The Sampler

This semester, I interned with an up-and-coming music blog called The Sampler. The Sampler is great, because instead of having to browse a bunch of different music blogs to find new music in your favorite genre, you can get them all in the same place!

I worked as a marketing / PR intern. My responsibilities were mainly across social media networks; working on keeping the Twitter account updated, raising the Instagram following, as well as scouting out graphic design interns, advertisement space for promotional materials, and collecting and organizing artist and venue contact information.

The Sampler, based in Los Angeles, was a remote internship for me. This came with multiple challenges - mainly the fact that I was unable to physically meet with the other interns and collaborate with them on projects face-to-face. Although social media positions are easily done remotely all over the world, there's something left to be said about working collaboratively around a big table. Additionally, it ensures the whole team is on the same page working towards the same goals.

Working with the Sampler, I learned about keeping deadlines, making appointments with my supervisor (and how hard the time difference can be!), working under pressure, and how to contact artists and artist management in a professional manner.

Since I was younger, music has always been a major part of my day-to-day life; and it was great to be able to work with The Sampler this semester and get a rare behind the scenes look into the music industry that I've looked up to my whole life.

Fall Semester: Mission (almost) Accomplished

The fall semester of my senior year in college is coming to an end... quickly. Wow - I never thought I would say that statement. Considering I had never planned on attending college until my senior year of high school, I am extremely proud of myself. I accomplished a whole lot this semester... although I will admit I took on way more than I could appropriately handle. I have big dreams, and a lot of ambition - but I have to remember that I'm not superhuman, and if I spread myself too thin then I will not be able to produce my best work.

That being said, here are a few things that I designed this past semester:






In addition to working at my computer, I worked for The Sampler as an intern. I learned how to contact artists' management in search of things such as media passes, and had the opportunity to watch a little music blog really blossom over the course of a semester.

I had a little bit of additional income through my Etsy Shop. I design a variety of typographic prints and sell them for a small profit.


Passion Typographic Print by dontpanicdeanna
I also did some marketing for Spotify and Adobe Creative Cloud. Follow the links to try a free trial of Spotify and Creative Cloud, respectively. With a part-time job at Old Navy on top of all that! Oh, wait - I own a direct sales business as well over at Chloe + Isabel by Deanna.

I can't really say that I'll miss this semester! Though I accomplished a lot, I also wish I could have focused on classes more. Next semester I have a really great schedule with a great set of classes and teachers. It'll be much more conductive to learning, and I'll be sure to not take on too much!

Omega Idea Master List

I'm going into the early stages of planning my capstone project for college. Every time I have an idea, no matter how silly it is, I'll be sure to record it here. Some will go into more depth than others.

01. JLMenard Photography Marketing Plan
My mom is a photographer, and the work she does is stunning. But by no means is she a marketer. I have an opportunity to go into business with her after I graduate, running the business aspect. Doing a complete marketing plan for her company, would benefit us both - and would additionally make a great capstone project. It's a great example of taking a good business and reworking it to work on a deeper level.

02. Incubator Business Plan - Design Shop
I've been working with the Avery County PRIDE (Professional and Retail Incubator Development Enterprise) doing social media marketing for a class. A lot of townspeople hate the project, and want to see it fail. I, however, see the potential. And would love to be a part of it. The second I walked in, I envisioned myself having my own little shop there and getting forever sucked into the small town of Banner Elk, for better or for worse.

03. Grandfather Home for Children
I have a friend who has been working as a youth care worker at the Grandfather Home for Children here in Banner Elk. I'm always hearing amazing stories about how kids' lives are being changed for the better literally every single day. They already have a similar video on their website, but it mainly focuses on what the Home does for the children. I would love to work on a documentary that gets the kids' perspectives and stories about how the Home is changing their life.

Animal Logic Visual Effects

Animal Logic is a digital visual effects company that was founded in 1991. Their main studios are located in Sydney, Australia; but they have additional offices in Santa Monica, California. The majority of their business comes in the form of high-end clients looking for TV and commercial work. Recently however, they have been getting work in a number of large budget films such as The Great Gatsby, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and 300.

Animal Logic's main draw in Santa Monica is the feel of a boutique-sized VFX studio, with the power of over 450+ talented artists back in Sydney. They're able to deliver quality, high-end projects. Since expanding their Santa Monica studio, they were able to grab accounts with Toyota and HBO.

In 2012, they worked with Coca-Cola to design 3 commercials for their Super Bowl campaign... affectionately dubbed the Polar Bowl.



It seems like Animal Logic has been out of the game recently, but that could just mean they're working on bigger and better things to blow the competition out of the water! I'm excited to see what they have to bring to the table for Australia as well as the States!

"The Great Gatsby" Special Effects

The Great Gatsby VFX from Chris Godfrey on Vimeo.

Over the long weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing The Great Gatsby for the first time. I was amazed at the lavish buildings, outfits, and parties that seemed to teem through the entire movie. However, it didn't occur to me at first that a lot of what I was seeing was likely a special effect.

After stumbling across this video, I learned that Chris Godfrey was the visual effects supervisor for the film. He worked with 7 different vendors to complete all the special effects in the movie.

While I was disappointed that Gatby's beautiful house didn't exist somewhere in real life, I did learn that many of the pieces were in fact real, just from different places. For example,

• The gates to Gatsby's mansion where shot in a park near the studios.
• The front facade of Gatsby's mansion was a school with 3d extensions.
• The garden was 3d.
• The hallway, ballroom, organ, stairs, breakfast balcony and dance area was stage 1.
• The wharf was stage 3, 4 and then 2 at various times.
• And Nick's Bungalow next door was stage 3, Centennial Park and Mount Wilson.

Overall, The Great Gatsby includes over 1,500 visually enhanced shots throughout.

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Kurt Halsey

One of my favorite visual artists is Michigan-based painter Kurt Halsey. Halsey earned a bachelor's degree in painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2000. His work is largely driven by emotions and typically relates to the topics of love and relationships.

Drawings





Paintings

"Influenced by my hopeless romantic and super sensitive mindset, I pay far too much attention to the little things in life and in the relationship between two people. In constant need of reassurance, explanation, closure, and attention, my paintings are made."

By no means is Halsey a "famous" artist; however, those who follow his work do so in a cult-like fashion. Fans of his work show their appreciation often in the form of tattoos. A quick google search brings up hundreds and hundreds of Kurt Hasley doodles and quotes on the most devout of fans.


In today's society with vast technology, it is all too simple for Halsey to upload his work in droves. Since the early 2000's he has been sharing his work with the world on the internet... and it's hard for even his biggest fans to keep up with all of his work. It seems each time you're looking through collections, you see a piece that is completely new to you. It's a blessing and a curse, never running out of new pieces to see... but always wondering if you've seen them all.

If you want to see more of Kurt Halsey's work, feel free to visit his official website. If you'd like to look though a larger selection of his work, I encourage you to do a google search or look through the tags on tumblr such as #Kurt Halsey or #Kurt Halsey Frederiksen.

Everything's Temporary

Work hard to make something as meaningful and beautiful as you can and when you're done, pack it in and know it was all temporary.

- Yoga Jones, Orange is the New Black