Dan Kneece

Dan Kneece spent the first 18 years of life in Blackville, South Carolina, and attended public school there. In 7th grade, he won a medal at Edisto Conference in for playing Overture Eroica on the Oboe. Dan won the John Phillip Sousa Award in 1974 for being the best Senior musician at Blackville High School. He was awarded Associate of Arts (1976), Bachelor of Media Arts (1978), and Master of Media Arts (1980) degrees from the University of South Carolina, and a Certificate in Cinema from the University of Southern California (1976). His animated thesis film, Cera, 1980, received a regional nomination for a student Academy Award and a print was presented to Shanxi University in China as part of their permanent collection soon thereafter by the University of South Carolina. Cera was also shown at the first Internation Animation Celebration in Los Angeles. He began work as a professional Camera Operator in Columbia, South Carolina at WIS-TV in 1979. In 1982, Dan was taught Steadicam operation by the inventor, Garrett Brown, with the assistance of Randy Nolen and Toby Phillips. In 1988, Dan assisted Ted Churchill in teaching Steadicam for Cinema Products. From 1990 to 1994, Dan was the lead factory Steadicam Instructor for Cinema Products in the United States and abroad. During this time he taught many top operators in the business today.