March 03rd 2005 | Jens C Brynildsen

Flash changed my life

Interview with Branden J. Hall Branden J. Hall is a programmer that has been in the Flash scene for quite some time. His guestbook tutorials are almost legendary, and he is also one of the few in the scene that actually has any formal programming background. Branden has also been very active in the Open Source community, and was a moderator at many Flash forums. Branden is also known as "Aquaman" on the boards.

by Jens C. Brynildsen FM: You're still going to school, right?
BH: Not at the moment. I want to go back soon, but this is the story that has to be said: A little over a year ago, I was "dirt poor" living in Baltimore. I'm the son of a construction worker, and I'm proud too. I mean, my parents doesn't make a lot of money, we made enough to get by. I'm proud that from 18, I'd paid for my own stuff. I could not afford to go to the University of Maryland. I did good in HighSchool, but I didn't get much scolarships. So I moved up to Baltimore to go to this school there. I was barely making a living, barely able to go to school. I was really hard for me.

FM: And then?
BH: I'd been doing some stuff in Flash 4, as a beta tester because of FlashZone. And suddenly, I was making demo's for them [ed. Macromedia]. Some of my stuff was included with Flash 4. The Alien Heads and a couple other things I've made... I got a free version of Flash and Director because of that. Suddenly I started writing a book with Scott Hamlin, "Flash 4 Magic". And now, here I am at Fig Leaf Software. I've been working there for about a year now, my salary has gone about tenfold up from a year ago and I met my fiancee at Figleaf. I'm now engaged because of Flash. My life has been totally turned around and it's because of the program, but it's also because of the community. So everybody that reads this: Thank you!

FM: What's up next?
BH: It's been a very short, intense trip, and I hope it keeps on going on. The big joke that me and the other guys were talking about on the presenters diner [ed. at FF2K NYC] was getting hold of Eric Wittman and then give him a big, wet, sloppy kiss. You know, he's changed a lot of peoples worlds. One side is that I get to travel now. I've gone all over the world.

We have training possibilities in India. Right now, this sunday, I'm flying down to mexico for a week to do training, I have offices in Atlanta, I come up to New York... I mean, there's no way I could have had this life without Flash. It's incredible. I'm just so happy.

FM: Any updates to your personal homepage soon?
BH: I have a project that is coming up soon. I'm getting rid of my old homepage, but I won't give out the name of the project yet, but anyone who's an artist out there, contact me. Basically what I'll like to do, is to take artists visions and my vision, codewise, and turn them into reality. I'm looking to work with Praystation and a lot of really good artists, and basically make this a "Demo-site". If you come up with something and you have the art-skills but don't have the coding skills, contact me! I'd love to make something new.

This will be launched when Flash 5 launches in september. I'll give you the URL as soon as there's something there, but expect something cool out of me soon.

FM: How do you have time to do all the stuff you do in the scene? Answering emails, doing Open source stuff and working at Fig Leaf?
BH: Well, I tend to work well under load. A good example is my senior at High School. That year I was doing a research project on robotics. I was doing my Eagle Scout Award, all the experimentation for that robot, I was a wrestler, I did AP Physics, AP calculus and AP English.

FM: Excuse us, but did you say wrestler?
BH: Wrestler, yeah.

FM: He, he, I wouldn't imagine?
BH: I was a wrestler. I wrestled all through High School. (smiling) I'm not just a geek, I mountain bike, I wrestle, I climb... I love my bike. It's my biggest thing, but if you put a lot of pressure on me, that's when I succeed, that's when i do my best. It's the coolest thing with the internet that I have so much stuff going on right now. You know, the biggest thing that I've learned in this life, my mom taught me, an that is: "Every single day, find a new way to make yourself a better person". If this applies to Flash or just being nice to people; make yourself better. That's the biggest thing with Flash, just grow! As long as you grow, one day you realize "WOW, I'm good at this"...

Make sure you also catch our interview with Branden, about the new features of Flash 5. Branden was one of the earliest beta testers for Flash 5, and gave direct input to Macromedia during the development process.