Just want to illustrate how amazing photo-editing can be:
Levels, Contrast, Temperature & Tint adjustments
Isn’t it amazing? Sometimes it makes me wonder if i could just do with a cheap 200 bucks camera. Hmmm should i be spending thousands of dollars on a dslr when i can do this.
Posted in When there is nothing to do | 2 Comments »
I still can’t believe how bumped i am about our project grades. We had put in hours, days and weeks of sheer hard work..
Took the most annoying amount of effort in perfecting our storyline and making sure that we were in sync with the client..
Painstakingly photoshops 96 images into situation-appropriate storyboard frames (including removing the countless BMWs, yellow lines, luscious green grass and adding in an entire landscape into the background)..
Practiced and practiced our pitch to the best that we can do..
Wrote an incredibly deep and intelligently coherent rationale to backup our ideas…
The class loved our presentation. Awed and wow-ed by the amount of thought and detail put into a simple 5 minute presentation.
and fuck, B+. It’s ok i’m totally fine with it if everyone else’s grades are somewhat similar. But noooo they got freaking As!!! What the hell are you thinking professor!!! Do i need to remind you of your instructions in a particular week 3?!?!?!
Ok let me explain it first. We were suppose to be doing a 2 min storyboard for a client, telling people their BRAND STORY. Not an advertisement, not a promotional video, but a BRAND STORY.
Ok guys lets take a look a this together. From the word “brand” we understand that our 2 min film should revolve around a particular company, and by “story” we are suppose to be telling people about the company and their ups and downs, what they did, and why they did it. Am i right?
We got that. And when the rest were presenting their storyboards, we thought to ourselves,” ok they totally got it wrong, dude. They’re doing Ads for them, not a brand story. Like C’mon people did you even read the brief?”. And can i just add that i could sum up all their presentations with one phrase: plants are hard to grow and we know it.
Ours was different. We highlighted the difficulties the brand is currently facing and explained this from the perspectives of all parties involved. A 360 degree approach to the problem. We didn’t want to merely side the brand and portray they all high and mighty. We wanted to tell everyone what they themselves are doing, and what these actions are doing to the rest of the people. A realistic approach to get people to wake up their idea and look at the big picture.
B+
It wasn’t about the grades. At all. It was about the prof and his view of things. If you weren’t in sync with his ideas, you’re automatically “not good enough”. So if i want to get an A+, should i cut up your brain and analyze it first?
We were the only ones who bothered to put so much consideration into our work. We knew what we were doing and we weren’t faltering because we knew we’re right. How can shallow presentations beat ours just like that?
And how dare you. How dare you put our visuals down when something so unprofessionally done could get an A+. How dare you deny our artistic excellence.
What a disappointment. We lost to gimmicks and obvious ideas. Ideas that he suggested. I’m sorry but they aren’t that great.
Maybe i’m so angry because i feel sorry for us, all 3 of us. It pains me to see so much effort gone unrecognized. How all 3 of us were so hopefully and confident, but it came back and slapped us right across the face. How all 3 of us gravely comforted each other and tried to accept our fate.
There is no doubt that if we were to do this all over again, we wouldn’t change anything. We love our work so much.
They say failed ideas are masterpieces in someone else’s eyes. Now all 3 of us have got a masterpiece in our portfolios.
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The very first thing i thought of when i logged into my wordpress account today was,” Why the hell are people still visiting my blog?!” That was until i realized the huge traffic flow towards my one post about supermodels. Darn those men.
While waiting for my 13.6MB file to be sent out, let me just update the world on my current lifestyle. Well so far… NOTHING IS DIFFERENT! Other than the fact that i feel so much more relaxed without the painful experience of doing anything remotely related to numbers, yet. The keyword is “yet”. What happened? I used to be in love with numbers. They used to hug me and tuck me to bed every night in JC!
I wonder why. Must be the boyfriend.
Oh well, one step closer to my artistic goals. What’s there to complain?
Finally gotten chance to meet up with Wink on a more regular basis. It’s been fun and that totally brings back sweet memories of secondary school. I can’t believe we’ve known each other for close to 10 years now. I love these guys.
Yay 13MB finally sent out! Time to sleep!
Goodnight!
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First day at JWT tomorrow!! To be exact, it should be 8 more hours!!
Nervous and excited. And my most worrying thought is… I don’t want to eat lunch alone!! I greatly suspect that i’ll be the only lonesome intern in the entire office. Seriously.. If not they wouldn’t have asked me to start as soon as possible.
I hope i could meet the bosses tomorrow and they would tell me about Unilever soon! The only exciting part about this internship is the scale of the project, and hopefully my job scope.
TTYL
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Today marks the end of my quest for a dream internship. I had officially submitted my internship proposal this morning via onTrac and it has been approved.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now a JWT intern.
Surprisingly, JWT is actually a stronger agency as compared to my dream company, O&M. Baby was telling me about the rankings of various ad agencies in Singapore and JWT is 5th while O&M is like 10th or something. No wonder cousin said they’re not doing very well. Oh well..
Yesterday was such a happening and hectic day. I could write a book about the common pitfalls of an interview at this instant.
At 2pm, i went for my JWT interview at Scotts Road. I walked into JWT’s office (for the 2nd time) and only now did i realize how beautiful the entrance is. There is an enclosed area with a projection on the wall, decorated to look like a forest. The wall projection was of a picture of many trees in autumn. Birds were chirping realistically from the microphones and i could actually feel it move from one corner of the room to the other. All these and i haven’t even step foot into the office yet.
I approached the receptionist and asked for Eza. I could literally see her eyebrows join together. “Eza? There’s no Eza here.”
“Crap i must have gotten the name wrong”
Turns out she’s called Eva. That’s for taking a call on the train full of loud and obnoxious children.
Eva brought me to their WPP cafe directly opposite the JWT office and only then i realize that it was an interview over food!! Goodness gracious I totally threw FT down the drain after Fine Dining. Crap.. Okay first you have to eat something. Ok check, i asked for Earl Grey without sugar and milk. Now you have to retain your composure and consume your food with grace. Check, i didn’t even touch my food because i was too engrossed in my interviewer. She was telling me about my job scope and project! Of course i had to look like i’m more interested in that then my cup of tea! Suddenly out of nowhere she decides to sit cross legged on the couch. I had to pull myself back from making a witty smart-ass remark that would kill my chances. Then she went to get my other potential boss. Go go go!! Pour your tea and take 5 big mouthfuls to make it look less empty!! Crap she’s back! Damn that was fast. Was she perching outside the Cafe all this while?! At this point of time, it was pretty amazing how i managed to compare the both of them to my previous interviewers from this exact same company. They are 2 worlds apart. Previously, they were 2 people who seemed to be impatient and unprepared for my interview. This time round, she was relaxed and she had made the extra effort to brief me on my exact role in the company. She truly cared of us interns, unlike the previous interviewers.
End of interview! Darn should i pay or not? FT taught me to make payment discretely as a form of a modest gesture. But in this case i think it is just plain rude if i were to make payment. It would be portraying a reversal of authority. So i didn’t pay.. Goodness i should be failing FT.
Before i left, she made it very clear that it is my choice to decide if i feel that this internship is suitable for me. Now that’s a first.
—————–
At 5pm, i went back to O&M for the 3rd time. I frequent this place so often that the security guard recognizes me. Before this, let me talk about this awesome HR personnel i met at O&M.
His name is Leonard and he is darn awesome. For my very first interview with them, he spoke to me in mandarin and it didn’t even feel like it was an interview. It felt like he was on my side the whole time while some big director throws nasty questions at me.
After my 2nd round of interview when i called back to clarify the outcome, he sounded so apologetic when he told me i was rejected. He said he was “too paiseh to tell me upfront” and he had already sent my resume to several other departments. Which HR person does that?! He felt that it was his personal responsibility to get me an internship there. Whenever he called to update me, it felt like i was talking to a friend more than a potential employee. He called me once and this was our conversation:
Freda: “Hello Leonard ar?”
Leonard: “Hello Freda.. (breathes in deeply).. i tell you something ar. so sorry leh. we need to shift the interview to the afternoon..”
Freda: “OH no! how afternoon is afternoon?” (bearing in mind that i was to have my JWT interview at 2pm that day)
Leonard: “the MD needs to meet a client ar, so maybe around 5pm?”
Freda: “WAH HENG AR! Caaan can no problem 5pm is great”
Leonard: “Really ar? Okay okay good. Sorry ar, keep making you come down”
Freda: “No la!! I’m already very thankful for your help.”
(I put down the phone)
Chris: “Who’s that? Your father ar?”
Freda: “ar? No la, Ogilvy called.”
Chris: “HUH?! WHy you talk to them like that?!”
Freda: “Haha. Like friend right.”
If i have kids, i would make them do HR. Too bad my interests doesn’t lie there.
Ok back to my O&M interview. Alright to be honest, it wasn’t really O&M. It is an affiliate that resides in the same building, and works closely with O&M departments. Okay that totally sounds the same as any other department in O&M, but the only major difference is – i can’t put the magic O word on my resume. Darn..
Anyhow it was a branding company from London, The Brand Union. The best thing is.. the Managing Director interviewed me personally and he turned out to be 100000x more friendly than what i had expected!! He joked and laughed and we made snide remarks at different things together. Such a funny caucasian!! I could tell that he is a truly intelligent person, but he humbled himself to my level just to make me feel comfortable. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Most importantly, he understands my position. He actually told me that he totally understands if i would want to cast my net to different agencies. He could see that i would choose JWT over TBU purely on the fact that JWT is an ad agency but TBU is a brand consultancy. He doesn’t undermine such mentalities and there was no need for me to smoke him at all. He totally gets that i don’t really know much about branding because i came in with the idea that i was on an ad interview. He actually drew diagrams on his notebook to explain certain concepts to me. He totally teaches better than some of my profs.
Best of all, he watches Glee and he thinks iPads are ridiculous. I almost stood up and gave him a standing ovation.
———————–
People at O&M are so nice and bonded, even though they are from different companies and departments. People say Hi to each other on the corridor and they don’t mind losing their professional image once in a while. It is just a very homely feeling whenever i step into their building. They may not the best agency in Singapore, but they are still the people i want to work with in future.
JWT confirmed me later that night. I had to accept it because i’m so tired of waiting around with no outcome. I had shed so many tears over this matter and many people don’t understand why. I’ll tell you why: it is like having a strong hold over your dream and seeing it slip through your fingers, but you were so sure you had it in the bag.
Nonetheless, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If i were accepted into O&M, i would be a “telemarketing intern” whereas now i could be exposed to something bigger than what i had expected out of an internship.
Cheers to happy endings.
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The moment of truth lies somewhere next week.
Next week is a truly important week, because it involves 3 things that i’ve been driving for for the past 3 months.
1. Results. I have to score well for this. Not because I’m involved in the never-ending GPA marathon, but because I just want to prove it to myself. Prove to myself that hard work really does pay off in this brutal world, and to prove that i have the substance to continue pursuing what I believe in.
2. My Freedom. Even though without dedicating my time to school activities this semester, I am still equally busy. Why?! Nonetheless it has been a tiring but fulfilling semester, and I am SO looking forward to my good friends, “8-hours of sleep” and “guilt-free play”, of whom i have since parted with 3 months ago.
3. My internship. People whom i had confided in recently would have an idea of my internship status. In fact, in less than 12 hours, I would have to march back into the office and give in my all to the last obstacle guarding against my opportunity to work in my dream company. Please God, let me kill the meeting tomorrow. I promise I’ll be a nice girl and devote one of these days to a strict vegetarian diet in return.
I am so nervous for tomorrow’s meeting. More nervous than I was during the initial interview. Getting this internship doesn’t equate to have a temporary job for the next 3 months, it is the launch of my dream career. If i get this tomorrow I would finally allow my dreams to come true. I could look the people who didn’t believe in me square in the eye and tell them,” That’s for putting me down, you bitches”.
But everything would have to wait till tomorrow..
Dear God
You heard my prayers right? Thanks in advance.
Yours Sincerely,
Freda
Posted in Building an empire inside my head | Leave a Comment »
For the past couple of days, I’ve been fortunate enough to have some across some quotes that i think are meaningful enough to stay with ordinary people like us for life. These quotes made me think, supported my decisions and made me realize how many people in the world are similar to us. They experience similar fortunate and unfortunate incidents, but they could put them in words so beautifully. Here are some to share:
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“When I was nine, I asked my Dad, ‘Can I have your movie camera? That old, wind-up 8-millimeter movie camera that’s in your drawer?’ And he goes, ‘Sure, take it.’ And I took it, and I started making movies with it, and I started being as creative as I could, and never once in my life did my parents ever say, ’ What you’re doing is a waste of time.’ Never….. I know there are kids out there that don’t have that support system. So, if you’re out there and you’re listening, listen to me: If you wanna be creative, get out there and do it. It’s not a waste of time.”
Michael Giacchino is an American composer and this is his acceptance speech for “Best Original Score” for the 2010 Academy Awards.
I felt completely blown away by michael Giacchino. He is such an inspiration to us all, especially from what i am going through. I just hope that for every single person in the world would pursue their passion because someday you will succeed. People don’t tell you that something is a good opportunity; you tell yourself that it is a good opportunity. Believe in yourself and don’t let others put you down.
——————-
“She was my best friend. She was my favorite person in the world.”
This is a short excerpt from a patient who had experienced 7 years of continuous intense pain because of an infected nerve in his nostril. He was talking about his wife who died a year before.
I always thought that someone would have a best friend, and a boyfriend. But this patient totally caught me by surprise. When you decide to spend the rest of your life with a precious someone, you are committing to the fact that he is the most important person in your life. Your favorite person is the one you decide to commit to forever.
——————-
The Legion of Extraordinary dancers: http://www.thelxd.com/
I first noticed them while watching the 2010 Academy awards when they performed a sensational hiphop/breakdance/contemporary piece accompanied by music from the nominees for “Best Original Score”. It was totally awesome and breathtaking.
I was totally impressed until i found out that Legacy from So You Think You Can Dance Season 6 got recruited into the LXD!! He is such an inspiring figure for people who are stuck at the bottom of the income tree, or are suppressed by some form of authority. He broke through all barriers and is now a part of a dance phenomenon. I am officially a Legacy fan.
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Quizzes and notes on Facebook are so yesterday. They are so yesterday when i turn around and asked yesterday, yesterday told me that quizzes and notes on Facebook are so yesterday.
In the How I Met Your Mother zone now.
But one quiz caught my attention so i decided to give it a shot and turns out, it surprised me!
This is so true i couldn’t believe how a couple of simple questions could tell something so deep about someone. Wonder if it’s true for others.
Posted in Building an empire inside my head | 3 Comments »
I was flipping through OK! Magazine a couple of days ago and there was an article about VS Models Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr. Between the 2, the writer picked Alessandra for having the best body. WHY?! Because Miranda was TOO SKINNY. Did you see that girl?! Skinny doesn’t mean damn chio!! But of course she’s TOO skinny while the rest of us just have to suck it in and lose more weight because we’ll never reach that stage. Yike!
Anyway this article made me think back on the many wonderful VS Fashion Shows we downloaded on kazaa years ago, and how i miss the older versions because the newer ones just aren’t as exciting anymore. I attributed this to the fact that the older models are just better than the freshies now.
Therefore.. Today i’ll like to pay a tribute to my favourite past/present VS Angels of all time! (Yes Kanye, all time)
Posted in Building an empire inside my head | 1 Comment »
Cool windfall this year!! Definitely more than 400 and counting.
Compared to last year’s pitiful 200+, this year is amaaaaazing (in Barney’s voice).
Thanks to baby’s mom’s ******** and his whole family, i managed to hit a new milestone in a very long time.
Something new happened this year..
Posted in Events to remember | 2 Comments »
I just watched 2 movies in the past 2 days and i’m telling you.. It’s super fun picking out the different things directors reuse nowadays.
First up, Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief vs. Harry Potter Series
Return of the poster boy’s back view. They do look better form the back, but i have to admit that percy jackson is rather mesmerizing. I think it’s his eyes.
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My totally had a makeover!!! It went from cool blue version of a typical Singaporean storage bedroom to a hawaiian beachy resort look!! Tadah!! With a tiny walk in closet.
Only one bad thing that got out of it. I fall asleep very easily in my room now.
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Life in Still Motion 