Week 9 EOC: Tennis Clinic

Rob Johnson had a hobby that he wanted to turn into a dream. He was tired of working for somebody else at a newspaper so he decided to start his own business. He was going to give tennis lessons at resorts in Florida. He directed all his attention to this one gig but he may have been over his head. He is courageous for following his dreams and giving it a fair shot. Not everybody could say that they are brave enough to do this. His problem was he did not do enough research or come up with a business plan prior to leaving his current job. Some problems he ran into with this adventure was he chose a poor location. In Florida, whether is unpredictable sometimes and there are many hurricanes that hit that state. Many clients would cancel because it was too hot or it was too wet to play. He should have checked if their were options to do indoor lessons. Another one of his problems was he did not do research on what his clientele may be. I know he was hoping for adults that would have the same passion as him and he could show them many things that would help them become a better player. But most of his customers were kids. Kids that didn't even want to play. Their parents signed them up for lessons as a way to have a babysitter. This made Rob frustrated because he wasn't actually doing what he originally set out to do. There are many other factors in his failure but he did have the courage and passion to follow his dreams.

I learned from this that it is important to have a business plan. In this class, we are learning about business plans and the proper way to form one. At first, I thought a business plan was for a person who wanted to start a company. But now I realize it is for anybody who has an idea to make money. You have to be prepared when taking on such a risk. If he had done his research, he might have been more successful. It is important to know what clients you want but also to do the demographics and see what clients you may actually get. He should have tested his idea on the weekends and see what kind of clientele he would have attracted. I think this would have helped him make a decision before leaving his job at the newspaper. Nobody can predict if their business is going to be successful, especially with what they may think is a great idea. Because in reality, just like any other product, continuity and location are very important. You wouldn't sell a snow-cone in Antarctica would you?

Week 8 Photo Challenge: You as a Professional

Here is me in a picture where I am dressed in a suit. Yes, this picture is not real. I used photoshop to add my head to this body. The reason I did this was because I needed to make sure that I met the requirement for this week. I will be taking many pictures of me later this week in a real suit. I will be wearing one for my final defense presentation on Thursday. So I thought I would make a picture in the mean time. I do not currently have many pictures of me looking this professional but I do have the attire to dress the part. It is not common for me to get dressed up to this caliber. But I will be taking many pictures this week, not only so I meet the requirement of this class, but so I have them for my website and future employers. It is wise to keep a couple of pictures where you are dressed as a professional. Somebody may ask you one day and you will then be prepared.

Week 7 Photo Challenge: Screenplay Cover

"Below the Beehive" is a story I wrote about 6 years ago. It is a short story and consists of 58 pages. In a nutshell, it is about a summer vacation for a group of 4 teenagers. Their usual hang out spot is in the woods twenty minutes from their neighborhoods. Part of the adventure each summer is riding their bicycles to that one special tree in the middle of the woods. Well this summer, they find something unexpected and turns their vacation in another direction. Each boy is tested and is forced into making adult decisions. Decisions like what is right and wrong? Who is going to be a leader? Who wants to work as a team and who doesn't? Many challenging situations will test the boys to the breaking point.

I want to extend the storyline a little bit because I feel like there is a lot more that can happen between the characters. With only 60 pages, the development of some of the characters feels rushed or even forced. I know the description of the story above is a little vague, but the details of the plot and characters really attract the audience. I have been working on it little bits at a time. It is completed but every time I show another person for advice and/or criticism, I make notes and try new things. One day I think this could be a great idea for a film. It would not be to difficult or expensive to make, provided we have some decent actors. Teenager actors. Which could be difficult if you do not have a huge name or known status in the filmmaking industry. But "Below the Beehive" is locked in my vault and will remain there until it is time to use it. It lays in peace beside a few other projects. I will know when it will be the right time to release this story.

Week 7 EOC: My Resume and Optimal Resume

My resume is always changing and continues to grow with content. I have updated it many times over the last 5 years. It has all the important information that highlights my strongest points in Audio Production. I have included as much as I could on one page that reflects my best work without having unneeded information. I did put other related skills and previous work, but only work that related to the jobs I was searching for. I designed it with my logo and my color scheme and kept all the text in the font I have for my overall theme. I have a multiple formats ready for download on my website. I used Optimal Resume a few times and I think it is great for somebody who in unsure of what they need to do. Optimal Resume breaks down all the individual parts of a resume that are related to your field of work. It gives great examples of how everything should be worded and the layout of the document. When I used it to try to make my personal resume, I found that is was difficult to get the exact look that I wanted based on my previous resume. The text I wanted to use was not available so I pretty much had to change my overall look of my resume compared to my original. It is a great tool though if you are unsure what should be included into your resume.

Week 6 Photo Challenge: Special Effects

Every new video project that I take on, I try to attempt something I have never tried before. Before I wrote this script to "Teach Me How to Teleport", I saw videos of people acting like they were teleporting around the front yard. I thought, this looks easy. Every time I want to try something like this, I think hard and long about the most logical way that this can be done and then see how close I was to how you really do it. This one was exactly like I thought I was supposed to do. I displayed 4 different frames in the picture above. I shot this at 24 FPS and this is a snapshot of 1 second (frame 3, frame 9, frame 19, and frame 21). All I did was have footage of the talent sitting on the stool. Next I started to add the smoke over top of the video layer with the talent. Once the smoke was covering the entire body of the talent, I cut to the same framing with nobody in the picture. So to successfully do shots like this, you need a shot of nobody in the frame and a shot of somebody in the frame. And then jump cut between the two while masking the body with the smoke. Really simple. I also added a "camera wiggle" when he teleported to give it a little more impact as if he was shaking the world. The final touches of sound design and color correction made this clip 100% better.

Week 6 EOC: How do I see my role starting in the industry?

I see me working with individuals that are as hungry as me. I don't plan on entering one of the top production houses but I do want to try to get my foot in the door at a facility that has a lot of customers. I work very hard and bring a lot to the table when dealing with sound design. I like working on movies, short and long, commercials, music, and anything else dealing with audio. I also am good with video editing and motion graphics. I think my best bet for me to learn more and hone my skills after school, is to find a small production company. I can learn all the things that I am unsure on and experiment with new ideas on a professional level. I believe working with a small production house will give me opportunities to do more than just sound. If they need assistance in video editing, I could help or bring new ideas to the crew. My sound design skills will show through the previous work that I have done and will help me get closer to my goals.

Week 6 BOC: Monty Lapica

Monty Lapica was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. He graduated from Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. He made an award-winning documentary film called “Self-Medicated”. His movie “Self-Medicated” influenced many people in a positive way, despite being dark at times, and this paved the way to his future path. Mr. Lapica has created the Las Vegas International Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in Nevada.  Mr. Lapica is the founder of Recognition Networks, a company that is based on the web and is has grown greatly overtime through advertisements. He is also the founder and managing director of Thought Division. Thought Division is a production company that offers services to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. With him being a native of Las Vegas, he has planted himself deep in the arts culture and will continue to bring more business to Las Vegas.