Dear Joan,
I'd really like to thank you for everything during the internship. I had a blast and actually learned a lot. Right from the beginning, I remember you saying since you'll almost always be working with producers in that field, it's valuable to walk a mile in their shoes. From what I learned about your job in between my side projects, you couldn't be more right. There is so much tedious stuff that goes into your job, I can understand why you were a little less-than-calm at the end of the Earth Day DVD.
Many kids have no idea what they want to do, even in college. I can safely say this internship, along with my internship from last year, has given me a head start in that department. After doing another film related internship, I am becoming more sure I'd be happy making a career for myself in this or a similar field. With a love for movies and animation, I think I'll be very happy as long as my work goes on a screen. Paper's nice and all, but we're in the digital age now. Let's kick it up a notch!
So once again, I'd like to thank you for taking me on as an intern. I'll always remember my time at Shaklee. Especially that time we had that wonderful cake. Mmm....cake. But anyway, perhaps we'll meet again sometime in the future. Just remember, if you ever need some voice/acting talent, you know who to call. :D
Thanks again for the billionth time!
-Sean Manning
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Week 9
TOTAL HOURS: 72 out of 80
Hello again. Welcome to "Week 9" of my WLE blog, also known as "THE BIG PICTURE." I'm sure you'd like to know what the big picture is, so I won't keep you waiting.
Now that's a big picture.
But what about the larger message of my WLE? What will I be taking away from this experience? First and foremost, I hate 7 AM now. At first we were cool, but 7's really been getting on my nerves lately. Why can't 7 just be 10, or even 12? 12 is cool. 12 has never hurt me as far as I can remember. Oh well, no use fretting over it. But I think 7 AM owes me.
Another thing I have come to learn about over the course of this internship is the working dynamic of a large company. Shaklee is to eMotion as Canada is to Rhode island. One is a $#*%load bigger than the other. Mainly that means more bureaucracy. Things have to pass through more levels to get approval. This can slow stuff down. This contrasts the fast pace schedule many large companies have. At least the department I'm in, things happen fast. Being in only once a week can be tough because by the time I'm back, we've already moved on to other stuff.
But that's also the beauty of the project I'm working on. A while back, long before I even got here, Shaklee wanted these demos. But due to other things going on and the schedules of Joan and Tom, they basically said they'll get to them when they get to them. And so, the project sat on the shelves until I got here. I was put to work on the demos but the project still retained its laid back schedule. There is no particular rush to get them out so it's okay that I can only hack at 'em for a day out of the week.
Working here has also got me thinking about what kind of company I'd like to work at in the future. Big vs. small. With the animation industry, you can go both ways. If I wanted to make movies, I'd be working in a big company, but if I wanted to do specialized free-lance stuff, I could easily work in a smaller company. I've kind of enjoyed myself more at Shaklee, but that's because of the people and not necessarily the company size. I don't think the size of a company dictates the kind of people who work there, so if I'm looking to work with cool people, it's pretty much a gamble. Overall, I wouldn't mind working in a big company, as long as I wasn't stifled. I'd like to have some room for creative interpretation with whatever I do. If I simply have to replicate someone else's vison, it's just not that fun anymore.
And that's enough reflection for one day. I can't believe I'll only have to do this one more time. It all happened so fast. I think I might get emotional...*sob*
Wait. I'll only have to get up at 7 one more time? Score! *loud music starts playing and circus folk begin to do acrobatics. Audience cheers and applauds for 5 minutes. Everyone is happier than they've ever been*
Hello again. Welcome to "Week 9" of my WLE blog, also known as "THE BIG PICTURE." I'm sure you'd like to know what the big picture is, so I won't keep you waiting.
Now that's a big picture.
But what about the larger message of my WLE? What will I be taking away from this experience? First and foremost, I hate 7 AM now. At first we were cool, but 7's really been getting on my nerves lately. Why can't 7 just be 10, or even 12? 12 is cool. 12 has never hurt me as far as I can remember. Oh well, no use fretting over it. But I think 7 AM owes me.
Another thing I have come to learn about over the course of this internship is the working dynamic of a large company. Shaklee is to eMotion as Canada is to Rhode island. One is a $#*%load bigger than the other. Mainly that means more bureaucracy. Things have to pass through more levels to get approval. This can slow stuff down. This contrasts the fast pace schedule many large companies have. At least the department I'm in, things happen fast. Being in only once a week can be tough because by the time I'm back, we've already moved on to other stuff.
But that's also the beauty of the project I'm working on. A while back, long before I even got here, Shaklee wanted these demos. But due to other things going on and the schedules of Joan and Tom, they basically said they'll get to them when they get to them. And so, the project sat on the shelves until I got here. I was put to work on the demos but the project still retained its laid back schedule. There is no particular rush to get them out so it's okay that I can only hack at 'em for a day out of the week.
Working here has also got me thinking about what kind of company I'd like to work at in the future. Big vs. small. With the animation industry, you can go both ways. If I wanted to make movies, I'd be working in a big company, but if I wanted to do specialized free-lance stuff, I could easily work in a smaller company. I've kind of enjoyed myself more at Shaklee, but that's because of the people and not necessarily the company size. I don't think the size of a company dictates the kind of people who work there, so if I'm looking to work with cool people, it's pretty much a gamble. Overall, I wouldn't mind working in a big company, as long as I wasn't stifled. I'd like to have some room for creative interpretation with whatever I do. If I simply have to replicate someone else's vison, it's just not that fun anymore.
And that's enough reflection for one day. I can't believe I'll only have to do this one more time. It all happened so fast. I think I might get emotional...*sob*
Wait. I'll only have to get up at 7 one more time? Score! *loud music starts playing and circus folk begin to do acrobatics. Audience cheers and applauds for 5 minutes. Everyone is happier than they've ever been*
Monday, May 7, 2007
Week 8
TOTAL HOURS: 64 out of 80 hours
So? What do I think? Am I still experiencing success, surprise, and diggin’ it? The answer to these questions and many more are coming right up after the commercial break.
*Fades in to see a child going to school. He begins skipping when all of a sudden he trips on a crack and gets a face full of mud. When he hits the ground, he happens to hit a pebble that jettisons right into a hornet's nest. The hornets get angry and swarm around the child. He cries for help but that only disturbs the bears hibernating randomly on the other side of the street. His loud yells wake them from their slumber, at which point they promptly maul him. A woman dressed in white steps out.*
WOMAN: Dirty mouth? Try new Orbit gum!
*Zoom in to limp body of child. Suddenly he lifts his head and smiles. His teeth are white and shiny. Fade out*
Welcome back! Week 8 is over, and we're that much closer to the end. I'm still enjoying myself here, and it will be kind of weird to leave. I feel I've definitely made more of a connection here at Shaklee than I did at eMotion. Although this is a much larger company, people are still cool and fun to talk to.
This week, we put my skills to the test. We had a meeting with myself, Joan, and two other women regarding my Get Clean demos. I showed them all four and they gave their critiques and changes. How did I do? Let's put it this way. The world "lethal" was used several times. And not like "lethally good". I guess it was to much to hope I could get it on my first try.
Surprisingly enough, Joan said I was more or less par for the course. I guess marketing has a nasty habit of wanting something, then changing their mind the moment they see it. After giving their criticism, basically one of the videos was salvageable. The other three were either not wanted anymore, or required additional footage. Footage that was non-existent and needed to be filmed. So, Joan just told me to worry about the one we have, and she'll deal with organizing any re-shoots.
But with the bad came some good. Something real good. Right after the meeting we had a mini party for Joan, who celebrated her birthday the previous week. There were three pies to choose from, which was arguably the hardest task I've faced during my WLE to date. You should have seen the beads of sweat that dripped down my furrowed brow as I grappled between apple, boysenberry, or chocolate cream. I was about to draw a decision matrix like we did in Josh's class, when I decided screw it, I'm going chocolate. I even had some Martinelli's sparkling cider to wash it down.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. The other part of the day was Joan giving a reprise on the budget lesson I had recieved a week or two ago, and also a bit on scheduling. She ended up drawing this fairly complex chart of most projects progress. A small one like the Get Clean demos had an incredibly simple time line in comparison to a large scale project. I consider myself lucky. This whole talk helped me get some good background in preparation for my final project.
Speaking of which, I wonder when that will be? Because I'm so conveniently 60+ minutes away AT BEST, Mr Harris has found it a wee bit difficult to find his way out here. And I really don't want to present anywhere else because the real interesting part of my presentation involves the recording studio. So, factoring in commuting and presentation time, I could easily take two and a half hours out of the day. I don't expect to present on the 12th anymore, but I'm curious if I can be fit in with all the graduation portfolio presentations at school that need to happen. It's all very tricky business. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
And so, this weeks blogging comes to a close. We'd like to leave you today with some forced responses to the blog prompts meant to appease the teachers.
WLE High: Chocolate Cream Pie
WLE Low: Getting up at 7 am
So? What do I think? Am I still experiencing success, surprise, and diggin’ it? The answer to these questions and many more are coming right up after the commercial break.
*Fades in to see a child going to school. He begins skipping when all of a sudden he trips on a crack and gets a face full of mud. When he hits the ground, he happens to hit a pebble that jettisons right into a hornet's nest. The hornets get angry and swarm around the child. He cries for help but that only disturbs the bears hibernating randomly on the other side of the street. His loud yells wake them from their slumber, at which point they promptly maul him. A woman dressed in white steps out.*
WOMAN: Dirty mouth? Try new Orbit gum!
*Zoom in to limp body of child. Suddenly he lifts his head and smiles. His teeth are white and shiny. Fade out*
Welcome back! Week 8 is over, and we're that much closer to the end. I'm still enjoying myself here, and it will be kind of weird to leave. I feel I've definitely made more of a connection here at Shaklee than I did at eMotion. Although this is a much larger company, people are still cool and fun to talk to.
This week, we put my skills to the test. We had a meeting with myself, Joan, and two other women regarding my Get Clean demos. I showed them all four and they gave their critiques and changes. How did I do? Let's put it this way. The world "lethal" was used several times. And not like "lethally good". I guess it was to much to hope I could get it on my first try.
Surprisingly enough, Joan said I was more or less par for the course. I guess marketing has a nasty habit of wanting something, then changing their mind the moment they see it. After giving their criticism, basically one of the videos was salvageable. The other three were either not wanted anymore, or required additional footage. Footage that was non-existent and needed to be filmed. So, Joan just told me to worry about the one we have, and she'll deal with organizing any re-shoots.
But with the bad came some good. Something real good. Right after the meeting we had a mini party for Joan, who celebrated her birthday the previous week. There were three pies to choose from, which was arguably the hardest task I've faced during my WLE to date. You should have seen the beads of sweat that dripped down my furrowed brow as I grappled between apple, boysenberry, or chocolate cream. I was about to draw a decision matrix like we did in Josh's class, when I decided screw it, I'm going chocolate. I even had some Martinelli's sparkling cider to wash it down.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. The other part of the day was Joan giving a reprise on the budget lesson I had recieved a week or two ago, and also a bit on scheduling. She ended up drawing this fairly complex chart of most projects progress. A small one like the Get Clean demos had an incredibly simple time line in comparison to a large scale project. I consider myself lucky. This whole talk helped me get some good background in preparation for my final project.
Speaking of which, I wonder when that will be? Because I'm so conveniently 60+ minutes away AT BEST, Mr Harris has found it a wee bit difficult to find his way out here. And I really don't want to present anywhere else because the real interesting part of my presentation involves the recording studio. So, factoring in commuting and presentation time, I could easily take two and a half hours out of the day. I don't expect to present on the 12th anymore, but I'm curious if I can be fit in with all the graduation portfolio presentations at school that need to happen. It's all very tricky business. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
And so, this weeks blogging comes to a close. We'd like to leave you today with some forced responses to the blog prompts meant to appease the teachers.
WLE High: Chocolate Cream Pie
WLE Low: Getting up at 7 am
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Week 7
TOTAL HOURS: 56 out of 80 hours
Welcome back to another wacky episode of "Sean at Shaklee!" You ready? Can you handle the anticipation of all the fun in store? What? You don't think we'll have fun? That's absurd! When the title has consonance/alliteration, it must be good! You'll see...You just wait.
First things first: Final product news. At this stage, my latest idea is to present my 3-4 Get Clean Demos and show the average walk-through from conception to completion. I really hope to integrate our sound studio and even run a "mini" recording session with my teachers. I could set everything up, hand them a short script, and simulate the real deal. I wonder what I'll make them say....Oh yes. This will be fun. If the studio happens to be in use, I could always run that to show how it's done. But I think everyone would have more fun if they could actually be a part of what's happening.
So all in all, I'd cover filming, scripting, voice over, editing, revisions/reviews, etc. The whole long nine yards for something as simple as a video on a website. As for the exact date of the presentation, I'm not 100% certain. I wrote down the final day of the internship May 12, but I don't know if I officially have that spot. Whatever happens, I'll need to know so I can make sure my mentor is available and everything I want to use can be used.
So enough of that boring final project garbage. On to the boring events of my day! ...And by boring I mean "absolutely enthralling". And by enthralling I mean "fine". So yeah, my day was absolutely fine.
I finished up my demos so they were solid. The next step is getting them reviewed. They need to be sent out to a few people who will check, offer revisions, approve, etc. Whatever edits need to be made will be made, and once everyone is satisfied, online they go! I burnt a few DVD's with all the movie files, and we're set to have a meeting next Monday. Incidentally, my teachers are supposed to stop by next week. Hopefully they don't stumble in mid-meeting. Come to think of it, I wonder what I'll show them when they arrive. I don't exactly want to unveil the demos, cause they're my final product. I guess I'll just have to let Joan gush about me. OH WELL...
So after the DVD's were all burned, I mentioned a fourth demo that I never tackled because of a lack of script. And guess what happened? I was put in charge of making a script! What are the odds!? I mean really...I never would've guessed that might happen in a milli-NO! A BILLION years! Yes, that's more reasonable. So I took on my new responsibility with care, and whipped up a script in about a half hour.
The tough thing about the new demo was that it used the product to clean a blood stained sock. Now, this raises an interesting dilemma. The rest of the demos are all happy and positive, and now we're presented with a mysterious blood stained sock. How did the blood get there? Furthermore, how am I supposed to give a positive spin to the spot? It's harder than you think. "New Fresh Laundry cleans even the toughest stains, like blood!" :D
Not quite.
My first draft script ignored the blood factor all together. I just referred to is as a "difficult" stain. Joan said that was all fine and dandy, but marketing might really want blood to be mentioned in one way or another. After all, blood is actually a pretty stubborn stain. The fact that the product can deal with it so easily is a rather strong selling point. So, I experimented with different lines. I tried to give it a kids spin, like soccer and scraped knees, but that was equally difficult without the proper footage. In the end, I came up with "Accidents happen. But even blood is no match for the power of Fresh Laundry Concentrate." Humorous, simple, acceptable. It doesn't really kill the mood. So the plan of attack is that we'll record the version that ignores the blood issue, and if marketing wants to be picky, we'll pull the revision out.
After I finished the scripting, we managed to grab Cynthia to do a recording session. She didn't have much time, so we rushed it. Joan was busy at the time so I got to handle everything completely by myself. Quite the exciting event if I do say so myself. Cynthia pretty much nailed it on the first try, so we were able to do the entire session from beginning to end in a little over 5 minutes. Skill. That's all I can say.
With recording done, I transferred the file over to my main computer and immediately got to work on the demo. I tell you, once you have a system, you can pump them out. I edited a full rough draft together in about a half hour, which brought my total up to a tremendous 4 demos. Joan scheduled a meeting next week with some of the higher-ups in marketing to review them and give whatever input they feel necessary. If all goes well, they may sign it off then and there. While I don't expect that to happen, that would be quite awesome. It's always nice to get it right the first time, unlike certain graduation portfolio reflections I would like to burn. If you could burn digital files that is. And not like CD burning but the burning with fire. That burning. The fun kind.
And there you have it. My absolutely fine day all nicely laid out for you. Enjoy it? Of course you did. I told you you would. That should be enough right there. I better wrap this up before my fingers start crampi
Welcome back to another wacky episode of "Sean at Shaklee!" You ready? Can you handle the anticipation of all the fun in store? What? You don't think we'll have fun? That's absurd! When the title has consonance/alliteration, it must be good! You'll see...You just wait.
First things first: Final product news. At this stage, my latest idea is to present my 3-4 Get Clean Demos and show the average walk-through from conception to completion. I really hope to integrate our sound studio and even run a "mini" recording session with my teachers. I could set everything up, hand them a short script, and simulate the real deal. I wonder what I'll make them say....Oh yes. This will be fun. If the studio happens to be in use, I could always run that to show how it's done. But I think everyone would have more fun if they could actually be a part of what's happening.
So all in all, I'd cover filming, scripting, voice over, editing, revisions/reviews, etc. The whole long nine yards for something as simple as a video on a website. As for the exact date of the presentation, I'm not 100% certain. I wrote down the final day of the internship May 12, but I don't know if I officially have that spot. Whatever happens, I'll need to know so I can make sure my mentor is available and everything I want to use can be used.
So enough of that boring final project garbage. On to the boring events of my day! ...And by boring I mean "absolutely enthralling". And by enthralling I mean "fine". So yeah, my day was absolutely fine.
I finished up my demos so they were solid. The next step is getting them reviewed. They need to be sent out to a few people who will check, offer revisions, approve, etc. Whatever edits need to be made will be made, and once everyone is satisfied, online they go! I burnt a few DVD's with all the movie files, and we're set to have a meeting next Monday. Incidentally, my teachers are supposed to stop by next week. Hopefully they don't stumble in mid-meeting. Come to think of it, I wonder what I'll show them when they arrive. I don't exactly want to unveil the demos, cause they're my final product. I guess I'll just have to let Joan gush about me. OH WELL...
So after the DVD's were all burned, I mentioned a fourth demo that I never tackled because of a lack of script. And guess what happened? I was put in charge of making a script! What are the odds!? I mean really...I never would've guessed that might happen in a milli-NO! A BILLION years! Yes, that's more reasonable. So I took on my new responsibility with care, and whipped up a script in about a half hour.
The tough thing about the new demo was that it used the product to clean a blood stained sock. Now, this raises an interesting dilemma. The rest of the demos are all happy and positive, and now we're presented with a mysterious blood stained sock. How did the blood get there? Furthermore, how am I supposed to give a positive spin to the spot? It's harder than you think. "New Fresh Laundry cleans even the toughest stains, like blood!" :D
Not quite.
My first draft script ignored the blood factor all together. I just referred to is as a "difficult" stain. Joan said that was all fine and dandy, but marketing might really want blood to be mentioned in one way or another. After all, blood is actually a pretty stubborn stain. The fact that the product can deal with it so easily is a rather strong selling point. So, I experimented with different lines. I tried to give it a kids spin, like soccer and scraped knees, but that was equally difficult without the proper footage. In the end, I came up with "Accidents happen. But even blood is no match for the power of Fresh Laundry Concentrate." Humorous, simple, acceptable. It doesn't really kill the mood. So the plan of attack is that we'll record the version that ignores the blood issue, and if marketing wants to be picky, we'll pull the revision out.
After I finished the scripting, we managed to grab Cynthia to do a recording session. She didn't have much time, so we rushed it. Joan was busy at the time so I got to handle everything completely by myself. Quite the exciting event if I do say so myself. Cynthia pretty much nailed it on the first try, so we were able to do the entire session from beginning to end in a little over 5 minutes. Skill. That's all I can say.
With recording done, I transferred the file over to my main computer and immediately got to work on the demo. I tell you, once you have a system, you can pump them out. I edited a full rough draft together in about a half hour, which brought my total up to a tremendous 4 demos. Joan scheduled a meeting next week with some of the higher-ups in marketing to review them and give whatever input they feel necessary. If all goes well, they may sign it off then and there. While I don't expect that to happen, that would be quite awesome. It's always nice to get it right the first time, unlike certain graduation portfolio reflections I would like to burn. If you could burn digital files that is. And not like CD burning but the burning with fire. That burning. The fun kind.
And there you have it. My absolutely fine day all nicely laid out for you. Enjoy it? Of course you did. I told you you would. That should be enough right there. I better wrap this up before my fingers start crampi
Monday, April 16, 2007
Week 6
TOTAL HOURS: 48 out of 80 hours
I know you probably came here today to read some hilarious installments of my WLE blog. But there is something serious I must discuss first. It's a problem that is plaguing the world over, and there doesn't seem to be an end. I'm speaking, of course, of lazy blog prompts.
This afternoon, I checked my school website to see the prompt I was supposed to respond to. This is what I found:
What academic or leadership skills does your WLE require from you? Provide detailed examples.
That's it? That's all you could come up with? I remember when the blog prompts filled me with unbridled terror and hatred for their very existence. I mean, just look at week 4. Now that was a prompt! I avoided that thing for who knows how long. Now, I'm not saying I support these things, in fact, I wish we never had to respond to a prompt. I'd much rather ramble freely about what I feel like (much like what I'm doing now). But if you go through all the effort to conjure up these demon spawn, at least make them worthwhile.
Now to answer your question: critical thinking, creative expression, and productive collaboration. Critical thinking has definitely been useful for developing my videos. I have to constantly figure out if the layout and shots are good at selling the product. Creative expression is always present in video, since it's sort of an art form to begin with. And of course, like in most businesses, collaborating productively is a must. Unless you're running things by yourself, you need to be able to work well with your co-workers. Otherwise, there's no telling if you'll get the product you want.
Phew. Now that that's out of the way, here's the week 6 update!
Today was definitely more of a day of discovery and experimentation than a day of production. I ended up taking a little break from Final Cut and explored some more of the mysterious After Effects. I was able to stumble my way to a very basic placeholder graphic. It had the entire Get Clean product line crawling by with a banner containing the Get Clean logo underneath. Then....you ready for this? A light sweep goes over the logo. Yes, yes I know. My innovative genius was able to make the logo shimmer for a brief moment.
Later, Tom was able to set aside some time and gave me a crash course in the program. I'm definitely more comfortable with the interface now, and I know some useful tricks as well. I went back and tinkered with my animation to see how I could spice it up. Get this! Now the banner sweeps in and the logo appears, and freaking light shines and these cool rays are everywhere and stuff...Forget it. You can't even describe it. It's too mind blowing. I'll just have to screen cap it.
Now that's pretty freaking epic.
I'm curious if I can get a copy of After Effects for myself. I'm not sure how I could incorporate it with any MSAT work, but I think it'd be good to have. A nice accompaniment to all the other Adobe stuff on my laptop at home.
And so, the day continued as I explored the endless possibilities of After Effects. BUT THEN...Joan appeared and a new path was forged. A path...of budgets. Sexy, sexy budgets. We headed on over to her cubicle and she brought out a template spreadsheet. Apparently when doing budgets, they always start out with the basic one and then add and subtract based on the particular project. I was actually surprised by some of the figures. Under the art/animation category, she labeled 2D and 3D animators as roughly $1200/day and $1500/day respectively. Looks like I'm getting into the right business.
After looking at the costs of each little thing, a bunch of calculations go on at the bottom regarding the projected cost, price per unit, and other fun stuff. It was a nice mini lesson that I'm sure can easily be expanded upon. Now I can rest easy knowing that if I ever run into a wall with the whole video editing thingamajigger, I'll always have budgets to keep me entertained. Speaking of resting, that sounds pretty good right now. Let's see if I've written enough...Oh yeah. This is plenty. In fact, I think you got more than I intended. You should thank me for writing all of this!
You know, I should really start charging for subscriptions to this thing.
I know you probably came here today to read some hilarious installments of my WLE blog. But there is something serious I must discuss first. It's a problem that is plaguing the world over, and there doesn't seem to be an end. I'm speaking, of course, of lazy blog prompts.
This afternoon, I checked my school website to see the prompt I was supposed to respond to. This is what I found:
What academic or leadership skills does your WLE require from you? Provide detailed examples.
That's it? That's all you could come up with? I remember when the blog prompts filled me with unbridled terror and hatred for their very existence. I mean, just look at week 4. Now that was a prompt! I avoided that thing for who knows how long. Now, I'm not saying I support these things, in fact, I wish we never had to respond to a prompt. I'd much rather ramble freely about what I feel like (much like what I'm doing now). But if you go through all the effort to conjure up these demon spawn, at least make them worthwhile.
Now to answer your question: critical thinking, creative expression, and productive collaboration. Critical thinking has definitely been useful for developing my videos. I have to constantly figure out if the layout and shots are good at selling the product. Creative expression is always present in video, since it's sort of an art form to begin with. And of course, like in most businesses, collaborating productively is a must. Unless you're running things by yourself, you need to be able to work well with your co-workers. Otherwise, there's no telling if you'll get the product you want.
Phew. Now that that's out of the way, here's the week 6 update!
Today was definitely more of a day of discovery and experimentation than a day of production. I ended up taking a little break from Final Cut and explored some more of the mysterious After Effects. I was able to stumble my way to a very basic placeholder graphic. It had the entire Get Clean product line crawling by with a banner containing the Get Clean logo underneath. Then....you ready for this? A light sweep goes over the logo. Yes, yes I know. My innovative genius was able to make the logo shimmer for a brief moment.
Later, Tom was able to set aside some time and gave me a crash course in the program. I'm definitely more comfortable with the interface now, and I know some useful tricks as well. I went back and tinkered with my animation to see how I could spice it up. Get this! Now the banner sweeps in and the logo appears, and freaking light shines and these cool rays are everywhere and stuff...Forget it. You can't even describe it. It's too mind blowing. I'll just have to screen cap it.
Now that's pretty freaking epic.
I'm curious if I can get a copy of After Effects for myself. I'm not sure how I could incorporate it with any MSAT work, but I think it'd be good to have. A nice accompaniment to all the other Adobe stuff on my laptop at home.
And so, the day continued as I explored the endless possibilities of After Effects. BUT THEN...Joan appeared and a new path was forged. A path...of budgets. Sexy, sexy budgets. We headed on over to her cubicle and she brought out a template spreadsheet. Apparently when doing budgets, they always start out with the basic one and then add and subtract based on the particular project. I was actually surprised by some of the figures. Under the art/animation category, she labeled 2D and 3D animators as roughly $1200/day and $1500/day respectively. Looks like I'm getting into the right business.
After looking at the costs of each little thing, a bunch of calculations go on at the bottom regarding the projected cost, price per unit, and other fun stuff. It was a nice mini lesson that I'm sure can easily be expanded upon. Now I can rest easy knowing that if I ever run into a wall with the whole video editing thingamajigger, I'll always have budgets to keep me entertained. Speaking of resting, that sounds pretty good right now. Let's see if I've written enough...Oh yeah. This is plenty. In fact, I think you got more than I intended. You should thank me for writing all of this!
You know, I should really start charging for subscriptions to this thing.
Week 5
TOTAL HOURS: 39 out of 80 hours
No way...Nuh-uh! Halfway? I'm halfway done with the WLE? That's crazy. Already? Shut up...No! Pfff...Impossible. You're silly. You're totally silly.
Enough of that nonsense. Trying to make me think I'm at the halfway mark...
This week I had several options on what to do. I could continue to refine the demos, or...I could learn about the totally awesome and interesting world of BUDGETS! Easiest decision I've made during this whole experience. That's right. I was interested in budgets. I mean, who wouldn't be? All the numbers, and calculations. I was all like, "I'm gonna totally impress the ladies around the office with my budgeting skills." And when they'd see me budgeting, they'd be all, "Oh Sean! You're so smart and cool. Come party with us!" And I'd be all, "I'll be right with you babes. But first, I got some numbers to crunch." At that point, the ladies would probably faint from my overwhelming attractiveness, yadda yadda. You know the rest.
But SOMEHOW, budgeting never came. I ended up focusing on the demos the whole day. I started out doing some basic edits Joan had suggested. Then at 1:30, I actually got to run a recording session. Cynthia, Shaklee's quintessential voice talent, came in to lend her voice to my demos. I must say, I was nervous. All I really had to do was tell her when to talk, but my head was too full of thoughts of whether or not things were set up right. We got through it though, and it came out sounding...how to put it...spectacular? Yeah, I think that's good. Spectacular...
So with Cynthia's lines all recorded, I went back to work on replacing my audio with hers. But not before exporting one of the demos while it still had my voice, cause I'm going to be honest here. I sounded damn good. So I saved that away just for me, and finished placing Cynthia in the right spots. After that, things required a little shifting because obviously, she didn't speak at exactly the same pace as myself. But hey, she was a professional, so the re-syncing turned out to be very minimal.
After a little tinkering in After Effects, the day was pretty much over. I talked a little with Joan regarding my final project, and I think we both agree these demos will be the main feature. At this point, it's up to me to figure out how I want to present everything. My plans to wrap this up pretty much include continuing my re-familiarization with After Effects, and creating nice opening graphics for my demos. Once those are in place, I think the pieces themselves are good to go. Like I said, the next challenge would be developing my presentation format. Once I've got that, I think the rest of my WLE will be learning whatever random things I haven't had the chance to do yet.
Oh, and that oh-so-sexy budgeting of course.
No way...Nuh-uh! Halfway? I'm halfway done with the WLE? That's crazy. Already? Shut up...No! Pfff...Impossible. You're silly. You're totally silly.
Enough of that nonsense. Trying to make me think I'm at the halfway mark...
This week I had several options on what to do. I could continue to refine the demos, or...I could learn about the totally awesome and interesting world of BUDGETS! Easiest decision I've made during this whole experience. That's right. I was interested in budgets. I mean, who wouldn't be? All the numbers, and calculations. I was all like, "I'm gonna totally impress the ladies around the office with my budgeting skills." And when they'd see me budgeting, they'd be all, "Oh Sean! You're so smart and cool. Come party with us!" And I'd be all, "I'll be right with you babes. But first, I got some numbers to crunch." At that point, the ladies would probably faint from my overwhelming attractiveness, yadda yadda. You know the rest.
But SOMEHOW, budgeting never came. I ended up focusing on the demos the whole day. I started out doing some basic edits Joan had suggested. Then at 1:30, I actually got to run a recording session. Cynthia, Shaklee's quintessential voice talent, came in to lend her voice to my demos. I must say, I was nervous. All I really had to do was tell her when to talk, but my head was too full of thoughts of whether or not things were set up right. We got through it though, and it came out sounding...how to put it...spectacular? Yeah, I think that's good. Spectacular...
So with Cynthia's lines all recorded, I went back to work on replacing my audio with hers. But not before exporting one of the demos while it still had my voice, cause I'm going to be honest here. I sounded damn good. So I saved that away just for me, and finished placing Cynthia in the right spots. After that, things required a little shifting because obviously, she didn't speak at exactly the same pace as myself. But hey, she was a professional, so the re-syncing turned out to be very minimal.
After a little tinkering in After Effects, the day was pretty much over. I talked a little with Joan regarding my final project, and I think we both agree these demos will be the main feature. At this point, it's up to me to figure out how I want to present everything. My plans to wrap this up pretty much include continuing my re-familiarization with After Effects, and creating nice opening graphics for my demos. Once those are in place, I think the pieces themselves are good to go. Like I said, the next challenge would be developing my presentation format. Once I've got that, I think the rest of my WLE will be learning whatever random things I haven't had the chance to do yet.
Oh, and that oh-so-sexy budgeting of course.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Week 4
TOTAL HOURS: 30 out of 80 hours
Hello again! Nice to see you, again. How was getting here? Hope you didn't run into a lot of traffic. Sit down, sit down! Let me get you some coffee. Alright, you comfy? Good, good... Well let's get down to business!
Today involved a lot of Final Cutting. Tom was able to help me figure out the capturing issue. Turns out it was just a little thing in the capture settings. Who would've guessed? Of ALL the reasons capturing wasn't working, it turns out to be in the most OBVIOUS place. Oh well, it got solved. That's all that matters. So with the footage captured, I was finally able to get to work on the demos.
But before I could really get started, I needed some narration to sync everything with. Joan showed me a couple scripts, and I quickly looked over them and made little edits. Then I got to make a scratch track with my voice! Joan and I went into the recording studio and I got to sit in the room with the microphones and all that jazz. Oh how it brought me back to State of the World days. All the reading, and rereading....and the reading...Good times, good times.
Once I had the scratch track I ---
~~ WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A FORCED REFLECTION ~~
1. I am a little unclear about what McLuhan means by pattern-recognition. Is he referring to just patterns and reoccuring norms in society? That would make the most sense. Then he'd be arguing that with all the information barraging kids, they need to find certain things they can depend on, before branching out to more esoteric information. If that's the case, I'm inclined to agree. Just dumping a whole lot of seemingly random information on a child doesn't really scream "helpful". If they have a good base to start with, things should be easier.
2. Because of the information-overload you find in today's society, children should learn societal patterns before they branch out.
3. A "serious" bit of information I've found is that it is essential for people to be on the same page when working together. The Earth Day DVD ran into a lot of kinks because certain people didn't understand different aspects of production. This led to changes and suggestions that impeded rather than helped. Now I know that if I'm ever involved in a big group project, I'll need to make sure everyone knows whats going on every step of the way.
4. I think a research/exploration thing is good after the student has a base of knowledge. With my Get Clean demos for example, I'm pretty much on my own. I was given footage and let loose. There was no real storyboard to work with. I enjoy this because I'm thinking more. I'm not just replicating someone else's vision. I can create something original. And the main reason I can thrive in this setting is because I've been working with Final Cut and movie projects for a while now. If I was starting at square one, I wouldn't be so happy. I'd probably be feeling very lost.
5. This internship has a good balance as far as letting me do things on a discovery basis. While I like doing my own thing occasionally, I wouldn't want to feel neglected. So far, I feel I've had a good mix of working by myself and with Joan/Tom.
~~THANKS FOR BEARING WITH US FOLKS. WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG ALREADY IN PROGRESS~~
And that's when my computer literally EXPLODED! I ducked just in time, narrowly avoiding a large chunk. Not only was the digital information lost, but the shards of computer destroyed countless tapes and hard copies. Needless, to say, we took a long lunch to recooperate. That's the last time we'll let Zombie Hitler into the building.
Anyway, I finished off the day with a good start on the demos. Pretty much everything was synced up. I just need to create some good graphics (perhaps with After Effects), and experiment with different shots in certain places. I don't know how long this will take me, but it might end up being a final product type deal (If I can think of a decent presentation, that is).
That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings this week. I might not be in on Monday next week. Joan and Tom might have to film something in Atlanta, leaving me off the hook. If that's the case though, I'll probably go in on Thursday. In any case, I'll be in next week one way or another. Until next time!
Hello again! Nice to see you, again. How was getting here? Hope you didn't run into a lot of traffic. Sit down, sit down! Let me get you some coffee. Alright, you comfy? Good, good... Well let's get down to business!
Today involved a lot of Final Cutting. Tom was able to help me figure out the capturing issue. Turns out it was just a little thing in the capture settings. Who would've guessed? Of ALL the reasons capturing wasn't working, it turns out to be in the most OBVIOUS place. Oh well, it got solved. That's all that matters. So with the footage captured, I was finally able to get to work on the demos.
But before I could really get started, I needed some narration to sync everything with. Joan showed me a couple scripts, and I quickly looked over them and made little edits. Then I got to make a scratch track with my voice! Joan and I went into the recording studio and I got to sit in the room with the microphones and all that jazz. Oh how it brought me back to State of the World days. All the reading, and rereading....and the reading...Good times, good times.
Once I had the scratch track I ---
~~ WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A FORCED REFLECTION ~~
1. I am a little unclear about what McLuhan means by pattern-recognition. Is he referring to just patterns and reoccuring norms in society? That would make the most sense. Then he'd be arguing that with all the information barraging kids, they need to find certain things they can depend on, before branching out to more esoteric information. If that's the case, I'm inclined to agree. Just dumping a whole lot of seemingly random information on a child doesn't really scream "helpful". If they have a good base to start with, things should be easier.
2. Because of the information-overload you find in today's society, children should learn societal patterns before they branch out.
3. A "serious" bit of information I've found is that it is essential for people to be on the same page when working together. The Earth Day DVD ran into a lot of kinks because certain people didn't understand different aspects of production. This led to changes and suggestions that impeded rather than helped. Now I know that if I'm ever involved in a big group project, I'll need to make sure everyone knows whats going on every step of the way.
4. I think a research/exploration thing is good after the student has a base of knowledge. With my Get Clean demos for example, I'm pretty much on my own. I was given footage and let loose. There was no real storyboard to work with. I enjoy this because I'm thinking more. I'm not just replicating someone else's vision. I can create something original. And the main reason I can thrive in this setting is because I've been working with Final Cut and movie projects for a while now. If I was starting at square one, I wouldn't be so happy. I'd probably be feeling very lost.
5. This internship has a good balance as far as letting me do things on a discovery basis. While I like doing my own thing occasionally, I wouldn't want to feel neglected. So far, I feel I've had a good mix of working by myself and with Joan/Tom.
~~THANKS FOR BEARING WITH US FOLKS. WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG ALREADY IN PROGRESS~~
And that's when my computer literally EXPLODED! I ducked just in time, narrowly avoiding a large chunk. Not only was the digital information lost, but the shards of computer destroyed countless tapes and hard copies. Needless, to say, we took a long lunch to recooperate. That's the last time we'll let Zombie Hitler into the building.
Anyway, I finished off the day with a good start on the demos. Pretty much everything was synced up. I just need to create some good graphics (perhaps with After Effects), and experiment with different shots in certain places. I don't know how long this will take me, but it might end up being a final product type deal (If I can think of a decent presentation, that is).
That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings this week. I might not be in on Monday next week. Joan and Tom might have to film something in Atlanta, leaving me off the hook. If that's the case though, I'll probably go in on Thursday. In any case, I'll be in next week one way or another. Until next time!
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