My Weekend at Megacon '11 part 1

For those who don't know, Megacon is arguably the biggest Comic Book/Anime convention in Florida. It is normally held in the Orange County Convention Center. Now, having been a member of the Propeller Anime Club at Full Sail, I was given volunteering duties. Having worked the convention for 3 years, I knew the crap I would have to go through in terms of line control and setup. However, this year was different. Since I became a graphic designer, I had always taken pictures, conventions included. However, photography was never an actual duty within my schedule in convention volunteering. So, on top of the stuff I had to do, I was to deal with photography as well, be it panels, or events. I knew this was a great opportunity to show off some of my photography skills, and to make the news that much better, my 18-135mm diaphragm broke. Yeah!


     So let's start off with the hotel. I met up with a good friend of mine (we'll call him "Waldo"), and he asked if he was willing to share a room with someone over the weekend. He said he was. That's right, he was staying at the Peabody, a rather high-class-ish hotel that was located right next to the west concourse of the Orange County Convention. My Nikon D90 (don't worry, I borrowed a 18-70mm lens) battery was low, so I managed some great....

 ..and not-so-great shots.

Ugh.

So, yeah. I couldn't wait to start work the next day.

I woke up and started my venture towards the West Concourse. (and snuck some solid shots).

     I made it! Thankfully, all I had to do was to walk through this walkway adjacent to the hotel. I arrived at 224-B, where the volunteers were to meet. I was there extra early, so after setting my D90's battery charger on a random power strip, I took a look at my volunteer's schedule and saw that my first job was to do photography duty for the Trina Nakamura/Jaime Marchi panel. After meeting with Russell, the guy handling the video and film, we went straight to room 224 F/G/H (appropriately called the Main Event Room). We were greeted by the guys running the projectors and audio, as well as the hostesses of the panel. Trina Nakamura and Jaime Marchi, for those wondering, are Voice Actresses. Their resumes include Fruits Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Blassreiter, etc. I actually loved how down-to-earth they were, and it was a blast talking with and shooting images of their panel.

Here are some shots for you guys.












































To be continued.... (417)

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An Interview with anonymous designer

So, I made a list of questions to further my understanding of how a designer negotiates with a certain client, and I finally set the interview up. The man didn't want his name revealed, sorry guys. While I was getting his questions prepared, I realized that I forgot my pen. He offered me one, and I agreed. The first question I asked was how he uses objective criteria is his negotiations. He didn't quite understand, so I explained it to him. After face-palming himself, he basically said that sort normally applies when he states facts about what and what isn't possible, design-wise and whether or not a design could work, by citing examples. I then asked him a hypothetical question: What happens when a client thinks the design stinks whichever way you look at it? How do you separate the the people from the problem? He said, "Well first of all, if someone acted that way, then I will simply say 'thanks and bye.'" It's great to have clients and all, but if someone is going to be stubborn and mutual benefit simply isn't possible, why drag out the relationship? I agreed wholeheartedly with him. I myself have had clients who demanded that I do certain things like add clip art and lens flare when the result just wasn't going to be portfolio-worthy. The mutual benefit that he looked for was that the client gets his business promoted properly, while he gets to build his portfolio with yet another gem. I got ready for my next and final question. I asked, "Which of the 5 core concerns do you personally believe to be the most important?" He was now getting a drink. He then answered, "None of them are more important than the other, not overall, anyway. Sometimes one can be more important, but most of the time you cannot just generalize on all of them.". I agreed with him, once again. I wish my meeting was longer but he was really busy that day.

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