My perspective on some work I’m doing this quarter.

/* begin whirlwind discussion */

OK, Tommy, what we want to do is document the information about our projects. We’ll need a general description of the project and contact info.

Do you want the contact information separated out?

Yes. You’ll need to know so-and-so was our main client but there were others; so-and-so did the writing; so-and-so from such-and-such did something, but I’m sure you figure out what by digging in the binder; we worked with so-and-so as an architect; you’ll need to get the name of the thingy-ma-bob manufacturers and the video people in Europe—they handled everything; the people here were me as producer, so-and-so as creative director, so-and-so as editor, so-and-so as research and development, oh, and so-and-so was also coordinator; we also worked with consultants from such-and-such, they were so-and-so and so-and… I don’t remember the last name, but I’m sure you can find it; another name to keep in mind is so-and-so.

Next we want to document the process. First we need to articulate the design problem; what was asked of us. We had to take the thingy-ma-bobs and jam them into a space. We first found out that our scans of the images were too low-res. Put that in a “lessons learned” section. We strung together some images and cut together an edit in Final Cut with text from so-and-so. In Final Cut so-and-so created a matte that so-and-so then extracted separate areas to make separate files. Such-and-such then figured out the correct distances of the thingy-ma-bobs and the distortion levels that would have to be added. We then sent them files in some format I can’t remember. Ask so-and-so about that.

Oh, yeah, and the diagrams of the environment produced by such-and-such are really important.

And so-and-so flew there for four days to set it all up.

So, should I use those spreadsheets to organize this information?

No, that was something I put together really quickly at 2 a.m. without thinking. You will need to come up with something else. We want to archive these projects the right way. Next week we’ll show what you com up with to so-and-so (the owner of the company).

I have to run to get on a call. You’re all set?

: |

Good.

/* end whirlwind discussion */

I’m not sure where to go from here. I didn’t have a chance to think about any of this stuff in any detail before I was abandoned. How are these archives or files or whatever I’m supposed to compile going to be used? That seems to me to be the key point in what I need to know to construct something useful. What happens to all the documentation that exists in multiple folders under a main project folder? Do I reference that information or incorporate it directly? Can I assume that it will remain forever? Should I capture it now before it disappears? Is it even useful for this part of what I am creating? I don’t even know if what I’m working will end up being used as an electronic interactive document or printed and used as a physical paper reference.

It may be hard to believe, but this is some of the best direction I’ve been given the whole time.