Consider these lessons learned.

This past week was a relatively calm week. It started off pretty hectic with deadlines for Cairo Time that Monday, and the final finish of The Greatest to be delivered out.

Besides that, Vivek got into a conversation about making the work atmosphere more exciting, and add a sense of “urgency”. Brainstorming through some ideas though, I suggested adding a calendar with upcoming projects and deadlines because not only will it add a sense of urgency but it adds a good sense of communication in order to make sure everyone is on the same page. I’m surprised they didn’t really have one to begin with. Over time though, I realized how Indika is rather really small privately owned company that has a permanent staff of about 3 currently…. maybe plus a couple more for their office in LA. Not that this is a bad thing in any means because obviously they’re still doing successful work with the people they do have.

Vivek, James and I discussed the path they would like to see me go in the future with my role at Indika. I had two options at hand, one is to continue to assist James with the creative, and also help out with the overall business marketing that the company needs. The other path is becoming more proficient at Photoshop, in order to start helping out the  one Photoshop guy we have currently, which is Leo. I told them I didn’t have a preference, so for now they decided to start teaching me more advanced techniques in Photoshop so I can take a step up and really start producing work for clients. It’s really intimidating since it takes a lot of practice to really get to the level of their current photoshop-er. I’m up for the challenge, but I know it’s going to be a lot of work. I’m happy that they’re such forward thinkers and really are supportive of my advancement and learning, which is cool. So I’ve also been practicing and learning some new things on photoshop while using the Wacom Tablet, which I feel like will take a while for me to get used to.

Besides that, the rest of the week I’ve been assisting Vivek with the Ecuador project for GTD, and doing some research on logos. Along with that I’ve done the usual deliveries to various other companies in the entertainment industry. It’s a good way to really explore the city, and its interesting to see what other companies exist out there for future reference.

This weekend I got to watch the next project we will be starting on Monday, which is “Let it Rain”. It’s a french film being released in the US, and it wasn’t that bad. I’m interested to see the direction we will take the creative in. I haven’t really thought about the many different type of clients and films that they work on. Once I think about it though, it really makes sense that in the end this company has to know how to advertise towards an American audience with the work they are producing. (Since most of these movies are for U.S. release in general)

Having been here for a while, I’ve learned the process of approval from the producers and actors in the film. I never realized how picky actors/ actresses can be about how they look. Lets just say, you get the inside scoop on which actors/actresses are really picky about photoshoping out specific flaws and looking glamorous more so then anything else.