Interview with Ben Ridolfi

Work Experience Interview with Ben Ridolfi

Hello Everyone!

I had an interview with Ben Ridolfi about how he got into the industry and the pros and cons of his job. 

Monish Kelly

1) How did you get into the Industry?

Ben Ridolfi

Well I did a B-TEC course at college and by the time I finished it my whole interest in media grew. I then went on and did a Foundation Degree at Uni and by the time I finished I looked for a job. I did various low paid jobs, some I even worked for free. But then a year later I got a job as a trainee editor here at Suited and Booted and thats as far as I have got so far.

Monish Kelly

2) What do you like about your job?

Ben Ridolfi

Well the main thing I like about the job is that your always working on or doing something completely different all the time. It's never boring and your always going out to film on location which is very interesting as you get to see various of the country you've never seen before.  

Monish Kelly

3) What don't you like about your job?

Ben Ridolfi

Hmmm. I have to say that one of the things that i don't enjoy is that there can be some really long hours either on location or especially in the editing room. There have been time where I'll be working from 9:00 in the morning till when ever the editing is completed, unfortunately when your doing a job like that you have to stay on till the job is completed. Thats the only hang I have with it.

Monish Kelly

4) Where do you see your self in the future?

Ben Ridolfi

 I see my self still working with Suited and Booted for the next couple of years, but I would like to go on and work for TV companies like ITV or perhaps even the BBC if I get an offer from them. But where i really see my self doing in the future would be perhaps to open up my own production company like this one and hopefully expand it into something big. 

End of Interview

Diary Entry Five

Diary Entry Five

01/04/10

Hello!

Today is the last day of my Work Experience. 

Today I'm expected in work at 10:00 am. The train got me to Bath at 9:45 am. 

The schedule of the day was to spend the day in the editing room with Ben Ridolfi and edit a project for the City of Bath Museum. 

The project was to create a 30 second clips of a artifact expert demonstrating how to use some of the museums features so people would learn how they were used centuries  years ago

During the edit we both encountered a problem with the footage as it was shot on a Cannon 5D Camera which films at 30 frames per second American standard where the British standard is at 25 frames per second. 

We had to convert the footage down to 25 frames by sending it through a software called Cinema Tools where we both managed to complete this operation. 

Ben also gave me some tips about how to organize my capture scratch data to a professional standard. 

Sara then gave me a job organizing some data on a laptop of previous projects for a youth film making club called Club Flix. I also had to set up a brief show reel of some animation projects the club has made as they intend to put it online on their community website. 

We finished an hour early as it was Easter Friday the next day. We all went for a drink and I managed to get approval from Chris and Sara to get some future Work Experience with them over the summer. 

Looking back at these four days I've got a lot out of my Work Experience as I was super keen to make a good impression to them as starting a career relies on good contacts and references. I learnt loads from my mentors there about how to achieve that professional quality and take what I have learnt into my individual projects and proper contract work.

Diary Entry Four

Diary Entry Four

31/03/10

Hello!

Today I was expected in at 10:00 am, I caught the same train as I did the previous days and I arrived to work at 9:45 am. 

Today I was to out to film with Chris and Elle to St Stephen's Primary School on the East side of Bath. 

Today I was reallocated onto the secondary camera by Chris as he wanted me to get some hands on experience with the cameras. 

The camera that I'll be using today would be the Sony A1 HDV. As we were scheduled to go out and film at 11:30 am I had the chance to practice using the camera and familiarize myself with the operating functions. 

At 11:15 am we headed off to the Primary School for which we arrived at 11:15 am. We first met the head mistress of the school where Chris gave me my instructions of what and where to film. I was responsible to film a lesson in the gymnasium and five aside football in the youth hall. 

I first went into the gymnasium. The biggest thing I found was that filming children was very difficult due to that there were so many things happening all at once, and there wasn't enough time to set up shot as all the actions were happening to quickly. I spent about 40 minutes in the gym and I managed to get a few good shots. 

I then headed off to the youth hall where I managed to film some five a side football. 

At 3:30 pm we arrived back at the office. Chris watched the footage that I filmed at the school and he gave me some tips and advice. His tips was to think more about shots that I'm about to take and how it would look during the editing process and not create more work for the editor with not enough flowing shots. 

He also advised that when setting up shots I should set up the focusing of the lens on a object, which is on the same depth of field as the subject I'm filming. 

He liked the overall work I done and said that there are some shots that are usable. 

I took all this information in and it helped me in the way of taking my camera work to a newer level for my own individual or contracted work. 

I finished work at 5:30 pm. 

Diary Entry Three

Diary Entry Three

30/03/10

Hello!

Day Two and I'm expected to start at 9:00 am. I managed to catch the 07:08 train W-S-M to Bristol Temple Meads to change over and board the 07:40 to Bath Spa Station. Unfortunately I arrived at the office at 8:00 am and hour early when the office doesn't open at 9:00 am. 

To pass the time I went and got a cup of tea at a nearby cafe. I went back to the office at 8:50 am where Ben Ridolfi (the company's film editor) let me in. 

At 9:30 am went out filming with Ben and Sara to Beechen Cliff School Bath. I was operating the boom mic. 

I used what Chris had taught me yesterday of what to think about and observe on where the direction of sound is coming from. This made a massive difference on my role on the shoot as it made me confident in operating this task which looked professional. 

The only area that let me down was the lack of coordination and control of my XLR Leads which lead me tangling myself up with Ben Ridolfi on camera. 

Sara gave some help by showing me a technique of coiling the leads around my arm to help me keep it all under control. 

This helped alot as it caused less disruption but as easy as it all sounds it was still difficult as the leads kept falling down my arm. 

Another problem I was having was that my arms were beginning to get tired after a long period of time. Sara then showed the correct technique of holding the boom so it's easier to hold and to swivel to catch the direction of sound of where the source comes from. 

This is definitely a technique I will use when I next operate the boom mic. 

We arrived back to the office at 4:00 pm. 

I finished my shift at 5:30 pm. 

Diary Entry Two

Diary Entry Two

29/03/10

A Nervous Hello

Today is my first day at Suited and Booted and I have to say I am quite nervous. I woke up at 6:30 am in order to catch the 08:06 train from W-S-M to Bristol Temple Meads and change over for the 09:05 to Bath Spa Station where I would arrive there for 9:30 am, which is perfect as I'm expected to start there at 10:00.

After the train journey I officially arrived at the office at 09:45 am. Helen Putler (receptionist) gave me an induction to the company which also involved signing legal papers including child protection acts as 85% of the time I would be working in direct contact with children. 

After completing the induction process I then went out to film with Chris and Sara to Oldfield Park Primary School where were going to interview some of the pupils about their eat healthy menus. 

On this shoot I was operating the Boom Mic. I was nervous for the first half hour as I realized I was doing this for a real commercial project where mistakes would be expensive but after some clear instructions from Chris I got the hang of it and settled down. 

After filming we got back to the studios at 3:00 pm. Chris gave me some time to give me some tips about operating the boom mic and what to look out for and where the sound source is coming from. 

At the end of the day Sara and Chris were pleased with my performance that they let me go home early at 5:30 pm. 

On the train back home I was thinking about the day I had and the tips that Chris had given me. I felt confident about work couldn't wait for the next day to come so I could put what I have learnt properly into practice. 

I finally arrived home at 7:20 pm. 

Diary Entry One

Diary Entry One

28/03/10

Hello Everyone!

Tomorrow I'm going on work experience for four days where I'm working at a production 

company called Suited and Booted based in Bath. 

Before starting work with the company I have done my home work and researched the company of what type of film work they do and who the people are who work there. 

Suited and Booted CIC was founded in 1999 is a highly successful award-winning production company that specialize in making films for the BANES (Bath Avon and North East Somerset) community. 

The Company Directors are Chris Kemp and Sara Strickland who would also be my immediate supervisors whilst I'm working there. 

The film projects that I'll be work on with them is called Health Trainers. The projects consists on creating 4000 DVDS for BANES NHS and Somerset NHS. The film will be mainly focussing on fully trained local people working within the community who'll be offering free, information along with support on how to make positive changes for a much healthier lifestyle. 

The DVD would be used to help provide public information on the Health Trainer Service and also as a resource for the Health Trainer Service recruitment. 

BANES and Somerset NHS has allowed Suited and Booted to use young participates under their trainee scheme, which would enable them to place a trainee/work experience (as myself) to work within the production team. This scheme helps create opportunities for young film makers to gain the experience they need in order to sell themselves in the Media Industry.