We hope you continue take full advantage of the various Education and Training resources made available to you through Local 695.
More than 900 comprehensive online software tutorials are still being provided free to the membership. These continually updated online classes provide an excellent opportunity for self-paced training that covers an enormous variety of topics, including Avid Pro Tools, Apple Logic, FL Studio, Steinberg WaveLab, Adobe Audition, Adobe Soundbooth, Apple Soundtrack Pro, Cubase, Sony Sound Forge, Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, Sony Vegas, NewTek LightWave, Adobe Flash, Adobe Director, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Shake, Cleaner Pro, Adobe Fireworks and literally hundreds more. See www.local695.com/mbr/edu-vtc.php for further details and for information about how to sign up for free access to this training.
Microphone Boom Operators, Utility Sound Technicians and also Production Sound Mixers are encouraged to attend our ongoing program, Fisher Microphone Boom Training: One-on-One Intensive, which provides personalized hands-on instruction for the Model 2 and Model 7 Fisher microphone boom arms and the Model 3 and Model 6E Fisher boom bases. This unique and important training opportunity is exclusive for Local 695 members and cannot be found anywhere else. HD cameras and long shooting takes have changed the way we do our work and have given you good reason to be fully trained on the use of a Fisher. The AMPTP’s “Safety Bulletin on Extended and Successive Shooting Takes” makes it clear that the Producers are aware of the significant health and safety issues that are associated with long shooting takes and that they are on your side, ready to provide a Fisher Boom when you need one. If you haven’t read about this yet, please visit www.local695.com/html/long-takes.php. For details on how to schedule one of these appointment-only Fisher Boom training sessions, visit www.local695.com/mbr/edu-fbt.php.
In addition to training provided entirely by the Local, some of the training we offer to members is funded in part by a training grant from the Contract Services Administration Training Trust Fund (CSATTF). As specified in the “Basic Agreement” between the IATSE and the AMPTP, this training money is derived from contributions made by signatory Producers as a negotiated benefit for every hour that you work under that contract. In other words, you’ve earned this training money… so use it.
The list of classes available through this year’s CSATTF training grant, which can be seen at www.local695.com/mbr/edu-csatfrmb.php, includes Pro Tools, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Red Camera and REDucation, Avid Media Composer, Flash, Illustrator, Maya, Nuke, Photoshop, Rhino, Sketchup and more. The eligibility requirements for partial reimbursement of classes covered by this training grant are as follows…
• You must be on the Industry Experience Roster and…
• You must have a current I-9 on-file at Contract Services and…
• You must have completed all of your required classes for the Safety Pass Program.
To assist members who need to update their I-9’s, Contract Services is open on Saturdays from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, as well as during the week from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. If you have any questions about I-9 renewals or about requirements and scheduling for the Safety Pass Program, you can call Contract Services at 818.565.0550 ext. 1100.
For members who are not on the Industry Experience Roster, and thus not eligible for some CSATTF-funded training, you may want to find out if you do, in fact, qualify for Roster placement.
Many of our members find themselves working under Contracts that are not covered by the Basic Agreement and Local Agreement and therefore, those members are not required to be on the Industry Experience Roster. This would include, for example, members who work at KTLA, KCET and on certain sports broadcast productions. But if you’ve worked at least 100 days in your job classification over the past 3 years, you probably do meet the requirements for Roster placement. If that’s the case, you may want to consider pursuing Roster placement in order to become eligible for some of these training programs, as well as to possibly expand your work opportunities outside of the area in which you are currently employed. See www.csatf.org for complete details regarding Roster placement. If you have questions regarding documentation, contact Kim Pryor at Contract Services at Roster.Specialist2@csatf.org or at 818.565.0550 ext.1112.
For members who aren’t already registered on the Local 695 website with a current email address, you may want to do that now.
The most effective way for you to stay informed about educational resources, upcoming training announcements and updates is via email and the Local 695 website. Please log onto the website at www.local695.com to make sure that your email address is correct.
Color Science for Projectionists and Video Engineers
This past April, Local 695 Studio Projectionists and Video Engineers participated in two days of comprehensive training on color science and color management conducted at the well-equipped training facility at Videotape Products, Inc. (VTP) in Burbank. The training was conducted by Cine-tal engineer Michael Chenery, a leading expert in color science for the digital cinema and video industries. During the all-day sessions, Local 695 members received an in-depth and extremely detailed presentation covering the topics of color science, color theory and color models including XYZ, RGB and YCbCr, XvYcc, as well as gamma, logarithmic and linear encoding including Rec709, RedLog, Panalog, ArriLog, FilmStream and sLog, with opportunity for hands-on participation transforming data between color models, profiling display technology including digital projection, building look up tables (LUTs), and implementing color management practices. All that, plus lunch!