Weasel Videos?
Since getting my first Mac, I've always secretly harbored the fantasy of making movies. A number of years ago we had a Macintosh Performa 638CD which had a meager video capture ability - small, probably 360x240 size, and reasonably okay video and audio. Played with it for a while but found that I couldn't get the video out of the computer to tape - the capture board was one way. Lost interest real quick.
A couple years ago got this way-cool video capture gizmo from XLR8. Again, it captured fairly small video, but with measureably better video and audio. Of course, I still couldn't get the movies back out to tape (even if I could they'd only be 1/4 screen at that). This, however, showed some promise and potential. I could make movies and either post on Internet or burn onto CDs. Now my problem was an extemely cheezy video camera (note picture). Again, sort of lost interest.
Fast-forward to October 2000. Ian, my youngest, and his Cub Scout den decided to make a movie for the Halloween pack meeting (3 weeks away), and not only was "The Witch's Candy Caper" born but my celluloid dreams surfaced again. This was completely shot and edited with analog equipment, and I had such a wonderful time working on it that I decided to go digital.
So, digital I went and I've got some pretty good equipment: Canon GL1 digital camcorder and Apple's Final Cut for editing - just like the big boys! The results are "Little Man" (first music video - actually shot with a friend's Sony), "Make it Right" (2nd music video, though more of just a "singing-head"), and "Old City Bar" (a complete dramatic feature). Now all I need is time and a good script. I have an idea in mind to create a movie around the core songs of "The Little Man Saga." Only need time and a script!
So, how about some liner notes for the videos!
The Witch's Candy Caper
With three weeks (which actually turned out to be only two), we put together a pretty awesome little flick (of course, I'm completely biased). The story has two scouts getting candy for that night's Pack Meeting only to be interrupted by a witch who hated halloween. The boys were magically transported to the railroad tracks with the 4:10 bearing down on them. Helpless against the witch's spells, the boys faced certain destruction until "The Reap" shows up to save the day. But who will save the Reap? The train comes thundering by: our last view of the Reap is the absolute terror in his face before the train slams past. Because they were rescued, the boys make it back to the Pack Meeting in the nick of time. The really cool part now is that the audience at the Pack Meeting is watching the movie as the boys enter the building and finally the room where the meeting was being held - real time. Then the actors come on "stage" to play out the ending.
It was my idea to use a train, so it was my job to film it. I borrowed an 8mm camcorder and set off to get some great footage. Day one: I stood beside the tracks and filmed the train approaching, thundering past and receeding. It looked pretty cool, but it was a bit shakey - I was just standing and holding the camera. Day two: thought I'd be really clever and use a monopod (a stick) to help stabilize the camera. This worked fine, but it put me actually closer to the track. As I was filming the approaching train, I noticed the light was flashing and the horn was blasting continously. Finally, when the train was just about to me I looked to see why it was making such a fuss over me: I just barely got out of the way - probably would have been railroad-kill had I not looked up just then. You'll here my exclamation upon realization of impending doom. I didn't dare show up for day three. I figured the cops would be there by now.
As I mentioned earlier, this was shot analog. A 70-something friend who had the equipment and expertise (but not the memory at times) offered to help me edit the video. Though it turned into an eight and a half hour greuling marathon, we had a great time piecing it together. Finally, we watched the final cut on his big-screen TV and just howled, rolling on the floor with tears and glee! I was hooked. On video, not analog editing - and we were using some fairly sophisticated VHS equipment, but it was still a grind.
Little Man
Now we're in the digital domain from here on out. This is the first attempt at a music video. I sat down and recorded the song and put the audio on cassette so I could fake the other scenes. We ended up shooting only two additional scenes (I was really hurting for footage when editing. I'm learning.) with Scoots (Weasel) running the camera and Thom trying to act naturally. What can I say about the video? Well, we finished it! Actually, we here at WeaselWorks really like it, but then, we're kinda biased. I think the cameraman did an awesome job, especially with the subject he had to work with!
 Thom swallowing a bug during the first take of Little Man! |
Make It Right
"Make It Right" is from the viewpoint of an audience: the camera doesn't move. There are no extra camera shots, as though you, viewer, are seated watching and listening. Production was an exercise in lighting and audio processing, and I spent a long time just keeping the reflections out of my glasses.
First step was to film and record separately. The guitar was amped directley to the reel-to-reel, as was the microphone. Now the audio from the camcorder (marginal at best for my purposes) could be replaced with much higher quality audio from tape. This audio (2 tracks, one guitar, one vocal and some acoustic guitar spilling up to the mic) was then brought into the computer with ProTools and processed a bit: a little chorus/flanger for the guitar; a little reverb for vocals. The tracks were then bounced to disk as an AAIF file and imported into Final Cut where it replaced the original audio tracks. The rest is history.
Old City Bar
Here is where I really had a great time in production (actually I was only involved with production). A pastor-friend's drama group was putting together a dramatic interpretation of a song by TransSiberian Orchestra for a Christmas Eve service. They asked me to make a movie of it. So I did.
This was the Canon's big test. I shot three full takes from beginning to end. I wanted more footage, but the cast was getting cranky. I think I spent about 10 hours editing this 11 minute feature film - I hope to get a little better as I get more familiar with the techniques. The audio was the easiest: there was virtually no dialog to sync and the narration and music were both on CD - I just had to pull it off the disc. I did have to lip-sync an actor with the song at one point - not too tough. I think it came out better than I had imagined.
