Matt Baume Mattymatt's blog

Another Typical Day at Work

Mandrake: Jack... Jack, listen, tell me, ah... when did you first become, well, develop this theory.

Ripper: Well, I ah, I I first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love.

Mandrake: (sighs fearfully)

Precision

After a year at the company, I've gotten my first raise: by sixty-two and a half cents an hour.

Get it right

For the last few days, I've been building websites at work, which is fine except that my coworkers have never heard of debugging. They tend to think of building software-stuff as being like other jobs -- compiling a spreadsheet, cooking a meal, booking flights -- where you can just triple-check your work and be reasonably confident that the product will not spin unexpectedly out of control.

I so am being asked to write software that does not require time for debugging.

Um.

So Hireable

Here's what I'll be working on this weekend.

Digital Training Dept. Admin I Job #ILM00810

Summary:

Working closely with the Program Manager, provides general administrative support to the Training Department.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Coordinates arrangements for all fine arts classes: maintains wait lists, coordinates models, works with instructors, orders food, and collects student feedback
• Performs library duties, including fielding library requests, entering new materials into database, researching library requests, checking out and delivering library items, taking inventory, and locating missing or overdue library items
• Provide general administrative support, including copying, typing, filing and running errands.
• Provide assistance to the Program Manager with project organization and management; identify opportunities for process improvements, and design and implement changes.
• Acts as liaison with Workplace Services, Shipping and the Help Desk to address various training needs
• Processes expense reports and check requests
• Orders office supplies
• Maintains classrooms
• Videotapes lectures and prepares them for publication in LOIS
• Assists with special projects as needed, including preparations for such events as the Speaker Series, SIGGRAPH, and the Educators’ Symposium

Education, Experience and Skills Required:

• Bachelor's degree.
• Excellent time-management and organizational skills; ability to establish priorities in a demanding environment.
• Word processing and database experience helpful.
• Proficiency with Macs and PCs; Linux experience helpful.
• Familiarity with video/video editing equipment.
• Extremely self-motivated and self-sufficient.
• Interest in computer graphics and filmmaking highly desirable.
• Desire to learn new things.

Yet Another

Lemmie know what you think.

Matthew Baume
Position Applying For: Digital Training Dept Admin (ILM00810)
2324 Fulton St; San Francisco, CA 94118
ph: 415-244-9943; mattymatt@gmail.com

Qualifications: Extensive experience in education, fine arts, VFX, and film; developing and executing curriculum; designing libraries and circulation of educational materials.

Professional Experience:

Feature Development Production Asst., Wildbrain, San Francisco; 2006-Present
•    Increased archive productivity by 240% by creating a searchable, web-based catalog for all concept art, reference, and storyboards.
•    Doubled the selection of drawing, printing, and digital supplies available to artists.
•    Prevented resource waste by writing instruction manuals, reducing learning curve for new equipment and procedures.
•    Conducted extensive research, locating difficult-to-obtain reference art.
•    Unified producers' calendars into a single scheduling system, preventing event conflicts and guiding on-time achievement of milestones.

CG / Editing Lab Asst., Academy of Art University, San Francisco; 2004-2006
•    Eliminated interruptions to class time by instituting hourly classroom checks, quickly solving tech problems and accommodating courses' last-minute needs.
•    Created online gallery of student artwork, used for critiques and exhibitions.
•    Wrote nightly operational reports for managers, guiding day-to-day operations.
•    Organized distribution of inventory reports, schedules, and media files.
•    Determined each class' media needs; ensured constant availability of art assets.

Archive/Production Asst., Premier Retail Networks, San Francisco; 2003-2004
•    Maintained database containing tens of thousands of media assets.
•    Eliminated delays by tracking resource usage and media circulation; eliminated doubled department’s workload capacity.
•    Created online video library, reducing retrieval times from hours to minutes.
•    Developed an online ordering system for interdepartmental media requests.

Studio Assistant, The Jim Henson Company, Hollywood; 2001-2002
•    Managed media archive; tracked thousands of internationally stored items.
•    Eliminated delays in receiving, unpacking, and trafficking of overseas footage.
•    Consolidated media databases and tape logs, eliminating production delays.
•    Performed regular media-tracking audits, heightening accuracy and eliminating loss.

Explo Summer Programs at Yale, New Haven, CT; 2000-2001
•    Developed and taught numerous logistically complex video/editing courses.
•    Instituted scheduling system for edit suites, DV cameras, and screenings.
•    Compiled concise, user-friendly course packets by researching art and textbooks.
•    Created student-feedback method that improved lessons' pace and methodology.

Media Skills:
•    OSX, Windows, Linux; installation and support of hardware, software, networks.
•    Final Cut Pro, Avid; editing equipment technology; digital video encoding.
•    Database management; library and circulation best-practices.

Education:   
•    Academy of Art University; Color Theory/Design Aesthetic Courses; 2005-2006.
•    Emerson College, Boston; BA, Film/Writing; 2002.

Oh I Just Had a FANTASTIC Meeting

One source of confusion in my office is how my boss invents his own terms for existing technologies, or substitutes wrong terms for right ones. This all came out within five minutes:

• He wants video footage delivered "digital whatever" format (his actual words) or in MP3, a format that is audio-only.
• MP3 is "universal" and usable by anyone, he says, when in fact it is a proprietary, closed technology, and not favored for broadcast.
• When MP3s are brought into Avid, he says -- a non-standard proposition that already makes me uncomfortable -- you have to worry about NTSC settings. To explain why that is wrong is a bit technical, but a semi-accurate metaphor is that it would be like saying, "when you translate a pun from English into French, you won't get the joke unless it's written in cursive."
• He believes in a distinction between "digicam" and "betacam." This is also a complicated malapropism. It's like claiming that you cannot combine "furniture-wood" (a non-technical, subjective term that could mean anything) and  "teak," a specific term that could potentially overlap with the first term.

it lubricates my bio-functions

I am often, in my job, asked to do something that I know is not a very good job. When I'm conscientious, I take the time to interpret what the person THINKS they are saying, then do what they actually want, then describe what I've done by converting it back into their totally bizarre language.

But sometimes, I fantasize about what would happen if I followed their instructions to the letter. Like when Q, who's never had food before, attempts to cheer himself up with food.

	A waiter comes over.

					Q
			I'll have ten hot fudge sundaes.

	The waiter reacts.

					DATA
			I have never seen anyone eat ten.

(later, after a fight)

	Two waiters bring Q's ten hot fudge sundaes... he's
	depressed, turns to Data, sighs --

					Q
			I'm not hungry.

More Overheard

This is verbatim:

"If you've got the time for you to nail those, we'll cut them in if you want. It goes pretty far into it, and we talked about the in-camera thing that this whole thing is about. We're selling this thing here that sometimes gets lost and it's B-drawings that are missing in there. Subtle things that are intended but never boarded. It's worth looking at all that stuff before animators get those scenes."

Source of Confusion

We have resolved a major source of confusion at work today: the boss believes that there is no difference between video that is on a digital tape and video that is in a digital file. So now we know why he planned for a seamless workflow from DV tapes to Quicktime, rather than the 64 minutes that it actually takes to encode.

Help Yourself, I Guess

He actually picked up the trade magazine lying on my desk as I was reading it and walked away with it.

Five minutes later, he came back to ask, "can I look at this?"