Not much to report today... I started getting Zephyr to record the soundtrack to THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE PLAYGROUND, but I didn't get it all. Slowly but surely coming together... Well, maybe not so surely. Far more slowly.
May 26 - Filmmaking, Day Four
I wanted to try a little more experimentation with putting music into Vines, and Lyric wanted to film something with his Duplo Batmobile. I tried to set something to the Dead Milkmen's Bitchin' Camaro, but it was DRM-managed! Rodney Anonymous, I promise, it was going to be done with love, strictly pro-bono. So I had to go with Plan B.
I think tomorrow we'll do a little more work on our 360 film THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE PLAYGROUND. It's way past the date I thought I would get it out, but I guess I'm teaching the kids that there is a long and arduous months-long process that goes on after you shoot something, so [PATS OWN BACK] good job, me.
May 25 - Filmmaking, Day Three
Lyric wanted to make a quick Vine about a hide and seek championship, and seeing as last time we did that morning activity I found my documenting it to be unsatisfactory, I was excited to make that a reality. Here's what we came up with.
I wanted to do more but then Lyric overturned his drawers and made a giant mess in his room, and I had to cancel filmmaking to schedule an emergency Mystery Elves clean up session.
I have to remind myself there was a point in my life when dumping lots of stuff out on the floor and making a giant mess sounded like a great idea.
That basically took up the rest of the morning.
May 24 - Filmmaking, Day Two
Another TWO MORE EGGS inspired video this morning, this time based on the video game "behind the scenes" saga eggpo:
Lyric had his own movie he wanted to do, but we ran out of time.
May 23 - Filmmaking, day one
We've been doing a lot of 360 filmmaking these past few months (BTW, our 360 film THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE PLAYGROUND is still coming together, we just need to record a soundtrack for it, possibly this week), but this week we wanted to return to Vine and make some new quick silly movies.
Zephyr and Lyric especially wanted to make some Vines based on TWO MORE EGGS by Matt Chapman. If you haven't seen these yet, hokum smokes, click on that link and get ready to have your mind blown. It's some of the funniest kids content out today, and we think Chapman is a bona fide genius. He's one half of the Brothers Chaps (of Homestar Runner fame) and a key contributor to PICKLE AND PEANUT, an established Vine favorite for us. And even though some of the jokes hit a little close to home for me, TWO MORE EGGS is right up there with his best stuff.
So Zephyr wanted to do some stuff with Dooble, a confusingly accented foreign character who gets into all sorts of bizarre situations. We made him a hat prop, drew on a strange moustache, and were off to the races.
We also experimented with putting music under Vines...
Hey guys, what about grain?
April 28 - Filmmaking Day 4
Today we (finally) did the opening credit sequence for THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE PLAYGROUND. It wasn't easy, and it took us a few tries, but we got there.
Zephyr unveiling part of the credits.
There's almost certainly a way for me to add graphics to these 360 videos, but until I figure it out, it's going to be a very Dogme 95-type affair. I'm hoping at least these credits can take advantage of the form and let viewers read as they turn around.
We're going to be traveling tomorrow, but I'm going to bring along my computer so hopefully we can edit this movie together over the weekend and design a soundtrack. Plus we have to make next month's schedule! I have some big ideas for that as well, stay tuned.
April 26 - Filmmaking (Location Scouting)
Today for filmmaking we needed to lay the groundwork for an upcoming 360 film we're making (for a rap video about the Brooklyn Bridge) and the first step was to do a location scout. So this morning, bright and early, we took out the camera for a few test shots at locations in the neighborhood.
Zephyr took the camera stand, to get a little of that PA experience.
We tried a few spots out for the video shoot... This first shot allows us to get in both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Peck Slip School where the kids who did the song (and my kids) go...
I'm not sure how these 360 videos work as an embed. You might need to go to Youtube to see them right.
These next two locations were both on the waterfront... pretty sweet bridge view!
Right about about here is when Zephyr asked me if the next location we could scout could be home. I nodded sagely... he had truly picked up something about location scouting already! We headed home and relaxed a bit more... Spring Break!
And then finally I went solo to the bridge itself to try out a shot on there. It was drizzling a bit, so a raindrop got on the lens. I'm not sold on the shot for the video, honestly. Probably more trouble than it's worth, as we'd want to shoot it really early to avoid a crowd. I'm not sure if the third graders who did the song are early morning types like my kids, but probably a safe assumption that they are not. Shooting with people too young to drink coffee can be its own challenge.
April 25 - Filmmaking Day One
Quick note just to say it was a low-result morning. It's the first day of Spring Break so the kids were being pretty lazy watching Animaniacs (which they just discovered on Netflix) and I followed suit. Do I feel guilty? Sort of, yes.
But I did find the things we need to FINALLY finish the credits for the 360 film from last time, and made some plans to do some location scouting tomorrow morning with the boys for a video we'll be shooting with other kids from their school. Stay tuned.