blog | Matthew A. Hawkins

Women I Work With Part 1

Posted on June 16, 2011

I’m privileged to do the work I do.

I’m more privileged and honoured to work with some of the women I work with.
You see, a few weeks ago, I was thinking about all the work I do and who I get a chance to work with. I have a variety of things I do: educational biology shorts, credit union & financial marketing, school district information & communication, health & wellness videos and so on. I started to connect who most of the people are that I work with on these projects and I saw a pattern – strong, smart, beautiful, talented women.

What I’m going to be doing, over the course of the next week or so, is highlight a few of the women I work with and what kind of work they are doing. Join me.

Cheryl

I first met Cheryl online when Currency Marketing was starting up their social networking site based around Credit Unions. Cheryl and I connected through Twitter and blogging. After a few lunches and coffees with other top executives at Currency, I did a few Living Young & Free Shows for them to get my foot in the door. Cheryl is the host of the LYFS among many other duties she does at Currency, we had a lot of fun shooting together and talked about the idea of working on a professional basis.

It’s been fun getting to know Cheryl and seeing a young woman jump full on into her career. Cheryl and I film the show twice monthly and connect a lot through emails and various twitter jokes or sarcastic comments. She is passionate about her work and is just as passionate about living her life to the fullest. It is rare to not hear Cheryl smiling (not just laughing, but smiling) because she is usually the epicentre of fun. Cheryl has a drive and tenacity to always want the best out of herself and the people around her. I love working with someone like Cheryl.

Be sure to check out the LYFS and the work Cheryl is a part of at Currency Marketing.

Posted in Promotional Tagged with: chilliwack filming, chilliwack marketing, chilliwack productions, chilliwack video, communication, fraser valley communications, fraser valley marketing, fraser valley production, fraser valley videographer, marketing, matthew a hawkins, production services, women i work with

Phoster Is A Cool App

Posted on June 16, 2011

I don’t do many App Reviews, if any, but I love this new app for the iPhone and iPad.
It’s called: Phoster
Here’s a quick & quirky description from the developers website: “This App is for you to create posters to promote and invite your friends at your party, concert, birthday etc.  You will share your created posters with your friends via facebook, twitter, tumbler, and email.” Things don’t translate great, but good enough.

I love how quick and simple this app is to use. Here’s how it works: open the app, pick a template (50+ to choose from), add your picture, change the text, save it with or without a filter AND BOOM!

The only downfall is you can’t add your own text box in a place there isn’t one or add different shapes unless they are a part of the template. They have some updates coming, so who knows, maybe they will show up there.
In short I’d give the app an 8 out of 10, 1 1/2 thumbs up and 4 out of 5 stars… is that what you do in app reviews?

It’s only 1.99 so you might as well just try it out, you can’t even buy an energy drink for that price any more!

Here’s a few of my own I’ve created:

Posted in Promotional, rant Tagged with: business design, chilliwack video, commercial design, commercials Alberta, commercials BC, fraser valley production design, hawkins media, matthew a hawkins, promotional video

My Canucks Fan Journey

Posted on June 15, 2011

I started watching the Canucks when I was at least 7 or 8 years old. I was a die hard fan from the start. Tony Tanti, Stan Smyl, heck I grew up with the a poster of Trevor Linden the year he was drafted. I lived and breathed Canucks hockey.

I remember watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994. Madison Square Garden. I remember Bure chasing the puck for an icing with seconds to spare in the game they would soon lose. I remember the feeling of defeat. The feeling of doubt that we would never see this moment again. Well, here we are today. Here is Vancouver sitting at the threshold of something that will go down in history one way or the other. Another moment to believe the Stanley Cup will makes it home in Vancouver.

Since getting into video, one of the first things I started doing was making fan videos for the Canucks. It’s been a fun ride and one I’ll continue to take as life goes on.
I’ve had the amazing privilege, because of being a Canucks fan, to do some awesome things with it:
- interview Dan Murphy from Sportsnet (still wish I had audio fixed and that I did that interview in character)
- visited GM Place (now Rogers Arena) for a behind the scenes tour, days before Crosby showed up for the first time on the West Coast
- interviewed Clayton Imoo (after years of talking about doing a video together…again with the audio…)
- interview with Brent Butt (because I persisted or he relented or both and I wish I had my audio fixed for this too… sigh)
- got to be on CTV and GLOBAL News a number of times (mostly because my kids are cute)
- was on the Canucks centre ice screen throughout a whole season for the opening videos (only pieces of my stuff, but still amazing)

I’ve been lucky and I hope to keep doing my nutty stuff for them.
I compiled a few of my favorite Canuck fan moments into one video for you to enjoy.

Posted in canucks fan, those moments, Videos Tagged with: brent butt, canucks, canucks playoffs, comedy, comedy mix, corner gas, ctv, dan murphy, fun interviews, hawkins media, hiccups, john shorthouse, matthew a hawkins, matthew hawkins, rogers sportsnet, sportsnet, sportsnetmurph, stand up, vancouver canucks, video production

Donald Miller & Hockey

Posted on June 6, 2011

Tomorrow night I’ll be checking out the Storyline Conference in Portland, Oregon. (I’ll be Tweeting from the event in case you want to check in)

DONALD MILLER! Get this. The NHL Hockey Team I grew up cheering for, THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS, and that I have been waiting to see raise the Stanley Cup, is playing tomorrow night.
I want you to know I’m coming to your conference anyways but I’m thinking about the VANCOUVER CANUCKS WHILE I AM THERE. In fact I may even be checking the score periodically.

I would greatly appreciate some sort of notification (I know you are American and from a state that has no NHL team but still), please point out that the ONLY WEST COAST NHL Team, the Vancouver CANUCKS, are playing in game 3 and a cheer or something would be nice!
You want to talk about a great STORY, let me tell you about the Vancouver Canucks. 40th year this year and they’ve yet to win a Stanley Cup. This could be it this week. We can share the story over beers and cigars if you like. I’m buying!

That said, I’m looking forward to your conference and looking forward to seeing a screening of Blue Like Jazz.
I’m going to be the crazy guy with the CANUCKS jersey and I would appreciate at least one SHOUT OUT TO THE CANUCKS!

By the way Don, if I can call you that, I saw the Hangover II as well. I liked it but Bridesmaids was better.

Posted in On My Desk, Promotional, rant Tagged with: canucks, dan murphy, fun interviews, hawkins media, john shorthouse, rogers sportsnet, sportsnet, sportsnetmurph, tthew a hawkins, vancouver canucks, video production

Pictures from the Set of Eureka

Posted on June 2, 2011

Chilliwack isn’t known as North Hollywood. In fact, you could probably count the number of productions we’ve seen around here in the last few years on one hand.

Eureka, a sci-fi show on the SyFy Network, films a lot of their exterior shots of their “town” in Chilliwack. They were around this week and I wanted to grab a couple of shots from their set.
I must say, it was eery walking down the street. They were in the middle of setting up the camera mounts on the truck (see below) and they had all their set props and extras sitting around waiting. I walked through everything unscathed by any over anxious PA’s, so it was weird being a part of the set dressing and knowing I shouldn’t be where I was (for example, standing talking to some extras and taking pictures of the set). It was fun though! Enjoy the pics. No spoilers… that I know of…