Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Chaos Precedes Transformation

The blog is late because of Melisa Breiner-Sanders. It is 100% her fault that I didn't get it done on time. I encourage you to go to www.melisabs.com, watch her demo reel, and then flood her email with complaints about how her behavior is jeopardizing the production of Women's Studies.

Jim McGivney on the other hand is a rock star. Right now, he's chest deep in the scary world of frame rate conversion, Panasonic's proprietary 24p bullshit, and hard drive space finagling. To boot, He's flying solo on all of this. We unfortunately don't have the resources to get him a proper assistant to help with not only the crazy HD workflow, but also handle all the administrative paperwork as well as the dozens of tiny little things I keep asking of him. Jim's a pro though, so all is good.

I've made it a point not to bother him this week unless absolutely necessary. Oh sure, we BS-ed about Joe Gibbs retiring from the Redskins and the primaries. That aside, I've tried to leave him to work through it in his own way. I've been there, in that place where no one can do anything but offer encouragement. His time of chaos will be a bit shorter than mine was, but I imagine it's just as intense if not more. Jim's frustrations with the the process mirror my own during production. There were times while shooting when I was so caught up in the minutia and technical details of the process, I lost sight of what I was working towards.

Looking back on it, I realize that moment of confusion is a necessary part of the creative process. It's kind of a cliché, but "chaos precedes transformation." I believe you have to lose yourself in the journey to the point where you can't see the path. And once you're lost, you have to dig deep into yourself and find what it takes within you to make it through.

Jim, if you're reading this, I'm very positive about the work you've done so far. Hang in there, buddy. You're almost to the good part.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey, you were already a day late so you can't blame me totally. I just made you later. You can, however, throw my name and website around alllllll you want

Brandon said...

Stop ogling Melisa and keep the post current Lonnie. You are our fearless leader we need up date in a timely fashion. No more excuses keep your nose to the grind wheel! I am such a hard ass!

Anonymous said...

I got excited and thought you were eluding to something new (and possibly naughty) being added to Melisa's demo real so I went to see it. Well there wasn't anything new (or naughty!). It was the same video I've seen every day for the past year ... okay fine, 5 times a day ... okay fine, a year and a half. Whatever, who's counting. Uh, hopefully not Melisa's webmaster.