So another day passes..  I keep listening to the news and see an all time high in unemployment rates and find myself as one of those numbers.  Although this fact, I have been busy.  I had an awesome opportunity to produce, direct and edit a music video for an up and coming artist.  I’m now in the editing phase and the rough cut is done.  I hope to get some good notes back and more forward in the visual effects of the video.  Yeah Fun! 

I really learned a lot about working with people on this project and I am also learning a lot about myself as the times passes that I do not have a full-time job.  Taking on a lot of responsibility is a big job and I seem to try to do everything and maybe that may not be the right thing for me in the future.  I am still pondering the question but I do have the drive and desire to succeed. 

I am also really missing working in my field of motion capture and keep looking for a job to keep me on that path.  I’ve had great opportunities in the past, but now I need to keep my strength up and use this to manifest a job in the near future. 

So what did I do and what am I good at? 

I worked as a motion tracker and did other tasks of sorts in the motion capture field.  I am competent of my work and know I can do a great job if given the opportunity.  That is pretty much the bottom line.  At this time, it doesn’t seem to be a good choice to make a change in my field, but to rather follow the path of where I was going.  I really would love to work in the capacity of a production coordinator on a motion capture film, but I need to have some more proven experience, or perhaps someone who will believe in me.  I loved working at the last job I was at more than anything, but really regret that I never had an opportunity to do the job I was initially hired for and yes that really bums me out, but I met some awesome people along the way.  I wonder if this was Karma or just my own doing?

In another hand there is the opportunity for me to start my own small production company in the Orange County area and provide video and web assistance to small business owners, but this too is a very hard thing to do.  I have to develop a business plan for starters and on top of that, I need to market myself and learn how much to really charge for my services and how to write up contracts that are specific.  Without a mentor in the production field, I feel I am having a tough time, but tough times are needed in order for people to learn lessons about their own lives and the lives of others.  That goodness that I have the OCIWE to help me through the necessary phases.

On another hand, I really want to work more on my social skills and become a better entrepreneur and employee.  People can really make judgement calls based on petty things and I am really looking to work with a group of people who are supportive and dedicated.  Pretty much sometimes I feel like an outsider and need to have the confidence to make it through the day.  Confidence is key to success.

I would also like to say that I am really grateful for having good friends and family in my life. My friend Manny and boyfriend Corey have been really supportive in my time of need, as well as my mother and father.  I have been feeling a little anxious lately but really think that is because I am not working.  I went to the Crystal Cathedral today with my friend to pray.  I pretty much asked God for a sign of some sorts to provide me security of which is the right path in my life and what I need to do to stay on the path.  As I heard a guru once say “There are many paths you can take, but if you take the wrong one, you have to go back and travel even more to reach your eventual destination.”  Whether or not that may be true, I have to really keep my intuitive sense open and be ready for any challenges that may face ahead in the future.  Like I said I am grateful to have others help me in my life, but I would rather be independent and secure with myself.

So no matter where you may be these days, be thankful and gracious and look towards a better future and utilize the present as much as you can.  The present is all we have, we can’t change the past and no one really knows what’s in store for us in the future.

Jobs, Jobs, and Jobs??? Where are they?  I think to myself, have I been looking hard enough?  What is going to happen to me and was my education really all worth what it was, or still is? 

So as for the job front, I guess the best thing to do everyday is to keep looking, most importantly and try not to lose hope in finding something.  Think of a pond and there are a lot of rocks in it. As a metaphor some rocks will be craigslist, others will be Monster.com, others will be all the major web sites to look for industry specific work.  There are usually the larger rocks in the pond or better yet, even a little stream, although it is a stream is seems to be trickling slowly.  Now there are many rocks in the stream but they are so small that you pass them up as you ride the stream, or better yet you find yourself not even thinking of them cause they are to small.

Most business at this time do not advertise that they are hiring or potentially may be hiring.  The best thing that you can do, is to find these companies.  Go figure, these companies also depend on others to finace their paychecks or are listed in magazine articles.  The best place to look for business is to look in a directory like the yellow pages.  Go through the book and look up all the services that the company may offer that you might want to work at.  Go to special industry directories and locate the companies phone number and website information. 

Next, go to the website and look it over.  If you like what you see, you can either submit a resume over the Internet or even better yet call the company and inquire if they are hiring.  Don’t be shy get a contact name and email address.  Make sure you have a resume to send off immediately in order to remain in the potential employers mind. 

Some suggestions if you have a website, I suggest getting a free program called Google Analytics.  This program will track who is visiting your website to see if the calls you made and emails that you sent paid off.  It also gives you other valuable information.  A website, helps as a way for an employer to become better acquainted with you quickly. 

So let’s go back to the pond/stream example.  If you turn over many stones/pebbles you are bound to find something.  Just keep up your will power and determination.  Be willing to take a job, if it is even not the job you want at this time.  We are in an employers market and they now can pick and choose which types of fish they want and they can be picking cause there are so many fish to choose from. 

A couple weeks ago, I had a great meeting with an employment coach online, who looked at my resume and offered advice free of charge.  These opportunities are out there, you just have to search and find them. 

Even though times may seem tough, if there is a will there is a way.  Remember the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park!

Ahh, yes I know it has been a while but,  I’m not much of a writer and yeah and I am working on that thing you call ummm discipline.  So what has been going on.  Personally I have been trying to network and meet new people who share a similar vision as myself.  I’ve pretty much seem to have given up or more as gotten over trying to prove anything to anyone.  I am who I am and so what… take it or leave it is my new mentality.  I have a desire to be a leader and creator.  Being caught up in a sense to kiss ass or be a certain way around someone with some clout seems to not be that appealing to me unless the fact could be that I could use their help or they have touched me in a way that deems my utmost respect.

Tonight I had the opportunity to meet some other like minded individuals and I’m excited as to what could lie ahead for us.  If we stick to the plan and be watchers over each other, then I think we will have some potential for success.  No matter what the success may be, money, fame, creative, or just the fact that a group of people can get together and accomplish goals and a desire, which may be the biggest accomplishment of all.  If we fail then we fail, at least we tried.  And trying is what is most important because it helps us to learn what does and does not work. 

The people I’ve met so far seem to want to be on the right track and I am confident that we can come up with something that will prove valuable besides just the experience.

Ponder the thought… value does not always mean money…

Now off to search for two more members of the group, eventually we will find them.

 Happy Birthday Mom!  I hope you have a wonderful and exciting day and a fabulous year ahead!

So what’s new?  I know I haven’t written in a while, but I have been a little busy and all this blogging is new to me.  So I apologize for any heartache I may have caused anyone.  Just Kidding!  Well great news for Shark Byte Entertainment.  We have our first client.  Her name is Vienna and we will be producing her first music video in the month of January.  Ideas have been brewing for the concept and I look forward to the challenge of bringing this video to life.

So this goes to show that a little hard work and perseverance can yield good results if you stick to the path. 

Also another birthday shout goes out to my friend Viktoria, whose birthday was yesterday.

So as a Birthday treat for my mom, I’m going to post my videos that I made this summer for Movies By Kids.  Working for the company was interesting.  As a camp instructor I headed a group of about 8 children and with their ideas we came up with a concept for a video that was to be filmed during the week.  So what we did on day one was to come up with the story, I then assigned roles and designated what props that were needed by each child.  The experience was awesome.  I conceptualizd ideas and put them down on story boards with the class, I explained what certain positions did on set and assigned them to the children who were more than happy to learn.  We were like our own working unit.  I also has the opportunity to edit another camps video while working for MBK and I had a lot of fun doing it.  Granted maybe all the shots here are not the best framed, well lit or superbly acted.  But the matter of the fact is that I work with kids who had no experience at all and we came together to make stories. 

So as for the videos go, I am posting up the 3 from the Lights, Camera, Action Camps.

1. The Mystery of the Missing Jewels - This video is really long (about 23 minutes or so) and you will need a little time to watch it.  This was a full day camp for a week and we felt like we barely had anytime.  Every kid wanted to work and only take the minimum time for lunch which was 1/2 hour.  I loved working with this camp.  Everyone had quite an vivid imagination strong work ethic.  These kids had fun improving and working together to come up with ideas.  They also took direction well and wanted to learn as much as possible about set positions as well as so terms involved in film making.  The funnest part for me was working with the youngest of the group and explaining to her what a dolly was and how it would look on camera.  Seeing her eyes light up as she learned was very gratifying.  There are some inconsistencies in the film, but mind you it was myself and these kids doing this alone.
2. Kidnapped at Summer Mist -This was my first camp that I worked on the for the summer.  The camp was only 1/2 day camp for 4 days.  It was a great learning experience.  The kids in this camp really wanted to make a movie, but a lot of the children had problems coming up with improvisation, so I had to script some things down for them, which needed to be rehearsed.  Also one of the older kids in this camp was interested in becoming a cinematographer so I let her do some camera operating at times as well as frame some shots.   A couple in the camp had Hollywood dreams and other were kids who wanted to just have fun for a week.  I also edited the project and learned that I need to be really careful of crossing the line.  When you have a group to take care of. there are about a million things going on and sometimes all the kids are not in the scene so you have to keep a watchful eye almost everywhere.  I was surely beginning to hone down my skills here.
3. Indiana and the Search for Britney - This video was the one that I only edited.  I really liked the concept and I think it’s short and funny.  If you have kids you should bring them in to watch this with you.

Without any further ado… Enjoy!

I would love comments.  So let me know what you think.

Wow,  I felt like yesterday was extremely productive.  I spent most of the day writing, researching and personalizing many thank you letters after a job interview.  So why a thank you letter?  Personally I think it’s one of the best things that you can do whether you want a job or not.  It’s a way of thanking someone for their time.  A thank you letter or note lets a potential employer know that you are really interested in a job and you are willing to go the extra mile and as an added bonus it shows a sample of your writing to an employer.  Having strong writing skills is a plus! It shows that you know how to communicate effectively.  If your not a strong writer I would suggest having a friend or family member read the letter and offer their opinion.  The thank you letter is also another way of adding any additional things in the interview that you may not have said before that would be pertinent to the job or if an employer requests any additional information, it’s a great way to open your letter.

A thank you letter can also be used to decline a position that you feel either you are not suited for or you are not interested in.  Sometimes you can be excited about a job but after the interview you learn that it’s something that you do not want to do.  It’s a respectful way of telling someone that you are removing your application.  This works in your favor to always leave possibilities open and not burn any bridges.  It also shows integrity.

I don’t know the official stats, but most employers I’ve chatted with say that they seldom receive a thank you letter from an interviewee.  A thank you letter will definitely help you stand out against others and it will leave an impression with whomever it is addressed to.

So how is this pertinent to my blog today.  I think the thank you is crucial especially in entertainment careers.  The thank you letters that I received while working on my thesis were not in high volume, but they definitely left an impression on me.  As a reader of these letters I found actors/artists who where engaged and interested in my script.  They felt a connection to my story and that was important.  To me its big deal because working on something that you believe in or stand behind makes your productivity go off the charts.  People that are happy are more likely to work better, be productive and make less mistakes.  I also found that when I auditioned more than 100 actors for my cast, only a handful had sent thank you letters.  Even though some people were not right for the part, I either remembered them and saved their information so that I could include them in a featured spot if possible or I tucked their information because I might want to work with them in the future.  I would rather have someone work for me who cares and is passionate about what there doing than to be a prima donna about their work. 

So no matter how old you are take the time to show someone how much a role or a job may mean to you.  Whether or not you get it, it tells a lot about your character and the path that you want to follow in life.  Even if you are rejected a follow up thank you letter could be used to ask if you can be directed to any other possible contacts.  As I spoke of the economy in earlier posts,  these days having a dedicated and production driven work force is crucial to the success of a company and it’s ability to maintain itself through the good and bad times.

Perseverance and assertiveness are crucial traits that are needed to maintain a level head on the job hunt.

Some suggestions for creating your thank you letter:

• Whether if you were interviewed by one person of many I have found it beneficial to send a thank you note/letter to everyone who discussed the opportunity to you.
• Make the letter personal - It’s a great idea to research other letters on the web to get a thought of content, but make this letter from the heart.  You interviewer will thank you.

So let me give you a sample on how it should look you, this as a basic blueprint to get yourself started:

Date

Name of Person
Title if applicable
Name of Company

Dear Peter, (Note I am using a first name here and this really depends on the culture of the company you are applying for - make your best judgement)

1st Paragraph - Take the time her to thank the person that interviewed you.  You want to thank someone for there time and also you can add anything that you feel is necessary that pertains to your experience with the person.  You also may want to state the position you are applying for here.

2nd Paragraph - Reiterate that you are a good fit for the position.  You can also add to the intro to by using the word “you”.  This makes it personal and gets your reader’s attention.  You also may want to state the position you are applying for here as well if you didn’t already in Paragraph 1.  This is also a place to bring up anything that you may have remembered from your conversation with the reader.

3rd Paragraph - Add any additions to the interview or add any skills that may be pertinent to the job.  It could help you convince an employer that you can handle the job.

4th Paragraph - The close, thank him or her again and add either a follow up or say you look forward to receiving contact soon.

Best,
You Name
Phone #
website
email address if necessary

Make sure to always proof your writing and spell check! 

This is just a sample of a culmination of ideas that I have gathered over sometime, you can also do your own web research and find what is the right format for you. 

Stay positive and you are likely to get a response.  If you don’t hear anything for a while don’t hesitate to call and inquire about the position.  Being assertive shows that you really want the job and that you are dedicated.

One more thing, writing these letters can take some time, but try to send out your thanks within 48 hours if possible.

Happy Interviewing and Thanking!