It was 2 p.m. as I sat in a dark screening room with a production team and a rep from an international bank, watching a thirty-minute industrial video that I had completed a full orchestral score for about a month before.
The video narrative consisted of lines like, “Hi! Now that you're a member of the Bank of __ ___ team, we want to go over some of those great options we have in your benefits package.”
After the presentation, the lights came up on the $1,500.00 suit that had to come to town to OK the completed production. He started off with a series of pompous, trivial questions for the production team and producer.
All of his posturing and puffery was skirting around the edge of “iffy”. As he droned on, the biggest “if” in my mind was if his observations were indicative of his video production acumen, then he should just smile, take the DVD, and go home.
“Who did the music?” he blustered.
At this point, the producer’s angina started to kick in, realizing that there was no telling what was going to come out of my mouth in the form of an answer to his pending question.
Mustering all the tedium coursing through my veins, I made no eye contact and slowly raised my hand.
He leaned into me and said, “Can you make it more purple?”
Without missing a beat, my ennui eyes turned into a heat-seeking gimlet glare.
“Magenta or eggplant?” I asked.
The verbal volley stunned him and literally sent him back about six inches. He did a pretty good impression of the infamous five-point buck confronting the Oldsmobile headlights.
He froze. He had no answer.
After about five seconds of mumbling, he said, “Well, magenta, of course!”
I immediately responded with, “I'll have it for you on Tuesday with an invoice.”
Always be prepared.
Postscript:
So, I know you have an inquiring mind and you're wondering right now, “How did Holmes make it magenta?”
I went home and, after I opened the Scotch, I opened the session I had composed in Pro Tools and Propellerhead’s Reason, added a few measures of English horn and bassoon, rolled off some of the top end, and saved it as an mp3.
The video narrative consisted of lines like, “Hi! Now that you're a member of the Bank of __ ___ team, we want to go over some of those great options we have in your benefits package.”
After the presentation, the lights came up on the $1,500.00 suit that had to come to town to OK the completed production. He started off with a series of pompous, trivial questions for the production team and producer.
All of his posturing and puffery was skirting around the edge of “iffy”. As he droned on, the biggest “if” in my mind was if his observations were indicative of his video production acumen, then he should just smile, take the DVD, and go home.
“Who did the music?” he blustered.
At this point, the producer’s angina started to kick in, realizing that there was no telling what was going to come out of my mouth in the form of an answer to his pending question.
Mustering all the tedium coursing through my veins, I made no eye contact and slowly raised my hand.
He leaned into me and said, “Can you make it more purple?”
Without missing a beat, my ennui eyes turned into a heat-seeking gimlet glare.
“Magenta or eggplant?” I asked.
The verbal volley stunned him and literally sent him back about six inches. He did a pretty good impression of the infamous five-point buck confronting the Oldsmobile headlights.
He froze. He had no answer.
After about five seconds of mumbling, he said, “Well, magenta, of course!”
I immediately responded with, “I'll have it for you on Tuesday with an invoice.”
Always be prepared.
Postscript:
So, I know you have an inquiring mind and you're wondering right now, “How did Holmes make it magenta?”
I went home and, after I opened the Scotch, I opened the session I had composed in Pro Tools and Propellerhead’s Reason, added a few measures of English horn and bassoon, rolled off some of the top end, and saved it as an mp3.
It took all of about eight minutes and even less time to print the $500.00 invoice.
Always be prepared.
Post postscript:
Of course, the best option would have been mauve – but I knew that mauve wouldn’t fit in his budget, given that twelve-minute mauve option starts at $1,000.00.
Know your customer and anticipate the customer’s financial ceiling.
Be the mail carrier.
Deliver.
Always be prepared.
Post postscript:
Of course, the best option would have been mauve – but I knew that mauve wouldn’t fit in his budget, given that twelve-minute mauve option starts at $1,000.00.
Know your customer and anticipate the customer’s financial ceiling.
Be the mail carrier.
Deliver.
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