Can't believe it.. I am so sucked into this commercial everytime it plays on TV. The following is the one I see on TV (chinese), and afterwards is another version (english) I found on Youtube. They're both wonderful.
I went to the Chung Hwa travel agency today to apply for my taiwan visa for my Dec trip. As I hand in my form, the lady at the counter was proof-reading what I wrote on the paper.
When she saw that I wrote "Animator" for job, and "Imagi Studios" as company name. She asked me, "Do you make cartoons?"
I get this question a lot, so I said, "yes". "So you draw the cartoons?" "No.. more like puppeting, in the computer." "So you do computer animation?" "Yes." "How is the animation industry in HK?" "Er.. it's alright." "Your company is foreign company?" "Not really.. our boss is from HK but we have a branch in the US." "Really? So you do jobs from abroad?" "Yes.. we're doing Astroboy.. and we've got foreign actors to do the vocals..." "How is the salary?" "Er... not as high as I would like it to be.." "Is that true? Do you get 10K?"
At this point I stopped wondering if she was investigating me, to see if I was telling the truth as I wrote on the application form..
After a few back and forth, I asked her, "Why, you know anyone who's joining the industry?"
"It's my daughter. She's in college now, studying animation! And she's graduating soon.. and I'm worried she's not gonna be able to find a good job here, or the pay is not good.. Aiya, I told her not to study this.. (reminds me of my mum..) I don't want her to 畢業就失業. Is Imagi studios good? Can you leave me a number?"
Hahahaha... I felt bad taking up the time talking to her about my company and the work we do, when there's a bunch other people behind me waiting for their turn to hand in the application form. They can definitely hear us talking about non-visa related stuff.
Not that I mind :D She was worried that her daughter won't be able to find a decent job here in HK, and I was quite eager to tell her what I know.
I asked, "Which school is she in?"
"She's in San Francisco.. at the ... aiya I don't really remember.. the.... The Academy of Art University."
@_@
I said she would have much higher salary than those who graduated in HK... She continued by asking me if there's any same kinds of schools in HK that she can go to, for a master's degree. I told her I went to Baptist U. for 3 years, and City U. also offers a master's degree for 2 years..
When we finished, I left her a phone number for Imagi, as well as our website, and I told her we've got a branch in L.A. I regret not leaving my email address just so she can contact me if she wanted to, but also because I forgot to tell her an important point.
What I forgot to tell her was: She doesn't need to worry about anything! Her daughter will be a US animation school graduate, which means: 1. she can find work in the USA, and will get paid much higher than in HK, and even if she does come to HK.. she'll be more qualified than most, and 2. she should find work in the USA, because all the big movies with crazy CGs are created there, and if she wants to she can come back to HK after doing some work there. She should have no problems here afterwards. And.. she shouldn't have to go to get her master's degree here. It's.. well.. not that useful.. especially if she's already got a degree in it from (an American) arts school.
So... if you happen to be her daughter, read and remember what I wrote here~! If not.. well..... hope someone else reads this and find it useful.
BLOG評論