Creating a production company as a kid is no big deal when it's expected that you'd pursue any whim that pops into your head. However, sticking to that name and using it on all of your projects for 15 years seems worthy of noting. It's true that all of my film making ambitions began 15 years ago in February of 1997, when my first project, Ernie the Spaceman, opened with a Fandrix Productions credit made out of construction paper.
The evolution of a name (or a logo) was never the main focus, but it was always there in the background. As I got a bit older it just started to gain more meaning, like a common thread that linked all of my various movie related ambitions and experiments. I went into more detail about fandrix in a blog post I wrote a few years ago titled, Why Fandrix Productions?
So here I am at 27 years old, 15 years in to this journey, and the name has only become more deeply ingrained. Fandrix not only still introduces my videos, but now it's on my business cards and it's the location of my portfolio. The history is all too apparent as anyone who has seen one of my projects can claim they've witnessed part of the evolution - and I love that!
Below I've posted a video sampling of some of my opening banners over the last 15 years. Just as I've grown up in that time, so to has this name. Fandrix, more than ever, is symbolic of my persistence, my history, and my passion for film and video. As I said before, it's all a work in progress, but it doesn't hurt to take stock every now and then.
On route home via Singapore in 2010, we had a drawn out layover in Shanghai. Numerous passport checks, security checks, a passport stamp (despite not leaving the airport), and hang ups at the boarding desk were made to feel endless due to a painful hangover I'd acquired celebrating our final night in the Lion City. Our stop in Hong Kong on the way there seemed relaxed, but Shanghai seemed overrun with make-work checkpoints. Oh, China.
All of those magnets I bought in Singapore also got me a private room for my luggage to be searched. It was all kind of entertaining to be honest, and I had fun snapping pictures of our time chilling out in the airport.
About a week ago I was contacted by a man putting on an exhibition about the Salton Sea who wanted to know if I could provide scans of the vintage postcards that I'd shared on my blog. I suggested that he could probably contact the Salton Sea museum, which Dave and I got a private tour of on our visit in 2010, and acquire the real ones for his exhibition as they are actually genuine postcards that were on sale in the Salton Sea Yacht Club in the sixties.
Sadly, he informed me that the museum had recently closed and was no longer there. I was happy to send scans of my postcards, but was disappointed by the news. In fact, a bit more research confirmed that the museum had been unable to secure a lease agreement with the Yacht Club.
I'm still fascinated by how much has changed around the Salton Sea since my first visit in 2009, however the recent developments seem far from a surge of prosperity. It was announced on the Museum's facebook page that they will be relocating to Mecca, CA and reopening on February 3, which is great for the sake of sharing the history, but it's not the Yacht Club. There were plans to relaunch the speed boat races also (like the ones they used to have in the sixties) but those plans have been postponed due to lack of sponsorship now.
It's two steps forward and one step back at the Salton Sea.
