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When I was in college, the school was using ¾” video recording equipment. To say that I shot and edited hundreds of hours of footage would be an understatement.

Between my own production classes and assisting friends in other classes, I would probably have shot a couple hours of footage almost every day of the week and usually, I was locked in the editing bays for a good 8-12 hours a week, or more. I used to get lost in editing; there were quite a few weekend days that I would sign in at 8am and not realize that it was 5pm, until some staffer asked me if I wanted them to pick me up food when they ran out on break.

My dedication, hard work and skill led to me being asked by the school to shoot and edit a conference that would be used for educational purposes for New York State employees. I became involved in our school’s Communication Arts Society and helped create the TV/video side of it. We produced a talent show benefit for the St. Jude’s Foundation, which I shot and edited. That talent show introduced me and my future RnD partner to many local singers and bands; we were asked to create a number of music videos and short promotional documentaries for them.

Both the college that I earned my AS degree at and the one that granted me my BA used ¾” equipment. When I moved to FL, the dozen plus copy paper boxes filled with the ¾” tapes were placed in a (extremely large) storage unit- along with everything else that did not fit in my car.

Two years later, when I finally returned to empty out my storage unit, I made the decision to toss all of the tapes. Where was I ever going to get a ¾” editing deck?

I have a couple of letters acknowledging and thanking me for my work… That’s virtually it. I can put everything on my resume- but I have no footage, no reel to show as either proof that I did the work, or as a visual representation of my work, talent or style.

Now, two years or so ago, when I moved into my house- I did discover a couple of school projects that had been converted to VHS. I now have a couple (and only a couple) of examples of my college work, most of them 2nd or 3rd generation or later and all over 10-years-old. They are not really anything I can use on a current reel.

These days, you can buy a terabyte drive for barely $100 with sales and rebates, and of course there are DVDs and even jump drives for easy storage and organization. Don’t be a fool. ALWAYS keep a copy of EVERYTHING that you shoot, you never know when you might be able to use unused footage from one project for another.

Don.