The Athletic Nerd is now close to 3 years old and has evolved a ton over the years. Slowly, I’ve carved out an identity for this blog and the graphic look has been gradually improved along the way. Regular readers probably hopefully noticed a couple new banners, ads and post headers popping up over the last few months.
Branding is definitely key when it comes to first impressions. Long ago, my blog was hideous… It’s okay you can say it. With so many fantastic looking blogs out there, you have to be able to compete when it comes to design. So today, I’m unveiling the one thing I felt The Athletic Nerd was lacking. An official logo!
Graphic design is a tricky thing for someone with no training and no ‘official’ experience. For years, I’ve relied on tutorials online and my obsession with Photoshop to get by. I’m sure design professionals will spot flaws I’m unaware of but I like it. I wanted something simple that could be implemented in a variety of ways. For now, I’m sticking with the header image above and the odd advertisement but you’ll see it all over the place in time. In the end, I wanted something that could stand up next to the blog’s tagline:
Movies, Screenwriting & Independent Film
Hope you like the new logo. Stay tuned for a more updates including a brand new series which should be unveiled towards the end of next month!
Click here to check out my about page and email me at jason@17west.ca with any comments, questions or suggestions.
Two years ago, I got my iPhone and it instantly tripled my productivity by allowing me to keep up to date on my screenwriting and blogging. I could write anywhere I wanted and I did. Being able to craft blog posts while riding a subway actually had me looking forward to my journey to work each day. For the last few months, I’ve been working really hard on a ton of projects in order to begin 2012 with a clean slate. So far, it’s looking like I’ll be able to hit my deadlines and I have my iPad 2 to thank for that.
MY NEW CREATIVE COMMAND CENTRAL
I’ve had my iPad for a little over a month now and in that time, I’ve accomplished a ton.
-The Athletic Nerd has a whole new design with brand new content created on the much easier WordPress for iPad app.
-I’ve finished all the work leading up to the launch of my brand new blog which will be online later this week.
-I finished editing my short film thanks to notes and shot lists I created using Apple’s Pages app.
-I’ve also been using Pages to create outlines and breakdowns for a number of projects I’m hoping to begin next year.
-I’ve written 3 brand new short screenplays during my breaks at work thanks to the awesome Celtx screenwriting app.
I’ve only had the device for a month and it’s changed everything. Let’s face it, being able to read my daily news, post a new article online and revise a new screenplay before I get out of bed each morning is a nice touch. There are a million tiny reasons why the iPad 2 is amazing but for me, it all boils down to productivity.
My biggest fear before I purchased my iPad 2 was whether or not typing would hinder me. I’m happy to report that after a slight adjustment period, I’m firing out posts at a decent pace and hammering out new screenplay pages. The iPad is fast, convenient (not too mention cool) and integrated easily into my life. From a filmmaking perspective, the iPad has a number of amazing tools I plan to take advantage of whenever I begin my next project. Until then, I’ve been having a ton of fun messing around with iMovie, the iPad’s camera and my dog. But beyond that there are apps for every aspect of production.
When I started discussing the need for an iPad, many people (myself included) wondered if it was just a big iPhone. I’m here to tell you it’s absolutely true and it’s wonderful in every way. The iPhone is still my number one source of communication but when it comes to creative outbursts, I now have a tool that has everything I need to express my thoughts and share my work.
I’ve already compiled an album of graphics and posters I’ve created. Soon, I’ll have all my movies & trailers loaded into the device to show people. Presentations, demonstrations and conceptual meetings will never be the same again. Indeed, it’s only been a month but my iPad 2 has taken a firm grip on my creative routine and enhanced every aspect of it in the process. Sometimes, you just don’t have enough time at home to finish everything you had hoped to accomplish that day. With the iPad, I’ve been able to sneak in more and more work on road trips, breaks and any other moments when inspiration strikes.
It has truly become the center of my screenwriting, filmmaking and blogging universe.
I had no idea a project like this was even in development until I read an article promoting the trailer on /FILM.
The movie focuses on indie game developers and their passion for video games and video game design.
I write about passion on this site often. I don’t feel normal unless I have some kind of creative project to work on everyday. Whether it’s a new screenplay, a blog post, an image in photoshop or a big broadcast at work, I desperately need to feel creative everyday. It’s that passion that drives me every morning when I skip television and jump straight onto my computer to work.
People ask me often how I’ve managed to write every day on The Athletic Nerd in addition to my indie film aspirations, screenwriting obsession and more. I explain it by asking people what they do when they get home from work on a normal day. Most evenings are filled up with television or whatever else helps one relax and unwind. The last thing anyone wants to do after a long day at work is… More work. But I don’t see these projects as work. It’s simply what I love to do.
If you understand what it’s like to wake up extra early to work on a passion project then you probably enjoyed the trailer above as much as I did.
First and foremost, I love to write movies. Having said that, I’m also a massive fan of blogging, writing short stories and creating accompanying images and logos in Photoshop. On a daily basis, I normally have a number of projects I can work on but lately, I’ve been focused on finishing my short film The Climb.
It’s a project we filmed in May of 2010 and I’ve been experimenting with different editing techniques ever since. However, the time has come to wrap up the short so I can reorganize and prioritize my projects in 2012.
So for the last month, I’ve been completely wrapped up in post production with a couple afternoons of screenwriting here and there.
In all honesty, The Climb will most likely be finished in a few weeks and I’ve spent a lot more time figuring out what I want to create in 2012. It’s always beneficial to think ahead. Besides two big feature screenwriting projects and a slight 17west.ca redesign my schedule looks like it will be pretty open.
Finally, it looks like Ill be able to put a dent into my…
BACK BURNER PROJECTS
Anyone who enjoys being creative has a couple of these occupying the dusty storage shelves in their minds. These are projects you might get to someday. Unfortunately, many of these projects remain unfinished or worse they never really get off the shelf.
2012 will be the year of the screenplay for me as I don’t have plans to direct another film anytime soon. (Especially with a wedding less than a year away). Its going to be a year of words and two related back burner projects I’ve wanted to tackle for years.
The projects in question are eBooks. Since I began this blog in 2009, I’ve had a number of ideas for extra content to offer and these eBooks represent my first foray into the online self-publishing world.
But when you add up screenwriting, filmmaking, blogging and life in general, taking on an eBook simply didn’t fit into my daily routine. But that’s what a back burner project is! It’s a project you pick away at slowly. Something you work on and think about during quiet moments. I’ve already laid the groundwork and created over 40 pages of content for my first book. I’ve just never really given the project the time it deserves to graduate from back burner status.
Having said that, I’m extremely excited to wrap up a couple things and finally have time to write these projects. They will come in handy when I’m not working on my latest screenplay or blog post.
In my experience, back burner projects rarely get taken off the shelf and dusted off. The only one I can think of other than these eBooks was a children’s book I wrote for my parents years ago. It was something I always wanted to do but regularly put off. There was always something else that needed to be done. Finally, I got it finished and had a friend illustrate it. The memory I have of giving them copies of the book are precious to me now. I think about that memory fondly and I’m thankful that I took the time to write it for them.
Some back burner projects are meant to rise up. I won’t know if these two eBooks will fall into that category but I’ll never know until I finish them right?
Maybe its time you gave your back burner projects another look?
I spend about an hour a day (at least) reading movie, television and technology news. It’s a nice relaxing way to kickstart my brain every morning.
So I decided that it would be a great to post the list of sites I visit daily. However, this is not just a list. These sites are in the exact order I visit.
There are about 2 dozen others that I visit regularly but these are the sites I can’t go a day without.
And that’s it. After that I usually load up Final Draft, Final Cut, Photoshop, Dreamweaver or WordPress to work on whatever I have planned for that day.