Arvin Bautista:: Greasy Pig Studios

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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!

Just added to the Graphic & Web Design portfolio is our new microsite for Liquid Alchemy, specializing in molecular mixology*.

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

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).

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.