I contacted our old neighbour about buying some tackle (jigs and spinners) because I had heard how popular their stuff was, which I love by the way, and then started to think about combining two things I love to do: film and fish. I followed up our conversation about tackle with the idea of doing a promo video they could use to showcase online for potential web customers. We’ve had a chance to sit down and it’s looking like it will develop into a lot more than just that, but in the time being they’ll be filming some of their own content and using the intro video I created below:

BentRods is an excellent fishing guide and they are also incredible hosts. So be sure to check out their site and if you’re looking for fishing trips, these are the guys to contact.

Cheers,
Matthew A. Hawkins

• Processing Ideas
• My Summer
• Day 12 – Behind the Scenes

2012 is looking much better. At least for the box office.
This year will be riddled with sequels or prequels and from my own personal opinion I’m screaming for Hollywood to create more original material like Super 8, Drive or Midnight in Paris.

Great box office anticipation is excellent news for advertisers – the more people coming through the box office, means more impressions.
It’s a great idea to look at setting some of your budget aside in 2012 for some great ad space – www.filmads.ca

So here’s a few of the trailer for what I think will do really well in the box office for 2012.

The Hobbit

Avengers

Dark Knight Rises

The Hunger Games

Men in Black 3

Cheers,
Matthew A. Hawkins

• Cineplex Media & FilmAds
• FilmAds
• Beacon Theatre – Burns Lake

There were a number of things that made it so. I wanted to recap a few of the things that stuck out the most to me.

1. Cineplex Media & FilmAds
In April I was able to see a 6 month conversation and a 1 year idea come to fruition. FilmAds officially signed a partnership with Cinplex Media. The deal has opened tremendous doors for the 12 theatres that I work with. I’m very excited for each of the theatres I work with and the new theatres we’ll be signing up in 2012.

2. Fringe
Last December my friend Jason and I came up with the crazy idea to meet John Noble (Walter Bishop on Fox’s Fringe) and we started to go out and visit the Fringe film sets. You can also check out how we met Joshua Jackson and others here.

3. Dan Murphy Interview
Aside from some technical issues that were completely my fault. I had a lot of fun interviewing Dan Murphy of Sportsnet (all because I asked him if he’d be up for it through Twitter)
My friend Geoff Heith filmed the interview and afterwards we figured we’d head over to Rogers Arena and see if we could watch the Canucks practice… which we actually got to do.

4. Brent Butt Interview
After I got to meet cast members from Fringe, I moved on to a new fun project: trying to film a Canadian comedian legend… Brent Butt. It all started with a few twitter questions and then a blog post. Brent responded on Twitter saying he’d do the interview once he got enough Twitter followers… which over time he finally got. Thus the interview (with another technical glitch that I’ve learned never to make again)

5. The Valley Votes Interviews
For the municipal election in the Chilliwack area (Hope, Agassiz, Harrison & Chilliwack) I was asked by the Valley Votes team (run by the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board) to interview candidates about important and pertinent things in the Chilliwack area. It was a great chance for me to sit down with influential people in the community and hear them out and share a bit about me as well. You can see all the interviews here.

6. 1Day Design
I get to work with a number small businesses all across BC and Alberta. With the way the economy has been going it’s proven tough for small businesses to do much in terms of marketing. Since I run a medium for businesses to market themselves, I wanted to give a simple option to get great advertising tools from – enter 1Day Design. As the 1Day Design site says “1Day Design is a service that is offered once a month. 1Day a month we create you a new website, logo, video or more. 1Day we design work for you at 1Price.”
The other side of 1Day Design is we give 50% of the money raised to charity. So far, we’ve given over $200 to charity and we’ve only been running for 2 months. It’s a start to something great!

7. Witness for the Prosecution
On my list for things to do for a while, was to have a role in a play. My actual goal was just to audition, but I guess I was good enough to play the part. Thanks to my friend and colleague Janet Carroll (the director) I was able to take on 3 roles (1 non-speaking) in the play “Witness for the Prosecution” by Agatha Christie. My main role was Thomas Clegg, a stuttering Englishman, nervous as anything because he’s taking the stand in court and he never does well with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and hope to do it again in the future.

8. Currency Marketing and The Living Young & Free Show
If you’ve ever spent any time on my blog, then you know I’ve spoken about Currency Marketing and LYFS. I have tried for a number of years to find a spot on their team. I really like the work they do and the people that work there. So in the spring of this year, I signed up for contract work with the Currency team and it’s been so much fun to work with them. A lot of what I do is literally behind the scenes. You wouldn’t really know what I’m doing unless I told you but a lot of what I do is film, direct and edit the Living Young Free Show (which is a bi-weekly show we produce) and I do a lot of coding/application entries for all their contests and spokespeople application entries. It can get really crazy, but is a lot fun… just check out their Christmas video we did:

9. My Family
After 2010 and the craziness and ups and downs we went through then, 2011 was a year of incredible time together. We got to go on a great 3 week road trip in the summer, in which we visited Salmon Arm, Nelson, Trail, Red Deer, Edmonton, Valemount and more (all while visiting some awesome friends, family and theatres!!!). We were also able to go to other great places through the year like Seattle, a weekend in the west end of Vancouver, a week at a beach house in Parksville (thanks to a special friend for letting use the last two places!) and camping in the Shuswap. It was a year for us to spend great time together, build new memories and start getting an idea of what the future is going to look like for us.

To all my blog readers, thanks for checking in and occasionally commenting. If anything, I do this blog for myself, but I love that you stop by and check out what’s happening.
Cheers,
Matthew A. Hawkins

• Video Invitation to Brent Butt
• Women I Work With Part 1
• Day 12 – Behind the Scenes

Let’s get the basics covered that everyone should know and can be used in pretty much all programs (CTRL is for PC users/CMD is for Apple users):

CTRL/CMD + C = COPY
CTRL/CMD + X = CUT
CTRL/CMD + V = PASTE
CTRL/CMD + A = SELECT ALL
CTRL/CMD + Z = UNDO
CTRL/CMD + S = SAVE
CTRL/CMD + SHIFT + S = SAVE AS
CTRL/CMD + P = PRINT
ALT + F4/CMD + Q = EXIT PROGRAM
CMD + W = CLOSE WINDOW

Word/WordPress/Text Shortcuts:
CTRL/CMD + B = BOLD
CTRL/CMD + U = UNDERLINE
CTRL/CMD + I = ITALICS

Internet Browsers (most use these):

CTRL/CMD + T = NEW TAB
CTRL/CMD + N = NEW WINDOW
CTRL/CMD + D = BOOKMARK
BACKPSACE = GO BACK

If you are using the Adobe Creative Suite there are countless shortcuts you can use. One of the things I love the most with Adobe products is that you can create your own shortcuts.
In Photoshop I have a number of files I use and update often so I created specific shortcuts to help me speed things up quite a bit:

CMD+SHIFT+P = PLACE
SHIFT+CMD+ALT+S = WEB SAVE
ALT+CMD+I = RESIZE IMAGE

*And if you’re really into video editing, there are keyboards you can buy with every shortcut on it.
** If you want to know what shortcuts are in Adobe, you can usually hold the mouse over the tool and it will show you the shortcut key is.

These are only a few shortcut keys, each program can have their own set or created shortcuts and it really saves a lot of time for you once you learn them.
If it takes you 3 seconds to move your mouse to the toolbar and select the tool you need to use or .5 seconds to hit your shortcut keys, that really adds up after a while.

Hope it helps.
Matthew A. Hawkins

• Micro Blogging
• Guest Blogger – Adam Besse
• My Take on Buying New Gear

Below is just an example of regular use. I’m going to try and create something a lot more crazy this weekend.

If you’re interested in getting the ring light for yourself or want more info, check out:

RotoLight

The Ring Light itself

Have fun out there!
Matthew A. Hawkins

• Geoff’s Pics of Me
• My Weekend
• An Update & Challenge

Jason Lum – I wrote about him already, just check it out here.

Chuck Stam – He’s experienced and a successful, honest business man in town. I think he’s great potential to continue his work on city council.

Ken Popove – I don’t know much about Ken, but what I do know is enough for me to mark his name on my ballot. We buy all our tires from him because he’s a local business and he has some of the best customer service in town. Aside from business he’s also been heavily involved in the community.

Sue Attrill – She has 3 years of experience on council already and she has a wealth of experience in business. She’s been very involved with the community and is passionate about the work she’s done and hopes to continue to do on city council.

Ken Huttema – Ken was very well spoken both on camera and off camera for our interview. Hearing him talk about getting the library built in Sardis and all the work that’s gone into planning the downtown revitalization you could see a spark in his eyes for the work he does on council. He’s a successful business man in agriculture which I think is so important to have represented on council.

For my last choice it’s a toss up between these two. I’ll be reading more tonight to figure out who I’ll choose tomorrow.

Mitchell Nosko – I had a great interview with Mitchell for the Valley Votes website. He has a very interesting perspective on Chilliwack as he gets to deal with a lot of tourists through his flight business at the airport. I can’t say I’ve liked everything I’ve read about him saying at meetings and such, but from our 1 on 1 conversation, I was really impressed with his platform and honest opinions.

Ron Browne – Ron has an abundance of experience in the medical and administrative fields. He is soft spoken but very intelligent. This is what I gathered from our first 10 minutes together for our interview. He has a balanced approach to work on city council and a real heart to serve the citizens of Chilliwack. I appreciated his soft voice and his passion to help shape our community.

There you have it.

If you want to see the video interviews I did, check out Valley Votes here.

I’m going out to vote this November 19th. Are you?

Matthew A. Hawkins

• Chilliwack City Council Candidates
• Chilliwack City Council Votes #1
• Salmar Theatre: Community Investment

I’ve partnered up with the theatre in Salmon Arm to develop and maintain different forms of advertising. The most specific has been running their digital pre-show that runs on all 5 screens before all movies. That’s 5 screens 2 shows a day Monday – Friday and 4 shows a day Saturday and Sunday with your ad running multiple times before each show… amazing exposure! Anyways, enough about what I do.

The Salmar Theatre is very unique. Not just because it is a fully digital movie plex offering great sound, seating, popcorn and customer service, but because they are a non-profit organization that is run to help the community of Salmon Arm. The Salmar is only one of a few in North America and one of the first in Canada. They are an amazing bunch of people.

As I mentioned, I run and maintain their advertising. Which means my job is basically to help them create and grow a new revenue stream for their work in the community.

Here’s a list of projects that the Salmar has been involved with since last October 2010. These are just some of the projects they are involved with in the Salmon Arm Community:

- Donated towards a new roof for the Salmon Arm Fall Fair building;
- Playground equipment for a new playground in town;
- Purchased a pitching machine for the Salmon Arm Minor Baseball league;
- Donated towards Haney Heritage Museum;
- Donated to the Canada Day Children’s Festival;
- Donated towards the Caravan Theatre/Okanagan College residential construction program.

Aside from these great endeavours, the Salmar also offers free air time on our pre-show to other non-profit organizations in town. This has been of a huge benefit and savings to these organizations. We’ve had the honor of having the Children’s Festival, Haney Heritage Museum, Salmon Arm Downtown Improvement Assoc., The All About Women Conference and even more.

If you are a business in Salmon Arm that has ever advertised with us, thank you for your contributions to the community. Your money spent on quality advertising is going back into the community. And to those thinking about signing up with us for advertising, you can be confident that a majority of your money is going right back into the community where you work, live and play.

For more info, please visit FilmAds.ca

• FilmAds Facts
• Salmar Theatres Venture
• BP Salmon Arm

As I mentioned before, I got to sit down with almost all of the council candidates and talk with them both on camera and off camera. There were a few that really spoke well and a few that I wish I could have spoken with. Here’s my thoughts of what I’ve learned so far:

Jason Lum

Out of all the candidates I got to sit down with during our interviews, Jason was the one person I resonated best with.
I believe Chilliwack needs some one with the youth, vigor and passion that Jason has. He is passionate about Chilliwack, about it’s people and service and about it’s business. Being involved with the Chilliwack Chamber and Chilliwack Economic Partners Corp. Jason has had his hand on the heart beat of what drives this community. I want someone on council that understands local business and can step up to the plate for improving our local economy.

I also really liked Jason for something simple. You can just talk with the guy. With this being a vote for local government, I want to know I can talk with anyone on council. From the mayor to any of the council members, I want to know, if the need were to arise, I could phone, email, stop by, bug them on the street or whatever and that they would listen. I enjoyed my time talking with Jason and his level headed approach on a number of topics, from budget to downtown Chilliwack, he’s honest and straightforward.

Lastly, I’m voting for Jason because I think he is very honest and transparent. He gives you a straight answer and speaks well. I like that in any level of government.

If you live in Chilliwack, I hope to see you out this Saturday, voting for our municipality!

Matthew A. Hawkins

• Chilliwack City Council Candidates
• Chilliwack Municipal Vote 2011
• Election Rant

So if you’re looking for some quality design work and you’re on a tight budget, now’s the time to sign up for one of our FOUR spots left for November. Get any work done (logo, motion graphic video, website, etc.) for ONLY $100.

What are you waiting for?

Sign Up Today!

• 1Day Design: November
• 1Day Design Launches
• 1Day Design – November’s Designs

The last municipal election in Chilliwack was ranked 9th from the bottom of all BC Municipalities. The purpose of The Valley Votes site is simple and important “Our goal with this initiative is to change those stats and to see voter turnout in the communities CADREB serves: Chilliwack, Hope, Kent and Harrison, rise.” Basically, get people out and vote!

Kyle approached me about filming each of the city council candidates to help give voters in the Chilliwack District a better idea of who they were voting for (just council as the mayor was acclaimed for a 2nd term). If we could educate people on who was available to vote for, they had one less excuse why they couldn’t vote.

Here’s the biggest reason I chose to help Kyle and CADREB with this project, it’s completely selfish. Being a 2nd time voter with a municipal election in Chilliwack, I wanted to sit and talk with each of the candidates. I got to ask them questions I thought people wanted answers to. How can we keep Chilliwack growing, but with a small town feel? How do you think the downtown area can improve? You look too young to be on council, what do you say about that? Why should I vote for you?

Secondly, it was great to share from my own perspective as a small business owner and to hear what they thought they could do to help small business in Chilliwack. I wanted to hear straight from their mouths how they could help someone like me and hundreds of other small businesses. I also wanted to hear how they could keep Chilliwack on track with zero debt and a strong infrastructure for growth and stability. Like I said, selfish reasons.

I was privileged for the chance to interview each of them and look forward to, what I hope will be a better voter turnout, and what happens to our city council for the next term.

I highly recommend you head over to The Valley Votes site and check out the videos. I also recommend you follow Jamie Billingham on Twitter for up to the minute info on our council candidates.

*If you’d like my opinion about who I’m voting for for council, you’ll just have to find me some time and ask.

Thanks again to Kyle and CADREB.
Matthew

• Chilliwack City Council Votes #1
• Chilliwack Municipal Vote 2011
• Election Rant