How I Landed An Audio/Visual Job On A Cruise Ship
Have you ever wanted to be a videographer on a cruise ship but didn’t know how to go about doing it? Being a film school graduate I always wanted to combine my passions of filmmaking and traveling. So when my parents came back from a cruise and told me about the camera crew they saw on ship, I had to check it out. Where the heck do I start? I thought. I surfed the web continuously in an attempt to find any type of information I could get my hands on. I found a lot of info but I did not find anything about how to land a job.
Once I exhausted myself from research. My next step was to compile a list of all the potential cruise ships I wanted to work for. One problem, how do I get my resume in the right hands? I came up with the only solution I knew best. I called the general hotline for every single cruise line and asked to be connected to their entertainment department and told them I wanted to speak to someone in charge of the AV department which was easier said than done. I was given the run around many times, but after calling every other day I had a list of people in charge of hiring and their contact info.
Day by day I kept on calling and kept on getting answering machines. Finally I was able to talk to someone at Carnival and they told me to send in my resume along with a demo reel. I was finally getting somewhere. I sent them all of my materials in mail and online. I waited for about a week and nothing. Alright, I’m not giving up. I couldn’t stand being a delivery driver anymore especially after graduating from a four-year university. I call back and ask the lady on the other line if they received my resume. She tells me no and that they will call me once they receive it.
Another week goes by not another word. I call back. I ask the lady again if my demo reel came in. She tells me that they would call me once it came in. I could not be pushed around once again, so I persisted and told here I sent it about two weeks ago and that I was concerned that it did not make it. She puts me on hold. A minute later she tells me that it’s in the office. But once again she tells me that they will give me a call once they review everything. And believe it or not another week goes by and not a single word. I call her back and ask her if they reviewed my resume and demo reel. She tells me that they’ve been busy and did not have time to review it. I asked if I could call back next week to check up on the status and at first she tells me that they would call me back, but I kept on pushing and she said I could call back if I wanted to. By this time one month has past and I’m still driving around in a little VW Bug with flames on the side becoming more irritated by the day.
Finally I make another call. The lady tells me that they would call me back once they review my reel. I could not take that for an answer so I persisted and told here I just wanted to make sure everything was alright with the DVD and if it was playable. She puts me on hold. Three minutes go by and she comes back and tells me that she talked to her supervisor and that he wants to set up a phone interview with me next week. Finally! Next week comes by I wait for the phone call that would make my dreams come true and… drum roll please…nothing. What the hell! How could they do this to me! Two months of my life has been wasted and for what nothing. Calm down, breath slowly. Okay so I call back, the secretary answers the phone and she tells me the hiring manager is in a meeting and he would call me in ten minutes. To make a long story short my interview was an hour long. I was asked basic questions on filming and editing, which I passed with a breeze. After the interview I send a follow up email and thank him for the interview. The next day I receive a call. I got the job. After two grueling months I finally landed my dream job.
September 9, 2009 1 Comment
There's No Place Like Home
My first day on ship was a bit disorienting. I was pretty much thrown on the ship like a piece of cattle. Everyone else around me seemed to know where they were going except for me. After a spending a few hours on board I had a general idea of where everything was located.
I’m still trying to get used to the time difference. My biological clock has yet to make the proper adjustments. To make matters worse, my cabin mate has a big snoring problem. I thought my dad was bad, but wait to you hear this guy. He’s from St. Martin, a little country in the Caribbean. I’ll be staying with him for about two weeks and then I’ll move into a new cabin.
One thing I did notice, whenever I would ask a question to anyone they would usually end with; “don’t worry you will see.” I think I’ve heard that phrase three or four times already. I have to say that I’m disappointed in the fact that we no longer film the tours. I was really looking forward to doing that. Hopefully they’ll restart doing them since I arrived and we have an extra person aboard the ship.
I’m still trying to get used to living the ship life. I had lunch with my manager and he was telling me that one year on sea feels like three years living on land. It’s funny that he said that, because I totally had the opposite problem. One year for me on land, felt like just a few months. I think the slower lifestyle will be a good change for me. Working in L.A., made it feel like my life was going by in a blink of an eye. Over here things slow down to a much slower pace. Living and working on a ship, there really isn’t any place to escape. For some I know that can be a bad thing. But for me, seeing that I can be really shy around people it forces me to interact and open up with people. A crazy coincidence, one day as I was in the elevator I ran into a guy that worked in the spa. I noticed on this guy’s nametag it said California. So we started to talk a little bit and I found out he was from Venice Beach, California.
Living on a ship, one has to find ways to the kill time. There will be free blocks of time where there is nothing to do. Just the other day, the guys in my department had a two on two basketball game. One of the guy’s I worked with wanted me to play with him against these young Indian kids. I felt kind of sorry for them. I could tell they didn’t want to play with us because once we finished they scurried off the court like little rats. Unfortunately I was way out of shape and got tired very easily, which reminds me, I need to start working out again.
As far as my department goes, I am the only American. I’ll be working with a man from Nepal and two guys from Romania. These guys love to joke hard and bust each others balls all the time. I’m already learning bad words in Romanian from the Nepalese guy. The work that goes on in my department is pretty laid back. The atmosphere I have to admit is a little different. In a way it feels like I’m working out of home. I do a few hours of work in the morning then relax a bit in the afternoon. Later in the evening I’ll usually film an event followed up with some editing work. It feels nothing like a 9-5 job.
July 14, 2009 Leave a comment
Western Caribbean Here I Come!
Hello everyone. Just a little info about myself. I am a twenty-five year old film school graduate. For the past year year I’ve been working a typical 9-5 job since graudating college. To make matters worse, I was doing nothing associated with what I studied for in school. Even though I was semi working in the industry, I was basically a driver making deliveries day in and day out. Don’t get me wrong the people I worked with were awesome, but after doing five years of college, I didn’t expect to be driver, and after working a year with the company I was still making deliveries….something had to change.
After unsuccessfully trying to find production jobs in the industry, I turned to a totally different avenue. Remembering my father told me something last year about working on a cruise ship, I submitted my resume and demo reel to Carnival Cruise and to my surprise they wanted to hire me as an audio/visual technician. In a nutshell I will be working as a videographer and editor on ship, as well as taken care of everything audio and visually related on the ship.
With that said, this blog will be about my journey as a filmmaker. I will be heading out to Miami this 4th of July to start my new job. And if things go according to plan, I will be moving back to Los Angeles in a few years to continue my filmmaking career. But for now, I will set sail on the Carnival Valor and head towards the Western Caribbean.
July 1, 2009 Leave a comment