in reel time
So as I mentioned before, the real reason for my trip to Baltimore (and Virginia) the week before last was to be a Visiting Artist at UMBC's Visual Arts Department. The lecture (if thats what you call it) was basically just on my work, with a couple examples of details of how a project came to its end result. It was nice to have a chance to pass on to students my opinion on focusing on the basics and not technology - spend their time now learning good typography, design theory, philosophy, and history, not software and equipment; and also just to emphasize how important (and how lacking) a knowledge of typography is in my field. There was a bigger turnout than expected, which just added to the pressure (since as I began I felt like I really had no idea what I was doing). Apparently it didn't show, since the feedback seemed to be pretty positive. And the number - and quality - of the questions afterward was both surprising and gratifying. For me, the biggest part of the presentation was re-cutting my reel. Its one of those projects that always needs to be done but never gets done (since you are your own client), so having another reason to force a deadline for it was great. Since it made its world premiere at the lecture, the new reel is now posted to my website. Check it out at the link below. And I also have to call out 'props' to Michael Schmidt of Fusebox Sound. He took the music from my original reel and re-composed and scored on top of it to give it a new feel (or a 2.0 feel as I so cheesily described it). Mike does a lot of big time and cool work, based on his website, so I don't think he needs any help finding work from me; but if you need a composer for a project, definitely check him out.