Video was the way forward

It all started with an idea as most things do. The idea was to make video training films to help people’s awareness when in came to safety.

I was living in Canada and working in the oil industry. Safety and safety awareness was a big concern in the oil industry. After a meeting with the safety training specialist who was working for an oil company in Canada, I decided to start my own video production company. This was something that I really believed in and was a turning point in my life.

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The beginning

When I was living in England, I used to make what was known as “home movies” and had knowledge of how to use a camera and how to make a movie. This was something that I loved to do and was actually very good at being a movie director!

It had to start somewhere and it was a big step to go from the “Super Eight” home movie making to the Sony Betacam videotape recording system.

Basically, it was the same with the use of the camera and recording equipment but now it was on a semi-professional level. This made it so much more interesting and also very exciting at the same time.

There was so much to learn and I quickly found out it was a very expensive niche to get into. I was determined to make it work and managed to get help from a couple of friends I knew and so we started the company.

The company

I named the company Parklane Productions and this was because I felt a sense of Loyalty to England. Many of the great movies had been produced in London and so it seemed the right name for the company at that time.

As you can see from the picture, the audio setup was very extensive and was because my passion for sound was still with me.

Even though it was a Video production company, I knew that the sound had to be spot on and so I did everything I could to make the audio side of the studio as good as the video side of the studio.

I was very fortunate as I was able to find professionals who were able to advise and assist me in building up a very solid foundation for the company to grow and to expand. It certainly was a very exciting time and indeed a great opportunity.

Expansion

We started to work on producing training and safety presentations and became very good but as always things started to grow and we had requests to do other things. We were also using professional scriptwriters and a very well know film cameraman. We were also shooting 16mm film as well as video. Our sound booth was also using a very well know voice for narration on the productions and we were becoming well know in the industry.

As well as making the safety training productions, we were making company profiles and also TV commercials.

This is a picture of one of the commercials that we shot. The script called for night shooting and even at twenty degrees below zero we had to do what the script called for. It was all great fun and worth every bit of discomfort to get the shots that were needed.

that we shot. The script called for night shooting and even at twenty degrees below zero we had to do what the script called for. It was all great fun and worth every bit of discomfort to get the shots that were needed.

The change

The company was really making good progress and I was even directing some of the productions. I was spending time in the studio editing the video and the sound and I really loved what I was doing. The company even got a contract with a government organization and we were actually shooting a series of documentaries for the council, which was one of the finest achievements that anyone could make.

I had to return to England for personal reasons but left the company in the capable hands of my partner. Unfortunately, when I left, the company was just not the same without me and it gradually started to lose the excitement it once had. The company eventually ceased operation, which was sad for me to hear. Sometimes in life things happen for a reason, which as it turned out was the best thing that could have happened otherwise I would never have been writing this blog!

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