This week I had an experience—I’ll call it interesting—with a would-be scammer. You know, someone looking to get something for nothing at my expense. Now, I know this is nothing new today, but sit still and I’ll tell you how I handled it. You might learn something. If nothing else, you might find it amusing.
So, I received an email contact inquiry from a young woman I shall call Lisa (it’s not her real name, of course). She said she stumbled upon my website while searching the web looking for design-related services. I did not have her phone number, so we began exchanging email messages.
And thus, this story begins.
A Bunch of Logos
Lisa said she had ten logos she wanted animated in After Effects and exported to video. Wow, that’s a lot of logos! She asked how long it would take me to do all ten. I told her I could have them all done in less than a week if she gave me all the stuff I needed—transparent logos, right size, specific animation style, etc. She suggested we just start with one logo for now and sent me a transparent logo and logotype in black and white. She also sent me a design style guide containing her company’s color palette and fonts used in the design in case I needed to recreate one or the other. Now I’m intrigued and impressed. I create logo animations in After Effects all the time. This should be easy money, I thought.
She Wants to See A “Sample”
Lisa asked that I animate the logo mark and logotype by morphing the former into the latter. Although I had several samples for viewing on my website, she insisted on seeing a working sample of what hers would look like. Simple enough, I thought. I started working. It took less than forty-five minutes to complete the entire process.
When I was almost done, Lisa emailed me: “Just checking in to see how it is going.” Having worked in law offices for several years, I knew what she was implying. “When are you going to be done with it? I’m tired of waiting.” Hmmm. I wonder why she’s in such a hurry. It’s only one logo animation. Now, I had played the fool many times when I was younger, but that was many years ago. I was also born in the morning—4:30 a.m. or so—but not this morning.
By now I knew Lisa was looking for a sucker. There was a quick way to find out if I was right. Since I was approaching an hour of invested time in trying to earn her business, a few more minutes would change nothing. Or it might change everything.
Now, we’re about to get the good part.
“Watermark” My Words
I completed rendering and exporting in After Effects moments after Lisa’s last email. Last as in most recent and last as in final. Under normal circumstances, I would forward the video file as-is for a client to review. Lisa was so many things at that moment, just not my client.
Blinded by the opportunity to earn some much-needed money, I failed to submit a proposal and get a firm commitment before doing any work. I take the “LL”—Lost to Lisa—without protest. But I was not about to let my new nemesis outdo me.
A thought spurred me into action. I imported the exported video into Adobe Premiere Pro. Then, I opened Photoshop and created a new document with a transparent background sized 1920×1080 pixels, the same dimensions as the video. I selected an exaggerated slab serif font—Alfa One Slab from Google Fonts, one of my favorites. With the font size set to 190 pixels, I picked black as an appropriate color. I typed out the word DEMO in all-caps and decreased the font opacity to thirty-five percent, giving it a gray appearance on screen. Then I manually rotated the image to the left to an angle I liked.
Once I finished positioning the text, I duplicated the original layer five times, dragging the text while holding down the ALT+SHIFT keys and staggering the position of each new layer on the Photoshop canvas before repeating the process.
Six iterations of DEMO covered the image, more than enough for the job I had in mind. I saved the file in Photoshop and imported it into Premiere Pro, placing it on the top layer of my video sequence.
After exporting the video from Premiere Pro, my work of art was now complete.
Lessons Learned
My heart pounded with excitement when I sent Lisa the email attaching the watermarked video. I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall and see her face when she opened it. Never did I give the slightest hint I was on to what she tried to do. I simply said if she liked the draft concept, I was eager to get to work animating those other nine logos.
As I waited, I knew she would not respond. Total silence. Lisa had logged off, fallen off the grid, or gone dark, as they say. It’s the same response I used to get from scammers on Craig’s List, eager to purchase my posted item with a “cashier’s check” without ever seeing it in person.
I could have taken other measures, such as exporting a low-resolution version of the video file or placing the file for viewing only through my Vimeo account. But I wanted to make a statement with some impact to let her know I did not appreciate her wasting my time.
I learned my own lessons that day. If we had signed a contract in the beginning, or if I had requested upfront payment or a deposit, none of this would have taken place. I should never have let the excitement of earning money make me forget to protect my interests.
A freelancer should always make sure they know who they are dealing with and agree on terms before doing any work. The anonymity offered by the internet makes it easy for devious individuals like Lisa to pose as legitimate customers. Don’t assume people are who they say they are or have your best intentions in mind. It makes good business and practical sense to protect yourself as much as possible.
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This week I had an experience—I’ll call it interesting—with a would-be scammer. You know, someone looking to get something for nothing at my expense. Now, I know this is nothing new today, but sit still and I’ll tell you how I handled it. You might learn something. If nothing else, you might find it amusing.
So, I received an email contact inquiry from a young woman I shall call Lisa (it’s not her real name, of course). She said she stumbled upon my website while searching the web looking for design-related services. I did not have her phone number, so we began exchanging email messages.
And thus, this story begins.
A Bunch of Logos
Lisa said she had ten logos she wanted animated in After Effects and exported to video. Wow, that’s a lot of logos! She asked how long it would take me to do all ten. I told her I could have them all done in less than a week if she gave me all the stuff I needed—transparent logos, right size, specific animation style, etc. She suggested we just start with one logo for now and sent me a transparent logo and logotype in black and white. She also sent me a design style guide containing her company’s color palette and fonts used in the design in case I needed to recreate one or the other. Now I’m intrigued and impressed. I create logo animations in After Effects all the time. This should be easy money, I thought.
She Wants to See A “Sample”
Lisa asked that I animate the logo mark and logotype by morphing the former into the latter. Although I had several samples for viewing on my website, she insisted on seeing a working sample of what hers would look like. Simple enough, I thought. I started working. It took less than forty-five minutes to complete the entire process.
When I was almost done, Lisa emailed me: “Just checking in to see how it is going.” Having worked in law offices for several years, I knew what she was implying. “When are you going to be done with it? I’m tired of waiting.” Hmmm. I wonder why she’s in such a hurry. It’s only one logo animation. Now, I had played the fool many times when I was younger, but that was many years ago. I was also born in the morning—4:30 a.m. or so—but not this morning.
By now I knew Lisa was looking for a sucker. There was a quick way to find out if I was right. Since I was approaching an hour of invested time in trying to earn her business, a few more minutes would change nothing. Or it might change everything.
Now, we’re about to get the good part.
“Watermark” My Words
I completed rendering and exporting in After Effects moments after Lisa’s last email. Last as in most recent and last as in final. Under normal circumstances, I would forward the video file as-is for a client to review. Lisa was so many things at that moment, just not my client.
Blinded by the opportunity to earn some much-needed money, I failed to submit a proposal and get a firm commitment before doing any work. I take the “LL”—Lost to Lisa—without protest. But I was not about to let my new nemesis outdo me.
A thought spurred me into action. I imported the exported video into Adobe Premiere Pro. Then, I opened Photoshop and created a new document with a transparent background sized 1920×1080 pixels, the same dimensions as the video. I selected an exaggerated slab serif font—Alfa One Slab from Google Fonts, one of my favorites. With the font size set to 190 pixels, I picked black as an appropriate color. I typed out the word DEMO in all-caps and decreased the font opacity to thirty-five percent, giving it a gray appearance on screen. Then I manually rotated the image to the left to an angle I liked.
Once I finished positioning the text, I duplicated the original layer five times, dragging the text while holding down the ALT+SHIFT keys and staggering the position of each new layer on the Photoshop canvas before repeating the process.
Six iterations of DEMO covered the image, more than enough for the job I had in mind. I saved the file in Photoshop and imported it into Premiere Pro, placing it on the top layer of my video sequence.
After exporting the video from Premiere Pro, my work of art was now complete.
Lessons Learned
My heart pounded with excitement when I sent Lisa the email attaching the watermarked video. I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall and see her face when she opened it. Never did I give the slightest hint I was on to what she tried to do. I simply said if she liked the draft concept, I was eager to get to work animating those other nine logos.
As I waited, I knew she would not respond. Total silence. Lisa had logged off, fallen off the grid, or gone dark, as they say. It’s the same response I used to get from scammers on Craig’s List, eager to purchase my posted item with a “cashier’s check” without ever seeing it in person.
I could have taken other measures, such as exporting a low-resolution version of the video file or placing the file for viewing only through my Vimeo account. But I wanted to make a statement with some impact to let her know I did not appreciate her wasting my time.
I learned my own lessons that day. If we had signed a contract in the beginning, or if I had requested upfront payment or a deposit, none of this would have taken place. I should never have let the excitement of earning money make me forget to protect my interests.
A freelancer should always make sure they know who they are dealing with and agree on terms before doing any work. The anonymity offered by the internet makes it easy for devious individuals like Lisa to pose as legitimate customers. Don’t assume people are who they say they are or have your best intentions in mind. It makes good business and practical sense to protect yourself as much as possible.
