Meeting people

This morning I went to an event. The Government Video Expo(2011), This is my first meeting people kind of event I have been to. Not filming anything, we went there to check out the small convention, full of awesome people, and great companies. The elevator pitches that we had come up with a few months ago were a great help!
 When it comes to meeting people in a professional environment, you need to overcome any shyness that you normally have, and have a firm greeting and handshake. I've been working on mine personally, and my greeting is weak, but my handshake is great. Not good enough.

"Hi, I'm Amber of double r productions. I am an intern production assistant. I specialize in graphic arts and 3d modeling."
Unfortunately it doesn't come out like that, but it is a work in progress!

People ask about your company! Weather you are an intern or the company owner, you need to know who you are working for and what you do! Things to look into for the future. Keep at it!

Throw your shyness out of the window!

Outside sources

Sometimes when working on a project you need outside sources, knowledge of what you are working on. If it is a tech company generally you wouldn't want to use something like fruit for a logo. But it could be their thing. So studying into the company you are working on is a must!
Also When working on a project and staring at the same screen for how ever long, you need outside eyes to look into your project. plus it is great for them to see the small things you missed!

While working on the marketing picture for the Jam company I needed to get outside eyes to see where I was going too light or too dark, also those little spelling mistakes are so easy for other people to see.

Finding Mojo

So last week I had one good logo idea, and needed to come up with at least 3. I had no mojo to move foreword. It took a little bit of time with some music and alone time in my head with a sketchbook and I was ready to go again! A good nights rest plus some good morale can make everything all better. In graphics you need to have a lot of tricks to get inspiration.
 Also it helped to play with the words, the fonts, and the colors, so not everything looks the same. Just a few more hints on helping out with graphics.

Few weeks behind

Ok, so I am a few weeks behind, Ive missed the last 4 thursdays. And only been here on friday.

I've noticed when you miss work, you need to make it up somehow. Working from home can be difficult if you don't have the right tools. Stable internet access, strong or moderate phone signal, and a place where you can concentrate. I've been trying to work from home and when home is a place full of people and nowhere to be alone, it gets difficult. Possible! But difficult! Especially in graphics. I could put my headphones in all I want to drown out my roommates incessant raving about one thing or another, but it wont make them go away.

Just some things to keep in mind.

everyone has opinions

well last friday i finished a PDF for emails, and honestly it was very unfortunate. But I worked with what I had. Yesterday I had to redo the PDF everything text the first person told me to put in the second person told me to take out! things that I didn't like got worse! And It turned out good in the end. Working with what I had, I like how it ended. Just something to remember, Everyone has their own opinions on a situation, and not all of them are going to be good for other people. If that makes sense.

Then I had more back seat editing. The other girls filmed the Vlog the day I couldn't make it in, and it turned out SO CUTE!! I love what they did with it. For the next project I need some hands on with the avid. Well, A very non busy intern week I've had not much to blog on.

Backseat editing

One thing to know for the future: missing the 7:34a bus means I have to wait until the 7:45a bus which takes an extra 15 minutes to get to destination. So I showed up right on time. Which is late for my usual! Plus the metro stole an extra dollar seventy from me. 
So for future reference, dont miss the bus! 

That aside, today was difficult. The intern team bounced around working on editing with the Avid and making our postcards. Avid is very similar to premiere, things are just in different places. Once you find them its pretty much a downwards roll until the end. Although it wasn't that easy today, because I was watching from another chair. Watching Ilse and Nahielly do it was kind of like being stuck behind a rookie driver. They can do it, but they are still new, and I wanna get out there. I had my turn, and as a team I think it's turing out great! Tomorrow it should be done!! This makes me very excited to see it. Since it was Ilses script, and some of Nahielly and my ideas. It has been an overall great learning experience. 


Working on the postcard ideas has been another journey. Very tedious. While trying to come up with a practical idea, I still need to make it witty. It needs to be simple yet grab attention. The others have come up with GREAT IDEAS! Why can't my ideas be good. D: I had an idea about "To the MOOOON!!!" With the cow on the moon in a spacesuit. And a black and white version of it. Then I put the cow holding up a filmstrip frame with a halo that says "Holy cow!"
Anyhow we are going to have to see how this turns out. Wish me luck!!

Unknown time crunch

Well yesterday I came into the internship early to get started on my list as soon as I could! The list I wrote last week before I missed a day sick. Needless to say my list had gotten longer and longer with the Occupy DC shoot yesterday.
Well as soon as I began to work, Rosemary came in and needed us to work on the script for the Occupy DC video. Before we finished that Claudio came in and needed our lists of 10 Associations(which I thought I had until end of business day to finish). And I still needed to study our book about the Avid system so we could start the editing.
I felt the crunch of not being there everyday of the week. I feel the need to be more than one person to do this, or be there more than twice a week. But then how will I work my retail job to make money? I just need to have more concentration and get things done.
In the end, Ilse typed up the script because it was her vision. And when I got my 10 associations done Nahailley put them all together. This way I got started on my list of things I needed to get done. Like the logos, My friday notes, the post card idea, and a few other things in the middle. Then still leave in time to get to the Metro to make it to my bus on time. Because if I miss the 6:18 bus I cant catch another one until 6:50.

Also I got to see my finished booklet for Rosemarys sisters party. Looks so much cooler than I was expecting. and Rosemary seems very pleased with it! So I am too!
On that note we still have a ton more to work on next week!

Im really glad to be part of this team. I just wish I could add a few more days to the week so I could make myself more useful in it. They are great people and they all do great at what they do! :)

Work it out.

So, I didn't make it into my internship last friday because I was sick. So when I came back yesterday I had a lot of making up to do(I'm still a little behind but I came in early to make up for it). Also there has been an issue with not being able to make the metro fare. Both things I needed to discuss with Rosemary and I worked it out. Yesterday,

Yesterday was a rally in Freedom Plaza(D.C) Occupy Wallstreet or Occupy D.C. The other two interns and I went out to shoot! It was great going to something like this! A few things I learned while doing this are:
A. It is very difficult to shoot in a tight crowd
B. If you get someone to say their name and that it is ok for them to be filmed on camera then it is as good as a release form.
C. Big events, you want a tripod set up for certain things like the stage. But if you cannot get close enough you will get lots of people walking in front of the camera.
D. You need a tripod for interviews but it is difficult to set one up when you are in a crowd. people will trip over it.

Just a few things. We ended up not even being able to set up the tripod! So the camera is very shaky. Sometimes my arms were getting tired. They still feel sore now.

After being pushed and shoved and stepped on, we came back to the office and reviewed the footage. Even though I did the white balance like 3 times in the shoot, it was still very bright. Or very Hot. The sun was high noon when we go there.
 We work great as a team, when there is communication. No one could hear me, and before we left Catherine and Paul both gave Nahaily and I a list of how to do things!
Keep your back to the sun
Have the Interviewer next to the camera not in front of it
Let the Interviewee hold their own microphone(You don't want the arm to be in view of the camera unless its their own arm)

 In the end we worked it out. And now we have to put the script together for our rally and edit it! Today Paul is going to show us how to use Avid.

It can't rain every day!

Thank goodness for a sunny day in DC! For the first time since I started, the sun is out and it hasn't flat out rained all day!
Today we(interns) took the Double R Intern challenge! and while some things were great! Others failed miserably. Like trying to find a DVD in the Tape library! I guess moral of the story is when they ask "Any questions?" You better make sure you understand fully! While it wasn't so bad, it cold have gone a lot smoother if I would have taken notes. Not just take notes when learning things, also when you are just talking. Make mental notes of some of the smallest things! Rosemary said "You will be invaluable to a company, if you learn the company."
 I went to the bank today, feeling uninspired I was rather glad to go to the bank.  I realized inspiration can come in very strange ways. There was a leaf on the sidewalk that much reminded me of a dragon. The clouds were spiraling like a dancer. Giant plastic asparagus makes great signs. Last, birds can cheer up a gloomy day.
Finally, I worked on Rosemary's sisters party planner today, and even though it was too plain for me, she loved it. So it stands true, keep things simple.

What is an Elevator pitch?

What is an elevator pitch you ask. Aside from something I have been very nervous about I forgot to NOT wear a white shirt! An elevator pitch is a 30 second-1 minute sales pitch of yourself or your company. Lets say you get onto an elevator and there in front of you, you see the CEO of the company you have been dreaming about since you were a kid. What do you say to them to make them want you. blow them out of the water!
 In any case, the white shirt totally slipped my mind. Black screen, white shirt... blown out. It didn't turn out so bad. I guess because in school we used Green screens more than anything, then black and white were ok. But because of whites reflective properties it wasn't suggested.
 The three of us(interns) recorded each other giving our elevator pitches, and mine has the most bloopers of them all. but when I finally got it done I feel much better about it! I think If I ran into you in an elevator you would want me to do your videos!
 Double R gave all of us interns the task of writing 2 elevator pitches each. One for yourselves and one for the company! You would think selling yourself wouldnt be so difficult. but really it is. you only have 30 seconds, I dont this CEO cares about your cluster of cats. So think of something you will think of fast!

As far as friday goes, it was quick. Everything flew by and I almost forgot my friday notes! Rosemary reviewed my ideas for the letterhead, and with a little tweaking we settled! My letter head, business card, and T-shirt just might be part of a farming company! How awesome is that?!

Another Rainy day in DC

Well yesterday with most of the team out I worked on Graphics all day. Working on a few ideas for letterheads and business cards for RGG. Wow Can I draw a windmill or what?  Also I learned a few things about the office for todays Double R intern quiz. This Intern quiz is the thing that is going to change me from an intern to a production assistant! Im so Excited!

Also Today Our elevator speeches are due. And I learned they are going to be on camera, I am AWFUL in front of the camera. I hope I don't cheeze it out. I finished both Elevator speeches and now I have to memorize them by lunchtime. I know Im getting myself all worked out for nothing. All I can hear is my Drama teacher Mr. Rosen "You aren't meant for acting. So I wont sign you up for Drama2. But I would love it if you joined my Stagecraft class instead!" In the end I am very glad he did that. Because stagecraft is one of the reasons I wanted to get into working behind the scenes in movies! Also it helped me get my foot into the door for graphic arts. Well Enough procrastinating. On to memorizing my Elevator speech!

Busy Friday!!

I came in at 9am and begun my day right then!! I had to scan the article from the TIVA flyer, I left out the date part of the banner the first time, so I had to redo it! And as soon as I was done with that I was asked to make a new ad for the WIFV booklet!! A half page ad in black and white. They had an old ad I was working off of, but when I saved it all of the fonts reverted back to what they started as! It looked awful now that I look at it. But I sent it to Catherine without looking over it, and she pointed out that it looked just like the first one. So I started looking to make a new one from scratch but it looked awful. When the others came over to look at it I opened the original file and noticed things looked very out of place and the fonts were off. So I straightened things out and put the fonts right, and we even noticed we had enough room for the slogan!! So my ad for Double R will be in the WIFV booklet!! I am SO EXCITED!!

Then as soon as lunch was over Ilse, Nahielly, and I wen out to film our "In the camera" video!! A project where we make a movie with NO EDITING! Not even a rewind and tape over. Ilse and I had worked on the script more refining it, and building the story board while Nahielly was out shooting with Rosemary. So as soon as we got outside and set up the camera we were ready to roll!! We did a few practice tests without the camera on. Other than random strangers walking through the shot it turned out really nice! I think the team will like it! There is a minute and a half or so of the first shot extra. because I thought they were ready and they said they weren't. That was my fault. We learned from there to clarify "ACTION!" when we filmed.

Internship at Double R Productions

So Today was Day 3 of my internship at Double R productions. I go twice a week, and started last week. From day one I was taken into the field on a client meeting! Im working with two other Interns. Two amazing girls, one from Mexico and the other from Belgium. Together we make a great team! A Marketing Intern, a Production Intern, and I am considered a Graphics Intern!!

Although after the first week we are considered Production Assistants! We all know how to use the camera, and do paperwork that goes behind the cameras. Tomorrow(friday the 16t) We are going in the field just the three of us and working on an In the camera presentation. Where we make a movie Completly in the camera! No outside editing! So today Ilse(from Belgium) and I worked on the script and story boarding so we know exactly what we are doing when the time comes tomorrow! Nahally was out shooting a video for the Homeless. So we will all be working on it tomorrow!!