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ROACH'S REALM Updated 12/23/07 All about Roach
So already I mock myself, because I haven't updated this since 2/23/04 (LAME! LAME! LAME!)
Okay, so the basic's, Most of the stuff here...was from 4 years ago, so like yeah...I'll just add to it at the top here, and leave the rest. cause ugh! boring much reading about me. Actually if you want to know about be, easiest way, is if you are on myspace, come visit, be my friend, www.myspace.com/camerajockey or heck youtube, guess - www.youtube.com/camerajockey
So now you ask where the name "Camera Jockey" comes from. Let me tell you. I have a camera (bought him in 2003) his name is Willy! One-eyed willy to be exact. (And if you know the Canon XL1s you'll understand the name. For the past 4 years, (going on 5 now) I have "Rode" my camera. Always doing something. So thus the title. (I also work with other people's camera...see the pretty pictures below? This is "Julie" Staci's Camera from our most recent shoot "Seconds". (We're out in a freakin' graveyard on the 10th of December! and after all the hassle of not having a good pix, I let Natasha take these)
But wait! I have more titles! My favorite: Crew of one! -- picture to prove it! (I wear this on my Hat with PRIDE!)
This was taken in my kitchen while shooting "Awakenings" The ill fated Feature film (Later cut down to a short) then died! in 2006, cause it was just CURSED! But I was the Producer/Co-writer/DP/Audio at times, Gaffer, PA, and was slated to the be editor. To say I was doing it all myself is not necessarily true I did have help, but as you can see, I do do a lot on set.
On That Same Hat (On the back) Is a title you'll often see in movie credits I've worked on in association with my name -- GTTR. -- Stands for "Goddess to the Rescue". Got this one, cause I was constantly coming to the rescue of productions. From my friends calling at the last minute to have me record Audio, or they needed a second camera in like 15 minutes, Was just shadowing a director to learn theatre, and got wrangled into doing all the lights and becoming not only the assistant director, but the assistant stage manager (And we were a crew of TWO! Jenn and Me!) Crazy! Ending up being the acting managing director for the Northwest Actors Studio (That was a job that needed about 30 people to fill) If at all possible, I will always come to your aid if you need it. It's my personality. And I KNOW That sounds totally and completely egotistical. But I'm not, I'm very grounded and down to earth, just kinda crazy when I'm in production mode. Let's see...brief Resume: (cause you know, kids take a TON of time! and I have two of them). 2003 - Two Feature Films (That's from September forward) 2004 - 12 Theatre Engagements and a handful of short film adventures as a PA. A rodeo here and there, and lots of personal stuff. I'll spare you the list on the theatre stuff, cause like I'd have to dig through the vault to find them all, but basically I recorded stuff for their archives. 2005 - Produced "Hold the Anchovies" (Animated short) Ugh, I can't even count the theatre things I did, but it was a LOT! Enough that I made a new years resolution in Jan 2006, to "Not work so hard!" -- HA HA HA! That lasted for about 2 weeks. 2006 - One phone call and an invite from a friend, changed my LIFE. Danielle Reierson called me up (Did a theatre and one of the features with her in the day) and she said "Hey, one of my friends is teaching a "Directing the actors" class at 911 Media, she needs warm bodies, it's free if you're interested?" -- Sure, why not. That's where I met Staci. Within the following year, I shot 4 Short films with Staci (Through the NWAS) - and worked on an additional one (Proving ground) with her, Started into "Awakenings" (Feature length action adventure..) by the end of the year, I had 14 short films under my belt, a cursed feature that just wouldn't die and was KILLING me in the process, three Theatre entanglements (where I was actually a stage hand, and not just recording it, but I did that too) and I put 14 Plays to archives (Some for schools, some for small theatres, etc). Aug/Sept of that year, I was working on 6 projects at once. (To say I didn't have a life is an understatement. I did POV-1 (Power of video 1) In which I screened most of what I had done that year. -- Produced this at the NWAS. 2007 - Started off as 2006 finished, CRAZY HECTIC! Even this list doesn't do it justice, but just to see how busy I tend to stay: FSTF Productions (My sister Non-profit company where I do most of my work through) - And yeah, that's not even updated past May I just kept going, And I rounded out the year with the production of "Seconds" (Producer/DP/Editor). And what a crazy ride that has been. But anyone on that production will tell you that Everything above prepared me for this, and it ran SUPER SMOOTH! As to the rest about me: Technically SMART! and a darned good troubleshooter. Got a problem (Especially on a film/video set) give me a moment and I'll find you a solution. How to shoot in a bathroom full of mirrors and not be seen? (Been there done that). How to LIGHT that same bathroom? Yeah. How to keep a tight running shoot schedule (10 days, 1135 takes, 54 scenes, and limited space/location availability and P2 cards that fill up 26 minutes and take an hour to dump?) -- Uh-huh, tech to the rescue (Direct to harddrive back-up, with a 25' firewire cable, to a kick ass machine with a networked 2TB raid array, and 24" widescreen monitor - even had a repeater if I needed to get it further away). Need to light it? -- Got it. Need to schedule it? -- Can do that. Know how long it takes. Need to Shoot it? - Yeap, do that, (LOVE THIS PART!) Direct it? I can, but I prefer to NOT! Actually PAY FOR IT?! Well did that, with some smart thinking but prefer NOT! Basically if it is film/video related, I've so "Been there Done that" and I'm more than happy to help you or anyone else on their project if I can. GTTR! (It's why I have that title). So now I digress, and I will update with current photo's of the realm, of me and my family, but as to the rest of this? Written 4 years ago, so take it with a grain of salt! .......................................... So, you want to know about me huh? Well, aren't you the curious one. Biographies are so not me, so I will let my website more or less speak for me as to my interests, hobbies and activities. I do hate "About Me" sections that are nothing but a spiced up resume. So let's examine the obvious. Roach - This is my nickname, it's short for Rochelle, though in any official circles I go by H.R. Crystal. What does the "H" stand for? My first name. And if you get to know me well enough, some day I might share this little bit of information. Not likely, few outside of my close family know what that's all about. Roach's Realm - An all inclusive (thus the realm reference) of everything I work with and associate with during the day. Here are some pictures of the Physical Realm if you are truly interested to see what it looks like. (And yes, my computers have names) It's a Room in my house, (your basic office) There are computers, (I work with all of them usually at the same time) I have two Boys (Raiden 4 years, Connor 2 years) which is why the Realm is in my home. Since I don't have to work cause Mikey (The Hubby) pays all the bills, I get to hang out at home. The Realms creation was a direct result of my boredom. Please note, these pictures are fairly old. While the realm is still in the same room, it's been re-arranged. (Can we say female, frustration, no power for four days, and an extreme desire to move things) The Family Picture - There it is. This was taken at Christmas 2002. The Kids are older now, and I've got blonde hair. but now you know what the Family looks like. I'll update this picture with something more recent when I get the chance. Still haven't found anything worthy of sharing, but may someday, when I get a chance to re-boot my computer and plug in the scanner, go through the hassle of installing the drivers, yadda yadda yeah. Thus why it's a two year old picture. But hey, it's not that scary. is it? Roach's Education - I graduated High School, I went to College (A Forestry major, then switched to Criminal Justice.) So with that kind of background you're wondering about the obsession with computers and film? I'm as baffled as you are. Roach's interests? Huhm, these range a lot but here be a few. Martial arts, (Jukido and Karate) have excelled in these until recent years, (having kids kinda mellowed me out a bit) but I still enjoy practicing in the wee hours of the night, too bad I can't find someone in Seattle who doesn't mind sparring at 2:00 am in the dark in my front yard. Any takers? Really, I won't hurt you, I have mats and things, (I taught Jukido and helped put myself through college) Other interests, well motorcycles were my chosen method of travel in high school and my first years of college, but alas, wrecking one at 85 mph and walking away from it with a scratch tends to open one's eyes a little. (On memorial day no less 1991-I was a junior in high school) so promise to my mother, I didn't look, touch, breath, or even dream about another bike until exactly one year later. but then thrill was gone. While I owned another one, I never really rode it as much except back and forth to school. I rollerblade obsessively (can't get enough, DANGER! DANGER! Love it). Sports? Yeah, I'll play, just name the game, tell me the rules laugh at me when I screw it up. (Actually I'm fairly athletic, and catch on fast). Softball, volleyball, Basketball, swimming in high school. Some of Roach's Many Skills - By nature I'm a "Jack of all Trades". I know a good deal about a lot of things, but don't consider myself an Expert in any of them. I learn quick, and apply what I know on a daily basis. If something needs to get done, I get it done. There's no excuse, if I have to learn the intricate details of some difficult software package, art techniques, whatever, I will do it. My car/truck breaks? Given my father was a mechanic, rest assured, I can fix most things. (outside of some major break down, things burn up transmission -- did this twice -- motor? Check, did that too. Snapped an axel while sliding down a hill sideways? Uhm, yeah, but I won't admit that it wasn't fun.) Besides, hello! I have children, boys no less. Say "Denis the Menace" times Two. I can't even begin to explain the skills you learn with raising children. And all you mothers out there! YOU ROCK! Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise, cause if they do, they obviously don't have kids, or haven't been around them 24-7-364 catering to their every whim. Nerve wrecking it is, but if you survive it you can accomplish anything. And I mean ANYTHING! Computers? Ahh, my chosen forte. Why? I don't know. Just like them. I know Photoshop, Premiere (my favorite playground), Flash MX, Visual Basic (Though I prefer Visual C++) I can program in Java and action script if necessary, but don't like to. I know HTML and can code pages by hand without thinking about it. But I use Frontpage for the simple fact, this website is huge, and is managed easily with it's functions. (and it was free to me cause of who the hubby works for). I do know dreamweaver, video studio, media studio Pro, and if you twist my arm, offer me peanut m&m's I'll show you the ropes of Final Cut Pro. Then there's (ick) Windows Movie Maker. -- I say no more, cause if I start I won't stop--. All of my computers except the server run Windows XP (Because I like it). Why? Why not? But I also know how to administer the server (Server 2003 Enterprise edition) I run my own website, bring in others, and maintain them all in an organized fashion. (Call me anal--or insane whichever you take might be). I know how to design websites (techie stuff) let the plainness of this site demonstrate my lack of time to build proper graphics. This would be why I befriend talented artists such as Caina, Barbi, & Trish who make me cool things. -- really I just enticed them with server space with no hassles and overhead-- I do page layout, set permissions, run a webserver as well as an FTP server. Ever done this? No? well, it's not as easy as it sounds. Then try getting hacked and kicking the little weasel wayward. NOT FUN! I really know how to edit and encode media. (Love to encode media...love to play with it, manipulate it, it's like legos to me, get it?) Gotta codec you don't understand? I've probably "Been there Done that." DVD Menus, encoding, burning, I can do it all. Roach is a one woman Media making machine. (Just cause I make it doesn't mean I'll share--kinda get in trouble for that so don't ask, K?) I can take anything in any format (Okay 16mm and 35mm film is currently a challenge, but can be done) but DVD, VHS, DV, TV, Cable? NTSC PAL? Any region DVD...I can do it all. I even know how to run a Digital Camera. (One - Eye'd Willy--Canon XL-1s yeah, he's pretty, and I love him like a child). Which pulls me into my secondary obsession. Since I've played with the back end of Media, I decided, huhm, how much fun would it be to make it from start to finish? So I jumped into the Independent Film arena here in Seattle. Hard work to say the least, but it's a blast, you should try it some time. I've done two projects since summer last year (Writing this in feb, mind you, had to take a break) The first: "Feral" by dillusion films. (Host their website--surprise) Talk about fun. Running around in the woods, camping out on the weekends, climbing cliffs with spendy equipment in your arms, rafting down raging class four rivers, mounting lights in treetops to aid in night shooting, building fires, freezing my ass off--discovering mulitple uses for gaffers tape? Yes, uh - huh total fun. My second film, (jumped on this one right after Feral) it was called "Crit-Sit" by do-it-now-films. We shot on a tight time schedule (three weeks) nights after 7:30, and weekends all day. And if you've ever dealt with Seattle traffic you know we didn't get going until at least 9:00 at night. But we pulled it off, cause we ROCK! This one, while not as adventurous, was just as much fun. Office building in the dead of winter? Mega relief for a camera operator. I write, but more or less for entertainment and relaxation purposes. Soon (okay so it's been a while, sue me) some of my writing will be up on this site, (My first Screen Play entitled "The Gray". --possibly titled "The lesser gods Part 1" -- still fighting Jason on this one-- Co-written by Jason Eric Mcdonald. (Though Final Draft the program boggles my poor little mind). Also I have (Currently) a Two part fan fiction story related to my favorite character from the Hercules and Xena Genre -- Ephiny, and includes my second favorite Amazon - Cyane. It probably will never see the light of a web page, (they're still untitled) but if you'd like to read them, let me know, I'll forward them on. Especially since you've read through this entire ramble just to find out they exist. Oh, and I have yet another tidbit of writing, it's on this website, but you gotta know where it's at to get there. It's called "The Last Warrior" Caina and I are developing it, and damn, it's fun just to go in there and write for hours on end with no inhibitions whatsoever. So there you have it, the basics of Roach-dom. I do proclaim myself as Goddess of the Realm, and with just cause. I'm friendly, open and willing to help under most circumstances. Just understand that I'm busy and have a lot to maintain. I am not a dictator, I'm not mean, and or pushy. I look at it this way. My server, my rules, my way, or the highway. K? End Rant ~Roach~ |
