A great deal of material on this site was first written, assembled, begged and borrowed by Terry Mendoza who created a wonderful web site called Finecut.  Very generously he allowed the IAC to take over whatever it wanted from that site.  This is how he introduced himself there:

Terry Mendoza, FACI

Web-creator, moviemaker, writer, bon viveur and slaphead

Terry Mendoza is an Optometrist, based in Essex. He first dabbled in filmmaking when he was twelve, acting and directing a film called "The Thief" - essentially a chase sequence with no particular storyline!

Around this period he was given an early reel-to-reel tape recorder which started a relationship with magnetic media and recording that has remained to this day. The interest grew to the extent that, whilst studying for his optometry degree, he supplemented his grant by writing for Tape Recording Magazine, Electronics Today International, Movie Maker and various other technical journals.

Clubs 'n Comps
He joined Westcliff Film & Video Club - more years ago than he cares to remember - to pursue his interest in sound recording, by assisting with soundtracks. He is now one of their leading lights, directing and producing their last four award-winning group productions. He edited Westcliff's latest drama, Willing Partners which scooped top award in the Australian Film Festival, whilst in the UK's premiere amateur festival, Movie 94 it gained an International Award, Best Photography Award and Best Club Film.

He has numerous international awards to his credit in international festivals over the years, working on Super 8 and 16mm film. He switched to SVHS in 1990 when accurate domestic video editing became a practicality. In common with most moviemakers he is never totally satisfied with the end result of his labours - the expectation is never matched by reality, it is always the case that "the next one will be better!" However his recent comedy, despite its warts, came closer than most to approaching his expectations.

In his "spare" time he still writes, mainly for Camcorder User and  Film & Video Maker and was recently appointed as the Video Adviser. His only venture into books was the contribution of the Computers in Video chapter in the Camcorder User's Video Handbook.

Pretentious? Who, moi?
He derives most pleasure from the more contemplative process of post-production rather than the hectic pace of directing live action, and particularly enjoys the integration of computer technology in this process. His favourite post-production tool is Video Machine by FAST, which allows him to rough-cut a project, then do several progressively finer cuts to produce the finished programme. In the UK his work has been seen on BBC, LWT, Yorkshire TV and Meridian. He recently widened the doorways in his house to prevent him scraping his ears when entering.

At the Movie 2000 Festival Dinner it was announced that Terry has been awarded a fellowship of the IAC.

Page updated on 21 March 2008

Authors' views are not necessarily those of The Institute of Amateur Cinematographers

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