Jason Update I Intro (HD Version)

Website - http://www.zaranyzerak.com

MY ALBUM, "Empire Building" - http://tinyurl.com/yebm2cc (also available on amazon and iTunes!)

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Re-upping some of my old faves in higher quality, to show them as nicely as possible in the new YouTube video viewer... Note that this video was originally 4x3 aspect ratio, and has been optimized for widescreen monitors. As such, it may be displayed incorrectly when viewing fullscreen on a 4x3 monitor.

Originally uploaded March 22, 2006.

This intro was originally edited, yep you guessed it, tape-to-tape. At least a year before I switched to editing digitally. I managed to find the original master tape of the footage (it took a while to find because it was clearly labelled and I didn't think it would be...so I looked at every other tape in my archive, not thinking to look for one with an obvious label), and spent the night remastering the whole thing from the ground up.

This is also a notable intro in that it is one of the few I did where I actually composed an original theme song for it. It was originally going to be the opening them song for Video Letter 30, but when the original version of Video Letter 30 fell through (the footage from which has subsequently become the primary focus of Lost Treasures II), I used it for the Update letter instead. The song is also notable in that it was the last piece I did using my trusty old Amiga 2000, before moving on to a PC permanently. So I kind of think of this song as my farewell to the Amiga. It originally took about a month to compose and put together.

The "ethereal" title effects were all done in-camera, by overlaying the titles over the image and filming the screen I was using as a monitor for the camera. This creates a cool "video feedback" effect, which I used to give the titles a trippy look. This video feedback technique was also used quite effectively by the BBC back in the 60's and 70's for the opening titles of a certain classic sci-fi show about a certain Time Lord and his TARDIS. ;) (That's DOCTOR WHO, for the uninitiated...)

The audio and video have been completely remastered from the ground up, although I doubt you would notice much difference on the YouTube version. (That WAS the case until now - the HD link above gives you pretty nice quality, VERY close to my original master file) But at least I have peace of mind in that the archive version is top-quality now. Once again, this sounds MUCH better in stereo, so I'll be putting the stereo version up on my website shortly.

I was going for a "dark and gothic" feel to this one, losing sight of the fact that despite all the cool "gothy" things scattered around my apartment, the apartment itself didn't have a very spooky ambience to it at all. Oh well. At least you get to see some of the cool stuff I had decorating the place. And the song has a cool gothy feel to it.

This was the intro for the same update letter that contained the infamous "Sean takes cares of his parents' house while they're in Hawaii" video, although there aren't any clips of it in the intro (since the original footage was shot about two months PRIOR to the Hawaii trip). See Video Blog 4 (March 21, 2006 edition) for clips from that (it's also getting the HD treatment).

In the mean time, enjoy the intro

Category:

People & Blogs

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• video
• letters
• jason
• blog
• digital
• sean
• mclean
• zaranyzerak
• funny
• humor
• silly
• gothic
• spooky
• dark
• scary
• hd
• hdtv
• 720p
• youtube

[MrDman21]

Cool background music. Is that Rammstein?

[Zaranyzerak]

No, it's one of mine.

[MIKEnBC]

cool video....With your chubby face I figured you'd be bigger.

[Zaranyzerak]

Nah, I just have somewhat round features. I'm actually pretty close to normal weight for my height (though I could still stand to lose a few pounds...)

[supermutant94]

cool

[Zaranyzerak]

Thanks!

[CenobiteVictim]

Great update! That's an awesome edition of Spiced Cider! lol

[santanarocks234]

zaranyzerak u rock!!!!!

[Zaranyzerak]

@BookhouseBoy77 It's actually a dragon head, it's an incense burner. The incense smoke comes out his nostrils. :)

[DreamWarrior186]

SPICED CIDER LOL

[MIKEnBC]

haha..most of us real people can always stand to drop a few lbs.

[Zaranyzerak]

It warmed me up on many a cold night!

[Zaranyzerak]

Hehehe...yeah, I thought it made it kinda look like it was "nodding." :)