Hey, look at that, the second edition of Greasy Pig Studios’ interviews with some of our favorite clients and collaborators!

Today we’ll hear from Renee Cascia, a photographer based in Los Angeles, CA. She specializes in fashion, editorial, product, and portrait photography.

Our first collaboration was way back in the summer of 2007 (!) when I developed her website. She also introduced me to Jennyfer Rodgers and Epicurean Umbrella (the beautiful images of EU’s food was shot by Renee), and we’ve collaborated on a few other microsites as well. Since updating her site a few days ago, that brings the length of our professional relationship up to two-and-a-half-years and counting!

So how did you find out about myself and Greasy Pig Studios, and what have we worked on together?

I crossed paths with Arvin and Greasy Pig Studios, while searching for a web designer via Craigslist about four years ago. I was very happy with the first project he completed for me. Arvin has the excitement, attention to detail, creativity, professionalism, forward thinking, and integrity I was looking for. Arvin has a smooth way of listening while at the same time politely educating the customer about trends and tactics. We have worked together ever since. I have referred him to many colleagues and they have all been delighted as well.

Any interesting trivia/anecdotes about the two of us working together?

I love the accessibility of Greasy Pig Studios, our communication has always been great. We have worked via email and FTP. It is always a very smooth process. The turnaround time is always before deadline, I love the surprise email that my project is finished ahead of time.

(Here’s a fun fact: In the two and a half years we’ve worked together, Renee and I have NEVER met each other in person! 99% of our communication is via email)

As both a business and a client, Please describe what, to you, makes for a good client/freelancer relationship. How can the freelancer make sure to satisfy the client, and how can the client get the most bang for their buck?

One of the most basic and effective ways to keep your clients happy is by exceeding their expectations. They hired you because you know what you’re doing and have proven your worth, but that’s not always enough. Striving for consistency and excellence across the board will not only make you an increasingly valuable partner to your client, but it will make you very hard to replace. If you have great relationships built on depth and knowledge, you will eventually reach a point where you can anticipate their needs before they even have to say them out loud. This can make your work more effective and valuable because it saves the client time and energy, and they are assured that you can pick up any open items they may drop.

Responsiveness is important for every long-term relationship. Whether you communicate via email or telephone, don’t make your clients wait to hear back from you. You can also facilitate open communication with your clients by keeping them informed through mailings and newsletters, and communicating with them across various social media outlets. And lastly, don’t be shy about letting your clients know how valuable they are to you. Holiday gifts, an unsolicited thank you, and even a structured client appreciation program can reinforce how important your clients are to your business. And we all, clients included, like to hear that we’re appreciated.

What are your tips for someone in your field, just starting out?

My biggest tip would be for the aspiring photography is to obtain an internship with a photographer that they admire. I have a BFA, but I think I learned more about the actual life of the professional photographer while interning in NYC for a fashion photographer. Become an Intern, be on time, have integrity and be a person of your word. Also keep up to date with all of the new photographic technology by attending conferences, talk to other photographers and read industry magazines. Also the world of having your own small business is based on who knows you, so get out there and network.

What are your preferred methods of communication when it comes to your work? How actively do you market and advertise your services, and via what methods?

All of my clients have been word of mouth referals. I attend many events, conferences, women business owners groups, industry parties etc. and still everything comes from word of mouth. Enthusiastic customers are the most effective sales team you’ll ever find. The reason is simple enough: Customers aren’t paid to praise. When a customer becomes a passionate believer in your products and brand, it means you truly earned it. Whenever they buy your product or service, customers feel like special club members.

And finally, what are you working on next?

What I am working on next, is the continuum of the motto-

“If you love what you do, you‘ll never work a day in your life”

When I am shooting a creative photography project I feel as though I am truly one with my art and found my place in the world.

Thanks again Arvin for all of your great work,  I feel extremely fortunate to have found Greasy Pig Studios.

Related posts:

• Renee Cascia Website

This marks the first edition of what I hope to be a periodical feature on the Greasy Pig Studios blog, in which I interview past/present clients to talk about our projects, their projects, and their advice for those involved in similar businesses.

As mentioned in our last post, Tony Randel is the director for Painted Bird Films, for whom we’d done three projects so far: The Painted Birds Motion Logo, The Painted Bird Website, and collaborating on the CREOBA.TV website.

Greasy Pig Studios: So how did you find out about myself and Greasy Pig Studios, and what we’ve worked together?

Tony Randel: I became acquainted with Arvin and Greasy Pig Studios while working as a consult on the feature My Suicide.  I was impress with Arvin’s work ethic as well as his enormous talent as an artist and designer.  When I needed a company logo designed for a product reel I was hired to create, I employed Arvin.  He did a stellar job creating a dynamic and modern animated logo.  I have been working with Arvin ever since.

Greasy Pig Studios: Any interesting trivia/anecdotes about the two of us working together?

Tony Randel: Arvin and I have a VERY streamlined working method.  All of our business together in conducted online through IM and file transfers.  I find this technique very efficient as it allows for easy multitasking which is definitely a requirement in today’s economic climate.

Greasy Pig Studios: We saw each other way more before I was working for you.

Tony Randel: yeah – you worked in an office – it was a bummer and unnecessary.

Greasy Pig Studios: If there was an office that wasn’t a 75 mile roundtrip commute for me I wouldn’t necessarily mind working in it, if there were cool people (like you) working there

As both a business and a client, Please describe what, to you, makes for a good client/freelancer relationship. How can the freelancer make sure to satisfy the client, and how can the client get the most bang for their buck?

Tony Randel: Any creative venture’s success is dependent upon  communication.  There is a simple reality that people sometimes do not connect on a creative plain.  (Is it plane?)   This mis-connect is easy to recognize as the work becomes difficult, and progress is slow or nonexistent.  When one is faced with this scenario, a quick exit from the situation is best for both parties as fighting it through rarely yields good results.  When a creative harmony is found, communication and mutual respect will foster a positive, productive, and and potential long term working relationship.

Greasy Pig Studios: I think it’s plane, but I’m not gonna save you on that.

Not only would a creative harmony foster all that, but the work suddenly goes a whole lot faster and way more fun.

What are your tips for someone in your field, just starting out?

Tony Randel: Anybody entering media/entertainment should be prepared to be flexible and it helps to have more than one skill.  Fortunately I am a trained film editor as well as director and my executive skills come in handy no matter what the situation.  Also, it is very important to keep up with the technology – which changes very rapidly.  That is an absolute must.

Greasy Pig Studios: That last part is something I think you’re very good at

What are your preferred methods of communication when it comes to your work? How actively do you market and advertise your services, and via what methods?

Tony Randel: I have been very fortune lately as work seems to be coming my way without much effort.  One can never count on that but when work comes it’s great.  So, for me, word of mouth is the absolutely best to generate more work.

Greasy Pig Studios: Yeah, recently I’ve found the amount of work to be about the same but the percentage of word of mouth jobs have been increasing a lot, which of course saves you a lot of time looking for work and the hassle of dealing with someone you may not like

Okay, so you just recently released The Double Born, which you wrote and directed. First tell us what the movie is about

Tony Randel: The Double Born is a drama/thriller starring Sammi Davis and Jon Lindstrom.  The film concerns the quest of a woman to replace a child in her life that was lost several years ago.

Greasy Pig Studios: when did you first start working on that?

Tony Randel: I wrote the script in 2007 and after many months of trying to secure financing, I decided to fund the project myself.  It was film in 2008.  Securing distribution is tricky in today’s world so it took some time to get it out into the market place.

For the DVD release I made a 45 minute documentary: Juggling Fire: Making and Independent Film on Flashlights and Batteries.  Since the film was super-low budget we often use flashlights to light scenes – thus the title.  The documentary give a fairly detailed description of how the film was made.

Greasy Pig Studios: Can you recall one particularly memorable day in the production of The Double Born, from any aspect of its making to its release?

Tony Randel: Day two of the filming we shot at a rather “interesting” location – The Pink Motel is Sun Valley California.  It’s best described by watching part 2 of the documentary.  It’s online at www.paintedbird.us.

Greasy Pig Studios: What is one thing the Double Born taught you to always do or don’t do?

Tony Randel: While making The Double Born I learned to only shoot films where to concept of the script is solid, where the goal of the characters is clear, and the story draws to a logical conclusion.

Greasy Pig Studios: okay, final question: what’re you working on next, other than basking in the glow of having gotten your movie released?

Tony Randel: I was just hired to direct a small movie in the Indiana which films in the spring.  In-between I’ve been hired to edit a horror film.  So, doing my best to stay busy!

Tomorrow at 11:30 PST I am a guest on Leo Laporte’s nationally syndicated radio program – The Week in Tech.  It’s a VERY popular show and I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ve been a Leo fan for years!

Related posts:

• Painted Bird Films Motion Logo

Oh man I have been seriously neglecting this blog. I promise, it’s not because we haven’t been doing much work, it’s that we’ve been doing too MUCH work! A lot of it are bigger projects that aren’t even finished yet!

But I did just want to update you all on some recent developments regarding the projects I worked on last year.

Painted Bird Films releases “The Double Born”

Painted Bird Films, for whom we designed their motion logo as well as their website (I’ll be making a post for that project soon), and with whom we worked on the CREOBA TV website,  releases their first feature film, The Double Born, on DVD, released by Celebrity Video Distribution.

You can buy the DVD at their website. The DVD contains a making-of featurette as well as my opening motion graphic and a special Celeb Video motion logo that’s unique to this feature!

Stay tuned Friday (hopefully) when I get to interview Painted Bird Films director Tony Randel and talk about working with Greasy Pig Studios, The Double Born, and being an independent filmmaker/freelancer!

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I feel like I’ve heard this tip before, and I certainly think it’s way more nitpicky than, say, my and many other peoples’ aversion to the usage of Papyrus and Comic Sans fonts, but Mark Evanier makes a very specific comic-book pro insider tip that I promise I’ll try to remember it next time.

Related posts:

• The Crush Comic Book
• Immortal Kiss Comic Trailer

This weekend I will be presenting screenings of My Suicide at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

For more information, check out this article in Delaware Online. An excerpt:

Bilancio has seen all the films that made the cut for this year’s festival and has a few hints for filmgoers looking for an adventure. Among his suggestions:

“My Suicide,” an American film with a January 2010 release that incorporates live action and animation in telling the story of a 17-year-old who announces his suicide plan through his high school video class project.

“It’s an amazing film,” Bilancio says. “It’s Generation YouTube, using videos, quick editing, music, digital manipulation of photos and great animation. It’s thought-provoking and great for moviegoers who like to be challenged.”

The film, which is being screened Friday at 4:45 p.m., is accompanied by a question and answer segment with animator Arvin Bautista. There’s also a 11:50 a.m. showing Saturday.

More information on the festival and screenings can be found here at the official site of the festival.

Related posts:

• Who Are You People? Film Pitchbook
• My Suicide Website

Hot off the press is another article based off an interview I gave while I was in the Philippines for the Cinemanila Film Festival. This time it was for the Philippine Star newspaper, specifically their Starweek Sunday newspaper.

A glimpse:

Aside from bringing My Suicide to film fests around the world, Arvin, who describes himself as “fiercely indpendent,” keeps busy with his own animation and design outfit, Greasy Pig Studios. “My Suicide was my girlfriend for three years,” he quips. “Now I’m just ‘dating around.’” He has been working on a documentary entitled Alab ng Puso, about his parents who were student activists. He hopes to return to the Philippines soon to finish the project.

I highly prefer doing interviews in person or over the phone as opposed to email because I prefer to retain my rhythm and sense of humor, some of which gets lost when I type things out. In this case, however, I’m a little embarrassed to think that some of my quotes, when put to text, and taken out of context, read a little different than what was intended (that girlfriend/dating line doesn’t seem as charming I think as when I say it in person).

But hey, no publicity is bad publicity.

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Have you checked out Greasy Pig Studios’ new pet project, The Amazing Spider-Ads, a blog showcasing some of the funniest, weirdest, timeliest ads from old Marvel comic books, lately?

Well, if you haven’t, you’re missing out on brand new hilarious entries every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, along with a brand new, cleaner design that shifts focus squarely on the advertisements.

Add to your RSS feeds for a thrice-weekly dose of old-timey fun!

And yes, I know that I’ve been way behind on updates to this site. Believe me, other than crazy trips and moving, we’ve just been too darn busy with cool projects… fun ones that I can’t wait to show you soon!

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About 14 hours ago I left Los Angeles on my way to the Philippines. Currently I’m in Tokyo waiting for my connecting flight. In the meantime I went into the Delta Airlines lounge to charge my iPod and get some food only to find a room full of iMacs (along with the food and open bar). This is what happens when the internet is free right now, and probably won’t be when I get into my mother country:

And in case I didn’t explain why I’m headed to the Philippines, this Philippine Daily Inquirer article should answer your questions:

LOS ANGELES — Arvin Bautista, the Filipino artist who created the animated sequences in the US indie feature “My Suicide,” is representing the film in the ongoing Cinemanila International Film Festival. The film won the Crystal Bear in the Berlin International Film Festival last February and also recently bagged (along with a film from Spain) Best International Feature at the Raindance Film Festival in London.

The LA-based filmmaker, who moved with his family to the US when he was 9, will conduct an animation seminar on Monday, Oct. 19, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the U-View theater at the Fully Booked basement in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. “My Suicide” will be screened immediately after the seminar.

 

If you’re in my neck of the woods I’d sure love to see you there! Otherwise I’ll be back in LA in a week!

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Last year I went to the Philippines to shoot preliminary footage for a documentary I hope to one day finish called Alab ng Puso. Translated from Tagalog as “flame of the heart,” it is a line from the Philippine national anthem. The documentary itself would tell the story of my mom and dad’s courtship while they were student activists around the end of the Marcos Era and around the time of the EDSA revolution.

Anyway, obviously real life caught up with me and I put the documentary in the back burner for a while, until recently, when my dad’s 50th birthday approached. I took some interview footage back then in anticipation of this event so the least I could do on behalf of the documentary was to hone my editing knife and put together a mini-doc about my dad’s first twenty-five years, which is coincidentally my age now, and as such his age when I was born.

I plan on fixing some wrinkles on this at some point, but for now here’s what I came up with:

Comments and ratings on YouTube would be much appreciated.

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It’s been up for about a week, but I’m now pleased to announce a brand-new blog project from Greasy Pig Studios, entitled “The Amazing Spider-Ads!”

If you couldn’t figure it out from the title, this new blog is a compilation of all the ridiculous, hilarious, weird, and timely advertisements found in comics books, specifically Spider-Man comics, from his first appearance in 1962 to the (hopefully, if we can keep it going) present.

From bodybuilding to X-ray specs, from martial arts instructors to hypno-coins, this blog is sure to take you back to your childhood, when the only thing that could keep you from spending your allowance on comics, was wanting to spend it instead on the crap advertised inside.

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That’s right, yesterday I bombarded the internet with not one, not two, but three new projects from Greasy Pig Studios. All three were done for one awesome client, King Soundworks, so one could argue that it’s really all just one project, but each element was just too awesome, and too different, from the other that they all warranted their own project page. So without further ado:

King Soundworks Logo and Business Card

King Soundworks Motion Logo

King Soundworks Website

Each of them is a tremendous achievement if I do say so myself, and warrant your undivided attention

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When King Soundworks, badass Emmy-nominated Hollywood sound designers, asked Greasy Pig Studios to design their entire online presence, the very first thing we designed was their logo, followed by their website, and motion logo.

Deriving inspiration from old biker decals, the King Soundworks logo incorporates the royal connotation of the name (named after founder Greg King and his brother Darren), but gives it an edgy spin. Two versions of the logo were used: one was a simple black on white vector logo for letterheads and movie credit slicks, and the second is the logo composited onto a pin button, making it appropriate to be found on a biker’s jacket (wow, now I want that button of my own), or in the back of a biker’s jeans.

In addition, we also designed a business card that incorporated the logo with the textures and imagery found in the motion logo, specifically the stone texture and sparks from overhead.

For more on our collaboration with King Soundworks, check out the website and motion logo we designed for them.

Related posts:

• King Soundworks Motion Logo
• King Soundworks Website
• Regenerate Films Logo

King Soundworks, as part of their branding project, commissioned Greasy Pig Studios to design a kickass motion graphics logo, along with their website and logo.

Highlighting the highly energetic, gritty, do-it-yourself attitude of this Emmy-nominated sound design boutique, the motion logo features outlined silhouettes of humans getting themselves into all sorts of danger, smashing televisions, punching each other, shooting guns, and driving cars only to be exploded, implying that King Soundworks will go to any length to get the sound they need, all with a smile on their face.

Greasy Pig Studios conceived and executed this entire piece. Arvin Bautista even played every human silhouette in the sequence, and then rotoscoping himself.

Then, King Soundworks themselves took the motion graphics and did their own sound design magic to it. Freaking awesome!

For more of our collaboration with King Soundworks, check out their logo and website project entries.

Related posts:

• King Soundworks Logo & Card
• King Soundworks Website
• Kameelperd Motion Logo

View website at http://www.kingsoundworks.com

King Soundworks, a sound design boutique run by mixer/designer Greg King, has mixed movies and TV shows as diverse as Fantasia 2000, The Kingdom, and Friday Night Lights (both the TV show and the movie). It was a huge honor to be asked by them to design their entire online identity, from logo, to motion graphics, to brand new website.

Provided with copy and various images, Greasy Pig Studios was also provided with the general asthetic that vaguely recalled classic biker culture, without being alienatingly masculine. We conceived of a website that resembled the back of a biker’s jeans pocket, with pins, wallet, and crumpled up paper. It nicely coincided with King Soundworks’ mantra of being fiercely independent artists who aren’t afraid to get down in the dirt to get the sound they need.

Greasy Pig Studios set the site up via Wordpress, with an entirely customized King Soundworks theme. The background images were a mixture of stock photography and custom photographed elements composited together in Photoshop. The site features embedded Google maps, and Shadowbox to provide the smooth gallery images.

(As you can see we are quite fond of Shadowbox here at GPS)

The short Flash intro is a motion graphic sequence designed and conceived by Greasy Pig Studios, with sound design by King Soundworks.

Related posts:

• King Soundworks Motion Logo
• King Soundworks Logo & Card
• CREOBA TV Website

Rolling out another recent project, this time it’s CREOBA.TV – a video portal for recorded presentations at conferences held by CREOBA, the Commercial REO Brokers Association.

I have little to no clue what a Commercial REO Broker is, much less what they do and what they discuss in their conferences, but for those who do, the website is simple to use, and simple to update. Check it out!

Related posts:

• CREOBA TV Website

View website at http://www.creoba.tv

The Commercial REO Brokers Association, or CREOBA, needed a new website, separate from their main web presence, to showcase videos from events they hold regularly across the country, featuring presentations by noted brokers, talking state of the industry, and strategy.

Greasy Pig Studios designed this Wordpress-powered site, to visually match the main CREOBA site, along with adding some visual punch evident in websites today.

The videos are categorized by event location. Upon entering the category page, each individual video can be accessed via its thumbnail, including a caption describing the video (usually of who is talking).

When clicked, the video plays via a modal overlay (Shadowbox, the same variety used on the Greasy Pig Studios site).

The site is driven by a simple yet comprehensive backend using Wordpress that makes adding new videos as simple as possible (all that’s needed is the video as an FLV, and a thumbnail image for the video).

The videos on the site were edited and compressed by Painted Bird Films, for whom we designed a motion logo.

Related posts:

• King Soundworks Website
• Renee Cascia Website
• Epicurean Umbrella Website

*really kickass cocktails. Like using liquid nitrogen, dry ice, and cotton candy.

Related posts:

• Liquid Alchemy Website
• My Suicide Website
• CREOBA TV Website

View website at http://www.liquidalchemysf.com

Liquid Alchemy, West Coast molecular mixology experts, needed a new, clean website to represent their unique brand of dazzling, laboratory-precision cocktail slinging, and commissioned Greasy Pig Studios.

Replacing their old, bloated outdated design, with a super-slick single-page splash, Greasy Pig Studios allows visitors to Liquid Alchemy’s website to glean all the information they need in the front page.

The site explains everything Liquid Alchemy is about, notice of upcoming events, a form to capture mailing list signups, and a super-slick Shadowbox image gallery, because with Liquid Alchemy, seeing really is believing.

Related posts:

• My Suicide Website
• Regenerate Films Website
• Clipped Films Website

And if THIS works, new site updates should be pushed to my twitter account simultaneously as well. A great solution for keeping up with all your social networking when you’re busy, you know, networking socially (or working. That too).

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If all goes well this should publish into the Greasy Pig Studios Facebook fan page. Not a fan? Join now!

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That’s right, Microsoft is donating food everytime you upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 from 6. Of course, they could do the world an even bigger favor by donating AND telling people to just move to Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Chrome. Anything BUT Internet Explorer. Version 8 actually isn’t all that terrible past its memory footprint and speed, but at least it renders most CSS correctly.

Internet Explorer has been a huge thorn in my side the past few days as I’m building a side that’s really been acting up (because of the CSS) when viewed in Internet Explorer, and it looks worse and worse the more versions back you go. If this project goes overbudget it’s because of this compatibility checking I’ve been having to do. It’s tough when working on a Mac since Microsoft stopped supporting Internet Explorer for OSX years ago.

Speaking of which, the best browser based solution I’ve come upon to check how sites look across different OS’s and browsers is Adobe Browserlab, which takes (non-interactive) screenshots of the URL of your choosing along different platforms. Unfortunately, for checking interactivity and everything else, I have no choice but to use Bootcamp into Windows to see how things look. Browserlab is good enough for a quick check, though.

Browserlab is free, but you’ll need an adobe ID, which, if you’ve ever downloaded a demo from them, you already have.

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One of the funny things about my portfolio site being the first thing I buit in wordpress is that I now know a thousand times more about how WP works than I did when I started, and yet now I’m too busy to redesign my own site. Oh well, when the time comes…

Meanwhile, on a current project-in-progress, I was able to teach myself using sprites in CSS as a much cleaner alternative to using javascript rollover images for navigation. They had been the bane of my existence before, but now that I know how to do it the CSS way I’d never go back at all!

Thanks to this Tutorial9 lesson for explaining the process step by step, in such a way that I would understand how to do it as well in the future in different configurations. Meanwhile, I highly suggest you subscribe to Tutorial9 as well, as their tips on Photoshop, HTML, CSS, and other design tools really round out one’s skill set.

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Who Are You People? is a feature film screenplay by Ben Epstein for which we recently put together 70+ page pitchbook. It was a new and oftentimes daunting undertaking, dealing with lots of assets that constantly needed to be changed and edited, but the final product is something that everyone was impressed with. And now you can check out the project:

Who Are You People? Pitchbook

Related posts:

• The Crush Comic Book

Greasy Pig Studios was commissioned by screenwriter Ben Epstein to design and lay out a pitch book for a script of his that he is planning to direct. Who Are You People? is a coming of age drama about Alex, a teenage girl in New York who finds out her father isn’t really her biological father, and runs away from home to seek out her true father after learning of his identity.

Ben Epstein wanted a book that would inform potential actors, producers, and studios about the asthetic vision he had for the film, along with his potential acting and location choices. In addition, he commissioned about 30 pages of storyboards from artist Jacob Glaser.

Greasy Pig Studios took the massive amount of photos and text provided by Ben and laid out about 70 pages for the book. Asthetically the book resembles a scrapbook, from the leather corners, worn edges, photos taped on the pages, and handwritten captions next to the photos. It thematically matched Who Are You People? which dealt with discovering the truth about peoples’ pasts.

The project was delivered both as full-spread (and full bleed) TIFF files, as well as a print-ready PDF file. With those assets, Mr. Epstein was able to find a printer who fulfilled his requirements and the pitch book has now been sent to many of Hollywood’s established talent that matched Ben’s vision for the story.

Related posts:

• Liquid Alchemy Website
• King Soundworks Logo & Card
• Lucy’s Piano Poster & DVD Art

If you’re already familiar with RSS feeds and subscription, I highly recommend you sign up for this site’s RSS feed. It lets you stay up-to-date on the latest Greasy Pig Studios projects and news. This is especially useful while we’re still putting up old content. If you didn’t subscribe, you might not get to check out projects we just put up but did years ago.

Important! Meanwhile, if you’d already subscribed to GPS in the past, I highly recommend you unsubscribe and resubscribe, as I’ve made some changes to the feed structure. If you stay subscribed the old way I can’t guarantee you’ll be kept updated like you wanted to.

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A few weeks ago a hard drive in an external enclosure started acting up. Turns out it was the enclosure itself. I was in dire need of extra storage anyway (well, I had been for a long time), so now seemed like a good time to make a new investment.

Storage prices continue to drop and currently you can get a 1TB external drive with Firewire and USB for about $100 dollars, 1.5 TB for about $170. Meanwhile, internal storage can run as little as $100 per 1.5TB, even lower if you get lucky.

Meanwhile, since I have relatively limited desk space, I wasn’t crazy about having more than a handful of drives piled up, each taking their own power brick and outlet. This was a management nightmare at the My Suicide offices, and one I couldn’t begin to afford handling at my own office.

Thus came my savior: The Vantec NexStar NST-D100UFS 2.5-Inch/3.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0/eSATA/1394a Hard Drive Dock (White). A $60 dollar investment, it allows you to plug any 2.5 or 3.5 inch internal hard drive into the dock like an old video game system (an added nostalgic plus), and swap it out with no tools and just a firm press on a lever button.

Using this, I can manage multiple hard drives with just one power brick and a 4×6 inch footprint on my desk. This is the only dock I could find that handled Firewire (400 only unfortunately), hence its slightly higher price compared to other docks that only offered USB and eSata.

But the most important advantage is now whenever I need to expand my storage, I just need to buy more internal hard drives, at much lower prices than external ones. Consider the following options, if I were to need about 3TB of space:

External solution:

2 1.5TB external HD w/ firewire @ $150 each: $300

Dock solution:

1 NexStar HD dock w/firewire: $60

2 1.5TB internal SATA HD @100 each: $200

Total: $260

In fact, at one point I came upon an sale that offered two 1.5TB internal drives for $160, which would’ve brought the total price for 3TB down to $220.

Since the dock is a one-time purchase, the savings get bigger and bigger the more drives I buy (the dock has a limit of 2TB drives, unfortunately, but there’ll be at least another year or two before 2TB drives become the cheapest per-gig storage solution, and further down until they get supplanted as such).

The dock worked great out of the box, the drive showing up on my machine as soon as I plugged it in (and subsequently formatted). The build quality is all plastic but above average for an off-brand product. The drive plugs into the slot snugly and doesn’t wiggle much.

Unlike an amazon user review, it daisy-chained with another external drive just fine in OSX, allowing me to back that drive up into my now ample storage space.

Of course, with such a modular solution there’s always the fear of less reliability. I will update the blog should any issues pop up, but for now  I am extremely satisfied with my purchase, and highly recommend it for those seeking cheap, modular storage.

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Never fear that updates have been somewhat slow lately; I have plans next week to update on at least one of the exciting projects we’ve worked on lately. Hang in there, because when it’s slow like this, it means we’re knee deep in business!

Meanwhile, if you’re in the LA area this Saturday, the Downtown Film Festival of Los Angeles is presenting My Suicide at 7:00pm. This is our official Los Angeles debut, after screening oh-so-close at the Newport Beach Film Festival earlier in the year.

For info and tickets go to see My Suicide check out the Facebook event invite created by the official My Suicide Facebook fan page

There will be a Q&A with the cast and crew (if you’re lucky you might see me!), and an afterparty to follow. Hope to see you there!

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As the webmaster (do people still use that term?) of the official My Suicide webpage (check it out, btw, the site’s been updated with our latest wins, as well as new photos and videos!), I am also co-admin of the My Suicide Facebook page.

So at Facebook’s own suggestion, here I am inviting you all to join the 600+ fans (and growing) at learning the latest and greatest news about our movie:

My Suicide

Promote Your Page Too

In fact, what the hell, go and add yourself as a fan of Greasy Pig Studios as well.

Greasy Pig Studios

Promote Your Page Too

Related posts:

• My Suicide Website

Ahh, it feels good to be able to put up recent works, fresh out of the oven.

The latest edition to our project archives is Clemency, a short film directed by Joseph Albanese. This project was unique in that the VFX needed to be re-done, as most had already been done prior, albeit hastily, admitted the director. In order to get the film in fighting shape for festivals, three VFX sequences had to be polished up.

To see a clip of one of the sequences as well as screenshots, check out our page for Joseph Albanese’s Clemency.

Related posts:

• Clemency Motion Graphics
• Motion Graphics Reel
• Kameelperd Motion Logo

As mentioned in the previous post, My Suicide recently played at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy, the largest film children’s film festival in Europe. And now director David Lee Miller, in attendance, just gave us word that our little-movie-that-could-(and-keeps-going) just SWEPT THE FESTIVAL!

MY SUICIDE
by David Lee Miller (USA)

Reasons:
Eclecticism and innovation in the choice and use of film techniques as well as a strong and emotional impact have turned this film into a real journey in human mind, carrying a complex but straightforward message. Through sarcasm and satire, it effectively criticizes society and its influence on individuals. A thorough mirror of the chaos that constantly dominates teenagers’ minds, the film leads the audience to understand the deep value of human life by exploring the topic of suicide

My Suicide won Best Feature, Jury Grand Prix (I dunno what the difference is there), Audience Award, and a special “Web Cinema Portal” which praised its social awareness, in the Generator 16+ category. The four awards makes My Suicide the most awarded film in the history of the festival, and makes us two-for-two in beating Cherrybomb, the feature film most well-known as starring Harry Potter co-superstar Rupert Grint.

The really crazy thing is that our director conveyed how AWFUL the projection of our film was: the widescreen was switched, the framerate was off, it was played in standard definition from a LAPTOP, and the projected subtitles were off-sync. While such annoyances are enough to make anyone involved in the technical aspects of the film have a heart attack (as our director nearly did, and I’m sure I would’ve had I been there), apparently it didn’t stop youth from continuously praising our director and our film throughout the rest of the festival.

Next up, Melbourne, where once again we are competing in a youth-themed competition. So far, we’ve won Best Picture prizes in four different festivals (Berlin, GenArt, Seattle, and Giffoni), three of which in categories aimed at youth. Just goes to show how deeply this film is resonating.

Related posts:

• Who Are You People? Film Pitchbook
• My Suicide Website