A Bigger Reboot than I Planned

In my last post I mentioned that I was planning on rebooting my blog and my approach to things. It turns out that I’m rebooting more than I planned. I lost my job earlier this month and I’m in a position to make bigger decisions than I originally planned as far as what I want to do with the next part of my life.

It’s scary and exciting and overwhelming and thrilling. I am blessed to have an amazing family that supports me and is willing to following me anywhere. I am honored to have friends to come to the aid with leads for jobs and freelance work to keep us afloat. I am fortunate to live in a country where women are able to do anything and be anything. Being without a job is awful, but all things considered I’m feeling pretty fortunate.

As of today I’m a freelance storyteller! Have a story you need tell? I’d be happy to help you do it! I’ll be adding more information in the coming days on the kinds of things I can do to help get your message out to the people who need to hear it.

Please keep me in mind if you need any help and wish me luck!

One More Time!

I find myself this morning in the lovely position of having to restart a project I’ve been editing for a week in a new software program. Yes, I did actually finish the rough draft and it doesn’t look to bad. The issue is that the program I used (the only one available to me at the time) will not release the video in an acceptable quality. It acts if I am just asking too much and crashes about 2 minutes into the export.

Now I know some of my video friends out there will jump in with ideas, but the reality is that this particular program (I’m not going into detail to protect the guilty)  is not designed to do what I was trying to make it do. I only had the option of 4 video tracks (I really needed at least 5, but made do). I was doing motion images, motion video, re-sized images…not very complicated from my human perspective, but from the software’s perspective it’s very complicated. I was finally able to get a low res, low quality version out. It gave the people I was doing the video for the chance to see what I had tried to get them to envision (they like it by the way!). I just can’t get a higher quality version to out-put.

After examining my options, I think the quickest and easiest will be to recreate the video in another software program. Anyone who has gotten towards the end of a project only to find out a file got corrupted, or a drive died, or someone erased the tape knows how it feels. It can be frustrating, depressing, and overwhelming to think of having to go back and recreate what you’ve already done. Especially when your deadline is less than 48 hours away.

I’m trying to look on the bright side. The video is only around 90 seconds, so it’s not that bad. I have the audio cut and soundbite already saved as a separate file so that can just be imported in. And, I know what I’m doing this time. In the past when I’ve been faced with situations like these I find that the second version is usually tighter and generally better because I had a chance to think through what worked and what didn’t and what would work better. And hey, waiting for the new software to download has given me a few minutes to update my blog. What more could a girl ask for?

And so back to the bowels of my project…”once more into the breach, dear friends…”

Magic Moments

I was inspired after reading  this post. In it Mike discusses the role happenstance plays in video production. Let’s face it sometimes we plan shots down to the frame and they turn out ok, making us wonder if we ever had any talent in the first place. Then we when we turn around we just happen to grab a shot where the light is amazing, just the right amount of wind and all the planets align to create the perfect shot. The shot usually ends with comments about our own brilliance, deserved or not, and we remember why we love what we do.

It can happen on the set or in post production. After hours of blood, sweat and tears (in my accident prone case blood is usually involved), after wondering why I  didn’t go into some “normal” profession, like teaching or animal wrangling…all of a sudden the “magic” happens and I get a glimpse at perfection. These are the moments of greatness we look for. These are the moments I love.

The natural high from grabbing the perfect shot or doing the perfect edit is amazing. All the pain and frustration are forgotten. I remember why I chose to work in video, why I keep coming back to it after getting out for a few years at a time. All of a sudden I’m a little kid back again, on one of my family’s rare trips to the movies, watching The Empire Strikes Back. I remember that magic.

I’m probably never going to make that kind of magic, but just getting a taste of it every now and then keeps me coming back for more.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I finally finished a project I had been working on for the last couple of months last week. The same day I started on a project that needed completed it in a week. Isn’t it the way it goes though?

You pour your blood, sweat and tears into a project (HINT: if you aren’t, you’re doing it wrong) and then immediately jump into the next project. That is if you’re lucky enough to not being doing 3 or more projects at one time. Even then, when one comes off the list at least one more goes on.

So here’s to all of you who give your work all you’ve got to turn around moments later and start all over again. My hat is off to you!

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Holy Crap!

Time flies when you’re having fun. But it goes twice the speed of sound when you’ve got a deadline. We’ve all been there and done that. You’re working on something that’s due at the end of the week. Suddenly it’s Thursday morning and you’re only halfway done.

The heart rate increases. Breathing accelerates. There is that sinking feeling as that little voice in your head starts say, “There is no way you’re going to pull this one off!” Maybe you call in reinforcements, maybe you beg for an extension or just take one (“I set the deadline, so I can change it”), or maybe you relive your college days and pull and all-nighter.

Is that your deadline passing?

This is the point where you expect me to offer some words of wisdom. Give you ideas on how to be more efficient or do better planning. Ah, yeah, sorry…if that’s what you’re looking for you are looking in the wrong place. There are lots of websites and blogs and web articles that will give you ideas on how to get organized, productive and efficient. Perhaps you’re a regular visitor to these sites.

Nah, I’m not here to tell you how do better. I’m here to tell you, sometimes, it happens. Life happens to the best of us. We get behind. We have panic attacks when we realize that whooshing sound is the deadline racing past. It happens. If it happens all the time, you may want to start checking out those links up there. If it happens once and a while…the universe conspires against you to get in your way and prevent you from getting something done…then do you’re best to fix it and move on. Sometimes it’s how we handle the not so good stuff that sets us apart from others, not how well we handle the good stuff.

So I for one am willing to say to you, “If you’ve done the best you can, then that’s the best you could have done.” Don’t kick yourself too hard. Take a breath (eat some chocolate if you’ve got it) and get back in there.

I would love to hear from you about deadlines you’ve missed and how you “fixed” the situation. You’ve got to have some good stories out there….Let’s hear them!