Vocabulary

So I’m sure I said more to come on a previous post or two and I will eventually finish those thoughts eventually. For now, I am going to have a different train of thought. On the other hand the end of this post may actually end the last article. I’ve been in a very holistic mood lately.

So lately different clients have had different wants and uses. All are venturing in a new world of having an experience drive their target markets towards themselves. So this sounds all confusing, right? Well, it is a little.

Words what do they mean?

Mainly the reason it’s confusing is there is no set language or governance that explains everything. We’re having to create new terminology for everything and use words and language in a way it has never been used before. While this can be fun and interesting and a study in and of it self. It sometimes becomes a tied and tangled web of problems as well.

I am only saying this because right now I am having this same issue with people where the problems that arise are the ones where the intent and intended things are not so clear.

Also to see everything it is not possible you have to have many sets of eyes on everything. We may say see the whole board and it may be awesome to see the whole board but sometimes that is not possible at all. Sometimes a different perspective of someone who has had different life experiences will see something new and not seen how you have seen things.

So, remember, be clear in what you’re trying to accomplish and be clear in what you are trying to say. In the end the more communication the better off everything will turn out and the better off everything will be.

Oops! (pt. 1)

Yep, I’ve been sleeping well the last few weeks or I’ve been so over worked that I’ve not hat some time to post. In that time though, I’ve come to find out a few things. One of the bigger things is that I must claim the original format of an Alternate Reality Game or ARG, dead. When the exact time of death was I cannot say, why it’s kind of a complicated thing really. What I can tell you is what has evolved from the original form is quite interesting.

We are now having to go back to basics. Advertising has been around since the days of The Roman Empire. What has changed, however, is the study put into how we push the message. We have evolved and studied and poked and prodded and learned exactly what the emotions are to sell something that is not just a necessity but something that will become one. We don’t need a 100″ DLP Plasma LCD TV (yes I’m sure it doesn’t exist) but somehow it becomes just as important as the basic utilities of gas, water and electricity.

M darcy WE Can Do It by ChrisMichaelStudio

What we’re seeing is the same psychology that has come full circle with the ARG as well. Basics, what started this whole mess in the first place? Buzz marketing is nothing new, it’s been done a million times over and over and over again. The ultimate reveal the secret we all wait and wait for. We evolved in to pushing things out and then we added a story to make you come to us and then we made you follow a timed maze and work for the reveal. Now well, the players are tired and worn out and want something new. We can all create blogs and we can all create fake websites that look real enough. The only problem is, we’ve got to make it shiny and better than what just the average person can do. What the average person cannot afford. How do we accomplish this? Well, if I told you everything I wouldn’t have a job would I.

What I can tell you though, is that we must continue to look at the basics, always have the case study done and your research done. Demographic information is always the biggest key to look at. Once you find out who you are aiming for your answers will slowly come to you. I can tell you that there are things out there that still work from the old model but that have been adapted to become part of a new model. This new model has a lot to do with how twitter works and the phenomenon behind it and how farmville has moved from something tied to a place to something that is no longer stationary. Careful with that where you use it and how you go.

Anyways, I’m sure that was a cryptic mess but it was designed to let you know something big is changing and something old and new are coming to a market near you to make you need something you really shouldn’t consider more than a luxury item. Seriously, I don’t need a third computer I just want one; yet I can justify the cost, I think…

Later days,

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See the whole board

So the last couple of days I’ve been trying and trying to write this post from things going on around me. I’ve re-learned and newly learned one important lesson, see every angle.

Everyone in life has a reason to do something, everyone wants or needs something. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it will, however, get you in a lot of trouble if you don’t account for it.

Always, always see the whole board. There are things you will learn, account for and come back and see that you didn’t before. You will also learn to account for new things, in doing so you will learn something new too. The more I sit here this morning and type this out I am still considering the conversations from last week and this weekend. I know more now after researching than I did before and I have learned more on demographics than I did before.

So my one piece of advice is see the whole board. You’ll be better for it.

Flying by the Seat of my Pants

So the more I’ve seen lately and the more I’ve come across in the last month or so I’ve realized one thing holds true, even for the experts, we are all flying by the seat of our pants. Experts, no they can’t be, are just a lot more confident about what they are up to than the rest of us. We all are at some point treading on new ground and asking questions about stuff. Well, where are we all going?

I’m not so sure myself where all this is leading and I know that most of it is being made up. I can say with some certainty that I know I’ve done this and I’ve been to some of these places before. I know what happened last time, I know the result is never the same twice. So I figure an average of the two and aim a little bit higher. This is the calculated risk we must all take. The calculated risk is in our personal life, in our professional life and even in rock climbing. I forgot about a video I was referred to until I started writing this post. It seems very fitting here. I see good and big things coming but a little risk is definitely involved and that is the only way to really truly make it come true.

I know this is a shorter post than most in the past but this is truly an insomnia muse.

Later

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Inspired by the polar conversation

(side note: This post has been delayed 2 weeks for time.)

It’s been a long time since I have sat down and had a great amount of proper discourse with someone and enjoyed it. This made me realize a few things, the most major of which is  how few of us really care to learn all the facts.

We have all become much more polarized with the current issues at hand since one way or another we are directly affected. I know we have taken up arms and sides without doing all the research. Research makes us smarter sure, but it also let’s us not make the mistake of affecting our lives in the wrong way.

I know the health care bill may not seem like it will change anything you do or may be too little too late but I sure you it changes something in your life. I am not going to write my position or why because this is not the time and the place for it. I am however going to talk about the fact that no one really paid much attention to what passed. Lots of changes were made on both sides of the fence to appease everyone. What finally passed and what was orginally conceptualized are two totally different things. This isn’t the only bill though, what about immigration and what is happening in Arizona. We are taking up arms and sure there is a reason. There is always a reason for someone doing something. We may not see it because we are blinded by other things. Emotions are important but a balance of both is what we need.

Balance is lacking. We are in a place now where polarity matters more than balance. I feel as though we need to take the time and, “see the whole board.” We are always talking about sides and maybe seeing it from the different angle, but in all honesty who really takes the time to see it from both sides. We all say it and we all have good intentions behind it but we really do need to take a walk in someone elseses shoes everyonce in a while.

I am glad to have met some very cool people in the last couple of weeks to start my summer off right. Thank you and here is to many more discussions on the issues that matter and not to fluff.

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Thinking Clearly…kinda

At about December or the end of last year my creativity fell in a hole somewhere. I searched and searched in desperation. I looked in twiter, I looked in other websites, I looked in other movies and clips and films, I looked everywhere. It was just lost in the wind.

I’m starting to find shards of my creativity again. It’s exciting and fresh and new. It feels good in the sunlight and feels good to be out side again spending time. I am learning researching thinking ahead again. I’m not where I once was but that is okay. I was there I tried what I wanted to and now I’m moving forward. I know I heard this quote from the West Wing, “Good writers borrow, great writers outright steal.” — Sam Seaborn. It has stuck with me and resonates over and over in my mind. This along with doing social good and something to help those around me.Lately, the more I look the more I realize I am living my dream life, I have my Truck (I’ve wanted it since I was 2) I have my camera, and I have some other small things. I am very content and happy. I am working towards a very stable profitable business that will allow me to try and experience new things every day. I am

Audio 814

where I need to be.

I had to share the latest shard of finding what I created. It’s a simple design but the thing is,more is coming and it is exciting to see. I can’t believe how good it feels. Also inspiration is coming from the strangest but greatest of places. Isn’t that how it is though, inspiration comes from the strange places not the normal ones. If it was the normal ones then it wouldn’t facinate us or move us enough to make us want to grow and explore.

More is going to come I just hope to have ya’ll stay around for the journey and see what happens and bounce the ideas as well…

Later Days,

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Charging Hourly…

Note: This post is meerly just an explanation:
(Side Note: anything related to post-production [editing, motion graphics, etc] is not covered in this post)

[UPDATED: copy edited thanks to @stealingsand)

So I was asked the other day to give an hourly rate; the simple answer is: I don’t. No matter how good you are at pre-production, how good you have everything predicted and how good you get you cannot predict how long something will take to film. Everything always breaks when you put a camera in front of it; it’s Murphy’s Law.

With the web moving towards video there are more and more people wanting and creating video and asking the question what is your hourly rate. With every other industry charging an hourly rate it is assumed that we charge hourly as well.

Fact: Filming takes time; if you want it to look good it takes even more time. This time costs money and it adds up quickly when charging an hourly rate.

Everything we do and account for is on a daily rate. Our gear is rented per day. We work in environments that everything is looked at for the full day, not per hour.

I cannot give an hourly rate to when I don’t know what I am going to film. I know people are trying to save time and want to conserve hours to lower costs and want me to charge only for quick shots. This does NOT work. I will miss shots and will not know what I need to be prepared for. You will lose time when the unpredictable happens.

If you REALLY need an hourly rate please tell me what I’m filming. It may work in your favor (and almost always does) when I’m quoting a half day or full day rate.

It depends on what I’m filming; if I need to get gear for it what if I charge you $20 an hour and we agree, then I find out I need to get a lens that costs me $30 and then I find out I’m only shooting for an hour. Well, I can’t even afford to eat or pay rent or anything else.

I know this is a very simplistic model, but you are hiring me and you are expecting me to create you a product. This is how I make a living and how I eat and get shelter. If you cannot afford it then please consider learning how to do it and do it for yourself. I will not be hurt or offended if you choose to go with someone else or if you choose to do it yourself.

This post is a little rant driven, sorry but I do try my best to provide the best in service to my clients and because of this I hold certain standards. These standards are for every job.
They are:

1. Be Fair (I will expect the same from you as you expect from me)

2. Answer the questions. (I do not ask unless I really need an answer. As the old saying goes there is never a dumb question. If we both don’t know let’s learn together)

3. Be Professional (When on set safety and productivity are key. I’m here to work I love what I do, yes, it is fun. All I ask is if we waste too much time then we both loose.)

Thanks,

Later Days

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Post-hoc SXSW 2010

So this is is a week late, pardon the delay I’m trying my best to catch up…

The title doesn’t fit quite right but it does explain this post quite well. I am writing this after SXSW and cleaning had been a chore. Time to take a break and download everything thing into a small boiled down post for my sanity and work inspiration you (the reader) and myself.

First off the 3 biggest things I learned:

1.    Building a community and doing social good allows your company to sustain itself even through the recession we are going through right now. Things are looking better only because we are looking at home to do things rather than spending the money on something else. 

Take the DIY movement right now, I’ve started getting back into building things for my craft more than I have spending money on the big things around me. We are all giving a little more to those less fortunate around us only because we know that will come back one day to us when we are a little less fortunate.

2.    Bootstrapping your business is better in the long run than getting money from a venture or angel investor. We can get the quick money now but a flame that is hot and fast as we all know can’t sustain itself for very long. There are those examples for both that do have the ability to. The majority of the time, however; don’t have the ability to sustain themselves for very long with large capitol creating large returns. A flame that is stoked and carefully watched over can grow and grow and grow and can run for a very long time. Eventually like the flame your business will take care of itself. Yes, you’ll still have to run it but less is needed to run as you move forward.
3.    Finally, concentrate on doing things for your own and start working on small projects on your own time and get those done. As you do those sharpen your skills and you get to learn how to problem solve. We all have the same ability blog, take pictures, video or even code. The thing that makes us each valuable is the ability to problem solve and work things differently. Make your self the one thing that no one else has, you. (Thank you to @makecoolshit for this advice)

On to the rest of the Film and Interactive parts of the week;

for those of you who come here from my twitter feed please know that this is more of a personal blog and yes I do rant on and on but do understand I am a person who believes in transparency on things I do. In an age of everything being on the internet it is very hard to have everything split apart as it should be.

The interactive festival was well worth the price of admission alone and I do have every intention of going again next year. It will be hopefully the last year I will have during a week of spring break. I am planning for a May 2011 graduation. I only hold one contention and that is all the best panels were at the same time of another interesting panel and that they were all towards the end. The few beginning ones left me with a wondering of weather I was paying for taking classes that I am already enrolled in for my graduate degree.

As the second day rolled around it became apparent that, in fact no, they weren’t. The panels were an in depth discussion I am lacking from the over populated classroom I sit in where there are too many students and too few professors available for a discussion at this moment. I wonder if I have made the right choice often for my degree.  Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t be where I was today if I weren’t there I wouldn’t have the thoughts of interactivity on a level past the general population.

I wish I could take some of the panelists and put them in to a less bureaucratic environment that @academicdave champions over and over again. The more I think lately the more self taught people I know and realize the only reason I go to a school to learn is sheer motivation. I can either self motivated and learn everything on my own, of which I try my best to keep on trends and learn, or learn through an antiquated environment something new.

The films were good from what i heard, I only saw the one, Tony. The movie was one that gave hope to the film makers who were told they were crazy and told not to even try such a risky way of telling a simple story. There is no true end to the story, life just goes on just like we march forward and a chapter of our life closes and we open a new one weather it be a mile stone or some or a change of career or a change in life.

That is all I have for now so I close with Later Days,

P.S. Pictures from the week are available on my Flickr SXSW Set.
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Cooliris Photo Wall from SXSW2010

SXSW 2010 I’m choosing not to write something everyday because usually there is very little time. So I’m doing this instead, I’m taking lots of pictures for the experience of it all and will re-cap everything in a better mixed blog post coming up.

SXSW Schedule

My SXSW Calendar…

or Google Calendar Direct Link