PowerPoint Heaven eConvention 2008

eCon 2008

eCon 2008 > eCon Awards > Contributor of the Year

eCon Awards 2008: Contributor of the Year Interview

Jeremiah Lee (Jerry) is our PowerPoint Artworks Specialist. He joined PowerPoint Heaven on December 03, 2006 and owns a deviantART account. His PowerPoint Movie, Infiltration, has also won the eCon Awards 2008: Broadcast of the Year.

Jerry began using PowerPoint because of his interest in arts and animations. He specializes in drawing comic and human characters using PowerPoint. He takes every character he draws into deep details by adding cel shading, facial expressions and life to these drawings. His works can be found on Jerry's Projects.

Play the interview in audio recording
1) Tell us more about yourself.
Hey everyone, I’m Jerry. Online, I usually go by the name “Prince-of-PowerPoint”. I’m a scholar taking up Business Administration, majoring in InfoTech and International Business. My favorite sports are martial arts, soccer, and volleyball. My favorite foods are pork cuts cooked in soy sauce, canned meatloaf, canned corn beef, and (of course) pizza.

2) What was your first PowerPoint and how was it like?
My first PowerPoint presentation was a slide-by-slide animation of some stickmen fighting to the death. It was during my computer class in early high school, when our teacher let us watch a flash animation called “Xiao-Xiao”. I thought I’d copy it, but back then all I had was PowerPoint 2000. It was horrible…but I still got some “wows” from my classmates, and eventually, it caught on.

3) How have you improved your skill over time?
From static pictures of stickmen, I can now make close-to-realistic caricatures of persons or near-accurate replicas of pictures of buildings. It’s pretty cool I think. Even my animation skills have improved. And I think the best part is that there still is so much untapped potential left to unlock in the future.

4) Are there any areas in PowerPoint that you think you need to work on?
All of them actually. There’s a Japanese philosophy called “kaizen”, which means “continuous improvement”. I believe that principle applies to everything. I think I can still bring PowerPoint to higher levels of arts and animations, that which could rival or even surpass Photoshop and Flash in their respective fields. So yes, that’s going to take a lot of work.

5) What motivates you for creating PowerPoint works?
We Filipinos are known for our resourcefulness. The ability to push a tool beyond its normal limits to something entirely new and creative is what I want all my works to surmount to in the end. I want to prove that it’s not the program that you use, but how you use the program that separates disasters from masterpieces. I simply want to show that you’ve got the POWER. All you need to do is POINT it in the right direction!

6) How do you plan your PowerPoint works?
I never really plan anything if you ask me. Most of the time, the things I put on the slide are only conceptualized impromptu. It’s more fun that way, plus I enjoy the challenge of finding a way to make what I want to happen.

7) Where do you get brainstorm or get inspirations for your PowerPoints?
From a lot of things, I guess…movies, video games, emotions, relationships with people, or it can even be as simple as “wow-that’s-cool-I-wonder-if-I-can-do-it-on-PowerPoint”. Don’t think too much about making something great. Just make something. Greatness will
follow.

8) How do you think PowerPoint compares against software such as Flash and Photoshop?
With enough confidence, ingenuity, patience, and practice, it has a major fighting chance. There are limitations for PowerPoint, yes, but any boundary can be crossed if you’re persistent enough. I mean, who would have imagined you could create games, caricatures, and movies using just PowerPoint? That’s insane! But see, therein lies the magic of it all. Go insane! Go wild! Create what you can create using the simplest of tools and prove to everyone that it’s what you do with it and not what it does that really counts.

9) What principles or concepts did you learn in PowerPoint that has also been applied to real life?
Well, there; the idea of taking something boring and utterly pointless and turning it into a hub of fun and entertainment. While using PowerPoint, I’ve learned that people enjoy seeing creation manifest, and I’ve learned that people can get impressed by something so simple and yet so intricate. And of course, I’ve also learned the art of self-expression.

10) How has PowerPoint changed you as a person?
All the things I’ve gone through have made me who I am today, so I guess you could safely say that if it weren’t for PowerPoint, I wouldn’t exactly be the same person. For the most part, I think it helped me gain the confidence to entertain people, and it gave me a few of the many nudges that helped me get over my introversion when I was a kid.

11) What else do you do apart from PowerPoint?
A lot. My hobbies include drawing, writing, chatting, playing sports, and going out. Academically, I am a very busy body. I’m heavily (and I repeat, HEAVILY) involved in org activities in the university. I have held all sorts of positions such as Student Council PRO and Vice President, Layout Artist and Editor in Chief of school publications, Technical Vice President of our performing arts org, and the list goes on and on. PowerPoint is sort of my stress-relief from all the things I do if and when I have enough free time.

12) What do you consider your greatest creation?
Each of my creations are an imperative part of my overall development in PowerPoint. I treat them all with equal regard as every one of them has pushed a new limit and added a new skill to my repertoire. This makes it impossible for me to isolate one and call it my greatest. However, people seem to like “Infiltration” a lot. A friend of mine told me it actually made him cry watching it.

13) What are your plans for future PowerPoint works?
Right now, my long-term plan is for “Black Halo” - an original story I’ve been wanting to tell using PowerPoint for a very long time. It’s difficult deciding if I should make it a comic, an interactive showcase, or an animated movie. But I guess time will tell when I finally get the chance to start working on it.

14) What features do you think should be included in the next version of PowerPoint (Office 14)?
It doesn’t really matter, I guess. I’ll work with whatever they throw at me, so long as my computer can handle it. But I think I would really appreciate it if they would add more webpage compatibility options so that I could use PowerPoint to make websites. I can tell it would make a very powerful WYSIWYG webpage editor if that were to happen. I’d also enjoy a motion tweening feature like that in Flash, and some shape morphing tools like “skew” for both regular objects and inserted images. Lastly, I see that a lot of the things we do with PowerPoint really push it beyond its limit, so I hope it would have a better engine for handling numerous animated objects all at once.

15) Can you share with us some PowerPoint tips and tricks?
The most important thing really is if you have fun doing it. If it doesn’t make you happy, it probably isn’t for you. It’s all about passion. If you don’t have the passion for PowerPoint, it’s not worth slaving over. If you do however, just simply go wild! Do your thing. Join a forum like PPTHeaven, learn new techniques from the people around you. Share your own techniques. The possibilities are endless!

Here’s some helpful advice though: Get enough sleep, eat right, don’t lose concentration in your studies, and don’t forget to have a social life! Because in the end, your PowerPoint presentations are all for you and your friends - and maybe money, but that’s another story. The point is that PowerPoint is just a tool, so use it wisely.

Special Thanks to the following PPTH Discussion Board members for the questions: Emprovision, QueenJaydes, T&S8888

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