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Template:Elevator Filmer BasicsThe ALEX ELLIS Channel is an elevator photographer from Wellington, New Zealand.

History

Alex Ellis is a British-New Zealand elevator filmer living in Wellington, New Zealand. Alex started filming elevators in 2011 and opened his YouTube channel on September 14, 2012, inspired by the works of Dieselducy. Alex mainly films Lifts and Buses, and also makes Lift Tours. In April 2013 he started creating few animated elevator videos, but only mad3e a few and stopped soon after.

In December 2014/2015, Alex went overseas to Hong Kong, the UK and Singapore and filmed lifts there.

Despite being a keen Elevator Enthusiast, Alex was afraid of Lifts at a young age until he got over his fear and went on to become an enthusiast. Alex has Asperger's Syndrome, which is the main reason for his interest in Lifts.

In November 2017, Alex spent a week in the Pacific Island of Samoa, and filmed a few lifts there, as well as filming the lifts in an Airport Hotel at Auckland Airport. In January 2018, he visited Auckland for one week.

Alex went on another overseas trip in November 2019, visiting the UK, Denmark and Hong Kong.

In 2020, Alex started an official Instagram account for his youtube channel, during a Lockdown in response to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.

In February 2021, Alex went another domestic trip, spending 5 days in Auckland and 2 days in Napier.

Camera History

Former Cameras:

  • 2012-2013: rather rubbish Fujifilm - He had two of these, both broke.
  • 2013-2016: Samsung ES90 - Nice camera used mostly for photos. Was also used for update videos and as a back up. Sadly died in September 2016.
  • 2013-2019: Sony CX190E Camcorder - Main Camera used for most of his videos (still owns, but is kept as spare)
  • 2014-2015: Huawei Smart Phone (back-up camera used only for a couple of bus videos)
  • 2016: Mum's Samsung ES90. Same as the one that died...borrowed it for two weeks whilst finding a replacement.
  • 2016-2019: Samsung Galaxy J2 (back-up camera only).
  • 2019-2023: Oppo AX7 (phone), used mostly for photography and occasionally as a spare for videos.

Current Cameras:

  • 2016-Present: Nikon Coolpix A300. Used only for Photography
  • 2019-Present: Sony CX405 - current camera for Videos.
  • 2020-Present: Nikon D3500 (DSLR) - Used only for Photography.
  • 2023-Present: Oppo Reno 8 Lite - current camera for Videos & Photography.

Trivia

  • Since 2018, Alex has collaborated with NZ Lifts on four occasions, and has expressed interest in doing so again in future.
  • In 2018 Alex collaborated with Brian Rodewald (Snorkitty) during his visit to wellington from the United States.
  • He also films other things too, mainly Buses and Level Crossings, as well as many other interesting things.
  • His favorite elevator is the KONE Ecodisc.
  • In 2015 Alex received his first (and currently only) Elevator component - A full-size Schindler M-Series COP. This came out of an old Express lift (modernized by Schindler in the 90's) at Moore Wilson's in Wellington CBD. This has been replaced with a new, larger, Schindler 5500 MRL.
  • The tallest lifts he has filmed are the Schindler lifts at Hong Kong's Sky100.
  • In 2020, Alex started an official Instagram account for his youtube channel.

Personal Trivia

  • Alex was born in London, United Kingdom in 1998 and moved to New Zealand in 2007.
  • Despite living in New Zealand for 16 years since the age of 9, Alex still has an English accent.
  • Alex stands at 196cm (6"4) tall.
  • He holds both British and New Zealand Citizenship.
  • Alex holds Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature and History with a minor in Philosophy, which he received from Victoria University of Wellington. This was completed in 2019.

Other Interests

Alex has LOTS of other interests besides elevators, here is a list of some of them:

  • Buses - Alex has a wide variety of bus-related videos online, and a Facebook Page dedicated to New Zealand public transport.
  • Level Crossings - Despite not having much to do with trains, Alex has an interest in Level Crossing Equipment. He quite often films them in action.
  • Car Washes - since learning to drive, Alex has been making a number of Car Wash videos.
  • Sirens - Alex has an interest in Mechanical Air-Raid style sirens, especially New Zealand Fire Callout & Civil Defense Sirens and the Broadmoor Hospital Sirens.
  • Fire Alarms - Alex has an interest in Fire Alarms, which became a major enthusiasm of his in 2018.
  • Airliners - Alex loves airliners, but isn't able to have much involvement with them. He has a lot of favorites, but primarily Airbus and ATR aircraft.
  • Ro-Ro Ferries. Alex Enjoys sailing on the Interislander Ferry! He has posted videos from onboard vessels' Kaitaki and now retired Arahura.
  • Hand Dryers

Other Adventures

Outside of YouTube, Alex has helped to Edit the Elevatorpedia Wiki and Elevator Community Wiki. Outside of the elevator world, Alex runs a Facebook Page, Bus & Transport Enthusiasts NZ, and is an admin in the "Kiwi Bus Enthusiasts" Facebook group. He is also an editor and contributor of the New Zealand Bus database website, BusInfoNZ. With the assistance of mrmattandmrchay, he created a wiki about the Broadmoor Hospital Sirens.

On YouTube, Alex starred as the weatherman in his secondary school (Tawa College) Web Series, TC News. His role included political jokes, fashion, injury and general banter. TC News is made by the Year 13 students and is refreshed with a new cast each year. Alex featured in 8 out of 9 episodes, and well as one episode of TC News EXTRA. Alex also made the video thumbnails & channel art for 2016. Alex edited most of his own segments, as well as two episodes of TC News EXTRA.

In 2014, Alex helped shoot and edit a short film with the Tawa College Film club. The film, which was limited to one minute long, was for a competition about why wellington was important to the youth. The film came third in the competition. The club took a break after this film to study for exams and, due to unforeseen circumstances, Alex did not rejoin in 2015. Some of the clips from this project were included in Alex's 28 minute documentary, "Welcome to Wellington", which he made with his father in 2014 to show his family back in the UK.

In December 2016, Alex started a second channel called "THE ALEX VLOG". On this new Channel, Alex makes Vlogs as well as tourism videos about Wellington in his series "Wellington Wonders". On this channel, he brought back the "Weatherman" character from his days on TC News. In 2018, this channel was re-branded "BRITISH KIWI" (owning to his UK background and NZ residence), and now only posts Educational and Tourist videos on the channel. Alex has since stopped uploading to this channel, and still hasn't got a clue what to do with it.

Alex passed his restricted license driving test in July 2018, which has since allowed him to expand his adventures to new locations, and has thus enabled him to film new things. In February 2020, Alex passed his Full License test.

Car History

  • 2016-2020: Holden Barina, 2003, Manual, Petrol, White.
  • 2020-2022: Ford Focus, 2010, Automatic, Petrol, Silver.
  • 2022-Present: Hyundai Elantra, 2014, Automatic, Petrol, Red.

External links

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