Bunny Blog

I was reminded recently of how important it is to pay attention to the subtle details when you’re pitching to a prospective client.  

My fiancee and I met with a number of potential caterers for our wedding, and I was blown away by the differences among them.  None of the decision making we did came down to taste of the actual food, but instead it was the broader picture that we ended up basing our decisions on.

Here’s a list of some of the comparisons:

• With Caterer 1, we had to wait twenty minutes for them to arrive at their own venue and finish setting up.  With Caterer 2, they were ready for us when we were early.  Which would we rather have running our party?
• With Caterer 1, they had no pictures or samples of their previous events.  With Caterer 2, they had a video showing numerous previous parties they had catered and decorated.
• With Caterer 1, they only had tastings twice a month, and only during business hours (meaning my fiancee and I both had to take off work to go for the tasting (don’t tell the bosses!)).  With Caterer 2, they accommodated our schedule completely.
• With Caterer 1, they had multiple parties tasting at the same time.  It felt like we were being pitched a time-share.  With Caterer 2, we had a tasting all to ourselves.
• With Caterer 1, they didn’t have enough samples for the number of people in our party.  I had to split samples with my fiancee.  With Caterer 2, they had multiple samples for each person, so you could go back and compare flavors, and how they all went together.
• With Caterer 1, they didn’t have samples specific for our party…even though other parties had samples specific for their events.  With Caterer 2, they had our exact menu that we wanted to have for our event for us to sample.

The list goes on from there.  

Oh, AND…

• Caterer 1 was more expensive than Caterer 2.

Obviously we’re going with Caterer 1.  

Obviously.

Just kidding.

At the end of the day, the food was comparable between the two caterers.  But Caterer 2 had it together on so many more levels than Caterer 1, it was downright laughable.

So remember: it’s not just the project you’re pitching, it’s the whole package.

Cool, right? Almost illegal in Texas.

In a stunning piece of supporting evidence for my long-standing assertion that “now that we have a country that’s been around for two plus centuries and generally agrees on how people ought to behave we don’t need fulltime lawmaking bodies anymore” — Texas has gone and passed a piece of legislation that will put anyone who is a lighting designer by profession out of a job.

No joke.

Look: you can read what the International Association of Lighting Designers has to say about suddenly not counting as people who have a right to call what they do a profession.

My thoughts after the jump.

(more…)

We were looking for an intern.  We weren’t prepared for what we would get.

If someone actually asked me that question, this would be the answer. Including links to free downloads of podcasts and mixes.

Lazer Sword.  These guys are sick.  I’d rather listen to these songs minus the lyrics, but at least they do crazy shit to the accapellas instead of just playing them over their beats.

Glitch Mob. Also awesome.  Caught these guys at Low End Theory a few months ago.  Very fun show.

Flying lotus.  He was one of the first artists I heard that got me into this type of music.  Both links are random podcasts of his, and you can check out his record label Brainfeeder.

Gaslamp Killer.  A resident DJ at my favorite weekly event Low End Theory.

Low End Theory Podcast.  And of course the Low End Theory podcast, when i just can’t wait till wednesday.

Thanks for tuning in.

Creative COW Magazine was so interested in our CineBingo project that they asked me to write an article about it for their latest “Games” issue. They wanted to know what kind of process we used to help create this live gameshow for movie theatres, how we got the job, and how we dealt with the interactivity of such a game. Trying to figure out how to come up with 2400 words, I actually got the chance to reflect how the job was a quasi-culmination of all of our graphics, interactive, and production experience. I also got the chance to reflect a bit more on our company mindset, and how that led us to here.

ALL THAT AND LIKE 10,000 BAGS OF CHIPS! Oh man, I wish that phrase was still in use after like ten years.  Sigh.

Hope you enjoy the article! You can either read it on the Creative Cow website or download the pdf. It actually does look quite a bit better in the actual print magazine, so I’d suggest downloading the pdf.

Rick Castaneda CineBingo Article on Creative COW website

View Rick Castaneda CineBingo Article PDF

Our newest intern, Malak, is a graduate student at USC.  She will have artwork on display tonight at Art Walk.  The work they’ll be showing of Malak’s is from an “Experimental Animation” class she took.  Its a 3 and a half minute short, she spend the year working on (its not entirely complete though).  It’s the story of a woman living in a fishbowl ensconced in solitude and misery until things get shaken up!  There will be about nine projectors, showing a lot of real good work, and it’s all done by students and faculty.  Location and time are listed on the flyer below.

For those of you looking for a good yarn, I’m going to start piecing together a fictional narrative of the people who live across the street.  I hope you enjoy.

A man moved in next to the old woman over the weekend.  She only saw him in the hall once.  He looked her in the eye, held her gaze, but other than that no contact was made.

The man entered the apartment and took his few belongings - a duffel bag, a laptop, some speakers - and placed them on the window seat of the small room.  The man didn’t like having to share a bathroom down the hall, but the room would serve its purpose.

(more…)

Our former intern, Miki, is participating in the YOBIFilm Making Contest.  Please watch her short film aperture and vote for it!

Today is May 1st.  Today I am feeling retro nostalgia for:

(a) the international struggle for workers’ solidarity
(b) the MAYDAY CONTEST, the 24-hour filmmaking contest we used to run 

If you answered (b), you’re in luck, because you can still revisit the past and reminisce fondly at the still-standing, still-strong Mayday Films Website!  There, you can view dozens of short films from years past ranging from truly horrendous to surprisingly tolerable to occasionally sublime.  All totally free of charge.

If you’re still confused about what all this Mayday stuff is, here’s a video that may just confuse you even more!
 

Thanks again to all the competitors through the years who made the contest and the films so much fun.  No, we’re not doing another one.