The Detail From Coco No One Noticed that Blew My Mind

As a filmmaker I pay attention to the details in films. Making a film requires so many people, and little if anything ends up in a movie by accident. In live action movies there are accidents here and there, changed lines on the fly, background characters who weren't supposed to be in a shot etc...but in animated movies literally nothing ends up in the finished product by accident. For this reason I try to watch animated movies even more carefully, but it wasn't until I really looked at Miguel from Coco that I noticed something.

     I'm no great artist, but I draw for fun and to amuse my kids (usually when they are getting rowdy at church). One particular week they were getting really bored so I asked what they wanted me to draw and they requested Miguel. I found a picture of him for reference and started drawing.

    I admire Pixar for their incredible storytelling, even the worst of their movies (everyone has a different opinion on which this is) is still great. More than their storytelling though I have come to admire their attention to detail. As I drew Miguel I felt like he looked just like I would expect him to, but then I noticed something that caught me off guard. His clothing is all a bit worn as would be expected, he dresses like a working class boy would likely dress except one small detail. His shoes. As I worked my way down in the drawing I kept noticing how nice his shoes were. They are beat up and worn, but they aren't the typical crappy tennis shoes I would have expected him to wear, they are (or at least were not long ago) fairly nice shoes for someone in his position in life.

     For a few minutes as I drew it didn't dawn on me why exactly this would be, and then it hit me. His family are shoemakers. Naturally the one nice thing he would wear would be his shoes. It actually occurred to the animators to plan for this. I'll include the reference image I used for my drawing so you can see for yourself. It's a micro detail but it floored me, and frankly inspired me to try to work harder on the details of my own projects.

Unexpected Push: Moving From Part Time to Full Time

This last month has been a confusing and tumultuous time. It has also been exciting and exhilarating. For the last 8 years Black Hat Media has been what I have referred to as a hobby business. It was a way for us to bring in a little extra money here and there, but on the whole we left that to day jobs. It has been my goal to move the business into my full time job for a few years now, but I was not mentally or monetarily prepared for that. But sometimes life offers you an unexpected push to make things happen.

Last month on a seemingly normal day things were going just fine when I suddenly got a message from the company HR rep asking for a phone conversation. Immediately my insides started to hurt. My dealings with HR at any company have never been great, in fact I feel the best depiction of HR is Catbert in the Dilbert cartoons. I was hopeful that I was wrong about why she was contacting me, but once she called me a few minutes later my worst fears were confirmed. The company that had taken incredible care of me for the last 5 years could no longer support most of its employees.

Fortunately I had been planning what to do in such a situation for a few months. I was not completely blindsided by the choice, but I did think I would have more notice. I spent the rest of the day planning what to do and we have been working at Black Hat Media full time for about a month now.

The change is difficult and frightening to say the least, but I have spent the last few years developing a skillset that was designed to make me "unemployment proof", meaning that with or without a job I would have a means to provide for my family.

30 days into this new way of life and I can honestly say that I never truly understood the power of networking until now. I had an academic understanding of it, but it was hard to see why it was so crucial. I have been a member of a BNI group for the last few months and until this last few weeks it had not become apparent what a powerful group that could be.

Thank you to all of our loyal friends and customers for helping us in this transition, and here's to many years of Black Hat Media to come!