Dean Kamitsis

Making Media Accessible. Independent Filmmaker.
Social Media and Marketing. Disability advisor. Web designer. Geek.

The formal stuff: Media Professional with over 20 years of solid experience in IT, training, accessibility, inclusion, captioning, and media creation. Proven record of upholding professional standards while working with a variety of community organizations, now looking for a home where I can help organisations ensure their media is accessible to all, and help champion disabled peoples’ rights.

The informal stuff: Having been working in the technology industry for the best part of 15 years, I decided I wanted to change the direction that my life was going in. I jumped head-first into education by going to university, where I found a passion for media. Pairing that with my knowledge of web design, marketing and accessibility – I have found my groove. I love making / editing videos, especially ones that people are actually going to see on platforms like Social Media. The right edit of a video can draw a viewer to watch it (instead of them scrolling by). I’m hoping I can help you with that.

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Contact Details:

Address:	99 De Lacy Street, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 2DD United Kingdom
E-mail:	dean@kamitsis.co.uk
Text:	07898 608 940
Fax:	01772 367 445
Showreel:	www.showreel.blog
Social:	imdb.me/deankamitsis twitter.com/deankamitsis facebook.com/deankamitsis instagram.com/deankamitsis linkedin.com/in/deankamitsis
Languages:	English. British Sign Language.

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Skills & Experience

Soft skills:	Captioning	Online course creation	Scriptwriting
Editing:	Apple Final Cut Pro X	Adobe Premiere Pro	Adobe After Effects
Camera Experience:	Cine	DSLR	Camcorder
Sound Experience:	RØDE	Sennheiser	Tascam & Zoom
Gimbal Experience:	DJI Ronin MX	Flycam	Zhiyun Z1 Smooth C
Software:	macOS	Microsoft Windows	Microsoft Office
Web:	WordPress	HTML & CSS	PHP

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Education

UCLan	MA Television Production	2020 – 2021
UCLan	BA (Hons) Film Production	2017 – 2020
UCLan	Foundation Entry Year	2016 – 2017
Preston College	Level 3 Award in Education & Training	2015
Signature	British Sign Language (Level 2)	2011 – 2012
Heysham High School	11 GCSEs (grades B and C)	1998 – 2000

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Experience

Created a number of fully accessible media assets for a local charity and Hate Crime Awareness week items. Created captioned and voiceover videos for a major University in Scotland for a new research project launch. Created a captioned and voiceover video for a Welsh charity for one of their project events. Redesigned a website for an interpreting agency in the U.K. Rewired a number of hotel CCTV systems in Lancashire and integrated building-wide WiFi hotspot services for their guests.

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Regularly attended and actively contributed in board meetings as well as important committee meetings on a regular basis. A board member and company director that is the voice on the student side of disability issues that need highlighting, as well as scrutinise their accessibility efforts across the organisation.

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A 6 month fixed-term project that was to delve into the disabled community within Lancashire and report on how they were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Produced a project findings report which then was distributed to stakeholders within the North West and created accessible videos / content for the project. Delivered new I.T. accessibility provision training to statutory bodies and charitable organisations within Lancashire, with positive feedback given.

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Rebuilt the PulseTV studio as well as helped relaunch the platform and recruit volunteers to help create new content. Successfully planned and produced the live stream of the elections results night, with the highest number of viewers the organisation ever had. Audited and maintained the equipment that the TV station has.

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I was representing disabled students and advocating for positive change – including working with the university to resolve student issues. We set up a safe space where students with disabilities could discuss issues that they were having, and the people that were needed to make change happen were in that room with us.

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Administration, funding applications, brand and sub-brands website development. In charge of retail of the assistive equipment, as well as completing the paperwork for the other members of staff and processing it with head office. Set up online retail website allowing customers to browse the catalogue of items online that the company sold; as well as rebrand & reorganise their stores to have one uniform look across them all.

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Website Developer for the charity, as well as support with their network of computers and VoIP system. Helped maintain the organisation processes, helping win a National Diversity Award.

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Originally when I started at Making Space, I was an administrative assistant however this then progressed into teaching IT and Website Development to their clients that have mental health issues. Delivered Web-design training and worked with the service users to create their own personal websites.

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Created and maintained their website and computers; including networking them across the building. Attended community events and photographed them for publicity. Delivered training to staff on the Equality Act 2010 as it was brought into law.

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Upon being made redundant in 2005, I decided to open a computer shop in place of my previous employer. Nine months later, when I decided that the business was no longer viable (and with the deterioration of my partner’s health), I decided to close the shop.

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I started at CPU whilst I was still at school, working the weekend. I also worked for them any other free days I had. Once high school was over, I then went full time. I worked with them from when they opened in 1998 until they closed in 2005.
Whilst in their employment, I had to sell new computers as well as repair customer’s own computers. I was also responsible for their online content and designed websites for customers. As senior I.T. Technician, I was responsible for overseeing other member of staffs’ work and ensuring that we had a consistent level of service and customer care across the store.