Campus Scope ad

Check out this clip that aired on my college campus' TV station circa 1999... and has been rarely seen by anybody since. A guy named Stephen did most of the work for this one. I helped mainly with the concept and by sharing my wondrous acting ability with the world. As long as we're laying down some sarcasm, I should also mention how great the buzzed sides of my self-given haircut look. See for yourself.


I digitized this video, along with some old news packages I made for Campus Scope (our monthly college news program), from a VHS tape a few years ago. And I just recently unearthed the files on my hard drive. It was fun to pull them out, see some of the old sights around campus (like my dorm room in the video above), and fondly remember the early days of my hobby.

When you watch this you have to keep in mind it was made before digital video cameras and nonlinear editing software were available to students like us. Today you can probably shoot a better looking clip on a cell-phone. The editing here was done on a reel-to-reel tape machine. I remember spending many hours in that editing suite, usually late at night because that was the only time it was available. Sometimes I would sneak in and work on my personal projects as well. I don't think that was allowed on the school's equipment, but I made a point of never asking because I didn't want to know for sure. One of my favorite old shorts, "Marco Polo," was created during these times (that one has yet to make its internet debut).

I was so thrilled by the process back then. It seemed like anything could be made interesting if you put it in front of a camera. Distorting time and mixing images via editing was like a magic trick. It's kind of a shame now that I have a decent camera and my own personal editing system, and here I am NOT constantly using it. Maybe I'm running out of ideas. Maybe the pressure of my day job is sucking the life out of me. Maybe I'm worried that I don't have the resources (e.g. people, lights, a smooth tripod) to make anything that will look good enough. But rising standards or a lack of time should not be an excuse; I need to get out there and shoot something new.

There was one interesting development this week... I was asked to assist with a music video shoot happening during an upcoming weekend. It's for the local band Threadspinner who, as you probably know, I'm a big fan of. Once again, it's not my own project, but the group of people involved with the video and the music are incredibly creative and it is an honor to get the chance to work with them. Also, from what I've heard of the shoot so far, it sounds right up my late-night-atmosphere-loving alley. I'll let you know how it goes.