Calling all film and video makers...

A seminar on video editing and production, organised by Apple Computers, will take place on January 29, at the Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin. Entitled, Lights, Camera, Action, the event is open to anyone who is interested in the whole area of video editing and production.

"We are principally targeting video and film professionals," explains Oren Ziv, Director of Creative Markets, of Apple Computer Europe. "But the seminar will also be useful to anyone in the educational environment and to serious hobbyists."

Apple Technology is being used extensively in film and video around the world – their flagship application Final Cut Pro is fast becoming the standard for video editing. Final Cut Pro is widely in use in TG4, for example, while the movie Enchanted Ella, starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy, which was shot at Ardmore Studios in Co. Wicklow over the summer, made extensive use of Apple technology.

"This event is not just about Apple doing a sales pitch," Ziv insists. "We try to show complete solutions using multiple products from multiple companies."

It’s just one of the ways in which the whole area of film and video is being transformed – with the cost of shooting and finishing material of a professional quality dropping from the prohibitive heights that were the norm until recently.

"We are seeing a revolution in this whole area right now. For €8,000, it is possible to purchase an off the shelf system – a Power Macintosh with Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro – that can do the same work as equipment that cost €50,000 or even €100,000 a few years ago. It doesn’t diminish the need for talent, but it cuts costs so that independent film producers can now use it."

Places are limited at the seminar – for registration and more information check out: www.apple.com/uk/series/lightscameraaction/