Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Revising Revised Revisions

Yes you read the title right.

It's December 20, 2005. Two weeks since one project went online. And yet here I am in the office still working on revisions for that project.

For those of you who don't know what I mean by online, it means that basically that was the final submission of CG work. That means that everything was approved and that our commitment was over.

Little did our heroes know...

Yes. Little did we know. Foreign clients did not approve our work so they asked for revisions. Something about not being grand/masculine enough. Here's how it went. From a few days before the online.

The agency enjoyed our work. They said that was fine. That was a Monday. No revisions were called in. Until Wednesday. Agency calls for a meeting. Minor revisions. Alrighty then. Nothing our post prod gear can't handle. Meeting commences. Major revisions. Re-animate and stuff. TWO DAYS BEFORE THE ONLINE. Yeesh. Spend Thursday night in the office and leave Friday MIDNIGHT. Just because of this.

Then they call Monday or Tuesday with some revisions. This is AFTER the online. Brilliant. I don't want to ramble anymore so...

How come they come to us without a storyboard asking us to copy this peg they gave? Then after the online that's when they start DROPPING STORYBOARD AFTER F*CKING STORYBOARD ON US AND ASKING THAT WORK BE DONE BY THE NEXT F*CKING DAY?!? Jesus Christ this is a first. They come to us without a plan then when the dust has settled they go, "Oh wait, we want THIS to happen." Right.

This whole thing is weird. But that's how the ball rolls. And I do know who "butters my bread" if you know what I mean.

So, hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go.

Out.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Pepsi Max Radio Advertisement

Have you heard the radio version of the Pepsi Max commercial? Here in the Philippines there's two people who make wisecracks about words. Say, for example, how come pineapples don't have pines or apples? Or, if vegetarians eat vegetables what do humanitarians eat? Then they come out with, "How come Pepsi Max has no sugar yet it tastes good?" (this is said in Tagalog - Bakit ang Pepsi Max walang asukal pero masarap?)

Okay. I'm sure the copywriters had good intentions. But if you're going to start making wiseass commercials might as well make sure your wisecracks stack up. I can get the vegetarian and pineapple part. They were being wiseasses about the composition of the word. But Pepsi Max has no sugar but tastes good?!? So? Did it say Pepsi Sweet? No. It said Pepsi Max. Where's the sugar there? The wisecrack, in my opinion, had no relation to the earlier wisecracks.

Which brings me to my own version of the Pepsi Max radio advertisement:
"Ba't yung creatives na gumawa ng Pepsi Max commercial hindi creative?"
(Translation: How come the creatives who made the Pepsi Max commercial aren't creative?)

Don't get me wrong. I respect copywriters (despite the fact that they sometimes get me pissed off due to some "revisions" on some projects) and what they do. My mom started out as a copywriter. But ads nowadays? Please. Some are insulting to my intelligence.

Not that I'm saying I'm superior to anyone. Its just that if you're going to make an ad might as well make it appealing rather than annoying. Or maybe it's the client's fault. I don't know. All I know is that I really don't like the locally made Pepsi Max commercials.

Out.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Random Stuff (Again)

Redecorating my Room

This is one of the shelves of my room. I had a bad case of LBM yesterday so I was just at home and I decided to try and fix my room up a bit. Make it more pleasing to look at.

So I got rid of a lot of old car magazines and cleared out one whole shelf. Then I put up all my 1:18 scale die-cast cars and added some "guardians" to my shelf. My Metal Gear series toys. All fourteen of them. And once I get to buy some clear plastic (the one they use to wrap books in) I'll be able to remove all my 1:64 scale die-cast cars and place them on top of the boxes of my 1:18 scale cars. Ah yes. Just to look good.

Anyway you may be wondering why parts of this photo look "ghostly". That's because I used the panoramic mode of my new "sidearm" Sony Ericsson k750i to take this shot.

I love my new phone. So useful. So small. So nice. So far I've got no complaints about it. Takes getting used to since I was a Nokia user since 2000. But hey, it was time for a change.

Out.

Friday, December 09, 2005

A Real Early Rant

3:16am. Work. Awake. Rendering. Compositing. Rendering. Again.

I've only had 1 1/2 hours of sleep. From 1am to 2:30am. Just enough to taste the sweet nectar of rest before being shocked back to reality by my officemates (whom I requested to wake me up at said time). Since then I've been working. Burning the midnight oil. Whatever that means.

I don't mind doing this. It's part of my job. I chose this. So why am I bitching? Why not? I know how it goes, about me choosing this so why bitch when I put myself in this situation. It's about the situation that I'm pissed off at right now.

It's about the client. How he saw what we did last Monday (had to work Saturday AND Sunday for that) and only gave revisions on Wednesday. The product is due later today, Friday. Plus Thursday night he sends a few more revisions, just for good measure.

Perfect.

I know that I'm in the "service" industry. Where we are supposed to provide what is needed for clients. In this case, 3D animated whatevers. And that usually means we're at the bottom of the totem pole. So whatever they want we have to deliver. Nevermind the cost. If we have to sleep everyday just to deliver so be it.

Right.

People can be assholes. Specially those people who are higher up in the totem pole but not totally at the top. The people at the top (the client) usually make demands which are somewhat outrageous to the people below them (the ad agency). The latter, in turn, vent their frustration out at the people below them. That would be us. Sad.

But I'm not saying that's what usually happens. Usually the ad agencies have our back. Once they like our work they defend it to the clients.

Unless the client is boneheaded or stupid. Then whatever they approved before becomes a flaw the next time they see it.

They think that just because we use computers it means that it'll be as simple as snapping your fingers to do what they want.

They don't see the time it takes to do 3D. The time, effort, stress and whatnot just to create a simple animation. And they ask us to "revise" it when in reality the revisions they seek require major changes to the model and to the animation.

Perfect.

Enough. Back to work.

Out.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Something to Stroke My Ego

In 2nd year high school my Social Studies teacher mentioned of a Japanese god named "Izanagi". Sounds close enough to one of my first names (Isagani). I enjoyed going by that name once in a while before but I never thought of researching on it.

Now that I've got some free time I decided to do a little research. And here it is. I found this article at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izanagi.

Just a thought.

Out.

Wants vs Needs

Whenever I think of cars, I always think of what I want in a car. Like (in extreme cases) one of the cars in NFSMW. Maybe the Supra. Or the Ford GT. I want those cars. But do I really need them?

No.

Honestly the perfect car for the city streets of Manila are not them big-ass SUVs that drink gas the way I eat at buffets. Sure some of them are fuel efficient (I hope the Hyundai Tucson is - I really do like that "vehicle" right now) but most of them are powered by big V6 engines. And they're pretty expensive too.

What car do I really need for Manila? Something with four wheels, runs properly, has good audio system and a working AC. We can rule the Mazda I drive out. The audio is fine but the tape deck (ooh a relic) is broken and it doesn't have a CD changer. Plus the fact that only Velocity works on the car makes it a costly car to gas up.

So what I'm trying to say is, I won't mind if I get a Hyundai Getz or a Kia Picanto. Better if I get the Honda Jazz 1.5L. Or like what someone I know said, just use the money to buy a good second hand Toyota Echo Verso. Because I've been in that car and I really love that car.

Rambling...

Out.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

The Need For Speed

I recently blogged about how much I like NFSMW. Well the bug has bitten me and bitten me bad.

Right now I wish I owned a Supra. Not because I want to zip in and out of traffice. I just want to own one. A manual Supra (I woulnd't mind driving a manual if it was THAT good) with short-throw shifter. No need for any dress up kits.

I wouldn't drive fast. I'd drive my pace. Maybe once in a while on open stretches I'd go fast but in other times I'll just chill. Why prove how fast a Supra is when its already a given that a Supra is fast. So I don't have to go up against morons driving 1.6L cars who think they're the reincarnation of Juan Miguel Fangio (you cannot be the reincarnation of Michael Schumacher because he AIN'T DEAD YET) or whoever.

Anyway I want to drive a cool car. Some car that is not that common, plus rear-wheel drive. I won't mind using a manual but power steering is a must. And it has to look real cool. Oh well.

I'm rambling again...

Out.

Friday, December 02, 2005

What Goes On In My Head

I shouldn't even be blogging right now. It's 4:16am, for crying out loud. And I'm still in the office. And it's my mother's birthday today.

Happy Birthday, mom. See you tonight, when I finally get out of work.

I should be asleep right now. Take advantage of the render time of your computer. Rest. Recharge. Long day ahead. And I mean LONG DAY AHEAD. Still have to take care of special effects. Still have to composite some scenes. Still have to make sure everything's fine for a presentation later at night.

Don't forget the 1pm presentation. Oh yes, good thing that's over with. All scenes rendered and waiting for pick up.

I should be asleep. But I'm not. I've only had roughly one hour's worth of sleep when I was rendering earlier. 1am to 2am. And that wasn't even sound asleep. More like drifting off to sleep only to revert to full alertness then back.

And yet my mind is fresh. Still on the edge. And that worries me. Because that means I'll probably start getting sleepy when I need to be awake. And that isn't a good thing.

I should be asleep. On my bed. At home. Only my bed right now is a sleeping bag on the floor. Don't want to sleep on the couch. Floor's better. My bed feels almost the same. Only not as hard. Because I've got a slightly thicker mat at home. Besides, I can't sleep in the office. Never have, no matter how many times I've done it.

I should be alseep. Maybe if I keep repeating this I'll eventually get sleepy. You know how if you keep lying about something you'll eventually believe your own lies? Well, I should be asleep.

Just get enough rest. Wake up at 7am. Grab some breakfast. Mickey D's or somewhere. Maybe take the car for a spin just to clear my head.

I wonder where I should have breakfast?

Oh look, rendering complete. So much for sleep. Back to work.

Out.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Work

So this will be my 2nd straight night burning the midnight oil in the office.

I've done this before. There was a time last year for a month I would go to work Tuesday and go home Thursday. So I'm pretty used to this... Or am I?

I don't mind working late if I have to (well, duh, obviously I HAVE TO). The challenge is good for the brain. The experience is good for building character. The teamwork is good for the social skills. It may be tiring but at least when we have off days, we have OFF DAYS. Know what I'm saying?

But lately I've been having a distaste for working late. Maybe because I'm bringing a car to work and I just park it outside the office. I don't know. Maybe its because I know there's a way home that I want to go home instead of staying here.

Whatever the reason, its bugging me. I know I have to finish what I can.

Maybe that's what I'll do tonight. Finish what I can, go home, rest, go to work early to continue what I can. After all, the project doesn't seem that hard. Its just that there are so many things to do for the project. Plus time is an issue. Its due tomorrow night.

Oh did I mention I have ANOTHER project due tomorrow 11am? Sweet.

Out.