This month in Tech Edge, we are going to talk to someone I have seen at many local trade shows, but yet haven’t had the opportunity to meet. She is truly out and about in the Boston production scene. We are going to interview Lisa D’Angelo from Rule Broadcast Camera.
Hi Lisa, can you start by telling us about yourself?
When I was first starting out, I had an opportunity to join the “how-to unit” (This Old House, The Victory Garden and New Yankee Workshop) as a P.A. At the time, I was working at WGBH and going to college at night. This particular job required a lot of travel, and I saw it as one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments, so I grabbed it! I traveled all over the country and to some amazing locations around the world – Fiji, Japan, Norway, Finland, England – which became an education in and of itself. As a result, I never went back to school, but I consider my years in production and post-
production from that point onward to be an incredible education. I worked hard, met
some phenomenally talented people and learned a lot.
What’s new for Rule Boston Camera?
We’re looking forward to offering more weekend workshops in addition to our ongoing Learning Lab Series, plus more Pub Nights. All three events are a great way for those working in the industry to share their expertise and to generate some great discussions with our guests. We’re also excited to share more from the very talented staff here at RBC.
You started at WGBH, can you tell us how the television industry has changed since your tour of duty at GBH? Has it gotten better or worse? And how?
It’s been awhile since I’ve worked in production or post, but from what I see of that world, technology and content distribution have changed everything. Film, video and media-makers can shoot footage with a $40,000 top-of-the-line digital cinema camera or a $600 iPhone. Granted, there’s a huge difference in how that footage looks, but technology combined with all the options for content creation has made it much more accessible than ever before.
Rule Boston Camera has always done an outstanding job of community outreach.
What is your role in that?
When Rule and Boston Camera merged in 2008, and we all moved to one location a
year later, John Rule’s vision for our new space was to create a community hub – a
place where people in the industry could come and learn about new technology as it
became available, and network, socialize and share stories. The Learning Lab Series
helped to kick off that concept, then came Pub Night events followed by weekend
workshops. We also host outside meetings with SMPTE, BAVUG and others as part of
our commitment to the community.
I was working as a Project Manager at Rule when John outlined his plan for outreach.
My job changed to Director of Outreach, and since then I’ve really enjoyed the variety. Each day is different, and it’s
never boring.
Rule Boston Camera has always had great marketing. Can you speak of your
methodology in that?
Our customers motivate and shape our marketing. John Rule, Brian Malcolm and I will meet to go over new gear that’s coming in and how that new piece of equipment will work best for our customers. How will they use it? What will they need to know about it in order to make their jobs easier? Which other pieces of equipment work well with it? Once we start connecting all the dots, the marketing falls into place. Typically, we start with a Learning Lab so users will gain an overall sense of purpose for that equipment –
a soup-to-nuts overview — and then it’s all about customer service and support from the entire team at RBC.
Where do you see the post production/broadcasting industry going in next five to ten years?
From the user perspective, there are huge changes between cloud-based technologies and how we use it on a daily basis to how we watch TV and movies on the web – through Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other subscription-based services which have changed the landscape. I think we’ll see big changes there.
Steve McGrath is a Broadcast Sales Engineer for HB Communications. He has worked with NBC, ABC, CBS, NESN, NECN, Fox, ESPN, Pentagon, Powderhouse and many others. You can reach him at [email protected]. Learn more, visit www.HBCommunications.com.
