Good thing I'm not.
But! Now I know someone that is. At least in the woodworking world, but I'm pretty sure that still makes me cool. This summer I worked for a PBS production called Rough Cut with Tommy Mac. Similar to a cooking show, each episode would walk people through a project from start to finish, and often included magically pulling out a finished project from the "oven" of the wood shop. My job was to help build all those projects under the guidance and instruction of the talented Eli Cleveland, the designer and general figure-it-out guy. Over two and a half short months we built 13 projects as well as many additional parts to show all their significant stages. Often times we had just two or three days to do it and occasionally only one day. It made for chaotic times but now I know, if things are desperate, that it is possible to begin the day with a few rough boards and end it with several finished pieces, even if daylight went home hours ago.
While it confirmed my disinterest in TV production, it did give me an insight into how it all happens, how little tricks like cutaways, b-roll (background narration to video), and camera angles can make several takes meld seamlessly into one. Three days a week I helped make the pieces and then sat around between takes the other two days, drawing pictures with the make-up lady and the editor in the windowless back room. It certainly had its perks, in the form of inherited tools and frequent ice cream.
Make sure to look for the show on PBS when it starts in October. If not to learn how we made that chair with the bendy arms, at least to see things that I made on TV.
Here are some photos of the projects:
But! Now I know someone that is. At least in the woodworking world, but I'm pretty sure that still makes me cool. This summer I worked for a PBS production called Rough Cut with Tommy Mac. Similar to a cooking show, each episode would walk people through a project from start to finish, and often included magically pulling out a finished project from the "oven" of the wood shop. My job was to help build all those projects under the guidance and instruction of the talented Eli Cleveland, the designer and general figure-it-out guy. Over two and a half short months we built 13 projects as well as many additional parts to show all their significant stages. Often times we had just two or three days to do it and occasionally only one day. It made for chaotic times but now I know, if things are desperate, that it is possible to begin the day with a few rough boards and end it with several finished pieces, even if daylight went home hours ago.
While it confirmed my disinterest in TV production, it did give me an insight into how it all happens, how little tricks like cutaways, b-roll (background narration to video), and camera angles can make several takes meld seamlessly into one. Three days a week I helped make the pieces and then sat around between takes the other two days, drawing pictures with the make-up lady and the editor in the windowless back room. It certainly had its perks, in the form of inherited tools and frequent ice cream.
Make sure to look for the show on PBS when it starts in October. If not to learn how we made that chair with the bendy arms, at least to see things that I made on TV.
Here are some photos of the projects: