Featured profiles

John Virtue

BEng(Elec&CompEng)
1985

Describe your current job/role:

I am responsible for overseeing the rental movement, inventory condition, return processes, quality and training of Panavision's rental fleet of high end cameras and lenses. I organise and provide training for customers on the equipment. For producers and directors that centre on the look and benefit of certain types of Panavision equipment or services and for camera crew this involves making sure they are able to operate the equipment successfully.

Career highlights (awards/projects/previous positions)

At the beginning of my career, the highlight was working for the Sony Research & Development team in the UK as part of a team developing HDTV equipment. This job was working at the cutting edge of electronics design and development for future products. It also allowed me to travel the world demonstrating concept technologies at trade shows. Most of this is now commonplace some 22 years after I worked on it! I have always been involved in large scale electronic development projects involving digital imaging, from building X-ray screening machines to film scanners.

I moved back to Sony in 1995 in a marketing role as a Product Manager for broadcast video tape machines and cameras. I joined Panavision in 2000 to support the shooting of the world's first 24P digital feature film Star Wars - Attack of the Clones. I also supported HD shoots on Lord of the Rings, Matrix 2 and 3, Superman Returns plus many other shows in the Asia pacific region. I help systemise the first 3D Camera systems for broadcast in Australia and current support the first locally produced 3D on the Gold Coast called 'Bait'. I have received several patents for my work into HD TV and X-ray imaging.

How has your QUT education helped you?

It was unbelievable to me that completing a degree opened up so many doors for me. At 21 I was flying to England business class for a job that I knew very little about - all because I had a degree and interviewed well! It was the first overseas trip in my life.

QUT really taught me to learn. It was not so much the education and information they gave me during my 4 years there but the ability to take this information and work ethic into the professional realm and take learning even further. It was very helpful in my early career in R&D.

It was also interesting that the rounded education help me in many areas of management and different areas of engineering that have so helped me become the generalist that I now consider myself to be.

How have you benefited from the alumni program at QUT?

I have been very interested in following the careers of both my fellow students but also my lecturers and other staff members I had dealings with over the years.

Do you have any current ties to QUT?

This year I did a lecture as part of Engineering Week on 'Engineering in the Movies'. It was good to come up and talk to the undergraduates about where engineering can take you and how it is applied to movie making.

Any other personal/family information you want to share?

I have 2 beautiful boys, one of which is scarily like me and I can see him becoming an engineer for his sins.

Being a past commodore of the QIT (as it was then) Sailing Club, it was great to get involved with serious big boat sailing here in Sydney including competing in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race which was always a boyhood dream of mine.

I enjoy travel and am lucky enough to have spent a fair amount of my time travelling the world and getting paid for it. I am still working on Antarctica and South America and then I have done all the continents!