We’re starting to ramp up the promotions of this new study I’ve been working. I’ve been referring to it as the “The Leadership Module” here. Anyway, I did a little animation from scratch at the end of the 30 second excerpt. Mind shooting some comments my way? Again, I don’t have the luxury of on-site peer review and I want to make my work stand out. So let me know what you think of the animation at the end. Thanks!

Tags: after effects, education, video

This is completely and utterly in the spirit of what I attempt to write about (independent, multi-hat work) and I got to learn a few things about Art Direction myself. From Matthew Jeppsen at FreshDV:

The following case study article was written by Pablo Korona, a Rockford, IL based video producer and FreshDV contributor. You can learn more about Pablo’s work at www.pablokorona.com.

Basic Art Direction Primer / Production Design for a Tabletop Product Shoot
Among the many crew departments working a production set, audio and art are often overlooked or ignored. Both are usually an afterthought. But hey, at least all the audio guy has to do is point a microphone and unplug the refrigerator! Easy money. I overgeneralize of course, but I say this to simply illustrate the focus of audio, and how having some one dedicated to it on set produces a better outcome. This also applies to the production design, but is even more reinforced because “art” is not a narrow focus.

Read the rest here: >>>click me<<<

Tags: education, Production, video

Jet-lag (which I once thought was this odd myth) from my SE Asia production had me up early so I decided to browse around my bookshelves. I noticed a couple volumes I inherited through marriage.

War of Words – Paul Tripp
This book is one that gets to the heart of words, what you say, speaking and motives behind it. Truthfully, it centers around my particular faith. This doesn’t really apply to production per se, but it doesn’t matter how good of work I produce, if I’m an ass-hat nobody’s going to want to work with/for/hire me.

Reel Spirituality – Robert Johnson
This is all about worldview. Whether producing for everyone, or for an evangelical audience, knowing how to accurately tell the right story is key. In fluffy terms, if I’m producing for a Buddist audience, I should probably know the Buddist take on things. Makes me a better story-teller and communicator.

Money, Possesions, and Eternity - Randy Alcorn
Personally and professionaly, you’ve got to know how to handle your finances because more often than not, you won’t have enough. This one again, relates directly to my particular worldview so it may not be of interset to you. However, my point being with this book: money management is criticle to production, the better you are with it personally, the better you’ll be with it professionally.

Some might call it a wholistic approach to production, I just call it it smart for a few reasons; notably that I don’t have the time to really invest in classes for these things (student life is over!), the world, technology and circumstances are constantly changing, and finally, if you’re consistently working to better yourself in every regard, your work and professionalism will show it.

Tags: books, education, philosophy