In a bit of nostalgia I have decided to upload this series of films made back in my junior and senior years of high school (04-06) for one of my classes. The class was ONN (Olympia News Network), we produced a 30 min show every month or two that covered some news and provided some variety entertainment (which also often presented some news as a part of it as well). These pieces therefore belong as a part of a broader show and some oddities about the way they begin and end and the topics they cover often reflect that fact. For the most part I did all the writing, shooting, and editing for these pieces and I often starred in them as well. I am organizing them by both subject and quality (worst to best) and I will also note the chronology. So if you are curious about my early video projects, or where I come from, or are just looking for some good blackmail material, be sure to check out my ONN Revisit.
This fifth section is dedicated to the silent episodes of Everyday Heroes that all aired during the mini January episode my second year on ONN. This is the second silent piece I made and my overall favorite. I had been kicking around a basic form of the idea for several years now. For some reason the idea of a battle of wills between man and delete key really appealed to me (although I think to everyone else it just made no goddamn sense at all). I used my buddy Dan and filmed it either right after school or at lunch in the ONN backroom. I hadnt planned out what mistake Dan would make while typing or how I would indicate it, so all the shots of the computer had to be re-filmed later because the initial mistake I used was poorly conceived. For a non-actor who was very uncomfortable in front of the camera at first, I think Dan did a good job and there are some great acting moments here. I think in particular his fist clenching abilities are most impressive. The reason this episode is my favorite among the silent episodes is that it contains some of the best elements of both the other two silent pieces. Visually it is more compelling than the Lost Episode and makes greater use of a wide variety of shots, but its perhaps a bit less visually interesting than The Pencil. It is, however, more ambitious than The Pencil and matches the flow of the music better. I think the weakest part of the piece is the ending. The whole episode ends a little abruptly with what has to be the worst moral ever. I wish that I had built things up a little longer and had a total breakdown from Dr. Neurotic at the end, but I didnt think of it at the time. As for the moral, there are two explanations: 1. This was a kind of pseudo setup for the next piece. 2. The titles in the episode were trying to imitate a certain cheesy silent movie style: Dr. Neurotic, In Typing Trouble, Noooooo! Having a moral was in keeping with this style, but I liked the idea that the moral was just really awful. Some people hated this piece, a fact that I think can partially be blamed on the ending and partially be blamed on the choice in music. The song is Ride em Cowboy by Sparks. I thought it gave a nice tension to the piece and the lyrics fit pretty well. Personally Im a fan (of their recent work anyway), but Sparks are certainly an acquired taste. So there you go. This is the last of the video work I made during high school. As a last bit of trivia: the story being typed on the screen was one I turned in for my creative writing class senior year. The story is of a woman who consumes so much lobster at a lobster eating competition that she becomes a giant lobster. I believe it was actually written after Cormac and I came up with the idea and decided to each write our own version of it as a sort of bad story write-off. Actually the idea was nowhere close to the strangest thing I wrote for that class. At an art assembly that year I read a story about a flea wearing silk shorts and reeking of cologne who says theduck to a group of people at a restaurant (I actually would have picked a different story but the teacher selected that one). Since that time my work has tended toward more strict reality. It makes me a little sad that I can no longer write how I used to, with the same ludicrous sensibilities.
Loading...
3:20
Everyday Hero - Luke Benward (Lyrics On Screen + In Description)by yesidvevo1,023 views
Link to this comment:
All Comments (0)