JOURNAL: Amizadai (Lee Amizadai )

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  • I must stop this particular rant... but.... 2002-01-16 14:25:39 Thanks for the sympathy and the offer of beer, EK.

    Mmm... beer.

    Now that you got me thinking about it, I'm REALLY craving a beer. But it's 3 am, and my house is devoid of alcohol.

    No, I don't get emails from people asking me to do $20 editing jobs, but I do encounter people who think that editing is FUN! and RIDICULOUSLY EASY! They don't realise that even though they see us working only on their wedding day, we spend an average of two weeks going through all their footage, digitising it, scanning their photos, editing their video... we watch and re-watch their videos until we've memorised every single sound bite, every single nuance of every single gesture in every single scene, every single sequin in every single gown the bride wears.... and worse of all, every single syllable in the song we use in the music video. Have you tried listening to Barbara Streisand and Bryan Adams warble "I've Finally Found Someone" over and over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER....

    And they expect 15 minute music videos.

    I tell them that it doesn't work that way. A quality music video is A LOT of work. And it's alot longer than it seems. "It's like having to coming up with a 5 minute speech," I tell them. 5 minutes may seem like a short time, but just wait until you've got to fill empty air for that period.

    I also tell them a rather interesting titbit I learnt somewhere... every 1 second of film you see on the big screen takes about 800 man-hours to produce. That's pre-production, production, post-production, marketing, promotions... Scary isn't it?

    I'm sure AMV creators know something fo what I am talking about... a 4 minute video can take weeks or even MONTHS to produce... unless of course it's one of those random action scenes thrown together to a song by whoever's the most popular artist at the time.

    Hm. Two journal entries in an hour. I must be really angsty.
     
  • "We will rape Singapore with bad video!" ~ The Boyfriend 2002-01-16 13:24:18 I am in serious need of some Linkin Park.

    Insert MD.

    Play.

    Right. Am now ready for angsty journal rant.

    I just came home from a really disappointing meeting with a potential client.

    I work part-time as a wedding videographer/editor with the boyfriend, and prior to this meeting with this soon-to-be-wed couple, we were under the impression that they were willing to pay for quality.

    One of the videos to be done is quite special... it involves documenting their love story through interviews, some re-enactment (using their younger cousins), photos... and I even had ideas to put in animations with After Effects; in short, quality work, the kind that I would be insanely proud of. In our pitch, we proposed many features, gave lots and lots of personalised service, and worked ourselves into a fine state of excitement over it.

    The couple was enthusiastic and totally with us... they seemed really happy that someone was willing to produce the video.

    Then we find out that they had a very minimal budget for the video aspect of their wedding because it was a last minute addition to their plans.

    And so started the painful, soul-ripping process of compromising and discounting. I must admit, we did quote a rather high price in the beginning, but only because we were expecting some bargaining. (It's the Singapore way.)

    I KNOW we do quality work. We really work ouselves to the bone - we provide TWO videographers to capture the events so we DEFINITELY have good shots to incorporate. In our music videos, we edit to the beat, we meet audio cues, we DO NOT incorporate half the possible 3D transitions in Premiere's plugins folder... darn it, we make good wedding music videos!

    After the meeting, on our way home on the train, I tell my boyfriend that maybe we shouldn't put SO MUCH effort if nobody can tell the difference. Or at least, we HAVE to offer the choice of a half-past-six video package for people who can't, or don't see the point of paying for quality. My boyfriend agreed. And that's when he came up with the statement in today's journal title.

    It seems that nobody can tell the difference between good/bad footage, or good/bad editing. So why put in $5 worth of effort for a job people are only willing to pay 50 cents for?

    Problem is, I'm a perfectionist. I refuse to deliver a project unless I think it's absolutely the best it can be. Which is probably why I keep missing deadlines. I spend more on a project than it's worth.

    Wait. I must replay Linkin Park.

    So anyway, in the end, we quoted a ridiculously low price because we wanted to do the cool video. We promised we would not skimp on quality. I know I won't. I don't think I could even if I wanted to. I'm the kind who WILL to make sure the product is worth the all time and effort I put in, to heck with the money involved. Which is BAD. VERY BAD. It means I end up saying things like, "Look, I've already spent two weeks working day and night and not sleeping or eating and obsessing over this video, so I might as well spend another two weeks on it, alright?!?! I don't care if it's they're only paying us $20!!!"

    Now I find myself coming to terms with this situation by vowing that I'll do such a FANTASTIC job (if they give us the job), that they'll KNOW they're underpaying us!! Muahahah!

    ...

    What happens after that, I... I lack the imagination to say.

    Sigh.

    I need rich AND imaginative clients.  
  • This is your brain before AMVs. 2002-01-15 12:31:02 I hate Microsoft XP. Die XP, DIE!

    I am so tired of not having my sound card working. It's like being deaf, or trying to hear underwater... I need my MP3s. I need to watch trailers. I need to watch anime. I need to watch my AMVs.

    In desperation, I downloaded a couple of AMVs from Doki Doki Productions, and tried to watch them without sound. My reasoning was that maybe I would pay more attention to the visual editing if I weren't distracted by the music.

    It didn't work. Worse, I got so angsty I couldn't work on my webpage job. I don't need the sound card while using Dreamweaver, but I was just so acutely aware of the absence of the sound card and my sad inability to watch AMVs that I couldn't concentrate.

    This is not good. AMVs are addictive.

    C'mon, man, gimme a fix, just one fix, that's all, isn't much to ask, issit, just one fix... *twitch twitch twitch* 
  • I play dead, it stops the hurting. ~ Bjork 2002-01-14 23:51:04 After a WHOLE week without music because:
    a) Windows XP hates my audio drivers
    b) I left my CD/MD compo back in Australia
    c) there isn't a hifi in the house that will play MDs,
    I suddenly figured that I could listen to my MD collection if I hooked up my computer speakers to my portable MD player.

    I feel such a doofus for not thinking of it earlier. I'm now listening to Bjork wailing away.

    Anyway, I read a really cool book a couple of days ago. Actually I read it when I was a kid, but I recently bought a copy at Borders for S$7.93. It's titled "The Lives of Christopher Chant" by Diana Wynne Jones, and she wrote her novels based on the magical Chrestomancy world waaaaaay before the Harry Potter books. It's kinda like Harry Potter, based on a magical world and involves wizards and such, but more complicated, and written less for children.

    I have nothing against the Harry Potter books, and have in fact read and loved all the available books, but I personally think Diana Wynne Jones weaves a better story. Sad thing is, ever since Harry Potter, they've repackaged her books and are now marketing them as Harry Potter substitutes. The covers look all kiddy and colourful, and are placed side by side with the Harry Potter books. I think the people who buy the Chrestomanci novels expecting them to be similar to the Harry Potter books are going to be very surprised... whether pleasantly so or not, I don't know. It depends on who's reading them. If an adult read them, the depth and detail would impress. But parents would not appreciate some of the more macabre parts of the story... the protagonist dies no less than 6 times in the story.

    It's about a kid with 9 lives, who travels to different dimensional worlds and is able to bring back exotic toys from his trips. As a child he does not know he is spirit travelling, and that his ability to bring back physical objects is something almost never heard of despite the fact that magic is common nature to almost everyone in the world he lives in. (Even maids and bootboys do magic.) Unfortunately, it also makes him susceptible to nasty accidents, like having his head bashed in, getting burnt by a dragon and the such, which other more wraith-like spirit-travellers don't have to worry about.

    It's really a fantastic read. I won't give too much away in case anybody wants to go check it out. If you liked the Harry Potter books go check out The Lives of Christopher Chant.

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060298774/qid=1011070157/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_2/102-0356924-8983363

    (Hm, the cover of the Amazon copy looks a lot nicer than the one I bought.)

    Wow. I've just written a 4 para. advert for the book, complete with a call to action. I should get paid for this! 
  • yowch 2002-01-14 13:39:02 I discovered the funniest thing today. My cat Ven has the pinkest paws I've ever seen. I'm talking Barbie doll's convertible pink... I was so amazed I just lay him on his back, grabbed his paws and just stared. He lay there patiently for about two milliseconds, then did a twist and a flip and gave me a good hard swipe with all his claws out before careening out the door.

    He almost opened up a vein on my left foot. Ow. 
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