I spent the day in my studio working on a DVD project for a customer from the Hastings area. I also spent plenty of time in my basement computer shop working one of my brother in law’s computers. I spent the day setting up my keyboard so I could practice a some piano licks for an upcoming wedding. I spent the day doing stuff I like to do. I wish I could do that every day.
Now I’m writing a little bit. That’s a good thing too. Life is pretty good when you can do the things you like to do. Today, for me, life was good. I’m going to leave it at that.
See you tomorrow.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Monday, May 09, 2005
Union Bank Project Finished
May 9, 2005
I delivered the Union Financial video today. Melanie took a look at it and is pleased. Man, it’s great to have that one knocked off my list. The project was good for me to do because it reminded me of how much I like being creative. I had a great time actually doing the work. But it pressed my schedule a bit too much. That led to a bunch of stress.
A financial report is basically a lot of figures compared to a lot of figures and it figures to get pretty boring. So the challenge becomes how can I make all of the data interesting. Well, basically I boiled the data down to the relevant fact that a viewer would want to know. Then I created a graph to show the big mess of data, dimmed it and added the pertinent fact overlaid on the top.
But that only helps the data. Adding pics, with motion, did the trick in between each graph. That was pretty fun actually. I honed my skills with my software a bit and found some new tricks for my bag.
Overall, I was very pleased and apparently so is the bank. All in. All done. Just got to send them the bill. What a relief. Now on to the next thing.
I’ve got about 6 more video projects to go. Man, if I could make a decent living doing that out of my shop! I’d be there in a heartbeat.
I delivered the Union Financial video today. Melanie took a look at it and is pleased. Man, it’s great to have that one knocked off my list. The project was good for me to do because it reminded me of how much I like being creative. I had a great time actually doing the work. But it pressed my schedule a bit too much. That led to a bunch of stress.
A financial report is basically a lot of figures compared to a lot of figures and it figures to get pretty boring. So the challenge becomes how can I make all of the data interesting. Well, basically I boiled the data down to the relevant fact that a viewer would want to know. Then I created a graph to show the big mess of data, dimmed it and added the pertinent fact overlaid on the top.
But that only helps the data. Adding pics, with motion, did the trick in between each graph. That was pretty fun actually. I honed my skills with my software a bit and found some new tricks for my bag.
Overall, I was very pleased and apparently so is the bank. All in. All done. Just got to send them the bill. What a relief. Now on to the next thing.
I’ve got about 6 more video projects to go. Man, if I could make a decent living doing that out of my shop! I’d be there in a heartbeat.
It's May 8, 2005 - Mother's day
Or more accurately, May 9, 2005 12:15AM. I’m finally burning the Rev 4. DVD of the Union Financial Annual Meeting video project. Far from my best work, but a long way from trash, I hope it will pass muster with the uppers at UFC.
I like the opening montage of old photos. It’s sort of a warm and fuzzy look at a bank’s remodeling and grand opening in the late 1950s. I wasn’t there, we didn’t move to Lake Odessa until 1963, but I do see an old class mate in one of the photos. He was six years old at the time. As I recall, his grandfather was the bank president at the time.
I created an animated version of the printed annual report. I like that too. Royal music in the background gives it sort of a PBS-ish look. It’s all in gray’s so it looks silverish and even if I do say so myself, it’s very cool.
I tried my best to have the video look like something other than a fancy Power Point presentation, but when you have so many graphs you only have so many options. It really needs some on camera interviews to break up the data. But I got the impression that they wanted to limit the cost. So no new video this year.
I’m thinking about approaching them to shoot a different sort of video for next year. I’d like to produce a real day-in-the-life kind of thing. I’d set up a couple of their best customers to be the subjects. Gathering real B-roll footage and using close up, multi-cam interviews could really make the thing special. I’d love to get back into producing some television programming and I could use such a piece as part of a resume. But it would take so much time. I’m not sure I can handle the strain on my schedule. Still, it my get me out of this Lakewood gig. That would be a good thing.
I’ve got to go get some sleep. I’ve been hammering this project too hard. But a deadline is a deadline and the closer they come the shorter the days are. When I hit the sheets tonight it will be with the comfort that the thing is finished. At least until the bank gives me the final change orders! I hope they’ll be happy with it as it sits. I’m double scheduled already for tomorrow night and Tuesday is the show! I’ve run out of time. I wonder if I’ll ever recover from the lightening strike over spring break. Man I need those days back.
I like the opening montage of old photos. It’s sort of a warm and fuzzy look at a bank’s remodeling and grand opening in the late 1950s. I wasn’t there, we didn’t move to Lake Odessa until 1963, but I do see an old class mate in one of the photos. He was six years old at the time. As I recall, his grandfather was the bank president at the time.
I created an animated version of the printed annual report. I like that too. Royal music in the background gives it sort of a PBS-ish look. It’s all in gray’s so it looks silverish and even if I do say so myself, it’s very cool.
I tried my best to have the video look like something other than a fancy Power Point presentation, but when you have so many graphs you only have so many options. It really needs some on camera interviews to break up the data. But I got the impression that they wanted to limit the cost. So no new video this year.
I’m thinking about approaching them to shoot a different sort of video for next year. I’d like to produce a real day-in-the-life kind of thing. I’d set up a couple of their best customers to be the subjects. Gathering real B-roll footage and using close up, multi-cam interviews could really make the thing special. I’d love to get back into producing some television programming and I could use such a piece as part of a resume. But it would take so much time. I’m not sure I can handle the strain on my schedule. Still, it my get me out of this Lakewood gig. That would be a good thing.
I’ve got to go get some sleep. I’ve been hammering this project too hard. But a deadline is a deadline and the closer they come the shorter the days are. When I hit the sheets tonight it will be with the comfort that the thing is finished. At least until the bank gives me the final change orders! I hope they’ll be happy with it as it sits. I’m double scheduled already for tomorrow night and Tuesday is the show! I’ve run out of time. I wonder if I’ll ever recover from the lightening strike over spring break. Man I need those days back.
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