Comments

Revisiting.

Posted on Friday, August 27, 2010  

Looking back at this blog after several months, I notice that it has some actually valuable content.

I will be resuming my internship (tentatively) around mid-September (after Ramadan, I’m told).

For now, I’m going to start typing up back my notes from the sessions, as I do have them in a notebook, but I think it’d be great to post it online here for others to benefit from.

I’ll leave you with some insight I’ve gained in the past few months, my personal motto or slogan; in discovering whatever gift or talent you have and sharing that gift with the world (which you should already be actively seeking to do), do this:

Read. Think. Produce.

Read, gain knowledge, follow blogs on the topic, keep up with newspapers, follow the people in the field, read.

Think, contemplate, don’t take everything at face value, add your own insight, process information, come to your own conclusions.

Produce, do something, create, deliver, share with the world.

You’ve got the knowledge about it, you’ve contemplated and come up with your own view on it, now DO something with it for others to benefit from.

This is a very broad mantra or motto to live by, but it applies in many niches and contexts. More detail will be on this in future blog posts.

Projects and organizations need content and marketing. Most Islamic organizations have only one, and that’s why they don’t reach their highest potential. A successful project = Marketing + Content. Removing either of the two, and you have to subtract from the successful project. Movie budgets have the production of the movie costs equal the marketing of the movie.
Unless we market Islam, it’ll be valuable content that no one knows about.
My Lessons from Leechon Producership

April 25, 2010  

Kalimaat Rap!

Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2010  

Here’s a video from Jawaad Ahmad Khan in his entry to the Kalimaat contest:

Please vote for him here: BabaAliGames.com/Contest

He’s Contestant #1.

-Peace

If you…have a low tolerance of risk and you let your behavior be guided by fear, know that you are destined for mediocrity. - Keith Ferrazzi (related by Belal Khan).

07 - The Salesman

I had a longer post on this session (Leadership: Sales). But, it got deleted, so for now, here’s a good quote on never letting fear get in the way of your dreams by brother Belal.

March 13, 2010  

06 - Connections & Character

Posted on Sunday, February 14, 2010  

Yesterday was a new session. It was called “Relationship Managing and Character Building”.

What I’d learned:

Connections

  • Increasing your leadership ability alone is not enough to lead, you have to be able to bring strong leaders in your direction.
    • Example: All the Al-Maghrib instructors were doing their own Islamic work in different ways, until Muhammad Alshareef decided to begin Al-Maghrib, and bring them in his direction with his vision, slowly allowing them to attach their hearts dearly to the institute. They were already (competent) leaders in their own ways, but Sh. Muhammad just leaned them under his leadership with Al-Maghrib.
  • So, basically, it would be very difficult to allow your work (like the short film I’m going to be working on) to advertise and speak for itself. You have to establish connections and gain support even before production, so you can have a better chance at success (tie your camel and trust Allah).
  • As you move up the ladder of leadership, you lose more rights, and gain more responsibilities. People think that as they get higher up in the workplace, they’ll have less to do, and they’ll have more power and perks. WRONG. (unless you’re in a failed system of hierarchy).

Character

  • What was Muhammad (SAW) known for even before he was given revelation?
    • As-Saadiq (the Truthful)
    • Al-Ameen (the Trustworthy)
    • ^These two traits will establish your credibility and character, which will make it so much easier for you to work with people, and people to work with you.
  • If you’re not always trying to improve in all areas of your life, then you will fail in all areas of your life.
  • This kind of reminded me of a lecture I attended with Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui. He’d said that if your qalb (heart) was weak, then you’d be weak in every other area of your life, and you would eventually implode upon yourself with stress.
  • Life includes your ‘Ibadah (worship), Family, Chastity (love life/lack of a love life, depending on your age), Business/Career, Finances, Social Life, Education, and Health.

Now, my assignment is to begin contacting some leaders in my community to gain support for my short film. Make du’a I’m able to achieve this and graduate from this internship with success InshaAllah.

05 - Waiting in Ambush The above photo is courtesy of my friend Jesse Chesla, whom I just recently found out is really into animal photography. As part of this leadership training program, (as well as social media marketing) I’m trying to advise him to take it further by beginning a blog and showcasing his talents. The title (firstly) refers to the 14th verse of Surah Fajr in the Qur’an (Chapter 89). I’m learning the tafseer (explanation) of it via brother Nouman Ali Khan’s (of Bayyinah) dream sessions. Allah says in the previous verses, speaking to the oppressors of Makkah (at that time in the Prophet Muhammad (S)’s life) about the past nations that have perished that were strong (such as Thamud and Fir’aun (Pharaoh)), but Allah still caused them to be humiliated and wiped away. And the last verse of this part of the surah is the 14th: إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ (Inna rabbaka labil mirsaud) Usually translated as: “Verily, your Lord is ever watchful.” Though, the way it was explained, it’s more like, “Verily Allah is waiting in ambush” and just waiting to unleash the punishment that awaits those who continue to pridefully disbelieve and boldly reject what’s been presented to them. Secondly, the title kind of shows me as that alligator up there. I’m just waiting here, slowly gathering my knowledge and tools, and hopefully when I reach a stage where I have to act, I’ll get ready to make my move! I’ll shock the Muslim community with an eye-opening short film. I’ll influence and lead a large group of youth to become the best that they could ever be, with the help of Allah. And, I’ll reach a state where I’m learning & producing to the best of my ability and then some. Slowly leeching on and gettin’ ready to turn.

05 - Waiting in Ambush

The above photo is courtesy of my friend Jesse Chesla, whom I just recently found out is really into animal photography. As part of this leadership training program, (as well as social media marketing) I’m trying to advise him to take it further by beginning a blog and showcasing his talents.

The title (firstly) refers to the 14th verse of Surah Fajr in the Qur’an (Chapter 89). I’m learning the tafseer (explanation) of it via brother Nouman Ali Khan’s (of Bayyinah) dream sessions.

Allah says in the previous verses, speaking to the oppressors of Makkah (at that time in the Prophet Muhammad (S)’s life) about the past nations that have perished that were strong (such as Thamud and Fir’aun (Pharaoh)), but Allah still caused them to be humiliated and wiped away. And the last verse of this part of the surah is the 14th:

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ

(Inna rabbaka labil mirsaud)

Usually translated as: “Verily, your Lord is ever watchful.” Though, the way it was explained, it’s more like, “Verily Allah is waiting in ambush” and just waiting to unleash the punishment that awaits those who continue to pridefully disbelieve and boldly reject what’s been presented to them.

Secondly, the title kind of shows me as that alligator up there. I’m just waiting here, slowly gathering my knowledge and tools, and hopefully when I reach a stage where I have to act, I’ll get ready to make my move!

I’ll shock the Muslim community with an eye-opening short film.

I’ll influence and lead a large group of youth to become the best that they could ever be, with the help of Allah.

And, I’ll reach a state where I’m learning & producing to the best of my ability and then some.

Slowly leeching on and gettin’ ready to turn.

February 13, 2010  

04 - All Fun and Games

“Video games are a waste of time for men with nothing else to do.”

-Ray Bradbury

04 - All Fun and Games

I’ve been playing video games way too much today. And my parents have saved me from the video-game-plague for 15 years. Though, when a kid starts making some paypal money, and buying games through the internet, things can go crazy.

Too much TF2.

I’m thinking of just deleting the game altogether. (I can always re-download it later, since I’ve already bought it.)

(Anyone catch that I missed a day?)

February 10, 2010  

03 - APAC

APAC is Animation/Presentation/Authoring/Composition. It’s a type of communication used within video. I was watching some sessions today from the Secrets of Video Production (check out Message Mastery) on APAC. Above is a video I had made a while back. It’s an animation I made in Adobe After Effects (which, by the way, I don’t have anymore. Anyone want to help sponsor me?)

That type of video is called kinetic typography (kinetic=movement & action, and tyopography=words). It’s a snippet of a song by D-Clique (a Muslim group from Tampa).

So, lessons from that project, and what I’d learned today:

  • An animation or visual graphic’s purpose is to further the purpose of the video overall.
  • When animating or using mainly visuals, SHOW, don’t tell.

Don’t say “It was cold”, show it:

(The above was a picture I edited of my friend on Facebook, I changed his original caption “It was cold” and added some snow to the photo.)

February 8, 2010  

02 - Navigatin’ Today the 2nd session was posted up. It was about Leadership Navigation. Basically, what I’d learned is as follows: For any project you need to PLAN AHEAD (or P.L.A.N. A.H.E.A.D.) This means you have to know what you want in the end, lay out some steps to that plan, gather support from important people, do it, and always evaluate what you’ve done (so you can improve). ^^Above is the basic gist explaining what the PLAN AHEAD acronym really stands for. In order to navigate, where you want to be, you have to actually navigate around to find who’ll get you there. Therefore, this map shows a few places of interest in my local area of South Florida where I may be able to gain support for my eventual short film I’m going to produce. In anything you do, remember the quote (that I updated to fit today’s lingo): “If you fail to plan, you FAIL.” That’s all there is to it.

02 - Navigatin’

Today the 2nd session was posted up. It was about Leadership Navigation. Basically, what I’d learned is as follows:

  • For any project you need to PLAN AHEAD (or P.L.A.N. A.H.E.A.D.)
    • This means you have to know what you want in the end, lay out some steps to that plan, gather support from important people, do it, and always evaluate what you’ve done (so you can improve).
    • ^^Above is the basic gist explaining what the PLAN AHEAD acronym really stands for.
  • In order to navigate, where you want to be, you have to actually navigate around to find who’ll get you there. Therefore, this map shows a few places of interest in my local area of South Florida where I may be able to gain support for my eventual short film I’m going to produce.

In anything you do, remember the quote (that I updated to fit today’s lingo):

“If you fail to plan, you FAIL.”

That’s all there is to it.

February 7, 2010  

01 - Some ‘Splaining

Posted on Saturday, February 6, 2010  

So, who am I?

That’s a picture of me from today. I was cleaning a car at this carwash.

Actually, that’s from a video of me. Yeah, I make video. (Now we’re getting somewhere).

Basically, the reason I’m starting this blog is to tell you all about my internship at a company called Leechon (Films). It’s a producer-training kind of program in which I’ll learn leadership, video skills, and social media marketing. However, I spun it. The title of this blog is “Leech On ‘n Turn”.

The reason?

In essence, I now have a mentor, (this cool guy named Belal Khan), and so I’m kind of leeching onto him. And in turn, I will turn into a great video maker and media marketer. Cheesy, corny, and lame, but that’s what it is.

Now, as part of a requirement, I have to keep a daily blog, and (voila!) here it is.

Today isn’t the real first day I’m on the “job”. I’ve been an intern for a couple of weeks now. Though, I’m going to start blogging here from today.

Now, today I used a process to edit my video, and it’s some of the best editing I think I’ve ever done. This post is a bit long, so I’ll give the specifics of what I did on my personal site. Check out the video:

We love Tumblr. Theme (Innovate) by Thijs