As the end of the year approaches, we are gearing up for the 2021 Queensland Branch awards on 20 November at Brisbane City Hall with the Guest of Honour, internationally renowned Director, Producer, and former actor, Jeffery Walker. He has just completed his second feature, Portable Door, and is currently Producing and Directing season two of Young Rock. I've had the pleasure of working with Jeffrey as both an actor and director, so I am personally thrilled to have him speak on his experiences both here and internationally.

In the ensuing days of the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins and the injuring of Director Joel Souza, the industry was awash with speculation and opinion. It is not time for blame but for our hearts and thoughts to go out to Halyna's family, friends, cast, and crew. Even in an age of hypervigilance, there is room for error, misjudgment, and simply freak accidents. As a collaborative profession, the safety of all should not fall on the shoulders of one, so we must look out for each other.

On a more upbeat note, we have had positive feedback from the 2nd AC's workshop. Special thanks must go to Rachel and Lucas for organising and running the day and, of course, the continued support of Tim Jordin and the team from Lemac for providing the venue and equipment.

Hopefully, I will see you at the awards.

- Mark Wareham ACS

With tickets sold out and overwhelming positive feedback from those who attended, the Camera Assist 101 Workshop was a great success. The Queensland committee's very own Rachel Sieger and Lucas Tomoana along with national sponsor Lemac, provided critical information, tips & tricks to those who attended. The workshop started off with set etiquette to help the attendants understand the importance of workflow within each department. This was followed by equipment terminology to gain proper understanding of compenents incase they are requested over radio or in person.

The workshop ensured participants would be able to leave with critical understanding of cable and battery care and knowledge, video transmitters, basic video recording devices and Qtake. The importance of these aspects is reflected on set as majority of new crew take responsibility for video connections. Slating techniques was also covered, including why they are used on set.

The drive for this workshop was to avoid any issues, it was vital that attendees knew these basics because teaching on set can be difficult as it's constantly busy. By providing a workshop that can bridge the gap between university students and regular crew the pool of camera assistants and video split operators will steadily grow as the state gets busier. Although this is a relatively basic workshop, ACS is committed to provide more in-dept workships in the future that will specialise in other areas like Data Wrangling, DIT and an intensive 2nd AC workshop.

Images by Mark Broadbent.