Letter From the Editor – July 2011

Posted July 1st, 2011 / By John Kostrzewski in Featured, Letter From the Editor

Change.

It’s become almost a catchphrase of the past few years since President Obama started using it for as one of his campaign slogans, but it has been the unofficial motto of life since the beginning of time. Change is constant, and change is inevitable.

For the most part, change is good. In the last century alone, computing technology has pushed us all into a society practically run by computers making things both easier and more difficult. Tasks have been becoming exponentially more easy, but those who haven’t caught on or, at least, tried to keep up, have been left in the dust, and things are only moving faster from here. We have smartphones that are, essentially, pocket computers, desktop computers that would run circles around any computer put in front of it from the last decade, laptops that are thin as magazines and as light as air, and tablet computers like something from Star Trek. We are steadily climbing towards a wired future, but we are still only in the infancy. There are technological marvels both on the horizon and that people haven’t even thought of yet that are waiting to blow our minds and make our lives better. If we are ready for it.

But change shouldn’t be a big scary unknown. We owe a lot to change. Our jobs have been derived from changes in our, and other, fields. Where would we be today without advances in computers, computer software or camera and camcorder equipment? If anything, Jeff Saunders article last month, Know Your Roots, showed how much our industry has changed from less than fifty years ago. Technology has definitely made our lives easier, and these are the changes we should be excited for.

Sadly, there are times when change isn’t good. The recent release of Final Cut Pro X (which isn’t really the tenth installment of the series–rather, it’s Apple’s attempt at rebranding one of their last professional software packages into the new “X” brand) changed things from the ground up, and they have gotten a lot of flak for it. For the most part, it has been warranted. Apple is doing it’s best to quell the disgruntled users, but it’s a bad taste that will stay in the mouth of many for a long time to come. The lesson to learn from this: if change sets us back, it’s not good.

We here at Fuel Your Motionography have been known to change up a thing or two. One of the biggest changes to happen recently has been the arrival of Joren Kandel, a very talented and motivated motion graphics artist who, besides working a day job at Row 27 Studios here in Minneapolis, runs The Pixel Lab, his personal website featuring a ton of great Cinema 4D and After Effects tutorials and tips. Oh, and he somehow finds the time to write tutorials for other websites such as Motionworks. A busy and talented man.

Anyway, I think the important thing to remember in all of this rambling is nobody sets off to make a bad change. It just happens. All we can do is take it as it comes, hope it gets better and, if all else fails, move on to something better that has proven itself in the past.

John Kostrzewski is the Editor of Fuel Your Motionography and a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist, videographer and writer living in Minnesota. He is awesome. Follow him on Twitter at and .