 Well, hello everybody. That was a live dissolve. You just saw there here on here on logic live I want to thank you all for joining us and If you wouldn't mind make sure you set your chat window to panelists and attendees so everybody can see The chat as it comes in and if you do have any questions, please be sure to throw them in the In the Q&A section. My name is Andy and welcome to logic live. I'm so excited to have you here with us today I'm Let's start off with you know the usual with a little slideshow you wouldn't mind this episode of logic live is brought to you by or brought to you All by sinuses.io solutions development integration and support these guys have been my personal reseller for the last 15 years Could not do what I do without them and I just want to thank them for not only supporting us You know at lively but also supporting the logic community in the flame community they stay sponsor user groups all over North America and We couldn't do what we do without them. So thanks so much guys and sinuses If you have any questions at all about their remote workflow solutions, please check them out at sinuses.io Sinuses supporting flame artists since 1997 well Let me give you all an update. We had a hell of a week First of all over at the forum forum logic TV The forum is doing really really well and I want to thank everybody for for all for embracing it for contributing And for really helping to make it grow Just to give you some stats. We have over 700 users now over at the forum over 65,000 page views each month and the time to respond to new topics is less than an hour and Another another statistic that's kind of so fresh. I didn't really have a chance to put it in the the slideshow yet is Traffic over on the logic Facebook group is down 40% since The forum went live actually really since in the last month And so I just want to thank everybody for trying to help make the forum over at logic TV The go-to place for flame artists We had one frame of white last week. We announced our big winner We had a fantastic it was I think last week show was one of my favorites In the six plus months that we've been doing logic live it like I said to somebody I think before one of the Contestants before we started that you know having Everybody from all over the world live here on zoom like on the show with us really kind of Captured the true essence of what you know one frame of white was was always meant to be In years past, you know, we would always show the winners at like a New York user group meeting and then I would have people who who entered send little videos like thank you videos and things like that but to actually have Everybody on or so many people on so that they could talk about their entries and answer questions Just kind of really it showed off in its purest sense that global community that logic has become so I just want to thank everybody And you know a huge congratulations to our friend Tim Hendricks from Pasadena, California for his winning entry called catch Tim was our first place winner and he took home a Dell Precision 7750 mobile workstation which is a rather kick-ass laptop and I believe Tim said that it arrived Thursday or Friday, and so I can't wait to see all the fun stuff he makes with that Tim I discovered in addition to being a flame artist teaches art at at an art school in Pasadena and so it's it just it just all the feels there, you know in terms of helping Tim out But please if you haven't already go over to one frame of white comm check out all the entries from this year And in fact check out all the entries in the last six years or six or seven years rather It's really inspiring to see what flame artists are doing So speaking of being inspired by flame artists I'd like to welcome my guest today my guest today is Amanda Elliot and she's a flame artist based in LA I've had the pleasure of meeting Amanda and working with Amanda and when she reached out to me about being on the show I thought this was kind of like the perfect perfect guest Amanda are you there? There we go. Oh Just have to unmute you There you go. Hi We're living through zoom updates in real time and everybody's automatically muted, but welcome aboard. How you doing? Hey, good. Good. You're good Well, like I said, it's really a great pleasure to have you here and I thought that the topic Oh, I'm sorry. Let me just stop everything Renee. Tim has just a name What's up Renee? Okay, Renee has been acknowledged Yeah, it's I thought what you wanted to discuss was was kind of perfect for, you know, the Conversation we have here at at Logic Live I've had the pleasure of working with you and I even remember when like the first time we met at the lively office LA, you know, you really presented yourself as like an artist who lives in both worlds, you know, like, you know offline and you know What us old-timers call online, you know, what an issue you know both worlds and that's kind of You know made you an invaluable resource Because so much of what we struggle with has flame artists, especially like finishing artists is trying to You know create that like the smoothest transition of metadata and like, you know brain trust, you know from the offline edit from the editor through to finishing and You were telling me some of your experiences. I was just like, oh my god. This is this is, you know You almost have like the perfect job because you do live in both worlds But why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and about your career and and we'll go from there Sure, sure Um, I do want to give a little bit of credit to Randy McEntee because the podcast that he did a few ago When he was like building max and stuff like that one of the questions he asked was what artists do you see yourself as? And I just that really just made my mind spin and just thinking about like my career and what I do and it even made me Just think about myself what artists I want to do and so thinking of all of that in my career That's when I contacted you. So, you know, thank you for any for asking all of us that question in your podcast because it really got me thinking about that Um, thank you, Randy. But yeah, thanks, buddy But my so my timeline is it I don't know. I think it's very different, but I've been very very Fortunate to have the career that I've had in this business And so basically this goes all the way back to when I was like 18 years old. I was living in michigan Um, I went to a school called spex Howard media arts and I originally wanted to go in for radio So I was even uh, yeah, so even interned at a country radio station. I thought that's what I wanted to do Um, but it turns out that no, I didn't want to do that and then I was like, I want to work on I want to be like the first weather girl or or something like that and then One of the things that they have you do at the school is you have to be like the td the camera person behind the desk and I was like, I'm gonna be a Uh, weather girl and then they do the thing where they pull the prompter So you kind of have to ad lib and I just froze. So failed at that The story almost sounds like a country. It's almost sounds like a country music song, you know, in my limited experience I like it's better So and then they had an editing class and nobody wanted to edit because everyone wanted to be on camera So I ended up editing everybody's project and so that was cool, too um, and then after That school was only nine months because it's like a concentrated school and then after that I was 19 years old And I ended up working at j walter thompson which is the JWT now And working on mostly like edit reels and concepts for the agency. Uh, they call the chop house And then so this is the best part so So it gets way better than this. So i'm 20 years old and I start submitting my Resumes out and there was a place called mad river post in detroit. Um, and so I was just so freaking excited I sent my resume and I was like, oh, and I went in for the interview and I was just like, I have no idea What I'm doing. I don't know what's going on, but I really want this job and they were like cool You're hired So my very first day was a 19 hour day and it was uh during this paunette campaign with like the james brown and like Music and it was just a crazy campaign and I remember as we were doing this Um, I I even have this picture of me sitting with like a million dollar worth of neg because I was logging it in and um I remember working with this editor and he was just like, yes We need to do everything in a key code because they didn't slug the neg and I'm like, huh? Sounds great Like what does that mean and he's just like, oh god So I'm just like that was uh, I had to rethink my life decisions at that point And the funny thing was is that I started right before christmas and I was only 20 So they had to sneak me into our christmas party that was at a restaurant slash bar. So that was fun, too Wow, you know what as you finish that yes, this is a country music song Just kind of live that in real life Ending with a very strange king, but yes, I'm sorry go ahead. Yeah, and then um And then even well it gets even better because the editor that worked with cam He was a very very good editor and this is actually the foundation Of my career that I have now and it's so important to point out Was that working with that editor? He said something that really stuck with me and I would start for example calling folders like for amanda for cam And he would just look at be like what what is this? What is this shit? What am I supposed to do with this and I was like it's for color and he's like Then you put for color then you put for audio and then so that started like the bases of like naming stuff so where Anyone can take over and then one other thing that he said to me too in that time was just that amanda If you get a hit by a bus tomorrow I need to finish this commercial anyway, and I was like whoa Okay, I don't label any folders for anybody's name ever again So that started the foundation of my career now, but so after that I'm 22 years old I work at a place called the user universal images in detroit and they were the biggest discrete house at the time I think they had 11 flames 10 smokes one inferno three 3d studio max and like a Combustion uh, yeah, I don't remember that one but Yeah, so they were very kind of like segregated in a point where it's like the online people stuck to online and graphics people stuck to graphics and so um That was really good time when I was there I worked on a ton of auto show stuff various clients car commercials If you need like 200 Chevy commercials and you need them out to dg channel. I'm your girl that was uh That was fun time. Oh my god. Dg fast channel, right? Oh Oh, I just got like sorry Most of a good chunk of my career just came flooding back. I'm sorry. Yeah, I think a lot of good just got PTSD Sorry about that. Um, and then and then so not only did I have a really good opportunity to work with a really good editor and offline Immediately after that, I was able to work with a really good Uh an online editor as well His name is paul garland and he works at switch in detroit and he was actually one of the editors That was just like here take the pen you try you do a slate you lay it off here I'll show you how to conform no problem whatsoever So I was just really lucky to be able to work on both sides at such a young age with two different Two different artists and editors that were just you know willing to do that So, uh, I give them both a lot of credit for helping me with my foundation today Um, so then I fast forward to 24 years old move to kelly And then I think uh, and then I started at red car, which I feel like everybody started at red car Which is awesome. Yeah, which is really awesome And um, they hired me specifically because I knew offline and online So I remember they called me in detroit. Um, because I actually oh the website la411.com I believe you can go to post production and you can find all these companies and I literally sent out probably 300 resumes I was like, I'll be your receptionist. I'll do anything you want. I just want to move to kelly I want to live by the beach because that's what everybody in the Midwest says, right? So, um I'm like, I'm gonna live by the beach Yeah, so, uh, so yeah, so I ended up working at red car and they were just like, you know offline and online I'm like, yeah, they're just like, okay. That's cool. Come work with us. So as I was working there for a little bit Me and actually the online person at that place we left and we went and started elephant posts instead of lost planet So that was really cool at that point like being like a year into la and I was like, whoa, what's going on? so Got to work with a lot of amazing people over there as well um, and then Let's see here. Oh and then Back in 2014 I actually did end to go end up going to australia for a couple months looking for work And I hadn't interviewed at method. Well was method sydney Um, and then there was a class taught by joel osis out there because uh, yeah Sadly, I didn't get the job and then he was teaching a class and I'm like, who is this guy? What's going on? So I know joel you projection horror node you? Everybody knows that um But yeah, so he taught a really amazing class and so that's when I met him and so but but basically other than I've just been freelancing in the past 12 14 years um Yeah, in the freelancing world in la so it's it's been quite amazing Why don't you take me through like a typical day, you know, uh, you describe yourself as a finishing artist I know other times, you know the You've also been described as a as a flame assist, you know Why don't you do that take me through a typical day, uh, where you're bouncing back and forth from offline to online Okay, yeah, we can start with like a flame assist for example Uh, should I maybe give an example of one of the jobs that I worked on before? Yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah, so when I was working in a place called significant others It's the flame room inside a final cut. Uh, I was working on a huge job in 2018 with justin blouse Another fantastic flame artist. Um, what started off. I think is like six spots for kaiser Ended up turning into like 150 or something like that, uh, which is just like a ton of versioning But so the original project was like six spots. You just come in you're gonna help him you do the conforms whatever else And then um, it'll just be six spots. So what kind of turned into that job is like as he was working on other I just random stuff that gets thrown. He's working on beauty. He was working on different versions All of a sudden he needed different versions to show clients I could overhear the clients talking about like, oh, we need to make another version, uh for washington dc That has a different disclaimer and in my head. I know if something has a different disclaimer He's another iski. So I'm kind of taking notes and writing this stuff down as well. Um, so I guess it's just as an offline assistant. I'm in this particular job I'm the one that started the google doc. Um, we didn't have shotgun or anything So it was like just a big google doc of what disclaimers matched what iskies Uh, for anything that changed in the middle, whether it was a certain art card or something at the end Like whatever these versions were it was it was for kaiser. So it was just all these different versions Um, the account person ended up using my spreadsheet that I made so her and I like I just gave her a seat pull up right next to me And uh, let's let's figure out all these versions on our own So I'm just constantly listening to like what's going on in the room And also how I can you know help the other artists or the senior artists and lead artists on the project With what they need to do, uh, as well Yeah, I think you know, it's funny You you and I have had a couple conversations prior to the show here And we talked a few times about you know, this label of being Excuse me a flame assistant, you know, and sometimes, uh, you know There's a there's there's there's a there's a negative association with that, you know It's it's a you're the junior you're the person who you know does the tasks that the senior artist doesn't want to do or It's that's just such a misnomer, you know, like in in all the conversations, uh, I've had with you about this You you said the magic words there like you're the eyes and ears in the room, you know The the the assistant is it is the flame sometimes as the flame artist You're especially when like the shit hits the fan. You're just you have blinders on your brain I mean, you just you are so focused on that Impossible task and that deadline that you could not possibly make That you can't be aware of anything else that's going on, you know and having someone in the room Uh to listen to I mean to not only like take accurate notes of what the either the client is telling you or the account person It's telling you but also to be able to play chess, you know To eavesdrop to overhear like the agency creative and account person and producer All like dealing with their own personal or professional crises And then gleaning from that what that might mean for you and the rest of your team and then you know Putting your phone in silent mode and texting it over to you know Pretending like you're looking at them and while you're not looking at the screen like texting to the you know The producer at the at at the post house you're working at it's invaluable and it it's the kind of thing that You know a flame assistant is really an artist a producer a scheduler a You know a technical Like just problem solver and client services sometimes and client services sometimes it's uh I just remember my at my the phase of my career where I was I was doing that kind of stuff It was it was eye-opening for me. I remember walking into Flame suite and seeing like that chair And and trying to figure out like what do I need to know to get into that chair? And it's really it has nothing to do with the keyboard the pen the buttons It's all about that room, you know Um, you you had mentioned a couple of other spots or we had prepared a couple of other spots that you know We're kind of good examples. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, let's um Let's actually start with the kio one that one. They actually played during the nba playoffs. Um, so this was this was a really huge job and uh This was pretty fun to work on actually this one All right, cool. I'm going to impress everyone now with a dissolve ready Oh, man My mother if she was watching this right now, she'd be so proud Brides made us feel something once They can do it again Introducing the turbo charge k5 all right so That was a lot of fun to work on this one I actually did the offline assisting for the editor was brick at white house and he was in london So, you know, that was fun Text at five in the morning and trying to figure out stuff, but hey gotta do what you gotta do. Um Yes, it was very very very cool commercial work on so, um I guess just going through Now that I have both experience and offline and online being able and since I've Freelance with white house for about like 10 years now on and off working on that one, um Editorial assistant you have to know all the dailies you have to go through all the dailies You have to go through script notes make sure the script don't match the dailies You gotta make sure nothing's missing then you gotta go through and pull sound effects And sometimes you have to do I started off doing a little bit of sound design On another spot and then finished up some a little bit on this spot as well Um, and then sometimes you just you do ghost editing in the background just regular editing you have ideas You have to go through um pull the takes whatever takes are in the script notes You do breakout sequences for the editor um anytime you hear and since this was all remote Everything was going on in zoom sessions So as I heard the client say stuff like oh, where's that one take of the one car that spins around the carousel? But it turns like really sharp. I'm like, oh, that's one on one take five I I just agree and take it for you So it's like I have to know all the footage and have to be able to uh respond immediately to what the clients need It's like, oh, did we have any sound effects for like the tire screeching but not too loud I'm like actually I grabbed real k5 sound effects from blah blah blah or whatever if we didn't get one supplied for us so Going through all of that and then um the other fun part was so towards the end There's this whole like clown mouth that the car drives through at the end before the art card And so this is this is a fun part where having a lot of online experience really comes in handy Um because as we know as flame artists when light hits something especially sheet metal like you can see it It reflects on everything So as the car was going through the clients plan to play with the idea of like What if certain things were shutting off at different times and the thing is because the mouth is this huge A bright thing that when that turns on and off it reflects everything else um Yeah, so that that's one of the shots and then also towards the end too before the art card There was another another shot too. So we know that um the light just reflects Off of everything on there. So basically when they were like, oh, we're gonna prep uh for you know One of the vfx companies to do like a test and and so basically I told the the producer and the editor I was like actually I have a flame license. I have a mac mini. I could do a mini comp and they're just like What so that's when I be able to So that's when I'm able to give a little comps for them But then also when it comes to color prep too when they're like, okay We just want to hurry up and do a test and you know, we just want to send this off to color And I said well since I know light reflects off a sheet metal I want to be able to grab another take of the car the carousel and the very background that turns on and off I need to make sure I have on and off of every single little object I also need to make sure I've on and off of the floor I want to make sure I have a plate of the floor. I want to make sure the carousel in the back clean So it's just all these kind of little things that play into like building a scene like that with lights Reflecting and turning off at different times I can just kind of you know reach in my online pocket and go like oh I remember those things from comping that I need to supply these to color It's just invaluable. I mean, I know I've been on the the receiving end of this a million times where you know You get your you get your color you get your conform prep and the Agency walks in or zooms in now and says, you know, oh, yes well, what we'd like to do is change the timing of You know when the how the lights turn on and and you just kind of like the Your soul just evaporate whatever last bit of humanity you had left Being a play artist just yeah just goes up like a cinder because you know They never ask the questions Yeah, and that's part of the reason why I'm like they need this element with the lights on and off Because they want to be able to control that environment and the floor too. Everything reflects off the floor So yeah, so then like little pieces, you know Production tape and ramps when the car comes in there's a huge ramp and I was like, hey guys Just you know, there's a ramp that kind of stuff and then also the the wheel locking up Yep being able to flag things that that need to be that are going to need to be cleaned up or may need to clean up And making sure like you said before if you know that in one of the other takes there's this perfect Moment where I could grab. I mean we do that as flame artists all the time You know when you're asked to clean something up you look at the shot and you I like to say You see it for like the sum of its parts, you know So knowing all the dailies knowing that there is a take that was marked no good for performance But actually has a clean shot of the door or the windshield or whatever Where they're looking for all those pieces. Yeah, and as I'm actively going through the dailies And then I'm starting to look at the storyboards and build it in my brain I'm kind of like, okay, and then like even the wheel locking up at the end There's other commercials. I've worked on years ago where the wheel locking up is bad It's something like the abs or you know is going crazy or whatever But there's also going to be a disclaimer too So I'm like is the disclaimer going to be here. Does it locked up? Do I have to find a cleaner shot of that hub cap? So I need to give it to be effects that we need to actually make it spin So it's like all these little things that I'm constantly asking questions to my producers about that Do we need to darken the windshield? Like do we need to see the talent not see the talent You know when the lights turn on like that just these little things that happen to come up in the past Are really invaluable to bring them up then and there It's great. I mean, there are so many times I've I've I've wanted to take like all of the assistant editors Who work at our company and put them through Like a finishing bootcamp You know Where we could expose them or put them in these scenarios You know a half a dozen or so different scenarios where you can see that if certain questions were asked Before the color session or before The prepping was done, you know I don't just I really feel it's so passionately about how the people who work across different departments or different disciplines in the creative process If they knew just a little bit about each other's jobs or maybe a little bit more than they than they do It would make everything a million times better Yeah, and kind of makes you like a brilliant assistant And the thing is is that I can also sympathize with both parts too. So sometimes being uh in online It'll be like, oh god. Why is this edl a mess? But then I've also been the offline assistant where it's like the producer came in to do just Can you just quickly get an email an edl out right now? And I'm just like but and they're just like no right now. Can you just export it right now? I'm just like, oh, okay go Um, so it's like I've been in both seats and then I've also been in the offline seat where we get like a Graphic back or we get something back and it's like why it's a time code Minus whatever zero like what is the time code the mess up? Like why is there edl all off? Like why are they giving us crap when their their shit's all fucked up or something like that? It's like, but you know, I also understand sitting in the on so it's like I have sympathy and compassion for like both sides Where it's like I can almost look at the way the edl is structured and be like they were in a hurry They didn't understand that was probably newbie or something like, you know, nothing nothing like bad But just like I can understand What was going on in the process and and just and try to help at the same time And the best part is when I actually conform my own stuff that I prep. That's fun Yeah Yeah Yeah, I've done that before there's a couple A few places that I actually freelance at regularly um stitch editorial has bacon bfx with mitch gardener final cut has significant others I've also worked at nomad because nomad has their online there as well Um union editorial used to have resolution a while ago. So it's like I've I've been Able to just constantly be busy because it's just like oh, we're missing an assist Hey, Amanda, can you come help out or somewhere? It's like, oh, I don't have time to conform this Can you just go in online and do it real quick? And I'm just like, well, I prepped it. Yeah, sure. Why not? I know what I need. That's great. Yeah, that's great. That's great Um, we've got another spot here that we want to take a look at right for haras This one was so much fun to work on I did the um I know And here's a fun fact about the the first shot with that guy though The clients were saying like when they were doing when they were doing casting Um, they loved his hair. He was great. It was perfect. And then they were like, oh, wait a minute Did anyone tell him he's going to be in a crop top and then it just turns out he has abs So it worked out great for everybody If I had a nickel for the amount of times that happened to me anyway, uh, let's take a look at this hair spot And so it begins Your epic adventure Where champagne bubbly meets rose petal rain Floating away to a life of leisure To the victor go the spoils as the neon most of my dreams lady Set up there's an endless like dolly move funner and a liberachi cape To state of mind find your funner here Yep So yeah, that was that was a lot of fun watching that And picking the right take of the guy I think there was one cut to where the guy was in the background He kind of just did like this moonwalk off like camera at one point So it was it was actually really a lot of fun going through the daily So this was one that I offline on as well And the best part of this was uh So it was done in premiere with the editor at stitch and In premiere like the way that they had shot it. I think it was all like, I don't know 90k or something You know, it was really crazy. So it was just really a processor intensive, but also when in premiere when they were trying to Just like mask and do stuff. It was just really grainy and it was really taxing on the computer And it was just it just wasn't really giving them the results that they wanted, especially with the client sitting in the room So this was another instance where I was like, hey guys, it's like I'm gonna talk to my I talked to producer and I was like, I can just go and flame and do some really really rough comps and then also on a side note Me saying this I don't say this to the clients. I usually only talk to the editor and the producer beforehand And they're the ones that know and the people that I usually get hired at They're the ones that know that I know also no flame because I don't want to undermine I don't want to put the online people. I don't want them to think that I can just do it all That's not why I'm there. So I just tell them my setups aren't going anywhere I'm just going to do a rough comp real quick though. And then sometimes they just tell the client I did it in after effects, whatever. I don't care. That's totally fine But the cool thing was is that I did a lot of rough comps for this one too And there were a lot cleaner and it just looked really impressive. The clients were really super happy It was really easy for the editor to just be like, hey Amanda I you know trying to do something different with this shot You know, I would export my shot and then I would go jump over to flame and then I would comp it And then I would export it and I would jump over to the offline And so it's like I was really versatile To be able to work on this project for it to go smoothly and you know For the clients to be happy and be able to kind of see something that looked close to Pretty much what it looks like there That's awesome and You're a hundred percent right about being sensitive to you know, all parties involved, you know I think especially what you know, one of the things that's maybe under underappreciated is When there is such an overlap in the creative process, you know Sometimes there's a tendency to forget that certain parts have a have like a monetary value attached to them, you know, like You don't want to Undermine like the the post houses ability to charge for something just because you know If you did it as part of the if you did the flame stuff as part of the offline And that might be a comp that might be flame time. They can't charge for you know So it's really I think it's just an important thing that you pointed out It's it's a very delicate kind of Territorial and then I just really bring up like, you know, if they want to tell the clients that that's great Because it's all under one roof too. It was getting finished under one roof But if it's going someplace else, it's just like this is literally just for rough like I'm not booked in online I'm not taking this away from online It says I want to be able to show you guys something It's a little bit more true, but this is not by any means finished Sometimes I'll do kind of a shitty job just so they kind of understand that it was rough too Because I don't want to take anything away from the online people You know, if I can help make anybody's life easier like that's kind of part of my job But I do really stress, you know, the producers to to the editors like I'm not I'm my I'm not sending my bash to online This is not how it works unless and then I'm getting booked and you know, then there's a different story Then we can talk But it's just really really important that that's kind of that that gets said and and actually it's Everything's gone over really well. I've never really gotten any bad feedback from anything. You know, they always say A lot I think I've only had a couple people where they're like, oh, she did an after effects And that's that's totally fine. If that's you know, because there is politics We all we all know there's politics that that happened in this kind of stuff and that's totally fine But just to kind of keep it in the sense where it's like, I just want to help you guys make this look good for your client So let me ask you what advice would you give to a younger artist who's just starting out who knows that, you know, the The stepping stone in either editorial or finishing is, you know, that assistant level How would but it can be over learning one of those can be overwhelming, you know Um, what would you what would you say to someone who's starting out? Uh, there's it's so much more than sitting in that chair and I'm going to kind of reiterate going back to what you were saying earlier Um, as that everyone just wants to sit in that chair And the thing is is that my whole entire career since I was 1920 years old is I've always been sitting in front of clients I've never been in the back room with headphones. Nothing wrong with that. But that just that's not me. I've always sat in front of the clients I always dress nice when I go to work. I always make sure I'm making a statement But I think when it comes to assistant starting out is they're going to be the same thing that brings assistance up to when they almost sit in the chair And that's reading the room that having eyes and ears on everything at all times. And so I can even give you an example. I'll bring it. I'll bring it back to How I've been brought up though too is working an offline at mad river So young and being so like malleable like like my editor being able to impress these things He was the one that really enforced like you need to keep an eye on these clients and you need to make sure that you know They have the coffee when they need it. Do they want dinner or you get their dinner? Oh, and then I need to make sure you break down my Dailies. Oh, I need to make sure that I'm okay too. So they really he really stressed that Into me really early on And then I also realized how successful it had made my career So not only was it from a standpoint and just kind of me personally Not only was it in a standpoint emotionally being there for the clients and for the artists there as well Um, I think it was just being able to read it from an emotional standpoint But also business standpoint and what I mean by that for example is going back to that kaiser job Back in 2018 where we had all those different for like a hundred and whatever versions Is that everyone was just so stressed and there was all these different versions and their clients were young There are clients we need this version. We need to do this and all I'm doing is just listening So they're just like we have another version with another disclaimer I just put that in my google doc and put work in progress And then they're telling me oh the disclaimer is just a city change and I was like, okay Well, I already have like the photoshop document. Maybe I'll just change it work in progress Oh, yeah, we might have another iski. So I just add it to the google doc. So everything's already built So but I'm not telling anybody this I'll maybe text my producer. Hey, by the way Just you know, I heard there's another iski coming along which means if it's a different Change for a city they say the city in the spot So that means they're going to need another audio change. So we're going to need more audio time and And it's like, oh, is it an art card change? Is it just a disclaimer change? No, it's just disclaimer It's like I'm just constantly like getting the feedback from them and then telling my producer and then also And then to cut and interject with like an emotional standpoint too if I Happen to walk in the kitchen get some coffee and I noticed my artist hasn't eaten I need to find a way to make sure that my artist is also Drinking water and eating. This is also really important too. And maybe my clients are getting stressed that they need coffee They need snacks. Let's get veggies in here stat, you know or something like that and calling client services But you know or I'll just go to my producer and be like get the artist out of the room for 10 minutes and let him eat You know and then she'll call and then he'll and then they'll step out You know kind of thing So I'm constantly just checking and making sure not that everybody is like business point But just like a personal standpoint too if I notice clients are getting stressed I'll turn around and start talking about like a dumb Like story that I had from like 20 years ago like I remember. I don't know puppies and ice cream whatever I just I just bring up something to change the tone of the room But in the background I already have these two versions done on my desktop that they were just talking and stressing about So yeah, and then then I'll say something else like oh, maybe we need to do a VFX shop for blah, blah, blah But I already know that my artist is busy working on this and he told the producer earlier that he needs three more hours And I'm going to be done in a half an hour So I'm just going to start building this or is it okay because they can see my machine if I Because they can see my screen is this something I can work on So I'm constantly chatting with the producer like I overheard that we might need a comp for this Do I need to send something and prep something for you know the effects at another company like oh, but there might be a Vio change. Okay, I can switch over and I could do that real quick. So it's like just the constant back and forth Um of listening and I can just see that the the other lead artist is just yeah with the blinders Like you were saying so just having the eyes and ears in the room constantly paying attention to what's going on And it's not all about you like you have to really make sure the The lead artist is taking care of you know, hey, I noticed when they're not drinking water So I'll just go grab water and I'll just I'll give it to them. I notice the clients man They went through all their snacks. Maybe it's time to get some dinner or something like that cheese plate in here stat Yeah, yeah, exactly. So um, and then also Um, or you know or a bowl of m&m's and skittles make it fun. You know, I don't know mix the two See what happens. Oh man Right, don't cross the streets But uh, you're you're 100 right like I Every part of our job You know in post whatever is stressful, you know, and we're always we're at the bottom of the hill You know, like all that bullshit is just rolling down like a snow is snowballing down towards you There's no reason why you have to amplify it, you know I I try to live by this mantra that you know When the clients come into the room with me, I mean, I'm not the greatest flame artist in the world There it's I mean, I but I'd read the room with them, you know when they come in it's everything's taken care of there is no stress You know, I'm there to solve all their problems, you know, we're on the same team basically. Yeah exactly Especially that like magical year when all the flame bays likes see I said flame base so that way You know, it's like an east coast west coast thing that when all the flame bays like switched around so that we face to the client, you know Uh everything changed, you know, so I mean at least in in the way that our like my room is set up I have a table they can see my feet So, you know, I have to wear nice, you know And uh, you know, and they have to wear the good pants. I mean and then, you know Um And they can see me no matter what happens. They can see me. I have to always like Be cognizant of that, you know that I'm on stage that that, you know That I'm going to set the tone of this room We're also setting the tone of the company too like you're setting an example for the company as well And uh, like there's no problem with this like magical pen that we can't solve, you know So let's just do it one step at a time. What are the issues, you know Let's solve them and once once you solve one problem That the agency or your client is having like The the tension just you can see it. It just melts off of them, you know Then you can start to like have a creative process again And maybe, you know, just blow their minds and sometimes all that really means is making the legal more readable or, you know Making the title just a little bit bigger or something like that And that's what they're going to remember too. I believe it or not. It gives us this stuff Um, I rolled in their stress and we left happy and that's That's that's just as important as making like the coolest Like the coolest shed the coolest images, you know Yeah, and on that note though, too, I think another thing for assistance. Um, and you call me assistant I call myself mostly a finishinger. I don't care. What is the name of a rose? It smells so sweet as I hope it's um, but it's like I really It doesn't really matter what you're going to call me I just mostly use like I guess finishing artists a lot But I do take on the assistant roles because I just don't have the ego for that So another I think a another thing to kind of point out to assistance So is you have to let your ego go is that you will sit in that hot seat eventually But you have to understand that you're really in the hot seat Like your hot seat is actually way more intense. Like the floor is lava on fire kind of thing Where sitting is way more intense because Yeah, sure the the lead artist is next to you and they might be getting all the The prestige and all the stuff for being lead artists, but think everything else that's going on with you so even Yeah, even going back to the job I was talking about the Kaiser job It's just like as you know, the lead was focusing just on one spot and working in all these other things I was building 50 in one day making sure everything was good checking slaves checking disclaimers Making sure I got all the specs export specs for social media And all that kind of stuff So it's like if you if you really really think about what what is the hot seat You're in it And then you have to let your ego go thinking that you like you're eventually going to be the lead And your name is going to be in the credits and you're going to and it's I would rather Have or what means more to me is having the trust of my clients And the producers of the companies that I work at I've been freelancing and doing this for like 14 years That trust and bond that I have with these clients and companies mean more to me than having my name in a credit in a movie It means so much more to me. That's how I've been able to have my freelancing Like business thrive for so long as I'm looking out for you. I'm looking out for the producer I'm looking out for the clients. I'm intertwining. I'm making sure everyone's paying attention I'm sitting in a color bay and offline and I overhear something about a different version I'm getting the producer. We only have an hour left in color and they want to do another version What do you want to do? And then they call their producer and everything gets figured out. So it's like I have to pay attention But I'm here for everybody. So it's not just I need to get my stuff exported for the clients Like I need to get my stuff exported. Did you eat? Are you good? Are you emotional? Okay? I don't know if I can help you but we got this going on over here. So it's like So there's it's more than that and I think just because the assistant rule gets kind of maybe downplayed We have to understand that We're still trying to figure out where's the ceiling and and where's the floor with all of that I've worked with senior artists that don't even know how to conform But they can do the most crazy coolest comps I've ever seen So where's the ceiling? Where's the floor for a senior artist and the same thing goes for an assist? It's it's this really broad spectrum But understand that you don't have to sit in the front Main lead to feel like you're anything important You are super important to what's going on and having your shit together and has buttoned up as you can It just it makes me you it makes everybody look good But especially it makes you look good to move to make that next step if if that's in fact your Intended destination is the chair two feet away then cool Perfectly said that was great. Does anybody have any questions for Amanda? Renee has pointed out that it's blasphemy to put skittles and M&Ms together. It is. It's a wake-up call for sure It's a big bright beautiful world Renee Oh, and then another thing I was going to point out too the best part uh is sometimes yes, rena I absolutely love it when I have to like hurry up and prep Stuff and then come to find out that I'm just conforming in 10 minutes later That's that's always kind of like a fun thing It was like, oh, we need to hurry and get prepped on it needs to be done because we're gonna do it today It's like, oh, we're actually keeping in a house. Can you go just conform that real quick? I'm just like, yes, of course No problem Press send and then your phone is the one that buzzes Yeah, yeah, so So, yeah, that's that's kind of the role of what it's it's so many things There's so many things involved with what the assistant does what the assist can offer Being able to pay attention to all of these things and then having great communication with your With your lead artist and with your producer and I think that's I can't even express how Ultimate is to have this relationship with all these people that I freelance with the the clients and the post houses Is because I love being able to have that trust of just like Whatever we can do we'll we'll figure it out together and I'm gonna help you through it I think I just think it's wonderful. Um, you had shared with me some uh, a story that oh, wait We've got a question here from Daniel Uh, it says how long have you been a freelance assist and are you planning on transitioning to a full-time artist? I have gotten a lot of full-time offers. Um It's it's very interesting. It's it's sometimes it's hard. I don't know if other freelancers can contest on this one, but uh Uh, I think maybe it's a money thing at first. Uh, where you're just like, oh, man freelance to staff kind of thing But I've been freelancing. I've been in la 14 years Or almost 15 years But I've been in the business 19 years Wow, um I've been in the business a really long time, but transitioning to a full-time artist I I mean, it's definitely I'd have to look into it. Everything is is super unique. I did have a staff position on Uh interview on march 12th. That was fun. Uh, that did not happen To be I know the exact date Yeah, so, uh, if the opportunity came up, there's a lot of things that I would have to kind of consider and and go into it um and ask but If if possible, yeah, that'd be cool in the future I always keep your options open, right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure for sure. And I always feel there's it's really good to have a Work-life balance as well. I do so many extracurricular activities and hobbies. What me? What do I do? What's that? What's a work-life balance? Oh, it's a work. Yeah that that whole thing. Yeah, it's still trying to figure that out though But I think it's really really important for people to do do have the work-life balance And be able to do that and express it and if there's something needed to do I mean people need to go pick up their kids all the time Um, I need to go to my karate class sometimes. So it's like I gotta figure out, you know the The balance and everything though I found it really uh challenging, you know to to to The lockdown like working from home, you know The I mean in terms of like the whole work-life balance, you know, it used to be like for me I had like an hour and a half commute round trip, you know, like one way like door to door And so, you know, when I left that like home, I left home, you know, when I left the office I left the office and you know, if I was within one train stop, you know, you I could go back to work but um There's there's I've I've found it kind of fascinating that you know in 45 seconds I can roll into work, you know And that's if I take the stairs, you know Uh and just and just trying to find a time making sure that I I have a, you know Yes, I could wake up at six in the morning and roll right in here and start working, but maybe I shouldn't do that and then the same thing. I need to kind of put the brakes on at a certain time in the evening I don't know. It's it's it's it's interesting that you um Just that you bring that up and and and you know as I sit here in this, you know, my Blue flame room. It's kind of changed a little bit, which is quite nice by the way I was going to say there what you got going on here that the thing uh the static ball thingy. What is it called? Yeah, it's like a plasma ball. You know, that's cool If anybody went to a Spencer gifts and like the like late 80s early 90s, that was definitely overpriced um You got a got a lot of nice stuff back there. I just have my my blue notebook that Quinn Richardson gave me Yes, this is all I have. Thank you Quinn Quinn, I think you gave me mine too It was like at the at a new york user group meeting you brought like a box of them and uh, I gave them almost all the way You know, I definitely held on to one for myself Oh, man, police. You kept one so that's good Yeah You're welcome. It's back at the office. I have to get it I think the last thing that I had in there I made sure that like I would only write in there all of my flame like tips and tricks for myself, you know yeah, uh I'm gonna have to go back and retrieve that one. See what I what I've left. Um, I wanted to have one too. Awesome It's awesome Thank you, Quinn. See the love see the love and enjoy you've spread around the community. Um, I did want to ask you why we still have time uh in that whole vein of like, you know Uh inspiring the the next generation of artists You you told me about how you and renae uh had gone to um Which I was a UCLA. Oh, it was um, it was uh, uh Cal Cal Cal State Long Beach. That's it. Yes. Yes. Oh, this is good This is this is really good. Okay. So, uh, where do I start? Uh, so they have um like a career day and the people that work in in the film business, uh, they So they have this whole thing where they have all of the people that work in the film business Lined up at computers and in this huge room and the the kids would come in one by kids students people Yeah, they come in one by one and they chat with us and they kind of treat it like it's a Like it's an interview situation And so everyone kind of is very I don't everyone I do different I do very different. I give these kids such a hard time and it's amazing So the very first thing is that like if I notice someone comes in I'm just like, ah You should really wear nicer shoes and they're just like, like there's respect to me to be like, hey, this is a fake interview blah blah blah Come sit down. Let me look at your portfolio. This is great You know kind of thing and I'm just like, uh, uh, okay cool So they sit down there put their laptop and I'm like, sorry that internet doesn't work And they're just like but but I'm like the internet doesn't work And then they're kind of just like oh Oh, and I was like, okay So it actually does work But I'm just saying if you're not prepared of the you're trying to show them on your laptop Internet doesn't work. What do you do and they're like And so I was like do you have a sketchbook? They're like, no, I'm like get a sketchbook. So the next person will come in and then like This one that laptop by the way before you yes clean the keyboard if you're gonna open your laptop up like oh clean up a desktop Clean the keys. Anyway, um, so this other girl. She really wanted to be a pa like this was like her hope and dream She wanted to be a pa and that's fine. Do you do your girl, right? So she's sitting down and she's really excited and I was like, what do you want to do? She's I want to be a pa and I was like, I don't think you should do that She's like, but you know, she's really uncomfortable. She's like, but that's what I want to do Like I really want to be a pa and I was like I know not feeling it and she's like, but I mean that's why I'm here and and I was just like good You passed the test. I was telling you not to do something. You stick to your guns. Good. Okay. God next Um, and then there was also other people that uh, so this was the course of over like two years and so Oh, and then so the third year that I was finally that I was there just last year People were actually lining up outside to talk with me because I was kind of like the bitchy one So another girl comes in and she's good. You know, she's got like her sketchbook and she's just like so I just want to show you this and I'm just looking at her while she's like flipping the pages in front of me and I'm just like I was like, do you have anything else? You know, and she's just like, oh, well, I mean, I guess I have this and this and I was just like She's like, what do you mean? I'm like, it's not really that good. You know what I mean? And she's just like and she like started to cry and I was just like I was like, okay. All right time out time out time out. Um I'm telling you this because this is how the business works sometimes and I'm not I'm you know, I don't want to give her the impression Everyone's like that, but I'm just I'm being really tough on you for a reason You've got to stick to your guns and you've got to be confident about what you're doing So if you're going to show me something in here, I want you to stick by it And I want you to really like back it up and and and if I don't think it's good then just go okay and move on That's okay. Some other place is going to love you for you and you have to I don't I guess it's like a theory for life, right? But um, but this is just like you just got to move on and go someplace else if they don't like it They don't like it. It's great. I mean, you don't have to be you don't have to burn a bridge or anything um But yeah, and then there was a couple times that some people would request uh to see me again and chat with me And there was one kid in particular. I do not remember his name And he was really funny and he comes up and he's all dressed up and he just like shakes my hand He's like hello, man, and I was just like I remember you and he's just like yes I listened to everything that you said last year and I fixed it and I was like Why are you here? No, go get a job right now. You don't need to be here And then I would just start talking to other students too Like they would sit down and be like So here's my resume and they're really tense and they're really stressed out and I was like You see any good movies lately? they're like, um, huh And I was like, yeah, like what movies have you seen and they're just like Um, and they're just so stressed and tense and I was like just tell me like what kind of movies you like And then they're finally loosing up their body language, you know And they they start turning the chair so their chest is more towards me like, you know, open body language I'm listening and then after a few minutes. I'm just like see this is exactly what I want to see I need to see you less stressed because if I'm I I'm interviewing you because I want to see who you are as a person I need to know if I can sit in the room with you for 16 hours and and you know Be able to do that so I need to kind of get to the core for you are and I want to see your personality And so I didn't even look at the resume or anything and by the end of it They were just like happy and smiling and and it was good, but that was a lot of fun And torturing them a little bit. Oh, I can only imagine Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah, that was good. Good times Cool. Well Amanda, thanks so much for for joining us here and for sharing Thank you for sharing your story and I just think it's all great advice and uh And thanks so much for sure. Yes. Thank you so much. Yeah, right Let's close this out here. I want to push this. I got oh, there's another dissolve for you Jeff Mom Ladies and gentlemen It's prize time Here at logic. I made this myself by the way Using flame. Yeah, I'm sure you're familiar with it. I've got a little something to give away here I've got one of these wonderful, uh logic Uh phone chargers to send away pretty giveaway Let's see. Yes, you could be one of the cool kids. You could be like Carrie Welton or uh, or is Miriam here? Yes, Miriam Odejo Yep who won or Like the very talented Mindy Dubin or uh, peter tree size or speaking of queen with queen richardson There's his hand holding a logic phone charger. So let's go ahead and give one of these away I'm gonna do this I have here my very handy dandy web based random name picker, which is brought to you by host gator apparently And the new folding razor phone Um, which I understand is horrible. But anyway, I put everybody's name here in uh In this and we're gonna now go ahead and start the random name picker. Here we go Let's see. Oh, isn't that amazing? Who do we have here andrew malvasio? Oh, let's give it up for andrew Congratulations, my friend. You have won yourself a logic phone charger Congratulations All right. Congratulations, andrew All right, let me go back to the slides here next week We have a mocha deep dive with mary poplin of boris effects. That's next week at 2 p.m I have a whole bunch of sessions lined up for november I'm just trying to secure one of the dates and then i'll be able to share with you Full details next week of what's coming up For november, maybe even a little bit into december here on logic live the forum the forum the forum Funny things are happening on the way to the forum So please head on over there and and help to continue to build forum.logic.tv into the place For flame artists that we all know it can be this episode like all other episodes of logic tv or logic live Rather are available at logic.tv I will have a new episode of the podcast this week for you the logic podcast which now Is also available on spotify Our room so please be sure to Subscribe subscribe subscribe while you're in the mood in the mode to subscribe go ahead and subscribe to the youtube page And thanks again to sinises.io for supporting Logic live my friends that's going to do it for this week. I'll see you next time