damsky helping a member in the training room.

Verdugo Consortium, we offer classes for Avid, Pro Tools, Adobe, Final Cut Pro, and others. These can be taken at Montana Edit in Santa Monica, Moviola Digital in Hollywood and Video Symphony in Burbank. Qualifying members pay only a 25 percent deposit, and after completing the class they can submit a request for a full reimbursement.

Members can also practice on the many programs now available in the training room at the Guild office. At press time, we are putting the finishing touches on a new high-end Apple Final Cut Pro system, complete with the beautiful 22-inch Apple Cinema Display and Sony DSR-2000 deck. The system is capable of working at 24 frames-per-second, thanks to an Aurora Igniter Studio card and Film Logic software. Medea RT drives and Post-Op Video’s EZ keyboard complete the package. The system will be available for members who would like additional practice time after completing an FCP class. Demonstrations of the system’s capabilities can also be arranged upon request. All of the above components were loaned or donated by the individual companies. Special thanks to them and to Ramy Katrib and Tim Serda at DigitalFilm Tree for helping us put it all together and providing support.

Adobe Systems was generous enough to donate copies of their Digital Video Collection of software, which includes Premiere 6.0, After Effects 5.0, Photoshop 6 and Illustrator 9.0. Photoshop and After-Effects are currently available in the practice room for additional time after course completion. (This issue of the Magazine also introduces a new column on After Effects, on page 30.)

On the sound side, Fairlight recently loaned the Editors Guild the latest version of the Fairlight MFX3plus for training purposes. At the moment, no classes are available for this system, so interested members should call and make an appointment to train on the machine directly. Numerous Fairlight instruction manuals are available in the training room. Special thanks to Board Members Paul Huntsman and Scott Young and to Shaun Kerrigan, President of Fairlight, USA for helping us obtain this system.

Still available for practice time are the Avid Media Composer v7.2 and Pro Tools v4 systems. We are currently working with Avid to upgrade our existing systems. Details will follow soon.

We are also expanding our post-production book collection. So far, we have received generous donations from Focal Press and Lone Eagle. We are also putting together collections of stock footage, music and sound effects libraries, and post-production related software. Member suggestions and company donations are always welcome.

We badly need more dailies for our practice room. Single and multi-camera footage (preferably with Flex files) would be much appreciated. They must come with the production company’s written consent for their use in our room.

For more information, or to receive a class application, contact Brian Damsky or Dieter Rosek at (323) 876-4770 x246 or e-mail us.