Semester Two; Blog Eight

I believe that FDR and President Obama are taking similar presidents because they created similar stimulus packages, they fell into a bad economy, and they made similar decisions when trying to fix the economy, (all while trying to maintain popularity with the country).

FDR, (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) came into office in 1933, not long after the stock market crash. Hoover had denied a stimulus package that would give state officials $500 million each, which FDR didn't agree with. He fought for the bill and eventually passed it, saving multiple businesses throughout the country. Not long ago, a similar package know as the $7 million bailout was created and approved by president Obama. Their actions were extremely similar on this topic.

FDR and President Obama didn't create the financial issues in America during their time as president, bad situations and poor governing in previous years had led to the downfall of America's economy. With Herbert Hoover in office, America fell into the Great Depression. With George W. Bush in office, America fell into the great recession. Neither presidents asked for the economic state that they were given, but they both knew that they had to be pro-active and keep their country calm and at-ease at the same time.

President Obama and FDR seem to be making a lot of the same decisions, but one main similarity between the two is their outstanding popularity. FDR became popular because of his kind demeanor and pro-active attitude. Obama became popular because of his strong, believable speeches and pro-active attitude. The two of them give off a confident yet humble air that is very comforting for a person to feel.

I believe that the two presidents are exceedingly similar so hopefully we will be able to pull out of this recession with ease. I believe that Obama has probably been following the set be FDR. I also believe that their wives were similar too.

Semester Two; Blog Seven

Considering that I worked at a film company for my internship, I highly doubt that it would have survived during the Great Depression considering that film was still fairly new at that point and I don't believe that "Home Movies" were exactly a known thing at the time.

With that being said, considering that my internship was a well run, smaller business, I actually think that it could have survived. It was a lot of the larger companies that seemed to get hit really hard, because so many of the employees didn't know what to do once their salary was cut back or they were laid off, (a large number of the suicides during the Great Depression were from people that worked in big businesses that crashed). Since the site that I worked at kept a good budget and didn't spend more than they had too, plus they always had new ideas for marketing, I think they probably would have done alright in the Depression.

Semester Two; Blog Six

Tom Joad Jr.

"...But sometimes a guy'll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a sticker."

This line immedietley gave me a sense of who Tom Joad was. He seemed to purposely, (and easily) manipulate the truck driver. To me, I started to think that Tom Joad was either good at taking advantage of people, or really enjoyed taking advantage of people.

"Homicide,' he said quickly. 'That's a big word--means I killed a guy. Seven years. I'm sprung in four for keepin' my nose clean."

This quote said a lot about Tom Joad. When he first arrived in the story, I thought that he was probably a successful young man that found a clever way to make it through the depression, since he was wearing a suit and new shoes. This line explained a lot about Tom's real personality and why it was that he had this nice outfit in such hard times.

"An old turtle,' he said. 'Picked it up on the road. An old bulldozer. Thought I'd take it to my little brother. Kids like turtles."

This line actually threw me off a little bit. When I read that he was actually doing something nice for his little brother, I was a bit surprised. When he was first introduced, he tricked a man into giving him a ride. After that, he admitted to having committed homicide. All of a sudden, it says that he is bringing his little brother a turtle just to make him happy. I think this seems slightly out of character, which is why I was a bit surprised.

"It ain't the same,' he said. 'Looka that house. Somepin's happened. They ain't nobody there."

This line told me a lot about Tom's family and the situation Tom is now going to have to deal with. This isn't just a, "Oh it looks like they're out" line, this is a, "Oh nobody lives here anymore" type line. Obviously, his family must have been affected by the depression, and now he will probably have to find work elsewhere since he was planning on just working for his family.

Semester Two; Blog Five

Shanna's Mentor Interview

I found Shanna's mentor interview interesting for one main reason. There was a portion about two to three paragraphs in that mentioned how the boss, the editors and the intern(s) all work in the same office. Even though this wasn't the main point to the interview, this still stuck out to me, the fact that the boss and the intern actually work right next to each other. I worked right next to my mentor and a few of the other employees as well, so I realized that I could mention that in my Ampersand article.

Click to read Shanna's mentor interview.

Osamah's Photo Essay

I really enjoyed the pictures in Osamah's photo essay. They were all really clean images that looked planned out. It didn't look like someone just clicked a button randomly to take a picture, they looked planned. They followed the rule of thirds well and there weren't any blurs or anything like that. They were all great quality, and I hope that the photos for both my own writing and all of the pieces are of the same quality.

Click to see Osamah's photo essay.

Audrey's Photo Essay

I decided to take a look at Audrey's photo essay as well, something that I noticed about hers was that she really took light into consideration and she used it to improve the quality of her photos. Even though the writing is pretty much the most important part of Ampersand, other than the headlines, photos are the fastest way to grab a person's attention. When I looked at her photos, they had a quality that I liked, and that was probably her use of light.

Click to see Audrey's photo essay.

Photo Essay

When I first arrived at Bob Hoffman Video Productions, I was told to work at the front desk. It is the first thing you see when you enter the building, not to mention it was right across the way from my mentor's office. My mentor told me that this desk would be mine for the next three weeks, so when assigned tasks, I would sit in the chair behind desk number one and work quietly and diligently.

Once a few hours passed and people began going out for lunch, I decided it was time that I eat too, so I unpacked my lunch and ate at that desk. Feeling a bit bored, I started flipping through the "San Diego Business Journal's Book of Lists". As I ate my lunch, I got more and more drawn into the magazine, my brain getting filled with a bit more knowledge with each page. Richest people in San Diego, top radio stations, colleges and universities with the highest student enrollment of 2008, it was all so fascinating!

I continued to read the business journal during lunch everyday for the rest of internship.

After a couple of days, I was assigned the task of making the company's Valentine's Day mailer. Unfortunately, my first desk didn't have Photoshop on it, so I bid farewell to the business journal and went to desk number two. I worked on the V. Day mailer for around a week and a half with few interruptions. One day, however, I had just finished a draft of the mailer and since it was sent to the print shop, I found that I had nothing to do. One of the employees, (who was like a second mentor) noticed my lack of doing anything, and brought me the "Pink Bag of Wonders", (left side of image). Inside the bag were hundreds of slides, (the things they used before digital cameras) that a client had brought in.

I sat in great concentration, carefully lifting each slide by the corner, so I wouldn't smudge it. I looked at each image closely, searching for a number or a word somewhere in the picture so that I could finally figure out which side of the picture was up. Out of hundreds of slides, you would think at least one of them would have a word written on it somewhere. After an hour or two of searching, I discovered a picture taken in what appeared to be France that had a poster with words in it. With a sigh of relief, I began cleaning and scanning the slides.

Although it was difficult looking at an image that was only an inch big, it was amazing too. Each time I lifted a slide up to the light, I went some place new. Several photos were from Egypt, France made multiple appearances and so did the Middle East and certain parts of Asia. "What an amazing life this person has had" I thought as I carefully lifted one of the slides and blasted it with "Dust-Off, Compressed Air in a Can".

After I finished my world travels, (and the V-Day mailer) I was sent to computer number three. Since I didn’t have anything to work on, so my mentor decided to test my skills at (film) editing. But, once again, computer number one didn't have any editing programs on it, and neither did computer number two. So, I was moved to computer/desk number three. I only spent one day at this desk because it technically belonged to one of the film editors, (who happened to be out sick the day I used his office). On that day, my main memories were of looking through six hours worth of wedding videos, trying to use a yoga ball as a chair, and reading about the top banks in San Diego during lunch.

Of course, I had the desk curse, so once the owner of desk number three got better I was re-stationed. I worked on editing together the footage that I had captured at desk number three, (I was making a promotional video for a hotel) but luckily all of the footage was of weddings so it was really easy to edit together, (since weddings all seem to follow the same timeline). After two days, I realized that I couldn’t continue editing without inserting music, so I opened up iTunes and got to work.

Unfortunately, right when I decided to look for music, another intern that happened to be at Bob Hoffman Productions decided it would be fun to hide a whole bunch of timers around the office so that they would all go off and nobody would know where they were. I sat, attempting to listen to the thousandth Michael Buble song, as all of the timers went off, forcing my second mentor, (the one who gave me the “Pink Bag of Wonders”) to start throwing boxes off of shelves and scream at the other intern “WHERE ARE MY TIMERS?!” at the top of his lungs. I realized that I was never going to get anything done in the noise, so I grabbed the SDBJ Book of Lists and went to lunch.

On my final day, I had finished both of my projects, reorganized the storage cabinets and had gone through the entire SDBJ Book of Lists. So, I decided that I would watch the process of burning a disk. I had burned disks on my computer at home, but this was different. My second mentor was in charge of burning disks and putting labels on them, so he calmly explained how each machine worked, how they copied disks and how he made labels etc. There were two machines that burned disks and put the labels on them, (each side of the image) and there was a large stack of decks behind his desk, (desk number five) that copied disks.

I watched the machines work until 3:30, when I waved goodbye to everyone, glanced back at all of my desks one last time, sighed as I bid farewell to the Business Journal, and left.

Photo Essay, Rough Draft

At this desk, I became strangely obsessed with the San Diego Business Journal. When I first arrived at Bob Hoffman Video Productions, I was assigned a desk, the front desk. It is the first thing you see when you enter the building, not to mention it was right across the way from my mentor's office. My mentor told me that this desk would be mine for the next three weeks, so when assigned tasks, I would sit in the chair behind desk number one and work quietly and diligently.

Once a few hours passed and people began going out for lunch, I decided it was time that I eat too, so I unpacked my lunch and ate at that desk. Feeling a bit bored, I started flipping through the "San Diego Business Journal's Book of Lists". As I ate my lunch, I started getting more and more drawn into the magazine, my brain getting filled with a bit more knowledge with each page. Richest people in San Diego, top radio stations, colleges and universities with the highest student enrollment of 2008, it was all so fascinating!

I continued to eat my lunch and read the business journal everyday for the rest of internship.

After a couple of days, I was assigned the task of making the company's Valentine's Day mailer. Unfortunately, my first desk didn't have Photoshop on it, so I bid farewell to the business journal and came to desk number two. I worked on the V. Day mailer for around a week and a half with few interruptions. One day, however, I had just finished a draft of the mailer that was being sent to the print shop, so I found myself having nothing to do. One of the employees, (who was like a second mentor) noticed my lack of doing anything, and brought me the "Pink Bag of Wonders", (left side of image). Inside the bag were hundreds of slides, (the things they used before digital cameras) that a client had brought in.

I sat in great concentration, carefully lifting each slide by the corner, so I wouldn't smudge it. I looked at each image closely, searching for a number or a word somewhere in the picture so that I could finally figure out which side of the picture was up. Out of hundreds of slides, you would think at least one of the would have a word written on it somewhere. After an hour or two of searching, I discovered a picture taken in what appeared to be France that had a poster with words in it. Finally, I was able to continue cleaning and scanning the slides.

Although it was difficult looking at an image that was only an inch big, it was amazing too. Each time I lifted a slide up to the light, I went some place new. Several photos were from Egypt, France made multiple appearances and so did the Middle East and certain parts of Asia. "What an amazing life this person has had" I thought as I carefully lifted one of the slides and blasted it with "Dust-Off, Compressed Air in a Can".

After I completed my world travels, I was sent to computer number three. I had just finished making the Valentine's Day mailer, so my mentor decided to test my skills at (film) editing. But, once again, computer number one didn't have any editing programs on it, and neither did computer number two. So, I was moved to computer/desk number three. I only spent one day at this desk because it technically belonged to one of the film editors, (who happened to be out sick the day I used his office). On that day, my main memories were of looking through six hours worth of wedding videos, trying to use a yoga ball as a chair, and reading about the top banks in San Diego.

Once the owner of desk number three got better, I migrated again, this time to desk number four. The video that I had been working on at #3 was a promotional video for a hotel. They wanted to show more brides and grooms why they should get married there, so I was editing together footage of three weddings that were held there. I had spent the entire day at #3 sifting through footage, so I could just edit edit edit and computer number four.

In my search for the perfect music for the video, I ended up listening to about ten hours worth of Jack Johnson, Michael Buble and strange bag-pipe music.

I didn't actually work at this computer personally. But it was interesting to watch the daily process that went on at this computer. The guy that worked at this computer, (the same one that gave me the "Pink Bag of Wonders") was in charge of making labels for DVDs and burning DVDs. I always found it interesting how the machines that put the labels on the disks worked and how the burning of the disks worked, since it wasn't like putting a blank DVD into your computer and clicking "Burn". There was an entire process that led up to the burning of a disk. Somebody had to create a label for all of the disks as well, so more than anything it was interesting to watch.

Computer number four was right next to this computer. As I worked on my film, I remember watching the machines working, burning disks, making labels, the ultimate multi-tasker. I had experianced working in almost every part of the business while at Bob Hoffman Video Productions, except for that area. Burning disks at computer number five. That's probably why it intrigued me so much, because it was the one area that I knew nothing about.

Semester Two; Ampersand is Coming!

My personal goals for this book are just to write a polished piece that will keep people's interest. I don't want to just write, "My internship was as follows: On day one I did..." I want to create something that will keep somebody's interest. Talking about what all I did could keep a person's interest for a paragraph or two, but not two-three pages. I think that creating something like a fictional story or maybe even a satirical piece would be good. So, answering the question, I want to create a well-edited piece that will be both humorous and informative.


I have a lot of hopes for the class. I hope that, (most importantly) everybody will turn in their work on time and completely revised, but after that I hope that the layout looks good. For the book in general, the layout has to look, if it doesn't that will often turn people off from the book itself. Plus, I hope that everybody takes pride in their writing and really try to create something interesting to read, rather than just saying, "Oh, it's just a project". I really hope that I will be able to open the book and no mater what page I land on, I will always find something interesting to read. Those are my hopes for the class.

Photo Essay, Outline

• Desk number one
• San Diego Business Journal
• Typing lists
• Bazooka Bubble Gum

• Desk number two
• Valentine's Day mailer
• Slides/photos
• Scanning

• Desk number three
• Capturing media
• Editing film
• Regular user of computer was sick
• Wedding videos
• Yoga Ball

• Computer number four
• Editing film
• Hotel promotional video
• Listening to the same songs over and over
• Taking notes on yellow paper
• Capturing more media

• Computer number five
• I never actually used this computer
• Burning DVDs/BluRay
• Making labels for disks
• I didn't know how to create labels and burn disks like this
• Multiple machines running at once/Entire operation being run by one machine

Tatiana R: She jumps from editing in Santa Cruz, to interning in New York, and now she's taking San Diego by storm.

Bob Hoffman Video Productions is the definition of a book that shouldn’t be judged by its cover. When I first arrived at the company, I thought the off-white walls and small cluttered reception area slightly resembled a regular office building. But a second glance told a different story. On top of the scattered paperwork covering the desk, next to a large basket of Bazooka Bubble Gum, sat an avalanche of equality stickers, film awards and other random items. Towards the back of the room sat another, bronze colored film award. After looking at it for a moment, I noticed that there were several stacks of business cards, one with the words “Tatiana R., Corporate Production Manager” printed on the front.

Tatiana stepped out from her small office opposite the receptionist’s desk. Her hair was pulled back into its usual tight, brunette-colored bun. She wore a pair of ironed black slacks and a maroon button-down shirt. Upon seeing me, she smiled and immediately stuck out her hand to greet me. Her friendly demeanor always made me feel welcome and excited for work. I followed her into her recently cleaned office, where I began the interview.

As I asked questions, Tatiana continued to answer emails from clients and vendors. She never intended on being a production manager. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Tatiana decided to keep close to home and go to school at UC Santa Cruz, where she studied to be a film editor. After graduating from college, she decided to go test the waters of her field, and went looking for an internship. After weeks of searching, she came across one in New York, where she worked as a production manager’s assistant. After her internship, she left New York and headed west to sunny San Diego. She found Bob Hoffman Video and decided that it was time she tried her hand in producing. She has been working for the company for almost five years now.

“I never thought I would stay in San Diego for so long.” She claimed, continuing to work diligently on her emails. “To be honest I was only planning on being here for a year or so, but somehow I ended up staying. I still think about moving back to Santa Cruz, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do, I like it at Bob Hoffman but I don’t feel like I belong in San Diego.”

-Why did you decide to come to San Diego?

I came to San Diego for job opportunities. I wasn’t planning on staying for long, I just wanted to get some more work experience and I thought that San Diego sounded like a good place to come to. I really didn’t think I would stay this long.

-Why haven’t you moved back to Santa Cruz?

I like it at Bob Hoffman Video. Bob and Tara, (Tara Hoffman, Bob’s wife who also works there) are both from Santa Cruz, so I feel at home here. I just never imagined myself living in San Diego. I can’t really see myself getting married and raising a family in San Diego, so I think I might move one day, but I’m not sure.

-Why Bob Hoffman Video?

Bob Hoffman video was the perfect fit for me for a lot of reasons. Bob and Tara, (Bob’s wife) were both from Santa Cruz, they both went to UC Santa Cruz like me, so it was sort of felt like home. Plus, I really like the small-business/family-vibe here. My internship in New York was also a smaller business, so that might be while I feel comfortable here too.

-How did you find out about the internship in New York?

I had studied film (editing) in college, but I knew that taking college classes and actually being in the field were two different things, so I knew that finding an internship would be a good learning experience. So in my search, I found out about the internship in New York. It was a smaller company, which I liked, so I decided to try interning there. They actually made videos similar to the ones at Bob Hoffman, so it was actually a really good fit.

-What was your internship in New York like?

Nothing like yours, (laughs). I sort of played the assistant role, so I did a lot of coffee getting and copying. I did get to go on the occasional shoot as an extra set of hands, which taught me a lot. I didn’t get to experience the “film” side of the film business as much though, which might be part of the reason why I’m a production manager now, (laughs). It was a good learning experience though, I’m glad I did it.

-What was your mentor like?

My mentor had a really similar, well pretty much the same job that I have now. She was a production manager like I am. I remember that when I was working for her, I kept thinking, “Why is she having me do this?” or, “Why is she doing that? What’s the point?” It’s funny because now that I am a production manager, I am starting to understand why she did certain things or acted a certain way. Like, if I saw her filing something in a specific way, I might not have gotten why it was so important to file everything the exact same way. Now, I understand why it’ so important to file everything, and really everything she did makes more sense to me now. I’m pretty much doing the same things that she did anyway, so I guess I would understand why she did things that way, (laughs).

-What is you position exactly?

I am the corporate production manager for Bob Hoffman Video. It’s my job to schedule shoots and decide which projects have the highest priority. I handle all of the budgeting and billing for the corporate videos, so accounts payable and accounts receivable etc. I also check films to decide where final edits need to be made, I talk to the clients about what they want, all that good stuff.

-What are corporate videos? Is there a difference between a manager and a corporate manager?

There is. A manager manages everything in general, whereas the corporate manager manages corporate videos only. Corporate videos are videos that we make for businesses and other professionals. For example, if somebody wants us to make a commercial for them, or a video brochure, those are both corporate videos so those would go through me. We also make social videos which are things like wedding videos and mitzvah videos, but Amanda, (Social Video Producer) is in charge of that.

-Did you decide to be a producer because of your mentor, or were there other deciding factors?

I think I became more interested in producing after my internship in New York. When I came to San Diego in search of a job, I remember hearing about Bob Hoffman Video, and that they were looking for producers. Since I had previous experience with working with producers, I decided to go for it. I always liked math a lot anyways so becoming a producer made sense to me. Plus, I think in the end producing was just a better fit than editing.

I finished writing down her final words as she continued on her emails. After observing her work habits for a while, I felt amazed by how she well she could multi-task. I said thank you and left the office quietly, heading in the direction of my desk where I started working too. While working, I thought over the interview. I had learned a lot about Tatiana in the short time that I had been at Bob Hoffman Productions. I learned about her transition from living in Santa Cruz, to moving to the fast-paced city of New York, then heading back to the west coast to live in San Diego. I learned about her transition from editor to producer, and I several other things as well. As I worked quietly, I couldn’t help but think that her ability to work without stopping and her ability to easily adapt to any situation was amazing. I scolded myself for sounding cliché, but at that moment, I couldn’t help but hope that one day I could be both a businesswoman and person like her.

Opening Interview

Bob Hoffman Video Productions is truly a book that shouldn’t be judged by its cover. At first glance, one may think that the off-white walls and small, slightly cluttered reception area slightly resembles an office building. A second glance however, tells a different story. On top of the scattered paperwork on the desk sits an equality sticker, and a basket full of bazooka bubble gum sits next to that. Towards the back of the room sits a bronze colored award for a film the company had made in the past. After looking at the award for a moment, you begin to notice that there are several stacks of business cards, one with the name “Tatiana R., Corporate Production Manager” printed on the front.

Stepping out from a small door opposite the receptionist’s desk walks a straight-faced woman. Her hair is pulled back into a tight brunette-colored bun. She is wearing a pair of black pants and a brightly colored collared shirt. Upon seeing a customer, her expression changes to a bright smile and she immediately sticks out her hand to greet you, starting with the words, “My name is Tatiana R., Corporate Production Manager, how may I help you today?”

Tatiana never intended on being a production manager. After being born and raised in Santa Cruz, Tatiana decided to keep close to home and go to school at UC Santa Cruz, where she studied to be a film editor. After graduating from UCSC, Tatiana decided to go test the waters, and went looking for an internship. After weeks of searching, she came across a film internship in New York, where she worked as a production manager’s assistant. After her internship, Tatiana decided it was time to really get into the field, so she left New York and headed west to sunny San Diego. She found Bob Hoffman Video and decided that it was time she tried her hand in producing. She has now been with the company for several years. She was also recently engaged.