Champagne Productions

Back to Blogging

2010-04-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

So my last blog was Feruary 11th ... apparently I am not so good at keeping up. Every day I would say to myself "you really need to do a new blog today, god sometimes I think you are the worst business woman ever!" and then I would see something shiny and forget all about it. Kinda like a fish.

So today is the day! I'm relieved to be able to check this off my list. Not that I don't like doing it, because once I get going it's fun, but you know those tasks you really want to do but have a hard time starting?

Ok, let's see ... what's happened since Feb 11th?? Business or personal first? Business woman inside my head is saying "Pick business bonehead!" She is really bossy so that's what I will choose.

I scored a gig shooting a meeting/workshop for the school board which was awesome! You may think I'm lying but I actually really enjoyed it. It was held on a Thursday so I got to work on a regular work day like everyone else, and I have never done it before so I was excited to break into a new area of production!

Bad news about my camera. I can talk about now because it's all better (thanks to the husb, as always). My LCD screen was acting up and eventually went so dark that I couldn't see what I was shooting! So Matt took it into the Sony factory. Guy says it's probably going to be around $500.00 to fix it. He thinks it's a wire, but Sony won't care and will just put a whole new screen on. Cue the tears. Now I don't mind paying for repairs to my equipment because it kinda comes with the territory, but holy hell I've only had this camera for 2 years, I use it maybe 25 times a year, I treat it with the utmost tenderness of care, not to mention I'm not even close to having it paid off!

So with wedding season getting dangerously close, I take a risk and say I will try to find someone else to fix it. Matt works in Whitby everyother week so I take a shot in the dark that there is a place that repairs electronics. Hallelujah!!! MTC (manufaturing and technology centre) they say that they will have a look at it and I have high hopes.

Bad news: they don't fix "professional" equipement.

Good news: The chick is annoyed that I'm expected to pay $500.00 for a new screen after 2 years. She says there was a Sony rep coming in and she will see what she can do.

Verdict: About $138.00 with tax to get it fixed and it will be ready in 5 business days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cue more tears. Not crazy tears though just a couple small happy tears.

Yikes this blog is getting kinda long ... bettter save the personal stuff for my next blog. Which will be in a couple days. Giving myself a deadline .. this is good for me .. I work well under pressure.

Final note: I have said it before and I will say it till the day I die, I have the best husband in the world because he always makes sure everything will be ok!! Except if he's had too much to drink and I am stranded on a cold never ending walk home .... right Erin Wall??? Hilarious and adventurous details to follow.

peace.

http://www.mtcservice.com/ **** AMAZING PEOPLE I OWE MY LIFE TOO****

Rando picture! Just cause I like having something to look at. I will always have pics in my blog! More fun! This is me and some girlfriends pretending to be in a catalogue where everyone is having a great time just looking at eachother :)

I see you busting in back there Thundup! (Erin Wall's boyfriend)

Creativity ... at my beck and call??

2010-02-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Although I love my job and all the creativity that comes along with it, there are times when I feel stuck. Especially with wedding video's. Sure there's a formula, much like a wedding day it's self, but I don't want every video looking the exact same everytime. Here's where I run into problems. I get all of the footage onto my computer, make a new project in my editing program, download all of the music I think I am going to use, import all of the photo's I am going to use and then ... I hit a wall. Not all of the time but most of the time.

You know when you had to write essays in school and the first paragraph was ALWAYS the hardest? It's pretty much the same thing. Only I hit the first paragraph wall almost every new part of the video .... hmmm let's see if I can explain better. So you have "the getting ready" part of the video. Start it off with some establishing shots of where they are, maybe a shot of the bouquets, dresses etc. etc. Then you go into the people laughing and getting ready. So I am editing along and now it's time to transition to the "ceremony" part of the video. Looking at my footage .. this shot, or that one? There's that damn wall again!!

This doesn't happen with every video but I am so obsessed with making it the best video to my abilities that I stress over every detail and convince myself that the bride and groom are going to hate it. Self destructive much? I'm working on it.

Sometimes if I feel like I need some inspiration I'll go onto other videographers websites and see what they're doing. This is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. It's a good thing when I feel like our skills are more or less on the same level. So I enjoy their video, steal some good idea's if I see any and I'm back to the races. It's a bad thing when they have amazing crazy expensive equipment accompanied by 20 plus years of experience and make my video's look like I let my cat edit them together.

No worries after a minor emotional breakdown, my husband talks me off a ledge and I tell myself that it's a good thing to always be striving to do better.

I swear I am not as dramatic as I seem ... *fingers crossed behind back*

Fist pumps to my husby for putting up with the oh so dramatics that come along with me and my creativity struggles :)

Erica xox

Website Re-Vampage!!!

2010-02-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

With all of the new and exciting things I have been doing ie: Twitter and Blogging, I thought that I might as well give my website a face lift while I was at it! I designed Champagne Productions website when I first started almost 3 years ago (wow time flies) and I forgot how much work it is!!!!

For some reason every change I made I was second guessing myself "what colour should I use for that text?" "where should I put my facebook and twitter icons ..." AARRGGG!!! I never considered my self to be one of those people who couldn't make decisions for themselves but here I was not trusting any decision I made! So instead of fighting it I had some friends over so they could offer their advice! :)

It turned out to be really fun! Man you know you have a great job when you get to brainstorm at home, with your friends while listening to music!!

The friends credited for the new and shiny look of my website are: Erin Wall (remember full name, everytime) Dana and her lova boyfriend Gareth!!! I have included pictures of my awesome friends because it's always nice to put a face to the name!!

You guys rock and thanks again for your inputs!!!

www.champagneproductions.net - Check out the newly designed web site!!

Fist Pump!!

Erica xox

Dana & Gareth

Erin Wall (right) and I

Beefing up on my social networking!

2010-02-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

So one of my best friends Erin Wall (and that's how I address her in person, full name, everytime) suggested that I hop on the social networking scene and look into getting Twitter and a Blog. I was leery at first because what I don't understand, I am usually afraid of. But she offered to come over and help me get the ball rolling.

Thurs night after a couple cocktails (maybe more ...) I was officially tweeting away and learning about "hash tags" and "bit.ly". Erin Wall informed me that on Twitter you have to update your status ... sorry I am such a slave to facebook .... on Twitter you have to "tweet" at least 3 times a day, really the more the better. So your name is always popping up. I know I sound silly because basically I was the last person on the planet to get Twitter so it would be like someone trying to explain facebook to me (ps erica & facebook = soulmates) but it is new to me and I am INTO IT! :)

Once I started following people from around the Belleville area I couldn't believe I hadn't done this earlier! I mean let's get serious ... free advertising!

So now I am doing the blog thing and I am also enjoying it! At first I was thinking "what am I even going to say?" but clearly I am very good at the rambling thing and that's what a blog is all about right? Your random inner thoughts? Well maybe not all blogs, but I'm thinking that's what mine will be :)

Thanks for reading!

Fist Pump!! (I also love trashy reality TV aka: Jersey Shore .. don't judge!)

Erica xo