Jobs in DVD (1 Viewer)

[Ben_@]

Hi, being a fairly young member of this forum, I'm getting to that point where i need to find a career. I count film and DVD in particular as being something that really has captivated me. I was wondering how one gets into DVD production, and what skills people are looking for.

I'm not looking for people to submit a resume to, I just want an idea of what it takes. I hope this is in the appropriate forum.

 

[Don Black]

Unless you're talking about video remastering and audio mixing, DVD production is basically just graphic design. My guess is Photoshop wizardry would probably be a good step.

 

[Citizen87645]

At the HTF meet in L.A. we had a day devoted to the DVD production process. Very interesting stuff and one day was certainly not enough time! There's a whole myriad of jobs in the chain from color timing to compression to quality assurance. Obviously one needs a good eye, attention to detail and facility with technical concepts and complicated electronics/software. Some of the software used was very specific to the industry, so there is the question of how one gets experience or that crucial foot in the door. I believe a couple of the compressionists we met hadn't even gone to college and just got started in the company in an entry level position. I doubt any college program - unless working very closely with a business - would be able to teach some of those things and it would really come down to on-the-job training and/or interning.

 

[Travis W.]

I'm assuming most of the production facilities are in LA. I share the same plight as Ben, I need to find a career after college and all I like to do is watch movies...kind of in a rut . Right now I run the projection booth at the local theater but it's not a career like it used to be (when it was unionized).

 

[Citizen87645]

You could do DVD QA and get paid to do it...

 

[Travis W.]

That'd be great, I've actually reviewed well over 100 DVDs for various websites so I've definitely got an eye for picking out problems. Any idea of how to get started in this career?

 

[Citizen87645]

My cousin's girlfriend is doing it part time but she got into it by knowing somebody in the industry. I don't know if people are actually doing it at full time hours...I guess you would just need to do a couple each day. If you've done reviews, do you have any interest in writing?

 

[Travis W.]

Tons of interest in writing, I'm actually going to college to persue screenwriting if possible.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Try to contact people at the DVD authoring houses. Tell them you're a student and you're interested in their field, and ask if they can give you any advice on how to get started. People with interesting jobs are usually pretty good about discussing them when asked politely.

Also, do a web search on DVD authoring software. There's a lot of freeware that you can download to learn about the technical end of it (off the top of my head, I forget the names of most of them, but a search should turn 'em up). There are also several articles on the web that you can search for that explain the technical side of things. There'a a lot more than just graphic design involved!

Good luck!

 

[Travis W.]

Thanks a lot Aaron and Cameron, I'm definitely going to look into the options you presented me. Ben, I'm sorry if I kinda hijacked the thread from you all of a sudden but maybe it was helpful for you as well.