Batman and Talking Frogs

So the second week of my practicum went pretty well; I actually got to do some animation on Friday so that was awesome! It was a talking frog and I did it in After Effects. I also put a ripple effect on his water in the background, and had to animate a sentence coming out of his mouth and disappearing left of frame. The fact that I was able to animate anything just made my whole week!! Plus it was Margo Friday, which means Dan(one of the co-owners) brings his bulldog Margo into work and she scampers around all day. She's pretty cute, in a bulldog sort of way.

Other than that, I was working in Avid to time edit the scenes to the dialogue of the scripts I typed up last week. This involves sitting at your desk and reading all the lines out loud to yourself, and then trimming or lengthening the shots as needed for the lines and action to take place (there is totally a Russian character, and I totally did accents for him, Sam-Sam). I was also cutting more panels out of graphic novels in Photoshop, to be prepped for animation.

The studio is working on a really cool project right now, but I can't talk about it until it's officially released. That should be either this month or next month, I'm not sure.

Kelly is playing Batman: Arkham Asylum right now and just informed me he took out Bane. This is good, because Bane kicked my bat-butt last night. He was a 'bane' in the a**. Bwa ha ha.

Until next week; hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!!

Kristy

Do not forget to submit survey!

Hi guys!

This is just a friendly reminder to not forget to submit the survey for this week!

I am glad to hear everyone is adjusting to their new life, and also that you guys are trying to overcome the barriers.

I hope everyone has an amazing loooooong weekend! :)

Malena

Two Down, Six to Go!

Hey everyone! Hope your all doing well! Only heard from a few of you so far! Comment on this post so I can find out what your all up to!

Any who, I thought this week I would actually talk about what I've been doing here at Fjord, or at least as much as I can explain in accordance to the NDA I had to sign. (Anyone else get one of those?)

The first big project I got (That I'm sure some of you heard about), was to edit some of Steve "Berger" Lindenberg's code for a project he had been working on prior to my arrival here. Basically, I have to be able to read and write data to/from a MySQL database using PHP and ActionScript 3. I also have to use AMFPHP as a middle man between PHP and AS3. Long story short, I have no clue how to do any of this, but luckily enough for me, I haven't been given a deadline for the project. I believe it's just something to plug along at for the time that I'm here!

The next project I got was to create some prototypes for a photo gallery/photo wall that could possibly be used for a very large client's website. (Hint: You've all eaten there before.) I looked at a few examples, and downloaded some Freeware/Open Source apps such as Minishowcase, Galleriffic, and Simpleviewer. I'm currently in the process of swapping out images from the example with pictures that are a little more related to the client. Much like the first project though, I haven't been assigned a deadline. Another project to plug along at for the time that I'm here?!

And last but not least, the latest (And coolest) project I've gotten, was to create some online banner ads for another large client. I had to attend a "kick off" conference call meeting with the Ad Company that we'd be working with on the project. The next morning, I had a one hour conference call/online training session with the Tech Expert from said Ad Company about how to use their software (An extension for Flash) to create the ads. I was lucky in that I was working on Phase two of the ad campaign, and as such, there was previously created ActionScript 3 code for previously created .fla's. Once I received the new image/text assets, it was a matter of importing and editing the old AS3 code to move objects in faster/slower, and in different directions. Finally, I had to submit the ads to QA for a 24 hour QA session. I'm currently awaiting word on any changes that might be needed, and Phase three of the ad campaign.

So, that's a rough idea of what I've been doing here! I hope to keep you all up to date on whatever else I get to do! Can't wait to hear from everyone! Don't forget to comment!

third week!

Third week has ended and in comes the long weekend! I hear some of you are going home and that's awesome, I wish I could too but its hard when you don't have a car. But grad is coming up soon, so i'll see some of you in two weeks. And the other people, already said my goodbyes, but good luck!

The weather here is ridiculous, there have been thunderstorms for the past 3 days and it is still +31 degrees so my apartment is boiling hot, even with the windows open overnight.

Work has been good, nothing really new, a guy had trouble remembering my name so he gave me a nickname, Joey Jo Jo! If no one knows what thats from, heres a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQW2t4SxvJ0
Haha, yeah! I thought it was awesome! There's another nickname you can add to the list!

So Curt made a visit to my practicum today, checkin out my workplace and what I have been doin. And of course I had to congratulate him on the new job, Mr. Chair of the Tech! He also took me out to lunch at a thai restaurant with the first ever student who went to saskatoon for practicum, and I'm the first!

Hope everyone has a good long weekend. Depending on the weather, I might go downtown and check out the parks along the river, hopefully no thunderstorms this weekend.

Cya'll later

Jeff
(Joey Jo Jo)

Movie Madness!

Hello everyone! Things are busy on my side of the city. They are shooting a movie in the Exchange district and production trucks are constantly parked out front of the building I work at. The movie stars Milla Jovovich and it's called "Faces in the Crowd". It's really cool seeing them set stuff up for sets. The side of the trucks have compartments with labels beneath them that say things like "Big Stairs" and "Crow's Feet", whatever that means. Filming is supposed to go until the end of June so maybe I'll get to see some more exciting stuff!

As far as work goes, projects have picked up a bit! I'm working on an animation right now for a government organization which is fun! Still a bit of down time where there isn't any work for me to do but I've been filling my time searching the net for Flash/Photoshop tutorials and cool videos. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear 'em!

Anyone have any interesting plans for May Long? Not much going on for me except hopping on a bus for home!

Hope all is going well!

Finnja out!

Brady Penner in the HOUSE!

Hey guys I'm alive! Things have been going well for me so far. My first day I was shown how to input information into the Magento database for the one site that we are creating for Interior Images. It is still on going, as are all of the projects that I am working on. I have been doing different things. I have been updating sites and making ads for them and exporting images for the different websites that we are creating.

I was really thrown off when I realized that the guys don't talk when they work!! I was sitting there in my little desk area and there was silence... I am so used to having my sweet, wonderful NOISY classmates surrounding me while I work. But now there is silence and its a little bit unsettling. They come out of their offices every once in a while and chat but otherwise its really quiet. I am the only girl in the office as well, until Margaret the book keeper shows up for a couple hours in the afternoons. So when she gets there I get to talk about movies and girl stuff.

I am really glad that I know Tyler Cameron from last year and Joe, my Bentley boss's brother - it just makes the atmoshpere a little easier to feel comfortable in.

Needless to say, I am not doing any graphic design, which I would love to be doing, but I have to start somewhere eh? I did get the task of design a website for a new client though! I was pretty jazzed about that!

For all of you who didnt stay in Btown, (which is all of you!!!! Im still mad at you by the way) the memorial cup is on in full force. Im not really into the whole hockey thing but they all talk about it at work so I join in. I thought you hockey fans would like to know that the Wheaties played in the opening game. The puck dropped, and the Windsor Spitfires scored 4 times in the first 5 mintes. --- The Kings lost 9-3.

Have a good night!!! (or afternoon or whatever!)

Bee!

One down, seven to go!

And so begins week two of my practicum, and my first IMA Pracitcum post! I'll get the basics out of the way first:

• Vancouver is beautiful!
• Kristy and I found a basement suite, and got our internet set up. There's no wash machine/dryer, and no microwave, so laundromats are our new hang out place!
• As Kristy mentioned, Vancouver has Palm Trees!
• The public transportation system here is awesome! (One monthly pass gets you access anywhere in one zone (Of three) on SkyTrains, busses, or SeaBusses, and anywhere in the three zones after 6:30pm and on weekends!)
• It's really, really beautiful!
• It doesn't smell like an open sewer like Toronto did! :P
• Did I mention that Vancouver is beautiful?

Anywho, with that out of the way, let's get to the practicum placement stuff. Fjord West (Who I'm doing my practicum with) is the Interactive arm of Cossette, a rather large international "communications firm". Within Cossette, there are 9 other companies that do other parts of projects such as media, branding, etc. Cossette own three floors out of the 6 in the building I'm working out of. They also have 4 other offices in Canada, three in the U.S., one in London, and one more in Shanghai. I'd estimate there's over 100 employees (Not including contract workers, the HR department, or interns such as myself) within this building alone, spread out over the 10 smaller companies here at one time.

So now that you have a sense of how big the company is, you'll understand why I kind of feel like a name on a sheet, rather then a person here from time to time. Each company is sectioned into little cubicles (Or teams) of 4 people each. I'm part of the "tech" team. I share one half of a large desk with "Big" Steve Lindeberg (Who I'm sure you all remember from Toronto). I have a little lamp, a regular grey computer with two flat screen monitors, a phone with someone elses name on it, a key fob for opening doors, and a little pen/pencil holder. If it wasn't for the fact that walls of the cubicles are semi-see through and about 4 feet high instead of blue and 6' or 7', I'd almost feel like I was in a Dilbert comic.

With that said, the company is pretty relaxed. On the wall behind me is a rather large sticker mural of the 1st level from the Donkey Kong arcade game (That's from some other building, not Fjord West's) that just got put up last Friday. You can listen to your MP3 player or music on a thumb drive while you work (So long as you have headphones), and much like where Kirsten is at, they don't really mind when you get to work or leave, so long as you get your minimum 7.5 hours of work, considering there isn't a big project you should be staying late to work on. There's a kitchen with a 50 cent drink machine, and a patio where you can sit and eat your lunch, park your bike for the day, or just get a great view of the city. Everyone frequently goes out for lunch everday for Sushi, Thai, Italian, etc. (Yes, I've gone with. No, I didn't like Sushi, Thai was ok, and Italian was great!) Also, there's a personal gym on the 1st floor that has more then I would need to get in shape!

That's pretty much what it's like here from a non work standpoint! Things have been pretty stressful for me here the first week, so I'm hoping this week goes better! I'll do a much better job in my next post of letting everyone know how work is here! Since I don't want to take up an entire page with one blog post though, if you want to know more, just let me know in the comments!

Third week!!! or Second!

Hi guys,

I am glad to hear all the exciting new opportunities you guys are encountering at your practicum.

Here in Brandon, for those people that are not here, the weather is beautiful, it has been so hot in the last couple of days and I LOVE IT!!!

School is the same, you guys know what I mean, well kinda the same. Even if things change here, things stay completely the SAME!!! And I find it boring, but oh well!
C'est la vie!

So, I have not hear back from Rhett, Kulani, Justin, Brady or Nikki. So, when are you guys letting us know what is happening?

And for the rest, please keep us updated!! Love to hear more stories. Don't forget to be open minded, and try your best at anything you do!

Take care,
Malena