As many of you know, I have been digging deep into the world of freelance. Primarily this is due to where I am right now and the income/skill opportunities that have come up within the past few months. As students in the Media Arts program, you get your first taste (unless you have a past in business) in Business Practices. In the class, you cover different types of work, contracts, and important forms to have when meeting clients. These are great things to get you started. But that is just it, the class is a starter kit for much more. Hence, I am in that “much more” category.

This need for more information and insight is how I met Chris Elliott. She was referred to me by Teresa. Chris is a delightful professional freelancer in multimedia with an impressive background (which is rather important to have) that provided her the foundation to start her own business, called Elliott Image. When Chris started working, she began in the restaurant business. Her responsibilities ranged from traveling to hiring managers. That, I thought, is quite a significant jump from multimedia. On her website, she stated that one word, however, had changed her life (these are my own words-not hers). I became greatly intrigued. When I asked her more about this, she said that after she started a family, she had wanted to return to school, but did not know what to pursue. When she went into U of O, she looked in a catalog and saw “Advertising.” You could now say that the rest is history, but there is so much more to tell. Anyway, what drew her to advertising was that, hopefully like many of us in the graphic design/multimedia programs, she wanted to do something that enabled her to be creative while also using strategical and analytical skills at the same time. Creative problem-solving-that is what we do.

This next question was geared towards whether Chris’s professional knowledge came mostly from her experience working for an ad agency (she was hired on after graduating) or research. Since I don’t have the solid background of prior experience, I have been wondering if I can make it still being a fish only swimming in the shallows, grasping at info-tidbits when I can understand them. Chris replied that most of her knowledge did indeed come straight off the job (again, in my paraphrase). While her restaurant experience gave her the ability to communicate with businesses (a HUGE plus being both a designer and a freelancer), she learned about doing creative work with television and radio and how to build campaigns for those creatives. But she learned the most while working at a tv station. It was here that she found herself doing more than what her education provided her with. And she succeeded to the point of becoming manager. This is where she did audio/video to help promote the tv station, worked with both small and large businesses, and software research (more for her know-how, but her research came in handy).

Hands-down, while you in are studying at Lane, either in the arts or not, you have either been asked, or pondering still, or already know what you want to do after graduating. For some of you, it may to work with an employer, others-freelance. So I asked Chris about when she knew that starting her own business was the right move. She replied that it has been a desire of hers for a long time. For the last 4 years of her 18-year employment with the tv station, the thought of starting out on her own was much heavier. I am used to hearing of freelancers being successful, but not so much when they were in a good position at their employers. Chris was scared and, despite her professional experience, still insecure. However, she has made a very successful business. Taking risks-that is definitely a trait of a freelancer. If you are not a risk taker, then being a freelancer may not be the right career move for you. Yet again, if you want to be moved out of your comfort zone and like making your own schedule, then it might be worth considering. When it came to resources, Chris said that it did not take much, such as equipment. I then asked about the business side since my research has not been super successful. Chris was very helpful in telling me that Commerce (I think) offers free consulting for small businesses or online research. Chris did need to research insurances a bit as there are a few different kinds to consider when taking your business startup to the next level.

If you are wondering what a multimedia freelancer’s day typically looks like, I did ask Chris. One of the perks of course is making your own schedule-that includes the ability to sleep-in or not. Overall though, she does a variety of tasks, especially those related most to multimedia. These tasks range from writing (she writes scripts and creates concepts), doing post-production, and photography. She did say though that 75% of her time goes to the computer.
Due to the variety of jobs she has and their varying complexity/priority, I was curious about her means of balancing it all. Her remedy? Lists. She said that lists help you keep current with projects. Sometimes those lists are categorized by the time frame of the project, sometimes it’s by type of job. As a freelancer, you could choose what you do during the day. Chris also uses a calendar as well to track information such as mileage (you may be needing to travel) and client work. I should say right now that if you are considering freelance, you need to be go-getter. As part of your job (maybe a large part of it) is going to go to self-marketing.

What about pay? This topic is tough and every freelancer I have talked to has a slightly different reply. Chris has a plan, though this part of her work is still challenging. Because she knows her skills, her capabilities, and resources, plus has an excellent work ethic (this is also HUGE), she treats each job with its own price. I have heard this from other designers too. She has a flat rate, but it varies. I currently have an hourly rate, but unlike Chris, I am starting right out of school. So my rate is also a lot cheaper. Even when bidding for projects, she provides a safety net within her budgeted price and never exceeds it. When considering how you’ll charge people for your work, be real about this. And really know yourself so that you charge what is fair for you, but also for the potential client.

I also inquired about industry competitors. This is a decision I am facing, and I am sure you will too. Chris’s approach (so that you maintain professionalism in everything) is to purposefully change gears. The people who work with Chris know that she is highly ethical and will not give out information. She literally changes ‘hats’ between jobs and solely forces herself to focus on that one job. As she said, “there’s always enough room for everyone to play in the sand.”

What about interns? She has worked with them before. However, she is not taking any right now. She loves providing them experience and understands the value of on-the-job-learning aspect of internships. So I asked her about an ideal intern. Her reply? Passionate and excited! Excited about learning and is energetic. That is contagious for lots of creative fun. So I asked her her advice for recent graduates. One of the bigger positives of getting employed after graduating is that you get to know a lot of people. That networking is very important, and could be helpful when freelancing.

Chris was incredibly insightful and really fun to meet. If you want to learn more, visit her website: www.elliotimage.com.

Image provided by: Verena Yunita Yapi from Unsplash.com

By: Maurissa Keller

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a field trip to Imagination International. My first impression of this nifty warehouse, was the large mythical blue creature painted upon the  side wall where I parked. As we approached the building, more murals wrapped around each side calling to my attention and pulling me in. However, what I found inside was much more magnificent. To my disbelief, sat before me the creator of the beautiful creature on the side of the building, framed by her very own brilliant creations, and inspirations. Still knowing so little about the adorable woman and her dog behind her desk, I couldn’t stop thinking about her and her work. Leaving Imagination International I promised myself I would go back in that office again someday, somehow. Little did I know a little over a week later I would have the opportunity to sit down one on one with this lovely lady, Terryl Whitlatch in her office.

What was intended to be an hour of interview time, resulted in almost an hour and forty minutes of beautiful stories. If you don’t already know who this highly sought after conceptual artist, professional animal designer, etc. is, then let me tell you some things I find quite interesting about her. Terryl Whitlatch was born in the 60’s, strongly influenced by her parents and their skill sets. She grew up on a ranch where she was surrounded by horses, nature, and animals. In high school Terryl stumbled upon a man who came to talk to her science class from a university. This man became a huge impact on Terryl as an inspiration and a mentor. He helped her decide that she wanted to study Zoology at Sonoma State University, and later pursued her college career at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

To receive a bachelors in Fine Arts Terryl was required to do a personal art show. After her pieces were hung she received a message from LucasFilms, launching the beginning of her successful career. Her very first project with LucasFilms was Star Wars episode 1. She later worked for LTD, Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Imagineering, Electronic Arts, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Miramax, PDI, Pixar, and currently Imagination International. She also has several published books, among which she says “The Katurran Odyssey” is her baby. Not only does she share her work visually, she also speaks at art conferences and is an instructor on animal design in both workshops, and online.

After over 25 years in the business Terryl is one of the most successful artists of her kind. She has taken part in the creations of Star wars, Polar Express, Brave, Jumanji 1 & 2, Men In Black, Dragon Heart, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Curious George, Zafari, Beowulf, Brother Bear, and many other works of art. I asked her what her favorite project was, and she mentioned Brother Bear because of the connections she made. I found this especially moving as Brother Bear is my favorite movie, which I was honored to share with her. A few other interesting things about her, were her sense of humor, soft welcoming aura, adorable greyhound, and sense of engagement. She spoke very soft and lightly, and shared with me that she loved the Adam’s family, which in my opinion made a lot of sense. She has a sense dark humor that she finds intriguing, and utilizes in her work. With her greyhound by her side named Sweet Josette, surrounded by her throne of endless art supplies, is this lovely little lady whom I find so captivating.

To finish off with our short time together, I asked her what advice she might have for a young aspiring artist just starting college. She advised to learn from my mistakes, and to be original. I shared with her that in my art class we were learning to follow through with our work even if we made a mistake to learn from it and move on, to which she replied my art teacher is teaching me right. At the end of our interview I even had the opportunity to watch her draw a quick character. Within moments she had an anatomically accurate adorable creature drawn out. This experience by far was one of the highlights of not only this term but of my life.

Everyone dreams of going to Hollywood and making it big at one point in their lives. It’s hard not to; seeing stars on silver screens and directors accepting trophies at awards ceremonies, it all looks very lavish. But behind the glamour and opulence there is a level of hard work and determination that would deter any slacker. “My end goal is to be a showrunner of scripted television… I want to create the story, write the pilot script, sell the concept, and run the writer’s room and the entire show.” That’s Andrew Daily, a production manager down in Los Angeles. If you were to look at the film industry as a well oiled machine, a production manager would be the one that makes sure it stays well oiled. Daily is responsible for making sure things like the catering and hiring of production assistants all goes well. “So that’s very difficult to get into. There’s probably only less than three hundred of those jobs in the world.” That’s a pretty staggering number when  you consider that, according to the Bureau of Labor, there are just under 400,000 people working in the film industry. That means that only around 0.08% of the people that work in the film industry work as showrunners. So how does one get such a job? “The typical route that people go through is through becoming a writer’s assistant and then a writer and then, you know, producing writer, and so on moving up to the writing side, but I’m actually going a different route…” He was. When Daily made the decision to move to LA, he didn’t know anyone there. He was diving in headfirst, and he wasn’t sure if he was headed for water or asphalt. Luckily, his old youth pastor had a connection in the industry, his sister was the VP of Sony Pictures, Leah Weil. The pastor set Daily up with a meeting in which Weil showed him the studio, walked on the set of the popular show, Ray Donovan, all the while they talked about his skills. By the end of the meeting, Weil had set Daily up with a job as an art production assistant, and since then he’s worked in almost every avenue of the film industry, from producer to floral arrangement. “From there, you know, I just impressed the right people, and it eventually led to work, but I only probably work fifty days out of my first year in LA.” That threw me off. Here was an experienced and well connected industry professional that only managed to find work fifty days out of the year. “I wasn’t interested in making friends and partying and messing around. I was interested in ‘Alright, let’s work, let’s grind, move up cause you’re too old to be a PA forever.’ You know?”  Time was, of course, growing short and I decided it was time to bring the interview to a close, so I asked Andrew to provide some tips for students looking to get into the industry. “My number one tip is just save money in advance, because like I said I only worked fifty days out of the year. I was fortunate to have that connection, but you might be surprised by who you know, like a friend of a friend that might lead to a job, but when you start out you have to do a lot of free work and you have to be available, because you’re gonna get a call and they’ll be like ‘Hey we need you tomorrow to come in.’ and you have to be able to be able to say yes in order to meet the right people. I was fortunate enough where I flipped a house, and I had a bunch of money saved up to where I could commit a year to not having to work consistently, but you have to move to LA. You have to meet people, and you will, you know? There’s always someone in film or TV who can be an in for you, because when I’m hiring PA’s I ask my good PA’s ‘Hey, do you know any friends that want work?… You have to be in LA, talking to people communicating your interest, and something will come up.” Becoming a part of the industry is, by all means, equal part hard work and pure luck. Your entire career could ride on whether or not that friend of a friend thinks of you when they’re hiring for their project. So keep an eye out, and your ears to the ground, because that opportunity could be right around the corner, or right under your nose.

For the X-4 assignment, I interviewed by phone Kyle Seidlitz a web master for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. The interview was short because of his work. (5 min long) I asked him about his education and how it effects his calling within the church as a webmaster. Kyle responded by saying, “Having a college degree in web authoring and computer science helps as well.”

I asked him what does he do on the church’s website and how long does it take him to accomplish his work he does every day/every other day. Kyle said, “I help maintain the website with other web masters from different wards and aids with online tithing and processing it for the church.”(There is a lot).

The third question I asked him was “how does a web master help the church other than online tithing offerings?” He responded by saying,” I help maintain the site as well as post talks/information and dates/locations of events the church is holding.”

The last question I had was how does media play a role in the within the church? Kyle stated that he was short on time but he answered the question. He said, “It helps to get information about who we are as well as cover a wide array of topics ranging from basic scripture study to the path on becoming a member and staff directory. Media also spans beyond the internet. There is television and radio which is used for trying to reach people and get them to come to church. If people have questions they can refer to the site or set up an appointment with the missionaries to have some questions or they can come on Sunday and talk with the bishop after the service. God bless.”

In my experience with media/computers (personal/LCC) setting up and maintaining websites takes a lot of work when done by hand. Nowadays there are sites that will allow you to build it much easier than hand coding HTML/CSS/JavaScripting which can take weeks if not more plus the education on what and how to write is enough give a person not versed in computer language a whopper of a headache.

In summary education in computers seems to be a large portion of a lot of media and other subjects. Attending the Sunday service and talking with Kyle allowed me to have a different perspective for webmasters by asking questions I myself, wanted to know. However due to a short time talking I could not get all my questions answered within the allotted timeframe. Thirst for learning a complex subject takes time, dedication and faith in all you do and all you interact with is all you need to succeed. I also learned now in the age of technology churches are using media across multiple platforms to reach everyone and every age etc.….

Media impacts a lot of what we do today as well as influence target groups that the media is meant for across most platforms that are needed to reach the target audience.

For the X-4 assignment, I interviewed by phone Kyle Seidlitz a web master for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. The interview was short because of his work. (5 min long) I asked him about his education and how it effects his calling within the church as a webmaster. Kyle responded by saying, “Having a college degree in web authoring and computer science helps as well.”

I asked him what does he do on the church’s website and how long does it take him to accomplish his work he does every day/every other day. Kyle said, “I help maintain the website with other web masters from different wards and aids with online tithing and processing it for the church.”(There is a lot).

The third question I asked him was “how does a web master help the church other than online tithing offerings?” He responded by saying,” I help maintain the site as well as post talks/information and dates/locations of events the church is holding.”

The last question I had was how does media play a role in the within the church? Kyle stated that he was short on time but he answered the question. He said, “It helps to get information about who we are as well as cover a wide array of topics ranging from basic scripture study to the path on becoming a member and staff directory. Media also spans beyond the internet. There is television and radio which is used for trying to reach people and get them to come to church. If people have questions they can refer to the site or set up an appointment with the missionaries to have some questions or they can come on Sunday and talk with the bishop after the service. God bless.”

In my experience with media/computers (personal/LCC) setting up and maintaining websites takes a lot of work when done by hand. Nowadays there are sites that will allow you to build it much easier than hand coding HTML/CSS/JavaScripting which can take weeks if not more plus the education on what and how to write is enough give a person not versed in computer language a whopper of a headache.

In summary education in computers seems to be a large portion of a lot of media and other subjects. Attending the Sunday service and talking with Kyle allowed me to have a different perspective for webmasters by asking questions I myself, wanted to know. However due to a short time talking I could not get all my questions answered within the allotted timeframe. Thirst for learning a complex subject takes time, dedication and faith in all you do and all you interact with is all you need to succeed. I also learned now in the age of technology churches are using media across multiple platforms to reach everyone and every age etc.….

Media impacts a lot of what we do today as well as influence target groups that the media is meant for across most platforms that are needed to reach the target audience.

This is an article based on the interview with Heather McBride-Anders, story writer, director, and producer of the psycho-thriller film, “In Her Blood”. that premiered at Lane Community College (LCC) Ragozzino Performance Hall on November 3rd, 2017. The idea for this interview is to show aspiring filmmakers part of the process of filmmaking through Heather’s experience with In Her Blood.

It was a labor of love that she first began at a continuing ed screenwriting class at LCC about 10 years ago. At yhr time Heather was going through a separation she and was able to put her focus into writing, the story that came out eventually became “In Her Blood” is partially based off of her life and mostly fiction. Several years later and after submitting her finished screenplay in for a contest in Hollywood, Heather was contacted by Danny Mannis, who wrote the movie iFrankenstein. Mannis consulted her on her screenplay and Heather used this advice to make some edits, finalized the screenplay and resolved that she would make it into a film.

With this screenplay and being in charge of producing and directing the film, Heather was able to achieve some crowdfunding and then used her own money to fund a majority of the film. Next step, find a cast and crew! Heather went to Lane Community College to meet with Teresa Hughes, professor in the Media Arts program to ask her if there were any students looking for internship opportunities.  Three of the LCC interning crew were Rich Robison, Alan R. Thompson and Jeffrey King Osborns who did numerous jobs including cinematography, set design, prop creation and more. “There is a certain amount of giftedness in that group of those 3 guys, their synergy, you know. So I think I accidentally landed upon some genius.” Overall the film took 5 months, 14 actors, and 23 locations and don’t forget crew (for which I don’t have a figure). The main location for the film, an old 1888 victorian home called the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House was lent by its board for free, for over a month for filming. This house is a tourist attraction in Eugene OR. “The place had some pretty freaky energy”, said Heather. Making it the perfect place for a film setting such as this. Another location used during the shoot that has an interesting back story was a fraternity house on Alder Street called the Lorax Manor. This place was perfect, there was a basement there that already had meat hooks attached to the ceiling, a cage, old dirty mattresses, tools were strewn about the room everywhere and there was a pool table in there that looked like it was about a hundred years old. The set design was basically already done for them, so Heather saw the perfect mess and said, “Alan, go in there and make the set!”. He fixed it up perfectly for a lovely day of shooting film. You’ll know the scene when you’ve seen it.

Heather McBride-Anders projects energy and pride when talking about the film and especially when talking about her team she spent over 6 months with while making the film. From start to finish creating a movie was not without their fair share of struggle. Heather shares that writing can be long and agonizing. “It took 10 years and you get really attached to the writing and you don’t know if it is good enough.” The post production process also turned out to take much longer for unexpected reasons, but she comments, “Working with a crew is so tiring but it is like being on a high from morning to night. When you get a shot, people would be celebrating and then, “move on!” Energy and ideas happened.” Heather goes on to explain that there was the occasional clash of egos that happened on set that had to do with creative decisions. “…but you have to have a little bit of ego starting out to survive the constant onslaught of people’s opinions and if you don’t stay true to yourself then you lose your art.” This is good advice for someone starting out, stay open to the ideas of your team and also stay true to your ideas because there will always be varying opinions.

What I really like about Heather is that she used the internet to learn to do anything that she didn’t know how to do, she learned to make things. One of the challenges was learning how to make realistic bodies for a scene in the movie. Instead she found an easy method to make heads in jars for a scene instead of complete bodies while browsing the popular website, Pinterest. Alan Thompson did the work to bring these heads to life. Heather’s advice to filmmakers starting out is to “Leave your mind open and start exploring on the internet!” She has reroofed her house and fixed a fridge and more from tutorials online. Much of the knowledge she used to learn to make to make this movie a reality came from online resources as well. Some sites she mentioned specifically were YouTube, Pinterest, and frugalfilmmaker.com.

Heather’s biggest takeaway lesson from producing “In Her Blood” was regarding sound. As a filmmaker you may have heard about the importance of quality sound, I certainly have but we can benefit from hearing it from a first-hand account. Heather tells us that she was so focused on the filming and video aspects of the film that the focus on audio was minimized, so the postproduction process was extended for about 2 months. Here’s her specific advice regarding managing your sound production process:

1. Test audio ahead of time.
2. Use external audio.
3. Always sync your audio with video at the end of the day.
4. Don’t start editing your video until your audio is synced with the video.
5. Use either Mac or PC to do your edits on since these two platforms don’t “talk” with eachother easily or well.

Jumping into a film project is going to be a rewarding and challenging process! Trust your gut and your creative capabilities, get help and work with people and use your resources to your advantage, there is tons of help out there waiting for you online and through organizations such as Lane Community College and other people willing to help you for cheap or free such as the board of the Shelton McMurphy Johnson House. My hope is that this article enlighted you to some of the rewards and challenges of being a first time filmmaker.

Thanks for reading!

By Daniel Martinez

http://www.lauraelaynemiller.com/#/reading-a-wave/

Reading A Wave is a body of work inspired by Italo Calvino’s novella Mr. Palomar as simply said as Laura herself states on her website. It began with a film and described the impossibility of isolation. If you want to watch the film you can find that as well on her website above. After the film there was a dance performance with extended smooth movement such as a wave is. In the background there is also an art piece that hangs in Building 10, Art Project Area 105. The free exhibit event was held on Friday, November 10, 2017, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Now let’s dive deeper into experiencing this body of work. I personally found it intriguing because I definitely haven’t seen anything else like it before. But as an overall experience, I would give it B. I feel like this kind of work has a super hard target audience because of the different medias she uses. Even though her piece included a film, dancing routine, and gallery art I think it went well together and achieved their purpose in the exhibit. This isn’t the artist’s fault but at the event it was a different kind of seating arrangement and some people had to stand. Now I know what you’re thinking, you think that I’m about to say that I was glad to get a seat because I went a few minute early. This is where I let you know that I sadly didn’t get a seat and had to stand for the entire performance. I feel that a larger gallery with more room for seating might be a better fit for this kind of exhibit but I don’t want to complain about a free event.

I am glad to let you know that the event wasn’t all negative. In fact, most of it was positive and everyone around me seemed to be enjoying their time. After the dance performance was finished people were allowed to roam the gallery and talk with others with a food table. This is the part where you are thinking that I enjoyed some food and talk with other people. To your dismay, I had eaten dinner before going to the event but I did in fact see a few faces that I recognized. This is where this sort of exhibit is positive, it allows you to think and socialize with others around you. It creates a sense of community and trust in others.

This body of work did impact me in the end with inspiration; that is the inspiration to do what you enjoy doing and to be able to share it with others. Because when it comes down to the end of it all that moment of isolation is the birth of a new idea that inspires new ideas. Laura became inspired by a writing and she has inspired me to inspire others. I could tell Laura had put everything she could into her body of work because that is what she enjoys to do. And this is the sort of thing I like to see around me. It is like moral that keeps giving you the motivation to do something. If you asked me if going to an event like this is a good idea my answer would be yes. Here’s why, you should never be afraid to try and experience something new and different because you never know what may inspire you in the end to do what you enjoy in life.

I interviewed Lisa Godare from Freeflow Digital. She is a Drupal Developer. More specifically she is essentially a lead developer. She works with their clients to find out what it is the client is looking for and then sets up estimates on how long the project will take for them. She then assigns work to team members.

Lisa told me of how when she was in the process of being hired she likely would not have been hired due to a lack of experience in what they were looking for. What caught Freeflow Digital’s eye is that she had a specific certification. She had the Acquia certified Drupal developer certification. That is something that is really hard to obtain unless you know what it is you are doing. I asked her how important that certification is. She first said that it used to not be important because it used to not even be a thing. At the time of her acquiring the certification it had only existed for about six months. The person going through the resumes knew how hard it is for someone to obtain the certification. All because of that he went to the CTO and said that they needed to interview her. She got hired because of a skill she just happened to learn along the way of her career.

Lisa says that individual technology skills can be, and usually are, better than an actual degree. It helps to have a degree. It ties all the skills you might have together. She also says that it can be a big help to have a degree when you don’t have any real experience. Lisa then goes on to note that when she was my age there weren’t any degree’s out there in her field and everyone had to learn on their own.

Freeflow Digital exclusively takes clients that are non-profit organizations. Sometimes they take on government agencies. Often times their websites are developed towards fundraising. However, their sole focus is not building sites for fundraising. No matter who their client ends up being they always make sure that they agree with their cause. In addition to that, when choosing a client they make sure that the client would even be able to afford their services. The work that Freeflow Digital does is really expensive.

Lisa never specifically said this, but I have inferred that as you get your name out there you really get to pick and choose your clients. You have the ability to only take on clients that you want to take on. That is something to look forward to as a beginning artist.

A lot of the websites that Lisa has worked on has been building them from the ground up. As far as designing them the client often already has an old site with design ideas they want to keep. Lisa and her co-workers are then tasked with building a new site using their tools to build something similar and more to their liking. Many of their clients are what she calls retainer clients. They have already come to Freeflow Digital and have already gotten a new site from them. The retainer clients are the websites that get updated from what Freeflow Digital already created.

One of the pieces of advice that Lisa gives is to make sure you are in a company culture that you like. For her and many of her co-workers, they get to work from home 100% of the time, and they love that. She loves the environment that her and her co-workers have created.

Another piece of advice that Lisa gives is to get a GitHub account and to post code samples there. That shows that you can do the job even if you don’t have any professional experiences. Being able to show that you can do the job is hands down the most important thing when searching for a job. As far as web programming goes GitHub is the best way to do that. Fill it up with stuff that you’ve done even if it doesn’t seem relevant. She goes on to say that this is important for any job in the media world. Have a portfolio that employers can look at.

Lisa’s final piece of advice is to network with people. For her specific Drupal certification there are Drupal meetups that happen frequently in most big cities. Networking is a great way to learn new things about the field you are in. For her job networking is really important and she goes on to say that it can even be more important than having a nice resume.

By: Tevin Goddard

The event I attended was the called “The High school Yearbook Project” by Evan Baden. The event was held in the art gallery in building 11. The event lasted from 4:00pm to about 5:00pm. The event was held on a Tuesday November the 14th. Evan Baden is a professor at OSU and has had a great career in photography. He showed of three of his projects and the technology he used. The first project was people on their cellular devices. The photos were only lit by the projection of light coming from the phone. These photos were took when the very first Iphone came out. He wanted to show how everyone has access to the internet and how that consumes you and pushes the rest of the world away. The second project was about the act of sexting. In this project he wanted to show how the media affects youth and how the media portrays sexuality in youth. The portraits showed naked or near naked models in the everyday lived in room. He stated that he had to tell people not to clean or touch anything in the room they were using for a week to get the genuine, visually looking room he was going for. The third project was the one on display. “The High school Yearbook Project”. The prints were blown up to life size and some were even bigger. These photos were of high school students with very great use of lighting. the colors on the photos were bright and interesting grabbing the viewers eye right away. The camera and tech he used was extremely interesting. He used a old film camera with a digital camera attachment with all the digital hardware attached. The camera only allowed him take small portrait sized pictures. So he would capture a photo of the subjects feet and legs then he would take multiple pictures of the upper half of the subject in different poses. Then he would capture the background in segments. Once he has all the shots he photoshops them into one composition. The artist talk was very fascinating. I gained a lot of information and sparked my interest more in photography. Being in a photography class and seeing the show, showed me that no matter your skills and interests are there is always room for improvement. Photography is not my strongest skill in media arts, but the more knowledge the better being in all these classes will all intertwine with each other and combine into your own skill set. I learned how important lighting is to take a good portrait photograph. The show makes me want to go out and photograph everything and try to master the craft. Photography and camera skills will help later on down the road. Especially in film and how to use the tech to portray the best story. What I gained from this is that now matter how good you think you are at something, never think you’re the best. Allows push yourself to learn new things and find out what you’re good at and what interests you.

http://pipeworks.com/

For my  informational interview  I decided to go with game developers pipeworks studios! this company has been located downtown eugene since 1999 and has worked on, developed and been involved with some pretty well known video game titles!

I managed to get an over the phone interview will  lead developer PETER KING that was pretty cool and informative. I had a few questions written down  and will give you his response to them (in a nutshell) in a Q and A format.

Q: how do you go about choosing the next project to work on?

A: It’s normally a business decision between two company’s, a publisher like Microsoft might reach out to developers and pay them for there time or for a certain task like converting controls to different consoles or starting and finishing an entire project. which is great for us because we have a clear picture a to b  of what we need to do and when. compared to us creating  a game where it’s out time and our money on the line.

Q: How often does the tech/software change and where do you think its heading?

A: Alot! Almost yearly we have some new software to learn about and with new consoles coming out we always have something new to learn. This is cool because things never get stale and the job doesn’t get repetitive as easily. Basically every month we take time to catch up on new technologies.

Q: How do you feel about ” pay to play” games

A: referring to downloadable content at a price for free games I feel its up to the user how to spend their money. we have a poker game that’s free to play but you can pay for additional  content. most people rationalize about there spending habits especially when it comes to entertainment. paying 1 dollar for something small like this isn’t much different then renting a movie. It has been an upward trend lately and i don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Q: Whats the hardest part about finishing up a project?

A: The final collaboration between departments and debugging the programs to ensure a clean product can take some time. everyone enjoys working on there craft but is looking forward to completion. If we are working for a client sometimes there is disapproval of the final project in a certain area and going back to fix that for them can be tedious. but in both situations ( working for a client or creating a project)  sometimes getting started can be more difficult then finishing.

Q:What credentials do you look for in new hires in development?

A: For development in general its really about the portfolio. we look at what kind of schooling you did and previous work experience but for the most part its the level of art skill you have and a demonstration of what you can create and if your a good fit for the position (easy to work with availability etc.)  Our engineering  dept. on the other hand is the opposite, they deal with server issues and the software we use. Technical Engineers are in high demand, normally someone with that skill set we will welcome with open arms at any opportunity.

Q: What different teams make up Pipeworks?

A: Our developers are the artistic talent. they create how the characters, environment and other visuals like text/interface look and work together. Our design crew has a senior and Jr. department that makes decisions based on the software and gives information at the beginning and the end of a project like the original treatment and final look. Engineering  deals with the back end of set up and technical support with servers both our own facility’s and for when the game is launched to the public. Our production team  also has a senior and jr. department  that is tasked with debugging  the game and over all quality of the finished product.

Q: Whats your favorite game that pipeworks has created and your favorite type of game in general?

A: Terreria and our poker game is the most fun for me personally but since that’s my day job, games I enjoy  are adventure games like uncharted and currently I am setting up a virtual reality head set and cant wait to see what that has to offer.

END

Afterwards I thanked  him for his time and told him that it was cool  that so many creative company’s can be found in our relatively small town.  He agreed and said that he loves to hire local and rarely has to search else ware for a specific individual.

Overall  I really enjoyed the interview and learned a fair bit about what goes on behind the scenes. Its a great reminder that if you want to learn more about something you can go further then just google. most professional company’s get requests for interviews or field trips on the regular and our more then happy to answer any questions you may have. I recommend  learning as much as you can about what interest you have!

Thank you for reading!

Cliff Service-