Skills & Technology

We all face challenges evolving our careers in the ever-changing entertainment production industry. How does a female millennial Muslim adjust to and overcome those changes? Listen as Ferro City’s Insider Guide contributor Dawlat Chebly lays out her strategy for beating the odds and thriving as a member and leader of the entertainment production industry.

Savon Slater is the co-producer of the Joe Budden podcast. Managing director of Joe Budden’s social media marketing. Host and creator of the "Need to Know" podcast. And a leading pioneer in moving podcasting to its rightful position as an established media outlet alongside, Radio, TV, Theater and Film.

Dennis shares a lifetime of working with biggest names in the business while lighting many of our generations most historical events. Three Royal wedding, several Presidential Inaugurations, One on One with Pope Frances, dozens of Olympics the list is endless. Even if lighting is not your thing these podcasts are a must listen.

When you sit down with an industry legend you never know what to expect. In this two-part podcast we sat down with legendary network lighting designer, Dennis Size. What we got was “enlightening”. Pt. 1: Dennis takes us behind the scenes of the networks home studios during COVID19 isolation.

Mark Steinmetz, Manager, Production Services at Bleacher Report says the future is already here. Listen as he details how BR’s successful NFL draft coverage was done utilizing IP and fully remote production stations.

250 piece guitar collection. World class recording studio at house. Engineering degree MIT. MBA from NYU. Successful investment banker. All accomplishments of the same person, Errol Antzis. It's an inspirational story of passion and dedication.

He began as a drummer. Earned a degree in Music. Engineered hundreds of recording sessions. Authored and developed books and videos with Quincy Jones, Bruce Swedien, Sylvia Massy … And that's just the beginning of the story.

Karl Del Piano’s career began as a preforming musician and music producer in an 80s Glam band. Circumstances and a keen eye for change moved him into the TV world of Sweetening. His story is uniquely amazing.

Josh Bess is a music producer, percussionist / drummer with multiple television and commercial music placements on MTV, Disney and Nickelodeon. He’s authored the popular music book Electronic Dance Music Groove and been honored with multiple TEC Award-nominated instructional video courses. Drawing upon his diverse experiences he has become a prolific educator distributing his knowledge both webinar series and one on one lessons. All can be found on JoshBess.live

Frank is an Emmy award winning network broadcast specialty camera operator who began his professional broadcast career at age 10. Shot his first Super Bowl at age 17. Earned his first Emmy by age 26 and has never looked back. He has worked with or for the biggest names in broadcast, FOX, SHOWTIME, HBO, ABC, MADISION SQUARE GARDEN. He has cover events from Super Bowls to NY Marathon to ESPN’s telecast of Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest.

Sergio Geraldes has created and functioned in almost every production environment you can name - Director, technical director, assistant director, camera operator, writer, producer, post production supervisor, etc. And has worked on just as many TV show formats. Currently, he has funneled all those experiences into a new challenge, corporate events. Here Serge explains how all his past experiences has allowed him to succeed in these high stakes, high demand productions.

When you're the best at what you do a lot gets over looked, like the clothes you wear to work. Mike Fortunato is one of those people. Mike has worked with almost every musical headliner both on broadcast shows and live award shows. If you’ve seen a band perform on TV, chances are Mike was responsible for getting their sound off the stage and into your house.

Evan Reinstein, has only been an audio engineer for a little over a decade BUT in that time, he has done more than most who’ve spent their professional life in the biz. From film locations, to music recording studios and now as network A1 (broadcasts version of a recording engineer), Evan’s unique experiences allow him discuss the differences and similarities between all sectors of engineering.

Few musicians have achieved the broad-based success that Dave Rosenthal has earned as a musical director, keyboardist, synthesizer programmer, music producer, orchestrator, tour professional and scored and arranged for keyboard and synth parts on the Broadway play Movin’ Out Beyond his current role as Keyboardist and Musical Director for Billy Joel, Dave as worked with Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Enrique Inglesias, Robert Palmer, Whitesnake, Steve Vai, Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow, Cyndi Lauper and many more. In this podcast our host Joe Scacciaferro and Dave discuss the historical overview of Dave’s keyboard rigs, some tips he has acquired over the years and awesome behind the scenes stories.

In this special episode of FerroCity: Skills and Technology we present a round table discussion regarding the impact the Corona virus is having on the members of the entertainment and media production community. The unprecedented shutting down of all sports and entertainment events throughout the country both big and small has left a community spinning from the sudden loss of work and income. Helping us understand and explore all aspects of the situation is Rick Cypher, a 30 plus year broadcast veteran camera operator, Frank Scacciaferro, who at age 30 has already amassed an exceptional career as specialty camera operator and our co-host Joe Scacciafero who owns and manages several production and support companies in the production industry.

Something that many of us overlook when we start building our careers is, unless you’re lucky enough to land a staff gig, your freelance status actually means you just started a business. Yup, you now own a business. Your need to pay all appropriate taxes, you need to find an accountant that understands our world, you’ll need to secure health and business insurance and maybe most importantly, you need to understand how to manage your money. In this episode co-host Lou Rosalia shares his extensive knowledge from his past life in the financial world to help us prepare for a rainy day.

In this episode we explore real life examples of how recovering from a mistake in production can and usually creates a better product. When your planned project approach gets blown up, for any reason, if you remain calm, your rethinking strategy will most likely produce a more unique end product. Our co-host Joe Scacciaferro, a 30 plus year seasoned veteran, shares a series of recent production mistakes that caused a major shift in the final product. Demonstrating that even with 30 years of experience under your belt #$%$ happens and it’s never too late to learn and pivot.

In the next 37 minutes, Lou and Joe explain how to launch your career in the entertainment and media production industry as well as enhance the one you currently maintain.    It all begins with our digital Community, FerroCity.com.  A community that offers practical and current education, collaboration on a global scale, real job opportunities and a reliable pool of employees and freelancers. There's also a Showcase to present and sell your finished projects.    This and much much more gets explored on this episode of Skills & Technology. Listen and Learn!!!

Every decade or so a new group of people come of age and enter the work force. With them comes new ideas. New language. New technology. And most importantly, new attitudes to those who are presently working in the job they want. If you can find a way to keep both groups engaged and respectful, you win BIG. You don’t and you’ll lose BIG.  

Did you ever really give any thought to what it means when you heard your favorite band has been on tour for a year and half? Or how about, “its taken them 6 months of shooting in the jungles of South America”? How about when you’re sitting home on Christmas eve watching live TV, who is at the network getting that show on the air? NO? You may want to before you jump into the entertainment production biz. HAHA

Artificial Intelligence is no doubt going to be responsible for enhancing our human experience for generations to come. But can it actually know how to create or determine the value of creative concepts?

In an industry based on creatives and business folks, you are guaranteed to witness the clash of the titans. When it comes to decisions about the creative content and selling that content both sides have an opinion and both sides think they know better.

Many say they can and even more said they did. In most cases neither is correct. Be careful of false prophets.

The ancient Asian philosophy of spending a life time master one craft will end your career before you even start in entertainment production world. You’ll need a single focus skill and then you need several to survive.

Here we go again … “ dress for success”. Great phrase and believe it or not it is valid in the entertainment production industry. The difference is in what is acceptable in our world and successful at what.

Video games have gone from a novelty, PONG to a multi-billion dollar business. And now is dwarfing all other productions with some of the most complex shows in the world.

Funny how one word has meant so many things over the years, yet actually meant the thing. WHAT?

Well that depends if you're an artistic purist or paying for an exceptional performance. Are we talking about a solo pianist or stadium concert with singers and dancers running on several tiers or flying in on cables? Would you feel cheated if you went to movies and they just left in the actors blowing their lines or would you rather enjoy an exceptional performance?

In season half time runs 10-15 mins. During the Super Bowl its twice that. Sound like a lot of time until you consider you have wait till the teams and staff clear the field. Then roll out all the stages and cameras on the field, set the tech, coordinate the field audience, etc. Oh yea then there is a show AND then take it all down so they can start the second half… easy pesy!

Ever heard the phrase, “The show must go on”? From concerts to remote news casts that phrase is almost always true. So, if you’re not willing to get wet, cold, overheated, etc., you might consider a different career.

Never keep talent waiting. End of notes HAHA … here’s why…

Let’s say BillyBob learned everything there is to know about sound recording. But if BillyBob had no way of connecting to people who would benefit from BillyBob’s knowledge, his knowledge would go unused. Now Trish had “some” knowledge but knew a lot of people in the biz, Trish would flourish as a sound engineer and beyond.

We all know there are “shades of colors”. So that means once you decide on one shade for your TV appearance everyone will see the shade you picked. NOPE. Not necessarily. WHAT?!

You may think you own the rights to your life but all you have to say is its fictional and not based on … and your life (the similar version) becomes someone else’s.

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it does it really make a sound. YES! Moving on. But if you have an idea does that make it a real thing? Well …

The phrase, “it only takes one word” isn’t the whole story. The truth is it only takes a single letter or character. So who invents the letter style and who does someone own it?

How many times have you watched a video or especially behind the scenes footage and seen the person step in front of the camera and slam a “slate”. But did anyone ever explain why or when is this necessary? We will.

An often time over looked aspect of the production process until you realize it's the cornerstone of working in a professional environment.

Names and words are constantly changing but as always, if you understand the actual process it doesn't matter if you don't know the new name.

Adding a video monitor, TV or computer screen to the background in your camera shot sometimes isn’t as easy as plug and play. Your brain is always compensating for what your eye is missing.

“The right tool for the right job”. “This new tech will make your job go faster” “ This will eliminate the need for half your work force”. All those statements and more are only correct IF you have the right competently trained experienced people operating the gear.

Words to live by, “Never be the smartest person in the room”. If you’re going to grow and enhance your career, you need to work with and have access to smart people.

When you want something to stand out and taste good, you always sweeten it. Same is true for audio. The art of making a scene stand out is all about the audio sweetening.

What time is it there? Why is it taking them so long to react to my questions? Are you sure they can hear us? These are all the questions being shouted out while doing live shows with several locations.

Lights, Camera, Action … you see something you want to capture. You take out your phone and DONE. Not that easy when the lighting guy has an opinion, so does the camera operator, the audio person, even the person laying down the cables.

From scoring music to DJ light controllers, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface or MIDI, has changed has changed music and production for ever … OR HAS IT?

Who invented PODCASTS? We say, Guglielmo Marconi in 1895! NO? Take a listen.

How come if you’re at a concert and you try and take a pic of the stage when all the Pyro is going off all you get is a bright flash but when you watch it on professional video it looks great. Are they doing something so you can’t record it?

Ever wonder what’s going on when you’re watching a video and you notice someone’s shirt or dress seem to have moving wavy lines? Our you’re behind your camera and you see these crazy lines on your screen. Your eyes are fine. It's a fixable problem between the cam and the shirt pattern.

Whether you’re working the Grammys or a wedding, shows rarely go exactly as planned. As they say “#%$!& happens”! Don’t freak you’re not alone.

Learn the anatomy of a “live stage” and what it takes your favorite performers to put on the shows you love to go see. In this podcast we discuss all the technology and people involved in putting on these high profile performances.