Jims Den Header

What I Do

Here is a brief synopses of my work experience.

For the last 45-years I have made a living in video production. At age 18 I was the youngest CBS affiliate director in the U.S. Over the decades I have worked in just about every type of video production you could imagine. I have had the opportunity to meet the rich and famous, up close and personal. Some impressed me greatly, and some were just prats.

I started my career in Orlando with WDBO TV (now WKMG). After working my way to Senior Director in charge of the 6 and 11 PM news blocks, I moved to Michigan where I worked on "Bill Kennedy at the Movies." Kennedy's voice is heard doing the opening narration of the television series Adventures of Superman.Also, the nationally syndicated "Lou Gordon Talk Show." Lou had the "news makers" on, ranging from the Vice President and F. Lee Bailey to Larry Flynt and Linda Lovelace. This was all in Detroit at WKBD TV, home of the Detroit Red Wings and Pistons for many years, as well as the Tigers for a decade.

In my early 30s I moved into industrial production, producing educational and training programs for companies such as Ford Motor Company, Ingersol Rand, IBM, Parke Davis, and many more. I learned management techniques, marketing skills, and a range of manufacturing and technical skills from working on these programs.

In my late 30s I moved into biomedical education. Working for the Sisters of Mercy at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Pontiac, as Video Coordinator, I produced/directed/edited medical training and marketing videos. One program that I produced/directed and shot, that I am very proud of and that won several national awards is titled "Silently Lovingly . . . Birth information for hearing impaired parents." This is a program that explains the pregnancy and birth process for hearing impaired parents. I held this position for sixteen years.

No reason, Just liked the animation Approaching my half century mark in age I switched focus again. Working for Maclean Hunter Cable as Ad Sales Commercial Producer. I wrote /produced /directed/shot and edited TV commercials for the Downriver Detroit area.

I moved to the Comcast Regional Production Facility as one of two Avid editors. I worked on state of the art, ImMix and Avid computer editing equipment, enhanced by high level graphic/3D and audio software, editing a wide range of television and commercial material. It was there I was trained for and started designing web pages and sites for the Internet.

In 2000, I moved back to Florida. This was a move looked forward to with great excitement. It is also the most frightening thing I had done in 35-years. With a wife to take care of ,no job, no house, all we owned in storage, I was starting from scratch. Well, I have always said that if you don't try you can not succeed. As my favorite author Robert A Heinlein, in his character, Woodrow Wilson Smith, AKA. Lazarus Long said, "Take BIG bites. Moderation is for Monks". I bet that my almost 45-years of experience and my conviction that I could out work anyone I have ever met, would keep out of the unemployment line.

In October 2000 I took the position of Commercial Ad Sales Producer for Time Warner Communications in Orlando. Some of my duties were the same as they were with Comcast.

On 9/11/2001 I was at a sales meeting at a local hotel when the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place. I decided that I needed to be in a job that was more meaningful than selling products. That weekend I e-mailed my resume to Central Florida News 13. On October 15, 2001 was hired as the Operations Manager of Central Florida News 13. News 13 is a 24 hour cable news channel offering the most complete local news in Central Florida.

For the next year as News Operations Manager, I scheduled crews and microwave live trucks, purchased supplies and maintained the fleet of news vehicles.

I was helping to get the news to our viewers. I even got the chance to get out in the field now and then. It was great work, but... something was missing. It was not as creative as I would have enjoyed. I was getting our product on-the-air but I was not the one creating it.

A buy out by Bright House Networks gave News 13 expanded opportunities and for me personally it opened doors for the a Web site.

In January of 2003 I was offered a new challenge. Because of my web experience and inside knowledge of news production I was the ideal choice to design and run our new site.

I jumped at the offer. I got to design the entire site from scratch and was responsible for keeping it running. The site premiered in July of 2003, Take a look cfnews13.com.

After almost five years as Webmaster for News 13 I again got the chance to expand my knowledge by working with the all new Central Florida On Demand system. I turned over the Web site to younger better trained writers and am now programming and editing for the "On Demand" system. I get to program, edit and do the fun tech stuff for a number of channels. Central Florida On Demand on digital channel 300 and News 13 On Demand on digital channel 313. This is cutting edge technology and in my opinion where we are going with cable programming. No more waiting for your favorite show, just go to On Demand and get it, when you want it. That is where I am today, having a ball.

So, that is who I am, what I am. For what it is worth. I may change tomorrow, I may not. Like I said, I am never satisfied with who I am. Who is?

In summary I'm ME. For the most part I like me and I hope you will also. I'm always unsure how others see me but it is my fervent hope that I am seen as a tolerant, compassionate and intelligent person. I am aware that many see me as a strange or just old person.

Walter Cronkite

As you can see, over the years I have had the opportunity to work with the famous and infamous. I have also had the pleasure to work with the best.

The first time I worked with Cronkite I was in shock. When I got to the studio that morning I was told the "Cronkite" was coming to the station to do a feed to CBS for an upcoming rocket launch. Not a shuttle, a rocket. The shuttles were not invented yet. I was shaking in my boots. When he got there wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, I was amazed. He went into the dressing room put on his makeup, shirt, tie and coat, and then walked into the studio, still wearing the shorts. He was very nice. Turns out his daughter and I are the same age and we hit it off. He did his feed thanked me, and asked where he could get a cup of coffee. I took him down to the java maker in the lunch cubby and we talked for over half an hour. Actually he talked and I listened.

The amazing part of this story is that I worked with Walter half a dozen times in the next three years and each time he got to the studio he said, "Hi, Jim. How's it going." To remember the name of a kid in Florida with all the big shots he rubbed elbows with always impressed me.

Kack Kevorkian I'm a fair photog, I paid my dues with a camera on my shoulder. I've lost track of the stories, commercials, documentaries, shows and events I've shot. This picture is of me shooting coverage of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in Pontiac, MI. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a controversial American pathologist. He is most noted for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he claims to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said that "Dying is not a crime." Note the old camera tape deck combo. In later years I paid for that deck with neck surgery. In later years cameras got lighter, smaller, had the deck built in and now are getting even smaller.

This was not the first time I had encountered Dr. Kevorkian. When I was Video Coordinator for Mercy Health Services in Pontiac I had the chance to work for several days with Jack on a video he needed editing. I will tell you, based on the conversations we had then and his later actions, that Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a man I respect greatly. We lost Jack this year, he was a man of great intelligence, dedication and character. I was proud to call him friend.

Over the years I've been proudest of the talented tech's, photog's, directors, producers, reporters, writers, and web editor/coders I have worked with. I have had the joy of being a mentor to those just starting out in the business. I've worked in several internship programs including one I designed at Comcast in Detroit. These young men and women are the future of our industry.

One of the perks of my job has been to be able to get Press credentials to shuttle and rocket launches. Here are some shots I took at Kennedy Space Center, from the Press Site next to the VAB during one of the launches I have been to with News 13.


This is the Press Site at Kennedy Space Center, next to the VAB, on launch day. There are print, video and Internet, local, national and international journalists here, beaming their signal all over the world. There's a reporter on the left doing a live shot. You can see NBC and CBS's buildings on the right.	What matters is a shot of the shuttle behind you when you set up shot coverage. Here's News 13's Scott Harris and David Waters "on set", field producer Myrla on the phone with the control room and the photog behind the camera. That's the famous countdown clock in the background.

I shot this with several still photog's in the foreground to give a perspective of how close we are to the launch pad. When you are this close the sound only takes a second to reach you and you can feel it hit you like a hammer.	At a night time launch this would light up the press sight like high noon on a cloudless day, it's amazing. I've been to three night launches. You can still see the heads of the photog's at the bottom of the pic.

This is much the same as the usual shot you see on TV. It's about 10 sec. in. The sound is still so loud you have to yell to talk to the person next you. The light stands and the windows of the Press offices are still rattling.	As you can see, this is a wide angel lens, not a telephoto. This is a shot you don't often see. The exhaust cloud around the pad is HUGE. We are all warned that it's also deadly and if we see it coming our way to get out of there.

For more information on my credentials and experience please take a look at my resume. Also, check out my professional pages to see examples of some of the work I have done.

Main Digital Video Page
Digital Video Editing Tips -Video Tips #1 - Video Tips #2 - The Basics -Lighting - Sound - Music -Scripts
Do It Yourself Gear - Links And Resources - Training Videos - My Gear - DVX100

Why a Web site?

What would make a person want to read our Web pages? That is the question. If you already know Sandi or I you might drop in to our site to see what we are up to down here in sunny Florida. Or you might be a friend that wants to see information on the schedules of the fun things we do. You might be a prospective employer that we have given our URL to. Or you might be one of my production customers checking out my work.

If you don't know us, and are not a prospective employer, I can only surmise you have been attracted by some specific information on our pages. Or perhaps it's chance or fate that dropped you here. If you agree with Neo from Matrix you know you are in control and you have guided yourself here. "There is no spoon." Whatever the reason, Welcome.

They say there are three reasons to have a web site:

To make money.
To provide information or influence opinion.
To stroke your ego.

The professional portion of our site falls into #1. I hope the rest of our site falls into category #2, at least to some degree. Alas yes, some if it is ego.

One reason for a site is that I wanted a way to display my web work with out the limitations that I have on the business sites I design. This seemed like a good venue to do that in.

Another reason I have a site is that I wanted a way for prospective employer's to look at me, and my family, as we really are, beyond my resume. This may seem strange to most folks looking for work but to me it makes perfect sense. Mark Twain said "No man looks better than on his resume". While that's true, I want any company I might work for to know the person as well as the professional. I would always want to work for a company that mirrors my dedication to quality and business ethics. This site allows a prospective employer to look at all of me not just my resume, to see if the company, it's staff, and I would make a productive match.

An important reason for anyone to have a site is to attract people from all over the world with similar interests. I like to think I have a wide range of interests, some average and some unusual. I hope people who enjoy the same hobbies and activities as I can find useful information on my site. I'm always interested in the folks who stop in so please drop me an e-mail, using the link below, and say hi. If you have information, corrections or event listings for the activities you see on my site please let me know so I can put them on the site.

If you want to see this Web site at it's best get Mozilla Firefox™